Bound by Duty | Five Hargreeves

10. Vengeful god

I hum a soft tune as I sit at my vanity, gently brushing through my chestnut brown hair. I'd always wished for curls, but for some reason god gave me a weird mix between straight and wavy. I was in my pyjama's - a set of a white and blue stripy tank top, and matching shorts - and with no make up on.

The familiar sound of Five's spacial jumping swoosh startles me, and I turn quickly, raising my hand, ready to throw the hairbrush at him. "Woah!" He raises his hand, "Woah, woah! Careful there... wouldn't want to kill me with a—" The boy pauses, raising an eyebrow. "Hairbrush..."

I exhale, rolling my eyes. "Jesus..." I turn back to my mirror, continuing on brushing my hair. "Most people do this thing called 'knocking' before entering someone's bedroom. I could've been getting changed." Five doesn't respond, and I look at him through the mirror to see him simply staring at me.

Only then do I remember that I'm in a tank top and shorts, nothing else. No long, layered dress, make up done and hair curled or put up. He clears his throat, putting his hands in his pockets. "Elliott detected a sound wave." He says, licking his lips. "We have to go before it's too late."

I furrow my eyebrows, getting up and tucking my hair behind my ears. "Go? Go why?" I ask, moving to put on some slippers. Five gives me a look, and I roll my eyes. "I'm not putting heels on when I'm wearing my pyjama's. Defeats the whole 'comfy' aspect." I pout.

The brown haired boy chuckles, shaking his head with a soft sigh. "Yeah... okay." His eyes find mine, "Go because the sound wave means Vanya." He says, "Number seven." The one who ended the world. "We have to find her before anyone else does." He extends his hand, "I'm going to find her in the morning, you coming?"

With a smirk, I place my hand in his, nodding. "Of course I am. When do I not?" Five grins, squeezing my hand tightly before disappearing out of my room.

The next morning, Five wakes me up at 5am, as the sun was setting. I quickly get changed into a simple pink dress and white flats, before the two of us spacial jump to wherever Vanya was.

The feeling was the same as most times, dizzying and slightly painful, but less so than normal. I stumble slightly, causing Five to reach out, grabbing my shoulders. "Steady." He smirks, "I forget sometimes that others aren't used to it..." His eyes find mine, and we both suddenly become aware of our proximity.

I exhale, leaning back and biting my lower lip with a firm nod. "Yeah..." I shrug, "It's fine. Just... disoriented for a second..." Five nods, before making his way into a corn field.

Together, we head through the corn field, trying not to get bitten by bugs or smacked in the face by corn. I huff, "Are you sure she's in here?" I ask, causing Five to reach back and take my hand, leading me through the field with more ease. He was quiet, more quiet than usual, and it was slightly worrying.

Eventually, we come to a point in which the corn stops. Sort of. A large circle of what seems to be squashed corn spirals around us, causing Five to exhale. "Vanya..." His hand never leaves mine, walking straight through the circle and back into the corn. This layer of corn was much heavier and thicker.

Forty-eight smacks in the face, and seventeen scratches later, we come to a smaller clearing. One in which a woman sits, hidden in a bit of corn, staring at us with wide eyes. Five grins, letting go of my hand and moving towards her. He moves the corn out of the way, forming one of his famous smirks. "Hi, Vanya."

The woman gets up, "Who are you?" She asks, swallowing thickly. Her gaze flickers to me for a moment, and I offer a gentle smile. Five had told me about how she had lost her memory, and so I thought perhaps being gentle was the best course of action. She was fairly short, shorter than Five but taller than I, with straight brown hair, pale skin and sharp facial features.

"I'm your brother." He says, looking at Vanya with a weird sense of relief and tenderness. The same look I saw when he came in contact with Pogo last night. Mother was wrong, Five wasn't heartless, and he certainly wasn't selfish. Everything he was doing, he was doing for them, for his family. No matter how much pain and misery it caused him.

Vanya widens her eyes, glancing from Five to me, before returning her attention to Five. "I have a brother?" She asks, not moving from her spot, now standing instead of sitting.

Five nods, before sighing. "Look, you can either stay here and wait for the IKEA mafia to come back to kill you, or you can come back with me and her." He gestures back to me, and I wave my hand softly.

Without another word, Five turns and walks past me and back into the corn maze. I let out a small groan, following after him, Vanya hurrying after us. "Wh... why are they trying to kill me?" She asks, clearly freaked out. I don't blame her. If I lost my memory, and then three weird Swedish killers came after me, I'd be fucking terrified.

"Cause you're not supposed to be here, Vanya." He exhales, pausing for a moment to help me over a fallen corn patch. I smile gently, stepping over it and walking ahead of him now, instead of behind him.

There's a pause before Vanya responds, "In Dallas?" She asks gently, causing me to exhale softly. Oh the poor girl, she's so confused. And knowing Five, he's just going to say something blunt that'll confuse her amnesiac brain even more—

"No. Here, in 1963." Five responds, causing me to roll my eyes. Called it. Five was a lot like Elliott in some ways, didn't do a great job at reading people. Like, at all. Being aware of other people and how they're feeling just doesn't seem to connect in their brains.

I bite my lower lip, stepping over another fallen corn patch, before finding myself back in the circle we'd come across earlier. I hum, putting my hands on my hips and spinning around to face Five and Vanya with a small smile on my face.

Vanya widens her eyes, looking around in pure shock. "Holy... shit." She exhales, swallowing thickly. My gaze flickers up to the sun for a moment, admiring the way it shone over some of the corn, lighting it up in a magical sort of way.

"Yeah, pretty wild, right?" Five smirks, looking around the flattened corn with sparkling eyes. His gaze settles on me for a moment, nodding silently, before turning back to Vanya. I don't always understand his little nods, but I just go with it at this point. "It's good to see your powers are still in tact. Let's go."

Oh, that's what that nod meant— we're continuing on. Was he checking if I was okay? I force the thought out of my head as Five places his hand on my arm as he passes me, "You okay?" He asks quietly, and I nod, turning and walking beside him.

Vanya hurries up a bit, before stepping into foot with Five and I, walking on my right. "Are you my sister?" She asks, her eyes flickering up and down my form. I suddenly feel incredibly vulnerable.

I give her a gentle smile, before shaking my head. "No, I'm not. I'm a..." I glance at Five, before repeating his words to Diego a few days ago. "I'm a friend." I extend my hand, "My names Philippa, it's lovely to meet you Vanya."

The woman smiles awkwardly, shaking my hand and nodding. "Nice to meet you too, Philippa." She pauses, "Hey... you're that girl that the man ran after outside Ruby's club the other night... aren't you?"

"Luther?" I ask, and the woman thinks for a moment, before nodding. "So you're in relation to that drunk man Luther had to escort out?" She nods sheepishly. "He causes a lot of trouble at Ruby's place, y'know? Luther has to kick him out a lot. Usually he just stumbles home though... he happened to get very drunk the other night."

Vanya nods, sighing. "Yeah... I'm... sorry about that. He doesn't do it that much... just..." She rubs her forehead, "I guess more than I thought." I shrug, patting her arm with a warm smile.

"Don't sweat it," I wink, "Just maybe... uh... make sure Mr. Ruby doesn't end up killing him. Man's got a real short patience. Trust me." Vanya's suddenly looks a little bit nervous, causing me to let out a small giggle. "Coffee?"