— ❝ YOU THINK HE'S IN THE CLOSET? ❞
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RIN DIDN'T EXPECT TO BE WOKEN by Allison early in the morning, a startled crease in her forehead. All she had said was to get dressed and come find her, that there was something she needed to see. So Rin rubbed the sleep from her eyes, checked her wounds from the night before in her vanity mirror, and slipped on a plain black t-shirt and pair of denim shorts.
She found Allison leaning against the railing to the grand staircase, arms locked around her waist like she was cold, despite her gray knit sweater that hung off of her shoulders. Her gaze was locked on something right in front of her, brown eyes unblinking. Then Rin realized why.
Grace's lifeless body sat motionless in her sewing chair, her head tilted creepily to the side. Her left arm had been turned upwards and cut open, wiring sliced apart. Her usually bright ocean blue eyes had gone gray and dull and empty.
Rin hadn't realized that she had been standing just as still until a heavy hand fell onto her shoulder. She startled and whirled around to see Luther at her side, offering a sympathetic nod.
"Mom." Rin knelt at her mother's side, teary eyes frantically looking for something that would reactivate her. Maybe she was still salvageable. Was she? "Who did this?"
"The two guys last night. The ones with the masks. They did this to her."
Rin's forehead fell into Grace's cold lap and she struggled to take a steady breath. First her wife and now her mother. Why were they doing this to her?
"It has to do with Five somehow. They were looking for him." Allison said, chewing at her fingernail.
"Five? They said him specifically?" Rin asked, meeting her sister's eyes. Allison quickly nodded, brows furrowing.
"Yeah, they said they were here for 'the boy.' Why?" The question had a trace of accusation to it and she suddenly stiffened up when Rin turned away. "Why?" She repeated, tone more stern this time.
Rin licked her lips. There was no way to hide it anymore. It wasn't fair to them.
"They knew me. One of them said my name — well, my other name. The one I used in the other timeline." She waited to see if they would ask questions. They didn't. "They killed my family, including Muffin, while they were hunting me down. There are more of them. I guess this time they're here for Five."
Neither Allison or Luther knew where to begin. A part of them felt resentment towards Rin being a possible suspect as to why this happened, but another part of them, a bigger part, felt sympathy for her losses. She wouldn't indulge on who she lost but they knew Muffin was the most important thing to her when she was little.
Their faces went grim at the thought of this happening again. Their family was in danger and they had only a few tiny puzzle pieces as to why.
Allison shook her head. "My God, Diego's gonna be devastated." She mumbled, staring at their dead mother.
Rin sniffled and swiped at her damp eyes, climbing to her feet. Her siblings watched her with curiosity. "I've gotta go find him. If it was even a tiny bit my fault that this happened..." Rin trailed off, her throat tightening. "I have to go."
"Rin." Allison called to her sister before she could turn the corner back to her bedroom. She stopped. "Maybe you should stay here. If they're looking for you, it's not safe out there-"
"I can't not do anything, Ally." Rin started to leave again, but her feet stuttered to a stop. She glanced at her siblings. "Have any of you seen Klaus?"
☂︎
RIN GENTLY CLOSED KLAUS' BEDROOM DOOR, trying not to alert her siblings who may be nearby. She felt uneasy that he wasn't there, but with Klaus being, well, Klaus, it wasn't much of a surprise. But the sound of a loud crash somewhere upstairs made her jump and her heart fell to her stomach. Considering last night's events, she feared they may have come back for more.
She wasn't going to run away this time.
Her boots carried her up the stairs to her bedroom floor, slowing to a stop when she heard Luther and Diego's heated voices coming from Five's room. Cautiously, she snuck up next to Diego standing in the doorway, trying to hear what they were arguing about this time.
They were inches from each other's faces, Luther's fist broken into Five's wardrobe door. Pogo stood near the bed, watching with distaste as the boys fought. He noticed Rin first, shaking his head and hoping she would leave it alone.
"What the hell is going on?" Rin ignored Pogo's gesture, looking to her brothers for an answer. Neither of them budged. "Why are you guys in here?"
