After spending a solid hour in the shower, washing away blood that was no longer there, Thea pulled on a pair of red flannel pajama bottoms and an oversized grey t-shirt that read 'Take me to your Leader'. She slowly made her way back to Five's room, hugging both her chest and Two's in her arms, (her back was twinging again, but she just assumed it was from how she had landed earlier with Five and the briefcase on top of her).
She stood in the doorway for a moment as she watched Grace finish cleaning up the medical supplies and double checked the IV bag in the corner. "Is he going to be okay?" Thea asked quietly, shifting slightly, thoughts of her brothers' lying in a similar position flashed through her mind.
"He'll be fine" replied Grace with a smile as she picked up the first-aid kit and made her way towards the door, her movements appearing a little slow, showing that she needed to recharge. Thea shifted again, fighting the need for physical contact.
Throwing caution to the wind, Thea wrapped her arms around Grace hugging her tight. It took a few seconds for Grace to respond in kind, wrapping her arms around the short girl. It seemed that this is all Thea needed, for she seemed to melt into the hug, clutching tightly to Grace.
Thea stayed there in that embrace for as long as she could, her eyes closed as she breathed in Grace's scent of robotic wiring and floral perfume. "Is something wrong, Thea?" Grace asked as she finally pulled out of the hug.
"...I just needed a hug" replied Thea looking down at her shuffling feet. There was a beat of silence before Grace spoke again.
"Well, will you look after Five, while I recharge?" she asked.
"O-okay" Thea shuffled over to the nook by the bed and the drawers and sat down on the floor, pulling a spare blanket and cushion with her. Grace watched with a smile as Thea seemed to make a nest for herself in the small nook next to Five's bed, before she turned and headed out the door.
Thea sat on the cushion, leaning back against the wall as she arranged the blanket over her legs so it sat comfortably. Hugging both Loric chests to her, she drifted off, watching the gentle rise and fall of Five's chest.
Klaus didn't know where he was, which wasn't uncommon, but still concerning. No one really wants to wake up in the middle of the woods alone. Or at all. Maybe he'd hit his head harder than he thought?
Spinning in a circle, he finally caught sight of a young girl cycling down the path toward him. Waving his hand in the air, he called out for her to stop. "Hello!" he greeted as the girl came to a stop in front of him.
"Almost didn't see you, you blend right in around here" she commented, "So pale and all"
"Hm"
"They don't have any sun down there?" she asked.
"Down there?" Klaus repeated confused, "Where am I?"
"Where do you think?" replied the girl.
"I'm not sure...I'm agnostic, so-"
"Doesn't really matter. You can't stay here"
"Why not?"
"To be blunt, I don't really like you all that much"
"Mm. Yeah, me neither...But wait a minute. Aren't you supposed to love all of us?"
"Where'd you get that idea?" she scoffed, "I need you so I can pick and choose. And you don't rub me the right way"
"Wait...So you-you made us? You made me?"
"Well, I made everything else, so I must've made you...Why? Do you have another idea?"
"Maybe. A couple. I don't know"
"Well, then keep them to yourself. Time is flying, so hurry up. He's waiting for you"
"...Who is?" The girl merely pointed off to the left where a small shack sat by the side of the road, "Dave" he smiled before sprinting off to the shack calling for Dave.
Once inside, he found himself inside an empty barber's shop. The only sound in the store was the indistinct chatter of the radio. Wandering over to a chair, Klaus sat down with a sigh as he was prepped for a shave, by a pair of hands that had suddenly appeared behind him.
"What in God's name took you so long?" demanded Reginald as he laid out his tools on the bench next to him.
"...Dad" muttered Klaus as he pulled the warm towel from his face and stared up at the familiar cold dead eyes he had grown up with.
"I expected my son who can conjure the dead to have brought me forth days ago" Reginald ploughed on.
"Oh, yeah, well, you see...It's complicated. Y'know, I-I tried, I-" Klaus was cut off by the shaving cream being slathered on his face.
"You were poisoning yourself" corrected Reginald.
"Well, what do you expect? You just died. I was beside myself with grief"
"Don't you dare try to use me as an excuse for your weakness"
"Oh right well, yeah, you had nothing to do with it" replied Klaus, sarcasm heavy on his tongue, "Locking me in a mausoleum with corpses when I was 13? No, you're right it's irrelevant...Ah-ah-ah-ah, careful Dad" he warned as Reginald raised the blade to shave off his scruff.
"Don't worry, you're already dead" He raised the blade once more and began to shave.
