Chapter Twenty-Two:

Lotus had her eyes squeezed shut as her and Five landed on a hard surface with a loud thud, her head hitting whatever they were on. The briefcase was squished between them, their wraps wrapped as tightly as they could be around each other.

The first thing Lotus heard was Allison's voice shout, "Jesus!"

She peeled open her eyes and a hand flew to the back of her head where a heavy ache settled in. Five was still on top of her and she shoved him off, he stumbled onto the ground. Lotus sat up and swung her legs over the bar which they had apparently landed on.

"You guys, am I still high or do you see them too?" Klaus asked moving closer to get a better view.

Five grabbed a coffee cup from Allison's hand and took a giant swing from it. His face had dirt smudged across it, hers must of too.

"Five, where have you been?" One sibling demanded, followed by, "Are you alright?"

"Irrelevant." Five snapped, slurping at the coffee loudly.

Lotus groaned, staring at her blood soaked jeans. "Thanks guys, for your concern."

"Shit." Klaus said hunched over, "Someone should help her."

"The world ends in three days. And the only chance to save the world is, well, us." Five sighed, ignoring Klaus' brilliant statement.

Luther took a look around at his family, eyes glossing over Lotus. "The Umbrella Academy."

Five gave his brother a no shit look before nodding, "Yeah, but with me, obviously." He stood up straighter, tossing the empty coffee cup towards the centre of the room. "So if ya'll done get your sideshow acts together and get over yourselves, we're screwed." The boy limped forward, "So what if Dad screwed us up, are we going to let that define us? No. And to give us a fighting chance to see next week, I've come back with a lead."

Lotus glared at him and he seemed to have sensed her stare as he locked eyes with her, "And Lotus, of course. We've both came back with a lead."

She snorted, "And a knife in their fucking thigh!"

Five's eyes widened briefly with shock before he scanned over his family. "I know who's responsible for the apocalypse. This is who we have to stop." He flipped a piece of paper from his pocket and unrolled it, turning it to show the group.

Allison frowned, "Harold Jenkins?"

"Who the hell is Harold Jenkins?"

"He doesn't know." Lotus said through gritted teeth, "At least not yet."

"But I do know he's responsible for the apocalypse. So we just have to find him, and we have to do it now."

Luther gave his brother a sceptical look, "How is he connected to what's going to happen?"

"I don't know." Five sighed, pressing a hand to his side.

"Wait— so that's all you know? Just his name?"

"That's enough—" The boy began but was cut off by the leader of the family, "They're is probably a dozen Harold Jenkins''"

"Well, we just better start looking then."

Luther nodddd slowly, "I do think this somehow involves the moon—"

Lotus hopped off the bar and stumbled as she gripped her knee, "No one gives a shit about the damn moon!" She yelled limping away, "Now, can somebody lead me to someone who will take this knife out of my thigh!"

Five was next to her in an instant, "I can just rip it out."

"If you so touch that knife, once it's out I will not hesitate to stab you with it."

He chuckled, "Here." He wrapped an arm under hers, helping her ease the pressure on her wounded leg. They took the stairs very slow, she winced with every step until they finally reached the correct landing. Instead of going to their make-shift infirmary, Five lead her to his room and sat her down on his bed. He raised a finger and backed out of the room, promising he'd be right back. She huffed, closing her eyes. Lotus took a deep breath in, trying to distract herself from the pain blaring in her leg. She had lost a lot of blood, and her leg was beginning to go numb.

You have no idea what's going in my head, so stay out of my business.

Lotus' eyes flew open, she took a shaky breath and rubbed her eyes.

You stupid, stupid child.

A laugh escaped her lips, she remembered her mom saying that to her. She was fifteen and had a shitty day at school, taking it out of her mother. But her Mother had unleashed her own built up rage on her daughter.

Footsteps sounded and her eyes flew open as Five lunged at her, ripping the knife from her leg. She yelled, as loud as she could and swung out at him. The knife clanged into the ground as her fist connected with his face, she figured in about a day they'd have matching bruises under one eye.

