Sanguis • Ben Hargreeves¹

three

Five explained how he was able to escape from the future, which none of the adults seemed to understand any of the logistics, and now the boy had left the room to do whatever it was he wanted to do. The six siblings that were left just looked at each other with confusion, but also slight relief. Their lost brother hadn't been dead, so that's good; in Eden's books at least.

While browsing around the house, Eden overheard the conversation between Five and Vanya in the living room.

"Yeah, definitely ballsy, giving up the family secrets. Sure that went over well." Five said.

"They hate me." Vanya replied.

"Oh, there are worse things that can happen." Five told her.

"You mean like what happened to Ben?" She asked.

Eden's heart dropped. She despised thinking about what had happened to her best friend, the first and only person she ever considered having a relationship with. Unconsciously, Eden balled her hands into fists at her side.

Five paused for a few seconds before speaking. "Was it bad?"

The silence seemed to carry on so Eden could only assume Vanya was nodding her head. The woman began to walk away, but she stopped herself at what Five said next.

"How did Eden take it?"

"She was a reck." Vanya told him. "She refused to sleep anywhere but Ben's room for months. We could all hear her crying through the walls, but Eden tried so hard to muffle herself. She wanted to stay strong for us."

Eden rushed through the hallway and back up the stairs. She went into her old room and finally started looking around. It was the spitting image of how she left it, nothing was moved or out of place. Everything was spotless from top to bottom. Eden sat at her desk and placed the picture of her and Ben on it, admiring the smiles on both of their faces.

Unconsciously, a smile began to form as she placed her pointer finger under Ben's face. She could feel a draft around her suddenly, and Eden swore she could feel someone touch her hair. Looking around, though, she could instantly tell that there was nobody there. She shook her head of her thoughts, once again, and remembered Reginald's funeral.

Just as she was about to open her door, Klaus walked in. "It's time for our dear old pops' funeral, sis."

Eden smiled bitterly and stood up from her seat. She tucked a strand of hair behind her right ear, much like how Ben would do for her, and looked back at Klaus.

"It's time to say goodbye to dear old Reginald, once and for all. Kinda wish I was the one to kill him, though." Eden joked.

"I think we all do." Klaus replied, taking a drag of his cigarette.

"Everyone but Luther." Laughed Eden.

✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧

All seven of them made their ways outside, into the pouring rain, to start their fathers funeral. Klaus was carrying a clear umbrella with pink trim while Diego, on the other hand, wasn't carrying one at all; probably feeling too full of himself to admit he was going to be soaked and cold. Everyone else was holding a black umbrella, matching almost all of their outfits.

Ben's statue gleamed from the water and his quote, that Eden made Reginald put, was still intact. She took pride in this because she felt it was what Ben would have wanted, though she was never fully sure. They all gathered around Luther, whom held the urn, in front of the statue.

"Did something happen?" Grace questioned, sounding completely oblivious to the situation.

"Dad died... Remember?" Allison confusedly looked at the robot.

A saddened look crossed Graces face. "Oh. Yes, of course."

"Is mom okay?" Allison asked Diego, as he was always closest to their mother.

"Yeah, yeah, she's fine." Diego told her. "She just needs to rest. You know, recharge."

Pogo hobbled over to the group, and he looked towards Luther. "Whenever you're ready, dear boy."

Luther gave a curt nod and paused for a minute. He opened up the urn full of Sir Reginald Hargreeves' ashes, and flipped it upside down; pouring them into a straight pile onto the ground. Obviously, it hadn't gone quite as Luther thought it would in his head. The ashes landed in a sad pile by Luther's feet, exactly where Eden believed Reginald should be; casted onto the ground in a pile of mush.

"Probably would have been better with some wind." Luther joked for the first time since they all arrived, and about his dear father of all things.

The rest of the siblings cringed, but Eden was trying her hardest to hold in a laugh; this was a lot more amusing than she expected.

"Does anyone wish to speak?" Pogo asked, but not even Luther spoke up. "Very well."

Eden had thought it would be a great time to tune out what was happening. She didn't care about what kind words Pogo had to say about Reginald, she knew what kind of man her 'father' was; the girl witnessed it first hand. A chill ran down her spine again, but Eden chalked it up to being the freezing cold temperature outside.

Once Eden tuned back in, she saw Luther and Diego fighting. She watched as Diego dodged Luther's hit which caused Luther to hit Ben's statue, it crashing to the floor and his head snapping off. The pale woman watched as one of the only reminders of Ben she had, the statue she helped build in his honor, break in front of her own eyes.

The two men stopped fighting immediately and turned to see their adopted sister walk over to the, now, broken statue of her best friend. Eden bent down and touched his face, tears welling up in her eyes because she had just watched him die a second time and she did nothing for a second time. Eden stood back up and started walking inside, not sparing a glance Luther or Diego's way.

"Eden, I-"

"Fuck off." Her tone wasn't threatening in the least, it was wavering.

The only other time they came close to seeing her cry was when Ben died, and even then she held herself together enough to cry in the solitude of her bedroom. Neither of them stopped her, not in fear of getting hurt but in fear of watching the strong woman they grew up with, the woman who always was a shoulder to cry on, break down in front of them.

They knew it would just shatter her fragile heart even more.