To Nightfall

Chapter 4: At Ease

Warnings: PTSD, racism, mentions of alcohol and death

Word Count: 3227

"Son of a bitch! Klaus is Amish." Five mumbled as the three exited the car. Out of all the people they would have guessed for Klaus Hargreeves to possibly grow up with, the Amish was one of the last on the list. Klaus circled the car as Five closed the door he was holding open for (Y/N).

"This explains everything." Klaus smiled.

"How?" (Y/N) furrowed her brows. "This is, like, everything you're not."

"Exactly! Look at this place! This is everything my childhood was missing." He gestured around the farmland inhabited by the people working around them. Their car borrowed from the hotel looked out of place in this environment.

When Klaus began walking further, Five ran to catch up with him. "Hey, uh, Klaus?"

"Yeah?"

"Wait up a minute." Five grabbed hold of his wrist. "Dopplegänger check. You feel anything strange? Uh, itching, sweats, gas, anything like that?"

"No," Klaus shook his head. "No, I feel great. Apart from the old rash on the tackle, but what can you do?"

Five grimaced as Klaus walked around him. "Alright, good luck." He called out as (Y/N) came to his side, taking his hand in hers. Klaus quickly turned back to them in shock.

"What? Wait, you're not coming?"

"This is one you gotta do alone."

Klaus sighed, looking a bit defeated. "Alone? Yeah, okay. Yeah, I can do that, sure."

(Y/N) smiled at her brother as he turned back around. "You'll be okay."

"I'll be okay..."

"He'll be okay," She whispered to Five, swinging their hands back and forth. "This feels like... dropping your kid off for the first day of school. Hope he makes friends."

"Oh, he'll make some friends," Five raised a brow before turning to his wife. "Why don't we have some alone time now?"

After moving the car away from the Amish's little town and closer to the cow pasture, Five and (Y/N) sat in the backseat. Five slouched low with his feet propped up on the back of the front passenger seat. (Y/N) was beside him, laying across the seats with her head resting on his stomach, trying not to fall asleep as Five glided his fingers through her hair.

"(Y/N)?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you thought of going to see your mother yet?"

There was a bit of silence as she toyed with the hem of his shirt in thought. Of course, she had wanted to see her mother. She missed her so much and had carried the guilt of her death for so long. Now, though, she had to have been fine. Especially without (Y/N) in her life, she thought. "There's no reason to."

Five frowned as his eyes scanned the map in front of them. "What do you mean? Thought you guys had a good relationship?"

"We did, but this is a different timeline. One where I don't have to burden her."

He froze for a moment before setting the map down and leaning forward to get a better look at what he could see of her face, running his thumb along her cheekbone. "You could never be a burden, Starlight. Your mother loved you so much."

"You'd be surprised how much of an inconvenience I was to her," (Y/N) sighed, moving to pluck at the leg of Five's pants. "She would never say it, but... I could feel it. She gave me up. I shouldn't have found her. I dumped my kids on her and then vanished for days."