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There was a gnat in Luther’s ear.
Under normal circumstances, he would have already squished the thing, but his hands felt too heavy to nudge from where they lay, let alone actually being able to swat at the bug. It whined in his ear, echoing loud and making a fuss about something he couldn’t decipher. His head felt thick and muddled with nonsense, his thoughts swimming in a sea of convoluted gibberish and, frankly, Luther couldn’t find a shit to give. Everything hurt. Why should he care?
He’d rather keep his eyes closed and rest.
But that annoying little gnat…
Luther opened his eyes. He blinked heavily.
Above him, clouds rushed by, carried by the wind. They were weightless in their feverish pursuit onward, though to where, Luther couldn’t make out. Whether they were going East or North or whatever was a complete mystery, and yet, he felt oddly transfixed by it. However, he was staring at them through a giant hole in the ceiling and had no sense of his current direction, after all, so perhaps he should table the question for a later date.
Luther blinked again. Faster. He felt himself snapping back into place in his body. Things were beginning to make sense, though blurrily.
The hole was at least a dozen feet high and jagged around the edges. A water main broke and was fountaining freely, puddling a distance away from him. The splashing was loud enough for Luther to make out over the gnat’s whining. Though, strangely enough, it sounded as if the gnat were talking to him. Shrieking obscenities, screaming out, “you son of a bitch , god damnit , Luther, just get the hell up, fucking hell” and Luther frowned a bit. Something wasn't making sense...
The bug sounded an awfully lot like Five.
Maybe he was hallucinating. Had he cracked his head in the fall? Though, that couldn't be right. Because Five was supposed to be with him. And Five currently wasn't with him, which was beginning to become a headache of confusion. Five should have been with him, so how could he be hallucinating Five? Wouldn't that make the hallucination actually Five...?
Luther froze.
“ L-Luther! You half-processed primate piece of shit! " There was a shriek of metal scraping metal. A guttural wail ripped out of Five's lungs. Then, a solid thunk followed, chased by a breath, and another breath, so heavy that Luther thought he was going to suffocate from just hearing it. “... Luther... goddamnit, get up. ” Five's voice cracked in his whisper. "Please, god--Shit..."
With a pained grunt, Luther heaved himself upright.
"Luther?" Five asked.
Luther's vision spun clockwise and rolled him involuntarily. He teetered to his elbows, struggling not to vomit but the spinning persisted whether his eyes were open or closed. “Fuck…” He choked. “F--” He was interrupted by a gag. Nothing came up. Instead, he gulped a breath. It steadied his head, his stomach, letting the world even out before him as the seconds passed. He glanced around.
Debris was scattered about from where the ceiling had caved in on them, spraying two-ton blocks of concrete and rebar across the building floor. Luther could distantly remember Five mentioning a “stealth op-of-sorts”, and so Luther had tagged along. All had gone fine until the ceiling gave out beneath them.
Luther twisted around.
His heart shrunk at seeing Five pinned underneath a heap of rubble.
Five's head was tilted back unnaturally so to catch Luther’s eye. He exhaled shakily. “Luth-- Jesus , that t-took you long enough…” Half his torso was crushed by cement blocks and ceiling tiling, leaving his uniform dusty and his face caked with sweat and grime. While Luther considered it a win that Five’s legs were squirming as he clawed at the blocks, it was still frightening to know that his ribs could be broken, his organs could be damaged. He only hoped that the blood dribbling from Five's mouth was because he bit his tongue and not because he had punctured a lung.
Luther elected to crawl to Five, lest he wanted to vomit - or, rather, attempt to vomit - again. He reached his brother on wobbly limbs. Sliding up to Five's side, Luther hooked his hands underneath the giant block pinning Five.
“Ready?” Luther asked. His tongue felt awkwardly chunky in his mouth.
If he sounded strange, Five didn’t comment. He instead huffed, “Y-Yeah.”
On three, they lifted.
Five blacked out from it. One moment, he was assisting Luther in moving the debris off his torso, being surprisingly helpful for being so small. But then Five coughed, and his strength faltered, and his eyes rolled back before Luther could call out to him. Luther had shoved the cement up and over and let it drop opposite of Five. He dropped his ear to Five's chest and listened.
The heartbeat there was strong and fast.
But the breathing?
Almost nonexistent. Painful and rattling, a wheezing following suit.
Luther's heart squeezed in sympathy and fear. His hands shook as he gathered Five up into his hold.
It took a pitiful amount of effort for Luther to prepare himself enough to stand. He was shaking on locked knees as he hauled Five further into his grip. Luther truly didn’t want to puke, but his head, his heart, and his stomach all told him he would if he were going to take another step without their permission.
But he couldn't wait.
Not with Five's life on the line.
“Okay,” he murmured, glancing down at Five’s smudged cheeks and bloody lips. “ Geez, okay. Okay, let’s get you home, little guy.”