Carolina Rose

Reassembled (2)

Lina Pov

I let Five change in private and headed into the living room. There was a pretty oil painting of Five and I hung up on the fireplace, reminding me of the day that I had been taken away by my biological mother.

"Carolina, your... biological mother's coming soon," Allison said nervously, freezing Five and I in our spots.

We'd been planning on what to do after Five's training and education for the day. Since (for some strange reason) Reginald let me do whatever I wanted as long as I kept up with training, we spent a lot of our days together, even as children.

"What do you mean?" I questioned, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Well, Dad called us up to his office, and told us to say goodbye-"

I looked back at Five, who looked just as terrified as I felt.

"...No," I muttered, stumbling over the rug on the floor and into Five's arms behind me.

"Pogo, please tell me that this isn't true!!" I screamed, noticing the old monkey butler standing amidst the Hargreeves siblings.

"I'm afraid that this is true, Carolina. Your mother had some friends in very high places- and won custody. She'll be here to pick you up in a few hours." Pogo confirmed.

"But I don't want to leave!!"

"Is there nothing that we can do? I- I don't want her to leave-" Five argued, face turning pale.

"Both Sir Hargreeves and I hate to let you go, Carolina. But I'm afraid that we don't have a choice in the matter- these are legal issues." Pogo said softly, obvious pity and sadness in his eyes.

"...If I kill my mother, can I come back?" I asked, letting the familiar power buzz through my body.

"If you kill your mother, then... you'll be put up for adoption or be sent away to your next closest kin."

"I'll just kill her, then. And Sir Hargreeves can adopt me."

"I will do no such thing." A cold voice cut into the conversation.

"Dad!!"

"I will not adopt you. And your mother will be picking you up in three hours. I expect you to be fully packed and ready to go in an hour. As for the others, I'll give you half an hour to say goodbye before you leave." Sir Hargreeves stated crisply, before turning away and leaving.

I'd packed all of my belonging in fifteen minutes, as I didn't own a lot of things. Then for the rest of the first hour, I wrote letters to everyone- including Pogo, Sir Hargreeves, and Grace. Then for the second hour and a half, Five and I spent our final moments together.

Most of the time consisted of silent hugs, cuddles, and promises that we could only hope would come true.

"No!! Wait!! Lina!!"

I could still remember him screaming my name desperately as he was held back, my small and relatively helpless body being dragged into the car by a pretty blonde woman.

"Don't leave me!!"

I'd hit the windows of the car, shattering two of them as I cried for him. I didn't want to leave. He was the only person that was able to fill the empty, dark hole within my cold, dead heart.

Despite my screams and protests, the Academy and Five grew smaller with every passing second, the car that I was in driving away to who knows where.

"Hey, I'm back. ...Nice to know Dad didn't forget us, huh?" Five's voice pulled me out of my past memories, reminding me of the fact that he was here with me now.

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Hey, Vanya." I greeted, quickly wiping my tears away before the two of them could comment on it.

"We read your book, by the way. Found it in a library that was still standing." Five said, seemingly not noticing the tears that had threatened to spill out of my eyes.

"I thought it was pretty good, all things considered. Definitely ballsy, giving up the family secrets. ...Sure that went over well." He continued, looking around the rest of the ornately decorated living room.

"They hate me," Vanya replied.

"That's not true, Vanya. It may be hard to see, but we all care for you." I cut in, giving her an angry look that made her laugh.

"...Thanks."

"Plus, there are worse things that can happen." Five chimed in, mentioning Ben.

"Wait. What happened to Ben? Why is there a statue of Ben out in the courtyard?"

Both Five and Vanya looked away, avoiding my gaze.

"I know that he's dead. I'm not that dumb. I'm asking who did it, and how. And if the perpetrators are still alive. ...And... was it bad?"

Vanya nodded, making the tears spring up in my eyes again. Five embraced me silently, letting me calm down in his arms. He knew that Ben was the one that I was the second closest to within the siblings, and that he had meant a lot to me.

"Hey, sorry to, uh, break up whatever's happening here, but we're going to dump- well, scatter Dad's ashes in the front lawn. Wanna come for his final moments?" Klaus said, throwing me into another pool of memories.

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2.5 pages, 873 words