The Thunderman Attic
Summary: Max and Phoebe have a long needed talk
Evie's Notes: Happy Friday! I hope you all had a wonderful week . Thank you so much your support of this story, it truly means the world to me 💜! I hope that you all enjoy the this new update 🌺.
Entering the attic Phoebe saw Max sitting in the window seat with Arabella's box before him. Open in his lap was a familiar big black scrapbook. Phoebe came up behind him and looked down, seeing that it was open to the picture of the three of them the day they had gone river tubing. She smiled at Arabella hanging all over Max in front of the river.
"I remember that day. You guys thought it would be funny to team up and flip me" Max laughed softly.
"I remember that, you swore that you saw a turtle on the bottom of the river. You freaked out so much because they told us not to touch the bottom because it would disrupt the wildlife."
"Oh yeah, I wonder how Carl is doing…". Getting back on track she continues, "Look Max, I understand what you are going through. Really, but we can't just stop living our lives because she is gone."
"How can you ask me to move on with my life, especially right now. Do you even remember what this week is? How can you focus on cheerleading and protecting Hiddenville right now? She is all that is running through my head. Every time I close my eyes I see her getting in that car." Max punches the pile of papers causing them to scatter around the room. "I should have done something, stopped her, done anything to ensure that she wouldn't go to that stupid conference. Our plans were proceeding well. We didn't need the connections she was seeking out."
Fighting back her tears Phoebe shouted "Of course I know what this week is! I know just as well as you that Friday was the day she disappeared. Don't think that her death, that's right her death, is something easy for me to deal with. She was my friend too! But we can't spend every waking moment thinking about her. We need to have other things in our lives like cheerleading or your band. She wouldn't want us to lose sight of ourselves or our plans in our grief. But that is exactly what happened!"
"How can I still focus on our plans? I can't imagine carrying on without her. She was everything to me Phoebe. We were going to accomplish all of those things together, we were an unbeatable team. And with you we were unstoppable. Her mark is all over our documents, I can barely bring myself to open this box."
"I do know that Max. I honestly thought that I would call her my sister-in-law one day. I know that it is hard to look at all of these things but you have to bring yourself to go through this stuff. How can you possibly blame yourself for what happened to her? You weren't even there, she was surrounded by heroes who were supposed to protect her. If they couldn't stop the villain then you would not have been able to."
"Exactly! She was surrounded by heroes and not one of them saved her. You once asked me why I became a supervillain and it's because not one of those "amazing" heroes stepped up to save her. How can I trust them to keep you, Billy and Nora, my band or Cherry safe? No, I just need to do it myself. The hero world is clearly more corrupt than we thought."
"Max this chest here is full of plans to conquer the superhero world. Before Arabella died, you guys had already talked about sorting out the corruption in the government. Hell, you had planned to get you elected as Eternal Super President."
"And you had been on board with that Phoebe. You were going to be my Vice President!"
"Yes, I was, because you guys were doing this as heroes. There is a difference Max, between your villain approach to ruling the world versus what I had agreed support."
"I do know that there is a difference. I also know that I don't care about doing it the "right" way anymore."
"Max, I know that being 'evil' isn't just a phase for you. I also think that being 'evil' isn't what you are really doing though."
"You don't think I'm a real supervillain?"
"Take a look at all of your pranks, are you really trying to hurt people? Do you want the world to bow before your feet? Do you want to enslave the masses? Your goals are what… to rule the world? Well you can do that legally. Your pranks are general mischief and fun hijinks, as well as occasionally blowing something up or writing your initials on the moon. Ask yourself though, do you want to hurt people?"
"The people who hurt her"
"Right, that is called vengeance and we can address that later on. But big picture you aren't walking around the street cooking up plots to hurt mankind. So, in my eyes, you aren't really a villain"
"I guess you are right… I didn't think about it that way."
"That's because the hero world only sees in black and white. They refuse to see the middle gray area where most of humankind operates. They see your search for vengeance and they automatically lump you in as a supervillain. This view of the world unfortunately includes Mom and Dad. She is gone though, and we need to make our peace with that. That being said, if you are still set on running for Super President and stopping the corruption in our Super World then I am willing to help you."
"As my Vice President?"
"Yes, but if we are going to get you elected we will need to reform your image. No one is going to elect a Supervillain Superhero President. The only way to connect with superheroes is to be one."
"I guess you are right, they aren't going to elect a Supervillain. I'm going to have to learn how to be a hero again. We will honor Arabella's memory by completing her work and reforming the Super World."
"Well I'm glad that we are on the same page then! Now, about Alison…"
"What about her?"
"I just think that maybe you aren't in the best place emotionally right now to be jumping into a new relationship. I get that she is super pretty, crazy, passionate, and a super awesome activist who wants to see major changes in the world. All things that Arabella was, but I just don't think that is the right move for you. That is not what you need right now, it would be easy to go about how we have been and try to just ignore it but we need to face our pasts."
"You're right. I mean I don't think I actually would have dated her. She reminds me too much of Arabella. I would like to keep her as a friend though."
"Having friends is a good thing Max. I think that it is healthy for you to be seeking out friendships as long as you are not trying to replace Arabella."
"That is definitely not what I am doing!"
"I'm happy to hear it. I have to go check on Cherry, are you going to be ok?" asked Phoebe worriedly.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. I think I'm just going to go through the rest of this box before doing some homework. Go have fun with your friend".
"Ok, promise me you'll call if you need anything"
"Yeah, yeah I promise, now get going pointy elbows" agreed Max, rolling his eyes.
"Talk to you later Stinkpot" teased Phoebe as she bounced down the stairs off to check on her best friend.
Evie's Notes 2: Thank you all so much for reading 💕! I hope you enjoyed this update, let me know your favorite part of in the comments! I hope to see you all next week 💗!
I love hearing from y'all! Let me know what you think of the chapter and the story so far in the comments or my Tumblr Find-y0ur-j0y! - Xo Evie 🌺