Runaway ~ TUA (Book 3)

Chapter 12

Both the Sparrows and the Umbrellas were all in the living room of the Sparrow Academy, Taya sat in between Diego and Five, her leg bounced as she fiddled with her fingers, feeling anxious. Viktor wasn't there yet and Taya highly doubted that he knew what Allison did to Harlan. The teenager looked at her mom out of the corner of her eye but averted her gaze away quickly. Klaus also wasn't there, Taya hadn't seen him since the debate about what they should do with Harlan.

"Look, I know there's been bad blood between us," Ben began, "Whatever. Bygones. Right?" Diego raised his bandaged hand and Ben looked at him with a small sigh. "Question?"

"Yeah, if I kill you, do we get our Ben back?," Diego asked, causing Taya to snicker a little bit.

"Keep talking and your hand won't be the only thing that's bleeding," Ben threatened.

"Okay, if the testosterone twins are done, I'd like to get back to a plan," Five spoke up, bringing back the main focus of the meeting. Viktor walked into the room, Harlan's headphones and walkman were in his hand, Taya felt herself cringe at the question, wincing, knowing where this was going.

"Where is he?," Viktor questioned, his voice held worry as he turned to Ben. "What did you do to Harlan?"

"They didn't do anything. I did," Allison said and Viktor looked at her with a confused look, "I killed Harlan." Ben watched the scene unfold, seemingly amused by what was happening. Taya felt her heart break for her uncle as tears began to form in Viktor's eyes.

"I... I don't... I don't understand," Viktor began, trying to make sense of what Allison had just confessed to. "Why?"

"Because he didn't deserve to live," Allison replied simply.

That's not fair, Taya thought to herself, watching what was happening as her leg bounces like crazy. The tension in the room was incredibly thick, no one else in the room said anything, they all just watched as the two siblings continued to talk. Taya looked in between her mother and her uncle, knowing a fight would arise at any moment.

"What? Because they said so?," Viktor argued, his voice cracking. "You don't have to listen to them." Ben sat down next to Five, holding a large bucket of cheese puffs, eating them as he watched.

"You could've talked to me. We could've figured something out."

"So, what, you could lie to us again and take his side?," Allison snapped, the cold tone in her voice caused Taya to flinch a little bit, her heart began to race as she watched the two argue. She hated how everything just seemed to be falling apart.

"That's not what happened," Viktor replied.

"Oh, no. That's exactly what happened," Allison continued, leaning forward in her seat. "I know Harlan killed our mothers."

"Bloody plot twist," Lila chimed as she bit into some licorice.

"Who told you that?"

"Harlan. After you lied about it to my face," Allison sneered, and Taya looked at her uncle.

"Is that true, Uncle Viktor? Harlan is the one who started all of this?," she questioned.

"Yeah, but he didn't mean to hurt anyone. He –"

"How do you know?," Five interrupted and Viktor looked at him with a frustrated glance.

"Because I knew him," he argued, "And he was sweet, and kind until I made him like us. Okay? So, I screwed him up. And, if you need someone to blame, I'm right here –"

"What makes you think I don't?," Allison asked, glaring at Viktor.

"This wasn't about saving the world," Viktor realized, "This was about hurting me. Payback for –" Before Viktor could finish, Allison cut him off as she got to her feet and slowly began to walk towards him.

Everything about what was going on right now was scaring Taya, she had never seen her mom like this before. She had never seen her this angry or act in this way in general, and she hated how it scared her. She wasn't supposed to be afraid of her own mom, she was supposed to feel safe and protected. She was terrified for what was to come next.

"Say her name," Allison threatened. Luther got up and tried to make peace, not wanting anyone to get hurt. Allison made a hand gesture to tell him to shut him, he quickly sat back down next to Sloane.

"Did killing Harlan bring Claire back?"

"Did protecting him bring Sissy back? It was just as personal for you –"

"I didn't kill anyone!," Viktor snapped as he shouted.

"But you risked everyone!," Allison yelled back, "Do you know how that felt? Watching you fight for the man who destroyed my daughter, Taya's little sister, more than you ever did to bring her back?" Taya looked around at the others, blinking away the tears that were forming in her eyes. The last time she had seen Viktor and Allison argue like this was when Viktor accidentally slit Allison's throat. The vivid memory of her trying to stop Allison's bleeding came flooding back and she shook her head, trying to get the image out of her mind.

"I don't know how to bring Claire back," Viktor replied, his voice was calm again, trying to de-escalate the argument, he had noticed Taya was becoming overwhelmed and he didn't want anything to become worse than it already was.

"Take it easy, Allison," Five suddenly said, letting her know that enough is enough.

Viktor opened his mouth to say something to Allison but she rumored him to stop talking. Viktor began to choke, having a hard time breathing, Taya stood up, having enough but Five grabbed her arm gently but firmly.

"Stop, you don't know what she might do to you, especially if she's like this," Five warned through a whisper, the teenager looked at her uncle before looking back at Allison, reluctantly sitting back down as Allison screamed in Viktor's face. After a few moments the powers wore off and Viktor bent over, gasping for air as he coughed.

"We should have left you in the basement," Allison whispered, that was Viktor's turning point and he hit Allison in the face, busting her lip and Taya got up, standing in front of Viktor.

"Mom, stop it!," the teen yelled, raising her voice and everyone stared at her in shock, she had almost never raised her voice at anyone. The teenager was trying so hard not to fall apart as her mom just looked at her and sat back down.

"I don't even know who you are anymore, you're scaring me, Ma! You're actually fucking scaring me! And I don't like it! I really don't! You're – you killed Harlan! You murdered somebody and that didn't bring Claire or Ray back," Taya continued, her voice breaking as Allison stood up, Taya had hit a nerve with the last part of her sentence.

"Taya –," she tried to interject but the teenager cut her off.

"I miss Claire and Ray too, Mom. But you can't continue acting like this or this family really will fall apart," Taya finished before she walked away to find somewhere to be alone. She wiped the tears from her face as she walked up the stairs.

Allison watched Taya leave, she was at a complete loss for words. She hated that she now realized how much she had truly hurt Taya and she needed to talk to her about it, Taya was one of the few people in her family that weren't completely gone. And she may have just lost her for good this time.

A/N:

I'm SUPER iffy about how I wrote Taya and Allison's fight in this scene...

Word Count: 1252