14
The Only Five
As Five opened his eyes, his whole body hurt. He looked down at his arms to see fresh scratches that blood was seeping out onto the floor. He could only guess they had come from when he had fainted. He looked up to see Ripley looking at him with a grin that could rival a cheshire cat.
"How are you still awake?" He laughed.
Five didn't reply, how long had it been since he had fainted? A minute or so? He had felt like he had been out for several minutes.
Are you ready, boy? His older self's voice echoed around his head. Five remembered the new deal he had made. It was time to save his family once and for all. He got up to his feet, his legs groaning and protesting but he ignored them.
"You're still up for fighting Number Five? Haven't you had enough!" Ripley laughed approaching him, like he was circling a wounded animal.
"Shut up." Five muttered, finding that some strength was slowly coming back to him. He felt slightly different, like he was stronger or his body had been through vigorous training that didn't belong to him.
Now. His older self commanded.
Five blinked forward and reached for the iron bar. Ripley lifted it up and shook his spare finger.
"Playing dirty are we? We will have to fix that." He aimed to slap the bar down on Five's shoulder.
However Five did a quick side step, dodging the blow completely. Five needed a weapon, but the only one available was the iron bar. He would have to try and get it off Ripley first.
"Do you remember how to fight now?" Ripley taunted.
"I always knew how to fight, it was you who played dirty." Five spoke, the words flowing out of him effortlessly. His body didn't feel like his own at all, it felt like his older self was in control.
"You remember! I was wondering how long it was going to jog that old man's memory of yours. Now you can finally pay for what you did to me." Ripley smirked and clicked his tongue.
Five didn't say anything back, looking behind Ripley. He needed to make an opening, or else he was never going to be able to get the weapon off him.
Reaching for the empty reserves of his power, he blinked and landed onto Ripley's back. He hooked his feet around his stomach and dug them in deeply. Ripley winced and his arms flailed back desperately trying to grab Five off him.
Five took the opportunity to grab the iron bar and blinked away into the corner. It took Ripley a minute to steady himself and then looked over at the boy. His eyes widened.
"Well somebody's stealing my things!" His voice reminded Five of someone, whoever it was. It caused a shiver to go through his body.
The Handler. My former boss. His older self replied. Images of a tall woman with multiple hair colours came through. Her images sent another shiver down Five's body. She looked like she would have gotten her way with him, and he hated it.
He shook it out of his mind and held onto the iron bar with a tight grip. He wasn't going to kill Ripley, but the man needed to be knocked out.
"I think you're going to be giving that back to me, kid." Ripley said, sounding tired. Like he was tired of everything.
Five felt the annoyance at being called a kid but brushed it down.
"I don't think you are." He snapped back. He looked up at the lightbulb on the ceiling. They were flickering. It was the best move he had.
He lifted his arm up and aimed the bar at the light and it shattered into it. The light flickered out and glass began to rain down from the ceiling. Five took the opportunity to blink and try to land back onto Ripley. The man caught him by the arm but Five jumped away.
"Enough of this!" Ripley roared. It was hard to see as he took a lunge at Five.
The pair of them began to scuffle in the dark, punching and kicking each other. Trying to find any way of knocking their opponent over. Five could feel his body getting tired again, there was only so long that his adrenaline would be able to keep him going.
Five took a step back and tripped up over something lying on the ground. He then realized with a drop in his stomach that it was Allison, who was still unconscious. He tried to get up but Ripley who seemed to have realised what had happened rushed off and placed his foot down on his stomach.
"Can't get up now can you?"
Five wriggled but Ripley brought his foot down tighter and then placed it on his neck and began to crush his windpipe. Five wriggled again and managed to hold him at bay.
"I'll be the last thing you ever see!" Ripley laughed. Five could only feel him but still fought against him. He couldn't lose now, not after everything that had happened.
All of a sudden the room was bathed in a white glow. A white glow that looked eerily similar to that of Vanya's power. Vanya. She was here. Before Five could celebrate, Ripley looked up and Five could see confusion beginning to cloud his features. He had let loose his foothold on Five's throat so Five took the opportunity.
He lunged for Ripley and used his whole body to pin the man down. Ripley was a lot bigger than him but Five had aimed for his stomach, and a thirteen year old could still be pretty heavy.
"Vanya!" Five called. He didn't dare take his eyes off Ripley.
Five looked into Ripley's eyes and a soundwave shattered through the room. Five felt his whole body become numb and the next thing he knew the darkness was around him again.
Allison's head hurt as she woke up. It was a dull aching pain and it felt like somebody had hit her with something. She struggled to open eyes and noticed that the world around her was blurry. She couldn't quite focus on her environment very well. From what she could see, she was lying on a bed that resembled a hospital one. There was someone sitting in a chair. She tried to focus more and managed to make out Luther's slumping figure.
"Luther." She said, her voice sounding oddly fine considering her head hurt so much.
Luther shifted to his feet and rushed over to her. He used one hand to push her back down onto the bed.
"You shouldn't be moving so soon after what happened." He replied.
He reached over and moved the chair closer to her bedside, and sat back down.
"What happened?" Allison replied. She remembered bits and pieces, a court case, her daughter but everything was still in fragments and little pieces that refused to knot together.
"You don't remember, do you? I think you probably have a concussion." Luther said with a shrug.
That would explain why Alison's head was threatening to explode. Claire came to mind. Locked in their basement, with Klaus and Diego. Five had been there? Her head pounded. She wanted to remember but it was too much. There was one thing, and that was where the hell was her daughter.
"Claire?" She asked Luther, her voice sounded tired. Not at all the way that she had wanted it to come out like.
