To Nightfall

Chapter 3: World's Biggest Ball of Twine

Warnings: brief violence, implications of sexual content, mentions of alcohol, sexual content and death

Word Count: 7590

The night was dark and stormy when the cab pulled up to an extravagant home settled in Beverly Hills, California. Thunder rumbled as Allison climbed out and shut the door behind her. She stared up at the house she hadn't been to in so long. After the divorce and after her ex-husband had won custody over her daughter, she was forced out of their once shared home. But she was back and she was going to be with her daughter, custody be damned.

Allison took little time to observe the interior as she made her way through the lounge room and up the winding staircase. The door to Claire's bedroom was open, as it always was. Allison stood in the threshold of the door, her heart warming and picking up pace as she smiled at the little lump on the bed, turned away from her, wearing a little bonnet for her hair. She gasped and choked on a sob as she moved towards the bed.

Exhaling, Allison sat on the edge with a wobbling smile, gently placing a hand on the child's leg. "Claire, it's Mommy." She whispered.

"Mommy?" The little girl croaked, slowly turning to her.

But that girl was not Claire. She looked nothing like her and Allison looked nothing like her mother. She let out a shrill scream of terror as Allison hurriedly moved away from the bed.

"What?!" Two sets of footsteps thumped down the hallway until Patrick was in the room with another woman. "Who the hell are you?!"

"Patrick, I-"

"Mommy!" The little girl scrambled out of bed and ran into the arms of the woman behind Patrick. "Mommy!"

She held her daughter tight. "What's going on? Who is this woman?"

"Wh- Where's my baby?" Allison felt bile rise in her throat.

"You have ten seconds to leave." Patrick warned.

"WHERE IS CLAIRE?!"

"Lady, there's no Claire here!"

"You're scaring her!" The woman scolded.

"I'm sorry, I..." Allison sniffled, desperately trying to regain her composure. "Something is wrong. Something is very wrong."

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A throat cleared, snapping Allison out of her sleep. When she opened her eyes, she found herself yet again in a cab, sitting before the hotel. "We're here. Hotel Obsidian." The driver informed. She wanted to believe that she had dreamt the sequence, that she never left the state, that her daughter was alive and home and safe and happy, but the tears on Allison's face crushed those thoughts. And now she was back at this godforsaken hotel.

A few floors above, in a single-bed hotel room, Five's eyes creaked open. The morning bled through the curtain, allowing beams of light into the room. This was the best he had felt in a long time. For the longest, Five had woken up from sleep that was induced by alcohol or blood loss, having to face another day of bloodshed and headaches. This morning, though, he felt light and fuzzy. A weight had finally been lifted from his shoulders and he was able to enjoy the feeling of (Y/N)'s skin against his, her soft breaths warm against his chest.

Five softly smiled as he gently traced shapes on her bare shoulder, staring down at her sleeping face. In every sense, she was so beautiful. Her face, her heart, her mind, her hopes and dreams. He didn't tell her enough, but he was so lucky to have her. He hoped she knew that.