She with The Flowers in Her Hair| Number Five

🌻CHAPTER 22: Headhunted Teens🌻

Five helped his wife up to her feet, holding firmly onto her hands and waist. Her eyes once again in some state of disarray, staring into the nothingness. They walked away, his heart heavy from the smoke and loss of hope. He was going to fail at saving everyone from the impending apocalypse and along with it him and his wife, this time round. "My love, I'm here..." he whispered in her ear, some of the flowers tickling his nose as he did so. "...I'm right here." His mind was clouded beyond belief, and he could do nothing but kiss the girl on her temple. The dread was painful, he must admit, and all he wanted to do was numb it up. Numb it all up. 

Meanwhile at the academy, Number One and Two, quarreled with each other once again. Both of them still rattled from the events that had transpired last night, an event that had left the home in ruins. Two psychopathic assassins had attacked their home, both of them had demanded information about the teens that had been missing for quite some time now, with that in mind their mission was to find the couple, unfortunately the byproduct of that is that, everyone seemed to be completely oblivious to the disappearance of their other brother. The quarrel had gotten the two men kicked out and reprimanded by the ever wise Pogo, urging them to search instead of bicker. With that the Hargreeves men went on to look for their brother and his wife, their search leading them to one familiar, lonesome van. With a bit of rummaging around, it was a book that pointed out a possible location.

The public library was surely a sight for sore eyes, the tall building filled and lined with books will make a bookworms heart swoon. The sweet smell of old and new paper wafted through the air as they split up and begun their search, a search that would soon prove frustrating to say the least. They nearly came to give up, Diego leaned against the railing, looking down on the other levels of the giant library while Luther blocked the hallway with his sheer size, his mind already formulating new plans.

"You wanna know why I left?" Diego asked out of the blue.

"What? What are you talking about?" Luther replied slightly confused at what he was pertaining to.

"Why I left the academy." the elaboration made Luther roll his eyes at his brother then scoff "Yeah, cause you can't handle me being number one or maybe because you were heartbroken... with Ellie disappearing and everything."

"No. maybe a little with the second one, but you leave because that's what you do when you're eighteen. You move out. Become your own person. Grow up."

"Oh yeah, you're a real grown up." This time it was Diego that rolled his eyes in annoyance. The sarcastic comment switching off the sympathetic approach he tried on his brother.

"At least I make my own decisions. You've never had to hold down a job. Pay bills... have you ever been with girl?" He asked him again, raising an eyebrow with it. This made Luther stammer out an inaudible reply, prompting laughter form his brother who decided to put him out of his misery. "As much as I hate to say it aloud Luther, but, I'm pretty sure even Five's got you beat... look, you wanna blame me, blame us for leaving... that's okay. But maybe you're asking yourself the wrong question. Maybe it's not about why we left, but because why you stayed."

"I stayed because the world needed me." Luther tried to defend, walking closer to the leather-clad man.

"You stayed because you couldn't let go of the way things used to be. The academy. Dad. With Allison... you see, that's where you and I are different Luther. At least, I tried to move on when Ellie disappeared. Dad's dead. Mom now too. We're orphans again, dude. Things are never gonna go back to how it used to...be..." Diego's words trailed off as the elevator bells dinged behind him. Two girl were giggling as they looked at a corner, their mouths in smirks as they giggled at whatever it was.

The pair of Hargreeves brothers walked closer, their eyes rolling as they caught sights of the scene. There they were, Ellie and Five sat on the floor. Bottles, books, notepads and a marker sat beside them, a bunch of numbers and complicated formulas adorned the walls, no doubt written by the boy that had his head leaned lazily on the walll, his eyes closed, his hand clasped tightly in Ellie's. Ellie was in a similar condition to the boy, but something told the two men that her dazed state was not caused by alcohol.

"Is he...?"

"Drunk as a skunk."

~~~

The dark of the night was accompanied by the city noises, both of them witness to the unusual scene that had unfolded. An incredibly big man held his eighteen year old looking older brother in his hands, the said man-child being inebriated beyond belief as he hold on to the mannequin that settled in his lap. The girl on the other hand was guided by Diego, who kept an eye on her, making sure that she wouldn't walk off on her own.

"Well, we can't go back to the house. It's not secure. Those psychopaths could come back at any moment." Luther began as he adjusted Five who moved way too much for his liking.

"My place is closer, no one will look for them there." The man replied just as Five belched loudly, the noise making Luther give him a nervous, warning look. "If you vomit on me..."

"You know what's funny? We're going through puberty... again." The boy chuckled bitterly at himself, his head lolling to the side a little. " I drank that whole bottle, didn't I? That's what you do when the world you love goes bye-bye. Poof! It's gone..." He trailed off, his hand making exploding motions with it. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Two masked intruders attacked the academy last night." Luther began "They came looking for you two, so I need you to focus. What do they want?" Diego continued for the two of them, not even bothering to look back at Five.

"Hazel and Cha-cha..." Ellie whispered with her dazed, airy tone. The statement was more to herself than anything. But her utterance had only stunned the two men, both of them softening as they saw the still, blank expression on her face. Their look hardening again as they pushed Five for more information.

"Who are they Five?"

"Hazel and Cha-cha. The best of the best. Except for us of course." He finally answered somewhat properly.

"The best of what?" They pushed on, but unfortunately Five had already been distracted again.

"You know, Ellie always said she hated when I drink. She'd scold me, said it made me surly." Alas that was the final statement that had drove Diego to the edge. "Hey!" He shouted out, momentarily letting go of the girl's arm as he got into Five's face, The boy not really fazed by either the intrusion of his space or the shout.

"Hm? Yeah?" the boy asked still completely out of it.

"I need you to focus. What do this Hazel and Cha-cha?" An eerie smile appeared on the boy's face, a sign that he wasn't really planning on answering the question at all.

"We just want to protect you Five. Both of you. Think of Ellie Five."

"I don't need your protection Diego and neither does Ellie. I don't need your help to protect my own wife... Do you have any idea how many people I've killed? How many she has? Between just the two of us, we're the four frickin' horsemen. The apocalypse is coming." the monologue was met with weird looks, both of the men trying to comprehend what they had heard, looking between the two teenagers. But their train of thoughts were broken as Five turned and puked his guts out. Poor Luther. 

EDITED