PYROMANIAC - (Umbrella Academy) X Five Hargreeves

2:8

The next morning Lena awoke, still tired, but with a weight lifted off of her shoulders. The minute her eyes opened she was no longer plagued by a pounding headache, the urge to vomit, or tremors that she couldn't seem to shake.

Managing to eat something that morning and keep it down was nothing short of a miracle.

Her limbs still felt heavy, and the fog in her brain was ever present but if that meant the tranquilliser was getting out of her system, she wasn't going to complain.

When Five entered the room with a mug of coffee in hand he gazed upon Diego lounging beside Lila with his shirt off and thick, bloodstained bandages covering his side. He was more awake now, no longer complaining and twirling a knife in his left hand.

"Oh, you're not dead." Five observed blankly, taking his seat beside Lena who was cross legged and had her own milky coffee in hand. (She had made it hours ago but forgotten about it when she showered and so reheated it in her hands.) Lila had thought it was a wicked trick.

Lila smiled sarcastically at the boy. "Disappointed?"

"Oh, to see you? Always."

Lena sipped her drink, eyes darting between the two in amusement.

"So much hostility in such a tiny package," the British woman mused mockingly, sitting back so she was shoulder to shoudler with Diego.

Lena noticed Five scratch the underside of his jaw where Pogo had lashed out at him and swatted his hand away.

"Stop touching."

He shot her an annoyed look.

"Did you cut yourself shaving?" Lila asked. "You know, I could teach you to shave like a big boy."

"Practice on yourself often, then?" Lena rose an eyebrow.

The woman threw her head back with a short laugh and grinned at the girl. "I like you so much better off those drugs."

Unsure how to really take that, she just responded, "Thanks."

Off in the corner, Elliot, still tied to a dentist chair for a reason that hadn't quite been explained to Lena made a muffled noise beneath the cloth around his mouth.

Five frowned at the woman. "You didn't untie him?"

"Was I supposed to?"

Lena grinned into her cup of coffee.

●•●•●

Later on Elliot was untied and introduced to Lena. The first thing she did was apologise for throwing up in his sink.

He was a little eccentric, a bit of a loner, but he was smart enough to create these little machines to monitor 'anomalies' which so far, had given them useful information, and so he was alright in her books.

One of them was used to track significant sound waves - leading herself and Five out into a cornfield far, far away from the main city.

The drive was spent listening to any music that came over the radio, most songs of which Five had something to complain about.

Lena didn't much care, watching the lush green farmland pass by, resting her chin on her folded arms on the side of her door. She'd rest there with her eyes closed, feeling the gentle breeze move loose strands of hair around her face, inhaling the fresh air and just taking a moment to enjoy the quiet (while it lasted.)

Mainly, however, she sat like that so that Five couldn't see the discomfort on her face because she knew it would only worry him.

She had on a loose fitting red shirt half tucked into some jeans, but even with the windows open and the light clothing on, she just couldn't get rid of the uncomfortable burning under her skin. She was hot, incredibly so, and all she could do was focus on calm breaths to keep her body from overreacting. But the warning signs were beginning to ring alarm bells in her head that could only mean nothing good.