Toc. Toc. Toc.
Vanya opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling, lying on her bed. At first, she did not know why she had been woken up, but when the knocks on the door resumed, she sat, looking at the clock on the bedside table.
06:03 A.M.
Who would hit Vanya's door so early? Normally, she'd risk Klaus asking for food or something, but her brother was missing, so it couldn't be him. As she dressed and the knocks on the door continued, Vanya began to wonder who it might be.
Maybe it was Diego. He said he'd search early so they could leave for the second day of searching for Five and Klaus, so as he walked down the aisle to the front door, now fully clothed, the raids resumed.
"I'm on my way! Wait a minute!" She reached the keys to the apartment and stuck them in the lock, not waiting for the person on the other side of her door.
"Hi, Vanya" Leonard smiled, waving his hand "Can I come in?"
"What? Uh, of course! Come in!" Vanya took a step aside and let Leonard through. He came in, looking around before asking if he could sit on the couch. Vanya nodded, heading toward the small kitchen. He came in, looking around before asking if he could sit on the couch. Vanya nodded, heading toward the small kitchen.
"Coffee?" Vanya asked Leonard, who nodded, smiling at her. She turned, putting the water to warm up and leaning against the counter "Sorry for the delay, I thought it was my brother, Diego, he said he'd come this morning to pick me up"
"No, no, it's okay, don't apologize" Said Leonard, shaking his hands, a gentle tone in his voice "I didn't say I was coming, I arrived without warning"
"Thank you for being so understanding, Leonard" Vanya said, picking up two cups and positioning the coffee strainer on top of each, putting coffee powder and adding water slowly, sitting at the table.
"Sure" Said Leonard, getting up and sitting in front of Vanya, accepting the cup of coffee she offered "You've been having a lot of time with your brothers lately, haven't you?" He asked. Vanya nodded.
"Oh, yes" Vanya agreed, taking a sip of his cup before saying "We're reconnecting. I'm sorry about Allison before, she was just being protective, I've never been in a relationship before, you know" She shrugged, embarrassed.
"Don't worry, Vanya. I don't have brothers or sisters, but I think if I did, I'd do the same thing she did." He took her hand and shook, Vanya smiled "So, did you manage to invite them to your concert on Monday?"
"Yes! They were radiant! Especially Allison, I didn't know they liked my music so much!" Vanya did not mention that Diego had told her later while they were looking for Five that he used to go to attend her rehearsals and concerts from the beginning, hiding between the chairs and ceiling beams so that no one would see him, which Vanya thought was cool, but did not know what Leonard would think, although she was sure he would be very happy to know that.
"That's awesome, Vanya! They will finally see how talented you are, and you will no longer be left out!" He exclaimed Leonard, waving excitedly with his hands.
"Yes" Vanya smiled behind the cup, taking another sip.
"Anyway, where did you say that you and your brother Diego were going?" Asked Leonard, he seemed genuinely curious and Vanya didn't think it would hurt him, she trusted Leonard.
"Oh, well" She sighed, landing the cup on the table, and Leonard, seemingly realizing that the mood had changed, did the same.
"What is it, Vanya?" He asked, taking her hands in his.
"My brothers Klaus and Five have disappeared, we need to find them. We split into two groups. Allison and Luther, and Diego and I" Explained.
"Oh, Vanya, I'm sorry" Said Leonard, worry and sorrow in his voice "Klaus was the one who talked to ghosts, wasn't he? The junkie?"
"Yes, but don't call him that, Diego told me he was sober the last time they saw each other, so don't call him a junkie, he's not one anymore" Vanya said, a little anger in her voice while defending her brother.
Leonard raised his hands in surrender "Sorry, I was just asking. Your book said he was a drug addict since he was fourteen, just assumed that a person who starts so early wouldn't abandon addictions after living with them so long"
"Yes, yes, of course, you're right, I'm sorry" Vanya put her head in her hands "I got mad at you without knowing your reasons for saying this, you didn't know he was sober and I took my anger out on you" She sighed deeply "I've been so stressed and haven't ordered a refill of my pharmacy medication yet, I guess that's why I'm like this, I'm sorry"
"Don't apologize" Said Leonard "Also, I'm sure it's not the lack of the medication, you've been fine since you stopped taking it. Your brothers are missing, of course you're stressed and angry."
"Thanks, Leonard" She smiled, then laughed lightly "I have been compulsively apologized since you got here, I broke our pact" They both laughed.
"Hey, wasn't Five the name of that brother of yours who disappeared when you were thirteen?" Leonard asked. Vanya nodded.
"Yes, but he came back a few days ago at my father's funeral, only to disappear again with another of my brothers" She sighed "This is becoming a pattern, who's next?"
