Five Hargreeves: Timeless Temptation

Chapter 20: We Only See Each Other At Weddings & Funerals

The soft scent of vanilla hit my nose as the door opened. Looking around, I was soon reminded of my many sleepless nights in this room. Everything seemed in place, almost like my room had been preserved after all these years to keep the memory of me alive. The collection of photos was still scattered around my room; as my eyes scanned across the images, I was drawn to one in particular. I lifted the frame up to get a closer look at it. There, in my hands, was a picture of all of the Academy kids together at Griddy's.

"Dad wanted Mum to clean out your room after your funeral," a voice said. I turned to look and saw Allison leaning against the door with her arms folded. Placing the picture back down, I moved back slightly, signalling for her to come in. As I looked at her more closely, I noticed how beautiful she was, but then again, she had always been beautiful.

"But we all came together and made sure that your room wasn't touched," she continued as she entered the room.

"Oh, that was nice of you all," I replied; truthfully, I had no idea what to say to her. Maybe it was a bad idea to come back home.

"We did want to search for you, Charlotte. I don't think we fully believed you were dead; the way Dad went about it didn't seem right. I'm sorry we didn't try hard enough." Allison looked down.

"You didn't know what happened to me; none of you did. There's no need to be sorry." I smiled softly at her, trying to reassure her that it was, in fact, okay.

After a few minutes of silence, I decided to say something.

"Well, it looks like I've got a bit of catching up to do." I watched as Allison smirked a little. I knew she would be the best one to give me a rundown. I sat on my bed and patted the empty space beside me.

"You have no idea," Allison spoke with the same smirk.

It seemed like I had missed a lot. Allison gave me the full debrief. Luther had just returned from the moon after being there for 4 years. Diego got kicked out of the police academy and was now a vigilante. I wasn't surprised to hear that Allison was an actress; we talked about what we wanted to be when we were older quite a few times. Not only was she an actress but a mum to a daughter called Claire; she showed me a few photos, and it was nice to see her get the life she always wanted, except for getting divorced and fighting for custody part. Klaus was still Klaus. Apparently, he was in and out of rehab often, and there were no signs of him getting better, which made me think, would I have been the same if I hadn't left? I got a detailed explanation of what happened with Five: he stormed out of the Academy after Dad said no to time travel, which checked out.

"We all thought he would come back, but as the days went on, we all knew he wasn't coming back, but we all hoped he would," Allison finished. It was weird to think about how the Academy would cope after losing 2 members in 2 weeks of each other.

"What about Ben? I noticed that he wasn't with us earlier. Has he moved abroad or something?" Allison's face dropped at the mention of Ben's name, and that's when I knew something had happened. Allison looked at me with watery eyes.

"Ben died on a mission in 2006," she paused, "It was a tragic accident."

I looked down at my lap, unable to find the right words.

"He would be happy to see you back, Charlotte. I don't think he stopped missing you," Allison added. I smiled at her comforting words, appreciating her effort. Another minute of silence washed over us as I processed the news that Ben was no longer here.

"And Vanya?" I thought it was best to change the subject, but Allison went stiff as she started to prepare herself.

Oh no. What has Vanya been up to?