Fuchsia yelped as she felt the car violently turn away from the sidewalk. She tried to take inventory of what was going on around her to make sense of what had transpired.
Ryouma had a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel, with an obsessive focus on the road in front of him. Hinoka had curled in on herself, sobbing . (Fuchsia wasn't sure if Hinoka had even been able to buckle her seatbelt.) Sakura was stiff from head to toe. Her only movements were the quivering of her lips as she tried to keep herself from hyperventilating. Takumi was trying to comfort Sakura, whispering to her that they were safe; that no one had been shot. Silk curled up in the footwell of Sakura's seat, her back pressed against the door as she clutched her knees.
"Is everyone okay?" Fuchsia asked. "Well, Hinoka isn't. That's pretty obvious."
"I hit my head on the roof of the car when Ryouma drove over a curb, but that's about it." Takumi replied.
"I...I..." Sakura croaked, tears welling in her eyes. "G-gunshots..."
"Shhh, you don't have to talk. Focus on my voice, okay? We'll be home soon, and we can get you your meds." Takumi muttered, rubbing Sakura's arm. "We're all okay, nobody got hurt."
Fuchsia kept quiet for most of the drive out of respect for her family. She thought back over the years, how everything fell into place if she thought of herself as "kidnapped". Why she was rarely allowed to see a real doctor. Why she was only ever allowed to go to small schools in Nohr-controlled neighborhoods. Why she wasn't allowed to have friends, and why she was restricted to the apartment on most days. She thought it had been a byproduct of being a gang leader's daughter. As she got older she noticed that those rules didn't apply to anyone but herself, Silver, and Silk.
The lights of the city passed in an almost nauseating blur, Fuchsia couldn't focus on anything that passed if she tried. Businesses. Hole-in-the-wall liquor shops. Dive bars. Corner stores. Gas stations. Restaurants, and alleys all passed at least 20 times within the first 10 minutes alone. Fuchsia wondered how big the city even was in the first place, let alone how much of it she was going to see that night. She reflected upon how much had happened that night in such a short amount of time.
At 12:29 she got into a fistfight.
At 1:00 she was in the principal's office, learning of the fact that apparently five fistfights in a week meant suspension.
At 8:15 she got into a heated argument with Camilla, entirely provoked by Silver the Rules Lawyer. Fuchsia was glad that he hadn't come with her and Silk.
At 8:30 she took a sharp turn down an alley to shake Camilla off of her trail.
At 8:50 she realized she had gotten lost.
At 8:53 she realized she had gotten lost in Hoshido territory.
At 9:05 she wandered into a corner store to get a replacement soda for the one she had taken from the apartment, and ran into Rinkah.
At 9:20 she met her siblings. Her real siblings.
At 9:45 she learned that her mother died earlier that day. She hated that she would never be able to meet her real mother.
At 11:40 she made a plan to meet Silver and Silk in the graveyard.
At 1:58 she went to a grocery store with Hinata and Takumi to buy flowers for Sumeragi's grave.
At 2:50 she and her siblings made it to the graveyard.
At 3:30 Silver and Silk finally showed up.
At 3:46 Elise ruined everything. Silver, being a spineless doormat, stayed with Nohr.
What time was it now? Oh, right, 4:03. Ryouma wasn't driving as if he were in a Fast and Furious movie now, so that must be a good sign. Fuchsia watched the city outside her window. This was definitely a neighborhood she had never been to before. The colors of the buildings and signs seared her eyes with how bright and saturated they were. Fuchsia was used to gloomy grayscale and colors akin to those used by Dali or Rothko.
"I see you don't remember this part of the city." Ryouma said, noticing Fuchsia's awe. "The neighborhoods controlled by Hoshido seem to attract bright colors, it's odd."
"Yeah, Nohr-controlled sections are so dark just looking at them could give you depression." Takumi snorted, rolling his eyes.
Fuchsia pressed her face against the car window, feeling a sense of completion and belonging she hadn't before. Was it that she had remembered the truth, no matter how subconscious it had been? Did she just luck out by being the rebellious little shit of the family?
"Maybe I won't have to live in anyone's shadow anymore." She thought.
She was guilty that she was acting like a giddy 5-year-old when the air in the car was anything but happy. Sakura was still trying to drag herself out of a panic attack. Silk had a look in her eyes as if she had just seen hell. Takumi was trying to help everyone pull themselves back together with little success. Hinoka had curled in on herself in the passenger seat, rocking back and forth with the same white-knuckle grip on her gun that she had in the graveyard. Ryouma...Ryouma's mind was a puzzle too many for Fuchsia in that moment. All that she could infer was that he must have mastered his poker face at an early age.
The lights began to fade into the distance as they turned into a residential neighborhood. It was completely silent, save for the occasional dog barking. or nighttime lawn sprinkler. Fuchsia had nearly fallen asleep when Ryouma made a sharp turn into the driveway of what she assumed to be their house. A garage door opener whirred to life, opening to reveal a garage of gray concrete and brown paneling. After they had pulled in and closed the garage door once again, Ryouma let out a shaky groan.
"Is anyone injured?" He asked, his voice raspy.
"Not me, not Fuchsia. I don't know about Silk, Sakura was having a panic attack but I think she fell asleep. You seem to be fine, but Hinoka..." Takumi said, counting the heads in the car.
"...Oh, and Silver decided to abandon us, so he's not here." He added, bitterness clinging to his words.
Hinoka started sobbing at Takumi's statement about Silver, curling in even more on herself. Ryouma slowly held out his hand to comfort her, but she swatted it away. She kept whispering, chiding herself for not pulling the trigger on Elise and Leo. Fuchsia put a cautious hand on the handle to her door, trying to avoid disturbing Hinoka.
