Thea Hargreeves had already experienced loss in her short life, but her family was something she was determined to keep together and close to her heart. No matter what.
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"Who are you?" "I-I hardly know, Sir, just at present - at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then."
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Thea didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Her emotions were so mixed up; she was so confused and unsure of herself that it would have been equally as valid to laugh out loud or burst into tears. Or maybe a little of both.
Because standing in front of her was a familiar stranger; a doppelganger wearing a loved one's skin. Out to further torment her once the dust had finally settled and she had believed everything was going to be alright.
Why was nothing ever okay? It hurts. It all hurt so much. Thea's life so far had been a serious of distressing and traumatic events all snowballing into the cataclysmic shitshow that she was currently being forced to participate in. Why did this continue to happen?
Thea couldn't help but think she was reaping some kind of cosmic karma. That, as she stared at the face of the man she loved twisted into such a cold and cruel expression, she was somehow paying for a misfortune of the past.
Why was nothing ever okay? Her emotions were at their peak, a clawing claustrophobia setting in as the shadowy figures from above descended the stairs to reveal themselves. None else wore the masks of a loved one, yet all held a vague sense of familiarity. The mirrored parallels of their lives as superpowered beings – as other – in a world filled with ordinary, gift-less people.
Their father's callous introduction made it clear who they were. Why they were in their house. Their old childhood home.
They called themselves the Sparrow Academy.
The small accents that she had initially failed to notice now stood out startlingly clear. Uniforms adorned in small, metallic sparrows, so different from the familiar umbrellas.
These were the children that had replaced them.
At the ease which Reginald disregarded their legitimacy as his children caused a phantom wound to settle itself into her heart, without her consent. She had always known his sentiments on the matter but still...to hear it said so callously stung a little more than she'd expected.
Thea was discovering she was vulnerable to all kinds of new hurts that never could have been expected. Glancing at Ben, she acknowledged that it was an unwelcome revelation.
Other than a superficially appreciative once-over, Ben had not looked in her direction. The dismissal was new and it prodded insensitively at the newly-healing wound of his death. The sneer on his lips contradicted the easy smile she remembered.
