"Let's split up."
"Wow. Good thinking."
Diego's and Luther's voices echoed throughout the entrance of the Argyle Public Library.
The men had decided to find both Y/n and Five, in need to explain to them about Grace's sudden death and the uncalled shootout they participated in yesterday evening.
They separated, though both met up in a section a few flights up.
"Anything?" Luther asked Diego, who was leaning over the railing, overlooking the reception below.
"..No." he muttered.
Luther sighed and paced around, turning his head to examine the rooms around them.
"You wanna know why I left?" Diego continued, suddenly.
"What?" Luther questioned in confusion, walking up to his brother, "What are you talking about?"
"Why I left the academy." he confirmed, revolving around to face the man in the coat.
"Yeah, 'cause you couldn't handle me being Number One." Luther stated as if it were obvious.
"No. Because that's what you do when you're seventeen," Diego explained, "Move out, become your own person, grow up."
"Oh, yeah," the man in the coat interrupted, "You're a real grown-up."
"At least I make my own decisions," Diego retorted, "You've never had to hold down a job.. Pay bills.. You ever even been with a girl?"
"I.." he awkwardly responded, clearing his throat, "I.. don't know what you're talking about."
His brother let out a laugh.
"Look, you wanna blame me, blame us.. For leaving.. That's okay," Diego said, shrugging his right shoulder at him, "But maybe you're asking yourself the wrong question. Maybe it's not about why we left. Maybe it's about why you stayed."
Luther frowned angrily at him, though kept calm.
"I stayed because the world needed me." the man in the coat countered.
"You stayed because you couldn't let go of the way things used to be" Diego argued, "The academy. Dad.. With Allison."
"Well.. Y/n stayed. And, I mean, she's the same age as us." Luther added.
"Don't talk about her like that," Diego spat, "And you know damn well.. That it was completely your fault."
☂ ☂
Thirteen years ago:
Rushing a limp girl into a small, medical wing inside of the mansion, Grace then gently placed her down on the white bed.
Reginald hastily strode in, peering over at her bloodied figure.
"She's losing too much blood, Sir," Grace explained, worrying over the girl as she attached wires to her, "She's not going to make it."
Allison, Vanya, Ben, Luther, Diego and Klaus all stood outside of the room, shifting around in anxiety and slight nausea.
Hargreeves inhaled sharply, adjusting his monocle.
"Number One!" their father commanded, almost screaming out his words, "I require your assistance, immediately!"
Hearing his name being called, he sprung in, barreling through the doors as the children behind him grew more and more nervous.
"Yes, Dad?" the young boy asked.
"Give me the syringe over there," the man ordered sternly, pointing at a metal table to his right, "Now!"
"On it!" Luther acknowledged, obliging to his demand.
The blonde-haired boy raced over to the metal table with numerous cabinets and medical supplies.
Upon the table, there were not one, but two that lay on its sanitised surface, both containing what seemed of the same transparent liquid.
"Hurry!" he heard his father yell.
"Which.. One?" The boy mumbled to himself, taking a quick glimpse over his shoulder at the adults that were occupied by attending to the dying girl.
Glancing between them, he reached out for the one on the left, assuming they would both give the same results as they were identical.
"I have it!" Luther called, dashing to Reginald in a matter of seconds.
"Good." The man responded, taking the needle out of the boy's trembling grasp.
After flicking the glass a couple times, Hargreeves injected it into the girl's arm while the boy beside him watched cautiously, biting his lip.
Grace looked up from the machine that was connected to the girl's arms.
"She's stabilised, Sir."
Luther breathed a small sigh of relief.
"You may return to your room, Number One," Reginald announced as he glanced down at the boy, "Tell your brothers and sisters that training is now dismissed for the day."
"Yes, Dad." Luther agreed, feeling proud that he now had the bragging rights of explaining to everyone that he had saved the girl from her death. Well, he also felt proud of the fact that he saved the girl, too.
The man in the monocle observed Luther as he sped out of the room to inform his distraught siblings.
