• GARDENER • Five Hargreeves

n i n e

The four finally arrived at Diego's place, which was the boiler room of a training building. Luther lay the now sleeping Five on the bed, as Diego placed Delores on a chair. Luther, Edith, and Diego stared down at the sleeping Five, a mix of emotions swirling in their brains.

"Funny. If I didn't know he was such a prick, I'd say he looks almost adorable in his sleep." Diego muttered. Edith clicked her tongue in distaste, shaking her head.

"I don't see it." She lied effortlessly, as she definitely did see it.

"Well, don't worry. He'll sober up eventually. Be back to his normal, unpleasant self." Luther said as he and Diego turned away from the boy, walking away. Edith kept her eyes on Five, losing herself in a trance of thoughts.

"Yeah, I can't wait that long I need to find out what his connection is with these lunatics before someone else dies." Diego said as he adjusted his light. Luther nervously turned to Five, before turning back to Diego.

"All that stuff he was saying before... What do you think he meant by that"? Luther asked hesitantly, as Diego and Edith perked up when they heard movement overhead.

"You throw another one of those goddamn knives at me, I'm pressing charges." A man yelled as Diego got ready to throw his knives at the intruder.

"What do you want, Al?" Diego asked, letting the man inside the basement area.

"I ain't your secretary." Al groaned, before telling Diego what was wrong. "Some lady called for you, said she needs your help."

"What lady?" Diego asked as he had walked down the stairs, not really listening to Al. This interested Edith, who kept her eyes on the older man.

"I dunno. Some, uh, detective. I think she said her name was, uh, Blotch or somethin'." Al shrugged, intriguing Diego.

"Patch? She needs my help." Diego rushed back up the stairs, staring closely at Al.

"She needs you to meet her at that motel, a dump on Calhoun." He explained as he handed a note to Diego, which Edith assumed had the written form of what he had just said.

"When?" Diego asked immediately, as Luther and Edith moved closer to the pair in curiosity.

"About half an hour ago. Uh, said she found your brother." Al left, confusing the three as they looked to Five and then back at each other.

"Well, that didn't make sense." Diego stared at the sleeping Five, before he gasped. Luther knew what he was going to say, locking eyes with Diego. "Klaus." At their realization, Diego sped off, leaving Edith confused and Luther feeling awkward.

"Go. I'll wait here with...him." Luther sighed as Diego slammed the door, leaving him, Edith and Five in the small room together.

"And why didn't you mention Klaus was missing?" Her tone was sharp and unimpressed, making Luther simply sigh and look away. He pat Delores' head softly, going to sit himself down somewhere in the room.

Luther and Edith had been waiting in an awkward silence until Five had woke up with a start. He looked around, confused, until he saw Edith, Luther, and Delores too. Luther moved his chair to sit at Five's bedside and Edith moved so that she was sitting beside Five on the bed.

She leaned over, whispering into Five's ear. "You have to tell him now, Hargreeves. There's nothing you can do to avoid it anymore." Edith wasn't happy about it, but she knew the Hargreeves siblings would need to know eventually.

Five inaudibly groaned, beckoning for Luther to listen. Together, the pair had told Luther more-less everything they knew about the apocalypse. Five told Luther basically everything, as Edith chipped in with things that she knew.

"When's it supposed to happen? This... apocalypse." Luther was confused, as he should be, and was trying to comprehend what the pair had just told him.

"I can't give you the exact hour, but... from what I could gather, we have four days left." Five said slowly, but Edith had other plans. As he had said that she'd stared flatly at Luther.

"April first, which is in four days." Edith told him. Luther looked between the pair, leaning forward.

"Why didn't you say something sooner? Did your brothers know?" Luther asked the pair a separate question, his voice stern.

"Yeah, they know. They like action, but I forced them to stay and babysit you guys." Edith told Luther, who nodded unhappily, before waiting for Five's answer to the question he had been asked.

"It wouldn't have mattered." Five said softly, shaking his head in regard to Luther's question.

"Of course it would. We could've banded together and helped you try to stop this thing." Luther shot back, unimpressed with Five's actions.

"For the record, you already tried." His response was immediate, his voice tense as he recounted the events to his brother.

"What do you mean?" Luther hesitantly asked, his voice filled with curiosity.

"I found all of you. Your bodies." Five muttered, avoiding eye contact with his brother.

"We die?" Luther muttered, shocked.

"Horribly." Five sighed, before continuing. "You were together, trying to stop whoever it was that ends the world." Five slowly turned to Edith, a frown etched on his face. "You and your brothers were there too. Even without me, you still go and help them."

"We were?" Edith was shocked, her voice barely audible as she spoke.

"Wait, how do you know that?" Luther asked, speaking fast.

"This was clutched in your dead hand when I found you. Must've ripped it out of their head right before you went down." Five pulled the cloth containing the glass eye from his pocket, unravelling it and throwing it over to Luther, who caught it with ease.

"Whose head?" Luther looked between the eye and Five, keeping the eye a safe distance away from him.

"Like I said, I don't know." Five shrugged, turning to Edith who also shrugged.

"Well, there's a serial number on the back. Think maybe you could try...?" Luther trailed off as Edith sighed and Five interrupted.

"No, that's a dead end." He chuckled, shaking his head, "It's just another hunk of glass."

"And anyway, if you didn't know, the damn building burned down!" Edith exclaimed, her voice annoyed. Luther gave the eye back to Five, who wrapped it back up.

Then the door crashed open, an enraged Diego marching through. "You piece of shit!"