Chapter Five: Helping the Old Man

MORNING ROLLED AROUND QUICKLY AND CAUSED THE city to be doused in the sun's bright light. People were finally getting up to start their day in the city as glumly as the day they had before. Daylight filtered through windows and woke up Vanya from her small, old bed. She sighed and sat up from her bed. She quickly removed her duvet once she remembered the fact that her long lost brother had shown up at her apartment last night. The woman climbed out of her bed and opened the door that led from her bedroom to the main room.

"Hey, Five," Vanya called as she exited her room and walked into the living room. She expected to see her brother sitting on the couch just like she left him the night before. However, her eyes widened as the young-looking boy was not there and the blankets that she had left out were untouched. Five had left, just like he had years ago. "Oh, shit." She rushed over to her phone that she left on the counter and quickly used speed dial to call someone that could help her find her brother.

The dial tone rang through her ears for a few moments until finally, someone picked up. "Hello?" A soft voice grunted from the other side.

"Jemma. I need your help."

Vanya could hear the sound of pans and plates moving around which probably meant that Jemma had been making herself breakfast. "With what?"

"Five left the apartment last night," she ran a hand through her brown hair, "I-I don't know where he is, but I think that he may have gone back to the Academy."

"That's a bit concerning," she heard the blonde hum on the other end of the call, "don't worry I'll keep an eye out for the old geezer, V."

"Thank you," Vanya sighed out. She is all too aware of how Jemma can be forgetful and unreliable for many things, especially when she was on a drinking binge. However, she figured that since it was something as serious as this she would help her. Five went missing once, they certainly didn't want him to go missing again.

"No problem," her sister said softly. The fact that Vanya could hear her voice clearly and that it wasn't shaky in any way, she knew that her sister wasn't drinking yet. No matter what time of day, Jemma always found an excuse to drink, Vanya was all too aware of that. However, assuming that she hadn't actually drunk anything yet was an optimistic idea. Vanya honestly could only go see for herself. She could kill two birds with one stone today. One: see if she can find Five and two; use this as a way to try and keep her closest sister from drinking any alcohol today.

"I'm going to come over, to help you search."

"Alright!" Jemma chirped, "don't eat breakfast there. I just made a bunch of waffles."

Vanya smiled at the animation in her words. She laughed lightly and walked back into her bedroom to get ready. "Yeah, okay."

"Hey! Stop that, those are for Vanya!" She heard a commotion on the other end of the call as Jemma was scolding someone, "You better hurry up, or Klaus is going to eat all of them."

"I will." Vanya lightly chuckled at her siblings' antics. "See you."

"Bye!"

Vanya hung up the phone and made her way back into her bedroom to get ready and dressed to head to the academy. She was ready to search for her brother and apologize to him about last night. She thought that she had been too rash during their conversation. The topic was one that Vanya was unable to comprehend completely, and she thought that she may have pushed Five too far. She most certainly didn't want to be the reason that Five left this time.

---

Elsewhere, further downtown, Five stood in an office that overlooked most of the city with its towering buildings. It was completely white and looked very professional which is expected because it was a doctor's office. It was Meritech, to be exact, a company that specializes in prosthetic limbs. He stared around the room while subconsciously rolling a prosthetic eye in his hand.

As Five was waiting, a middle-aged doctor came walking into the lobby. The man looked to be a basic, normal boring doctor that people picture when they think of a doctor, to be honest. His eyebrows furrowed, "uh, can I help you?"

Five turned to the man and walked over to him while raising the prosthetic eye for the doctor to see, "I need to know who this belongs to."

"Where did you get that?"

The superpowered kid stared at the man, "what do you care?" He realized that that probably wasn't the best response to his question from the way that the doctor and the receptionist raised their eyebrows. He came up with a cover story, "I found it at a playground, actually. Uh, must have just," he clicked his tongue, "popped out. I wanna return it to its rightful owner."

