Author note

Hi!

Here is chapter 6. I hope that everyone likes it. Sadly ff.n doesn't work properly so when I uploaded this chapter all bold and italics were gone. As you may have noticed all the bold I've used in earlier chapters have disappeared for you but not me. Now is the case that I can't see the bold text or the italic but hopefully you can. I'm very sorry if they disappear since it would probably make it harder for you to read. (On the positive side, since bold hasn't worked earlier you won't miss it.) Conlusion: Curse ff.n admins for not fixing this bugs. If someone has know how to fix this, please tell me. I'm using LibreOffice and I've made various test to try to find a solution but I can't. Again, I'm very sorry for this problem.

Important to read: About the writing contest I'm giving it two weeks (2/7) more since a few people wanted more time. (See my profile for more information.)

Thanks for liking: TOXIC LUCARIO LOVER, Icanroc and Nogitsune96.

Thanks for reviews: Ultima the Eterenal Dragon (again), and a guest.

Chapter 6

Aftermaths

Umbria was sitting in her office room paying rent and all the bills for the family, when she was interrupted by a sudden call from the school. It was a normal, big room with a great view of the backside of the house where a big garden could be seen. At the moment she sat in the comfortable office chair with a cup of tea in her hands, relaxing since she was done with this months bills the call came.

An irritated huff managed to escape from her mouth when she heard the ringing of her phone.

Why. Why do people need to call me now of all times? Umbria thought before picking up her mobile phone.

She answered the call and a talk that suprised Umbria began. The call was about an incident in school. Lavender had beaten someone up. As soon the call was ended, Umbria's relaxed feeling from earlier was forgotten.

I can't deny that I'm a little stressed by these problems. It's, after all, me who is registered as their responsible guardian. One thing is, that on the bright side is that I don't need to worry about them since I know that they can take care of themselves and each other.

Even if Umbria was the oldest and the others always put a ton of responsibility in her hands she hadn't grown mommy like most people expected her to be. Most of the time she acted like a normal seventeen yearnold Umbreon.

Umbria knew that calling Lavender would be a waste of time, since when Lavender was angry she never answered. Instead, she decided it would be better to call Glory.

I don't know what's going on but first priority is to get them home so I can talk to them.

Umbria was a very calm person so even if in the face of a worst case scenario she managed to keep her cool.

After a few minutes of dialing the number, a voice finally answered her.

"Hi, Umbria," Valerie said on Glory's mobile.

"Hi," Umbria answered, wondering why Valerie was using Glory's phone.

Glory is probably not hurt. Even if we know that Lavender hurt Flaria a bit, it was actually only a slap and the rest was an accident. Lavender would never hit Glory that hard, so what could it be? Shocked over Lavender's violence? Most likely. I'm myself am quite shaken by her growing violence since Zane came to our house.

"I suppose you want a short explanation?"

Umbria caught herself nodding, even if she was using a phone.

"Yes please,"

With a deep breath, Valerie began talking.

"Wewascomingfromschoolwhe-," Valerie said without understanding that she was speaking way too fast and that everything she was saying sounded like gibberish.

"Stop!" Umbria interrupted Valerie before continuing: "Speak slowly so I can understand you,"

Valerie took a deep breath and began talking at a slower pace.

"When school ended, Glory and Lavender met Nicole, a new girl in their class,"

"Already know about her, the rumors about her body is widespread and I'm a whole block away,"

"Well, they were in an empty corridor and nobody knows what happened but after a while a few students and a teacher found Lavender beating Nicole and…and Lavender refuse to talk about what they actually did or talked about while Glory is too shocked to talk. She just cries a-and…,"

Valerie went quiet for second while checking if she had forgotten anything major. Umbria took her chance to put in a question.

"And Nicole?"

Valerie hesitated before answering.

"She is at the school infirmary. She took some hits in the head and when people arrived she was nearly unconscious but they told me that she would be alright, it wasn't as bad as it looked,"

Umbria thought for a second before asking the major question she had been thinking.

"When are you guys gonna be home, I really don't want Lavender to hurt anybody else,"

"I'm on the bus with Lavender and Glory. We all thought it would be best to keep Zane out of the way of Lavender so Flaria, Eriel, and him are walking,"

"That works. Can I talk to Lavender or Glory?"

"Already tried multiple times and failed," Valerie said, with a sigh.

