Chapter Text
The fire was warm and it gave off a nice orange glow to their surroundings. The wind wasn’t that bad tonight so it was easier to keep sheltered from the cold. The days were brutally hot, but when the sun went down the temperatures plunged and a fire was needed at all times. Five warmed his hands over the flames and looked up at the stars. The same stars he’d been staring at for 13 years now. They had become so familiar to him that he used them as navigational devices if he had to go out at night. He had even made up his own constellations, connecting imaginary lines from dot to dot to form random shapes in his mind. There was a tortoise, an airplane, and a cactus. A few years ago he named one after Dolores and she had been so happy with such a romantic gesture.
What are you thinking about? Dolores’ voice broke the silence.
“Oh, nothing in particular. Just trying to plan tomorrow’s schedule. I think I’ll go over to that dried up river bed again. I still think if I dig far enough there might be a natural water source we can tap into.”
You know you overheated yourself the last time you did that. Why don’t you wait until the weather cools off a little?
“Because, there hasn’t been much rain and I don’t want to run out of fresh water. You know what happened last time,” Five responded, his tone filled with irritation.
I know, drinking contaminated water was not ideal. We were sick for days. But I still worry. What if you get heatstroke?
“I’ll be fine, I’ll go early in the morning before the sun gets too hot,” Five grumbled.
There was another few minutes of silence before Dolores spoke again.
Will you tell me a story?
Five smiled. Dolores liked it when he told her stories at night while they cuddled around the campfire. Sometimes he made stuff up; inventing characters and weird plots. She always got a kick out of the crazy things he would come up with. Other times he told her stories from his previous life. She liked those too, although sometimes they made her sad and Five had to stop before she started crying.
Five reached over and grabbed an opened bottle of wine before pulling Dolores in closer to him and wrapping them both in a blanket. He settled in, and after taking a long swig of the wine, he asked what she would like to hear.
Tell me a story about when you were younger.
Five nodded. “You know, I just realized it’s been 13 years since I got here. That’s the same number of years I spent in my other life. Crazy how time works like that,” he mused.
I’m sorry, if it’s too hard to think about it, you can just make up a story for me. I don’t mind.
He shook his head, taking another drink. “No, it’s ok. I have lots of stories. I just need to think of a good one.”
As he sat thinking, Dolores chimed in again. What was it like growing up with your siblings? Were you close? Did you get along?
Five paused. He was sure he’d told her all there was to know about his childhood and growing up in the Academy. But maybe she had just forgotten. He’d told her lots of stories over the years.
“We were close. In the beginning. And then things just started to fall apart. By the time I left, they all hated me.”
Dolores made a little scoffing noise. I’m sure they didn’t hate you, Five. You are their brother.
Five’s scoff matched hers. “Trust me. They hated me. But I kind of don’t blame them.”
What do you mean?
He frowned, tipping the wine bottle back again and then wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “A lot of shit happened in the last year or so before I left. Lots of misunderstandings and hurt feelings. Mostly caused by me.”
I can’t believe that. You wouldn’t do anything to hurt them.
“Well, it wasn’t on purpose. I just wanted them to see that the life we were living; the life our father so graciously carved out for us, was going to be the end of us.” Five gave a rueful laugh and gestured to their surroundings. “I was right, incidentally. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to show them that.”
He sighed and neither of them spoke for several minutes as Five tried to push the images of his siblings’ corpses from his mind. Five hugged Dolores tighter to him and looked out over the fire. His voice came out quiet, almost a whisper, but Dolores could still understand him. His breath formed small, white clouds in the cold air.
“If I think about it, I bet I can remember the exact time they started hating me. When they started pulling away and dividing themselves from me. I could feel it at the time, but I tried not to let it get to me. I tried to stay focused; tried to make them see what was clearly in front of their faces. I know they thought I was a dick. And they were right most of the time. But I really was worried for them. I just wanted us all to have a better life; and to do that we had to get out from under my father’s house.”
