CLOUD TO GROUND ☂︎ FIVE HARGREEVES

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EUDAEMONIA
artificial intelligence

☂︎ ☂︎ ☂︎

At some point Hypatia had fallen asleep like that, head resting on the dash. She couldn't understand how Five kept his gaze locked on the plain building, the apocalypse must be a truly terrible thing.

The plumbing van's seats were surprisingly comfortable, the sunny day making the temperature inside a lazy sort of warm. Maybe it was the lack of sleep she'd gotten the night before, but she was out like a light.

Her sleep was deep and dreamless, undaunted by the horrors she ran from. Project Möbius felt like a lifetime ago, and while the wounds they left still hurt, maybe they were finally beginning to heal.

She woke sharply to the noise of hurried tapping oh her window, met with the image of Luther Hargreeves frantically rapping his fingers against the glass. Glancing beside her Five was still staring out the window, looking haunted.

"Five." She roused the boy.

Snapping out of whatever trance he was in, he finally noticed the hulking man outside the van.

Luther opened the door, gesturing for Hypatia to scoot over. Lightly sighing, she crawled over the center console to the back of the van only to find Klaus, holding Delores in his arms.

"You okay?" Luther asked, shoving his way in to the passenger seat, made awkward by his muscly arms.

Raising her eyebrows at the man in the back he didn't respond, instead making kissy faces at the mannequin.

"You shouldn't be...how did you find me?" Five wondered.

Luther gestured to the back of the van, the two in the front seat finally subjected to the strangeness Hypatia was forced to bear witness too.

Cradling the mannequin in his arms, Klaus noticed the new sets of eyes turned in his direction. "Hey, a little privacy, guys. We're really hitting off back here."

"Gross." Hypatia said as Five threw something, which his brother used Delores to block.

"Get out! You can't be here! I'm in the middle of something."

Leaning towards the front beside Hypatia, Klaus turned to his older brother. "Any luck finding your one-eyed man?"

"No."

"What's he talking about?" Luther looked between the three.

"Does it matter, it's Klaus." Five quickly excused. "What do you want Luther."

"Um. So, Grace may have had something to do with Dad's death. So I need you to come back to the academy, all right? It's important."

The 58 year old scoffed. "'It's important.' You have no concept of what's important."

Hypatia stayed conscientiously quiet, it seemed like a touchy subject was being discussed and besides, it wasn't her place to intervene, it was a family matter.

Klaus seemed to have no regard for such caution. "Did I ever tell you guys about the time I waxed my ass with chocolate pudding? It was so painful!"