would you mind? | no. 5

1.07: gimbel brothers

Five dragged Aurora around the entire city, looking throughout almost every Gimbel Brothers department store. Neither of them knew why he had done this, the boy just felt as though it was an important thing to do. Like he was supposed to do it.

"And why the hell was I dragged around the city for this?" Aurora asked, getting dragged by the boy in front of her. "My feet are killing me."

"Just come on," Five retorted. "I promise this is the last store we're going to."

"You said that three stores ago."

Five stopped, which caused Aurora to bump into him. "What was that?"

She shoved him forward. "Nothing, just walk."

They approached the door and Five grabbed her hand to teleport them inside. The teen was yet again dragged by her hand, the pair walking into the depths of the store. Five abruptly stopped in front of the mannequins.

"What? Did you come here for a damn mannequin? What--" The boy slammed a hand onto her mouth, shushing her and looking around. Aurora struggled against his grip, trying to get him to let go, but he refused. They stood like that for a few moments, hearing footsteps and guns cocking.

Aurora guessed that he made eye contact with someone because he shouted, "No!" Five shoved her down into an isle as shots fired, falling beside her and crawling over to peek at the attackers. "Shit, it's them."

"Jesus Christ," The girl groaned. "How many?"

"It's Hazel and Cha Cha." She nodded, yanking him away from view and looking at him.

"What's the plan?"

Five's wide eyes darted down in thought. "I'll be right back for you."

"What? Five--" The boy didn't listen, teleporting away and leaving her there. Huffing in anger, Aurora peeked out of the aisle herself and tried to think of what she could do. The girl smirked as the assassins separated, a ball of chaos forming in her hands.

She jumped in front of Cha Cha as a distraction, throwing chaos magic at the woman and teleporting away as the woman started to shoot. She did the same with Hazel and reappeared in between a random isle.

"You see that?"

"You said they were special, so now what?"

"You start over there, I'll go to the other end. Meet in the middle. Shoot anything that moves."

Aurora jumped to where the kids' toys were, turning some on and throwing them in different directions to try and distract them again. This tactic seemed to work because Hazel and Cha Cha went towards the noises and shot the toys that were in the air. But as soon as they were distracted, Five appeared behind Cha Cha and sliced her arm open and disappeared again.

"Ugh, you dumbass!" The girl whispered to herself. "You go for the arm, of all places?"

Aurora teleported in front of the kitchenware section to find a collection of knives that she could use. Grabbing the entire pack, she teleported behind Hazel and took one out of its package. Stabbing the man in the side, Aurora jumped back to where Five had left her. She saw Hazel and Cha Cha closing in and prepared to fight, but was yanked into someone's arms before she could do so.

The girl looked up at the boy. He had a panicked look in his eye. "Aura, we've gotta go." She nodded.

"Lead the way." Five grabbed her hand and pulled her through the isles, almost getting shot as they ran into Hazel on their way. As soon as the pair turned the corner, the boy tried to teleport them out of there.

"Shit," Five whispered. "Not now."

"Five... please don't tell me you're out of energy, because you know I am." Aurora tried to speak in an optimistic tone. They looked at each other wearily and took off again, climbing up a wall of cleaning supplies while trying not to get shot. Aurora was almost over the wall when she felt something pierce her calf. She let out a yell of pain, practically falling over the wall and into Five's arms. He made sure that she was stable enough to run, but got caught by the temporal assassins after them.

"Got em," Cha Cha announced, pointing her gun at the duo. Before anything else happened, police sirens started to sound. Hazel and Cha Cha turned their attention away from the teens, which gave them the chance to run. "Shit, the bastards jumped again."

"Come on, let's go."

As Hazel and Cha Cha's footsteps faded, Aurora let out a whimper that made Five look down at the girl in his lap. He brushed his hand through the brunette's hair.

"We're going home, alright? Mom is gonna take care of that." Aurora tried to move to sit up, but she moved her leg the wrong way and cried out. Five instantly pulled her back down, trying to shush her as he looked around. He looked back down after a few moments to find the girl with her eyes closed.

"Aurora," The boy whispered. "Look... I know you've never been shot before, but you have to stay awake."

Five pulled her closer in his arms and slowly stood up, afraid that if he went too fast he might drop her. The brunette crept away from the police sirens, running through the back door and into the night.

-At Vanya's apartment building-

Maya sighed, walking up the stairs of her apartment building. Luckily, she lived on the second floor, so she didn't have to juggle all of these groceries for long. The girl's mind wandered to the boy she saw the other night. Was that really him, or was she hallucinating? She shook her head quickly, getting the image of her best friend out of her mind. She unlocked the door to her apartment and swung it open.

"I'm home," Maya called out. "I got the stuff you needed."

A shaggy-haired boy came walking into the room with a smile. "Thanks, Maya. You're amazing."

"Anything for a friend," The teen teased with a playful smile.

"Oh, a friend you say," The boy smirked, taking the bags and setting them down. "Can friends do this?" He wrapped his arms around Maya's waist, pressing his lips against hers. They pulled away, both smiling from ear to ear.

"No, they cannot."

"Well then, come on! We've got to make dinner."

The girl laughed, shutting the door. "Calm down, Judah. I'm coming."