REWRITTEN.
Present day
Violet Hargreeves was anxious - what else was new?
All morning she had been pacing the hallways in her cloaked form, passing by all of the childhood bedrooms of her siblings and recalling memories of old times. Not all of them pleasant. Most of them, not.
Her stomach twisted at the thought of seeing them all again. The people who had left her to rot in this house with no escape, who barely bothered to check if she was still alive.
She was left alone in such a large house and her days would become one endless cycle of monotonous misery.
A little part of her still wanted to see Vanya and Klaus; the only two who really tried keeping contact. Sometimes Klaus came back, usually high and searching for money or leftover pills hidden away in his old bedroom. She hated seeing him like that, but a selfish part of her liked him coming by because he actually spoke to her.
Vanya was different. Since a few years ago she made it a point to call at least once a week, or check in with Pogo to ask how she was doing, which was nice, she supposed.
At some point Violet had had a real bad time with her mental health and Vanya had been the only one to respond or even notice her sudden silence. After the incident, she had made a promise to keep calling.
And truly, it did help. It made her feel less lonely inside the huge, lifeless house. And maybe, just maybe, like someone cared.
"Aren't you happy you'll be seeing your brothers and sisters again?" Grace asked in a kindly inquisitive voice, and Violet stopped her pacing to turn to the woman.
She fiddled with her fingers and looked down, shrugging. Sometimes Violet hated herself for not even being able to have a normal conversation with her mother, and despite her being a robot, Violet simply struggled to get the words out.
Grace's warm smile did little to calm her nerves. "Don't worry about it, Violet. Everything will be okay."
Grace had always tried to calm the girls nerves ever since she was a child, but it seemed that no amount of tweaks to her software could teach her how to make Violet normal. Of course, none of the Hargreeves were normal in the slightest; but Violet dealt with things very differently, and her mind worked in a complicated way that not many people understood.
One person had, a long time ago, but thinking about that just made the girl sad.
The sound of the doorbell ringing made her vanish and dart into her bedroom like a surrying mouse. She searched for the one item of clothing she just couldn't seem to let go of and threw it on over what she was wearing, tugging the sleeves over her hands and hugging herself.
The navy blue and black jumper was older now, but it's condition had been kept over the years.
Faintly she picked up on the sound of sharp voices and the creaking of floorboards beneath shoes from below.
The door clicking shut downstairs made her stomach twist, but she attempted shoving down her anxiety and left the room that she spent most of her days hidden away in.
Violet had become such an expert at making her footfalls silent that when she walked it was almost like she was cloaked in her ghost form, gliding across the halls.
She tensed at the sound of raised voices and paused just before the stairs, tightening her hold on her arms.
She listened to Diego berate Vanya and snap at Allison who argued back. Soon his heavy footsteps pounded up the stairs and she had to scurry out fo Diegos way before he could bump into her.
He blinked in surprise at the sight of her, scanning her up and down, his frustration ebbing away slightly as his expression calmed.
"Violet, hey. I didn't hear you."
She gave him a very wobbly smile and edged past him, all instincts telling her to go straight to Vanya.
Allison turned when Vanya smiled at something over her shoulder.
"Violet, hey," Allison greeted, stepping forwards as though to embrace the girl. When she went from a clear image to translucent suddenly, backing away, Allison stopped herself. "Sorry, I almost forgot. Uh, it's good to see you again."
Violet didn't respond, just fidgeting uncomfortably. Once Allison left to go look through the house, Violet finally approached Vanya.
"How have you been?" She asked quietly, knowingly.
The girl shrugged, unable to come up with an answer or meet her eye.
Her foot began to tap rapidly as she tightened her hold around herself. She glanced off to the side.
"I heard-" she cleared her throat and whispered. "I heard Diego."
Vanyas smile disappeared as she looked down at her feet, ashamed. "Yeah, I don't think it's a good idea me being here. Everyone hates me because of that stupid book."
A pang of sadness struck Violet in the chest and she flickered out of her cloaked form, materialising naturally. Chewing the inside of her cheek, she tapped her foot and debated something in her head quickly.
"I should probably just-"
Vanyas breathing hitched.
The girl quickly flung herself forwards and wrapped her arms around her seemingly older sister, and she was so shocked at the level of physical contact that she forgot what she was even saying. It didn't last long, and when she pulled away she resorted back to playing with her fingers, cheeks tinted red with embarrassment, hair falling in front of her face.
"Stay," she managed to murmur, almost pleadingly, looking her sister in the eye for a brief moment.
Vanya was speechless. All she did was nod for her sisters sake. Because she knew it was what she wanted. And she'd stay only for her so long as it made her feel better.
Violet obeyed the chanting voices in her head and quickly walked away, knowing that Vanya would understand her reasoning. She peered her head round the corner to see Klaus heading her way, and his smile seemed to light up the dark hallway they were standing in when he spotted her peering at him from around the doorway.
"V!" He cheered, raising his hands in the air as though celebrating. "I haven't seen you in a hot minute. Look at you," he teased, stopping in front of her and placing his hands on his hips. "You don't look a day over- well... you still don't look old enough to drink, let's put it that way."
She breathed out a sigh of irritation. He chuckled.
"You seen Luther yet?"
She shook her head, glad at the fact.
He rubbed the back of his neck. "If you're avoiding him I would turn back around. He just busted my balls for trying to collect early on my inheritance."
She nodded and the two began walking in the other direction. He didn't bother elaborating and he knew at least that she wouldn't bother asking.
"Hey, is that Fives?" He asked, in a less loud and extravagant tone this time. She lookekd down and nodded uncertainly, pulling the sleeves over her hands for comfort. "It suits you. I always thought blue was your colour."
It wasn't just mine, she thought absently.
Her chest ached at the turn of conversation, and she remembered the day she had gifted him the jumper. Black and navy blue diamonds. He put it on as soon as he'd opened the box. They had only been fifteen.
Almost a year and a half before...
She began chewing on her fingernail as they continued walking towards the main living room area. She wasn't keen at all, but Klaus filled her in and apparently Luther wanted to hold a family meeting.
Apparently it was very important, which she severely doubted, but because she didn't want to cause arguments and seem rude, she followed behind Klaus without a word.