ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜɪʀᴛʏ ꜱᴇᴠᴇɴ ᴏꜰ ᴅɪᴠᴏʀᴄᴇ
'ᴅɪᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ᴋɴᴏᴡ, ᴘᴇɴɢᴜɪɴꜱ-'
"It's Magnificent" Reginald exclaimed as they exited the hotel elevator into the lobby, which stood high with orange pillars instead of blue ones.
Five glanced from Inanna's still bleeding arm which was pulled against her chest, to her distressed face. "Are you okay?" Five asked Inanna.
Inanna nodded with a pain laced hum, though she felt like she was going to throw up whatever little food she had in her stomach, she was still on her feet and conscious. Five could tell she was lying, but chose to not push further and instead placed his hand gently on the middle of her back in hopes of comforting her.
"You guys should've stayed here. This place is way nicer" Ben said.
"Lila and I barely got out alive last time. Remember?" Diego said glancing to Lila who still held Inanna's jacket while Inanna walked next to Five behind her.
"Yeah. But I'm here this time, and the numbers are in our favour" Ben argued.
"What you gonna do?" Anna asked her brother. "The girl who can shoot fire out of her hands almost died" Ben rolled his eyes and Sloane pulled Anna away from Ben by their hands which were laced together.
"Well, whatever it was, it was strong, fast, and super pissed" Lila said.
Diego led the others to the desk at the front of the lobby, turning to look at the others as he pointed at a golden bell. "Alright, so, whatever you do, do not ring this bell. Unless you wanna lose a finger or a tentacle" Diego said, darting his eyes to Ben when he said 'tentacle'.
Sloane dropped Anna's hand, taking a step towards the bell. "I'll take my chances-".
Lila put herself in between Sloane and the bell, stopping Sloane from reaching it. "Don't" Lila warned.
"Get out of my way" Sloane shifted her gaze from the bell to Lila.
Lila shook her head, refusing to move. "To take out this thing, we need to be in the right state of mind, okay?" Lila glanced over her shoulder to Diego before looking back at Sloane with a nod.
"State of mind? Do you mean, am I angry? Yes, I am angry. I wanna kill whatever it is that hurt Luther" Sloane raised her voice, holding back the tears that glossed over her eyes.
"Luther isn't the only one that's gone" Viktor spoke up. "We lost Klaus too".
Five lightly touched Inanna's shoulder, grabbing her attention. Five nodded his head over to the hotel doors — which shone a strange white — when Inanna flickered her gaze away from Lila and to him, silently telling Inanna that he was going to check them out. Inanna gave Five a short nod before he left her side, leaving Inanna with the others while he inspected the doors.
"Klaus wasn't the only one the Kugelblitz took" Anna muttered as she crossed her arms over her chest. "It took Delaney too".
"We know" Viktor nodded to Anna. "We're all angry, okay? But we have to be smart about this".
"Yeah. When the time is right, we'll act" Lila nodded looking between Anna and Sloane who were both grieving their partners.
Before Five had even got to the doors, hesitantly walking towards them, Diego spotted him. "Don't even try it, Five" Diego shouted. "Doors won't let you out".
Five looked over his shoulder to Diego before looking back at the doors with clear confusion. He had no idea how the hotel worked, and neither did the others, but he knew something was wrong.
"So, what, we're stuck here?" Allison asked.
Reginald inched closer to his children. "This place is a test and a trap and a means of salvation, all at once" Reginald said with a smile.
"Does anyone know what that sign says?" Viktor asked pointing to the small card that sat next to the bell, the writing in a language that he didn't understand.
Diego turned to the card, briefly glancing at it. "Yeah, it says 'Do not ring the bell'" Diego answered. "That's what that means".
"We get it, Diego. Bell bad" Five said taking his place next to Inanna again as Reginald walked away from them, pulling his notebook out of his suit jacket. "What do we do? Does anybody know?" Five asked.
"Reggie?" Allison called to Reginald who had his back to them as he flipped through his notebook quickly. "Reggie".
Allison rolled her eyes at Reginald who ignored her and the others who were hoping that he would know what they were supposed to do.
"I'm hungry" Lila stated. "Does anyone fancy an unagi roll?" Lila asked as she began walking to the other side of the lobby.
Ben followed after her with his brows furrowed deeply. "How can you possibly eat at a time like this?" Ben asked.
Lila turned to Ben, who had left little to no space between them. Diego sighed as he stepped passed the others, already sensing the remark that Lila was about to respond with. "I don't know. How can you be a dick at a time like this?" Lila asked.
Inanna stepped passed Five once Diego had passed her and leaned her back against the pillar next to them. Five watched at her with concern as she slowly pulled her arm away from her chest, unsticking the fabric from the congealed blood, with a scrunched nose and squinted eyes.
