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Chapter 2
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A sixteen-year-old Libby sat on the corner of the street adjacent to that of the Hargreeves Mansion. Her tears mixed with the rain that dampened her face. Her natural blonde hair stuck to her face in wet, messy clumps. She wanted to go back. She wanted to go back so badly.
"Lib?"
"Go away, Klaus."
"You've been sitting here every night for the past three weeks," her brother huffed and held his umbrella above her head. She shut her eyes tightly when the raindrops quit hitting her body.
"And?" she crossed her arms over her chest defiantly. Her uniform was soaked and dirty from going unwashed. It didn't take Klaus long to piece together she had been living on the streets since she left the house.
"And I think it's time you come back. Vanya and I are worried," he spoke softly. Lib had always been scared easily and he was afraid if he raised his voice even a little bit, she'd run off again.
"You guy's have been doing just fine without me. I see it on tv…" she sniffled and buried her face in the crook of her elbow. Klaus dropped down beside her.
"You see what the old man wants the outside world to see. When the masks come off, we're just a family missing one of the most important pieces," he nudged her lovingly, not noticing the way her shoulders trembled. There was a long moment of silence, interrupted only by the sound of the wind picking up the heavy rain and crashing it against the umbrella.
"Do you still hear them…?" Libby pokes a charcoal-coloured eye out from under her veil of golden hair, "The voices, I mean."
"Yeah, why?" Klaus scrunched his brows in confusion.
"When I'm out here, I can hear all these people talking — not like you hear them — but they talk so loud and move so fast. Everything's just so different from the house and I don't know if I can handle it," Libby curled herself into an even tighter ball of self-doubt and fear.
Klaus was never the serious, emotionally-stable sibling. Hell, none of them were, but he was probably the last one tho go to if there was a problem. Knowing this, he handed the umbrella to Libby and stood up.
"I'm gonna go get Allison or – or maybe Pogo. They're a lot better at this than I am — "
"Four, please don't leave me," the blonde's hand shot out and tightly grasped onto the sleeve of her brother's jacket. He stopped dead in his tracks and blinked the shock away. Her eyes were full of pure fear, begging him to not leave. What surprised him the most was the fact that she had momentarily forgotten his name.
He was Klaus and had been that since Grace picked out names for everyone. Five thought he was too good for a name, but everyone else welcomed their new identities with open hearts. Names meant individuality. He was Klaus to his brothers and sisters, but Number Four or "The Seance" to the rest of the world.
Libby was Number Eight. The Dawn. Manipulator of how much light surrounded an object. By choice, she never manipulated the darkness simply because she didn't like how it looked. She was one of the last to memorize all the names, but she never went back to numbers once she did.
So the fact that she had said Klaus's number and not his name worried him to no end.
"O — Okay, yeah, sure, I can stay," a bead of nervous sweat fell off his brows.
"I'm not going back," his sister explained while linking her arm with his. Her free hand came up between them, glowing brightly and emitting a soft heat that kept them warm enough. They probably wouldn't get colds later.
"I know," Klaus sighed, resting his head on her damp shoulder. She leaned onto him with closed eyes.
"You're my favourite, you know?"
"Really? I thought you and Diego were pretty close."
Libby snorted amusedly, "That's the worst joke I've ever heard and I was forced to sit through Luther's comedian phase."
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The two made their way down to meet the others. As soon as Vanya's eyes fell upon Libby, she tensed up. The brunette's eyes warily shifted between Luther and Klaus.
"You guys were right..." she mumbled.
"Told you. She's basically Diego!"
"Piss off."
"Now that Klaus has his junkie-buddy, can we start the goddamned funeral?" Diego scoffed. Klaus faked a gasp while Vanya glared at him, angry words hidden behind cold eyes.
"I am so hurt by your words, brother dear," he was unable to keep a straight face. While he was cracking up, Libby only grew more furious.
"I haven't seen a needle in years, Diego. Grow up," She spat as she crossed her arms over her chest. Diego rolled his eyes and began walking away.
"We need to stop fighting and just get on with the funeral. Now, I was thinking we gather by Ben's statue and-" Luther's speech was cut off by a blue flash. A light had appeared outside, coincidentally at the same time that Libby was hit with a splitting headache.
Luther, as well as the others in the house, spun around as they heard a sharp intake of breath. Klaus' eyes widened as he watched the raven-haired woman double over and fall to her knees. Vanya rushed to her side.
"Libby? Hey, sis, what's wrong?" she asked, clearly concerned. Libby ground her teeth as accepted her sister and brother's help and slowly got back onto her feet.
"I don't have a clue...but it's coming from outside," she hissed through a clenched jaw. Klaus stayed behind to make sure she was okay while the others ran ahead. While doing so, he noticed Libby's eyes shifting in colour, per usual use of her powers. They shimmered as the entirety of the orbs distorted — one dark, almost pitch black, and one white as snow.