Zane walked beside Flaria and Eriel in complete silence. He already knew about what had happened with Lavender and didn't want to make it worse so he choose to keep quiet. As they walked up towers their house Zane felt his heart beat rise.

It's definitely time to keep myself out of Lavender's way.

You are right about that. I would recommend you to stay in your room.

Of course, I don't want to get hit.

After they reached the house, Flaria opened the door for all of them. When Zane entered the room he quickly scanned the room for any signs that Lavender was home.

Seems like they got stuck at the principal long enough for me to get home before them.

Umbria entered the room and leaned against the door frame.

She broke the heavy silence and said: "We need to talk about this as you probably expected,"

"When?" Eriel said and put her jacket on a hook.

"When everyone is home," Umbria said and moved a blue jacket with her foot.

"Works for me," Zane said.

"Isn't that Valerie's?" Umbria said and took a second look on the jacket.

"Yep," Flaria answered and picked it up before putting it down on the hall bench.

"I won't be a mother for you, so no I won't pick it up nor telling her again. I've already told her one time and that's it," Umbria said with a hint of disappointment hidden in her voice.

"I'm always impressed by your capacity of taking care of us and still be our sister, Not just our mom," Eriel said as she put her school bag on the shoulder and walked to her room.

Umbria gave Eriel a thankful smile and turned her attention to Zane.

"Can we talk for a bit?"

"Of course," Zane answered and followed her as she walked into the kitchen.

They entered it and Umbria walked over to the kitchen desk. She then began boiling water for tea.

"I know that you are extremely affected by this events," Umbria pause for a second. "You are a big part of this problems and you know it. I don't accuse you for doing anything wrong but still, Lavender is angry at you. After this, she has confirmed that she is capable of doing nearly everything in her unstable situations,"

"I know," Zane said and accepted the cup of tea Umbria handed him.

"The point is that I'm going to have to talk to her. Hopefully, I can convince her to bury the battle-axe. Wheather I succeed or not, I've got a backup plan. The reason that she is so hateful towards males is because she hasn't been with one in years,"

When she spoke Zane began to get a bad feeling about what direction her plans were going.

"If she actually gets to meet you, you can prove her wrong," Umbria said and took a sip of her tea.

Zane's mind was racing and after a few seconds he managed to talk about the holes in her plan.

"First: how shall I make her freely go into the same room as me, second: if she does what shall I do so she won't beat me up,"

Zane was feeling very vulnerable over position he was currently in.

This can end however Arceus knows.

"I'm going to use our duty lists. We all agreed that it would reduce the arguing in this family so as you have noticed we randomize people for different jobs. For now, nobody has put you in the system but the current lists are ended soon,"

"And on the next list, I'm going to be with Lavender every day?" Zane asked fearing for the worst.

"No, we don't stick to anyone special. We just have at random a person and a job. When we meet and make the next list we pair people up, and some days we let everyone get paired up excluding you and Lavender, so Lavender can't say no," Umbria said a bit proud of her plan.

"And what about me getting beaten up?" Zane said and put his empty tea mug down on the counter.

"I will ensure that the two of you are with someone else. After I've talked to her I'm sure she won't hit or disobey any of her sisters," Umbria spoke, wrapping up her plan.

Zane looked at her while thinking the plan through.

It is actually thought and through from beginning to end.

I think you can trust her, she seems to be smart.

I suppose your right but I can't stop feeling worried about meeting her.

I can't do anything but agree.

"I'm in,"

"Thanks, Zane," Umbria said and put down her cup as someone opened the kitchen door.

Flaria stood in the opening with Valerie behind her.

"They're here,"Flaria said and nodded towards Valerie.

Umbria looked at them before nodding and walking to the hall.

Zane took the opportunity to escape to his room.

Lavender will probably not come into my room.

When he was finally sitting in his room he thought about a thing noticed earlier that day.

When I was at my locker I saw her. She was defiantly looking for someone and besides, she looked like she was worried.

Yes, I think it something more than you that makes her this mad.

Wondering if and if what? A person?

Probably

True but I don't have clue who then... And why she is dong this.

Meanwhile Umbria, Flaria, and Valerie entered the hall. The atmosphere was dead silent. Glory stood leaning against the wall, sobbing silently. She hadn't put her bag down or taken off her jacket. The events had made her shocked to the core.

Lavender stood and simply ignored her environment. She was still mad after the events.

When Umbria entered the room she noted that Lavender was acting like everyone was transparent.