"Oh, you'll-".
Diego stepped in between Lila and Ben with his back to his girlfriend. "Back off, all right?" Diego turned to look at Lila. "She's eating for-".
"Strength" Lila finished Diego's sentence before he could expose her pregnancy to the rest of the family. Diego stared at her with confusion in his dark eyes. "In these trying times" Lila nodded before grabbing Diego's arm. "Diego, can you come with me for a second?" Lila asked. Lila dragged Diego to the sushi bar with her and Ben rolled his eyes as he turned back to the others.
Viktor casted his eyes over Inanna, choosing to not look at her arm which was creating a small pool of blood by Inanna's feet. "Maybe you should sit down" Viktor suggested to Inanna.
Inanna shook her head. "I'm fine" Inanna mumbled, dropping her gaze to the floor by Five.
Viktor didn't believe her, none of them did, including Sloane who was taking herself away from the group and Allison who had followed after her.
"You don't look-".
"Viktor, I said I'm fine" Inanna snapped.
Five untucked his hands from his pockets and stepped closer to Inanna, stopping in front of her with his shoes with side of hers. Inanna flickered her gaze to Five's as she leaned her head back against the pillar and lightly shoved Five's chest with her right hand to put a couple of inches between them.
"Have you ever heard of a thing called 'personal-space'?" Inanna asked.
Five ignored her question as he began untying the knot that Lila had made in the piece of shirt which was tied around Inanna's arm.
"I mean, really, hunny, this close proximity was only wanted when we were freezing our asses off in the apocalypse and even then, I would have rather died than be smothered by your body heat".
Five darted his gaze up from the shirt to Inanna's eyes, finding her already staring at him intently. "Did you know that's how penguins keep warm" A smirk pulled at his lips as Inanna glared at him.
"Did you know penguins peck each other to death?" Inanna responded with a raise of her brow.
Viktor and Anna glanced to each other as Ben walked away from them, wishing he hadn't stuck around for as long as he had done.
"Why are you talking about penguins?" Viktor asked before Anna could.
Inanna sighed and Five twisted the shirt which was loosely around Inanna's arm between his fingers. "Because we-" Inanna's head thumped lightly against the pillar as Five pushed her further against it, pressing his shoulder against her chest to hold her in place for a moment.
Inanna went to continue, her answer to Viktor being that Five was an idiot but Five spoke first. "Because I needed to distract her" Five pulled the shirt between his hands, tightening the fabric around her arm, much tighter than Lila had done.
Inanna's body jolted at the sudden pain that spread across her body and her eyes flickered between blue and orange as a silent scream fell from her lips.
Five quickly double knotted the shirt, feeling Inanna's skin becoming increasingly warm at the touch and Inanna closed her eyes, digging her nails into her palm, feeling the sharp sting that she began focusing on to calm her rising pulse.
Anna pulled Five away from Inanna, crossing her arm over Inanna's waist to hold her up against the pillar with her eyes glowing the same colour as Inanna's.
Five staggered back from Inanna and Viktor grabbed his arm, patting away the small, but growing fire that had caught onto Five's suit jacket.
Anna glanced over her shoulder to Inanna. "Pull yourself together before you burn the hotel to the ground" Anna spoke harshly.
There was a split moment of silence as Inanna's heart rate steadied. Inanna sucked in a breath and slowly opened her eyes, revealing her blue irises which Anna had expected to be orange.
The fire faded from Anna's eyes, returning them back to the same blue as the eyes she was staring into. Anna dropped her arm back to her side and stepped away from Inanna, surprised with how fast she had managed to control her power.
"That could have gone worse" Five gave Inanna a small smile which she didn't return as his eyes met her harsh glare and he closed the space between them once again. "I mean, you could have burnt my brows off" Five cupped Inanna's cheek, rubbing his thumb over her jaw.
Inanna's glare softened and she pressed a kiss to his cheek. "You're an idiot" Inanna mumbled, feeling Five's smile grow as he turned his head and kissed the side of her head.
Needing something to numb the pain that was still coursing over her body, Inanna went to the bar with Anna while Five sat with Viktor across the lobby, keeping an his eye on his wife, Sloane sat with Allison on the stairs and Ben searched for his father who had gone up onto the balcony, on his own quest.
"I'm sorry about Delaney" Inanna's quiet voice cut through the almost silent air that surrounded both her and Anna.
"We don't need to talk" Anna muttered drinking the small amount of whiskey she had poured into a glass.
Inanna ran her finger round the edge of her glass, glancing over to Five and Viktor briefly before she set her gaze ahead of herself. Though she had never lost Five in death, she had spent years apart from him, years which Inanna believed were worse than death.