"Take off your pants."

She stared up at him, ignoring the blood welling from her leg.

"Excuse me?"

He shook his head, eyes wide. "No, I mean— so I can clean and bandage the wound."

"Can't someone else—"

"You are literally going to bleed out on my bed."

"I'm not going to bleed out on your bed."

Five crossed his arms, watching as Lotus fought the pain.

"I'm surprised you haven't passed out yet."

"I'm fine."

"Am I cutting the jeans off from above the wound or are you just going to get rid of them?"

Lotus frowned but slowly nodded, she pulled herself up off the bed and Five walked up to help her balance. It took longer than she expected, but eventually she struggled out of her bottoms and kicked them to the side. She flipped back down onto the bed and he pulled out a first aid kit. He sat on his knees next to her and he grabbed a wad of cloth and clear liquid. He dipped the cloth in and pressed it against her thigh, she hissed when it made contact.

"Oh, you're fine." He mumbled cleaning it off.

"Do you even know what you're doing?" She asked, "Your cleaning it up like it's a cut."

"Well it is just a cut. A big one."

She rolled her eyes, "I don't think you know what your doing."

Five only shrugged and picked up a needle and thread, she stared at him like he was crazy. "Are you serious?"

She watched as he prepared it and then slid it under her skin, carrying on. His eyes focused on the task in front of him and his hands moved gracefully, for some reason it unnerved her.

"Do you ever regret being special?"

Lotus gave him a weird look, "Huh?"

"Do you ever wish you didn't have your power. That you were normal."

She frowned, wondering what to tell him. Sometimes she did wish that she was normal, but if she had been then she wouldn't be here. That had been another thing she'd think about constantly when she was first on her own, that she wished she'd never been born because her mom had so much potential and it was thrown away for her.

"Yes."

He looked up with sad eyes, "Even if you'd never been born."

She nodded, "Yes, I think so."

"Sometimes I wonder why it was me that got a power, or the fact that it was time travel." He told her, "While I was stuck, in the future, I thought about my mother."

"Do you remember her?"

He shook his head, "Not really. But she mustn't of cared that much considering she sold me away to a mad man."

Lotus pursed her lips, watching as he finished fixing up her leg. "Maybe you're lucky that you never knew her."

He stood up, tossing the contents in his hand back into the first aid kit. His hands were covering in a thin layer of blood, but so was her entire leg.

"What?"

"One day or another maybe she'd regret keeping you. Because she lost everyone and everything and blamed you."

It's your fault. It's always your fault.

She closed her eyes, "Because it was all my fault."

The floorboards creaked and her eyes flew open, meeting Five's sad gaze. She took a deep breath, "I'm going to go find some pants."

She rushed towards his door, and she was out in the hallway and up the stairs, searching for her room. It didn't come across as a guest room to her anymore, and she didn't really care. It was a place for her to sleep, to feel safe, so now it was hers. Lotus raced over to the large window and pushed it open, the cold wind hitting her like a slap in the face. Her hands were shaking and she turned grabbing something off the nightstand, throwing it against the far wall. It was been a small glass bird, now shattered on the floor.

"Lotus?"

Her eyes found Five's, he was standing in the doorway, watching her with careful eyes. He must've followed her up, keeping a close distance.

"I-" she paused running a hand threw her hair, "I-I can replace it."

She had spent so long silencing that ghost in her head, shoving down until it somehow gave up. But it was back again, and demanding to be heard. She couldn't run away forever, not anymore.

"We're going after the lead." He said.

She nodded, "Yah, of course."

Five pursed his lips, "Are you up it?"

She let out a soft sad laugh, realizing that she was still without pants. That she was trying not to cry in front of a boy who was still more of a stranger, and she was doing all of that in her underwear.

"Let me go find some pants first, ok?"

He nodded, "You should have a shower, we'll leave when your done.

He went to leave, she watched him as his hand lingered on the doorknob.

"I thought saving the world couldn't wait."

Five shook his head and glanced back at her, "It can wait 10 minutes."