A/N: Hope you guys enjoy :)
Chapter Six: HeiHei Is My Spirit Animal!
His eyes slowly ran over her body, taking her in, God she was so gorgeous, a quiet beauty, it didn't scream in your face, but it was a type of beauty that was captivating because it was soft. Her chocolate-colored hair was scattered on his arm, it was ticking him a little bit, but he didn't move the strands away. His leg was between her own legs, he could feel her center heat on him, he shuttered with memories of the previous night. She looked even more lovely with her head thrown back in the throngs of pleasure.
Diego was being unfair to her, he shouldn't have told her he loved her last night, he himself wasn't even sure if that's what he felt, he thought that's what he felt and in that moment that it was said he meant it but now he doesn't necessarily think it's not what he feels but there's more guilt riddled into it. He told her he wanted a life with her, again something that wasn't a lie when he said it in the moment, wasn't a lie now just another thing that's more complicated outside of their physical pleasure.
Vanya deserved so much more then him, so much more than his selfishness. He couldn't keep dragging her down the hole he couldn't seem to stop digging himself into. She shouldn't have to fight to get out of the hole like Eudora did, clawing at its walls, frantically searching for a way out all the while going deeper because he wouldn't stop digging, he wouldn't do that to her, he couldn't do that to her. He's been using her to sooth a broken heart, he couldn't do that anymore, not when he uttered words of love and made promises to her. He couldn't play games anymore, not when her getting hurt was the price for playing those games.
He placed his hands on her shoulders and shook her lightly to wake her up. She blinked up at him with a tired smile, happiness shining in her eyes. Flashes of a life with her ran through his head. Normal mundane days of sitting on the couch with her feet thrown over his legs as they argued over Netflix shows, cooking breakfast with her in their silly pajamas that probably matched because they were that cheesy, laughing together when their pet that they're sure to get does something hilarious. Extraordinary days, seeing her walk down a long aisle wearing an elegant white dress, seeing her belly swell with proof of their couplings together, holding her hand with her legs up ready to bring a beautiful being they created together into the world. They would be happy, and they would cherish every moment of that life together.
But that life was just a fantasy.
"You need to leave." Diego spat out to her, he rolled off the bed, hurriedly pulling on his blue flannel pajama pants that were thrown carelessly on the floor next to the bed. Vanya was still laying down, a red bed sheet wrapped around her.
"What?" She breathlessly laughed out; he was joking right? In another second, he was going to laugh, tell her he was kidding and to lighten up, after Vanya scolded him for that mean joke, they would go make breakfast together or order something in and it would all just be chalked up to a terrible prank.
"Leave. Get out. I don't want you here anymore." He pronounced each thing slowly and carefully as if she were a mentally ill person who couldn't understand what he was saying, his brown eyes were blown wide with hostility, he was pointing to his door for emphasis.
"Are you okay-what's going on-what did I-" she rushed to speak, several things tried to escape from her mouth at once which made her words gargled and mushed together, the sight of his eyes rolling was painful.
"What part are you not understanding Vanya! Get the fuck out! I don't want you here anymore!" He screamed at her, he almost dropped down to his knees to apologize when she recoiled back from him, scared from his sudden outburst, clutching the sheet tighter, pulling it in like it would protect her from him.
"I don't understand Diego-what did I do wrong?" She sobbed, where was this coming from? They were fine last night, even fine for a minute when she had woken up. What happened? What changed?
"This was wrong, you were a mistake! How I could ever think you were something more than nothing, I have no fucking clue!" It hurt and stung like a bitch for him to say to her, but he had to make sure she never wanted to come back. Vanya had gotten up from the bed with the sheet clasped in her hands, she started searching for her pants, Diego bent down to pick them up and threw them at her roughly when she spotted them at his feet.
"You've never been anything special Vanya, last night just proved that." It was a lie, just as everything else was but he needed to keep himself in check, he could break down when she left, but for now he needed to protect her by breaking her.
"I don't want you around anymore, I don't love you, I don't care about you, I never have." Her jeans weren't even pulled all the way up her butt and zipped before she was running out his door crying. He stared after her, allowing his own tears to finally break free, he did the right thing, every hurtful word just spoken was for Vanya's own good, at least that's what he kept telling himself well he resisted the urge to run after her.
"Play it again." Luther rudely demanded of Allison who was sitting behind him as he watched the video of their mom with their dad in his bedroom, doing something. The video was not very clear on what exactly was happening between them, but it was heavenly implied what was going on.