Five frowned and his eyebrows creased together. “I just wish I’d gone about it differently. God, I was such an arrogant prick. No wonder they hated me.”
Tell me, please. About those last couple of years?
Five looked at Dolores, her pretty painted eyes staring out into the distance, and he smiled. “Ok, sweetheart. I’ll tell you what I can remember.”
They were sitting at the breakfast table, just like every other day of their meticulously scheduled lives. Still in their stupid matching Umbrella Academy pjs, like a bunch of dorky cult members, hunched over their bacon and eggs while other kids their age were probably sitting in front of the TV watching cartoons and eating Froot Loops. But not the Hargreeves children. They were listening solemnly to a classical recording of Holst’s The Planets. Later, they would be asked to give an oral interpretation of each movement. There were seven movements and seven children. They were each assigned one randomly, but as fate would have it, Five was assigned to the fifth movement, which was Saturn.
Five was, as usual, paying little attention to his surroundings. He stared absent-mindedly into space as he lifted a forkful of his mom’s fluffy scrambled eggs to his mouth and thought about how he was going to try and sneak out of the house later that night. Klaus and Diego had already done it a few times and Diego had told Five he was too much of a baby to even try. So, of course he took that as a personal challenge. It wasn’t the getting out part that was tricky. Especially for him. It was skirting around the surveillance cameras. And Five wasn’t so much worried about his father catching him; Reginald was much too absorbed in his own work to pay attention to what his children were up to. But getting past Pogo would prove a challenge. Five swore the kind-hearted chimp never slept and just wandered around the manor at all hours of the night.
A flying grape landed smack in the middle of his forehead and woke Five from his daydream.
“Hey!”
Five scowled across the table at Klaus, who had given himself away by sniggering behind his hand. After a glance to their mother to make sure she wasn’t looking, Five grabbed a piece of toast off a plate in the middle of the table and flung it like a frisbee, hitting his brother in the chest and leaving dry toast crumbs all down Klaus’s pajama shirt.
“Oh, you’re dead, dude,” Klaus threatened with a laugh as he scooped up a spoonful of eggs and positioned his spoon like a catapult aimed at Five’s head.
With a laugh that was just a little too loud, Five aimed his own eggs at Klaus, ready for a food-fight showdown.
“Guys, you’re going to get us in trouble,” Luther pointed out, even though no one was listening to him.
“Yeah, real mature,” Allison added with an airy flip of her hair over her shoulder.
Ben and Vanya exchanged nervous glances as they continued dutifully eating their breakfast in silence. Diego smirked and whispered something to Klaus, making him laugh. Then Klaus set his spoon down with an all-too sweet smile in Five’s direction. Stupidly thinking he had the upper hand now, Five took more time to perfect his shot, closing one eye and sticking out his tongue while he concentrated on aiming directly between his brother’s eyes. Klaus was not that dumb, however, and he grabbed a huge fistful of the eggs off his plate and threw them as hard as he could, spraying them all over Five’s face and hair. As Five sat there, stunned, while a chunk of egg plopped off his forehead and into his lap, the table erupted with laughter. Even Luther and Allison joined in. After a few seconds, Five broke into his own one-sided grin and he started looking around the table to see what else he could fire back at Klaus.
“Number Four!”
It didn’t take more than the stern voice of their father echoing through the room to silence the entire table of children all at once. Reginald had entered the kitchen just in time to see Five get pelted with breakfast food, while Klaus’s hand was still guiltily raised in the air. Klaus immediately looked down at his lap. Five quickly wiped the egg out of his hair and adjusted the silverware neatly next to his plate.
“Is this how you are to conduct yourself during mealtime, Number Four?”
The question was rhetorical, but Reggie still waited for an answer; his eyes boring into Klaus’s skull.
“No,” Klaus answered miserably.
“I should think not. But I can’t say I’m entirely surprised. However, I expected more from you, Number Five.”
Everyone at the table turned to look at Five, their faces full of silent judgment as if he were the one to blame in all of this. He hated being singled out by his father just as much as the rest of them. It wasn’t his fault he was held to a higher standard. Five declined to respond as he sat there with his lips pressed tightly together.
