𝑨𝑳𝑺𝑶 𝑲𝑵𝑶𝑾𝑵 𝑨𝑺: 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒊𝒗𝒆

𝑾𝑶𝑹𝑫𝑺: 𝟐𝟑𝟕𝟖

FREYA sat up on the bed, her feet hanging off, she was only awake because Luther was shaking her aggressively.

"Shit." She yawned, fixing the shirt she had been wearing since the day before.

Luther sighed, starting to talk "So, this apocalypse.. when is it supposed to happen?"

Freya remembered Five telling her about it, and him bringing it up the night before.

She didn't mention that she knew, afraid that Luther would be mad at Five for telling her and not them.

"I can't give you an exact hour, but.. from what I could gather we have four days left." He said, leaning on his knees.

"Why didn't you say something sooner?" Luther snapped.

"It wouldn't have mattered."

"Of course it would. We could've banded together and helped you try to stop this thing." He said, Fives face going slightly pale,
"For the record, you already tried."

He swallowed, "I found all of you. Your bodies."

That part was never mentioned to her, she leaned over slightly, waking up the rest of the way "We die?"

A memory replayed in Fives head.

Alison, Diego, Klaus, Luther, all of them were covered in stones, crushed.

Wounds covered there exposed body parts, and Fives breath hitched in his throat.

He was about to do something he never did, cry.

But when he turned around, looking down behind him he saw a familiar pair of black converse.

Slowly, his eyes followed up her body from her feet to her face.

And sure enough, it was Freya.

A rock pinned down one of her arms, her eyes closed with now dry blood leaving stains as if it where tears spilling.

Her hair was above her head, covered in dust like the rest of her body.

At that, Five sunk down on to his knees, his face in his hands.

"Horribly.
You were together, trying to stop whoever it was that ends the world." Five reached in to the pocket of his uniform jacket.

"Wait, how do you know that?" Luther asked, his brother pulling something out of the pocket.

"This was clutched in your dead hand when I found you." He tossed whatever it was to Luther, "Must've ripped it out of their head right before you went down."

"Whose head?" Luther asked, even tho the boy answering had said many times before, he repeated himself "Like I said, I don't know."

Freya squinted her eyes, seeing it was a fake eyeball "Well, there's a serial number on the back. Think maybe you could try—"

Five cut Luther off "No, that's a dead end." He chuckled "It's just another hunk of glass." Luther handed the eye ball back to Five, who tucked it back in to his pocket.

In the brief moment of silence they had, Freya felt a tender spot on her neck, remembering the night before.

Breaking her thoughts, Diego opened the door aggressively, cussing "Piece of shit. Do you have any idea what you just did!"

He charged at the two sitting on the bed, everyone assuming Five was his target.

Luther grabbed him, holding him back as he resisted, "Nope, let me— get your ape hands off me!"

"I can do this as long as it takes you to calm down." He lifted him off the ground, his feet dangling.

"Fine." Diego panted, his feet touching the carpeted floor again, Freya standing up next to Luther and asking "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Our brothers been pretty busy since he got
Back. Him and Freya where in the middle of that shoot out at Griddys, and then at Gimble Brothers after the guys in masks attacked the academy. Looking for him!" At Diego's second sentence, she slumped back on the bed and crossed her arms.

"None of which is any of your concern." Five sassed, his brother retaliating "It is now. They just killed my friend."

Luther turned around, "Who are they Five?" His question sounded more like a demand, getting the boy to break.

"They work for my former employer, a woman called The Handler. She sent them..to stop me. Then, soon as Diego's friend got in their way, well, fair game."

Diego leaned in, "And now they're my fair game, and I'm gonna see to it till they pay."

"That would be a mistake, Diego. They've killed people far more dangerous than you." Five tried, but Diego was already at the door "Yeah,
We'll see about that."

Freya heard a car horn beeping, knowing it was probably the doing of Diego's head, she ignored it and asked "Former employer? What's this really about, Five? And don't give me any none of your business bullshit. Please."

It came out sounding rougher than she intended, but he responded with the same calm tone "Well, it's a long story."