"Oh," the receptionist gushed, "what a thoughtful young man."

Five flashed her a sarcastic smile, "yeah. Look up the name for me, will ya?"

The doctor and receptionist shared a glance with each other. "Uh, I'm sorry, but patient records are strictly confidential." He stared down at the young-looking man with a tight smile, "that means I can't tell you-"

He rolled his eyes, "yeah, I know what it means."

"But I'll tell you what I can do. I will take the eye off your hands and return it to the owner. I'm sure he or she will be very grateful, so if I can just-" he reached for the eye from Five who just put his hands deep into his pockets.

"Yeah, you're not touching this eye." The glare that settled on his face was unsettling. The doctor was certain that he had never seen a child so intimidating before.

He squared his shoulders and said in an authoritarian voice, "now, you listen here young man-" He couldn't react when Five launched himself at him and grabbed his collar.

Five gritted his teeth in frustration, "no! You listen to me, asshole. I've come a long way for this, through some shit your pea brain couldn't even comprehend," the doctor was slowly becoming truly frightened by the boy, "so just give me the information I need, and I'll be on my merry way. And if you call me 'young man' one more time, I'm gonna put your head through that damn wall."

The receptionist stared in concern, "oh, dear."

"Call security," the doctor choked out.

The woman nodded her head and picked up the phone to do just that. "Yeah."

The boy scowled at them and gritted his teeth in frustration and roughly let go of the taller man. With the glare still painted on his face, he sent a fierce look at the doctor before spinning on his heels for the exit. He was going to have to come up with some way to get the information that he needed. Perhaps heading to the academy to find some help would be beneficial. Though as soon as that thought filtered through his mind, he instantly thought of his normal sister.

Did he feel guilty about leaving Vanya's apartment without saying anything? Yeah, a little. He could tell that Vanya wanted nothing more than for him to stay and all of them be one big happy family again. However, he knew that that idea was nothing but a fantasy. He couldn't really tell if Vanya thought that too, but he didn't care all that much. Yes, he missed his family quite a lot but there were more important things to worry about. If he didn't finish with his mission then he wouldn't have a family to properly reconcile with. The quicker he got done with stopping the end of the world, the quicker he could finally settle down and relax with his family.

---

The police precinct was bustling as it usually was every day. Officers were walking in and out with criminals attached to their sides in handcuffs while detectives spoke with each other about ongoing cases. One of the detectives, Eudora Patch, sat at her desk and shuffled through some files and papers on a recent case.

"Ballistics came back," Her partner, Chuck, came walking over with an evidence bag in his hands. "Bullets from all our shooters match."

Eudora glanced at him, "round-robin."

"Yeah, to quote a very smart woman, 'These idiots all shot each other.'" The two of them chuckled a little bit before Chuck continued on with his explanation, "uh, we also got IDs on all the deceased gentlemen. Not so gentle, as it turns out."

"Criminal records?" Eudora wasn't so surprised by the news.

Chuck nodded his head, "all of them. Battery, assault, a few dishonorable discharges. They're all hotheads. One and all."

The female detective nodded her head now that she knew the case was open and shut so easily, "well, that settles that."

"Well," the man continued, "there is just one thing. Remember the victim that got stabbed in the carotid artery?" Chuck handed Eudora the evidence bag with the bloody knife inside of it.

"Yeah," she examined the knife as she continued to speak, "one of the guys stabbed the other. What's the problem?"

"Fingerprints on the knife don't match our guys." Chuck explained as some excitement started to bleed into his voice, "but it gets weirder. It did match an unsolved cold case that came back, circa, get this… 1939."

Eudora just about scoffed at the absurdity of the statement. Someone over the age of sixty had killed at least one of those men in the diner the other night, no way. "Tell them to run it again. We'll pick this up later." An officer then approached the detective's desk and lead a handcuffed Diego in her direction. She nodded her head at the superpowered adult, "uncuff him."