“Well? What do you have to say for yourself?” Reginald demanded.
“Sorry,” Five mumbled, not sounding sorry at all.
“Then I can assume this means you are ready to give your oral presentation on Saturn?”
With a quiet sigh, Five stood up, his posture straight and his hands folded neatly in front of his body.
“Movement number five is titled ‘Saturn, Bringer of Old Age.’ This was Holst’s favorite movement and is meant to represent the inevitable aging of human life. In the beginning of the movement flutes, bassoons and harps are used to indicate a ticking clock. This leads eventually to a triple forte climax until fading away quietly. The full piece is a reflection on the unstoppable march towards old age and death. That while powerful and beautiful, life is fleeting and no one can escape death or time itself.”
Five delivered his speech flatly and without emotion, staring straight ahead as if he had recited it a million times before. Then he sat heavily back in his chair, avoiding eye contact with his siblings.
“That is correct,” Reggie replied. Their father’s eyes switched back to Klaus. “Number Four?”
Glaring quickly up at Five and back to his own lap again, Klaus stood up slowly, his chair scraping across the worn linoleum of the kitchen floor. He raised his head and squared his shoulders.
“Movement number six,” he began with a small smirk and a dramatic theater accent, “is rather smelly, I believe.” He paused for effect. “Because it’s Uranus!”
Klaus’s face broke into a delighted grin while the rest of the kids tried to hide their giggles in their hands. All except for Five, who merely cursed Klaus silently inside his head for being so stupid. Now they were all going to be in trouble.
As the laughter faded away, Klaus sat back down in his chair and waited for whatever punishment was sure to follow. The cold, hard stare of their father’s very unamused face traveled over each of them and he clasped his hands behind his back.
“Very well. Number Four, you will be joining me for private lessons today. The rest of you will remain seated to finish reflecting on your assigned movements.” Reginald’s eyes landed on Five. “Number Five, you may be excused to join Pogo in the training room.”
With that, Klaus slunk out of his chair, head down, and followed Reggie out of the room. But not before risking a glance at Five, his eyes narrowed with hatred. When they left, no one said a word, but the siblings looked angrily at Five. Even Vanya, who almost never got involved in family squabbles. Mostly because it was sure to turn on her eventually.
“He started it,” Five hissed, pointing to Klaus’s empty chair and trying to defend himself.
Luther looked over his shoulder at their mom who was humming a tune and washing dishes in the sink. He leaned over the table to whisper angrily at Five. “Yeah, but you didn’t have to act like such a know-it-all. Why do you have to do that all the time?”
Five’s mouth dropped open, but he had nothing to say. They all blamed him and nothing he said was going to change that. Somehow it was his fault that Klaus got busted and would most likely have to spend the day being mentally tortured by some sadistic “training” method of their father’s. Glaring back at each of his siblings, his jaw tight, Five stood up and threw his napkin on the table.
“Oh, are you all finished, Five? Would you like anything else?” Their mom’s sweet, lilting voice asked from the sink full of bubbles.
“No, thank you, Mom. I’m done.”
Then he blinked out of the kitchen before his brothers and sisters could see the angry tears in his eyes.
Five had stopped talking, having lost his train of thought, before Dolores jolted him out of his stupor.
Well, I don’t know why they would blame you for Klaus getting in trouble. It sounds like he did that himself.
He shrugged and took another sip of wine, the bottle quickly becoming lighter. “We were just kids, I don’t even know how old. Maybe ten? Eleven? I don’t even remember how the rest of that day went. I just remember breakfast, because that’s the first time I felt fully ganged up on. That they were all against me.” Five glanced down at the ground, his eyes landing on the worn cover of Vanya’s book. “I guess it could’ve been worse. That’s probably how she felt every day.”
Still, I don’t think that was very fair of them.
“Thank you, sweetheart, for defending me. But I have to admit that I wasn’t always the charming man you see before you today.” He laughed at his own stupid joke. “Sometimes my plans backfired pretty badly.”
