Prophet - Five Hargreeves X oc UMBRELLA ACADEMY

12

Something wet was on her face. She shakily reached her other hand up to her cheek, wiping away at tears, tears that she had unknowingly shed.

What the fuck was going on?

Anneli felt horrifically confused.

"Excellent job, my dear." The handler chimed proudly, dressed in all black with a briefcase clutched at her side.

Everything felt wrong, disjointed. This wasn't real. What was going on? She looked down at the gun in her hands and then to the Handler again.

"What... what's going on?" She asked slowly.

"You completed your end of the bargain," she clapped her hands together once and folded them in front of her happily. "I knew you'd come to your senses eventually."

When Anneli span, the world around her changed.

They were outside, fields surrounding the road that was empty, save for a car a great distance away. There was no shift in the air. The breeze was nonexistent, trees standing statue still and the grass never once twitched.

There were no sounds except for her heavy heartbeat.

The girl turned back, holding the gun up and aiming at her. "What is this?" She demanded, finger ready on the trigger.

This was all so very wrong. It was too real, too confusing. She didn't understand. Why could she never be shown something she understood?

The Handler smiled knowingly and when Anneli blinked, the scene in front of her changed only slightly; The Handler was not in front of her anymore, but something else took her place.

Anneli blanched, gun lowering shakily as she stared down at the body on the ground in front of her, horrified.

Blood covering a navy blue uniform, pale skin. His emerald eyes were blank, staring at the sky, unseeing.

Her eyes were drawn to where all the blood was coming from, finding a bullet wound in the chest.

Her lips parted in shock, panic gripping her in a chokehold. She tore her eyes away, spinning, and when she did in an attempt to ask the Handler what was going on, the world went black again and she felt herself falling.

Anneli jolted awake and fought to catch her breath, heart pounding in her chest. Her back was on something comfortable and in the dim room she could see the cracked cieling above her as she blinked the tears from her eyes. As her mind came to terms with the confusing nightmare she clasped her hands over her stomach as they unwillingly shook. She gripped the sleeves of her sweater tightly and pressed her lips together in a thin line to suppress her overwhelming emotions.

When the ringing from her ears subsided she finally became aware of two hushed voices talking seriously on the other side of the room.

Anneli let out a steady breath of air and turned on her side, where her gaze met Five's back. She squeezed her eyes closed just for another minute, so she didn't have to wake up and face the people in the room. So she didn't have to think about it. She caught the end of the conversation and slowly pushed herself to sit up, head aching.

Both Hargreeves looked to her when her movement caught their eye. She slid hers swiftly to the ground.

"You... okay?" Luther asked, narrowing his eyes.

Five observed her closely which wasn't hard considering he was next to her. She curled her legs towards her and crossed them underneath her, nodding with her lips pressed together. Her hands were bundled under her sleeves.

He could see through her lie immediately.

"Just a headache," she faked a smile, rubbing the spot between her eyebrows. By Luthers thoughtful expression she could tell he was trying to comprehend the conversation left in the air, and could only assume by Five's slightly crestfallen face that the jig was going to be up pretty soon.

Her head snapped towards the door. "Oh dear."

Five stood with her trying to gauge her expression. "What is it?"

She gently pulled Five back, eyes shooting to Luther. "Heads up!"

"What-"

The door slammed open a second later and Diego stormed in with a yell - "piece of shit!"

Luther stood, sensing trouble as he stormed towards her and Five. "Do you have any idea what you just did?"

Luther grabbed his brother and lifted him off the floor before he could get too close and he growled, struggling, still enraged at the two teenagers.

"Get your ape hands off of me!"

"I can do this as long as it takes for you to calm down."

"Fine... Our brother and Anneli have been pretty busy since he got back. They were in the middle of that shootout at Griddys, and then at Gimbel brothers after the guys in masks attacked the academy looking for them." He accused.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Anneli could only whisper, eyes sad, still holding Five's arm beside her. Everyone skimmed past her comment except Diego, who stared harshly at her.

"None of which was any of your concern," Five responded easily, not hearing her.

"It is now. They just killed my friend."

She chewed the inside of her cheek, not happy that someone else had been brought into this and hurt. That wasn't their intention. Now things were really fucking up.

"Who are they?" Luther asked.

Five glanced around the room. "They work for my... our, former imployer. A woman called The Handler, she sent them to stop me. Then as soon as Diegos friend got in the way, well, fair game."

Anneli stared at the floor, unease crawling through her stomach, mind drifting back to her nightmare.

Diego narrowed his eyes at his brother. "Now they're my fair game. And I'm going to see to it they pay." He stormed for the door and both her and Five called out for him to stop at the same time.

"That would be a mistake, Diego," Five continues. "They've killed people far more dangerous than you."

"Yeah? We'll see about that." The door slammed behind him, leaving the remaining three in silence.

Anneli grew uncomfortable with the silence between the two brothers left in the room and could tell things were about to get serious when Luther asked Five what was really going on.

Five and her exchanged a look before she nodded. Anneli left him to do most of the explaining, adding in only once that she also used to work for the Handler but hasn't for ages now, which was why Five didn't trust her at first and... tried to kill her with a kitchen knife immediately upon seeing her. Honestly, she didnt blame him, looking back on it.

The truth was revealed about the end of the world and Luther struggled to wrap his head around it, asking questions intermittently much to their combined annoyance.

But while Five carefully explained his past, she found that concentrating was difficult and played with a loose thread on her sleeve absentmindedly. All that kept coming to mind was the horrific image of the body in her nightmare, covered in blood and killed by her own hand. She didn't understand it.

What possible events could lead to her doing such a thing?

All she knew was that she had to be careful,  and she had to ensure her dream didn't turn into reality.