"Hey, it's going to be okay, you're going to find them" Said Leonard, giving an affectionate pat on her back "You want to go out for breakfast? I know a great bakery that is a few blocks from my store, we can eat and then I show you my new creations" Offered him. Vanya frowned.
"Uh, Leonard, I just said I have to find my brothers, Diego will be here to pick me up any minute" Vanya said, completely confused. She'd just told Leonard the importance of finding her brothers and now he was asking her out like nothing was wrong? "Sorry, I cannot accept, you'll have to ask another time , I have more important things to do than go out to have breakfast with you" Vanya spoke, rising from the table, just like Leonard.
"Vanya, I'm sorry! I completely forgot that you would go out to look for them!" Explained Leonard, he seemed supplicant, but Vanya didn't mind, anger on a whole new level bubbling in her blood.
"What do you mean you forgot?! This fucking whole conversation was about them and you didn't even care?! THEY'RE MY FUCKING BROTHERS! OF COURSE, I'M GONNA LOOK FOR THEM! I can't go out with you! I don't want to go out with you! How could you?! THEY'RE MY BROTHERS! I LOVE ALL MY BROTHERS AND SISTER!" She screamed, her fists clenched next to her body.
The apartment was shaking, like an earthquake, and dust fell from the ceiling, objects shaking. Leonard seemed terrified, and somewhere in the back of his mind, Vanya enjoyed this face of fear because he had spoken ill of Klaus and was now practically saying that she should not look out her siblings.
Someone familiar was calling her name and Leonard was screaming, but Vanya didn't focus on it, the noise of her belongings hitting the ground echoing in her ears, and the sound of a bird singing outside, and then everything got out of control and her vision turned white.
When she opened her eyes, Vanya felt dizzy, it seemed that she had spent five nights without sleep and surviving only on coffee. She was exhausted. It took a few seconds for her vision to normalize, focusing on a very worried Diego.
"Vanya! Are you okay?!" He asked quickly and Vanya frowned, confused.
"What do you mean, Diego? Of course, I'm okay, I'm just tired, that's all" She answered, "Why are you asking that?"
Diego, instead of answering, pointed out the place around them, which Vanya finally realized was his apartment.
Her destroyed apartment.
All her books were scattered all over the floor in varying degrees of destruction. The shelf had fallen, and the sofa was turned, the filling scattered throughout the room. His small kitchen table was in pieces and the stove had exploded, apparently. There was fire extinguisher foam covering the remains of the stove and the small minibar she used in the fridge. The red cylinder was next to Diego.
The shutters had plummeted and were twisted on the floor at strange angles, her scores were scattered and torn, fortunately, she hadn't left the violin in the living room, but in the bedroom, it would be a great loss if it had been destroyed. But at the center of it all, there was someone.
Leonard.
"Leonard!" Vanya ran and knelt next to him, his hands hovering and not knowing what to do.
"He's alive, I checked" Diego's voice came behind her, his hand landing on her shoulder.
"Diego, what just happened?" Vanya asked, her voice trembling with fear.
"It was you, Vanya" Diego hesitated, and then spoke as if he never expected to say it "You have powers."
"I called Allison, she and Luther are on their way" Diego said, sitting next to her on the floor. He leaned his shoulder against hers "Don't worry, we'll sort it out, you didn't hurt anyone"
"Leonard is unconscious in my living room" Said Vanya faintly, looking into her own hands.
"But he's not hurt" Diego said. He had a point.
"That's not possible, I have no powers" Vanya insisted. Diego sighed.
"Look, I saw what happened, I'm not kidding. You were yelling at him about Klaus and Five, then you skin turned pale and your white and blue eyes, and a white stream of energy came out of your chest and destroyed everything."
Vanya couldn't believe it, this couldn't be happening. She was Number Seven, the ordinary one, powerless and useless, she had nothing special. If she had powers all the time, she would've been part of umbrella academy, her father wouldn't miss that opportunity. But what happened said otherwise, even Diego wouldn't lie about such a thing, she was sure, but how could that be true?
"Diego! Vanya!" It was Allison and Luther. They rushed through the door of their apartment, immediately recording the destruction and Leonard unconscious.
Allison immediately ran up to her, hugging her and asking if she was hurt. Luther went to Diego, who had stood up.
"What happened, that man attacked you?" Luther was looking at Leonard.
"No, he didn't attack us" Said Diego, then shook his head "We need to have a serious conversation"
They all gathered in Vanya's room, the only room that wasn't destroyed. Allison was hugging her, and Vanya didn't know what to say.
"Right. Now tell us what happened, why is Vanya's apartment destroyed?" Luther directed his question to Diego, but Vanya answered.