Diego smirked at the officer who was taking off his restraints, "thanks, Rodriguez." He then turned his confident smirk towards the woman behind the desk he was now sitting next to. Though he only received a roll of her eyes, "so did you talk to the tow truck guy?"

"Shut up and listen carefully," she snapped and glared at him with narrowed eyes. "The next time you interfere in one of my investigations, you so much as breathe on one of my witnesses, or touch a piece of evidence, I'll charge you with obstruction of justice. You will do jail time. That clear?"

Diego scoffed in amusement, "damn. You need to relax, Eudora. All this bureaucracy is get-"

The detective gritted her teeth in frustration, "don't call me that."

"Look, I know you." He leaned on her elbows to get closer to Eudora and with a low voice he continued, "you like playing by the rules, but you live for putting the scumbags away. So why don't you put that badge down for one night and you come out on the streets with me? Without all this bullshit." He thought that the idea was perfect. He could vividly remember a time when he and Eudora- Detective Patch were very, very close with each other. She didn't completely agree with his nightly activities, but she believed that it was okay. That was until one day she changed her mind and thought that he was really only being childish. He didn't understand that at all! What's childish about beating the shit out of some criminals?

Her soft facial features twisted into an unamused sneer. "You're right, that sounds super fun." She had gotten used to Diego's actions in the past, however, now she was beyond annoyed with his antics. Not only was it just annoying to her, but it was also illegal. "But I think you missed some things when you got yourself thrown out of the police academy, so let me explain." Diego clenched his jaw, "this bullshit is what gets convictions in a court of law. What you do out there is a fantasy. I would love to play cops and robbers, wear a mask, and feel important, but guess what? Recess is over. It's grown-up time. You're still trying to prove that, when you were kids, running around in those stupid uniforms, that it wasn't for nothing." The two of them stared at one another for a moment as Diego absorbed her words and Eudora pinned him with a knowing stare. "Yeah, I know you, too, Diego." She waved her hand dismissively and looked back down at her paperwork to appear uninterested. "Now leave, before I change my mind."

Her words stung him as he stared at her with a neutral expression. He tried to keep himself from expressing that her words had hurt him in some way and just bit the inside of his cheek. She was right, she could see right through him. However, it wasn't like he was going to let his facade fall to show how vulnerable he was at that moment. He instead stood up and leaned down to say one last thing to her only to have her hand in his face. Diego just sighed through his nose and turned to leave the precinct. Eudora then looked up and watched him go as she rubbed her rabbit foot in what appeared to be anxiety.

---

The large, bulky figure of Luther Hargreeves came bumbling through the doors of a local gym in the city. People were already starting their day with vigorous workouts and boxing training. People grunted and groaned as they were punched and kick. Two fighters were currently sparing in the boxing ring as an old trainer shouted at them, "focus. Yeah. Break. Break. Move your feet."

"Excuse me," Luther called out to the older man in the ring who, Luther thought, appeared to be the owner of the building.

The man turned to him and gaped at Luther's large stature, "you're looking to box? 'Cause I may need fighters, too."

Luther shook his head, "oh, no, I'm looking for information on one of the guys that uses your gym. Diego Hargreeves?"

Al just scowled slightly at him and leaned against the ropes of the ring, "well, if you see him, you can tell him I'm this far from firing his ass."

"He works here?" The surprise in Luther's voice didn't bother the old man who only waved his hand dismissively.

"Eh, he, uh, mops the floor in exchange for the back room."

Luther nodded his head, "okay. Thanks." He then turned and started to make his way towards the back room. If Diego wasn't here then that would give Luther a change to... investigate his living space. That way he would be able to find out more about his brother and if he had a hand in their father's death.

"Think about the fight game, eh?" Al called out as Luther turned around, "you got the build."

Luther walked past the many fighters and down a hallway to find the back room that Diego had taken residency. He entered the room and observed his surroundings. It was a medium-sized room, nothing compared to the mansion that they used to live in as children. But if Diego liked it then it didn't matter.

