888 ✺ Five Hargreeves

THREE: adapted

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         Klaus made his way into Reginald's office, searching for their sister in order to start their father's memorial service. He rounded the corner and finally found her sitting on the ground with a book clutched between her fingers, she held it so tight that her fingers begun to turn white. He sighed, already knowing what she was reading, "I'd skip the part where she goes into detail on your supposed," he raised his hands up to use quotation marks, "death"

Winona raised her head to the new voice, startled from the sight of someone hovering over her. She let out an annoyed huff and closed the book as he continued, "She gets a little brutal but to be fair she never thought you'd be able to read it." he put his fingers together as he explained his reasoning with a small lighthearted smile. 

Eight wasn't able to avoid her own smile from creeping up onto her face after his last words. Klaus grinned at the sight, glad he was able to see her smile for the first time since seeing her again, "yeah, I suppose I can't blame her." she sighed out. 

He smiled and held his hand out to her, "come on, let's go get rid of this son of a bitch." 

Winona looked up to him with a puzzled look, "what?" she asked. 

He looked back down to her with the same puzzled look, "Dad, they're waiting on us for the funeral." 

She widened her eyes in shock, "He's dead?" she asked with a small chuckle of disbelief, "R-Reginald—as in Sir Reginald Hargreeves, is dead?" she repeated. 

Klaus hissed in regret, "did you not know that?" he asked, pointing his finger in her direction. 

She looked at him in disbelief, "Uh...no?" 

He shook his head and waved her off, "Well, spoiler alert," he announced with a happier tone, "dad died, aw so sad." he spoke, not sounding sincere in the slightest, he even seemed slightly relieved. 

She shook her head and sighed, "whatever, that bastard was never my father anyway." she mumbled, rising to her feet, this time much more stable than before. Klaus smiled at the girl before placing an arm over her shoulder, "Hey, that's the spirit." 

The duo talked amongst themselves on the way out of the house. Realizing it had been raining, Klaus covered the two with his pink umbrella. Winona made brief eye contact with the dark life-sized statue of their brother, Ben. She felt her stomach churn at the sight, still to this day, nearly twenty years later she felt the tremendous pit in the bottom of her stomach over the entire situation. She failed Ben. She failed the academy. 

"Did something happen?" The sound of Grace, their robot mother, broke Eight out from her heavy trance. She scanned her surroundings, taking a moment to study the changes her family had endured over the years with her absence. Everyone had changed so much, all except for Five, something she still was slightly lost on. 

Alison looked to her in confusion, "Dad died. Remember?"

"Oh." Grace frowned, "Yes, of course."

Eight looked up to Klaus, "Is Mom okay?"

He simply shrugged with a small frown. "Yeah, yeah, she's fine. She just needs to rest." Diego dismissed with a shrug, "You know, recharge."

Pogo appeared from beside Vanya, along with his cane. Being in the same proximity with the individuals who preserved her body for so long caused some new feelings to surface in the young girl. She wasn't sure whether to be happy or sad that she was back with her adoptive siblings, then again, if she were completely honest, she never felt very at home with the bunch.