"I just wanted you to know" Inanna mumbled.
"You barely knew her" Anna's throat tightened as she swallowed harshly, feeling the emotions that she had forcefully pushed down begin to creep up on her.
Inanna nodded. She knew little to nothing about Delaney, though she knew that Delaney was one of the few good people in the world, who didn't prejudge others. Delaney had heard stories about Inanna, ones that Inanna didn't wish to hear, and even after all the horrors that she had been whispered, Delaney was still kind to Inanna.
"She was good" Inanna said averting her attention to the bar underneath her glass.
Anna thought Delaney was more than good, she was perfect in her eyes and if she had been given more time Anna would have happily called Delaney her wife one day.
Anna wiped her eyes with a shaking breath as she poured herself another glass. "You- you lost your parents-" Anna sipped her whiskey before sitting the glass down to continue what she was saying. "You know what it feels like to..." Anna turned her head away from Inanna. "If we don't die here, I don't know if I can live without her" Anna inhaled a choked breath as her tears flooded her eyes.
Inanna sat her hand on Anna's, there wasn't anything Inanna could say to make Anna's pain go away. Anna had lost the only person who had ever truly loved her for simply being herself, and if she made it out of the hotel Anna didn't believe she'd find another woman like Delaney.
"It goes away, right?" Anna turned to look at Inanna with reddened eyes. "The pain goes away?".
Inanna shook her head. "If I say yes, i'd be lying" Anna's head fell forwards with a slow shake. "But as long as you are alive, Anna, she's alive. In your mind and in your heart".
Anna couldn't respond, only managing to nod her head at Inanna before downing the last of her drink, hoping that the alcohol would numb her grief enough so she could complete whatever she had to.
Viktor looked from Five to Inanna and then back to Five, struggling to believe the words that Five had muttered while Inanna sat at the bar with Anna, unknowing that the two brothers were talking about her.
"You don't seriously believe that Inanna has something to do with Luther's murder" Five nodded. "Inanna, your wife?" Viktor pointed subtly over to her.
"I'm not saying she murdered Luther, okay?" Five tilted his head. "But I think she has put herself in a dangerous situation. One that has landed us here".
"Like a deal? Like how you think Allison made a deal?" Viktor asked, nodding his head over to Allison
"Like being in the wrong place at the wrong time" Five shook his head. "Back in the suite when we found her, she tensed up when the old man came into the room" Five's eyes darted over to Reginald on the balcony.
"Because she was hurt, and she had-".
Five turned his gaze back to Viktor. "No, she was frightened. And not only that, Sloane said that Inanna had told them that she and Luther heard something in the passage, Inanna isn't one to investigate. In fact, I know my wife well enough to know that she would have ran the other way".
"Then, we need to talk to her" Five shook his head at Viktor's suggestion. "If Inanna knows something she's a witness. She can tell us if Reginald did kill Luther".
"And get her killed because we jumped the gun?".
Reginald walked down the stairs into the lobby, closing his notebook. "Gather round, children" Reginald shouted. Anna rolled her eyes as she turned her head to the stairs. "Now that we've had a chance to catch our breath, the real work can begin" Reginald said.
Inanna stood up from the bar, holding her arm against her chest and Anna followed her into the middle of the lobby where Reginald was waiting for his children.
"Ah, the myth of the seven bells, eh?" Five said tucking his hands into his pockets as he and Viktor walked over to Reginald.
"Exactly" Reginald nodded. "Somebody's been paying attention".
"Okay, so we find the bells, then what?" Diego asked.
"No, no, no" Reginald opened his notebook once again. "The bells are just a metaphor for this" Reginald turned his book around showing a drawing which matched the tattoo that Five had inked into his chest.
Inanna's confused eyes met with Five's. She knew that Five had got the tattoo after seeing his older self with the tattoo but Inanna knew nothing else, forgetting to ask Five after their time alone.
"The sigil" Five muttered.
"Correct, Number Five. The sigil is the key to the seven bells" Reginald turned the book back to himself, tapping his fingers against the paper. "Once we find this symbol, we're one step closer to resetting the universe".
"What do we do when we find it?" Sloane asked.
"I don't know" Reginald responded.
Anna laughed, "Of course you don't".
"Excuse me? We're here because you said you have a plan" Viktor said to Reginald.
"I do, up to a point" Reginald said causing Lila to chuckle.
"Great. So we'll stay in the hotel forever, staring at the walls and eating bad sushi" Lila pulled her lips into a tight lipped smile.
"Finding the sigil is our only way out of here and the best chance we have of resetting the universe" Allison said looking at Lila.