He looked at a few of Diego's things in order to find some sort of clue to his brother having any sort of involvement in their father's death. Yet he couldn't find anything. He found a knitted piece of cloth with Diego's name on it and a pair of knives. Grace, their mother, had made each of them one when they were children. If Luther remembered correctly, she made them right after they chose their names. Things were a lot simpler back when they were children, he thought.

He sighed and walked away from the frame and caught a poster in the corner of his eye. He read it quite quickly and stopped in his tracks. He seemed to have found whatever evidence that he needed.

---

The young, time-traveling boy waltzed into his childhood home with his hands deep in his pockets. Each of his steps was heavy and loud as it was obvious he was headed somewhere with determination. After not being able to get the information that he needed while at Meritech, Five was determined to go there once again. However, he needed some help… much to his dismay. Yet he was certain that he would find enough resources at the academy to help him. He ascended the first flights of stairs and was easily about to avoid the sight of his mother who headed into the living room. He continued up the second flight and just reached the top when he was startled slightly by a shout.

"Five, there you are!"

The boy turned around to find one of his sisters stumbling over to him. With her blonde hair slightly in her eyes and her cheeks slightly pink, Five's eyebrows furrowed at her appearance. "Jemma?"

She hiccuped slightly as she swayed on her feet. Her pale cheeks were painted a light pink as she stumbled over her own legs and nearly fell on the shorter boy as she neared him. Five stared at her in confusion and the strange behavior of his blonde sister. The sight of Jemma seemingly appearing to be drunk was baffling. He did notice yesterday that Jemma had been drinking quite a bit, however, he didn't think that his sister had the capacity to actually become drunk. Mainly due to the fact that she had an impossibly high metabolism due to her superspeed and also because he thought Jemma wouldn't even think of drinking alcohol.

She flashed him a silly smile, "Vanya's looking for you, you know." She peered down at her brother(Younger? Older? She was too buzzed to really figure it out at the moment.) with foggy eyes that were quickly becoming clear at the sight of the boy. The blonde cleared her throat, "she called earlier. She said that you disappeared last night! Where did you go?"

"That's none of your business," he snapped.

Jemma flinched slightly at his tone. "You're our brother, Five. You show up after being gone for so long and we're worried." She explained as clearly as she could, though her words were slightly slurred. "That's all."

Five stared at her for a long moment. The softness in her blue eyes and the tone of her voice reminded him of their mother. Despite the signs of possible drunkenness that were slowly disappearing, Jemma could be a clone of their mother. Out of all of the eight children, Jemma certainly looked like she could actually be Grace's daughter with how similar they appeared. With that in mind, Five started to formulate a plan.

"You're worried?" Jemma nodded at him, "do you want to help me then?"

She tilted her head at him, "does it have to do with where you went last night?" She was obviously curious about it though still willing to help him with anything really.

"Yeah, yeah, totally."

Because her mind was slightly foggy and she wasn't able to comprehend the fact that her brother was being completely sarcastic, she smiled brightly and just about jumped at the opportunity to help him in some way. "Okay! What do you want me to do?"

He turned around and started to head in another direction, "change into something a bit more professional. You're going to act like my mom."

Jemma raised a small eyebrow at his words but nodded her head at his demands. "Alright!" She spun on her heels and started to walk away and speak her thoughts, "I'm sure mom will have some clothes I can borrow for... whatever this is."

---

"Five?" Vanya called as she entered the foyer of the Hargreeves home. It seemed to be empty with the lack of noise. She couldn't even hear the shuffling of Pogo walking around the parlor or the click-clack of Grace's heels. "Are you upstairs? Five?" She walked up the stairs and called out her brother's name while heading to the one place she would think that he was. She walked through the winding hallways and soon enough came to Five's bedroom. She entered the room to find the boy standing in front of his window with his back to her. "Oh, thank God. I was worried sick about you."

