A/N: Hey everyone :)
I just wanted to give a huge THANK YOU to all the readers who have been extremely patient with this story, and to those who have left reviews to me, and/or favorited or followed this story, it means the world to me, and it certainly keeps me encouraged and motivated to not give up on this story. You guys are the absolute best!
Hope you guys enjoy :)
Chapter Eighteen: Chicken Noodle Soup
Luther threw another box across the room in frustration, he was getting nowhere. He thought finding his reports and samples from the moon would be a walk in the park, they would be sitting out in plain sight for him because his dad knew they were important, his dad knew Luther would connect the dots before his siblings did, he knew Luther would be looking for them at some point. The end of the world was connected to the moon, he knew it, his dad knew it, now all he had to do to prove it to everyone's skeptical faces was find the reports and samples. So far, he's been through the entirety of his dad's office and has yet to find anything.
He's made a mess of the office, when he first started looking, he was carefully putting everything he took out back in its place but as time went on the more irritated Luther got. Now boxes were thrown, their contents spilling to the floor, papers were ruffled and mixed up, drawers were pulled open, and cabinets were left half closed.
There was nowhere else those reports and samples could be, they had to be in here somewhere. Out of all his siblings Luther was the one to most understand their dad, understand his vision for them, he KNOWS his dad. Important information is stored in this office, Luther even looked in the hidden safe in his dad's bedroom and still didn't find what he was searching for, just jewels, money, journals, information on his mom and Pogo, and the deed to the manor.
"May I inquire as to what you're searching for Master Luther?" The accented voice of Pogo startled Luther, he was going through yet another draw, one that he's pretty sure he's went through multiple times already. Pogo was by the doorway to the office leaning heavily on his cane, his eyes took in the state of the trashed room, from his throat came a displeased sound.
"Where are they?" Luther slammed the draw shut and stood up from his place on the floor, his size immediately dwarfing the ape's.
"I'm afraid I haven't the slightly idea of what you speak of Master Luther." Pogo's even voice almost had Luther fooled but he refused to believe that their dad's right-hand man and confidant didn't know exactly what he was talking about.
"Don't lie to me!" He screamed, Pogo flinched back, "Please, where are they? The reports, the samples, the boxes, everything I sent down from the moon, where is all of it?" Luther softened his voice; his intention wasn't to scare Pogo, to have the ape believe Luther would actually lay his hands on him, as angry as he was, he would never do that.
Pogo stared at him for a long silent moment, before shaking his head in sympathy, with his cane he pointed to the floor next to where Luther was standing. Looking to his feet, Luther shook his head in bewilderment, there was nothing there, just carpet, shifting his weight to stand on top of the spot Pogo pointed at, a creak from the floorboards sounded.
He dropped down to his knees, pulling the carpet back, underneath was a handle that pulled up the false floorboards, pulling the handle Luther was met with bags upon bags of the reports and samples he had sent down, each and every one of them unopened. Slowly he pulled the white bags out, how could they remain unopened? His dad sent him to the moon for a reason, that reason had something to do with the world ending, it HAD to have, otherwise why send him? None of it made any sense.
"They're not opened." Luther quietly said, more to himself then to Pogo, who was still standing by the door, this time with more pity on his face.
"Why? How could he not open them? It doesn't make any sense." Luther cried, the tears slowly worked their way out of his eyes and down his cheeks, he clutched the bags tight to himself.
"After your accident, your father thought it best to give you some form of purpose, he thought this was the best way to do that." Pogo said to him, he hadn't agreed with Reginald's decision to send the young Master Luther to the moon but nor did he voice his disagreement at the time.
"The best way was to ship me off to the moon, where I was ALONE for 4 years!" Luther yelled back, he wasn't good enough, he failed as Number One and his dad had to get him out of the way, that's what it was, that's why he sent him away.
"That's not what-" Pogo tried to explain but Luther interrupted him.
"Please get out." he wasn't in the right state of mind to listen to Pogo defend his dad, Pogo always did that, and this time Luther didn't want to hear him out.
"Master Luth-"
"Get out!" With one last look to Luther sobbing on the floor, Pogo backed out of the room, closing the door behind him. He felt like an idiot crying over the bags, trying desperately to find one that was opened, to somehow salvage what he knew to be the truth now. He didn't understand how his dad could do this to him, how he could send him away, Luther was Number One, he stayed here when everyone else left, he defended Reginald to his siblings, all of his decisions were made to make The Academy look good and make his dad proud. What did he get in return for that loyalty, his dad discarded him to the side like he was week old trash, like he was a broken toy, no longer worth playing with.
