☂︎ 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 シ︎ FIVE HARGREEVES IMAGINES ☂︎

sparks

this ones gonna be sad so prepare urself <3

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Five sat with Luther at Diego's place as they awaited Diego's return.

"What was it like in the apocalypse?" Luther questions shuffling forward a bit, eager for an answer.

"It was like hell, but we tried our best to get through it." Five responded, reminiscing.

"We?" Luther frowned.

"Catherine, her name was Catherine." He sighed. "She found me whilst I was rummaging through a destroyed supermarket. She couldn't speak very good english, although I was inclined to think she was British at the time, thats what she tried to tell me through hand signs. All that time being alone, she lost the ability to speak her own language. I managed to keep teaching myself so I wouldn't forget." He chuckled slightly.

"We must have been around 20 at the time. She had no proper clothes. I still wonder how she survived but I never questioned her. She followed me back to my shelter and she seemed so out of touch with everything. I gave her some food and she almost threw it down her throat she was so hungry. Overtime I taught her how to speak english again. The only thing she could really say at the time I found her was her name, Catherine." He looked on sombrely, continuing the story.

"I taught her to form sentences and phrases. She caught on pretty quickly, recognising most of the words I was teaching her. I gave her a large shirt and bell bottom jeans I had found at a supermarket for her. She got used to the lifestyle eventually and she'd go out to a library every evening and pick out books to take back. She'd read to me every night, with a proud look on her face." He grinned a little.

"Her smile was so bright, but she could look so sad at the same time. Every morning she'd sit by a large boulder and practice her sentences quietly. She thought I wouldn't be able to hear her. One day she looked up and said 'Thank you for everything, I am very happy to have you with me', with the biggest grin on her face. We only ever had each other and thats the way it was for a long time." He exhales heavily.

"We must have been somewhere in our thirties and she fell pregnant, we were happy but.. it wouldn't be good for the baby in that kind of environment. Obviously there was no way out of it, so we pushed through it. We spent every night reading to the baby, her english was amazing and she could speak fully developed sentences." He took an inhale, looking down.

"That's amazing, Five." Luther let a little smile slide onto his face.

"She went into labour whilst we were travelling, I set her down by a rock and we both took deep breaths together, she was struggling. At this point in time we hadn't been greatly stocked in food so she was very weak. She was able to deliver the baby and she held the little girl in her arms, Catherine cried for so long, but I found it strange. I had no idea why she was crying so much. I just assumed it was the pain and conditions we were in. We hadn't thought of a name because we didn't know the gender so the baby remained nameless for the time being." His breath wobbles and shakes.

"Her crying soon stopped, quite abruptly. I looked up and.. and she was unconscious.. dead. I didn't know what to do so I took the baby and left Catherine to rest by what looked to be whatever was left of a tree. Leaving her favourite book on her lap." Five let a tear roll down his cheek.

Luther covered his mouth with his hand in despair.

"I named the baby Catherine, after her mother. The idea of her growing up without a mother was the worst part. When Cathy was 10 I took her to the tree that her mother lay to rest. Her body was no longer there but the book was a few metres away with a bit of soil on top of it. She picked up the book and held it up to me. I watched as she danced around the tree cuddling the book. I stood looking up at the tree where it only had a few branches still attached."

~ The apocalypse ~

"Look, papa! A book!" Cathy giggled cheerfully.

"Ah yes. Why don't you keep it?" Five smiled.

"Yes! Yes I will!" She danced around the tree.

Five looked up at the tree with tears forming.

"Hey, Catherine. Been a while. She learnt how to read and write, just like you did. Sorry you weren't here to see it." He whispered to the tree.

Five and Cathy set off on an adventure to find a home.

They found a building that was still mostly intact.

"This is home, Cathy." He set everything down.

"Home?" Her little hand squeezed his.

"Yes. Home, this is where we live now." He sighed.

"Yay! Home!" She pranced through the rooms, clutching onto the same book.

~ Back to present ~

"Once Cathy turned 16 she seemed to realise that the world we lived in wasn't as great as she thought it was when she was little. She'd always read about mothers in her books. She began to question who her mother was. I told her about Catherine, and how passed just after she was born. She understood, but didn't seem too broken up about it."

~ The apocalypse ~

"What was she like, Dad?" Cathy sat closer to her father.

"She was a beautiful woman, fast learner too. She was amazing. You are so much like her."

"It's a shame I never met her." Cathy looked down.

"She would have loved you and your stubbornness." Five chuckled, Cathy chuckled with him.

~ Present ~

"Cathy got older and older. She never seemed to change. She was 24 and reminded me so much of her mother. One day, we were travelling to go get some more books for her at a nearby library. I was one end and she was another. It was very broken down and shabby. I heard a loud crash from her side and rushed over. I couldn't spot her and that's when I realised what fell, the second floor caved in and all of the bookshelves had fallen through, directly where she happened to be." Five's voice shook violently.

"That was it. I had no one left. And The Handler found me and gave me a second chance at life. Rewrite the mistakes I made. Everyday I missed Catherine and Cathy, I still do. But sometimes the happy ending doesn't work out for everyone."