Rainy Days

Chapter Seventy-Two: Diego, What The Hell

[jordans house–about three a.m., tuesday morning]

"I DON'T understand," Allison said. "How in hell is he covered with blood, but there's not a single starch on him?"

Five held his hands out helplessly before leaning his elbows on his knees and hiding his face with his palms.

They where all sat in Ron's room, circling the bed where Diego lay; Luther was leaning against the wall, arms crossed. Allison was sat in a chair pulled from the kitchen, Ron on a beanbag. Five was sitting in the desk chair, facing the bed, Jordan on the ground in front of him; Vanya had finished examining the stitches in his leg and declared them fine, so she moved to stand next to Allison. Ben was in the second beanbag, Klaus sitting on the windowsill, half inside the house and half out.

"Five? Do you have any guesses?" Allison turned her head to her brother.

He shook his head. "I don't have a single one," he said, frustrated. "It doesn't make any sense. There are lots of people capable of stitching him up, but—" he shook his head again helplessly. "There's no one I'm aware of that could fully heal him. Because there's nothing left but scars and the blood."

"And it's fresh blood, right?" Klaus asked. "It's not old?"

"Not any older than a few hours," Vanya said. "There's no way."

Five sighed heavily and ran his hands over his face, pulling lightly on his ear. "He's not injured. He's mostly unconscious, but he's not injured. And it doesn't make any fuckin' sense!"

Jordan turned his face up to Fives. "It's okay, Five," he said softly. "You don't have to know."

"When do you think he'll wake up?" Ron spoke up.

"Soon," said Luther. "It's gotta be soon."

"Yeah," Allison nodded. "He has to."

The room was silent. They all stared at Diego. At each other. It was a terrifying sort of silence, the kind that made your skin crawl and your heart speed up and everything you have ever done wrong or right fly through your mind.

"I'm getting a sandwich," Luther said. He pushed himself off the wall, glanced back at Diego, and left. Without speaking, Vanya and Allison got up and left as well, speaking in low voices once in the hallway.

"Is anyone else going to leave?" Klaus arches an eyebrow, looking around at them all. Five purses his lips and Jordan shakes his head; Ron doesn't reply, and Ben mutters no.

Klaus nods and runs a hand through his hair, crawling out of the windowsill and sitting next to Ben.

One by one, they all doze off; Vanya, Allison, and Luther returned with mugs of tea (a coffee for Five) and a plate of sandwiches, but only sighed and sat them down upon seeing everyone but Ben asleep.

Eventually, those four dozed off as well.

~{}~

Diego wished they'd killed him instead. Maybe they had.

For some reason, however, this after-death thing was pretty chill. He'd woken up in Ron's bed, his clothes bloodstained but no wounds to he found. Only scars. He supposed that Phrankie lady had superpowers after all.

Another chill thing was the scene. Instead of some pearly gates or burning fires or even that fucking cell. He was sitting in Ron's bed, his siblings and the Reel brothers surrounding him. They were all asleep, though.

After a while of just sitting (Diego's mind felt peacefully quiet at the moment, and he was a little worried he was drugged but he realized he didn't care) he swung his legs over the side of the bed and leaned over to Allison.

He stopped. What if it was a hallucination? Park might have forced him to hallucinate this; he had absolutely no concept of the dudes powers beyond the strange butterflies. Maybe he could cause hallucinations. Maybe Phrankie could, or even Billie. That Ryan guy he had no clue about.

Inhaling shakily, Diego forced his hand out to Allison's shoulder. She seemed pretty real. "Hey," he whispered.

"I'm awake!" Allison hissed, sitting up quickly. She rubbed her eyes and froze. "Oh my God."

"Am I dead?" Diego asked conversationally.

"Oh my God!" Allison screamed and threw her arms around him, effectively tackling him and awakening Vanya.

"Diego!" Vanya shrieked, punching Luther on the arm. He woke up looking annoyed but grinned like an idiot when he saw Diego being slowly hugged to death by Allison.

Within the next ten seconds, everyone else in the room was awake and shouting over one another—was Klaus yelling about cannabis or about hugging a cactus? Diego didn't care.

"You're alive!" Five laughed. "Holy mother of shit, you're alive!"

"Yes! I'm alive!" Diego laughed back. Without warning, Vanya was hugging them. Klaus and Ben joined, and even Luther wrapped his arms around them.

"Fi-i-ive," Klaus said in a sing-song voice from somewhere underneath Luther and Vanya. "You know you wanna join."

"Oh, fuck you," said Five, but he stood up and hugged all six of his siblings. The room lapsed into quiet. Diego hadn't even realized he was crying until Vanya reached around Bens head and wiped a tear off.

No one noticed Jordan and Ron leaving the room, pulling the door shut quietly behind them.

A/N:
remember to eat a snack today!