(TIME SKIP)
The door quietly opens, Violet and Ben talking in hushed voices as they walk in.
“Just one meeting and you trust him enough to bring him home??”
“Benjamin Stan, he’s been on the board for ages!”
“So was Air…”
Ben’s voice trails off as they both realize how still the house is and his eyes fall on Silver snuggling a blanket on the couch. Gabriel under the blanket.
“What the-“ He starts, but is cut off by Violet whacking his shoulder, giving him a hard glare.
“And you wonder why Kissa cusses.”
He rubs his shoulder, “What!?”
The only sound in the living room was the periodic hum of Silver snoring ever so slightly, her mouth hanging open from how her cheek lay on Gabriel's shoulder.
Miki sits on Gabriel's bed, facing the TV on the wall opposite and leaning her body back and forth as she controlled her character in the game and tried to beat Cage. Every move and action was punctuated by a verbal commentary. "AH! Cage, no! Ouch! OH NO. No, no, no, no. CAGE, YOU CAN'T–I'm gonna get you."
Vi heads into the kitchen, setting her purse onto the counter and putting the pizza away. “Benjamin, it’s not that big of a deal. We can keep them away if you’d like. Honestly, I can take them out.”
He shakes his head, standing by the island. “No no, I need you here.”
“We can have them stay in the basement.”
“Violet, they’re too loud!”
She sighs, turns to look at him and putting her hands on her hips. “Well, Benjamin, What is your plan? Or are you just going to keep shooting down my ideas and grumbling.”
He glares at her. “It shouldn’t have been suggested in the first place.”
Silver stirred, a frown creasing her face as their voices slowly brought her out of sleep.
“Ben, we can’t talk to him anywhere else! What did you want me to suggest??”
Ben points behind him to the couch. “If he figures out they’re here, even if he’s with us, he puts us all in ten times more danger! Did you not think of that?!”
She places her hands on the counter, palms down, “yes, Ben! Yes! He’ll be here for two hours tops! Trust them to be quiet?”
Exasperated, he throws his hands up, “No!”
She shuts her eyes, finally matching his volume. “Then suggest a solution and stop shouting at me!”
Gabriel flinches, reflexively turns himself and Silver invisible and staring wide eyed as they raise their voices.
Cage goes to yell at Miki for killing him the fourth time in a row, but stops with his mouth open, hearing Violet shout at the top of her lungs.
“Did….” He mutes the game. “Is that Vi??…”
Silver jumped, her eyes flying open as they got louder. Her mouth dropped open and she instinctively grabbed Gabriel. "Wha… what are they… why are they yelling?" she gasped.
Miki cocked her head, trying to listen. "Are they even home…?
Gabriel rubs her arm, sliding the blanket off of his face. “I don’t know.” He whispers quietly.
“Will you listen to me?!” He shouts.
“I’ve been listening to you the entire drive home! You’re not solving anything by getting louder!” Her voice almost reaches a desperate shriek at the end and it breaks. She turns away from him, rubbing the heels of her wrists into her eyes.
Dammit don’t cry.
Ben goes silent, a glare still on his face.
Cages eyes widen. “They are home. What’s going on?!?”
Silver clamped a hand over her mouth, tears springing to her eyes as if she was crying for Violet. Her other hand squeezed Gabriel's pant leg (like the fabric) until her knuckles were white. "What's going on?" she stammered in a choked voice.
Miki blinked, staring at him as their raised voices reached them clearly without the filter of the game noise. "Well, Violet is yelling so this is Officially Bad."
Ben waits a second, waiting for her to speak again, but all he can hear is her heavy breathing as she struggles to keep her composure. She angrily wipes her eyes and heads towards the stairs, stopping to remove her heels on the way.
He sighs, “Violet.” He goes to protest her leaving.
“Cool off and come back when we can talk civilly!” She shouts back at him, not bothering to turn. She marches into their room and shuts the door with a loud slam.
He lets out another sigh and runs one hand through his hair while placing the other on his hip.
Gabriel shushes sil quietly and pets her hair. “Just wait.”
Cage winces at the sound of the slammed door. He sits down by Miki. “I think we’re all gonna die.”
Silver pressed her hands over her ears and pulled her legs up, trying to be smaller, and sobbed silently. "Why are they fighting?" She whispered.
Miki's eyes went wide and the echoing silence sent chills down her arms. "We can climb out the window and escape."
Gabriel pulls her closer, “Silver, it’s okay. They’ll talk it out.” He whispers.