I’ll be the judge of that.
Five got up briefly to stoke the fire and add more wood. On his way back, he grabbed another bottle of wine, this one completely full, before settling into their little nest again.
“Alight, I remember another incident,” he told her. “Then you can be the judge, like you said.”
“Tomorrow’s mission, while very important, will not require all of you.”
Reginald was slowly pacing in front of the line of children before they were dismissed for bedtime. Five stood in the middle, barely registering his father’s words. He kept staring at that face he had come to hate so much. With his stupid beard and stupid monocle and his stupid pompous attitude. Always talking to them like he was doing them some great big favor by just acknowledging his own children. And now that they were finally polished enough in his eyes to perform their intended duties, he was even more demanding.
“Number Three and Number Six, you have been selected. The rest of you will remain here to go about your normal studies.”
With his decision stated clearly and plainly, Reggie turned to walk away.
“What’s the mission?”
He turned back around to address Allison. “That will be disclosed to you tomorrow.”
“I don’t feel well,” Ben complained quietly and not to anyone in particular.
Reginald stood in front of Ben and eyed him carefully. “Your most recent health scan showed your body is in top condition.”
Ben held his hands to his abdomen. “My stomach hurts.”
Their father peered down at Ben through his monocle like he was some sort of incomprehensible puzzle. “Nonsense. I will have Grace examine you in the morning, but I can assure you there is nothing wrong with you.”
“I’ll go if Ben doesn’t want to,” Diego piped up from his spot down the line.
Spinning on his heel with irritation, Reggie looked at Diego’s eager face. “Number Two, if I needed you in any way, I would have said that from the start. As it is, I am in no need for sloppy throwing skills or any other underdeveloped ability. Is that clear?”
Diego’s face turned beet red with humiliation and he stared at his feet. “Y-yes…sir,” he stuttered.
“Number Three and Number Six,” he said again with a terse nod to Allison and Ben.
Having said his final word, leaving no room for discussion, Reginald disappeared into his office, closing the door behind him.
Five was absolutely boiling inside. He’d never hated someone so much in his short life. Even though his brothers and sisters fought amongst themselves constantly, and even if most of them thought Five was a stuck-up jerk, he still felt the overwhelming urge to protect them against their heartless adoptive father. He looked over at Ben, who was miserably clutching his stomach; probably mentally willing the monster inside of him to calm down. Then he glanced at Diego; angry and embarrassed and trying to hold back tears. What a piece of shit, Five thought.
“Ok, children, it’s time for bed,” their mother chirped with a smile. She ushered them towards the stairs so they could start their nighttime routines. “Ben, dear, would you like me to bring you some tea for your tummy troubles?”
Ben looked slightly brighter at actually being listened to for once. “Yeah, thanks mom. Can you make that cinnamon kind I like?”
“Of course I can,” she smiled as she patted his shoulder.
After Grace headed to the kitchen, Five blinked in front of all of them on the stairs, blocking their way.
“God, you’re so annoying, Five! Get out of the way!” Allison complained.
Ignoring his sister, Five stayed where he was. It wasn’t often they were all together with no pesky adult around. And he needed them all to hear what he had to say.
“Alright, listen up. We need to get out of here. And I have a plan.”
Luther rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. “Get out of where?”
Five gestured around them with dramatic arm movements. “Here! This house. Away from dad. All of it.”
Allison scoffed. “That’s dumb.”
Five turned to her. “Oh, so you mean that you like it here? You like being tested on like some sort of lab rat? You like watching our father abuse and humiliate your siblings?”
“Why do you even care?” Diego spat. “You’re the favorite. Mr. I-Can-Do-No-Wrong.”
Five let out a frustrated sigh and looked around for prying eyes again. He lowered his voice. “Look, we can do this. I’ve been thinking it over and if we wait until Dad and Pogo are asleep and mom is recharging, I can blink each of you out of here and we’ll be gone before morning.”