"Just because you play it a thousand times Luther, doesn't mean something different is going to appear." She was tired of repeating herself to him, she's played the video back a good 20 times now, she refused to play it again.
"Dad was paranoid, he thought someone was after him, looks like he wasn't too far off." Luther pushed the chair he was sitting on back and stood up, he knew something fishy was going on, he should have followed his first instincts, they were never wrong.
"But mom? Really?" Allison's voiced her doubt, she knew what it looked like on the video, but their mother was the sweetest woman around, there was no way she could have done something like this...right?
"Anyone is capable of anything." Luther answered back, their mom wasn't a real person no matter how much some of his siblings liked to believe otherwise. She was far more capable of doing something horrible then a normal person, she doesn't feel emotions the way they do so how could she know it was wrong to do, how could she express guilt or shame over it when she couldn't comprehend the sentiment attached. The simple answer to Luther was that she couldn't, she was metal, not flesh, she doesn't have the capabilities of a real human, she can look like one at its finest and she can mimic one, but she can't genuinely feel anything herself.
"We can't just go around accusing people Luther." Allison knows how he is, he takes things in without fully thinking them through, all of them did, but this is a sensitive topic, it couldn't be dealt with like they were bulls in a China shop, which has proven to be Luther's specialty, he had no tact, no delicacy when the situations they involved themselves in clearly called for it.
"I know that." He muttered back, as much as he wanted to demand answers, to treat this like it was any other mission and go in guns blazing, he couldn't, not if he wanted to actually get anywhere, he knew he couldn't do what he did at the funeral.
"We need to bring everyone here and talk about what to do as a family." She thinks this was the best course of action to go about handling the situation, get everyone's opinions and decide as a family what to do, they weren't strangers to each other, they were siblings, so they needed to start acting like it.
"Is that really the best idea?" Luther's skepticism hung thick in the air, every one of their siblings was caught up in their own lives, maybe it was for the best to handle this without them. Plus, some of their siblings (namely Diego) would not be able to take this information in on a realistic angle, their feelings would get in the way and no doubt cloud their logical thinking.
"Of course it is, she's not just our mom Luther, she's theirs to and they should have a say in how to go about handling this." She scolded, Allison understood where Luther was coming from but he needed to understand that this family wasn't going to get anywhere with secrets, it hasn't gotten them anywhere thus far so why keep repeating the cycle, ending up with the same results, that was madness in her eyes.
It was a nightmare, only a nightmare, Luna's scream in the night had nearly given Vanya and Diego a heart attack, it felt like it had rattled the whole house and shook it up, blaring in sound, Vanya could still hear it ringing in her ears, an energy of it building. She doesn't think she's ever moved as fast as she had the previous night, her and Diego lost all accounts of what they were talking about, their feelings were put behind them in that moment, they only thing that mattered was getting to Luna, they ran towards the screams, terrified on what may lie beyond the door, of what they might find.
What they found was Luna in her tiny toddler bed, uncontrollably sobbing. Her whole body shook with the force of her sobs, her breaths coming out uneven and choppy, hiccups accompanied her crying. She had her Moana blanket pulled up to her chin, and her favorite stuffed animal in her hands under the blanket, a stuffed ladybug Vanya had gotten as a gift from Nurse Jesse when Luna was born, when gifting it she had told Vanya that her little bug could now have a little bug of her own.
Vanya was relieved, she didn't want her little one to be having bad dreams, but she had feared the worse when she heard the screams, a million thoughts went through her head, she was glad to see none of those crazy thoughts happening.
When Luna had caught sight of Vanya and Diego in the room with her, she insisted both of them cuddle with her. Vanya wasn't sold on the idea of cuddling with Diego but she couldn't deny Luna anything when she was terrified out of her mind and in need of comfort, so she moved all of them to the living room, Luna's toddler bed couldn't support two grown adults and a child.
She was shocked that Luna wanted to cuddle with Diego though, she didn't know what to think about Luna being so comfortable with Diego in such a short time. If Vanya didn't know any better, she would say that her little bug knew who Diego was already but that was impossible, so she chased the thought away as soon as it appeared. Luna had calmed down considerably after getting her requested cuddle session, so Vanya felt there was no need to mention anything, the last thing she wanted to do was give her little one the impression that she shouldn't be comfortable with and around Diego.
