ROSES AND FLAMES - Five Hargreeves

44. "why me?"

"What were you and five talking about outside?" Asked Diego, Josie looking at her nails. "He's so set on giving up, it's annoying me." Josie told the two, Lila playing with Josie's hair, the girl trying to stop her.

"He'll come around, he's just an old man." Diego said, Josie looking at him. "He's only five years older than me." She told the man, Diego staring at her.

"Wait—"

"We've been through this before, don't make me start again." She told him, both noticing five and Reginald come inside, everyone beginning to applaud for Five's speech last night.

Not remembering anything about a speech, Josie moved spots to be with five, sitting together on the sofa, watching Reginald come in now. "So he can persuade you and I can't?" She whispered, five patting her head to stop talking.

"Your day is about to get worse." Said Reginald, everyone suddenly not talking anymore with that chirpy Segway of a conversation.

"The Norse has seven sleepers. The Blackfoot, seven stars. As a boy, I heard the legend of the seven bells. All these stories are the same." Said Reginald, Josie already feeling sleepy, like this was a story time for her.

"The village is under threat by flood, by fire, by a night they never ends." He continued. "A shaman brings his disciples to a sacred cave. He tells them if they can ring the seven magic bells, the village will be saved, and will be restored just as it was."

Silence waved over the siblings for once in their life, everyone quiet as a mouse, Lila and Josie looking at each other. "Can we get a little less Brothers Grimm and a little more what the hell does this have to do with us?" Lila asked, raising her hand for the old man.

"There is a truth to these myths. None of you can deny what's going on around us. All of existence will be gone by the end of the day, but whoever or whatever wove together space and time, they left away to put things back together if the universe ever faced total annihilation."

"What the hell?" Josie mumbled, wondering if it was a good idea to have this man be off his meds, wondering where this story was going to go.

"There is a portal in the universe, I built this hotel around it, and on the other side is the answer." Reginald continued, looking to Diego's finger, knowing he went into the portal and got his finger chopped up, wondering why Reginald would have a guard for the portal.

"And... we're to supposed to what? Just stroll in there, ring some hells and fix this shit?" Asked Luther, Sloane leaning on his arm. "Sarcasm aside, you are mostly right." Reginald answer, "except for the guardian," he continued.

"But why did you have a guardian? I mean look at what it did to Diego's finger." Asked Josie, finally asking some questions she needed the answer to now.

"It is a force to be reckoned with."

"See yeah. This is where you lose me."

"This is where he loses you? I checked out at the sacred cave."

"Frankly I was barely paying attention because I can't think on an empty stomach." Josie added to the conversation, five patting her leg and feeling bad for her hunger.

"Why would the builders of this back door need to have a guardian?" Asked Viktor, quoting the back door part.

"Ah! To protect it from people who want to use it for nefarious means." Sloane guessed very happily Josie screwing up her face. "What the fuck does nefarious mean?" She asked Five, the boy a little worried for her.