“Gone where? Where are we supposed to go?” Luther challenged.
“Yeah, I think the cops are going to notice seven kids walking the streets in matching school uniforms in the middle of the night,” Ben added.
Five looked slightly defeated at that. “I…I don’t know yet. But anywhere has to be better than here. And I can teleport us if we see the cops coming. We’ll think of something.”
“Five, I don’t think this is a very good idea,” Vanya spoke up hesitantly.
“This is stupid. Out of the way,” Diego declared as he made to shoulder past Five and up the stairs.
Five blinked one more time in front of him and stopped him with a hand on his chest.
“We can’t stay here. He’s going to kill us. Can’t you all see that? He’s using us and then when he gets what he wants he’s going to kill us. But before that he’s going to make sure we all turn on each other. Just like we’re doing now.”
Five was breathing heavily with emotion as he broke it all down for his siblings. They were quiet as they listened to his accusations. If any of them had ever thought that about Reginald before, no one had said it out loud.
“He’s not going to kill us, Five,” Allison said with a roll of her eyes.
Klaus spoke for the first time, his voice soft and sad. “I don’t know…he might.”
“Fine. Maybe he won’t kill us. But he’s going to ruin our lives. You have to see that, right? We have no chance if we stay here. Think of all the things you want to do when you grow up. If we stay here, he’ll never let us do them. Ever.”
The group was silent for a moment as they digested Five’s words. He thought for a second they were going to agree. But then Luther spoke up.
“We’re not running away, Five. It’s a stupid idea. But if you want to leave, go ahead. No one will stop you.”
Luther walked up the few steps that were separating him from Five, and he used his height to look down on him as an intimidation tactic. To Five’s dismay, it worked and he found himself moving to the side to let him pass. The others followed suit, ignoring him like he wasn’t even there. Like he hadn’t just told them he was worried about them and wanted them all to be safe. Only Klaus gave him a sad smile and a nudge on the arm on the way past.
As Five stood there, wondering how in the world he could be the only one of them that saw things for how they really were, he couldn’t help but replay Luther’s words in his head. No one will stop you. He could run away and no one would stop him. Because nobody cared and nobody would miss him.
The next morning, Five woke up to his alarm clock. The same one that woke him up every morning at 7am, day after day. He hadn’t gotten much sleep and he rubbed his bleary eyes before shutting the alarm off and rolling back over. Since he had perfected the art of sneaking out of his room a couple of years ago, Five rarely spent an entire night in his bed. Sometimes he went to the library if it was still early enough. Sometimes he just walked around the block a few times, lost in his own thoughts and breathing in the night air. Once in a while he would coerce one or more of his siblings to go with him and they would scrape up a few dollars before heading over to Griddy’s to stuff their faces.
Last night, however, he had stayed in bed. But he didn’t sleep. He had stayed awake, staring at the ceiling, and thinking. He oscillated between anger and hurt until he decided he didn’t care anymore. Maybe he would run away by himself. It would be easier without them tagging along, anyway. And if they didn’t care about him, why should he care about them? He knew they didn’t get along, but that didn’t mean they weren’t still family. No one ever discussed love in that house, or even said the word out loud most of the time. But deep down Five had assumed they all loved each other. Clearly, he had been wrong.
His eyes opened again when he heard a knock at his door. “Time to get up, sleepy head!”
Five groaned and hauled his body up, sitting on the edge of the bed. If he didn’t get up now, his mom would come in and start opening curtains and rifling through his clothes, all while wearing her impervious, lipsticked smile. And while it was nice to have someone take care of him like she did, he had come to realize that even that was just another fucked up thing in his life. The only person that truly seemed to care about his happiness or existence at all, was a robot. Built, no less, by his father so that he didn’t have to take care of his own children.
Five had known for a while now that his mom wasn’t human. He was about nine when he figured it out. At the time, he hadn’t really cared. It didn’t impact the way he felt about her then, and he had always known there was something different about her. He didn’t have many friends outside of the Academy, but he was pretty sure their mothers didn’t plug themselves into the wall every night.