Luther continued to dig out the many bags, there was a lot of them, he sent one practically every week, thinking that the information was important somehow and urgently needed when he was up there, what a joke that was now. His tears had stopped but his eyes still stung, and his nose was still running, he couldn't stop thinking about how foolish he was, his siblings were going to have a field day with this. They've never held back what they think of his devotion to their dad, with this new information Luther will be arming them with ammo to shoot him down with for years to come.
Reaching the end of the bags, he spotted an unfamiliar black box, pulling it out Luther inspected it, there was no markings or writing on the outside, he didn't remember sending this down. The lid on it had a lock that he easily busted off with a squeeze of his hand, pulling off the lid, Luther wondered what was inside the ominous black box.
At the very top was a journal that Luther ignored, placing that off to the side he opened an envelope that was right underneath the journal, in it he found a receipt for a check made out to Vanya dated two years ago. Under the envelope there was photo albums, he flipped one open, it was filled with pictures of Diego and Vanya, them in restaurants eating, them walking hand in hand on the sidewalk, numerous photos of them doing mundane things. He flipped open the other photo albums, these no longer contained Diego, instead they were of Vanya and Luna. Pictures of them grocery shopping, of Vanya taking Luna to the park, Luna playing in what must be Vanya's front yard. Most of the pictures were from afar, but there were a few that were taken to close for comfort, Luna and Vanya sitting at what must be their dining room table, Luna and a blonde-haired teenager on a living room floor playing, Luna sleeping in her crib. The pictures ranged from Luna being an infant to now, some of the photos were fuzzy, others were perfectly clear, each of them was clearly taken without the subjects knowing they were being photographed.
Under all the photo albums was a folder filled with letters from a "Doctor Jones", scanning them Luther concluded that they were updates to his dad on how Vanya was progressing in her pregnancy. Some of them were lengthier than others, going into how Vanya was looking beyond her physical health, some even had ultrasound pictures attached to the letters. Some had weird assurances that she was still taking her pills, Luther assumed those were the same pills from their childhood then something like prenatal vitamins.
Putting the letters down and picking up the journal, Luther wasn't surprised to find that his dad had written down theories about Luna. He had suspected she would be born will powers considering who her parents were, he kept track of Vanya and Luna to see when those powers would manifest. Luther was shocked that he knew Vanya and Diego were a thing though, has evidence of it even, he didn't know his dad kept tabs on his siblings lives after they left. The journal entries were clinical, none of them sounded like a grandfather writing about his granddaughter, they sounded like a scientist writing about his experiment.
Luther regretted opening the box now, its contents were creepy, they were alarming, he wasn't sure what to do with the information he now has. Does he tell Diego and Vanya? Does he tell Allison first to get her opinion? Does he pretend he never found the box? What does he do?
Diego sat on his old bed in The Academy, a twin sized piece of shit bed that squeaked anytime he shifted his weight, the springs underneath the thin cotton material were digging into his butt bones. Those springs have stuck out ever since he could remember, poking him anytime he tried to get decent rest after training. It was a terrible bed that could have afforded to be more comfortable considering their father had enough money to spare to be able to provide a few thousand luxury mattresses to anyone willing to take one. He didn't think a decent mattress was too much to ask for, this was just one of the many things Diego hated about The Academy. The problem wasn't that Reginald couldn't afford to give his kids better mattresses, the problem was that he wanted them to suffer in some small way, it was a form of control over them, something Diego hadn't fully understood until after he moved out and purchased his first mattress, a comfortable queen sized one that felt like he was sleeping on clouds.
He tried to ignore the noise the springs made when he leaned back, his side was killing him, what had started as a dull aching pain had progressed to a consistent stabbing pain, it felt like he was driving one of his blades into his ribs over and over again. He didn't want to admit to himself or out loud that it was because he's been moving far more than what was recommended by the doctors at the hospital. Leaving the hospital without a discharge was a piece of cake compared to some of the missions they had went on as kids, the only real difficult part was getting past the nurses that doubled as guards in front of his hospital room. He luckily was able to slip past them without notice but he did struggle to walk out of the hospital, acting like he wasn't hurt in anyway was a challenge, one that was now costing him, his side throbbed reminding him that he was hit with a real bullet, and he wasn't yet healed from that.
