Rotting from the Inside ; Five Hargreeves

Chapter 4: Delores

A/N: there's some bird anatomy and phrases in this chapter, maybe a TINY bit steamy (if u rlly squint) but it doesn't go anywhere

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"Five..? Not trying to.. question your judgement or anything but... Why are we meeting someone at a department store in the middle of the night?"

Seraphina and Five stand under the overhang in front of The Gimbel Brothers, rain drizzling down softly. The girl paces forward to the door, attempting to see if it would open, before a hand grabs her wrist, again.

Reappearing, now inside the store, Seraphina sways on her feet and groans, "Five, please. I'm gonna vomit."
"You'll live. Now come on, there's someone I want you to meet." The girl shoots a glare at the boy, but follows him begrudgingly.

The pair walk through the isles of the department store; Seraphina ghosting her fingers over the hung up clothes as she goes, not entirely sure what the boy is looking for.
Five suddenly stops abruptly, causing Seraphina to bump face-first into his back.

"Delores," The mention of the name causing the girl to shoot her head up. However, upon peeking over Five's shoulder, all she sees are mannequins standing on a table, with no one behind them. A feeling of dread hits her stomach like a brick, silently begging that this isn't what she thinks it is.

Her prayers go unanswered, though, as Five speaks once more.
"It's good to see you. I've missed you.... obviously... Well, I... It's been a rough couple of days." Seraphinas eyes soften, her heart breaking for the boy; what he had been through, what he had done, what he had to do, all so he could come back to his family.

"Oh, right. This is Phina.... yes, the one I talked to you about.... No, I'm not telling her you said that."
Seraphina takes in a breath before speaking with a soft smile, "..Hi Delores... It's.. nice to meet you."

She hears the sound of a gun cocking behind her, and freezes. Then, quite suddenly, she was tackled to the floor.
"No!"
Gunshots rain out where the pair had just been standing, Delores' torso being shot off of her legs. Peeking out behind the rack, Five swears.
"Ah, shit, it's them!"

"I'm starting to think a lot of people don't like you, Five!"
The boy blinks Seraphina behind a different rack, putting his hand to her cheek.
"Stay here, I'll be right back," He says before blinking away.

The girl groans in annoyance before peeking out from her hiding spot. Her nose scrunches distastefully as she takes note of the two shooters wearing crude children's masks.
Her eyes land on Five, eyes widening as she sees he's about to be shot. Seraphina runs up to him, her wings unfurling from her back as she uses them to cover the boy.

An agonizing pain resonates near the base of her wing before she suddenly appears behind another rack next to Five.

"You see that?"
"You said he was special, the girl clearly is too. So now what?"
"You start over there, I'll go to the other end. Meet in the middle. Shoot anything that moves."

Seraphina feels a hand grab her wrist roughly, pulling her face to face with Five.
"What are you doing? I told you to stay there!"
"And let you get shot?!"
Five swears under his breath, "We'll talk about this later. Hold this."
Five hands her a dufflebag with something in it.