"Looking for Five." Luther answered first. Diego's silence told her he had the same reason.
"You think he's in the closet?" Rin sassed, glaring at the Luther-sized hole in the wooden door. Her arms crossed tightly over her chest. "We almost died and all you two can do is go for each others' throats?"
"Piss off, Rin." Diego snapped.
"Didn't you say it was your fault in the first place?" Luther tacked on, making his sister's eyes go wide with disbelief. Diego squinted at them both, now curious.
"What is he talking about? This was your fault?" His face ducked scarily close to Rin's scowling one.
"That's enough!" Pogo's warning was drowned out by the tension between the three.
"Yeah, Rin told us that one of them knew her. It's probably why they were here, wasn't it? You said they killed your other family. Well, now they've killed Grace. I'm not letting them get any of us next because of you."
Diego bored holes in his sister's face, waiting for her to explain, or at the very least deny it. Rin tongued the inside of her cheek as she glared at Luther.
"Two men killed my wife. For no goddamn reason, Luther. They were looking for me and killed my fucking wife because she tried to protect me. The guys from last night are involved with them somehow. But they told Allison that they were looking for Five, so we need to find him before they do. Instead of fighting like little fucking kids." Rin seethed through gritted teeth, jabbing a finger into the man's broad chest.
The two boys had fallen quiet, unsure of what to say.
"Master Rin is right." Pogo said sternly, finally gathering the siblings' attention amidst the silence. "Our home was attacked and we barely got out with our lives. Grace wasn't so lucky. Your brother is missing, and this is how you rise to the occasion? Take your nonsense elsewhere."
Rin backed off of Luther, shooting Diego a quick glare before spinning on her heel. "Sorry, Pogo." She mumbled lowly and left the room.
Angrily, the girl headed for the foyer when she heard someone calling her name. She peered behind to see Luther and Diego hot on her trail. Sighing, she slowed down to let them catch up. "What?" She said tiredly, anticipating another fight.
"Look, I'm sorry for what I said." Luther trailed behind the girl alongside Diego. "I'm going with you. To find Five."
"Yeah, me too." Diego chimed in.
"Good. I think I know where to find him."
☂︎
"THE VAN'S STILL HERE. HE'S STILL here." Rin hurried to a jog when she spotted the van parked in the same spot she and Luther had talked to him the day before. There was nobody in the front of the car and from what she could see, the back was empty too. She rounded to the passenger's seat, yanking at the door handle to no avail.
"It's locked." She huffed once her brothers had caught up to her.
Diego slid something out of his belt buckle and flashed her a cocky grin before going to work in between the car doors. In a split second, he had cracked the front side door open. Rin rolled her eyes when both boys tried squeezing in at the same time.
"I'm One." Luther said, to Diego's annoyance, and tried to hoist himself into the small passenger's seat. His brother opened the sliding door, allowing Rin to climb inside first and begin her search.
She shuffled through the car's drawers, finding small tools that were more fit to fix a sink or toilet than assist Five. At least, she hoped. Her eyes snagged on the army green duffel bag Five had at the same time as Diego and they both reached for it, dragging it in between them.
It looked more deflated than before. Rin assumed he had taken something out when he left — something of decent size. Diego skimmed through notepads and tools, none of which they knew were for, until he pulled out a tattered book with Vanya's face on the cover.
Some of the pages were falling out and when Diego opened it, all she could see were blue pen markings in between each line of printed black text. It looked like an impossible equation, covering every page up to the front of the book.
Diego whistled at Luther, tossing the cover into his lap. In bold, black ink, "THE PUBLIC LIBRARY, ARGYLE STREET BRANCH'' was stamped underneath the printed blocky title 'EXTRA-ORDINARY"
"I know where to find Five." Diego said with a smug grin on his face.
Rin slugged his shoulder, earning a pained cry from her brother. "That's my line, man."
─── ⋆⋅☂︎⋅⋆ ───
shits about to get heated next chapters highkey yall... UR GONNA HATE FIVE LMFAO