Vanya grinned. It was six months after she'd been abducted by Monte Carlo, and she'd just finished moving into her new apartment. When she said 'just finished' she meant it. She'd never moved anywhere but her college dorm before, and that had only been with half of her things.

Now she had everything so unpacking boxes had been a bit of a chore. Especially considering how small the apartment was and surprisingly how much she had. Then there was the question of getting there in the first place. She'd had to make several trips. It was in the downtown area of the City and relatively far away from the Academy.

After the events with Monte Carlo she'd told Hargreeves that she didn't want to spend another minute in college, or in the house for that matter. There had been a fight. Vanya was fairly sure that the earth had moved. However, she pointed out that she was twenty, nearly twenty-one, and frankly he couldn't stop her.

She also had her back-allowances in her own name, so she had money in her own right to pay for it. Realistically, that would run out fairly soon. So she'd gotten a job, not high paying certainly, but it was still a pretty good one. Vanya was doing things for herself, and was getting a kick out of it.

Not much had been settled for anyone else when she left. It had been a rather awkward situation all around actually. Everyone, even Spaceboy, had started feeling a bit more independent of Hargreeves. They'd set a precedent with saving Vanya that night, and she'd set a precedent with moving out.

Several other things had been discovered. First and foremost was that they could act without Hargreeves breathing down their necks. They also found out that they really could go their own way. Then there was the fact that they now knew that they could do something about the way he treated them. No one was in the mood to be talked down to when they realized that they could, in theory at least, defy him whenever they wanted.

The last thing she'd heard from Kraken was that they were taking charge more and more. Séance had gone out and started taking interpretive dance lessons. Horror was making tentative inquiries into community college and Space was thinking about going on an off-planet vacation. He'd even hinted that Rumor was considering going her own way and moving out too. It wasn't the best, but it was a beginning.

Vanya had only been around for Séance to sign up for his lessons. She'd moved out shortly afterwards with a promise from Kraken to follow soon after. Months had passed as he said he needed to smooth out some tricky spots with a couple of 'interesting' cases, whatever that meant. He visited her from time to time though.

Speaking of visitors, he hadn't been her only one. Her mind drifted past to two weeks beforehand.

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.

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"Vanya Hargreeves?"

Vanya looked up from her book. The woman who was addressing her looked like she was on the verge of middle age. Her features were slightly plastic, but at the same time they seemed like they were softer. The woman's black hair was about shoulder length, just barely brushing the lilac dress she wore. It took Vanya several minutes of staring to realize it was Roulette.

"I just want to talk," she said softly.

Vanya nodded mutely as Roulette sat down on the park bench next to her. There was an awkward silence for awhile.

"So," Vanya said uncomfortably, "Ah…Rou-"

"Please," she said, "Call me Svetlana. There's nothing to gamble with anymore, so code names aren't needed."

Her tone was sad and it was all that Vanya could do to nod.

" Krake…ahem…Diego," Svetlana corrected, "let us go that night."

"He told me," Vanya said quietly.

Svetlana smiled.

"I…I'm glad you found someone like him. He's not a hero certainly, but he's a decent man who seems to care for you deeply. And what he did for us, it was more then we could've asked for, especially after what we did."

There was another silence.

"I suppose saying I'm sorry doesn't really do it," sighed Svetlana, "I just…I just wanted to try to apologize here. That's all I wanted. I don't have any other expectations from this. I don't expect you to forgive me."

Part of Vanya didn't want to forgive her. Part of her wanted to yell for her to go away. Yet, she didn't. Vanya felt like it would be wrong to push her away because Svetlana had just wanted to be her mother, albeit in an odd way. Was Vanya completely normal though? Of course not. Besides, she'd had a feeling something like this would happen, and she'd done quite some thinking on the subject.

After all Kraken had testified that only three members of Monte Carlo, Baccarat, Klondike, and Slots, had been killed. He said that he couldn't verify the whereabouts of the others. He'd explained that there'd been too much smoke for him to see clearly, and he'd only thought about getting her out.

Later he'd taken her aside and explained everything to her. Vanya had felt some relief about this. She didn't want to think that Kraken had killed them, especially not Roulette. After all, she might've been twisted, but she was still the mother Vanya had always wanted to know about.

"Don't worry," she said, "We can…we can forget about it…and maybe…just start…just being…mom."

The word felt awkward on her tongue. Yet, she felt glad that she'd used it when she saw the smile on Svetlana's face.

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.

.

She wasn't in constant contact with her. They'd met a few times since then, and it wasn't perfect. Once again though, it was just a beginning.

"Glad you finally cut your hair."

Vanya smiled and turned around as if to display her now short-cropped hair. After having long hair for so long it felt surprisingly liberating to have most of it cut off.

"I think I like it too," she smiled.

"Shorter hair always did look better on you," he said, leaning up against the window sill at the fire escape, "I'm happy you got someone professional to do it this time though."

"It was more expensive."

"Probably less dangerous though."

Kraken smirked as he came in through the window. He walked up to her and stroked the back of her head.

"How's it going?" he asked, still giving her a smirk.

"Not bad," she replied.

"I see from the fact that the fortresses of boxes that used to guard this place are gone that you've unpacked," he said, leaning a little closer.

"Surprisingly everything fit," answered Vanya, running her hand over the space above his forehead, "Truth be told, I'm a little pressed for space though. So much stuff and so little room."

"Good thing I don't have too many things," he said.

"So glad I picked a boyfriend who travels light."

"You should be."

She leaned in and kissed him on the lips as he backed her into the wall. She responded deeper and passionately, just wanting to have him closer to her. After she'd come so close to losing him, she didn't feel like she wanted to let him go any time soon, or ever for that matter. When they pulled away she asked;

"Planning on staying?"

"Probably," he said jokingly.

"You'd better," she said, "Because I don't think I'd let you leave."

He smirked before once more capturing her lips in a passionate kiss. It was just a beginning. Unlike the others though, it was the best.