Cage nods. “What do you think happened? Vi never yells.”
Ben cusses under his breath and walks to the door, grabbing his leather jacket and helmet and heading outside again.
As soon as Ben was gone Silver out her breath and her voice and cried without restraint. It only lasted a few moments before she was quiet again and trying to still her breaths. "But what's going on? What happened that they're fighting over? Who were they talking about? Is someone coming?"
Miki clicked her tongue. "Violet was probably fabulous and smooth and suggested a smart thing that Ben would never have thought of and now Ben is trying to come up with every reason possible that it's a bad idea."
Gabriel is silent for a second. “I… don’t know.” He states, still petting her.
Cage shrugs. “Maybe? But Ben doesn’t normally raise his voice at Vi either…”
The front door silently opens and closes as Kissa follows Ben, invisible.
Silver slowly stopped gasping for breath and wiped her wet face. "I'm scared. I don't know what's going on." She turned and pressed her face into his neck.
Miki nodded. "Yeah. Well. They met an important dude tonight or something. You know how he gets. I mean yesterday he was almost caught so now he's all hyper protective and stressy."
We’ll find out.
He’s silent and watches the door after watching Kiss leave.
Where does she think she’s going?
Cage nods. “Yeah. I guess.” He stands and stretches. “Should we check on Vi?”
Miki glanced at her watch. "Maybe in a few more minutes. You can go. She'd probably just get annoyed at me."
After a few moments of stillness, Silver lifted her head and peered at his face. "What are you watching?" She followed his gaze, only saw the dark, empty house.
Gabriel stares at the door, his eyes still sleepy and his lids heavy. “Hm. Kissa followed him.” The words are quiet and scratchy and he seems to care very little.
Cage nods. “Okay.” He turns the volume on the TV back on and picks up his remote. “Up for another round?”
Silver sat up straighter and peered at his face. "Isn't that… bad?"
Miki nodded, but her mind seemed distant from the game. "Sure. One more round. Then we check on Vi."
Cage nods and sits back down by her. “Yessss.”
Gabriel shrugs and stands up with a bit of effort. “She won’t leave the property.” He walks to the window to see her climb a tree on the edge of their property and watch Ben drive off. She’s invisible still.
The couch felt cold beside Silver, in the empty spot he left. She grabbed his blanket and wrapped herself up in it, watching him. The faint light of the moon outside silhouetted him, outlining his tall, thin figure and his great, webbed wings sprawled half way across the room behind him. His purple eyes reflected the starlight and seemed to glow. Silver's eyes began to droop again, worn out from her wild emotional roller coaster, but she blinked awake again to keep watching him.
"Gabriel," she finally said, voice small. "Are we safe?"
Miki snapped herself back to the game and gave Cage a friendly shove. "You're horrible at this game, you know? No wonder you don't like fighting in real life."
“Ha!” Cage shoves her back. “Not like you’re that great at fighting either.” He jokes.
Gabriel doesn’t bother to answer. He knew the answer and was 98% sure she knew too.
Of course not. We never will be.
Miki snorted, feigning offense. "And who was it who knocked your brother to the ground just this afternoon? Bet you've never done THAT."
Silver lay down on her side, still facing him, and curled into a ball under her blanket. Weary, heart-aching tears leaked unbidden to her eyes and she sniffed.
I'm so tired of running and hiding and being scared, she thought, unable to even voice her fears aloud.
Gabriel’s eyes glance down to the floor, and he slightly turns his head to look over Silver in the dark room.
I know.
Me too.
I wish you could know peace.
He blinks sleepily.
Cage rolls his eyes. “Noooo, I’ve never done it. I’m sure Violet has.” He giggles. “Or not because she doesn’t really do physical combat.”
Her tears slipped to her cheeks and Silver wiped them away, halfway angry that she was crying again for the second time in less than an hour. Dang it, why am I always so stupidly emotional, she berated herself. With a deep breath she tried to chase them away and did her best to smile at him.
Miki laughed. "She's obviously found out how to concur him in other ways." she winked suggestively at Cage.
Cage pretends to gag. “Mi- MIKI STOP! DONT KILL ME AGAI- uuuugh.” He drops his controller in defeat.
Gabriel blinks, watching tears stream down her cheeks. She cried a lot, but at least that meant she felt a lot. It was much better than displaying no emotion.
He doesn’t return her fake smile and instead walks to her and offers her his hand.