"Is Daddy okay?" His hiss of pain was cut short when Luna climbed onto the bed with him, squeezing herself next to him which was a feat in itself considering he took up the whole of the tiny mattress. She placed her little hand on his wound, rubbing it, which hurt like a son of bitch, but Diego refused to tell her to stop, he loved that Luna was trying her best to make his pain go away, it was sweet of her.
"Momma kiss it better?" Luna asked Vanya with expectant eyes, looking pointedly to Vanya waiting for her to get up from her place on the floor next to the bed, a place Luna was at before she decided he needed extra care for his pain. Diego tried to stifle his laugh when Vanya scowled back at Luna.
"Your daddy is just being dramatic little bug; he doesn't need kisses on his ouchy." Vanya threw him a nasty look when a snicker escaped his mouth, he couldn't help it though, he didn't think there could be anything more entertaining than watching Vanya have a stare down with their two-year-old daughter, a stare down that said two-year-old was winning.
"I don't know about all that Vanya; I am in a lot of pain." He groaned to emphasize his point, draping himself back further into the bed, letting out a wailing sound only a dying cat could make.
"Yeah? Whose fault is that?" Vanya told him, she got up from the floor smacking his leg while she was at it, "No one told you to go play escape artist." She wasn't going to feel sorry for him, not one bit.
"Yeah, yeah." He replied back sarcastically, he knows she wasn't happy that he left the hospital before they discharged him, but he really didn't want to stay there, those white walls were closing in on him, suffocating him to a point that he wanted to pull out his own hair. On top of that he didn't like how weak it made him appear to everyone, especially to Luna, she didn't need to see him like that, helpless in a hospital bed with cords coming out of every angle. Granted this wasn't much better but at least here he had the privacy of a familiar place, and he could pretend that nothing hurt without nurses contradicting him. Plus, the whole world ending thing couldn't be solved from a hospital bed, he was more useful out here than in there.
"I kiss it better?" Luna continued, without waiting for an answer she leaned over Diego's torso and planted a soft kiss over his wound through the fabric of his shirt, Vanya giggled when he let out another hiss of pain, one that couldn't be stopped by him clenching his teeth together.
"Thank you, baby girl, I'm sure I'll be healed up in no time." He told her taking deep breaths through his nose, she didn't press hard on him, all things considered she was actually pretty gentle, but the added pressure on his torso is what did him in.
"Come on little bug, let's go find you something to eat before you end up accidently killing your daddy." Luna smiled wide at him before jumping off the bed using his legs as added support to throw herself into Vanya's arms, she didn't seem all that concerned with accidentally killing him, so Diego had to wonder if she even knew what that meant, if so, she seemed way to happy at the thought.
Diego was actually glad to see the weird melancholy mood she had gotten into at the hospital had all but disappeared when they left and arrived at the manor. He was worried he had done something wrong when Vanya had left that made Luna get in such a mood. He thinks now it was the atmosphere around her that was affecting her attitude, she must have picked up on everyone's worry, fear, and concern over the apocalypse and acted accordingly, Luna does seem to be extra sensitive to their emotions. No matter the cause though Diego was happy to see his baby girl smiling, giggling, and giving her mother grown people looks that held no place on her face, far too serious for someone so small and cute.
"Diego?" Came a smooth voice from the doorway that Vanya and Luna had just exited, Diego flinched away from the voice, he hadn't expected to hear her voice again, at least not anytime soon, he hadn't known she was up and running, no one had told him she was fixed. His mom walked into the room, stopping at the foot of his bed, she looked perfectly fine, with a white button-down shirt, a full pink skirt with black polka dots on it, her blonde hair pulled back and curled, a vision straight out of a 1950's magazine. In her hands was a tray that held a bowl of soup, a glass of tea, and a water bottle, next to those a pill bottle that had "Pain Relief" written in large letters.
"Mom?" He croaked out, she didn't appear to really know what was happening, she almost looked lost, like she didn't know why she as there despite the "you're sick" tray in her hands. He hated what he did to her, it brought him unimaginable pain to take apart her wires the way he did, but it was too dangerous to leave her up and running. The way she had vacantly sat well the house was under attack was unnerving, it wasn't right, he felt like he didn't have much of a choice at the time. He wouldn't say he regretted the decision exactly, but he did miss her, messing up her wires wasn't an easy decision, it has weighed on him since he made that choice.
"I thought you'd might be hungry sweetheart, I brought you chicken noodle soup, homemade." She had a full red lipped smile showcased, artificially perfect like the rest of her, she placed the tray on the nightstand next to him, leaning over Diego, she pushed his hair back from his forehead. He was sweating, his throat tightened when she traced the scar he had on the side of his face, looking at her arm where he had pulled her wires free, there was crudely done stiches in place, sealing the wires back inside.