Five turned around to her with a small sigh, "sorry I left without saying goodbye."

"No, look, I'm the one that should be sorry." She shook her head with a soft voice, "yeah, I was dismissive, and I-I guess I didn't know how to process what you were saying. And I still can't, to be honest."

"Maybe you were right to be dismissive." He turned away from her, "maybe it wasn't real after all. It felt real. Well like you said, the old man did say time travel could contaminate the mind." He flashed her a rueful smile before it flattened into a flat line.

A thought then popped into her head, "then maybe I'm not the right person for you to be talking to. Look, I used to see someone. A therapist." Five shook his head, "I could give you her information."

"Thanks, but I think I'm just gonna get some rest. It's been a long time since I've had a good sleep."

"Okay," she turned to leave the room with heavy feet. All she wanted to do was make sure that Five was okay after coming back home and telling her that he had seen the end of the world. She didn't know what that would really be like and how it would affect anyone mentally.

Once Vanya left the bedroom and started to walk down the hallway, Klaus emerged from Five's wardrobe. He was wearing a very bright ensemble of clothes that almost made him look like a clown. "That's so touching, all that stuff about family and Dad and time. Wow!"

"Would you shut up?" Five hissed, "she'll hear you."

Klaus continued on in a mock heartfelt voice, "I'm moist."

Five grimaced at the man's choice in clothing, "I told you to put on something professional."

"What?" Klaus glanced down at his clothing like there was nothing wrong with it, which he didn't think that there was. "This is my nicest outfit."

The time traveler shook his head with a heavy sigh and started to head out of the room. "We'll raid the old man's closet."

"As long as I get paid," Klaus pointed out.

"When the job is done."

The two of them walked out of the bedroom before Klaus stopped the two of them to go over the plan. "Okay, but just so we're clear on the finer details, I just gotta go into this place and pretend to be your dear old dad, correct?"

"Yeah." Five bluntly stated, "something like that."

"What's our cover story?"

Five was baffled, "what? What are you talking about?"

"I mean, was I really young when I had you?" Klaus asked, "like, 16? Like, young and terribly misguided?"

Klaus' dramatics were starting to get on Five's nerves and he started to wonder why he had asked his brother to help him. Then he remembered that Klaus was one of the only other people in the house. That and Klaus was easily swayed to do what he wanted for a simple price. "Sure."

The medium continued on with the creation of their cover story. "Your mother, that slut. Whoever she was."

"Nice of you to say that, dear."

The two brother's turned to find Jemma walking up the stairs towards them in a far more convincing outfit than Klaus. While the junkie appeared to not have put any effort into his outfit for Five's plan, Jemma seemed to have tried a bit. She wore a nice light green, spaghetti-strapped sundress that reached down to her knees. Her hair looked to have been brushed a bit and wasn't as unruly as her brother's had seen. She had light make-up on which consisted of just pink lipstick and mascara while her cheeks were a rosy hue. Whether that was due to alcohol still being in her system or because she had put some blush on her pale cheeks, neither Klaus or Five were sure. Though they had to admit that she looked good and nearly identical to their mother.

Five nodded in approval, "it's nice to see someone knows how to dress professionally."

Jemma smiled in thanks to him and turned to Klaus with a raised eyebrow, "what were you talking about just then?"

"Our cover story. We met at the disco. Okay?" Jemma nodded her head at her brother as she followed along with the story, "remember that. Oh, my God, the sex was amazing."

Jemma's nose wrinkled in disgust, "ew."

Five was outwardly annoyed now as he turned to walk away from his siblings, "What a disturbing glimpse into that thing you call a brain."

Klaus scowled at him and playfully narrowed his eyes while pointing at the young-looking boy. "Don't make me put you in time-out." The two who were acting as parents followed after Five down the stairs as they got ready to execute Five's plan.