Vanya had moved away from the two sleeping figures on the couch where the initial cuddle session took place. After coming to the living room last night both Diego and Vanya worked at telling Luna sweet nothings to get her to calm down, she kept muttering that her arm hurt but Vanya checked it several times over and each time nothing was there, the only thing she could do was kiss the invisible boo-boo. Eventually between the two of them and "Moana" playing on the TV Luna had dosed off, happily snuggled between the two adults, Diego followed her into dreamland not to long after. But not Vanya, she had moved away from them not that long ago, now she just sat staring at them, she did feel somewhat creepy for staring at them in their sleep, but not enough to remove her eyes from them.
Diego had moved in his sleep until he was on his back, he had pulled Luna to him and had the poor girl cuddled in a death grip against him, though she didn't seem to mind. They looked adorable together, two perfect beings that mirrored each other, they both had a hold of her heart and looking at them she knew she wouldn't have it any other way. Vanya knew Diego would be a good father to Luna she wasn't worried about that fact, especially seeing how he handled her in a frazzled state, it made Vanya feel better knowing he would do just fine as a parent. It was herself that she worried over, she didn't want her relationship with Diego to affect the relationship between Luna and him, they had talked a little bit, but it still felt like they had unresolved tension lingering in the air.
Plus, Vanya hasn't had time to truly process what he had said to her, about Eudora and the broken pieces of him that he used her to pick up. She feels like she should be angrier over it then she is, but really the whole thing made sense. Perhaps Vanya should have seen that Diego was using her from the start, the fact that she didn't was rooted in her own lonely emotions, she had thought to be cautious at the time but one threat to leave from Diego had her scrambling to keep him there. The whole situation was a mess and Vanya didn't know how to clean it up, but she wanted to.
Hard knocks on her front door snapped Vanya out of her thoughts, the pounding stirred Diego awake, he blinked up at the ceiling in confusion. Vanya spared him a look before getting up, on the other side of the door Allison had her fist ready to knock again but was met with air when the door opened. The two sisters stood there staring at one another, not saying anything until Vanya remembered her manners.
"Hi." Vanya moved to open the door wider, she motioned for Allison to come into the house before closing the door.
"What are you doing here?" She didn't want to seem rude, but she highly doubted Allison came by for a leisure visit, she probably wasn't here to catch up, gossip, and paint each other's nails. Especially not when Vanya could feel nerves coming off of Allison, that wasn't a good thing.
Allison let her eyes roam the spacious living room before she answered, Vanya's home was cute and nicely decorated, a color scheme of black, white, and grey dominated everything, sleek and elegant without being cold. The only splash of color came from the various things that clearly belonged to Luna, bright pink stuffed animals, blue placemats with numbers on the floor, a purple alphabet board on the wall, a green table and chairs with "Moana" printed on them to name a few. Allison noticed pictures hanging on the walls and displayed on the fireplace, she wanted to walk over to get a closer look at them, but she held herself back, this wasn't that kind of visit. If all went well, she would be coming over soon and could look at those photos all she wanted.
It was interesting to be in Vanya's territory like this, in a way Allison felt like she was intruding, especially when her eyes paused on Diego who was on the couch wide awake very obviously just getting up, he was looking straight at her, a tiny body protectively cuddled to him.
"Something came up at the manor, Luther and me decided that it was best to get everyone's opinion on what to do, so I came to inform you guys." Allison hoped they wouldn't pester about the situation, just came with her. Truthfully, she could have just called them, but she couldn't resist the urge to take a look at where her sister and niece were living.
"Luther wants our opinion?" Diego scoffed at the mere thought that Number One would voluntarily seek out the opinions of siblings he considered himself to be better then and to be the leader of.
"Mostly me but Luther's on board to hear everyone out to." Allison replied, she could understand where the doubt came from. Luther never wanted to hear what everyone had to say, he always felt like his opinion outweighed everyone else's so therefore it was the right one. He never bothered to ask what anyone else thought, and he got annoyed anytime anyone tried to say something different then what he was saying, he was quick to dismiss them.
"Okay." Vanya nodded, she was going to ask what happened, but she decided against it, she would find out soon enough. Without a word she left the room to go get clean clothes on and pack a bag for Luna.
"So..." Allison let the word hang in the air between her and Diego, she wanted to ask what happened with their talk if they had one but at the same time she didn't want to push him to give her information that he wasn't ready to share.
