Intertwined

“What?” Steve asked, completely stunned by the statement. Matthew started to sweat, seeing as all of them were gazing at him, staring right into his soul.

An overflowing bathtub, motionless body laying inside, her teal eyes were glazed over, beside the tub a wine bottle and a bar of  sleeping pills laid, both completely empty.

“I…I mean she was hurting here.” He blurted out, by this point standing up and backing away, Sly watched him with sad eyes, knowing very well what he was reliving, “And Lionel didn’t say anything about her being sad and hurting.”

“He never said anything about her being happy either.” Maria muttered making Matthew’s eyes drift to her for a brief moment.

“Don’t you want to have your sister here again?” Franny asked, her brown eyes round, with a sigh Matthew shook his head,

“It’s not that.” He forced out, prying his voice won’t break. “I just don’t want to see her hurting again.” He reassured the musician before fleeing from the dining room.

“Aura? Aura?!” her fur felt cold to the touch, her breathing uneven, shallow, eyes refusing to open. “Please wake up…” his cries fill the silent bathroom as he crouches beside the unconscious body of his sister.

Tears were slowly filling his vision by the time he reached the top kitchen, closing the door behind him, he flopped himself onto the couch and started crying freely, letting the memories consume him completely.

The chlorine-scented intensive care room. The beeping of machines was constantly echoing. He sat on a small, uncomfortable white chair, staring at the unmoving form laying in the bed. “Why had you do that?” he wondered, unable to find the answer he was looking for.

“I can’t let that happen again.” He mumbled between long, ugly sobs. Clutching a small pillow tightly to his chest.

“They still don’t know it, eh.” Came from behind him making him jump up, snapping him back to present time, turning around, he spotted Martine leaning against the kitchen counter, a cup of steaming coffee in hand,

“Jesus Christ, Martine, you scared the crap out of me.” Matthew panted, hand on his chest to try to calm down his rapidly beating heart. The mad genius shrugged, taking a small sip from his cup,

“It happens.” He mumbled, jumping down from the counter walking to him, “You’re thinking about the incident, aren’t you?” He asked pointing at Matthew’s face causing the werecat male to briskly wipe away the tears from his cheeks.

“Maybe.” Matthew told him flatly, trying not to sniff. Martine sighed, sitting down on the couch and pulling Matthew to sit beside him,

“It wasn’t your fault back then.” He murmured making Matthew squint at his unusually soft tone,

“But what if it happens again?” He breathed out, “What if she tries it again?” He mumbled in question, looking straight at Martine. The genius sighed scratching the back of his head,

“We’ll just have to tell them what happened the first time then.” That answer mortified Matthew,

“What if they won’t accept it?” ‘What if they’ll reject her?’ he voiced his biggest concern to him, but left the latter unsaid. Martine sighed, shaking his head,

“We’ll just have to find out then.”

************

 The following days an uncomfortable atmosphere hung over the family. Matthew spent most of his time away in the lab, with only Sly and the rest of their friends keeping him company. Despite Martine’s first grumbles, he let them hung around the back, watching him work.

Steve and Abby quickly finished their preparations, informing Lionel of the next step, while closely keeping an eye on the group downstairs.

“Do you think they’re hiding something?” Steve asked Maria after Wednesday’s dinner. She shrugged, untangling her hair free from the bun she wore.

“They’re from different universe, of course they have their secrets.” She answered, shaking her head to let her hair fall free, placing a black hair band on the bedside table next to her. “Why do you ask?”

“I think Matthew knows something important and keeps it from us.” Steve noted looking at her,

“Why don’t you ask him?” Steve shook his head,

“I tried, but he always denies it and turns the conversation down.” The super soldier sighed.

*************

One night Franny was going down into the basement lab to inform the group about dinner. She stopped few stairs from the lower floor when she caught bits of conversation. “I really think we should tell them soon.” A soft voice of Annie echoed from further inside the lab.

“No shit Sherlock.” Martine’s grumble came as a reply.

“Well, what if they’ll kick her out. They threatened to throw us out for smaller things.” Mikey pointed out. All of them still unaware Franny was listening in.

“Yeah what happens then?” Matthew sighed leaning more against his siter’s chair. “We don’t know how she’ll react upon being forced to return here. We can’t even wonder what she’ll do in that scenario.” He reminded them in strangely sober tone, “And I’m not ready to drag her back into land of living once again. Not when I’m not certain she won’t try to off herself again.” After that statement the room fell completely silent, no one sure what to say to make the situation better.

“Aura tried to kill herself?” Franny asked almost falling down the last bunch of stairs.

“Don’t you know it’s impolite to listen in on other’s conversation?” Martine growled hostilely. The musician ignored him turning to look at Matthew,

“Not just tried, if I didn’t save her she’d actually do it.”

