Time's on Fire

Diciannove (AKA The Drunk Chapter)

☂︎ THIRD PERSON POV ☂︎

"Well, we can't go back to the house. It's not secure. Those psychopaths could come back at any moment." Luther tells Diego, carrying Five and Delores in his massive arms.

"My place is closer. No one will look for him there." Diego explains, carrying Serafina.

Five belches, causing Luther to cringe.

"If you vomit on me..." He warns.

"You know what's funny? Aah! I'm going through puberty. Twice." Five scoffs. "And I... I drank that whole bottle, didn't I? That's what you do when the world you love goes bye-bye. Poof, it's gone."

"Shhhhhhhhhh." Serafina drawls, lazily placing a finger to her lips before immediately letting it drop. "What are you guys even talking about?"

Luther sighs. "Two masked intruders attacked the Academy last night."

"They came looking for you. So I need you to focus. What do they want?" Diego asks Five.

"Hazel and Cha-Cha." He slurs.

"Who?"

"You know, I hate code names."

"Oh, do you, Numba One?" Serafina chuckles, letting her head lawl back. Luther rolls his eyes.

"Ah, the best of the best. Except for me, of course. And, uh, this one other guy... Butch something, something or other." Five grins.

"The best of what?" Luther asks.

"You know, Delores always said she hated when I drink. She said it made me surly-"

"Hey!" Diego yells, causing Serafina to jump.

Five hums drunkenly.

"I need you to focus. What do this Hazel and Cha-Cha want?" Diego asks, watching Five smile up at him. "We just wanna protect you."

"Protect me. I don't need your protection, Diego. Do you have any idea how many people I've killed? No. I'm the Four frickin' Horsemen. The apocalypse is coming." Leaning over Luther's arm, Five vomits on the ground.

Serafina looks away. "Fucking disgusting."

"Hey, language." Luther scolds her.

"Diegoooooo, Luther's being mean!" Serafina exclaims, looking up at her brother with extremely hooded eyes. He nods.

"Yeah, he does that."

"Ya know, you're... really pretty." Five says, staring at Serafina. Reaching out, he extends his forefinger and taps her on the nose with it.

"And... you're drunk." Serafina says, giggling softly as she grabs his hand, pushing it away.

"You're both drunk." Luther tells the two, motioning for Diego to start walking again. He does, leading him to the gym where they both take their drunken siblings down into Diego's room. Diego places Serafina down on the bed first, backing away to let Luther drop Five on the thin mattress, rather roughly, next to her.

"Funny. If I didn't know he was such a prick, I'd say he looks almost adorable in his sleep." Diego says, looking down at Five.

"Well, don't worry. He'll sober up eventually. Be back to his normal, unpleasant self." Luther tells him, thinking back to earlier when Serafina locked him out of the van. "They both will."

"Yeah, I can't wait that long. I need to find out what his connection is with these lunatics before someone else dies." Diego explains, walking away.

"All that stuff he was saying before... what do you think he meant by that?" Luther asks.

Diego motions for him to be quiet, the two listening intently as footsteps near the door. Diego pulls out one of his knives, stalking up the stairs before grabbing the door handle and yanking it open with his weapon raised.

"You throw another one of those goddamn knives at me, I'm pressing charges." Al exclaims.

Diego sighs. "What do you want, Al?"

"I ain't your secretary. Some lady called for you, said she needs your help." Al explains, standing in the doorway.

"What lady?" Diego asks.

"I dunno. Some, uh, detective. I think she said her name was, uh, Blotch or something."

"Patch?"

Al shrugs.

"She needs my help." Diego mutters.

"She needs you to meet her at that motel, a dump on Calhoun." Al explains, showing Diego a card.

"When?"

"About half an hour ago. Uh, said she found your brother." Al states, already walking out of the room and down the hall.

Diego stares at Five. "Well, that didn't make sense." Luther and he share a look. "Klaus."

"Go. I'll wait here with..."

Diego closes the door behind him.

"... them." Luther sighs, looking at Five and Serafina sleeping peacefully on Diego's bed.

Five turns, his body subconsciously seeking the heat radiating from Serafina's. He blindly reaches out for her, the mattress dipping beneath his body, simultaneously causing Serafina's to do the same. Her head falls into the crook of Five's neck, her eyelashes tickling the skin there. Serafina's hand finds Five's, the two unknowingly interlacing their scarred fingers.

Luther watches the scene unfold, the two reminding him of Allison and himself when they were younger.

He wondered how they would react when they wake up. Would they hate the other for it? Would they even care in the slightest? Or would they deny it even happened, despite knowing it did? He had always worried for Serafina's wellbeing, especially after Ben's death and Five's disappearance.

She always said she was fine but refused to call or be called. She only ever kept in touch with Klaus and Vanya, and that was only when the former was out of rehab. Which... was never a lot.

Reginald never allowed for any romance between the Hargreeves children and Luther could understand why. But it's not like that stopped him from falling in love with Allison. And when it was clear to everyone else that Five began to feel something different towards Serafina, nobody questioned it.

After he left, however, even Vanya couldn't crack the shell Serafina had encased herself within.

Luther thought it broke the minute Five came back, but he could see that, even sleeping, she still tried to keep herself away from him. They may be holding hands and her head is far too close for his liking but her body is angled away from Five's in a way that shouldn't be comfortable.

Luther sighed, he may not care much for what Five brought back to the present with him but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't grateful he was back. Even if it meant Serafina would only ever smile at him, it was worth it to see it again.

He just wished he had strength to face what's coming next. If not for him, then for his family.