---

A tow truck slowly pulled into the driveway of a garage and an old man climbed out of it once it was parked. It was the same old man that Five had talked with while at the diner the other day. The balding man walked into his garage and started to settle in for a busy day. He walked over to his landline with leisure steps to hear voicemail that was left on the phone. "Yo, Syd, it's Johnny. Hey, look, we got a bunch of extra tows down here, down on Empire Avenue. The whole thing is a disaster. Kids all arrested. Trucks as far as the eye can see." The old man, Syd turned when he suddenly heard a sound behind him only to get hit in the head by a crowbar.

Syd grunted as Cha-Cha clamped a pair of electrical clamps on his nipples after being beaten for a long while. After he had woken up from being knocked unconscious he found himself in chains with a pair of menacing people surrounding him. "You gotta tell me how you did the London job in '66." Cha-Cha commented nonchalantly as if she wasn't torturing a man right now, "beautiful work. Really."

"I swear to Christ," Syd started to plead as he was tied up with chain attached to the ceiling and shirtless, "I have no idea what you're talking- I am just a tow truck driver. I've never even been to London."

Hazel didn't listen to the man's words as he just pulled out Syd's sandwich like this was any other normal day, which it probably was for the pair of assassins. "Tuna? Delicious." He held it out to his partner, "you want half?"

She shook her head, "I'm fine, thanks." The casual conversation was quite unsettling to witness for poor old Syd who was scared out of his mind.

Hazel took a bite out of the sandwich as he stood up and grinned slightly before punching Syd in the face. That effectively bloodied up Syd's face more. "That's for no mayo."

Syd started to whimper in pain and fear which caused Cha-Cha to stare at their victim questioningly, "does Number Five seem like he'd be a whimperer to you?"

"Not from what I heard." Cha-Cha held up the picture of the older version of Five, their target, to Syd's face and eyed them closely. "That seems close enough to me."

"Strong resemblance, I'll grant you that," the brunette shook her head, "but the space between the eyes is different, the chin is not quite the same. There's a dimple."

Hazel nodded his head, "there is a dimple."

"I am not the guy that you are look-"

Annoyed with Syd's babbling, Cha-Cha turned on the electrical machine that shocked their captive into submission. She growled at him, "no talking."

Hazel thought for a moment, "he was the only guy in the doughnut shop, wasn't he?"

"Was there anyone else in the doughnut shop with you last night, Syd?" Cha-Cha asked harshly which caused the chained up man to flinch.

"I don't know, just the waitress and some kid."

The larger assassin just about scoffed at the vague answer, "some kid? Elaborate."

"I-I don't know." Syd panicked, "uh, He was weird."

"This isn't twenty questions, old man." It appeared that Syd was starting to get on Hazel's nerves just like Cha-Cha. However, even though both of them were assassins and worked in a gruesome, unforgiving profession, Cha-Cha and Hazel could be opposites when it came to different situations. One example, Cha-Cha got annoyed and angered far easier than Hazel. But that didn't mean Hazel didn't get annoyed after a while. "Weird how?"

Syd started to stumble over his words while trying to explain the strange kid he had sat next to while at the diner. "He said something about coming there when he was young."

They were silent for a moment as a thought crossed over Cha-Cha's mind as she looked up to Hazel, "are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Italian for dinner?" Leave it to Hazel to think of something that has nothing to do with the task at hand. That and it was focused on food as well.

Cha-Cha and Syd spared him a disbelieving look as his partner shook her head, "focus, I'm talking about the kid."

"What about him?" Hazel continued to eat his new sandwich as Cha-Cha pulled him away slightly.

"Time travel's a bitch."

The larger man thought about it for a minute, "especially without a briefcase."

"What if the kid is Number Five?" It seemed like an absurd idea to think about, however, anything could happen in their line of work.

Hazel's eyebrows furrowed in concentration, "it's sort of hard to wrap your head around."

Syd chuckled weakly as he heard their words. Perhaps this meant that they would let him go and stop the torture that was happening to him. "You see, I told you, I am not the guy."