"We talked a little bit last night, she told me she wasn't ready to forgive me yet, but we didn't get beyond that because Luna had a nightmare." Diego had moved Luna off his chest to be able to stand up and stretch, his bones screeched in relief.
"Awe poor baby." Allison thought Luna was just the cutest thing, she remembered when Claire was that age, some good memories and some bad memories because of her rumoring. She would give anything to turn back the hands of time and have her daughter be Luna's age again so she could do stuff right instead of depending on a power that has given everything and yet nothing to her at the same time.
In the back of her mind, Diego's words caught up and she briefly wondered what Diego had apologized for and why Vanya needed to forgive him, but she didn't linger on those thoughts, to preoccupied with regrets.
"Yeah, it was really weird, she kept saying that her arm hurt, she was crying but there wasn't anything on her, no cut, no bruise, not even a scratch." Allison had little to no experience in the nightmare department with kids, Claire has only had about 3 in her life so far, and each time it was easy to take care of with a rumor, but Allison did think nightmares about phantom pain for a 2-year-old was odd, but what did she know?
"Are you guys ready?" Vanya had walked back into the living room, interrupting what Allison had planned to say back, she was dressed in fresh clothing with a diaper bag on her arm that Diego immediately took from her, he leaned down over the couch and picked up Luna's still sleeping form, and started walking outside. Vanya stayed standing by the couch with Allison, looking at the front door, having someone else around doing mundane things like carrying the diaper bag would take some getting used to.
When they arrived at the manor and walked inside, Diego didn't hesitate to lay a still sleeping Luna down on one of the many very uncomfortable couches that Vanya loathed with a passion, that couch and every other couch in the manor defeated its purpose in life. Everyone but Five was here, it felt just as awkward now as it did when Luther was accusing them of killing their father.
A TV was set up in front of everyone, a video tape half hanging out of the VCR player, Luther pushed the tape in, a black and white screen showed video of what looked like their father's room, he was laying on the bed and their mom had leaned over him to give him something to drink, when she pulled back their father started convulsing.
It became very apparent very fast what they had to talk about.
"So now mom killed dad, not one of us, that's what you're saying, that's what you called us all here for," Diego couldn't believe this insane nonsense that someone killed their father was being brought up again, he thought they already hashed that out and it was dropped, but of course this was Luther, he didn't know how to leave well enough alone.
"You saw the tape." Luther pointed out, it was very obvious what had happened, it was right in front of their faces in the form of the video, he got that it was hard to comprehend and point fingers at loved ones but Diego plainly saw with his own eyes, so it was perplexing why he insisted on ignoring what was clearly on the tape.
"She didn't kill him, if he was poisoned it would have shown up in the coroner's report." Diego argued, he stepped closer to the VCR to rewind it.
"She was getting his monocle, not killing him." Diego was hoping that the truth of what happened to the damn monocle would stay a mystery, he should have known better. He couldn't let everyone think their mom killed anyone though.
"Then where is it? I searched everything and everywhere in this house for it and it's nowhere!" Luther's voice got louder, Vanya isn't so sure now that it was a good idea to lay Luna down on the couch, she didn't want her waking up to yelling.
"That's because I took it from her." Diego admitted with a shrug, trying his best to seem nonchalant about it.
"You've had the stupid thing this whole time and you didn't say anything...what the hell Diego?" Allison couldn't get where that seemed like a bright idea in his head, Luther went crazy looking for it and the entire time Diego was playing keep away.
"Give it to me." Luther ordered, holding out his hand as if he expected Diego to pull it from his pocket and hand it over.
"It's gone now, I threw it away, I knew that if you found it on mom you'd lose your shit, so I took it." Diego didn't see the big deal; he was protecting their mom, the rest of them should be thanking him, had Luther found the monocle on their mother, who knows what he would have done in a moment of suspicion and anger with no one else around.
"You son of a bitch." Luther snarled, taking a threatening step forward.
"Okay, I think everyone needs to calm down." Vanya suggested, her hands were thrown up in a typical "I surrender" pose, her voice was low, but her tone was hard.
"Yeah, you limp noodles, there's a baby sleeping, have some respect." Klaus piped in with his opinion, up until that point he had been quiet, his eyes playing tennis watching Diego and Luther have yet another argument.
At the mention of Luna, Diego let himself out of the protective stance he hadn't known he even got in, he straightened himself up and took a few steps back from Luther to calm himself down.
