Little Bird

Marigold

Pogo stared at me for a minute before turning towards Five.

"I don't tattoo children" He muttered as he set down the tattoo gun, and took a puff of his cigarette.

"I'm not here for the ink, I'm here because we have a mutual friend" Five cleared his throat "Sir Reginald Hargreeves"

Pogo sighed, sparing me one more glance before turning his back on us. "Whatever he wants, I'm not interested" I stared sadly at Pogo. When I left in 2005, Pogo was my only friend besides Sloane. Pogo would do anything for us, and for him to be working in a dingy biker bar, something had to have gone wrong.

"I don't think you understand," Five said with an edge to his voice. "I'm one of his children. From another timeline" I could feel the tension in the room and I placed my hand on Fives lower back and stepped forward.

"Pogo, I haven't seen you in so long, please just hear what Five has to say" I pleaded.

"I can't be of any help, I'm sorry y/n." Pogo stood up "Now, if you'll excuse me, i've had a very long day" Pogo pushed past the two of us, causing us to separate. I noticed the men in the room beginning to circle around us, a few of them smirking and looking me up and down.

"Disgusting" I muttered, Five glared at the men as they got closer to us.

"How about you run home to Mommy, little guy. We'll keep this pretty doll company" I sneered and stepped closer to Five, who had reached down and slid his hand into mine.

"Or what?" Five smirked, and a flash of blue had surrounded us, putting us back into the parking lot.

"Pogo!" I yelled, but it was too late, he had already sped around the corner on his motorcycle. I watched as Pogo disappeared from sight, turning to face Five, only to find him gone. "Oh for the love of!" I threw up my hands and looked at the street. I heard the rumble of a motorcycle and somebody catcalling me. I turned around, ready to tell the person off but was met with Five smirking at me.

With a roll of my eyes I jogged over and got situated on the back. Five hit the throttle and I lurched backwards. In order to avoid falling off, I scooted forward and wrapped my arms around his middle. The sun was getting pretty high in the sky by the time we had pulled onto a dirt road. Five killed the engine and turned around to me, helping me hop down from the bike. We looked around at the wooded area and trailer.

"Can I help you?" The lady asked as she flipped through a magazine with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth.

"We need a word with Pogo" Five finally responded to her. She glanced up at us and then back down at her magazine.

"No Pogo here, sweethearts"

"I'm family so..." I finally spoke up as Five and I began walking towards the trailer.

"I suggest you get your asses off my property before I call a truant officer" She threatened us, folding her arms. I rolled my eyes and looked at Five.

"It's okay Tammy" We looked towards the trailer where Pogo was standing in the doorway. "Let the children in"

I trailed after Five into the trailer, moving to sit next to him at the little table Pogo was at. I froze as I heard a gun cock underneath the table.

"You're either dumb or desperate. Which is it?"

"You'd really shoot me?" I asked, slightly offended. Pogo was the only one who would comfort me as a child, not even Grace would help if I fell down, or if my siblings pushed me down.

"You tell me" Five ignored my question to Pogo, pulling out.. A flap of skin?? Dude what did I miss?!

"Gross" I muttered as Five slapped down the skin with a tattoo on it in front of Pogo.

"It looks like my work," Pogo said, tossing the skin back to Five. "But I never did that tattoo"

"Not yet, you haven't. I cut it off my 100 year old self"

"Talk about an existential crisis" I mumbled. Five shot me a look while Pogo gave me a brief smile.

"It's good to see your humor still intact, miss y/n" I grinned back at Pogo, having Five clear his throat.

"Look, the whole universe is at stake here" Five spoke up, after mine and Pogo's attention was back on him.

"So it's happened," Pogo said after inhaling sharply. He set his glass down, leaning over to dig through an old looking book. He flipped through a few pages before handing it over to us. I leaned closer to Five to get a look at the pages.

Five compared the skin symbols to the symbols in the book. Without saying anything he glanced back up at Pogo, waiting for him to explain.

"Reggie was obsessed with these symbols. It's a sigil. A symbol thought to have magical powers."

I snorted while Five let out a little laugh. "He believed in science and facts. I couldn't respect much about the bastard, but I could respect that much at the least" I nodded in agreement with him.

"This has to have a rational meaning" I said, leaning back away from the book.

"I don't know," Pogo said, looking between the two of us. "But he referred to it as Project Oblivion"

Five and I shared a look. "This project. I need to know more"

"Can I use the restroom?" I asked, Pogo and Five cutting off their conversation and looking at me. Pogo nodded and gestured down the small hallway. I went to the only other door, slipping into the cramped bathroom. I quickly did what I needed, stepping back out, wiping my hands on my jeans. I noticed Five unbuttoning his shirt.

"What's going on?" I asked, blushing and averting my eyes.

"I'm completing the loop" Five said, when I glanced back at him, he was smirking at the flush that was going down my neck. Without saying anything else, I went to sit next to him on the couch. I held out my hand as Pogo got his equipment ready.

When Pogo turned on the tattoo gun, I felt five squeeze my hand. I squeezed back and rubbed my thumb over the back of his hand.

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Five and I bid goodbye to Pogo, as Five buttoned up his shirt, I leaned down and gave Pogo a hug. Once I stood back up, Pogo grabbed a hold of my hand.

"I am proud of you miss y/n. I'm sorry I couldn't do more" I shrugged and smiled down at him.

"I appreciate that Pogo, but you did plenty." I assured him. Five walked up behind me, placing his hand on my lower back. I leaned into him, as we said goodbye to Pogo. We walked back to the bike, I slid onto the back as Five got situated. I wrapped my arms around his waist, leaning my head on his back. As we hit the highway again, I fell asleep.

"What are you doing?" I mumbled as I felt myself being carried, we must have made it back to the hotel.

"Putting you to bed," Five whispered back to me. I nodded and turned my head into his chest. I felt my body hit the mattress, and I pulled Five down by his tie. I opened my eyes to see his green ones staring down at me.

"Stay" I whispered as I ran my hand up to his cheek, the other hand still holding his tie.

"Okay" He whispered, leaning down and kissing me softly, crawling into the bed. I let go as he flopped onto his back, pulling me in to rest my head on his chest.

"Night Five" I whispered, my eyes fluttering closed as his heartbeat lulled me to sleep.