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CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE what leaders do
⋆*✧･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ:
THE SEARCH FOR VANYA had proven to be a bust. When she arrived back at the Academy, Nadine had combed through the mansion's many rooms, searching for the elusive Number Seven, but when Vanya hadn't turned up, Nadine had to exhaust her pursuit, at least for now. The others—Five, Diego, and Klaus—had already dispersed, moving to separate corners of the house. She could see such clear relief on their faces, that the harbinger of the apocalypse was dead, that the world had been saved from destruction. But Nadine wasn't so sure.
She sank down onto a stair, sandwich in hand, and thought back to the cabin. Even though the memories of what had occurred there still made her feel like she was going to retch, they were also crucial if she was to put all of the pieces together. So she ate her sandwich—and her protesting stomach thanked her for it; it had been hours since she'd any food—and forced herself to run through it again. Vanya. Harold. The fierce wind, rippling through the cabin. The sheer amount of power that emanated from Vanya as her temper grew in ferocity.
Nadine still hadn't told anyone. About Vanya's abilities, or the fact that she'd been the one to cut Allison's throat. Her rational mind was telling her to come clean, that this was a secret the Hargreeves deserved to know, but her gut was pulsing with a complete, resolute NO. Vanya was dangerous. That was indisputable. But Nadine still thought she might be able to help her. To make her feel less like the monster she undoubtedly thought she was.
Nadine knew what it felt to be uncontrollable, deemed dangerous and different. On days where Louise had too many drinks, she'd let it slip that she thought Nadine was really the devil hiding under a mop of blonde hair. "Tu es un demon," she'd say, leaning against the counter and pointing an accusatory finger at her daughter. "Vous n'étiez pas naturel. Je n'avais même pas été enceinte quand tu es entrée dans ma vie."
You are a demon. You are unnatural. I hadn't even been pregnant when you came into my life.
No. The others couldn't know. Allison... Nadine thought back to last night again, even as her stomach twisted. Allison had been genuinely afraid of Vanya's potential, of what she could do. She hadn't even been able to meet Vanya's gaze when asked if she was threatened by it. And that was what could happen with the other Hargreeves; they'd think she was a monster. They'd never be quite able to meet her eyes.
Nadine couldn't let that happen. She had to find Vanya. And she had to figure out what the hell was going on.
She continued to chew on her sandwich, furrowing her brow as she thought back to what Five had told her. That there was a chance that she could somehow save the world. If Harold Jenkins really was somehow the harbinger of the apocalypse, which Five believed he was, then he—no, the Commission—had been wrong about Nadine's importance. They'd have sent out their goons to corner and kill her for nothing.
