Real or not real? (Five Hargreeves) Book 2

Chapter 12 'What a coincidence'

All three of them whip around at the sound. Stellar is already rapidly working through who it could be in her mind. It was high pitched- likely a girl. She knew Lila's scream, she was right here, and Allison had a lower sounding voice, so...

"Sloane." Five breathes, but Stellar is already running, Viktor not far behind her. 

Please, please, please say it's not what she thinks. But the timelines are dropping away quickly, and all the futures are narrowing down to this path. And it's not the path Stellar wants.

By the time she gets there, she already knows it's too late. Time seems to slow down as she enters the suite and is greeted with a horrifying sight.

Sloane is sitting on the ground, tears streaming down her face. On her lap is...Luther. He has a deep slash on his chest, blood pouring out of the wound and staining the white carpet.

"God..." Stellar whispers, moving closer to his body with shaking hands. She can feel Viktor and Five entering the room behind her, but she doesn't turn around, instead kneeling next to Luther's unmoving form.

"Stellar..." Lila and Five both utter, but her hand is already hovering over Luther's chest. It won't do anything, she knows. It's wishful thinking, a fantasy in her mind, but she can't stop herself.

Her hand glows a faint purple, becoming brighter as a translucent illusion forms, knitting over the gaping hole in Luther's chest. Blurry at first, and transparent, but Stellar flexes her hand, the illusion becoming solid.

She honestly didn't know why she cared this much. Maybe it was because Luther was, besides Five, the first Hargreeves sibling she met. Maybe it was because he'd offered her comfort, even after she hurt him. 

She sees Sloane widen her eyes and Lila steps closer, kneeling down and wrapping her arm around Stellar's shoulders. Five takes a step closer too, his expression a mix of curiosity and anticipation.

Stellar desperately wants it to work. She wants Luther to open his eyes and sit up, even if it meant that she was holding this illusion for the rest of her life. But nothing happened. His body didn't stir, eyes didn't flutter open. 

Stellar clenches her fist, leaning over Luther's chest as the illusion flickers once, twice, before disappearing completely.

Lila gently pulls her sister up, guiding her away from the dead corpse on the ground. Stellar doesn't stop her.

"Sloane...what happened?" Five probes.

Sloane looks up, trying to talk through her tears.

"He went to go get ice- I don't- he didn't come back. I don't know..." She manages to get out.

Stellar looks at Lila as she gives her a gentle shake.

"Do you know?" Lila whispers. Stellar glances around the room, but most people are focused on Luther and Sloane. The only people looking at them are Diego and Five.

She gives a slight nod in response.

"How- you can't tell us, can you?" Lila cuts herself off.

Stellar feels tears spike her eyes and she buries her face in Lila's shoulder, shaking her head.

Lila gently pulls Stellar closer before inspecting the wound.

"It must have been him. The guardian." She states. 

Stellar looks up to find Five steadily keeping his gaze on her. Something flickers in his eyes when he sees the tears brimming in hers, but she quickly brushes them away. This was stupid. She shouldn't care this much. So why did it hurt? It hurt more than she thought it would when she first caught a glimpse of this in her visions. It hurt more than she wanted it to.

Maybe she could have saved him. Maybe she should have tried harder.

"She's right." Diego speaks up grimly, cutting Stellar's train of thought off. Five tears his gaze away from her too to raise an eyebrow at Diego.

"Whatever did this had a long curved blade." Diego continues.

Or something completely different.

"How- how can you be sure?" Viktor asks.

"I don't know much, but I know knives." He states simply.

Right on cue, Reginald comes rushing into the room.

"Children, what's going on?" He asks. He catches sight of the body and gasps. "Oh god! Luther!"

Stellar resists the urge to roll her eyes.

"If we had attacked first, he would still be alive." Ben mutters unhelpfully.

Stellar hated that he was right.

Suddenly, the room starts to shake. Stellar's arm instinctively goes around Lila and the sisters grip onto each other tighter for support.

Something explodes, causing everyone to stumble. Lila and Stellar both fall back against the wall as Ben peeks outside the door to the suite.

"G-guys? Hey, guys!" He exclaims, panicked. Five runs over to the door.

"What are we gonna do with Luther?" Sloane sobs.

"Okay, we're out of time." Five says. "The Kugelblitz is here."

Reginald strides quickly over to the portal on the wall, which Lila is opening.

"Quick! Into the passage! It's the only way!" He commands.

"What a coincidence." Stellar murmurs.

Diego makes for the entry when Viktor steps in front of him.

"I thought you agreed to stay." Viktor protests.

"They killed Luther, alright?" Diego pushes him aside.

"Come on, children! Hurry!" Reginald urges them. 

Diego runs inside, grabbing Lila's hand as he does and pulling her with him. Viktor reluctantly follows.

"We can't leave him." Sloane is pleading, tears falling down her face.

"We go now, or we're gonna die."

"No, god."

"We have to go!"

"Come on!"

"Hurry!"

Allison pulls Sloane up and the two girls run through the passageway. Stellar narrows her eyes at the open door, her gaze shifting to the remaining people in the room; Reginald, Klaus and Five.

Klaus rushes over to Five, trying to guide him to the entry.

"Come on, what are you waiting for?" Klaus urges him.

"This isn't over!" Five protests.

Stellar walks over to him, grabbing him by his wrist and pulling him through the passageway. The two start running the same direction everyone else went.

Stellar loosens her grip on Five's wrist, slowing down to look back. She knows what's about to happen. Maybe if she goes back she can stop it. 

Five wordlessly grabs her hand again, much to her surprise, and pulls her along, breaking out into a run. 

Stellar glances back as they get further away from their world which is vanishing rapidly with each passing second.

She turns back just in time to see Reginald shove Klaus roughly away from the entrance and shut the door.

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A/N

and i officially have one episode left

and then

*gags*

season 4

*gags more*

i'm kidding

kind of

this chapter is kind of short but i have plans to make the last episode probably a lot longer than like 2 chapters so

yeah

but yay <3

hope you enjoyed!