But then over these past few months it had started to bother him. He had started looking at her in a different way. He would notice little glitches in her movements or odd responses to certain questions she wasn’t programmed to deal with. And her constant, unshakable cheeriness was starting to become less comforting and more disturbing.
The main reason Five was starting to pull away from her, though, was that he didn’t want to have any emotional ties to break when he finally decided to leave. It was hard, and his chest felt a little tight if he thought about it for too long, but it was necessary. Besides, she wasn’t a living thing. She wouldn’t care if he left, either.
Breakfast that morning was the same as usual, although maybe a little quieter. No one spoke to Five, and he didn’t speak to them. Once they were finished, they changed into their training uniforms and met in the gym. Ben got there late, having been subjected to a physical examination by Grace after he still complained of a stomach ache. He walked in slowly, head down, barely looking at any of them. It was clear he wasn’t just physically ill, but full of anxiety and dread at the upcoming mission. Five eyed him up curiously. Normally he would have tried to say something positive or encouraging to him. But this time he just watched silently as Ben got into line with the rest of them.
Right before they were to be paired off with one another, their father waltzed into the room and all talking ceased. He entered the training area like a stuffed-shirt CEO that wants to make a certain impression to his underlings; all business and looking down at a paper file folder as he leafed through it. He stopped in front of Ben, the folder opened in front of him.
“Number Six, your physical examination shows you are no more ill than I. You are in peak condition for your age, weight, and height. Therefore, I will be insisting you take part in the mission today.”
The broken spirit of someone that was trapped with no escape could be seen in the way Ben’s posture changed. His shoulders slumped and his head hung down. With just a few words, their father had snuffed out the one little flame of hope Ben had been clinging to.
Ben must have known it was futile, but he tried anyway. “But…please can’t I just stay here? I don’t want to go.”
Reginald paused, almost as if he were considering Ben’s request. But Five knew he was really just looking for the best way to kick him when he was down.
“Your purpose is to use your abilities for the greater good. You were brought here for a reason; not to drift through life aimlessly like most people on this planet. You are extraordinary, and yet you want to be ordinary, is that right?”
Reginald’s cold stare didn’t lift from Ben’s face as he waited for an answer. Ben just nodded his head, looking at the floor.
“You are a selfish, unyielding child with no respect for myself or the Umbrella Academy as a whole. You are a disgrace! Now, I do not want to hear any more nonsense about imaginary illnesses or your pitiful whining. You are a Hargreeves and you will behave like a Hargreeves. End of discussion.”
As Reggie wrapped up his demoralizing speech, Five watched as Ben blinked back tears but remained silently staring at the floor. That was all it took for that familiar flame of rage inside his body to ignite again. Five had started the morning not caring if his siblings stayed in this house or not. But as soon as he saw his brother being berated in front of everyone for merely stating how he felt, Five’s teeth gnashed together and his hands were clenched tightly at his sides. He hated the man that called himself their father. And if no one else was going to protect them from him, he was going to have to do it.
Five offered to pair up with Ben for training. Normally, he would have preferred Diego, or even Luther. Someone that would challenge him. They weren’t allowed to use their powers on one another during training, so relying on just his own fighting skills was not Ben’s biggest strength. But Ben was in too shitty of a mood to bother arguing.
As their instructor, Pogo walked slowly around the room as the three pairs of children sparred with each other. Diego and Allison were in a heated battle, sweating and grunting, and doing their best to kick one another’s asses. Luther was obviously going easy on Klaus, allowing him to get in a few hits here and there. Ben had perked up a bit, with his instincts kicking in as he deflected most of Five’s attempted jabs and kicks.
As with everything else, Five was an excellent fighter, despite his smaller frame. He was agile and smart, and he was constantly on the lookout for any weaknesses in his opponents, while at the same time being observant of any incoming attacks.
