8: apologies

"I'm so sorry for everything, I really am." She began in a steady voice once she was standing before them.

They regarded her quietly without still saying anything, like they were assessing and trying to read her, making her grow nervous with the gifts still clutched in her hands. If they refuse to accept her apology, she wouldn't know what else to do.

"Shouldn't we step out for a moment to do this?" Vlad, clearly the older of the two suggested and Raven quickly nodded in agreement, then the three of them were filing out, while her father gave her an assuring and encouraging smile on the way.

Once they were in a private room that seemed to be for gaming, Raven was still nervous but she commenced again.

"Guys, I'm really sorry. I swear it,"

This time, Zade sighed as he focused on Raven.

"You pushed us away. You locked us out. Why did you do that?" He asked, and by the sound of his voice, it was clear that he was quite hurt. Raven swallows emptily, wishing she had the answer to that question, but she didn't.

"I- I don't know… but I'm sorry, really." Raven whispered quietly, feeling guilty as hell even though she wasn't even the one who hurt them, but the original villainess.

Vlad was the first to close the distance till he was standing a few inches away from her.

"We all used to be joined at the hips in the past, remember? And we were your protectors. We loved to make you happy, cause you were our only baby sister after all… till you suddenly changed overnight and pushed everyone away." He paused, pushing his wavy, black hair out of his face for a moment and Raven felt her heart clench in her chest.

"For years, we wondered what we did wrong. We tried to fix it, but we had to stop trying at one point because it was clearly pointless." He continued and Raven stepped forward, blinking up at him.

"I've really changed, I promise." She whispered.

Vlad regarded his sister while his heart ached a little, and for the first time in years, there was no hostility in her eyes, and she looked like his little sister again, unlike the stranger he used to see whenever he looked at her in the past years. Despite her pushing all of them away, him and Zade still used to look out for her from afar. They were all literally best friends when growing up, so her suddenly wanting nothing to do with them had hurt a lot.

But somehow, he could feel her sincerity right now. Last night, he had thought she was messing around and would resume her usual wayward activities today, but he asked around today, and everyone confirmed she didn't cause problems like she usually did. Some people even confirmed they witnessed her cutting off some of her bad friends while advising them against smoking.

Surely all of that couldn't still be her messing around.

He reached up and stroked her hair like he used to do since she was born, and she leaned into the touch, then he was opening his arms and she flew into his arms, clutching him tightly.

Raven felt relief fill up her veins as she hugged her brother while feeling extremely relieved. Weirdly, she might not have grown up with them, but she felt deeply connected to them, and like she genuinely cared about them too. She guessed that's because of the original villainess' blood in her veins right now.

Zade stepped forward after she pulled out of the hug with Vlad and she faced him. He silently stared down at her and she hesitated for a moment before reaching for his hand.

"I'm sorry, Zade. Forgive me, please?"

This time, he scoffed and rolled his eyes, while fighting off a grin. "Like I could resist you for long anyway." He sighed before tugging her into a hug and she felt her heart swell in her chest as she hugged him, feeling whole on the inside.

She didn't realize this would make her feel relieved to her soul, making her wonder if a part of the original villianess' soul still remained in this body right now.

"I got you two a little gift, to make it up to you. It's small, but it's a start." Raven said to them after ending the hug with Zade.

Vlad arched a brow as he accepted the gift and neatly unwrapped it, unlike Zade who tore into his own like a dog.

"Oh, wow! It's the latest version." Vlad mused as he examined his new MacBook, grinning excitedly.

"This looks very sick, bro." Zade cried out as he regarded his own gift. It was the latest, trending gaming console.

As she watched her two brothers, she felt relief settle deep within her. She was aceing this and she was glad.

Now this leaves just her mother, then she'll tell them about the upcoming apocalypse.

She tentatively knocked on the door of her parents' bedroom where she was told her mother had disappeared into.

"Yes?"

Raven swallowed emptily as she responded. "It's Raven, mum. Can we talk, please?"

It was silent on the other end for about a minute, then the door got unlocked. A relieved sigh left Raven as she quickly stepped into the room and closed it after her, her eyes briefly wandering around before settling on her mother's face.

Her mother didn't even look furious, just hurt, and that broke Raven's heart.

"Mum… I'm so sorry." She began quietly, watching as her mother blinked slowly before nodding.

"Okay."

Raven blinked. That was it?

"Seriously, mother. I mean it. I'm sorry for hurting your feelings." I pressed and this time, her expression cracked a little as she huffed.

"You said I was ugly, old and washed up. You said a lot of vile things to me, remember?" Her mother revealed and Raven was left gaping cause she couldn't believe her ears.

How dare the original villainess say those hurtful words to her mother?? And those words were clearly a lie cause this woman looks very gorgeous!

After that, Raven apologized profusely, till her mother cracked and broke down. Raven didn't realize when she broke down as well, cause she was feeling so much rush of emotions, like she was deeply connected to this woman from the depth of her soul.

At a point, they got into a tight hug that lasted for long minutes, then her mother was stroking her hair and kissing her forehead, while quietly admitting that she had missed her little girl so much. The gesture made her remember her real mother that died in the apocalypse and she teared up again while her mother in this world consoled her and also assured her she'd been forgiven.

Unlike at the beginning when Raven hated that she reincarnated into a villainess' body, now, Raven felt grateful to have been blessed with a family as emotionally connected and passionate as this one in this world.

This means trust would be completely unbreakable between them, which is the most important aspect of surviving together in an apocalypse.

And tonight, she'll break the news to all of them.