Turning away from the doors that were now closed, he gazed down at the unconscious girl.
"Only if you paid attention in the lesson.. And you weren't so distracted by your.. Infatuation with the disappearance of that boy," the man spoke to her quietly, "You're not careful enough, Num-.. Y/n.."
☂ ☂ ☂
"You still haven't told her it was your fault." Diego said, raising his eyebrows at the man.
"Yeah, well, let's keep it that way." Luther responded.
"What? Are you afraid of owning up to the mistakes you've made? So much for 'grown-up', then" Diego scoffed.
"No, I-" began the man in the coat.
"-Get it together, Luther. Dad's dead. Mum too, now. We're orphans again, dude.." he interrupted Luther, moving off of the railing to stand up, "And things are never going to go back to the way they used to."
"Do you ever stop talking?" Luther sighed agitatedly.
"Where are their parents?"
Hearing those words by a voice of an unfamiliar woman, the two snapped out of their rising argument and instantly knew that the lady had conveniently, and unintentionally, found who they were searching for.
"Well, that was easy.." he commented as Diego walked off ahead.
"I'm gonna call security."
Luther and Diego rounded the corner that was piled up by unfinished equations and symbols that were drawn in black marker.
They both halted when they saw two figures ahead of them.
Five and Y/n.
The boy was leaned up against a concrete pillar in the corner that was covered by more marker.
The girl was huddled up to him. Her head was resting on his shoulder, and her knees over the boy's left thigh.
Five had an arm draped around her that was also holding an almost empty bottle of rum.
There were notebooks, pencils, markers, pens, a newspaper and another bottle that was bare of any alcohol.
The brothers stared at the duo. Diego looked rather amused, though Luther seemed to be more concerned at the sight.
"Are they.. Um.." Luther trailed off, frowning at academy students that were dozed off.
"Drunk as skunks." Diego clarified, finishing his sentence as Five released the bottle from his hold.
☂ ☂ ☂
Luther and Diego carried the drunken teenagers down a deserted alleyway.
Now being dark, the lights from inside of apartments, and on the street, were clearly visible through the cold, wet night.
"Well, we can't go back to the house," Luther stated, "It's not secure. Those psychopaths could come back at any moment."
"My place is closer. No one will look for them there." Diego agreed.
Five interrupted their conversation by letting out a belch.
"If you vomit on me-" Luther announced sternly as the boy in his arms gazed up at him.
"You know what's funny? I'm going puberty.. Twice.." Five babbled on, tilting his head back, "We drank that whole bottle, didn't we?.. Well, that's what you do when the world you love goes 'bye-bye'! Poof! It's gone.. Right, Y/n?"
The boy twisted around in Luther's arms to view the girl. But his eyes widened when he saw her unmoving figure.
"Oh, my god," he dramatically cried out, staring at her body that was held by Diego, "Is she dead?!"
Y/n stirred in Diego's grasp due to Five's sudden outburst.
"You wish.." She mumbled as she slowly gained consciousness.
"No, she's not dead." The man carrying her answered the boy, bluntly.
"What're you guys.. Talkin' about?.." the girl asked the three males, grinning insanely, finally completely awake.
"Two masked intruders attacked the academy last night." Luther replied.
"They came looking for you two," Diego irritatedly added, "So, I need you both to focus. What do they want?"
"Hazel and.. Cha-Cha." Five murmured.
"Who?" Diego asked, turning his head back to face the drunken teenager being held by Luther.
"They're funny.." Y/n giggled, "Are they the people who shot me in the thigh.. That night?.."
"What? What happened?" Luther raised an eyebrow, but he got no response from her.
"Yeah.. I wish I could murder those assholes for what they did to you." the boy piped up, smiling lovingly at the girl ahead.
"That's cute, yeah. But you know what? I hate code names." Luther exclaimed in annoyance, just wanting a valid answer from the two.
"Well, they're the best of the best. Except for me, of course." Five chuckled. Though, his reply only made things a lot more confusing for Luther and Diego.
