Vanya lost her safe space when Five ran out the door six weeks ago.

Usually, they would hang out together in the music room, one of the few places both knew Reginald Hargreeves didn't set foot in. Vanya would be there because she, being ordinary, was the only member of the family allowed to practice an instrument. And the only reason Five was allowed inside was because he had made a long-winded and boring speech about the connection between music and math that no one, not even Dad, paid attention to by the time he asked if he could spend his free time in there. But without Five, the room was… empty. Not literally of course—it would take a day at least to remove all the instruments inside, not including the grand piano—but empty enough that she didn't want to spend her days in.

Her siblings had already staked claim to other safe parts of the house. Luther and Allison dwelled in the attic, since Dad was far too dignified to use the ladder. Diego was often with Mom in the kitchen and the kitchen was the domain of servants, or so Dad claimed. And Klaus and Ben took the west side library, furthest away from Dad's office, full of vintage fiction for Ben with tall, easily-opened windows for Klaus to waft any smoke out of. The rest of the house was enemy territory—no one knew when Dad could walk down the hall as the old man had perfected the art of walking silently long before they were born.

Of the three options, Vanya preferred the library. Allison always got mad at her when she tried to "invade their space" to the point where Vanya had considered that they went up there specifically to avoid her. It's not like they had anything to fear from Dad; they were the favorites. Diego was just as possessive of his space with Mom, though knew better to vocalize it. If he did, Mom would scold him and Two would rather die than have Mom be disappointed in him. But Klaus and Ben were… nice. Nicer, at least, than Allison and Luther and Diego, since they actually bothered to talk to her and didn't fling insults the moment she reminded them of her presence. If anything, they were better than before Five disappeared.

The only perk of being invisible in her own home, she supposed, was being able to eavesdrop without being noticed. So if she so happened to overhear Klaus telling the others, with only Ben actually listening, that they need to be kind to her, that Five's disappearance really messed her up and they need to support her… Well, it warmed her heart that at least two of her siblings were looking after her.

And it was nice to look after them too. They were her brothers after all, the worst treated by their father other than her. So she snuck hot chocolate and cookies into the library for them, and hugged Ben whenever he looked like he needed one—apparently, the Horror liked it when Ben was touched. Who knew eldritch beings could get touch-starved?—and read aloud to Klaus whenever he started looking too fidgety. It was warm, their little hideaway, and the only thing that could make it better would be if Five was there with her.

"What do you think he's doing right now?" The words slipped out unintentionally after her eyes tried to read the same sentence for the fourth time. Her brothers looked at her curiously, Ben rereading Robinson Crusoe and Klaus smoking by the window. "Five, I mean."

"He's probably trying to come home," Ben said, trying to be reassuring but only making the pit in her stomach grow. "You know how he is; Five's never given up on something he's started. He'll come home, at least long enough to rub it in Dad's face that he managed to time travel."

"But what if he won't? Five's always wanted to leave…" Her voice hitched. "If he's happy there, then why would he ever come back—"

I promise you, Vanya, the moment I master time travel—we're out of here. We'll go forward in time, to after the old man's dead, or before he was ever born, and live out our lives together away from him. He'll never be able to control us again—

"—SPACE PIRATES!"

Vanya jumped out of the memory. Klaus had stabbed out his cigarette onto the mahogany windowsill and now stared at her with wild eyes. "What?"

"What if…" He paused for dramatic effect. "He's fighting space pirates."

"We got that part. Explain," Ben said.

"Okay, so picture Five. Now picture a bunch of space pirates. And… they're fighting."

Ben groaned. "If you're not going to provide any helpful information, don't—"

Her giggle interrupted him. She could see it now in her head. "He'd be so annoyed…" He had come all the way to the future, all the way to space, only to encounter pirates!? "They'd be trying to fight him with… I don't know, space swords or something while he teleports behind them and knocks them out, sighing and going 'I don't have time for this' and criticizing their aesthetic…"

"SEE!" Klaus gestured to her. "You get it! He'd defeat all the pirates but the big boss, who wants him to fight him mano-e-mano—"

"—Because all big bosses want to fight like that," Vanya added.

"It's just what big bosses do," he agreed. "And there's all this build up for this huge fight, all kinds of tension when Five just says 'This is stupid' and shoots him in the face."

Vanya broke down in giggles at the thought.

Ben, who finally seemed to understand the course of the conversation, tacked on, "And then he finds the space princess the space pirates were keeping hostage. 'Why does space have a monarchy? It's completely illogical,'" he said in his best approximation of Five's voice.

"What? Why is there a space princess?" she protested while laughing.

"Because, dear sister mine, there is always a space princess," Klaus answered. "She tries to kiss him for saving her life, but he teleports away and she falls on her face!"

Ben joined her for a new bout of laughter. She swayed, light-headed; when was the last time she laughed so hard? It had… to be from before Five left, sure, but even before that…

Had she taken her medication today?

Did it matter?

Three knocks on the door and Mom poked her head inside. Klaus lunged to clean up the remains of the cigarette while she smiled. "It's almost time for dinner, you three. Get washed up and to the table so we can eat on time."

They scrambled to get the room back in sorts (while their father going into their particular library was low, the chance was never zero. At least Mom wouldn't snitch on them) and together they went to dinner, where Vanya definitely remembered to take her medication on time.

That night, as she was preparing for bed, Vanya couldn't get the image out of her head, though it no longer made her laugh. What could Five be doing in the future? Klaus had belted out 'space pirates' in a possibly-high fit of mania, but what was the future really like? Did he meet their older selves or go straight past them into centuries beyond? Was he having fun at least? She hoped he was having fun.

She hoped he'd come back soon.

But even as she got into bed, the theories wouldn't leave her. She wished she had some way to contact him. A phone or a letter. At this point, she'd even take a message in a… bottle…

She sat up in bed. Carefully, so as not to alert Mom that she was still up, Vanya left bed to her little package of school supplies. Inside, at the very bottom, lay an unused notebook.

Grabbing it along with a pencil, she scurried over to the window, where the almost full moon cast enough light for her to write by. If she wanted to send him a message, then she would; it would just have to have some other stuff attached…

With that, she brought down her pencil and began to write…