Not worth it to waste time on her, for now, Umbria thought about Lavender and decided to walk over to Glory. She walked over to the jumpy Glory and embraced her in a deep hug.

Glory rested her head against Umbria's shoulder, as her sobs got higher. Flaria, joining in, dragged Valerie by the arm and soon they joined in a group hug. After a few minutes they released each other.

"Glory you are shocked, you need to rest," Umbria said walked over to Lavender.

Flaria and Valerie took Glory and led her away to the living room. During the whole scene Lavender had just ignored everyone but now she realized that it wouldn't work any longer.

Lavender felt a variety of feelings welling up in her body. Guilt for what she had done, rage for what the world had done against her, sadness over what state she had put her sister in.

She felt like she had a big lump in her stomach.

Why does it need to be like this? Why is the world so mean? Lavender thought and looked up to meet Umbria's gaze.

Here goes nothing Umbria thought and spoke.

"Come, Lavender. We need to talk," Lavender responded with a slight nod.

Umbria walked to her office with Lavender in trail. Lavender followed without saying anything. She was clearly recalcitrant when they entered the office. Umbria closed the door and sat down in her normal chair while Lavender took a normal wooden chair and placed it in front of Umbria's desk.

A heavy vail of silence hung in the air. Umbria swept away some papers to make space for her to put down a paper.

"Read it. I've noted some things the school said to me during our phone call," Umbria said and pushed it a bit closer to Lavender. Slowly Lavender took and dragged it to herself. She began reading it. A minute passed by before when finished reading the whole thing.

Lavender soon switched her gaze from the paper to Umbria's eyes.

"Suspension for three weeks and a warning. The next time they find a reason, they will kick you out," Umbria concluded and took the paper from Lavender.

"If it was really was necessary for you to put yourself in trouble like this, at least tell me what's wrong,"

Lavender didn't answer. Now with the paper, Umbria had shown her it felt ten times more real. She felt guilty for what she had done. Some parts of her just wanted the dam to break so she could cry, scream, and tell Umbria everything. Others wanted to keep quiet. One wanted to think about all her problems.

Why don't you just tell her?

Because it's private.

Not when you attack people like that. You need someone to talk to whether it's Umbria, Glory or someone else of them.

No, it's my business.

That's not an excuse for not isolating yourself, especially with this problem you haven't told them.

I would never tell anybody about that.

"I won't force you to say everything you know but I do demand a short explanation," Umbria said with a little piece of anger in her voice.

Slowly, Lavender shook her head and looked down in her lap. As she did, waves of guiltiness rushed over her and the lump in her stomach just grew.

Umbria rose from her chair and looked down at Lavender before speaking at a fast pace.

"I've taken care of you ever since our housekeeper left when I was twelve. Ever since that, I've been responsible for bills, food and, your upbringing. I've raised this whole family for several years as a sister. Our parents left me with our housekeeper as soon as I was born. After that, they have never been here. When the others were born our housekeeper always drove to the hospital alone and came back with them. I've never ever seen them or even a picture,"

Umbria stopped for a breath and continued her cursing over their parents. She was angry. Lavender had stopped her attempt to ignore Umbria and was know fully focused on her.

"They have never called us or sent us a letter. Just a code to a bank account with loads of money and the keys to this house. The only thing that confirms that we even have the same parents is a blood and DNA comparison we did at the doctor one time," Umbria said anger raging through her system.

"And a whole life without parents has made me responsible for you and you thank me for all these years by beating people up and then refusing to let me help you," Umbria said and slammed her fist on the desk.

Lavender sat frozen in her seat. She had only seen Umbria lose her temper in rage two times. One when Valerie managed to lose a folder filled with bills and the other when Eriel's prank escalated and destroyed their tv for 2 700 dollar.

Lavender felt fear. She wanted Umbria to be her normal self.

It is your fault that she is so angry.

But what shall I do?

Talk to her.

Umbria had calmed herself a bit and sat down in the chair. She hadn't really understood how angry she sounded and said: "I'm sorry if I was a bit harsh,"

"No, I shall be sorry, It's my fault. I destroy everything for myself," Lavender said and felt how the dam inside her that was holding up her feelings was about to fall. Umbria looked at Lavender and felt a bit proud over the fact that Lavender actually spoke out that what she was doing was wrong.

