Chapter Fifteen:

Lotus sat on the end of Five's bed, she gazed around the room. It was filled with a child's things. A group of small race cars were sat on the dresser, and a wire bin was overflowing with other small children toys. It seems he planned on getting rid of the bin, making way for new interests that were supposed to come to him in his teenage years.

"Lotus?"

She looked to the doorway where Luther stood, Delores balanced under one arm.

"Hey." She mumbled.

"Is Five around?"

"He left awhile ago, he said he'd be back." Lotus stood up and wiggled Delores out of his arms, "I'll make sure he gets this."

She placed the mannequin on a chair and took her seat on the bed again. Luther had gone, not bothering to say anything else. She wondered if he liked her, but all the siblings seemed to hide or change their opinion every time they were in her presence. She wondered what would happen after they stopped this apocalypse, would they all go there separate ways again or would they stay, or would she be welcomed to stay as well? Just as Pogo had said she'd always have a home here.

"I need chalk."

She snapped out of her gaze and she found Five slamming his door shut, "I need chalk!"

Lotus jumped, having no idea where to find chalk. "I don't know where it would be."

He huffed pulling open a drawer to his nightstand and grabbed a thick piece of whistle chalk out, he rushed back to the doorframe and began scribbling on the wall. She hadn't noticed that the walls were chalk board paint, she just thought he had a horrible taste in the colour green. He was writing things down at incredible speed, never stopping and never wavering. He climbed up on furniture to reach closer to the roof, not willing to waste any space. It was equations that he was writing down, though she had no idea what the meant. Lotus had never been good at math, it didn't help that she never graduated high-school.

Five wrote with an extreme focus, even when he paused to talk himself through things. His eyes were squinted by the time he got to the next wall, she couldn't process the one he had just finished. Floor to ceiling was covered in math equations and she was impressed yet slightly horrified, she didn't know why.

"Is it making sense?" She asked after awhile. He only grunted and finished off another wall. Lotus flopped down onto the bed, scooting so she was laying properly on it. The pillow was very flat, and her head felt heavy on it. The chalk scrapping against the board made her cringe, she squeezed her eyes shut and shivered. She heard him laugh and she peeled one eye open, Five broke his gaze from her face and the sound of chalk scrapping the board filtered back.

"What are you doing?" She finally asked as he finished another wall. It seemed to take him at least 20 minutes for each wall, and with each passing hour, fatigue washed over her.

"Trying to see who causes the apocalypse." He huffed climbing onto the bed, he balanced himself before standing straight up. She nudged herself over so he could get closer to the wall, he stepped over her and placed a hand on the wall as he scribbled.

"You can find that out from just numbers?"

"Yes." He sounded confused, as if everyone should know what the hell he was going. "It's quite simple, actually."

She snorted, "You're clueless when it comes to people."

Ignoring her, he confined to write. "I think I've got something Delores. It's tenuous but promising."

She scoffed, "I'm here to you know."

He kicked his foot back, finding and nudging her stomach. She squirmed and went to push his foot away when a knock sounded on the door and she tumbled onto the ground. Groaning she sat up, looking to see Luther in the doorway yet again. He awkwardly peeked in and then marched up towards Lotus, staring down at her. He held an arm out and she gratefully took it, hauling her back onto her feet. Luther watched Five for a few minutes before the boy starting angrily circling four names.

"What's this?" His brother pointed to the mess scribbles on the green of his walls, just staring at the equations made her head hurt. Boy, did she hate math.

"It's a probability map." Five replied turning to meet Luther's stare.

"Probability of what?"

"Of who causes the apocalypse." Lotus chirped. Both of the them gave her the same look, one of confusion. She shrugged, "Just a guess."

Luther shook her head, "Are you saying that one of these four people causes the apocalypse?"

"No." Five tapped on the circle, "I'm saying that their death might prevent it."

They all remind silent, Lotus watched as Five slid down from the bed and brushed by his brother. Luther stopped him, "I'm not following."

"Time is fickle, Luther. The slightest alteration of events can lead to massively different outcomes in the time continuum. The butterfly effect." Five explained, and for some reason it all made sense in her mind. She actually seemed to understand what he was going on about, and how it could actually work. "So all I have to do is find the people with the greatest probability of impacting the timeline, wherever they may be, and kill them."

Luther puckered his lips before they fell into a straight line. He walked up on the other side of the bed and tapped on the first name inside of the messy circle, "Oh yeah." He sighed, "Milton Greene. Who's he, a terrorist or something?"

"No. Actually, I believe he's a gardener."

Luther didn't see Five slip a bag from underneath his bed, or him whispering to Lotus to stand a few feet away. "You can't be serious." His brother spoke as the boy unzipped the bag and took out a rather large gun. She watched carefully, making sure she stayed away from the barrel. It wasn't like he was just going to randomly shoot her, but with Five, she couldn't be 100% sure.

"Wait, this is madness Five." He turned, eyes spotting the gun. She swore it was bigger than he was. "You- Where did you get that?"

"Dad's room."

Lotus let out a laugh, he said it so casually as if it wasn't a big deal. A boy in school shorts was holding a gun, and taking the safety off of it. What a sight.

"I think he used it to shoot a rhinoceroses. It's a similar model to the one I used at work, nice shoulder fit and highly reliable."

"But You can't— this guy Milton, he's just an innocent man."

"It's just basic math." Five rolled his eyes, "His death could potentially save billions of people. Besides, if I did nothing he would be dead in four days anyways. The apocalypse won't spare anyone."

"He's right." Lotus chimed in, "We're all gonna die anyways."

"We don't do this type of thing." Luther glared at her. She really didn't think he liked her.

"We are not doing anything. I am." Five sneered, "So let's get going. Time's a ticking."

"I can't let you go and kill innocent people. No matter how many lives you save."

"Aren't you the guy who looked at me in disgust when it was mentioned that I said to just let the world burn?" She watched him, taking a few steps towards him. "You'd rather save one life instead of billions? Instead of saving the world?"

Luther sighed, ignoring her he grabbed Delores from a near by chair and stuck her out the open window. "You're not going anywhere." He said. Five instantly snapped the gun up into position and pointed it right at him- or her, as she was standing right in the line of fire.

"Put her down."

"Put the gun down." Luther countered, Lotus huffed ducking away from his gun and slowly inched towards the door. "You're not killing anyone. I know she's important to you, so don't make me do this."

Five scoffed, mouth forming a grim line as his brother moved his hand a fraction lower.

"It's either her, or the gun."

Lotus held her breath as at looked liked Five was going to pull the trigger. Instead, he threw it up and disappeared in a haze of blue while Luther let go to the mannequin and rushed to pick up the gun. Five caught Delores and carefully brought her back inside, he held her tight against his chest.

"I know you're still a good person, Five." Luther continued, "Otherwise you wouldn't have risked everything coming back here to save us all."

Lotus frowned, meeting Five's weary gaze. "You're not on your own anymore."

He pursed his lips and then sighed, "There might be another way." He tapped Delores' head, his nail making a clicking noise against the plastic. He moved his gaze to his brothers, "But it's just about impossible."