"It was me" Everyone looked at her, Diego encouraging her "Leonard came to visit me, and we had a good talk for a while. I told him about Klaus and Five and about how Diego was coming to get me, but in the end he acted like his I hadn't said anything and like it wasn't important and I got angry because it's important!" Vanya was getting emotional again as some objects rattled. When she calmed down, she continued "I started yelling at him and defending Klaus and Five, then everything got so loud and then a white light came, and I fainted. When I woke up, Diego was here, my apartment was destroyed, and Leonard was unconscious in the middle of all the mess"
For the first time in her whole life, her brothers and sister were listening, and Vanya couldn't believe all this was real. But when he looked at Leonard still unconscious in one of the corners of his room, where Luther had left him to watch him, she realized it was really all real and took a deep breath, looking at his hands.
"Diego, tell us what happened in your point of view" Said Allison, holding Vanya's hand, which is comforting. ra
"I was going up the stairs to Vanya's apartment when I heard screaming" Started Diego "It was Vanya, and when I opened the door, she was yelling at that man, I don't know his name. With objects floating around her. Her skin was pale and her eyes white and blue. Then a stream of energy came out of her chest and destroyed everything." He explained. Allison and Luther sighed shocked, and Luther opened his mouth to say something, but Diego raised his hand to stop him "Before you say anything, Luther, I want you to know that I'm not making it up, I saw it with my own eyes, the evidence is in the living room, Vanya has powers and we never knew that."
"We need to go back to the Academy and talk to Pogo, I'm sure he can clarify what's going on and give us a plausible answer" Said Luther, and everyone reluctantly agreed.
"But what do we do with Leonard?" Vanya asked, looking at the man in question. Allison smiled.
"I have an idea"
After going to Leonard's house, using the key in his pocket to get in, they left him on the couch and went to the Academy. When they got there, Luther immediately went out to look for Pogo while Allison, Diego, and Vanya waited in the mansion's living room.
Diego walked back and side, throwing one of his knives up and down. It was such a common thing for him to do that Vanya felt a sense of normality, which was soon destroyed by nervousness.
Allison was sitting next to Vanya, drinking silently from a glass. She didn't seem nervous or scared, but frankly, Allison doesn't seem like a lot of things.
Finally, after what seemed hours, but it was only a few minutes, Luther entered the room, Pogo behind him. Number One sat on the empty couch in front of Allison and Vanya, while Diego stopped walking, but made no move to sit down.
Finally, Pogo positioned himself, both hands on the cane, the posture even more curved than normal.
"I fear, children, that your father, Grace and I have been covering up a terrible secret since you were little" Pogo began, and Vanya straightened up, her hands tight in her lap.
"Twenty-nine years ago, as you all know, you were born to mothers who showed no signs of pregnancy earlier in the day..."
Pogo talked about how they were born, about how Reginald found them and adopted them, enumerating them instead of giving them names. About how when they were four, they began training their powers and that the little Number Seven was not progressing in her training and her powers were becoming increasingly volatile.
So as a solution, Reginald decided that it would be dangerous for her and her siblings to continue with her powers, so Reginald decided to suppress them with pills made by him especially for her.
And to reinforce what he had already done, he had Allison put a rumor about her and her other brothers... about how Vanya was just... Ordinary.
Vanya was taking a deep breath, trying to control her emotions, she couldn't lose control and destroy the whole house, she needed to calm down.
"Vanya, please listen to me! I didn't remember that! We were young, and Dad said you were sick, he said the rumor would make you better faster! We were only four, Vanya! Calm down, please!" It was Allison, she was talking to her and Vanya was listening to her, but she couldn't calm down and the chandeliers were shaking and a light bulb broke.
She understood what Allison was saying. She and her siblings had been manipulated by Dad, Pogo said all his brothers had rumors placed on them to forget Vanya's powers and Allison was only four years old, she was not to blame, it was Dad's fault, he tricked Allison into putting the rumor about how Vanya was just ordinary, her sister was not to blame.
Reginald's painting on top of the fireplace where he had his favorite armchair exploded.
She had to calm down or she was going to put the whole house down!
Luther was screaming that they had to stop her and do something to stop Vanya, Diego was screaming that she was scared and that they would do nothing with her, and Allison was trying to calm her down.
"Vanya, take a deep breath, we're here" Allison said, "Breathe, one, two, three, hold for four, three, five, breathe by six, seven, hold for one, two..." Allison repeated this until Vanya finally managed to calm down and the house was still in one piece, with only a few broken bulbs and Reginald's charred frame.
"We need to talk about how we're going to help Vanya with her powers and find Klaus and Five" Said Diego and Vanya nodded, agreeing, but for now, she would sleep in Allison's hug.