"We'll talk about your problems and your behavior against the others but first we need to do something much more important," Umbria said and walked around her desk to where she embraced Lavender. Lavender hugged Umbria back and rested her head against Umbria's chest and began crying. The lump in her stomach felt lighter as she cried against Umbria's chest but she knew that this wouldn't be the final solution.

Talk to her, you need it.

Lavender ignored herself and dug her head deeper in Umbrias chest.

Umbria stroked Lavender's forehead and after ten minutes her crying began dying off.

"Let's take a break, you can take a rest and gather yourself. Later today we talk about your behavior, problems and you tell me exactly what happened," Umbria said and they walked out of the office.

Lavender nodded and walked out of the office aiming for her own room.

While Lavender and Umbria had their talk, Glory was lying on the living room couch. She was recovering from the shock-like state she had been in. Flaria and Valerie had put her under a blanket and when she calmed they left her to rest. She wasn't resting as much as they believed. Much more lying curled with her eyes shut and ears flat against the head in attempt to close the world out. Glory kept on thinking about the fight.

Many things had flown through her mind since Valerie and Flaria put her on the couch. About Lavender's violent behavior. About the fight. About her involvement in it.

If I hadn't followed Nicole in the first place. Lavender would have never attacked Nicole.

She felt guilty as she curled herself together.

Everything was my fault. I managed to make Lavender's situation ten times worse.

Glory was up in her own thoughts and didn't notice that someone entered the room. The person carefully sneaked up behind the couch. As Glory was thinking on her problems the person suddenly took there hand and slid it in under Glory's shirt to her stomach.

Glory squeaked and jolted both for the sudden touch and the cold hand. She opened her eyes to see Eriel's smiling face. Eriel giggled and Glory couldn't resist joining in. Glory's heartbeat fell back to a normal pace after the surprise as she laughed with Eriel.

"See, it's much better to be happy!" Eriel said and walked around the couch to sit down just below Glory's feets.

"True but a few things are still nagging at my mind," Glory said as Eriel took her legs and stretched them out. Eriel put them in her lap and said: "It's always better to ponder together than alone,"

"I'll tell you. Most of the things I've thought about, are the fact that I'm feeling responsible for starting the fight and well… another thing that I'm thinking on is what made Lavender so angry. She had many reasons, Nicole's insults, the mention of Zane but what I think made her angriest was when Nicole mentioned that I wanted to be his… friend,"

"Aren't you that already? "

"Yes, but Nicole pointed on something closer friendship,"

"You mean that Lavender would be angry on you for growing too close to Zane?"

"You must be reading my thoughts. I think she would feel betrayed if I, who is closest to her, choose to be with him too much," Glory said and looked up in the celing wondering what she could do about it.

"The answer is simple, you need to make Lavender and Zane friends,"

"Easier said than done,"

"Belive in yourself and try. Affter this incident, I think the whole family is in this thing with making Lavender normal again. That would solve many problems both for herself and us,"

Glory nodded and thought on what Eriel said.

She is right. If I want to change Lavenders attitude to Zane, then I need to fight for it.

"Thanks, Eriel, sometimes you are wise,"

Proud of the compliment, she smiled and gave Glory a hug.

"Aren't you wiser? You are one year older than me," Eriel said as she released Glory.

"Today I wasn't,"

Glory still felt guilty for the fight and still worried over how Lavender felt but she was now determined to help Lavender. As Eriel left the room Glory fell asleep with new ideas and thoughts about how to help Lavender and especially remove her guiltiness.

Lavender layed in her bed in her room and thought about what she had done and said. She was covered by a green covet and had a big cushion under her head. She was quite tired but was still awakened by knockings on the door. Lavender huffed and yelled: "Come in,"

Umbria opened the door and walked over to Lavender's bed. Lavender sat up in the bed but didn't let go of the covet. Umbria sat down on the edge of it and said: "Can you tell me what happened now in school?"

Lavender snorted and told Umbria what happened in short. The Lavender that wanted to cry in Umbria's arms were long ago dead.

Umbria pondered a few seconds before speaking again.

"I've already told you how disappointed I'm with your behavior, so let's begin there,"

"What do you want out of me?" Lavender said in a harsh voice.

"There we have it again. Stop using that harsh attitude against people. You have used it nearly every time, since Zane arrived,"

"Zane is a male and I hate males,"

"You are hopeless to talk to now," Umbria said and put a hand on her forehead.

