Chapter Three:

Something jabbed at her side, Lotus groaned slapping it away. She wasn't giving up sleep that easy, all considering this was the best bed she had ever gotten the chance to lay on. The room was even a perfect temperature, and there were no disgusting smells wafting by. The thing that had jabbed her in the side found her face, and she sat up with a jolt.

"Hello, Lotus."

She rubbed at her eyes, sunlight pouring in through the windows. She yawned, that had been the best sleep she had in ages. But besides that, her plans of sneaking out and never returning failed as the boy known as Five stood next to her bed, eyes glaring down at her.

"I was just leaving." She told him throwing the sheets off of her, she slid off the mattress and hit the cold floor with bare feet. Her socks were on the nightstand and she grateful yanked them on.

"Good." He watched her stand up, "I need your help."

"What?"

"Hurry it up, I don't have all day."

Lotus frowned but followed anyways, he lead her out of the room and down to many hallways before they arrived at what she assumed was his room. The walls were painted a green colour and toys were placed all around the room, though nothing in the room looked like it has been touched in forever. She found herself standing in front of the dresser, pushing a toy car back and fourth before something came crashing onto the ground. She turned to see another person, this one she hadn't seen last night, on the ground.

"Klaus?" Five glared, "What are you doing?"

The man pulled himself up off the floor, his unique shirt making Lotus bite back a laugh. He must of heard it because his attention flopped onto her, an interested look behind his eyes.

"Does Five have a girl in his room?" Klaus raised a hand to cover his mouth mockingly, he leaned over to the younger looking boy and whispered "Does she know you're way to old for her."

Five smacked his hand away, "She's like us, Klaus."

"Oh. Well, then welcome to hell." The man turned on his heel and marched out of the room. Lotus watched as Five raced after him, "Wait!''

"What do you want?"

"I have an offer for you." The boy shrugged his shoulders, "If you want it."

Klaus' interest peeked as the look in the boys eyes told a completely different story. If he could tell anything, it seemed his baby brother needed his help.

"Please, do tell.''

Five huffed, "I need you to pretend to be my father so I can get information."

"What kind of information?" Klaus taunted, enjoying the little bit of power he held for once.

"Information so I can stop the damn apocalypse." Five was losing his edge now, being patient was never his forte. He stared up at his brother before another set of footsteps joined them out in the hallway, Five sighed knowing it was the girl.

"What's in it for me?" Klaus finally asked.

Five could've gone on about what's in it for him, but he figured telling him 'it could potentially stop the apocalypse' would've just gone right through his thick skull. He knew what his brother really wanted, and it was something Five agreed he'd never help the older man get. But times were changing.

"I'll give you twenty bucks."

"You've got a deal!" Klaus beamed, "Do I get paid before or after—"

"When the jobs done." He snapped, "And you have to dress professional. Whatever you're wearing right now needs to go."

Klaus looked offended as he pinched the fabric of his shirt, "What? This is my nicest outfit."

Lotus snorted, which earned a glare from him. "What about her, huh, Five?" Klaus complained, "She looks like a mess to."

The boy turned and huffed as he looked at her outfit, Lotus shifted uncomfortably, she hated when people stared at her. Though, Klaus was not wrong. She wore a pair of ripped to shit blue jeans and a large oversized white shirt that was stained with an array of things. But, in her defence, she'd been wearing this for the past few weeks as she failed to get cash to buy new things.

"He's right." Five muttered in distaste, but he turned to face his brother once again. "Go raid the old man's closet, ok? Find something nice that will make it easy to blend in."

His brother nodded before skipping away, shouting random things as he left.

"Come with me." He told her, marching back down the hallway. "I'm sure we have extra clothes in the attic."

She followed him silently, walking down a ridiculous amount of hallways and flights of stairs until they found a stairway with a good coating of dust on it. She trudged up after him, regretting over following him to this place where now the night before a talking chimpanzee had told her she's family now.

"We've had plenty of care takers in the past." Five began, "But the first one I believe was built to be around your size."

Lotus scowled, she figured he was trying not to offend her but then everyone always tried not to.

