The academy was but a haunted house the night that Allison and Diego Hargreeves came lugging in their dying brother. Both of them were anxious, the feeling brought by numerous factors, all of them uniting to form one big monster in the pit of their stomachs. It was the looming dread that came with the thought of the impending apocalypse, along with their recent discovery of the true identity of one Leonard Peabody and his possibly dubious intentions with their family, most especially Vanya. Then there was the problem at hand, literally. Five continued to grunt with the slight movement, his amazing pain tolerance not enough to suppress the shrapnel that had found a home on his stomach.
All of these plaguing them and yet they still noticed how the young girl was completely distraught. Her eyes showed great pain as she followed them as they placed the boy's lanky frame onto the couch, a grunt escaping his lips once more as he laid down. "We should have taken him to the hospital." Allison argued, breathing heavily while shedding her coat and throwing it on a table nearby.
"A kid with a shrapnel wound might raise some questions." Five spoke up, his voice frail and the sound made Ellie's heart stop. Her anger completely subsiding from feeling how defeated he felt, despite being so hurt. She knelt down next to the couch, her hand landing on his face to brush his hair out of his eyes. His green orbs no longer visible as he succumbed to unconsciousness once more.
"He's still losing blood. What do we do?" Allison asked, looking at the pool of blood that now coated the cushions.
"We gotta get that shrapnel out first." Diego pointed out looking at the teens.
"Supplies from the infirmary if you please." Ellie said to them, not even turning around as she did so. Her siblings-in-law looking at each other before leaving to comply to her orders. The sound of their footsteps diminished after a few seconds, leaving Ellie to do nothing but to stare at a sleeping Five. He felt more at ease, even though the discomfort from the wound was still very much present, he wasn't stressed and that was definitely a good thing.
She looked at his face, observing his features as if she would forget his face. "Why do you have to be so damn stubborn my love? When will you realize that you should listen to me." She whispered, chuckling as a tear rolled down her cheek. She stoked his cheek for the minute that it took for Allison to come back with a tray of supplies, Grace and Diego behind her. The woman and her mother neared the pair of teens, placing the tray beside the girl, Grace even going ahead to administer the aid, only for Ellie to hold her hands.
"I can do it Ms. Grace..." She began, noticing the rough work on her arm, her eyebrows furrowing as she looked at Grace who kept a warm smile on her face. "You should rest. I'll be asking you to check his vitals later, if that's okay with you." The robot only nodded sitting beside Diego, the man looking worriedly at his mother.
The three adults watched on as the girl worked on the task before her. Her hand grabbing the syringe and stabbing Five with some of the morphine that Reginald had stashed away, before she began to tediously and expertly remove the shrapnel. Minutes passed and she had successfully patched him up. The white bandage she taped to him already soaked in the crimson liquid. She turned around to face the three adults, all of them flabbergasted by the sheer talent it took to do what she had just done.
"We should probably take him upstairs." She whispered, snapping the Hargreeves siblings out of their daze. Diego bent down to pick up his brother once again, climbing up the stairs and into the boy's childhood room. The three women followed him and once Five was settled onto the bed, Ellie pushed a chair next to him, Allison and Diego entering the room and standing just behind her. A comfortable silence settled in between them, the guards that they have learnt to build around them growing up, nowhere in sight. All of them savoring the feeling of safety even if it was as quick as a blink of an eye.
Diego didn't fare well with such vulnerability, and this was proved when he felt a small hand touch his vest and unsheathe a knife from it. But the Kraken still proved his skill when he grabbed Ellie's wrist. Her hand tightened on the knife she held. "Don't you think about it Ellie."
"What do you mean? I nearly lost him Diego!" She said firmly, her features turning stern as she uttered every word. Diego loosened his hold for a second but tightened it the next.
"I promised Five, Ellie. He said not to let you do this." Ellie froze at what he said, her hand with the blade falling limp to her side. Diego took it as an opportunity to retrieve his knife, removing it from her grasp and placing it back to his vest. Ellie silently sat on the chair next to the bed, scooting closer to Five and grabbing his hand. She placed a chaste kiss to his hand before leaning back and letting the sweet embrace of sleep engulf her.
~~~
A few minutes passed and Allison and Diego found themselves looking at the two teenagers. Allison's heart twisting in her chest as the sight reminded her of Claire. Diego's on the other hand yearned to know if Patch was okay. "Anything?" Diego asked his sister, still looking to the sleeping couple.
"There's no answer at Vanya's place. And the receptionist at the music school said that she was a no-show to her lessons today." She replied, she herself still anxious from the information she had just shared. Diego's features were still as they always were. The eternal thinking, yet clueless expression still etched on his face. His head bobbed a few times before he turned around wordlessly.
"Hey, are you okay?" The woman asked, grabbing his arm, turning him around to face her.
"Yeah..." He began, but his words betrayed him when he caught sight of Grace who was now placing a blanket over Ellie. "... I don't know. It's just surreal seeing her. I just wanna tell her that I'm s..." He spoke sadly, but fought hard to stop showing even more vulnerability. "We don't have enough time. We gotta go."
"I don't know Diego. Five is lying there unconscious. And Ellie is devastated, completely exhausted. We need both of them." Allison argued once again. Pointing towards the open door that showed the peaceful forms of the teenagers.
"We can do this ourselves."
"We did that already, remember? We all ended up dead. I don't know, I just... I'm thinking I should go see Claire before--"
"That's what started this whole mess in the first place. Luther was right." Diego stopped her, chuckling at the words he just let escape. Allison even letting out a scoff to tease him.
"I never thought I would hear you say those words."
"Yeah, well... we gotta stick together." Diego chuckled again, sighing deeply before continuing to encourage his sister.
"Where do we start?"
"There are no other addresses on the file. But there is a relation listed. A grandmother. She lived next to Jackpine road."
"You think he took her there?" The woman asked, following Diego who began to descend the stairs.
"It's a good place to start." He responded, his heavy steps not missing a beat. The pair walked out the house, Allison with the file in her hands to confirm what Diego had just told her. The chill of the night was eminent, and there was silence, apart from the chirping crickets. The tall woman, who was completely oblivious due to her reading was grabbed quite harshly by her brother, turning them both the other way.
"What are you doing? The car is back that way." She told him, one of her fingers even going to point to the direction they were going initially. "What is going on." Allison pushed on, confused by the cars that were situated not far from them.
"They're here for me. Uh... they think I did something." He responded, not daring to look back, unlike his sister who continued to do so while he spoke. The sirens began to sound and the eerie flash of blue and red began to disturb the peaceful neighborhood. Anxiety began to blossom in Allison's stomach once again, making her prod on Diego even more.
"What do they think you did?"
"Attempted murder." Allison's heart drop, but the loud sirens wouldn't let her even listen to her own heartbeat.
"Did you?" She asked a little shaky.
"No, no, no. of course not, okay? Why would you ask that anyway." His offended tone was enough even without the accompanying expression he gave.
"I mean you do carry knives everywhere." She argued, pointing to his vest. The sirens followed them as they walked further. The siblings succumbed into more silence, nodding wordlessly to each other and that was enough for them to say to split up as more cars neared them. Allison ran for it. Leaving number two in the middle of the road, surrounded by cops. Oh, if only they knew what their other siblings were up to. What chaos had ensued. And what ruin it will cause. The end is near and the apocalypse awaits.
EDITED