"Maybe because you took in that idiot thing in this family,"

Umbria tired of Lavenders stubbornness decided to go the hard line.

"Since you don't want to negotiate with me, I'll set the rules without you. First, you shall respect your family and listen to what they say. That means no getting mad and attacking people. Second, you shall tell us when you have problems. Third, you shall give Zane a chance,"

Lavender looked at Umbria and snorted before answering.

"All of them expect the last one, I will follow. You can just dream about that one,"

Umbria stared in Lavenders eyes.

"Fine, say no, refuse and be difficult but I will make you spend time with him whether you like it or not," Umbria said with hardness in the voice.

Lavender shivered a bit since she knew that the threat was genuine. Without reflect on Lavender's reaction, Umbria continued.

"Back to point two of the things I said. Do you have any problems beyond Zane and your resent three-week long suspension?"

"No," Lavender lied.

You need to tell her, nobody knows this and it's a problem far more than you can handle.

Never.

People will soon begin suspecting things. They will find out.

"Are you sure about that?" Umbria said and put her hand on Lavender's shoulder.

"Yes," Lavender said even if a lump in her stomach began growing.

You can't lie to your sister.

"Next thing I want to talk about is the way you treat Zane," Umbria said and nailed Lavender with her eyes. Lavender did a little-alarming sound.

"Yes, I know it, did you think he would be quiet? Anyway, you shouldn't hurt him nor threaten him," Umbria said and gave Lavender a don't-try-to-resist gaze.

Lavender just muttering something and nodded. Umbria satisfied with what she had said to Lavender nodded and left her room.

Zane sat in his room and wondered how this Lavender thing would turn out. In the middle of his thoughts, someone called him. Zane walked over to his desk and picked up his mobile. He saw Andromeda's number and answered.

"Hi!" he answered and wondered if something had happened due to Andromeda's earlier suicide attempt.

Don't say she is in trouble with herself again.

"Hi," Andromeda answered markedly tired and sad.

"Are you okay? Has something happened?" Zane couldn't stop his concern. She delayed her answer a few seconds.

"Maybe…,"

"Tell me," Zane said while a chill flew trough his body as he thought: The worst is if she tries to do suicide I can't do anything about it more than talking to her.

"I lost control over myself again. Did I tell you that we have a school here, like you? Whatever, yesterday we had a class and I just become so frustrated over how much I had missed and left the lesson in rage. I walked to the building with my room and here I am now," Andromeda's voice trailed off. Zane heard her sobbing and said:

"You don't need to be ashamed if you have missed things. You are a perfect person like you are. Besides I'm sure that they can help you with that."

"Thanks but I've truanted way too much. I haven't learned a thing since my brother died. I've missed many years of education. If that isn't enough, I've never listened to the teacher or done my works when you dragged me to school,"

"Sigh. Next time, promise to call me whenever you get an impression of doing something you know is wrong," Zane said when he knew that she was safe.

"I will, I promise,"

A loud sound was heard in the background of Andromeda's voice.

"Zane, I'm gonna go eat. Talk to you later,"

"Bye,"

The call ended and Zane put his phone down.

I really hope that she stops with that behavior.

Down in the kitchen was Lavender. Out in the dinning room was Flaria and Eriel making the table. Lavender stood with the door to the dining room against her back. She was searching for a special thing.

There it is.

In the big kitchen there was a lot of kitchen-dressers with various things in them. Lavender was opening one of them. She sat down on her knees and picked up a single thing from it.

Too small.

Lavender put it back and took another similar thing.

I won't be able to hide it. It's too big.

She moved on to the next one.

Perfect. Medium big. Sharp. Plastic handle. 15(5.9 inches) cm long blade.

Lavender took the knife and wrapped it in a blood-red towel she brought.

She immediately rose from her kneeling position and shut the dresser when she heard steps closing in on the kitchen door. Valerie entered and didn't notice that Lavender had closed the dresser.

"Why do you have a towel?" Valerie asked and began pairing knifes with forks.

"Just spilled some water," Lavender said with a cold attitude.

Valerie nodded and didn't pay any more attention to Lavender as she walked out of the room to put out the cutlery.

This is perfect. Nobody uses it, so they won't notice if it's gone. Lavender thought and walked out of the kitchen with a grin. Umbria, fuck your rules.

Author note

Looks good? Reviews and likes are appreciated. If you got questions, send a pm and I answer as fast as possible. Over and out from DragonMasterPaarthurnax!