"Your eyes still do that when your powers get frisky?" he raised an eyebrow. Libby groaned, putting a hand to her head as her growing headache suddenly spiked.
"Unfortunately," she grumbled. Klaus let go of her for a moment, peeking through the window to see what was happening. He clicked his tongue before running into the kitchen.
"What in God's name are you doing?" Libby shouted.
"I have no idea!" Klaus answered. The raven-haired girl sighed as she held her head, a sudden wave of nausea striking her like a truck. She dragged herself into the kitchen just in time to see Klaus run past with a fire extinguisher.
"What are you going to do with that?!" she cried out in annoyance.
"I don't know!" the long-haired man shouted before running through the doors and into the garden. Libby sighed as she began to make herself a cup of coffee. The first of many, she hoped.
"Maybe this was a mistake...Not even a day in and things feel just like they were before I left," she mumbled to herself as she gulped down her hot beverage.
With me left alone and them out there...
A few sips into her third coffee cup, everything went eerily silent…
She raised an eyebrow when she heard the doors to the garden swing open. A light sigh escaped her lips as she sat her mug down. She strolled over to the cabinets and began searching for something — anything — to take the edge off.
"Bingo," she grinned, pulling an unmarked orange bottle out of one of the cupboards. She popped two into her mouth and washed it down with her coffee. Her headache was already getting better!
As she heard approaching footsteps and voices, she stuffed the bottle filled with the remaining mystery pills, into her pocket.
"What's the date-the exact date?"
"The twenty-fourth."
"Of what?"
"March?"
"Good," Libby cocked an eyebrow as she focused on the new voice she felt a weird sense of familiarity from. She didn't realize it until she saw his face, but the person the voice belonged to was all too familiar.
Five, a Hargreeves sibling who went missing seventeen years ago, was right in front of them. Little Number Five paused when he saw her.
"Libitina?" he stopped walking a moment, long enough for the others to catch up to him. He seemed to turn pale. Libby groaned, setting her elbows on the counter and burying her head in her palms. Worried looks were shot in her direction.
"Bloody hell..." she laughed hysterically, "Klaus, I think whatever the hell was outside messed with my head too much."
"I'm seeing Five. What the fuck did I put in my system?" she grumbled. Klaus walked up to her, grabbing the pills from her pocket.
"So much for being clean," Diego muttered. Libby glared at him before looking back at 'Five'.
"Shit...Maybe I just need to take more..." the raven-haired girl snatched the orange bottle from Klaus and unscrewed the top.
Suddenly, the bottle was smacked from her hand. Libby's widened eyes stared at the brunette responsible.
"You don't need those, idiot," Five spat. His sister froze.
"We all see him, Libby," Luther admitted, a hint of annoyance in his voice. Libby's jaw dropped as she studied the boys face. He didn't look any older than when he left. He still wore their old uniform...
"Now, about what-"
"Five?" Libby mumbled before running up to him and wrapping him in a warm hug, cutting Luther off in the process.
"Holy shit...I missed you," she whispered, tears forming in her eyes. The brunette boy in her arms hesitated before briefly returning the gesture. When they parted, Five began to scavenge the kitchen for its sandwich-making ingredients. Luther sighed through his nostrils.
"It's been seventeen years, Five. Are we not going to talk about what happened?" he asked as Five teleported behind him and then back in front of him to grab some bread.
"It's been longer than that," the boy stated matter-of-factly.
"Where did you go?" Vanya asked, face scrunched up confusedly.
"The future. It sucks by the way," Five grumbled. Klaus held a hand up and smirked.
"Called it!" he chuckled. Libby rolled her eyes and massaged her temples.
"Why didn't you try to come back?" she creased her eyebrows. Five looked like he was about to snap at her but he backed down.
"I couldn't. It took me much longer than I expected to find the equation," he admitted.
"Equation?" Klaus asked. Five shook his head and snapped as he finished making his sandwich.
"I wouldn't expect any of you to understand," he spat. Libby sighed exhaustedly.
"Time travel didn't work out and you went too far?" she threw her brother a disappointed look.
"Yup," his gaze fell to the floor and he suddenly found the dining room wood very intriguing.
"Realised your error years later?"
"Yup."
"You're like fifty now, aren't you?"
"You know, I'm really regretting letting you read my time travel notes."
With a heavy sigh and a lot of strange looks from the rest of her family, Libby pulled Five into another hug. God, it had been too long. She couldn't tell if it was relief or exhaustion that was warming her chest and making her head fuzzy.
"I'm just glad you're okay," she breathed out before putting most of her weight onto the smaller boy. Five tried to move out of her way but found he was stuck in her grasp.
"She passed out, didn't she?" he pursed his lips into a fine line. Allison cringed and Vanya stared worriedly at her sister. All of the siblings nodded their respective yeses.
"Yup," Klaus quipped while leaning against the island.