“Matthew!” Sly cried out angry at her boyfriend for spilling out such a sensitive information so casually. Matthew looked at her with cold hazel eyes,

“What, they’d find out eventually. It’s better to hear it than to witness Aura’s another attempt.” He shrugged emotionlessly.

“You think she’ll try again?” Franny asked in weak voice, completely horrified. Matthew chuckled dryly,

“Yeah, that’s for sure. We just don’t know when.” He informed her, making her fear worse. Franny looked around her, noticing the whole group down there.

“Wait you all knew about her destructive behavior and didn’t tell us?” Franny asked in sharp tone, arms crossed on her chest.

“Hey! Your husband threatened to throw us out for smaller incidents! How could we come and say ‘Hey did ya know Aura tried to kill herself yesterday?’ without risking you cutting all ties with her, throwing her out and abandoning her?” Simon questioned her back sitting up on a green been bag he’d been relaxing on. The others gave a nods of agreement.

“We’d never do that.” Franny said in defense, surprised by their lack of trust in them after living together for so long.

“How could we know that?” Lucille asked, leaning forward on the doorframe.

“You should’ve trust us!” Franny stated a little angrier this time. “We would’ve helped!” She argued. The group looked at each other, finally it was Martine who broke the tension.

“Fine, you can. We’ll call you once we find her unconscious in her bloody vomits again.” He stated in slight irony making others look at him with heavy disapproval. “What did you need anyway?” He asked, completely ignoring the gazes burning into his body.

“Oh, dinner is ready.” Franny said softly, finally remembering why she came downstairs in the first place, turning on her heels, she left as quickly as she came.

“She’s going to tell everyone isn’t she?” Martine asked sarcastically.

“You bet.” Matthew replied as he led their little group up into the dining room.

Once they ascended, Matthew’s fur bristled against his spine upon noticing the strange quietness. “Everything okay?” He called out, his uneasiness rising rapidly.

“Why didn’t you tell us about your sister’s problems?” Carl asked appearing in the doorway suddenly with several other members of the family behind him.

“Don’t scare us like that!” Simon cried clutching his chest, panting heavily. The robot ignored him, stepping closer to the group,

“Well?” He raised his eyebrow,

“As if we’d tell you.” Martine muttered to himself.

“None of your business.” Matthew spat out flatly, Sly placed her hand onto his shoulder.

“Not a good time for that.” She whispered to him. “We didn’t want to bother you with it.” She explained casually before anyone could argue further.

“Well, you should!” Cornelius, clearly angry and disappointed in them, stated. “None of you should’ve keep that away from us!”

“You threatened to throw me out for messing up in your lab!” Simon yelled stepping forward, “How could we know you wouldn’t throw her out for trying to take her own life?!”

“Well?” Matthew pressed on, inwardly relieved the situation switched this way.

“I’d never throw out anyone who needed help! None of us would! And you all should know that better than anyone else!” The genial scientist reminded them sternly, “Now just hope we’ll bring her here soon, or else you’re all in big trouble.” Matthew rolled his eyes at them,

“At least you’re not pressing us for the reason she did it.” He chuckled dryly walking past Cornelius into the dining room, “Because I’m sure as hell not giving them to you.” He called out.

“Idiots.” Maria grumbled,

“Hey it’s not like you noticed something.” Sly snapped back at her, “She was moping and sulking around for months! And none of you ever stopped to asked what was wrong!” The family looked at each other, guilt showing on their faces. “As I thought.” She noted.

“Once you stop chewing them out for it, the dinner’s ready.” Matthew called to her from his usual seat.

************

The dinner was strange, too quiet for them. No one was talking, no one was laughing or sharing funny events with others. Each of them sat in silence, staring into their own plate, not bothering to strike a conversation even with those close to them.

“Oh, come on, lighten up.” Mikey murmured, “This is why we kept it a secret, as to not get you feel bad about yourself.” He sighed looking at Lucille for support. ‘Even thou you definitely deserve it.’ He thought, but didn’t voice it out loud.

“How can we?” A soft, heart-broken, question came from his left. Elizabeth, her red hair plastered around her face like a mane, was looking at him with big sad dark eyes.

“She was like a sister to me and I didn’t even notice she was hurting.” She murmured as Charlie placed a comforting hand onto her shoulder. Mikey sighed, shutting his mouth tightly, Lucille looked at him with pity.

“Hey! Mikey’s right. Stop blaming yourselves for something you can’t change now.” Osmi said loudly looking around the table, “Besides it’s Thursday tomorrow, once Lionel gets her to come, you can apologize to her.” ‘If everything gets smoothly.’ He kept to himself. Others from his group looked at him with heavy uncertainty, but the mood was slightly lifted around the family as each member was murmuring an agreement to his words.