"Oh. Well, that's a relief"
"You children liked to blame everything on me"
"Well, you were a sadistic prick. Not to mention the world's worst father"
"I just wanted you to live up to your potential. You especially. You're my greatest disappointment, Number Four. You only scratched the surface of what you were truly capable of. If only you'd focus!"
"Wait, wait, wait. What...potential?"
"No instead, you pump yourself full of poison because you're afraid. Afraid of what? The dark?"
"Y'know, I suggest you get down off your high horse there, dear Papa. You never had our best interests at heart. Look at your precious Number One. Luthor found all the unopened letters he'd sent you. He knows that you sent him up to the moon for nothing"
"...That was foolish of me. I should of burned it all"
"...That's your takeaway?" laughed Klaus, "Yeah, oh wow. Of course it is"
"Not an ideal solution, I confess. But I knew that the world would soon need him, need all of you. Even that little Loric, so I had to do what was necessary...Is he okay?"
"What do you care?"
"Everything I did, everything I put you through, it was to prepare you, all of you, for something bigger than yourselves. You never understood that"
"We were...we were just kids. Little kids"
"You were never just kids. You were meant to save the world"
"Wait, wait. So you knew, knew all about this? About the apocalypse?"
"I knew that I had to bring you all back together, one way or another. The fate of the world depended on it"
"Wh-What are you saying?"
"The only way to get you all back together was something...momentous"
"Wait. You...No. You don't mean...you killed yourself?"
"Mm"
"Oh, Christ! You could never do things the easy way, could you? You couldn't have picked up a phone?"
"Would you have answered?...Now listen to me, Number Four. What I'm about to say is of great importan-"
"No, no, no, no...! I can't! I can't!" pleaded Klaus as the sound of techno filtered in through the barber shop, "I can't go back! I can't go back! No! Wait! Stay!" Coming to on the floor of the nightclub, Klaus found himself to be in a circle of people with Luthor nowhere in sight.
When Five next stirred, he found himself back in his bedroom hooked up to an IV bag in the corner. There was a quiet chuckle from the floor next to his bed that caught his attention. Pushing himself up onto his elbows, he looked over towards the sound where he found Thea sitting with her back pressed against the wall, an ornate silver chest open in her lap and another one closed next to her.
She was currently staring at a worn photo in her hands, running her finger over the people in the image. "What'cha got there?" Five rasped, his voice heavy with sleep. Thea quickly shut the chest with a snap, looking as if she had been caught doing something she shouldn't have.
"Oh, Five! You're awake" she mumbled when she caught his gaze on her, "I should let Grace know" she muttered as she stood up, her back and legs letting out a crack and pop as she did so.
"Wait!" He called, making her halt at the door, the chests tucked away in her arms, "What are they?"
"...They're, um, just some things from home" Thea replied quietly as she glanced down at the items in question.
"...Can I see?"
"Um...I guess..." Thea made her way back over to the bedside and sat down in the chair Grace had occupied earlier in the evening. Placing Two's chest on the bedside table, she proceeded to hold onto the lock on her chest for a few seconds as the lumen unlocked it.
Inside the chest was various different pouches containing stones and orbs. Thea felt Five's eyes watch her every move as her hands passed over every item in the box including her diamond-edged dagger sat tucked away in its sheath, until she finally found what she was looking for.
It was a small black velvet pouch which contained her favourite items, the planetary coloured glass stones. Opening the pouch, she poured the stones in to the palm of her hand, cupping her hands together she brought them to her mouth to blow on them; before she threw them into the air, ignoring Five's flinch as he expected the stones to rain down on him.
Instead, they stayed floating in the air, the stones orbiting each other much like real planets would. "This is our solar system" introduced Thea, watching the familiar orbs with happiness, "That's Earth, and Lorien and our two moons"
"Remarkable" muttered Five in awe as he watched the orbs spin lazily above his head, "How long does it take to get from Lorien to Earth?" he asked looking at his small home planet.
"About 300 million miles...so about a year" replied Thea.
"A year?"
"Mm" she replied, plucking all of the stones out of the air and putting them back in the pouch. All except for the one representing Lorien. For that, she simply held the stone in her cupped hands as the ignited themselves in lumen, softly illuminating the ceiling above them like a projector screen.
"This is Lorien. Off to the north is the Valley of the Dancing Stars..." she explained softly, pointing out different locations as she went. Five leant back against his pillows, staring up in wonder at the colours that danced across his bedroom ceiling. It was beautiful. It felt like he was dreaming and soon he was, drifting back off to the dancing stars and Thea's soft lilting tone.
This was nice...while it lasted.