"She's safe downstairs with Klaus. It's been a day since everything happened. We're still trying to wrap everything up." Luther said.
Allison's head began to hurt more. Claire was safe, that was all that mattered. She couldn't help but think that there was something else she should be worried about but she couldn't think straight. Instead, she rested her head and drifted back into unconsciousness.
It took around three days before Allison returned properly to consciousness. She drifted in and out of a dream like reality, with Luther or Diego bringing her food. She kept asking for Claire but they wouldn't let her see her because she needed to rest up. She was too tired to argue. However she was now feeling a lot better. Her head still throbbed and there were moments where she felt dizzy but she could walk without feeling like she was going to faint.
She looked down at the floor where last night's dinner rested. She had been living on nothing but store bought soup that had been warmed in the microwave. It had left her craving for some decent food but none of her brothers could cook. Luther would be up to collect it soon and he might stop her. She needed to see Claire or she might go crazy.
Alison swung her legs over the side and the bed and started to stand up. She felt a wave of dizziness go through her body. She held onto the bed rail to steady herself. She was not going to give up now.
Beginning to walk out of the room, she headed into the hallway. She noticed that a door was ajar and voices were coming from it. One of those voices belonged to her daughter. She made her way to the room and pushed the door open. Inside there were Klaus and Claire sitting on his lap. She was reading out of a book, her head glancing every now and again at a figure in a bed.
Allison walked further into the room and gasped when she saw her brother. It was Five. From what she could see there were many bruises that had developed around his face, beginning to become purple. There was a welt on his cheek where it looked like somebody had stepped on him. His left arm was wrapped in a sling, and the rest of him was covered by a sheet. She was too scared to know what the rest of him looked like.
"What happened?" She asked looking over at Klaus. Claire noticed her and jumped off his lap and ran towards her. She had dropped the book in the process and it landed onto the floor. There didn't seem to be any movement from Five as the book echoed around the room.
Claire wrapped her arms around her mother and Allison winced but she smiled down at her and returned the hug, dropping down to her daughter's height. She wanted to squeeze her daughter and never let go. She had waited three years for this moment, and it had been so worth it.
"I've missed you, Mommy." Claire said, mumbling into her mother's shoulder.
"I've missed you too." Allison replied. She felt tears prick her eyes and she let them fall. She had waited so long, that all the years of longing had come rushing up at once.
She stayed hugging Claire for a moment before pulling away and remembering Five. He was hurt, he needed her attention now.
"What happened to Five, Klaus?" Allison looked over at her brother.
Klaus sighed and a grave expression appeared on his face.
"Do you remember the guy who locked us all up, one of Five's crazy buddies?" Klaus said, his words drawn out and slow like he didn't want to be having this conversation.
Allison vaguely remembered a man, although her concussion made it harder to concentrate. She nodded.
"Five protected you after you get hit by an iron bar. That's probably why you've got a concussion." Klaus said, clasping his hands together.
Five had protected her? After everything he had been through, he was still protecting his family? Alison looked down at Claire and took her small hand in her's. They walked together towards Five's bed side. Allison could see his chest, rising and falling. He looked peaceful, more peaceful then had done for the last few weeks he had been running himself ragged.
"Has he woken up yet?" She turned back to Klaus.
"No. He does keep mumbling in his sleep. We're hoping he wakes up soon. He hasn't eaten and look how skinny he's getting." Klaus muttered
Allison took another look at Five and noticed that he did look smaller, but there wasn't much they could do until he woke up. She lay her hand on his hand and it felt warm. He still didn't stir and she moved it away.
"I was wondering," Klaus said from his seat.
Alison turned her head to look at him.
"If he doesn't wake up, then would you rumour him to wake up?"
Allison squeezed Claire's hand tight. Would she rumour her brother again, after saying that she wouldn't? She looked at Klaus and shook her head. She wouldn't. There was the possibility that Five would never wake up again, but she wasn't trying to think about that future. She was supposed to be learning from her mistakes, and it was time to actually learn. When she had first rumoured Five, she had supposed that a part of her had thought that he would have the chance to be a kid again. It had turned out to be much more complicated than that.
He had worked so hard to save them. She didn't know what would happen now, what he would be like. At the end of the day, Five was safe from her rumours and she was going to vow to only use her powers when she needed to protect someone. As Allison looked down at Claire again, she remembered something. The court case, Claire's kidnapping. They came back in fragments and she began to panic. What would this mean for her? For her rights to visit? Claire shouldn't even be here.
She could feel panic rising in her chest. She started to breathe heavily until a hand on her shoulder grounded her.
"Are you worrying about everything?" Klaus asked.
"Yes. Claire shouldn't be here, Patrick…" Allison said and Klaus smiled like she was worrying about nothing.
"I told Daddy that Uncle Five saved me!" Claire said, interrupting her Mother.
"But Claire, you know what your Dad is like…" Allison replied.
"He did come here to get her, but she wanted to stay and he was quite scared of Luther and Diego. You have nothing to be scared of Allison." Klaus said with a shrug. She watched as he looked to the side of him.
"Even Ben says so."
"What about the courts, and the kidnapping? I-," She felt her head throb and clutched it. She needed to sort everything out before it was too late.
"You're worrying about nothing, it looks like Patrick is going to let you have supervised visitation. If the threats by Diego are anything to go by." Klaus flicked his hands revealing his goodbye and hello tattoos before clapping them together.
It was too good to be true. Allison wasn't convinced but if Claire was here for now, then she was going to spend as much time with her as possible. She felt her daughter let go of her hand and move closer to Five.
"What's the matter Claire?" She asked.
"It's Uncle Five, he's waking up!" She said.
True enough, Five's hands were beginning to twitch.