"You're walking," Diego dumbly stated, "How are you walking?" He pushed past the stabbing pain in his side to sit up, he didn't know what she remembered, if she knew what he had done, but the thought of his mom hating him was panic inducing.
"Of course I'm walking silly," she giggled, a tinkering sort of giggle that didn't sound human, which it wouldn't because she wasn't, something Diego always had to remind himself of, "Now eat your soup before it gets cold, it will make you feel better." She said back, nodding her head in assurance.
"I'm-I'm- mom," Diego pushed the tray back to where it was when she pushed it closer to him, he didn't want to eat, he wanted to understand how she was okay, who had fixed her, and if she remembered what he did to her, "What's the last thing you remember?"
She gave him a strange look, her eyes going unfocused well she shifted through her data, when she started droning something about a sunset and a dinner menu she made over a week ago, he interrupted her.
"You don't remember anything else? All that happened over a week ago mom." He stood up from the bed, she immediately put her hands to his shoulders to push him down again.
"I suppose it's odd but it's not something you need to worry about Diego, all you need to worry about is getting better, getting rest." He looked into her eyes, trying to see if he could spot something, what, he didn't really know but his mom was the same as she always was, loving, concerned, supportive and that was what he saw reflected back when he looked at her.
This time when she pushed the tray closer to him, he didn't push it back, he picked up the warm bowl and the spoon and started scooping the contents up to his mouth.
"The weather seems nice today." She commented to him, staring wistfully out the tiny window in his room, she looked at the window how a kid might look at a brand-new toy, with want, "I'll suggest to Vanya to take Luna to the park, it looks like a perfect day for that."
"It does." He agreed, she wasn't mistaken, the little window gave a clear view to the sky that shined a light blue, fluffy white clouds were gathered around, blocking the sun, making it an overall nice day to spend outside. His dad never let his mom off school grounds, she was always kept locked away, a prisoner in a place that was meant to be home, she was locked in like all of them were, at the beck and call of the old man who dared call himself their father, she had never been outside, she had never experienced anything beyond these walls.
"We'll all go together mom," Diego promised her, Reginald wasn't there anymore, they could do what they want now, she can do what she wants now, "Me, you, Luna, and Vanya can go to the park when I'm better, yeah?"
He watched as a large smile spread on her lips, one that looked less artificial, more real, "I would absolutely love that, Diego." He grinned back putting his half-eaten bowl of soup down, he reached for the pain pills and water bottle next, he was relieved she didn't remember anything, he wouldn't be able to stand his mom looking at him like he was a monster.
Exiting Diego's old bedroom with Luna in her arms, Vanya intercepted their mom walking down the hallway with a large tray in her hands. A tray that looked familiar to Vanya, it's the very same one that their mom used to use to bring them homemade chicken soup when they were sick as kids. Getting a peek into the bowl, Vanya smiled to her mom, it was of course homemade chicken noodle soup, she knew their mom was taking that to Diego, which was a good thing, she's not convinced Diego actually ate at all at the hospital.
Vanya was a little startled to see their mom walking around, though she was quick to hide that reaction. Diego had told her the crazy people had pulled apart their mom's wires, that she wasn't working, they didn't know when she would be fixed, if at all. She assumed Pogo spent the better part of his time fixing their mom, no one else could have, they've all been too busy with trying to figure out the apocalypse and with disappearing siblings. Not for the first time, Vanya sends a silent prayer to whoever is listening that Five was okay wherever he was at, it worried her that he had just took off with no warnings.
Getting to the manor, Vanya had assumed they would all sit down to discuss what more they could be doing about everything, none of that had panned out as she had expected though. Luther was off attempting to find the samples he sent down to their father from the moon, even though Vanya was sure those samples were useless. Klaus was resting in bed after he had taken a shower, Allison was in her room slowly packing her things to leave, both of which Vanya couldn't fault her siblings for, Allison deserved to see her daughter before anything happened to the world, and Klaus deserved to sleep after losing someone very important to him.
"Hello, my dears." Vanya stopped in front of her mom, looking her up and down for any unusual things, on her arm as she suspected was poorly done stiches.
"Hey mom." She murmured back, she shifted Luna to her other side, trying not to bump into the tray as she gave her mom an awkward side hug, she wasn't as close to their artificial mother as Diego was but she did love her, and it did hurt her when she was told her mom wasn't working anymore.
