• GARDENER • Five Hargreeves

t w o

Miles, Eli, and Edith had left the kitchen in annoyance, going to sit in the living room instead. A blonde, red-lipped, woman was already sitting in there, and she turned to look at the three when they entered.

"Oh, hello. My name is Grace. Who are you three?" She asked, a large, kind smile on her face. She gestured for the three to sit down, and so they did. Edith sat beside the woman, giving her a tender smile. Eli and Miles sat opposite them, smiling softly over at the woman.

"I'm Edith Gardener. These are my brothers Eli and Miles. It's nice to meet you Mrs. Grace." She whispered, staring at the robotic woman. The trio hadn't had anything like a mother for years. Not since the incident.

"Do you know any of the Hargreeves children? Have you met any of them?" She asked, tilting her head at the girl.

"We have known five a while, and not-so long ago we met Klaus. We also saw a talking Chimpanzee." Miles told her, making her face light up.

"That's Pogo. It's wonderful that you've met Five and Klaus, I think you'll get along well with them. I also think you'll love Diego as much as I do. There's also Luther, Allison, and Vanya. It's sad that we lost Ben." The talked slightly to herself with a smile on her face, but the siblings had leaned towards the woman, interested with her words.

Suddenly, she stood, apologising to the three. "I'm sorry, Edith, Eli, Miles, but I have to go." She said, fleeing the room, making the siblings frown. They already liked Grace.

Soon after Grace left, a dark-skinned woman entered the room. She had brown eyes and was a brunette with a blonde ombre. She wore an orangey-brown and white striped top and beige pants. She looked at the trio with a mix of confusion and wariness, as they were plainly sitting there, Miles drinking a bottle of whiskey, Eli and Edith simply lounging on the sofa.

"Um Hello? Who are you?" The woman asked, making the trio turn to look at her, Miles putting down his drink as Edith stepped forward, preparing to introduce themselves.

"Hi, I'm Edith and they are my brothers Eli and Miles. We're friends of Hargreeves......uh I mean F... Five." The girl struggled to say Five's name, practically spitting the name.

"Can I trust you?" The woman asked, making Eli nod from behind Edith.

"Oh, yeah. We would have already killed you all if we couldn't be trusted." He half-seriously joked, making Miles shake his head at his younger brother.

"He's joking, don't worry." Miles lied to the woman, who nodded.

"Okay then. I'm Allison." She stretched out her hand to Edith, the girl shaking her head.

"Your Mom's really nice by the way. I like her." Edith told her, making her raise an eyebrow.

"You met Mom? Who else?" She sounded shocked, a hint of distrust still in her tone.

"Just you, Grace, Klaus, Five, and briefly Pogo." Eli stated. Allison nodded, sitting down in one of the chairs.

"Well Five's not here now and so......" Allison trailed off, as Edith looked to her, her face blank.

"So, you want us to leave." She said, Allison shaking her head.

"No.... I'm fine with you being here but Luther and Diego will not trust you. At all. Since Klaus is Klaus and I'm the nicest of my siblings, I'll tell you that Diego will attack you and Luther will definitely not trust you. Vanya.... She might like you. I don't know." Allison explained, relaxing into her seat as the Gardeners all sat on one sofa, leaving room in case the other Hargreeves children showed up. The three stayed, talking to Allison about the most random things until it began to get dark, when the woman left the three.

Klaus arrived back at the Academy soon, blood on his head, his hair damp, in a dark fancy suit. Edith silently apologised to Edith, chasing after Klaus. He stopped, letting the short girl catch up with him, standing just in front of him.

"Hello, Klaus. I see you're back." She stated, nodding at the male.

"Uh huh. It wasn't even worth it." He replied, making Edith tilt her head in confusion.

"What wasn't worth it?" She asked, Klaus bending down to make eye contact with the girl.

"My dear old brother has an eye, and he needs to find it's owner." He explained, Edith nodding knowingly.

"I know that, just where did you go? Did Five say where he'd be going after?" She shot multiple questions at Klaus, who jokingly tapped his head, pretending to think.

"Well. We were at the Meritech building, he did not say where he was going, and he mentioned a woman called Delores and the apocalypse." He told the girl, and she nodded frantically, knowing where he was.

"Thanks Klaus!" She yelled as she was running back to the main room, looking at where her brothers stood, looking at her with a curious gaze. "You two wait here, I'm going to see Hargreeves." She said sharply, turning on her heels and exiting the room before the boys could say a word.

With her speed, she arrived at the department store within twenty minutes; It had begun to rain as she was making her way there. Edith went around to the open back entrance and rushing in. She saw Five standing in front of the mannequin she knew was Delores, a genuine smile on his face that she'd never saw as he was flashing the light on her, talking to the mannequin softly.

She then saw two figures in blue suits and kids' masks. She groaned, running as fast as she could trying to reach the boy before they opened fire.

She didn't make it.

"Hargreeves!" Her shout was filled with panic, and even worry as she ran forward, pulling him back away from the gunfire. He turned to Edith, staring at her surprised.

"Gardener? Why the hell are you here?!" He yelled, and Edith only shrugged, a cheeky grin on her face.

"Just be lucky I'm here!" She yelled back, grabbing her gun from where she has it hid under her coat.

"Why do you have a gun?" He muttered, before rushing out into the fire to grab Delores.

"I always have a gun." She said in response as Five held Delores' arm, whispering to the mannequin woman. The pair nodded at each other before Five ducked, running away, leaving Edith and Delores there.

Edith also left Delores, sneaking away from the main area to a space behind Cha-Cha, where she could shoot the woman. She wasn't aiming to kill, only harm. She stayed low, getting an aim on the moving woman. She pulled the trigger, her aim being spot on. The bullet lodged itself into Cha-cha's arm- the one that was holding the gun. The gun fell out of the woman's hand, Hazel instead aiming for Five. Cha-cha picked the gun back up, muttering a few things to Hazel before she turned to Edith's direction and began to shoot.

The girl cursed silently to herself, turning on her heels and running away. Cha-Cha continued to shoot at her, until Edith dived behind a shelf and watching as Cha-Cha walked away. She held her gun tightly, pushing herself on top of the shelf so that she had a way to shoot. Hazel was looking at a wrist splint (for some random reason) and she rolled her eyes at him. Cha-Cha was scoping the area, and from beside her a blue light shone, Five spatial jumping beside her. He slashed at her shoulder with a gardening tool, sending Cha-Cha tumbling to the ground.

And that caused Hazel to start shooting at Five.