As The World Caves In [Five]

Twenty-four

If you were guaranteed the answer to one question, what would it be?

Vanya saw this and then she was moving, bending her arm and slashing her bow in front of her, sending everyone flying backward. She paused, looking at her siblings with a frown before realizing absences, specifically- Emery's.

Hesitantly, he slowed his steps, walking toward her from behind at a cautious pace. His mouth was open to say something but he found he couldn't bring himself to speak to he settled for trying to calm his racing heartbeat as he took another step, one in front of the other, until he was lowering a bandaged hand on her shoulder.

"Vanya." He said, voice low and barely above a whisper. "Don't do this." He said.

Vanya ignored him, shifting again as she thrust her hand out, and then everyone that was laying on the ground trying to gain back their breath was being raised into the air, attached to the girl by a thick string of glowing power. Shouts of pain and distress erupted from the siblings as Vanya strengthened her hold.

He could feel the power coursing through the girl. It was painful and felt like multiple daggers were digging themselves into his bones, shaking them out of place and rearranging the thoughts in his mind until they were all but an incoherent mess.

"Vanya." He said, voice more rushed. He strengthened his grip- just a tad hoping it would break her out of whatever state this was in but not hard enough that she would decide he was being too much of a pain and send him up there with the rest of the Hargreeves. "Do you really want to do this?" He asked. "They're your family. Blood or not. I know they've wronged you but this is not the way to go about reconciliation." He rushed out. "They see you now, they know and acknowledge you, Vanya. You can stop." Whatever he said wasn't working but he hadn't been flung into oblivion and he swore he could see the corner of her stone-cold face twitch when he didn't give up.

Emery looked up above Vanya's shoulder and saw Five looking at him desperately. The boy's mouth formed sha[es and it took Emery a moment to realize he was trying to tell him something.

'Absorb it.'

Emery shook his head. He couldn't. There was no way. Five knew what happened the last time he did. But then the boy flung his head back as a new shout ripped its way up his lungs and past his lips and Emery's heart was pounding louder than it ever had. They were all in pain, they would all die if Vanya kept this up any longer.

He couldn't stop it himself. She was just too powerful a match for his abilities. He would need- he would need Allison.

His eyes went wide as he scanned the audience for the curly-haired brunette and found her creeping along the side, going backstage, and disappearing behind the curtain.

Just a few more seconds and then Allison would be there.

He could absorb it again. He knew it was a suicide mission but he'd be dammed if that meant everyone died.

Emery grit his teeth and wrapped his other hand around Vanya, engulfing her in a hug. Just like last time in the lobby right before Luther turned on her- right before they all turned on her.

He closed his eyes as a tear escaped his eyes and held on tight.

The pain was unbearable already and he let out a shout as he absorbed the first part of it, feeling it dig through him in the most painful way possible. The rest that he couldn't absorb, he scattered it, shoving it away with his mind into the corners of the room and through the windows- the glass shattering upon impact and lighting up the outside streets with brilliant streaks of light. He dug within himself and drew the shadows from the room, pushing them towards the beams that were still holding the Hargreeve's siblings suspended. The light was dimmer but only barely. He knew he couldn't manage more but making it seem that they were weaker by surrounding them in shadow may convince Vanya was getting weak and weaken her resolve just that much quicker.