"The garage and house are connected, go through the door by the tool rack." Ryouma said, turning to face Fuchsia and Silk.
Fuchsia opened the door, exit the car, and moved towards the tool rack. Silk dragged her heels when following Fuchsia, and Takumi did his best to silently exit the car, then turn back to unbuckle and pick up a sleeping Sakura. When Ryouma finally caught up with them, he halted before unlocking the door.
"Shoes come off in the house." He said, pointing to Silk and Fuchsia's feet.
"I'm used to taking shoes off in the house. Camilla used to make me do that, it was a carpeting thing." Fuchsia replied, shrugging. Silk nodded, still bug-eyed and in shock.
The immaculate state of the house made it pretty obvious to Fuchsia why shoes came off before you went in. The walls were a pure matte white, and the hardwood flooring was a hi-gloss cherry red. Silk navigated it well, but Fuchsia could barely walk a few steps without sliding and stumbling like a newborn giraffe. Takumi snorted at the sight of the brunette struggling to cling to a wall as he carried Sakura to her room.
Ryouma and Hinoka were the last to enter. Hinoka crept towards to kitchen, her eyes puffy and bloodshot. Ryouma gestured for Silk and Fuchsia to follow him into the living room, to which they obliged.
"Hinoka's going to get something to eat. She thinks it might be able to help calm her down." He explained, kneeling in front of a table in the center of the room.
Fuchsia's eyes darted to the wall farthest from her, noting that it was covered in various family photographs. She approached it, trying to identify the people in them. One featured a young man in a graduation gown, she assumed from the spiky dark brown hair that it was Ryouma. Another featured a two-year old she assumed to be Takumi holding a newborn she assumed to be Sakura.
"Who's in the photo here?" She asked, looking over her shoulder at her brother.
"Oh, that's Takumi." Ryouma replied.
"...And the baby?" Fuchsia added.
Ryouma sighed, getting up to assess the photo better than he could at the table. When he got a good look at it, he took a sharp inhale.
"The baby is you, Fuchsia."
Fuchsia was taken aback by this. She had never seen any photos of herself before the age of four, she had assumed that it was a side effect of Garon's dislike of technology. In reality it was just another warning sign that she hadn't been with her real family this whole time. She spent almost five minutes staring at the rosy-cheeked infant in the photo. That was her. A smaller, less intelligent version of herself that was incapable of cognizant speech and didn't know the existence of the word "fuck" yet.
"Goddamn, I was ugly." Fuchsia snorted.
Ryouma chuckled, putting a hand on her shoulder. He clarified most of the photos on the wall to her, telling her their backstories. It was odd to Fuchsia how close-knit her real family was. Hell, they lived together instead of being split up throughout the city like the Garon's kids were.
"What if I wasn't taken?" Fuchsia thought. "If they only took Silver and Silk...maybe I wouldn't have lived in their shadows."
Fuchsia could feel butterflies in her stomach at that thought.
"Hell, I wouldn't have looked out of place with them, my hair color is pretty much the same as Mr. Pineapple." Her mind continued. "Maybe I would have..."
Before she could finish the thought, she heard Hinoka return from the kitchen.
"What are you doing?" Hinoka asked.
"Fuchsia asked about the photos, I was explaining some of them." Ryouma replied. Hinoka nodded in response, taking a bite out of one of the hot pockets on the plate she carried in.
Ryouma side-eyed Silk, who had fallen asleep on the couch while he wasn't looking. He groaned and pinched his brow, muttering something about beds under his breath. Fuchsia looked between Hinoka and him, confused.
"Oh! Right, Silk and I need somewhere to sleep." Fuchsia said, picking up on her older brother's thoughts.
"Exactly. We do have some sleeping bags, but we don't have any spare bedrooms." Ryouma said, nodding.
"I'm fine with sharing a room." Fuchsia replied. "We can leave Silk on the couch until morning, she's a heavy sleeper."
"I'd offer my room, but it's full of exercise equipment." Hinoka said. "...And I know Sakura doesn't like having people in her room."
"I can't think of a place where she would fit in my room, I'd have to move furniture." He grumbled. "That leaves us with no choice but Takumi..."
"That sounds great!" Fuchsia chirped. "I mean, he might kick me out, but I can sleep on the couch if that happens."
Ryouma and Hinoka glanced at each other in apprehension, but still allowed Fuchsia to go ahead with her plan.
"Takumi's room is at the end of the hall on the second floor." Ryouma sighed.
"Psst, taco meat, you in here?" Fuchsia whispered, knocking on Takumi's door. "I have to stay with you for the night."
"It's pronounced 'Ta-coo-mii', not 'taco meat'." Takumi groaned from the other side of the door. "...There's seriously no other place for you to sleep?"
Fuchsia crept in, unrolling the sleeping bag and tossing her hoodie on the ground. "Yep. Only you. Sorry bub."
Takumi propped himself up, scowling at her. "Couldn't they have thrown you in the doll room? That is a tradition for us."
"Uhhh...'doll room'? What doll room?" Fuchsia asked, sliding into the sleeping bag.
"Our grandmother used to collect those creepy traditional Japanese dolls. Sakura's started doing the same thing. We have a room for them. That's what I mean by 'doll room'." Takumi replied.
"...Annnnd why would you want me to get stuck in there?" Fuchsia asked.
"Sometimes people sleep in the doll room as an initiation thing. It started as a joke with some of Hinoka's friends, and then people started taking it seriously." Takumi answered. "Please stop asking questions, it's annoying."
"Hey, I'm your little sister! Little sisters should be annoying!" Fuchsia giggled.
The room became even more silent then it had been before. Takumi laid back down and rolled over before he said anything again.
"You're not my sister. Now shut up and go to sleep."