Cha-Cha walked up to him with a fierce glare, "what else did you and the kid talk about?"

"I-I think that's it." Cha-Cha nodded her head and took off the clamps to put them on Syd's earlobes, "Oh, wait, wait, wait- What are you doing?"

She flashed him a sick smile, "jump-starting your memory." She then turned up the power on the cables and watched as the man shook in pain

He yelled out as electricity surged through his body and lit up each of his nerves. The power was cut off and allowed him to breathe. "All I remember is he wanted directions to some department store." The old man panted out, "that's it, I swear."

"Department store? Okay." Hazle commented before taking another bite of his sandwich, "Elaborate."

---

The Hargreeves household was quite as it was at the beginning of the day. While everyone was out doing what they wanted and needed, Allison was still in the vast house. "But I'm leaving for the airport. It's not a big deal if I miss one session." Her desperate voice asked as she was on the phone with her ex-husband, Patrick. "Patrick, it was my father's funeral. You know, I'm pretty sure the court recognizes that as extenuating circumstances." It didn't seem like Patrick agreed with that fact on the other end of the line. Allison's words then grew soft, "is Claire there? Yes, I would like to say hello to my daughter if that's all right with you." She paused for a moment and listened to his words of defiance to the idea. As she did that, Vanya came walking down the stairs slowly. "No. Patrick! Don't-" The phone call then ended with a heartbroken and angry Allison who slammed the phone on the receiver.

"Are you okay?" Vanya asked in concern.

Allison didn't look in her direction while she took a deep breath, "yeah."

"Well, I've never met your ex-husband, but he sounds like an asshole."

"That's one word for it." Allison collected herself and control her emotions.

"You know what?" Vanya flashed her a small, reassuring smile, "you're probably better off here."

Allison was taken aback by that statement and glared lightly at her sister, "no, I'm probably better off with my daughter."

Vanya's jaw opened and closed multiple times as she realized her mistake. "Of course, um I'm sorry. I didn't-"

"You know," Allison sneered in anger, "if I wanted advice, Vanya, no offense, it wouldn't be from you."

The powerless Hargreeves stared at her for a moment and absorbed those words,"what is that supposed to mean?"

"You don't have a child," Allison bit out, "you've never even been in a relationship."

"That's not true," Vanya shifted on her feet uncomfortably. It wasn't true. Yes, Vanya was in a few relationships as a teenager and young adult. Allison would have known that if they had talked regularly as children. The only one who probably did know about Vanya's few relationships was Jemma. That was mainly due to the two of them living together after they left the academy and that Jemma didn't exclude Vanya from her childhood like their other siblings had a tendency to do.

"So you know what it's like to love someone like this?" Vanya just stared at her in uncertainty. "Like when you're apart from her, you can't breathe? Like you would- you would die, and I- I mean actually die," Allison wanted to cry, "to know that she's okay and happy. You separate yourself from everyone and everything. You always have."

The taller woman's words stung Vanya, "Because Dad made me."

Allison wanted to scoff at her sister's lousy excuse, "Did Dad make you write that book about us, too?" After only seeing Vanya avoid her gaze and instead look down at the floor, Allison started to walk away and past Vanya. She turned to her sister before she abandoned her completely in the large house. "I know that you've been there for Jemma. I guess you're responsible for making sure that she stayed alive for all these years. So you know that you're an adult now." Vanya was the one who Jemma was closest to after they all left the academy. Even if Allison didn't like to admit it. But Vanya seemed to look after their sister the best she could. However, Allison couldn't help but think that Vanya could have done more to help Jemma and her problem. Could Allison have done more than Vanya…? Allison would say yes, but she honestly couldn't back that up with actions. "You don't get to blame your problems on anyone but yourself." With that, Allison turned around and left Vanya to wallow by herself. The words that she spoke hurt Vanya to her very core and all she wanted to do was go home and practice. Playing her violin would certainly take her mind off of everything.