He and Ben had a good and fair fight going; both of them had worked up a good sweat and had been fairly equally matched. Five hadn’t been holding back too much, but he also hadn’t gone full balls to the wall, either. Ben was actually smiling; proud that he was holding his own against Five. Which made what Five was about to do all the more painful.
Pogo had blown his whistle, indicating the session was over. Once the whistle was blown, the children were to stop immediately, no matter how engrossed in their sparring they had been. As soon as he had heard it, Ben let his guard down, assuming that Five would do the same. Seeing his opportunity, Five grabbed Ben’s left arm, yanking it behind his back with all the force he could manage. With his brother’s body off balance, Five threw him to the ground. Ben landed flat on his face, his body making a loud smacking sound on the mat as everyone else turned to look. Five didn’t hesitate as he placed a knee into the small of Ben’s back and pulled the arm back even tighter, stretching it as far as he dared without dislocating it. Ben let out a loud howl of pain before Five finally relented, letting go of his arm and jumping up to his feet again.
“What the heck, Five?” Luther exclaimed, running over to Ben’s side.
“Master Five, that was entirely uncalled for!” Pogo scolded with an angry look in Five’s direction. He hurried over to check on Ben, kneeling down to inspect the damage.
“Ah…my shoulder!” Ben cried as Pogo tried to gently move the injured arm.
With another fierce look at Five, Pogo left to go fetch Grace while the rest of the group stayed where they were, crowding around poor Ben on the ground and glaring hatefully up at Five.
“What did you do that for?” Klaus asked with genuine hurt in his eyes, like he was the one that had been assaulted.
“Probably because he was losing. He can’t stand thinking someone else might be better than him,” Diego growled.
“That was really mean, Five. Even for you,” Allison chimed in as she tried to help Ben up to a sitting position.
Once he was upright, Ben held his arm to his body and looked up at Five who was still standing silently over him.
“Thanks a lot. What did I ever do to you?” Ben hissed angrily as his face contorted with pain.
Five felt terrible, but he had done it for a reason. He knew Ben didn’t want to go on the mission their father was planning for him. So, Five gave him a perfect opportunity to get out of it.
“Now you won’t have to worry about going on any missions for a while,” Five tried to explain.
Unfortunately, the way his voice came out, strained with effort from fighting and still trying to catch his breath, it did not sound the way he had meant it. It sounded clipped and harsh. Like Five was mocking him. And combined with the proud smirk on his face, Five looked just as cruel as his siblings thought he was.
“You are an asshole!” Diego shouted, getting directly in his smaller brother’s face.
With a look of shock, Five backed away. He opened his mouth to explain, but he was cut off by a flurry of activity as Grace and Pogo came hurrying into the room. The children were shooed out of the way so their mother could assess Ben’s injury. Thanks to her superior programming, no MRI was needed in order to determine the damage.
“The shoulder is sprained. The ligaments have been overstretched and are slightly torn. It will take several weeks for it to heal, but he should be ok.”
Ben was helped to his feet and walked slowly out of the room so he could be taken to the infirmary for pain management and ice packs. He took one last look behind him in Five’s direction. His accusatory eyes were glossed over with pain and betrayal. Allison trailed along with him, her motherly instincts kicking in. The rest of them left without another word, trudging off to the showers as Five was left alone, staring after them, and kicking himself for being so stupid. He should have known that would backfire. He would have to go to Ben later and explain himself and apologize. If Ben would even talk to him.
Later, after lunch, Reginald appeared in his overcoat, hat in hand. The children sat at the dining table in silence, waiting for whatever abusive thing he was going to hurl at them this time. No one had even bothered to look in Five’s direction, and he had barely eaten his food.
“I have been informed that Number Six is unfit for our mission today, thanks to an unfortunate accident during training.”
He eyed up Ben, who was sitting with an immobilized arm in a sling; an ice pack taped to the outside of his Academy shirt. While he definitely looked less emotionally stressed than usual, his eyes silently penetrated the tension-filled air with anger and betrayal as he glanced across the table at Five.