"Best of what?" Luther questioned him, pretty much done with his drunken state.
"Do you want some peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches when we go home, Y/n?" Five asked the girl, dismissing the man's query.
"Yes!" she squeaked, then hiccupped loudly, "I'd love some!.. Like.. I love y-"
"Hey!" Diego snapped, intervening through their conversation as he rotated around to face Luther and Five, "I need you two to focus. What do this Hazel and Cha-Cha want?"
The two teenagers smiled at each other, stifling their giggles while Five reached out to poke Y/n's nose.
"We just wanna protect you both." Diego continued, slapping away the boy's hand from the girl's face with the arm that was held around her back.
"Protect me? Protect.. Us?" Five squinted at the man, "I don't need your protection, Diego. Y/n doesn't either, because I can protect her. And, if anything, she's able to protect herself!"
"Yeah!" The girl laughed, feeling dizzier and sicker by every passing second.
"Do you have any idea how many people I've killed?" he questioned, "No? I'm the four fricking horsemen!.. The apocalypse is coming."
"I-I think something else is coming, too," Y/n groaned, which gained the attention of everyone, "My stomach hur-"
Before she was capable of finishing the sentence, she leaned past Diego's body to throw up.
Luther grimaced, almost gagging at the sight, muttering incomprehensible words.
The man holding her forced his eyes shut and turned away in pure disgust.
"Who knew puking could look so hot?" Five slurred, grinning like an idiot.
☂ ☂ ☂
Inside of a fight club, Diego had been lent the boiler room, which he now called his own room.
Luther placed down a sleeping Five onto a bed while Y/n tiredly washed out her mouth at a sink.
Diego walked over to his brother who was watching over Five.
"Funny," he began, "If I didn't know he was such a prick, I'd say he looks almost adorable in his sleep."
"Don't worry, he'll sober up eventually," the man in the coat said, "Be back to his normal unpleasant self."
"Yeah, I can't wait that long" Diego replied, walking over to a wooden workdesk, "I need to find out what his connection is with these lunatics before someone else dies."
"All that stuff they were saying before.." Luther thought aloud, "What do you think they meant by that?"
Diego had only responded by lifting up a finger to silence him. The only sound was of running water-- courtesy of Y/n.
The man pulled out a knife and advanced up the small stairway.
He looked at Luther before reaching out for the handle of the door.
Quickly pulling it open, Diego raised his weapon in defense.
A voice called from outside. "You throw another one of those.. Goddamn knives at me, I'm pressin' charges."
Diego rolled his eyes, dropping down his arm as he opened the door.
"What do you want, Al?"
"I ain't your secretary-"
"-Yeah."
"Some lady called for you," the man, Al, explained, waving around his arms in a gesture, "Said she needs your help."
"What lady?" asked Diego as he persisted back down the steps of the boiler room.
"I dunno. Some, uh, detective.. I think her name was, uh, 'Blotch', or something" Al responded, leaning over the railing that led to the stairs.
"Patch?"
Al shrugged at Diego.
"She needs my help." the man in black mumbled to himself, sprinting back up, once again.
"She needs you to meet her at that motel," Al added, handing Diego a small piece of paper, "A dump on Calhoun."
"When?" Luther interrupted.
"About half an hour ago," Al answered, proceeding out the doorway, "Uh, said she found your brother."
"Well, that doesn't make sense." Diego looked over at Five who lay in his bed.
They had already found Five. But they were looking for Y/n, as well. Wouldn't Patch mention a girl was with him?
Luther and Diego came to realisation, and they agreed in unison. "Klaus."
"Go!" Luther ordered, waving a hand, "I'll wait here.. With.."
Luther trailed off as Diego had already rushed out the door, slamming it behind him.
The man sighed and glanced over at the girl. He groaned when he saw her asleep, sprawled out on the floor.
"Well," Luther shrugged, ambling towards her,
"There's only one bed.. Guess you'll be sharing with your dickhead of a lover."
☂
☂