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16.
One day something went horribly wrong, and all the city heard of it well before the authorities could call on the press: a fire had flared up inside a factory, trapping a bunch of workers and leaving them without a chance of getting any help from firefighters or paramedics. That day, everyone had been glued in front of the televisions, spasmodically trying to detect something new about a loved one in peril or just to satisfy the morbid curiosity of knowing if there had already been victims; even at Marben's school, lessons had been suspended to let the students join the teachers, who had tuned the school's few TVs and radios on the news to follow the vicissitude, but she had refused to sit and listen. Knowing some poor men were slowly dying already made her restless, but the idea that the Umbrella Kids were trapped there too, was driving her crazy.
Marben didn't need to be told what was happening inside the factory, while the flames kept burning without making themselves known on the outside; the forensics studies her Dad had pursued all his life had given her quite an accurate knowledge of what reinforcements should have expected to find upon entering the burnt building. Her vivid imagination was making the rest.
Resigned to the inevitability of the tragedy and to the idea of knowing nothing of Five for who knew how much longer, Marben started to hope he at least wasn't seriously injured so fervently that she felt like she was praying; in a moment of estrangement, she told herself that probably praying a god for help would have been very similar to what she was doing, but quickly dismissed the thought, uninterested. All that counted, right then, was to ascertain that Five was alive and…well. As well as he could ever be after such a mission, at least.
Reginald Hargreeves had made his appearance at some point in the early evening, when Marben had happened to be around a TV: declaring with a stern air that the workers had perished, the billionaire had also assured the audience his Kids had fought valiantly, and albeit having done everything they were superhumanly capable of to ensure the victims' rescue, they could not had avoided their deaths anyway, having them as a matter of fact been severely compromised by the mission as well. Hadn't been for the unbearable pang of concern that caught her at the man's words, Marben would have deemed his expression of worry absolutely fake. Reginald Hargreeves wasn't the phylantropist people liked to think he was, she was certain that the horrible death of seven unlucky workers didn't even have registered in that cold brain of his, but the failure of his children to be fed to the press for everyone to see, that was something the heartless man would never forget. And forgive.
Suddenly disgusted by the light supper she had acquiesced to get herself served, Marben made her excuses pleading to feel too upset about the bad news and left the mess. It wasn't a complete lie, but right then she had thoughts only for Five: all she managed to think was how to reach him, for everything was superfluous if she couldn't see with her own eyes he was okay…and until that moment she hadn't been willing to consider the idea that maybe Five could have not made it back to the Academy at all. Not once in the entire day. But now, Marben's tired and worried mind had started, despite itself, to think that after all Sir Hargreeves had said about his Kids having been 'compromised' by the mission…and considering how deadly and unpredictable a raging fire was…
"Nonsense. Had Five died, I would know by now".
With a lump in her throat, Marben forcefully pushed open the door to her dorm and began frantically searching for her coat and scarf. However, she was halfway in the process of putting them on when a familiar crackle and a blue gleam forced her to drop everything on the floor.
"Five…oh my god, Five!" she whined throwing herself at the boy, hands flying everywhere from his face to his arms and chest, looking for wounds; Five let her do as she pleased, looking too exhausted and shaken to stop her, or maybe understanding her dire need to feel him alive. His clothes were torn and scorched, he was covered in soot, with parched lips and a blood-crusted gash on the forehead; his hands and knees were burnt and in some places blistered too, but apart from that and a suffocating smell of smoke Marben didn't detect anything worse.
"Wait…I'll get you some water…" the girl made to stand up but Five held her back with unexpected strength: looking down at him, she saw the most haunted look he had ever exhibited in her presence, and a brow so furrowed that looked like it was going to fall down from his skull. And indeed, next thing she knew Five's brow had curled up on itself and he was forcefully squeezing his eyes shut. He wasn't shedding tears, but Marben suspected he was crying all the same. Inside.
"Oh, my love…" she murmured, kneeling by his side again. With the utmost care she enveloped him in an embrace, minding not to press on anything that could have caused him pain, and surprisingly, he leaned against her chest, making himself small. He still wasn't crying overtly, as opposed to Marben who started to feel her eyes prickle, anguished by seeing him reduced to a terrified, traumatized child. Yet, Five needed her to be strong, to cling on her like on a reef…so she held him tightly, caressing his back and nape gently, rocking him slightly. And eventually, he opened up to her, like he had promised to always do.
"We…we couldn't do anything" he whispered hoarsely, in a voice cracked by smoke and guilt that made Marben tremble. "Some of them were already…one got incinerated at the flames' burst, and a few others were on the floor, ablaze…writhing and screaming while their coworkers implored us in wheezes to help them…". By this point, Marben couldn't have had stopped the stream of tears that was flowing from her eyes, not even wanting to. She held on her boyfriend a little tighter, and didn't interrupt him.
"We couldn't tell them that those poor guys were already gone, and so were they, so…".
"So?" blowed Marben. Five gulped and then sighed.
"So Allison did her trick: she told them they were in a deep, dreamless sleep…and at least they went peacefully".
Marben felt raw pain burst inside her chest, and then propagate to the rest of her: she curled on herself in horror, but kept her mouth shut. Five, instead, found the way to grip her back with all the force he still retained, and finally, finally let himself crack down in tears.
A/N: Inspired by a real, tragic and unjustifiable occurrence of death on the job.