"Mom was designed as a caretaker but also as a protector, if someone's life is in danger then she's programmed to step in and help." Vanya told everyone, she remembered her father mentioning that growing up, it would have been impossible for their mom to sit back and watch as their dad died and do nothing.
"Her hardware is degrading?" Luther's question left no imagination to his opinion on what to do if that was the case for their mom.
"She's not just a vacuum cleaner you can put away Luther, she feels things, I've seen it!" Diego snapped, how could anyone of them possibly be considering shutting down their mom, it wasn't right, he wouldn't stand by and let that happen.
"She just stood there Diego!" Luther argued back.
"I'm with Luther on this one." Allison announced, Vanya didn't know they were choosing sides.
"Yeah, that's a fucking surprise." Diego spat out, of course Allison would side with Luther, when didn't she side with the Jolly Green Giant.
"Oh, get off your high horse Diego." Allison scoffed.
Almost simultaneously Luther and Diego's heads snapped towards Vanya, she didn't like being this closely examined by them. They wanted her to choose sides in an argument she wasn't even sure she understood 100% yet.
"Mamma?" Vanya was relieved that she didn't have to choose sides out loud, she was going to say Diego's name, but she didn't want to hear any backlash on why they think she sided with him. But luck was on her side that day because Luna woke up just in time so she could avoid it, though Vanya was upset at them for waking Luna up with their arguments.
"I'm here little bug, you're okay." Vanya moved to sit on the couch with her, Diego had stepped closer when Luna's little voice rang in the air, his face filled with guilt for waking her up, everyone else paused in their actions.
"See what you guys went and did! You woke up the baby!" Klaus exclaimed, accusingly looking to everybody in the room, Vanya was amused to see how offended Klaus was over everyone waking up Luna.
"Where are we?" Luna's confused voice asked, her honey eyes were taking everyone in one by one, pausing longer on Klaus, tilting her head strangely before moving on.
"In the big house again." Vanya answered her, when they had come for the funeral Vanya had just told her they were going to a big house to say goodbye to someone, Luna hadn't asked many questions beyond that, so Vanya didn't elaborate.
"I think this conversation can wait until later...in any case Five isn't here and he should have a say on what to do about mom." Vanya told everyone. She didn't want them to argue in front of Luna, especially because her bug didn't know them all that well yet and Vanya didn't want her getting scared away. Everyone to Vanya's surprise nodded in agreement, even Luther who she had expected to put up some argument, he looked reluctant to agree but one look from Allison was all that was needed.
After that was decided, everybody dispersed to do their own things, Luther and Allison left somewhere together, Klaus grinned at her bouncing himself over to sit on Luna's other side.
"Hey, I'm going to go talk to mom really quick, I'll be back in a little bit." Vanya saw their mother peeking into the room only to scatter away when she noticed both Diego and Vanya looking at her, she had clearly been there a while and more than likely heard everything that was said. Vanya knew their mom cared and loved all of them but there was no doubt that Diego shared a special connection with her that none of the rest of them did, he always has.
"Okay." Vanya nodded, Diego leaned down to press a kiss to Luna's forehead before he went after their mom who was no longer peeking into the room, baking sheet pans could be heard banging around in the kitchen where she most likely was because no one else in this family knew how to bake for shit.
"Hi!" Vanya turned her head back from where she was staring at Diego's retreating form, Luna was grinning up at Klaus, excitement in her eyes, Klaus was grinning right back.
"Hi right back at you little lady." Luna giggled when Klaus ruffled her hair.
"You guys want to play with me?" Luna didn't wait for a reply, just started digging into the bag Vanya had packed for her and pulling out the toys, ignoring the extra clothing that was in there with them.
"Do you like Moana, cause I like Moana." Out came the Moana and Maui dolls, Klaus's eyes lit up like 4th of July fireworks at the sight of them, Vanya sat back and watched them get every toy she had packed out of the bag.
"Are you kidding me right now! HeiHei is my spirit animal!" Hearing that kind of made Vanya wish she had brought the chicken doll that screeched. Him and Luna traveled down from the couch to the floor, as Vanya watched them start to play, she wished for more moments like this. She wanted her siblings to be a part of Luna's life, she wanted Luna to have her aunts and uncles there for her, Vanya hopes they could have this in the future, of course assuming that they save the future first.
A/N: Luna and her Uncle Klaus will one day rule the Disney world together with HeiHei as their sidekick lmfao
Hope you guys enjoyed, feel free to drop a review :)