Their father continued, not at all concerned with Ben’s physical wellbeing. “Number Three, this does not alleviate you from your duties.” Reginald’s cold, monocled eye darted from child to child before landing on Five.
“Number Five. You will take Number Six’s place.”
Five gasped audibly as his siblings’ heads all snapped up in unison, their glares practically cutting into his pale skin with razor-sharp hatred. He shook his head slowly and looked up at his father.
“Me? No…no, I don’t…why me?”
Out of all the Hargreeves children, Number Five was certainly the last one to be at a loss for words. But at that moment, all of the blood drained from his face as he realized what he had just done.
“Yeah, why him?” sneered Diego, his narrowed eyes never leaving Five’s face.
“I am not going to stand here and get into a long-winded debate over who should and shouldn’t be accompanying me. I have chosen Number Five because he is capable, and his abilities have been shown to be useful in a number of different capacities. Now, I am done with this nonsense. Number Three, Number Five…come.”
Reggie turned away from them, his coat flapping behind him as he walked with purpose out of the room, fully expecting Allison and Five to be close at his heels. The two children had stood up, but had not left the table. Five looked down at his shoes, his jaw clenched with humiliation and resentment. This is not how this was supposed to go.
He wanted to protest; to explain his rationale behind this whole thing. It was nothing but a big misunderstanding. He certainly hadn’t meant to be chosen in Ben’s place. That was the last thing he wanted.
But Five could see how they all viewed him. As nothing but a smart-ass know-it-all, who was now cruel and petty on top of everything else. And he wanted so badly for them to see he was only trying to help. He cared about Ben and he hated seeing him riddled with anxiety every time their father expected him to unleash the creature inside of him. Five just wanted to let Ben live in peace for a while. He wanted them all to live in peace.
Lifting his eyes warily, he met each of his siblings’ faces as he looked around the table. They hated him. He could feel it. He could physically feel the hate washing over him in hot, powerful waves. So, instead of trying to explain, or apologize, or tell the truth; he hid behind the smarmy persona they already believed was his.
He straightened his spine and pushed back his shoulders, one corner of his mouth turning up in an arrogant smirk. His hands pulled at the front of his Academy blazer, straightening it and smoothing the coarse fabric over the equally itchy vest.
“Well, time to go, I guess. Wouldn’t want to keep the criminals waiting for their inevitable ass-kicking.” Five started to walk away, but then turned back. “Try not to miss me too much,” he snarked.
He heard Allison following him, so he blinked quickly to the front door. He didn’t need her seeing the look of pained dejection that had fallen over his face.
Oh, Five…I’m so sorry. I can see you were only trying to help but that it didn’t go as you had planned.
Five held up the wine bottle to squint at it in the fire light. Half-full now. He was starting to feel the effects, but he knew Dolores would start nagging him to stop, so he did his very best to appear sober.
“You and me both, my darling. Unfortunately for me, I don’t think Ben ever did forgive me. I did try to apologize a few days later, but by then he had his mind made up. He always was bitchy like that.”
As Five took another drink, he immediately felt guilty about saying anything bad about Ben. He knew, from his sister’s book, that Ben had died after Five left. When he had come across that part in the book, Five had to stop reading, the shock was so strong. That explained why he never found Ben’s body. He had been holding out hope that maybe he had left the Academy and just wasn’t there when it collapsed. That maybe he was off somewhere enjoying life and being happy for once when the world ended. Knowing that he died under their father’s rule, before even having a chance to grow up was like a kick in the gut for Five.
Five didn’t continue on with anymore stories. His head was starting to swim from too much wine, and Dolores was almost asleep. He added more wood to the fire, and then he snuggled down into the blanket, pulling her into his body and nuzzling his face into her shoulder.
“Please don’t hate me, too, Dolores,” he mumbled, his eyes half closed already. “I swear, I didn’t mean any of it.”
His lips were still pressed to her soft, silky shirt as he passed out, his head heavy from alcohol and his chest tight with shame; his soft breathing the only noise for miles aside from the snapping of the burning wood in the fire pit.