unspoken [five hargreeves]

:1.2:

Jade was the first to arrive at the Academy. She had dropped everything and sprinted over as soon as she had heard the news. She didn't even know when the rest of her siblings would be arriving, or if they were even coming at all.

After being greeted quietly by Mom and Pogo, she immediately went down to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. She knew better than to ask questions. If there was something that Reginald Hargreeves wanted them to know, they would know it already.

She walked the halls with her mug in hand, silently looking at each and every one of their family portraits. Reginald insisted they had one taken every year. The first few were without Vanya, and after that, without Five, and then, without Ben. It broke her heart to see how her family had shrunk over the years.

She finally came to a stop in the sitting room, gazing up at the portrait of Five that was hung above the mantlepiece.

Five, her best friend. They had gotten along famously when they were young.

She never spoke, and Five spoke too much, but somehow, they understood each other. They were each other's rocks. Every waking moment outside of training was spent together, every restless night after a scary mission was spent in either one of their rooms. They were all they needed.

Losing him broke her.

When Reginald didn't allow them to even look for him, she felt hopeless. All she could do was cry or scream, and she couldn't even do that. By thirteen, she knew all too well the consequences of her power.

Reginald did one nice thing for her at that time, at least. He knew she needed to grieve. He flew her out to a small, uninhabited island far off the coast of the Philippines, and let her cry and scream as much as she needed to.

If you ever see Tabingan Island on a map and want to visit it, don't bother. It's not there anymore.

"Jade?"

She spun around to see her second brother standing under the archway. He was rugged, more rugged than she remembered, and dressed like some sort of comic book character.

Nonetheless, she practically threw her mug onto the coffee table, and ran to launch herself into his arms.

He wrapped his arms around her tightly, not even realizing how much he had missed her. They may all be the same age, but Jade was always like his little sister.

They pulled away slowly, and Jade gazed at him with pride in her eyes.

"You grew up, Diego." She signed, smiling softly at him. She still remembers little Diego, practicing his speech into the mirror while she silently supported him. If anyone knew what it was like to not be able to get the words out, it was her. Especially before the rest of the Academy was forced to learn sign language.

Five learned first, when they were four. At the time it was mostly because he didn't like having to ask Mom or Pogo to translate. He was her translator for a while, before Diego and Vanya decided to learn. Ben learned not long after them, and became her translator after Five disappeared. The rest of them were forced to learn after Ben had died. What happened on that mission finally made Reginald realize that communicating with Jade wasn't just an option.

"So did you, short stack. You don't look so much like a baby anymore." She punched his arm lightly as he teased her, but couldn't help but smile when she heard the laughs dropping from his lips. "Has anyone else showed up yet?"

Retrieving her mug of tea from the coffee table, she shook her head, watching him as she glanced around the sitting room.

"Hey, I'm gonna go find Mom, okay? Shout when the others get here."