"There are people out there, you realize, that don't look like a twig just as you do." She huffed. She didn't know how most of the people in this house looked super thin, ignoring the top half of Luther. Lotus had thicker legs, but she always considered them a little over average to what she was taught by the world as what you should look like as a female. And so what if her stomach wasn't flat, or that her legs rubbed together with every step. None of that mattered to her, not anymore. She had to like her real self before she'd forget it again and next time be truly lost. And Lotus didn't want to be wearing someone else's face for the rest of her life.

"Here it is." Five grunted pulling down a rather large box, it hit the ground with a thud and a cloud of dust. He peeled it open and pulled out a black dress. He held it up and raised his eyebrows, "Nope." She told him, "I'm not getting in a dress, thank you very much."

He rolled his eyes and tossed it aside, "What about—" he pulled out a pair of black jeans, "These?"

Lotus grabbed them with a frown, "Fine." She held them out in front of her, they did look around her size. She draped the denim over her arm when another article of clothing hit her in the face. She grunted pulling it off, seeing a short sleeved turtle neck.

"A turtle neck?"

He shrugged, "You need to look fancy."

"What happened to just professional?"

"Klaus can only handle professional." A ghost of a smile appeared on his lips, and she could tell almost right away that smiling wasn't something he did very often. "He's my brother but he's also an idiot."

Lotus raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips before looking around, "Is there a bathroom I can change in or?"

Five only shoved his hands back into his pockets as he made way for the door leading back towards the stairs, "Change in here. I'll wait for you just outside the door."

Lotus waited until he was completely out of sight before changing. She kicked off her other pants and slid on the other ones. Surprisingly, they fit perfectly and she couldn't complain about the comfort levels. She slipped on the new shirt and sighed as the softness felt nice on her skin, though she kept pulling the turtleneck aspect of it, but other than that she was fine. There was a mirror leaned up against the far wall, she slowly inched her way towards it and sighed at her reflection.

The black jeans and white turtleneck looked decent on her, but she didn't really care. Her brown hair reached her elbows and her eyes seemed more dull than usual. Her feet were still bare despite socks, and that's when she realized she forgot her sneakers in the spare room where she slept.

"I forgot my shoes." She called as she jumped off the last step and into the hallway where Five was leaning against the railing. "There in the room I slept in—"

"Forget them." He huffed taking of down the hallway, "We'll search through Allison's room. What size are you?"

"Eight."

"Good." He turned to see that she hadn't moved, "Aren't you coming?"

Lotus chewed nervously on her lip, a new habit that had uncovered itself as soon as she learned not to bite her nails.

"We don't have all day, Lotus." He told her.

"Right, yeah." She nodded rushing to catch up with him, "Sorry."

"Don't apologize." He looked at her, voice losing its sharpness. In that moment, he actually matched his appearance of a little boy. No daggers in his voice, and his eyes seemed a little less haunted as he looked at her then. "Not around me."

Lotus looked away first, confused by his sudden change of mood. But just as fast as it came, it disappeared. They stopped in front of a girls room and he rushed towards a closet, yanking it open, only to grab the first pair of shoes he could find.

"There you go." He told her placing a pair of black van's into her hands. She looked at them oddly, even though she had only seen Allison last night, Lotus didn't think that van's were quite her style. Nevertheless, Five carried on, taking off right behind her once again. Lotus frowned digging her feet into the shoe, attempting to tie them up as fast as she could.

"Where are we going now?" She asked.

Five turned and watched as she pulled herself up, she straightened out her new top and brushed her hair carefully over her shoulder.

"Is that your real face?" The words slipped out before he could stop them.

"Excuse me?"

He huffed, "We're going to find Klaus. And then we're leaving."

Lotus rushed back up to him, shoving past him as she took the lead.

"And yes it's my real face." She snapped, muttering, "Asshole" past his ear. She could feel his stare burn into the back of her head as she stopped yet again.

"I don't know where to go." She told him, "But you're still an asshole."

He only gave her a small laugh as he took the lead once again.