Sweet As Honey (Five Hargreeves/The Umbrella Academy)

24

When Honey awoke, she came to the realisation that she must have passed out - only because she was not in the same chair as before, but instead lying on one of the couches in the living room.

She blinked to refocus her vision, noticing the curtains had been drawn shut and she couldn't hear anyone else moving around the house. (But then again it was so big she likely wouldn't.)

She sluggishly pushed herself into a sitting position, feeling a tightness at her thigh. She lifted her stained trouser leg to see her skin clean of blood and the wound wrapped in thick, sterile bandages. Oddly, she couldn't much feel the pain, only a dull ache up her leg.

As she shifted to swing her legs over the side of the couch, she scratched at her inner elbow and then lifted the sleeve when she felt something there. There was a small white bandaid over the bruised crook of her elbow.

Grace must have booked her up to an IV like Five had been, for fluids and painkillers.

Well, she must have been given painkillers, because her head was swimming and she still felt like she could melt into the sofa cushions and let the world fade away around her.

It took a while, but Honey eventually got herself to a stand using the held of the couch arm, legs a little unsteady.

She ran a hand through her hair and limped through to the foyer, scanning the seemingly silent household for a sight or sound. Finding none, she trudged back to the room Five had been in but found the bed empty, the room spotless and clean again - Grace's doing, she presumed - and heaved a sigh as she realised she'd have to make the climb upstairs to find him.

At least he was awake.

Either that or he had bled out and died and no one had bothered to tell her or even leave a note; with this family, it wouldn't be that outrageous of a thought, but she was giving them at least the benefit of the doubt.

Plus she didn't know what she'd do if Five had died.

She shoved that thought far, far away and made the great climb of the staircase, gripping the railing and using it to lean on heavily.

Only a quarter of the way up and Honey was exhausted, resting on the rail and resting her head on her crossed arms. The painkillers in her system were good but not that good.

Once she reached the top, she kind of just figured she'd give up and sat herself down on the top step, lying on the floor on her back with her aching leg outstretched down the stairs as it throbbed to the beat of her heart. She lay there, undisturbed in the silence, and rested her arm across her eyes in exhaustion. She remained there, trying not to think about the pain creeping its way up and down her leg like electric shocks, for a good few minutes before she finally heard a noise.

"Miss Springfield, are you quite right?"

She lazily lifted her arm to see Pogo standing beside her, inquisitive and faintly concerned.

It seemed a bit odd seeing a walking, talking, well-dressed chimpanzee above her but she had seen stranger things. For about a week after he'd told her about Pogo, she finally realised Five wasn't tying to pull a joke on her and that he was serious.

"Yeah," she sighed. "Do you know where Five is?"

"Last I saw he was in his room," he told her, before looking out across the landing then back at her. "Is that where you were heading?"