"Funny how you and Dad are on the same page again" Five said with a slight smile.
Allison didn't respond, only burning a glare into Five's skin which further fuelled his suspicions of her.
"Okay, uh, where do we start?" Viktor asked.
"We'll split into groups. I will go with Allison and Sloane, Ben and Five with Viktor, Inanna and Inanna can go together".
"No, we want Allison" Viktor pointed at Allison.
"Ben for Allison. We've trained together, so it makes more sense if we take Allison" Five said pointing between himself and Viktor and Allison.
Allison scoffed. "Yeah. No, thanks".
"Why not?" Viktor asked.
"Splendid idea" Reginald smiled looking between Allison, Viktor and Five. "Allison, you go with the Umbrellas. Sparrows, stick together. Everyone take a different floor. We must find the sigil".
"If you die on me, I swear I will leave your body in some cupboard" Anna said to Inanna as they turned on their heel and began walking to the elevator.
Inanna would have preferred if she had been paired with Five, at least then she could have told him what had happened, but Inanna hoped that Anna would believe her if she told her the truth about Luther's death.
"What about us?" Diego shouted, referring to him and Lila who had been left out of the pairings.
"You're a duo. Nobody wants to listen to your endless bickering" Reginald responded. "Now, spread out, leave no stone unturned, and meet back here in 30 minutes".
Inanna and Anna exited the elevator on floor four, neither of them exactly sure where Reginald, Sloane and Ben were going, but they knew Five, Allison and Viktor were going to search the third floor.
"How are we supposed to find this sigil anyways? Is it going to smack me in the face?" Anna asked looking under a hotel bed while Inanna looked inside a closet.
"That would make things far too easy".
"Guess so" Anna mumbled as she stood up and dusted her hands on her jeans. "This guardian, what the hell does it look like anyways?".
Inanna stilled at the question. She knew she'd have to spill what she knew at some point but she thought she'd at least get to check more than one room before the interrogations started.
"Hey, tiny?" Anna pushed for an answer. "If we are gonna have to fight this thing i'd at least like a run down before hand".
"I-" Inanna dropped her gaze to the floor. "I don't know" Inanna muttered.
"You don't know?" Anna sat the picture frame back on the wall. "How do you not know what it looks like?".
"I didn't-".
"If you say you didn't see it, that's a fucking lie, Inanna. The thing got close enough to cut up your arm" Anna pointed at Inanna arm.
Inanna sighed. She knew she could keep lying, make up some false narrative that Luther had somehow blocked her view and that she had been hit from afar, but she knew that if she lied for another second Anna would be the last to forgive her and the last to take her side.
"If I tell you something, i'm going to need you to keep your mouth shut until I say so, can you do that?" Inanna asked.
"No" Anna shook her head. "Because you-".
"It's serious, Anna" Inanna took a hurried step towards her. "Life or death, serious, alright? So drop your act for five minutes and listen to me".
Anna narrowed her eyes as her brows furrowed. "Life or death, how?" Anna asked.
"How I saw your father murder Luther in the White Buffalo Suite" Inanna's eyes never left Anna as she spoke, knowing that the second her statement left her mouth she couldn't take it back.
"You-" Anna shook her head. "You said it was a Guardian".
"And I lied because your father threatened me" Inanna darted her eyes down to her arm.
"He did that to you?" Anna tilted her head as she took a step towards Inanna. Inanna nodded. "And he killed Luther?" Inanna nodded again.
"He tried to wrap me up in a deal to get you all over here, but I wanted to stay. I didn't-".
"He offered you a deal? What deal?".
"He said that if I helped him, I could see my family again, but I-".
"Your family? Their dead".
"Yeah, I don't need a reminder" Inanna muttered. "I only told him that I was taking the deal after he killed Luther so then he'd spare my life and I-".
"Why did he offer you a deal?" Anna asked as walked passed Inanna. "I would have taken one"Anna whispered under her breath.
"Anna" Inanna groaned as Anna walked out of the room having not found the sigil. "He murdered Luther, who says he won't kill the rest of us?" Inanna asked as she followed after Anna. "He clearly doesn't ca-" Inanna's words fell short as she exited into a hallway which didn't look like the one she had walked down earlier, and Anna was no longer in front of her. "Anna?!".
could inanna have exposed
reginald's lies while they were in
the lobby and reginald was talking
about the sigil? yes. but inanna
doesn't believe that they would
all believe her. it would be her
word against his.
also i've just started watching house
of the dragon, would anyone be
interested in a possible rhaenyra fic
with an oc who is alicents younger
sister? i know technically they would
be step aunt and niece, but they aren't
blood related, nor raised as that.
or even an oc x oc fic?