"Gramma Grace! Look mamma it's gramma Grace!" Luna squealed, she flapped around in Vanya's arms until Vanya took the hint to move closer so Luna could hug her "gramma" around the neck with what was undoubtedly a tight squeeze that would have choked the life out of any normal person.
"She's working again!" Luna put her hands on Vanya's cheeks, looking into her eyes with over excited happiness.
At this point she figured it wasn't even worth asking anymore who had told Luna that Grace was her grandmother, or who had told her the robotic woman wasn't in commission, she would probably receive the same response that she's been getting, which was that no one had told Luna, she just knew. The question that remained was how she "just knew" information she shouldn't know.
"Yeah, she is little bug," Vanya says back to her, "And right now she's trying to give your daddy some soup so he can feel better, so let's let her do that, and me and you go downstairs to see if there's any soup left for us." Vanya sets Luna down to the ground, grabbing hold of her hand before she can run off without her, Luna nodded her agreement, waving bye to her gramma Grace.
"Of course there's more Sweetheart, it's on the stove." Her mom said to her with one of her unnaturally large smiles that showed off all of her gleaming white teeth, Vanya waved back at her mom when Luna tugged her around to pull her to the stairs. She hoped the meeting between Diego and their mom went well, Diego was sure to be shocked when he seen their mom walking through the door.
In the kitchen, Vanya seated Luna at the table, after getting her little bug situated, she went to one of the far too many cabinets to pull out two bowls, well she was serving the soup into both of them, Klaus walked into the kitchen. Vanya didn't say anything to him, just watched him, he had paused at the table next to Luna, glancing around the room with wild frantic movements, something like panic in his eyes. She wasn't well versed in Klaus's addictions; on the contrary she tried her best to stay away from that part of Klaus's life. She didn't like it, she didn't judge him for what he thought he needed to do, she couldn't even fathom the amount of pain he must constantly be going through to lead him back to his bad habits, but she did choose to not involve herself, especially not now with Luna.
"Klaus?" She spoke his name carefully to him, she sent down Luna's bowl in front of her, giving her little one a spoon, she was glad when Luna became more interested in shoveling spoonsful of soup into her mouth then what she was with her uncle Klaus twitching next to her.
"Are you okay?" Vanya questioned him laying her hand on his arm, he stared down at her hand, blinking slowly at it, she wasn't sure if he was actually seeing her hand or not, beads of sweat were running down his forehead, his mouth kept pinching out too. She's not an expert but she thinks he's detoxing, she didn't know what else it could be, he was acting to strangely for it to be anything else.
"Yeah-Yeah I'm good-I'm fine." Klaus dragged his sentence out, licking his lips in between each word, scratching at his throat.
"I um-I uh-I actually came here to ask you a favor." Vanya stared at him, waiting for him to continue. She couldn't think of anything that he could want from her, she didn't have much to offer, regardless though she would try her best to give Klaus what he needed.
"Or more accurately ask you if it's okay if Luna does something for me." He blurted, his body stiffened, Klaus backed away from her, he watched her with wary eyes, as if expecting her to snap at him or something.
"Luna? What do you need Luna to do?" She was more confused than anything else, she doesn't know what Klaus thinks Luna could do for him, she was only two years old. Yes, her little bug understood more than the average two-year-old, she spoke fairly well for her age as well, but she was still a toddler, one that was barely coming into a gift no one yet understood completely.
"I want to see if she can help me contact someone." Klaus cautiously said back, instead of answering him Vanya peered at Luna, she had put down her spoon in favor of watching her Uncle Klaus with her full attention. Luna observed him far to intelligently, a tiny wrinkle came to her forehead when she squinted at Klaus, titling her head with interest.
Vanya didn't have to ask Klaus who he wanted to contact; she knew exactly who her brother wanted to see; she didn't sit in the hospital with a grieving Klaus in her lap only to play dumb now, he wanted to see if Luna could help him contact Dave, the person Klaus had lost when he went back in time.
A/N: Will Luna be able to help Klaus contact Dave? Stay tuned to find out ;)
Hope you guys enjoyed, feel free to leave a review :)
***ANSWER TO REVIEW***
To: Guest: Thank you so much for your review :) Yes, this story is taking way (way) longer than I thought to complete but I do have these sporadic updates lmfao I am happy to know that you caught one of them lol Luna is certainly a mystery, even I'm still trying to figure her out jk Thank you again for leaving a review, reading them always make my entire week :)
