Family Comes Last.

Chapter 9: Is it only me or did she just pet you like a dog?

Trigger warning: There will be rape-frame up, actual afterthoughts of being raped but only majorly around 3 chapters, and looking back at being suicidal later on (I'm not sure if Serafina's current mindset can be classified as suicidal) please proceed carefully.

Weeks passed Xavier's funeral...Well, a funeral that she did herself.

Serafina had written him a letter, put it in a bottle, let it float away in the river that they had their first kiss over, where they met...a place which held so many painfully beautiful memories. She jogged up the same river, her breath shallow as she breathed through the pain, trying her best not to end up in a coughing fit, it had been happening a lot recently.

Sweat dripped down her red face, both because of the temperature and her running only in her sports bra and shorts, at 3 am at that.

She liked the night, she loved it, she felt like she could slowly evaporate into it...just lay there watching the stars, breathing in the scent of night, the peace and quiet, the fact that most people were asleep and dreaming, she loved everything about it, to be honest.

She wasn't listening to music or thinking bout anything, she was just running, listening to the night, mind completely blank.

She needed a bit of quiet too, you know, a bit of peace to function.

Torturing someone like Vesper or Phoenix didn't help her, nor did the power like Katherine...or the music like Eve or even watching Netflix like Raven.

All she needed was to let the night air fill her lungs, to run....all she needed was the night.

It was just something that bought her peace since she was a child.

Stopping she panted, placing her hands on knees, and breathed in and slowly breathed out, and again as she reached her destination, crossing her legs she sat down with her back against the grave in the graveyard.

Against her grave, in her graveyard.

"Cowards must have come up with the idea" She heard Cole trail as he entered, sitting down with his back against the other one "To put a graveyard in the middle of nowhere, so they didn't have to face the fact that their loved ones were gone"

"Cowards" She repeated the word quietly before suddenly turning to face him.

Looking into his honey eyes, kind, warm yet slightly guarded and worn out, black hair, dark lips..she asked "Do you ever take a break from your own thoughts?"

"All the time, I don't think people understand how it is...to express what's going on inside you know..."

"Yeah, especially when we don't know it ourselves"

"And you know it's not like we're not trying, we are, trying to be better, to be happy and rich and toppers, and look amazing and survive, not overreact or overthink...it's not like we arent"

"I know, besides all we can do is try...Life's funny that way, one moment we get this awesome idea, which everyone loves...and then the blows come and it turns upside down, and you're just lost...and totally alone"

"At this point, if Pennywise asked me to go with him" Cole looked at her as they spoke together, meaning the 4 words with all their hearts.

"I'd probably do that"

~o~O~o~

Sipping his coffee as the sun shone in through the windows of his massive office Vittorio was thinking hard.

About all the things happening recently.

It wasn't normal for Katherine to be with Vesper or the twins...It wasn't like Eve to spend so much time with Katherine, suddenly the rivals were also giving a lot of information.