The Occult: DOOMSDAY

[ chapter six ]

"Wait up!" Melanie calls, following Diego out and to his increasingly familiar car.

"Not the time Mel." He says shortly, pulling open the drivers side door of his car and swinging his body inside.

Melanie groans, running across the gravel as he starts the car, or attempts to, that is.

Punching the horn and steering wheel aggressively, Melanie stops short of walking to the passengers door, carefully approaching the drivers side instead and seeing tears falling down his face, frustration and grief reaching a boiling point.

"Diego..." Melanie says softly, taking a knee beside the door and resting a hand on top of his arm that sat on his window.

He looks at her with tears still filling his eyes, finding little, but still some comfort in her presence.

"Let me help you. As a set of eyes, back up, or just someone to find you pointy shit to throw. You know I won't get in the way, so let me do this for you." She asks him, a pleading tone to her voice as she searches his face for an answer.

Looking down at her, Diego knows she's right, having worked together multiple times as a mini team when they were teenagers, and being so close to each other when the right moments came since.

With a small nod of his head, he agrees, and Melanie gives his arm a supportive pat before walking around the front of the car, climbing in the passengers seat and preparing herself for whatever was to happen next.

Watching as he pulled out a receipt from his pocket, Diego glanced at her after a moment, his thumb pointing out the location as he showed it to her.

"Feel like doughnuts for lunch?"

-

Melanie took a shaky breath as she followed Diego into the academy, the bullet holes and broken chandelier still in pieces across the floor as they sat when she last stormed out two nights prior.

"Tell me when we're leaving." Melanie tells Diego, watching as he takes the stairs two at a time while she stops behind him, sitting down near the bottom.

"Yeah, sure thing. Shouldn't take long." He agrees, sending her a nod as he continues climbing, soon disappearing down the hallway.

Melanie didn't feel like journeying further into the building, not after what had happened the last time she was there. The panic she felt that night rose back into her throat at the sight of the wreckage of the foyer alone, and she knew something about venturing further would bring it even higher up.

She sat in silence as she waited for Diego, but then sat up bolt straight as she felt a cold chill enter the room, before it finally touched against her arm.

"Ben?" She turned around hopefully, the first genuine smile of the day crossing her face as the cold sensation touched her right shoulder.

"Where the hell have you been? You guys bailed on me last night." She says disappointingly, before realising who must be close if Ben was around.

"Klaus." She breathed, before getting up from the stairs to see the man himself walking down them behind where she sat, looking around in awe.

"Klaus!" She calls to get his attention, him spinning around just in time to catch her as her arms wrapped around him tightly.

Klaus stands stiff as a board for a moment, before looking down and seeing the person wrapped around him, instantly wrapping his arms around her as tightly as he could, her replying with the same amount of pressure.

Melanie didn't carry many codes, but one she did hold close to her heart was always be the last person to let go of the hug, because you never know how long someone had gone without one, something Melanie knew a lot about.