Song Choice: Madonna - Like a Prayer
"(Y/n)?" Five called out.
The figure seemed to hear Five as they stiffened, looking like they were thinking if they actually heard a voice or not. They slowly turned around and when they saw Five, they unbuckled the mask buckles from the back of their head then slowly took off the gas mask to reveal the face of the one and only, (Y/n).
She held the mask in her hands as her eyes were wide with disbelief. "Five?" She whispered, staring at him to try and figure out if this was real and she wasn't imagining it (again).
Five was able to actually get a good look at her. She was wearing a strapless red layered ballgown that almost touched the ground with opera gloves in the same color. Her hair was longer but styled fancily. She also had dark circles under her eyes.
Five started walking toward her quickly and (Y/n) did the same but slowly. Five's gleeful feelings were suddenly swapped with dejected anger. Once they reached each other the first thing Five did was slap her across the face. Barely hard though.
(Y/n) slightly winced before saying, "I deserve that." Five slapped her again but with his other hand and on her other cheek, making her head turn the other way. "I deserve that too." Five raised his hand, about to slap her again, but (Y/n) caught his hand before it could make contact with her face. "Ok now you're just being a prick." She sassed.
Lila leaned over to Diego, "Who's that?" "Five's dream girl from hell." Diego breathed out, still shocked over seeing her again since he was convinced they would never see her again. The British woman hummed, coming to the conclusion that this was the girl Five hinted at the night before. Beside that, (Y/n) was not what Lila was suspecting to look like.
Five looked (Y/n) up and down with parted lips. She had more of a glow to her. Like she wasn't mentally miserable and actually... happy.
Five had so much he wanted to say to her about how much he missed her but he felt as if it'd make him look too soft in front of Diego and Lila so he decided to ignore it and get to questioning. "What happened?" He asked with a despairing tone.
(Y/n) smiled brightly, taking that as his 'I've missed you' and explained, "It's actually a really long story but the important part is that I just barely survived the blast. My body was burned to death but my bones and some skin were left. And the whole thing about my healing factor is that as long as some of my body is present, my body will regenerate back to normal. It was actually the longest I've taken to heal. I think it was about 2 hours until I was breathing again and regained consciousness."
Five nodded, impressed by the range of her power.
"And, Five..." She began again but with a more lively smile, "I never felt more alive than when I was so close to death."
Five smiled in response to her alluring expression, it was like seeing her again for the first time. But his delighted fascination was cut short when more questions confused him. "Why are you with those people to try and kill the guys after me? Did you know I was here? And... how are you here?" He asked with a puzzled expression, looking as if he was trying to figure out the answers on his own without any context.
(Y/n) looked to seem to get a headache from the questions. "Those questions can only be answered in the long story. But I will say that... those people I'm with... are with the Despair Facility." She said, her voice getting quieter throughout the sentence.
Five blinked before exhaling with his mouth agape. "Hold on. What? That doesn't answer why you were with th- wait." He looked at her and she bashfully smiled with 'please don't be mad' eyes.
Five held himself back from slapping her again.
Five's anger was growing but then disappeared with an eerie look. "Wait. Lana's dead, who are you working for?"
(Y/n)'s awkward smile morphed into another bashful one but with pride. "Well... no one else was qualified."
Five wanted to slap her again so bad. "But... why? What was the point? It took you so long to get away from there! I thought you hated it!" (Y/n) looked hurt, not believing he thinks she's that oblivious and stupid.
"They manipulated you into it. Why are you so comfortable with them after everything they've done to you?! After seeing everything you could become, you still choose to be the black hearted thing they want you to be?!" He said with heavy hearted frustration.
(Y/n) now looked more offended than hurt so she opened her mouth to say something but he started again and placed a gentle hand on her arm with a soft, assuring expression. "It's okay, you don't have to go back there. You can come with me because this is wrong but we can fix this.. together."
She only sighed with a humorous smile and planted her hand on his. "This is why I need to tell you the long story. They're not manipulating me. At least not anymore. Did you not hear me? I'm in charge! I'm at the highest level you can get to so there's no one above me at all. The people who used to manipulate me are signing my checks now. I'm the new mastermind, that means I get respect instead of punishments."
Even though he was relieved with this news, Five was still upset with her decision. She threw away her progress to redemption and the side of good. He hated to think that she really was a lost cause. A tainted soul far too fallen to ever reach light. He really did love her, but sometimes she just made it so hard.
"(Y/n)... I'm proud that you got what you always wanted but... was wanting to be a better person all just another lie?" Five's paranoia and ptsd from when she shot him was starting to take over. "Have you planned all that misunderstood bullshit and staying in the present just to take the throne? And why would they even let you become their leader?! You killed the previous one! Or was that also a lie and Lana is still alive and she let you become-"
"OH MY GOD I TOLD YOU IT'S A LONG STORY THAT I'M GONNA TELL YOU!" (Y/n) accidentally snapped, upset that Five thinks she lied about wanting to be a better person and killing Lana when she went through so much.
Five flinched since this was the first time he's seen her lose her cool like that. She seemed to regret it too as she took a deep breath then returned to her calm self. "Sorry, it's just... redeeming myself was one of the best things that has ever happened to me, I swear on rock music. I need to tell you the long story.. but not here."
"Well then come on, I'm staying at a place not far from here-" "No. I think it's best if you see my place up close in order to understand." (Y/n) said with a lively smirk. Five hesitated but trusted her nonetheless. He turned to Diego and Lila. "You guys can go ahead, I'll be back later."
Diego narrowed his eyes at (Y/n). He was still weary with her but... he didn't really believe she would do anything that would put Five in danger again. He didn't trust her with the fate of the world or even simply leading the way but he did trust her with Five. The reason was because he saw the way she looked at him and knew he would be safe in her hands. So Diego nodded and gestured to Lila to follow who did after looking at the two for a few moments.
Five turned to (Y/n). "You better not make me regret this." She grinned ear to ear and pulled him by the hand to the limo her comrades jumped into. (Y/n) went in first and Five followed before sitting beside her. He looked over to the three formal dressed people who now had their masks off and resting in their laps next to their weapons. It was two boys and one girl, Five recognized one of the boys as the shy emo who drove them to that party since apparently everyone involved with that party was a part of the Despair Facility. The boy seemed to recognize him too and averted his eyes away and to the floor.
The girl in the pink dress, who he could now see had short dark ginger hair, looked like she was trying to contain an excited smile and then cracked. "So, like, are you Mistress (Y/n)'s muse?"
Five's eyes jumped to her with curiosity.
"I've been dying to know what you were like!" The girl continued. "The only thing she tells us is that you're a genius who refuses to swallow your pride because it's the only thing you have left!"
Five looked over to (Y/n) with a glare. "That's the only thing you tell people?" "I said it in a joking tone!" (Y/n) defended.
"Oh sorry. She said it like," the ginger did an impression of (Y/n)'s voice with a joking tone, "'he's a genius who refuses to swallow his pride because it's the only thing he has left. HAHAHAHAHAHA'." She ended her sentence with a weird, robotic dramatic laugh.
(Y/n)'s jaw dropped. "I don't laugh like that!" The ginger explained, "But your laugh is so hard to recreate!" The boy who Five didn't recognize jumped in with a, "Your laugh scares me."
The (H/c) girl snapped her head to the boy. "Wait, does everyone think that?!"