Sanguis • Ben Hargreeves¹

thirteen

"The bastard that nearly killed our sister's still out there, with Vanya." Diego paced in the living room. "We need to go after her."

"Vanya is not important." Five limped.

"How could you say that?" Eden asked. "Just because she isn't... Like us doesn't mean she isn't as important as us."

"Yeah, she's your sister too. That's a little heartless even for you, Five." Diego agreed with Eden.

"I'm not saying I don't care about her, but if the apocalypse happens today, she dies along with the other seven billion of us." Five responded, sounding agitated. "Harold Jenkins is our first priority."

"Alright, okay, I understand." Eden nodded, licking her slightly dry lips.

"I agree. Let's go." Diego nodded.

"You guys count me out." Klaus spoke up. "I mean, you know, no offense or whatever. It's just... I kind of feel like this is a whole lot of pressure for newly-sober me, so..."

"You're coming." Diego told him.

"No, no, no." Klaus shook his head.

"I love you, Klaus, I do, and I know this is a bit difficult for you... But we need you." Eden interjected.

"I mean... Thank you, but I think we can all agree that my power's... I mean, it's pretty much useless. I'd just be holding you guys back." Klaus said.

"Klaus, get up." Five demanded.

"You can't make me." He sassed.

Diego effortlessly pulled out one of his knives and aimed it right between Klaus' legs, not too far away from his...

Klaus sighed. "Oh, then again, a little exercise couldn't hurt. Yeah."

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"It's not exactly what I was expecting." Klaus said, leaning down.

Currently, Harold Jenkins (or Leonard Peabody, whichever works) was dead on the floor with multiple knives sticking out of him. Eden stood next to Five and Diego, arms crossed with a perplexed look on her face. She didn't know how to feel. She was glad that the guy was dead, but she wished that she could have been the one to kill him; much like her father, only this was filled with less hate.

"The understatement of the year." Five replied.

"No sign of Vanya." Klaus observed.

"Do you think she did this?" Eden asked.

"Probably not. Let's get out of here before the cops come." Diego told them.

"In a minute." Five told him as the three began to walk away.

They watched as Five knelt down by Harold's side and pull out, what looked to be, an eye. He removed the patch from the dead body's right eye, the sound of ripping tape filling their ears for a second.

"Come on, Five, what are you..." Diego stopped himself as Five started shoving the eye into the man's socket.

Eden turned away, grossed out by what she was seeing. This was on an entirely different level of fucked up, and she just saw her sister's throat bleeding out. Diego retched from beside Eden, causing her to gag.

"Same eye colour, same pupil size. Guys this is it." Five looked back to the three of them. "The eye I've been carrying around for decades, it- it's found its rightful home."

Diego came down to the same level as Five, only for the boy to pull the eye out of the same socket he placed it in not even a minute ago. Eden scrunched her eyes and bit her lip, hating the sound emitted from Five pulling the faux eye back out.

"We got the guy we needed to kill to stop the apocalypse." Diego said.

"Yay! Let's go." Klaus turned around, clearly unaffected by the news he had just received.

"Is it really... This easy?" Eden asked.

"No, no. Wait, wait. It can't be this easy." Five confirmed, standing up. "Look, this is the note that I got from the Commission. The one that says, 'Protect Harold Jenkins,' aka Leonard Peabody."

"Yeah?"

"But who killed him? Who did this?"

"I have a crazy idea. Crazy, but why don't we find Vanya..." Five spacial jumped away before Klaus could finish his sentence. "And ask her what happened?"

"Great idea." Eden tapped Klaus in the back.

"If Vanya got away from this asshole, she might be headed back to the Academy." Diego said.

"Then let's go back and see if she's there, as simple as that."

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"No sign of Vanya." Five shoved his hands in his pants pockets.

"She's not in any of the rooms." Diego continued.

"She's not downstairs, either." Klaus said, him and Eden walking up the stairs to meet the two others.

"Well, I'm out." Diego touched Klaus' shoulder.

"Wait. Wait..."

"Where are you going?" Eden called out to Diego.

"Vanya's still out there, and so are Hazel and Cha-Cha." Five told him.

"I know." He turned around. "I'm gonna get my things and then I'm outta here. I got some unfinished business with those fools."

Eden rubbed her closed eyes, then she lightly banged her head against one of the support beams. The woman was completely done with Diego's mood swings. First all he wanted to do was avenge his late lover, then it was saving the world, then it was helping Luther, and so on and so on; this man was tiring her out.

"Hey, did dad say anything about the apocalypse when you spoke to him?" Five quizzed. "Any clues as to how it happened?"

"No. No clues. Truly terrific shave... But no clues."

Five sighed exasperatedly and went to walk away. "Jeez."

"You know, come to think of it, he did mention something about my potential," Klaus rushed out. "And how I've barely even scratched the surface of my-"

Eden listened from the top of the stairs, too drained to follow the two. Soon enough, the ginger was spacing out and thinking about nothing; just staring at a random spot and wishing she could see Ben again.

"If only he were here." She whispered under her breath. "He'd know what to do."

"I'm here." Ben tried to say. "Im right here." Alas, Eden couldn't hear a word he said.