"She told me she was there to help me, she had an offer for me. She worked for an organization called the commission, that they eliminated the people who made choices that alter time. She wanted to recruit me, and said I have a lot of potential. In return for five years of service, I could come back. They turned me in to the perfect instrument for rehabilitation of the time continuum, or corrections as they called them. I wasn't the only one, there were others like me. Beings out of time, fractured, extracted from the lives they know. I don't know how they got there, but I do know that none of them were as good as me. They didn't realize it, but I was biding my time, trying to figure out the right equations so I could get back. If I could just get back, I knew I could stop the apocalypse. Save the world. So I broke my contract." Fives story had Freya completely intrigued, Luther standing up to grab him a mug of coffee.

"So, you were a hit man?" He asked, handing him the mug.
"Yes."

"But, you had a code right? You didn't kill just anybody?" Freya asked, even though she had a good idea of what these people were like.

"No code. We took out anyone who messed with the time line."

"What about innocent people?" Luther asked, a slightly judgy tone in his voice.

"It was the only way I could get back here." Five defended, the girl next to him had yet to voice her opinion, but she knew that she would do it to get back to her family too, and possibly save their lives.

"But, that's murder." Luther's face looked terrified, his eyes wide and his mouth open.

"Jesus, Luther, grow up. We're not kids anymore. There's no such things as good guys or bad guys. There's just people going about their lives, but when the world ends all those people die, including our family." Five sighed, "Time changes everything."

They heard a loud noise from outside, everyone turning their heads up to the window, but it just sounded like a bus.

-

Freya returned to the academy, her head still full of thoughts about everything.

Doomsday.
Five.
Diego's crush.
Death.

She had heard tapping and talking from Fives room, it was only across the hall and one door down from hers.

Freya had a bad habit of sticking her nose in to what Five was doing, but he used to do the same thing to her.

Even if he didn't care anymore, she still did.

She could hear words of the apocalypse and murder coming from Luther and Five, so she decided a little snooping wouldn't hurt.

Her footsteps were light as she walked down the hall, avoiding all the spots that would creek and standing right next to Fives doorway.

"You're not alone anymore, Five."  Luther said.

"Fine."

"If we're going we have to bring Freya." Luther said, Fives next words hitting her a little bit to hard "Why the fuck would we do that?"

"You can't avoid her Five, just because you're afraid of hurting your mannequin girls feelings-"

"Her name is Delores!" Five snapped, Freya rolling her eyes and almost scoffing.

"Whatever, let's go." He sighed, and they were out of the door before Freya could make it back to her room.

"Stalker." Five said, the girl spinning back around on her heel to face him "Dickhead."

Freya was slightly hurt by the conversation she had ease dropped on, you could hear it in her voice.

She cleared her throat, leading the men down the stairs "So where are we going?"

"To give them what they want." Five said, as if it were normal.

Well, she guessed, not knowing a whole lot was her normal.

"Oh, ok."

"You sure you wanna wear that skirt, what if you have to kick someone?" Five looked her up and down, the girl in return lifting her skirt all the way up, Luther's hands immediately going over his eyes.

"Safety shorts." Under the skirt revealed her blue spandex shorts, Fives eyes trailing down from the smile she was flashing him to what the spandex was hugging.

Luther moved one finger, peaking at the pair that was now walking slightly a head of him.

-

They pulled up to where Freya assumed they were meeting the masked people at, the ride there had been silent, everyone just soaking up their own thoughts.

When the car came to a stop, Five unbuckled his seat belt, scoping out the scenery.

"You know, I never enjoyed it." Was the first words spoken, by Five. 

"What?"

"The killing. I mean, I was.. I was good at my work, and I- I took pride in it. But it never gave me pleasure." He sighed, "I think it was all those years alone. Solitude can do funny things to the mind."

"Yeah, well you were gone for a long time. I only spent four years on the moon, but that was more than enough." Luther said, the girl in the back seat speaking up "I spent fifteen years alone with my own thoughts. It's the being alone that breaks you."

Five looked back at her, remembering she was only trapped because she was looking for him.

But her gaze didn't meet his, it was staring out of the front window at the sky.

"You think they'll buy it?" Luther asked, touching the black suitcase in the front seat.

"Well, what I do know is that they're desperate. It's like a cop losing his gun, if the commission finds out, they'll be in deep shit. Oh, not to mention the fact they'll be stuck here until they get it back." Five analogized.

"Well, I should hold on to it—" Luther said, but Freya interrupted him "No. I should."

"Freya, you could g-" Five started, Freya doing her second round of interrupting, "Your strength can't stop bullets. I can. In case they make a move on you, Five."

Five sighed in defeat, "Okay, Freya, but be careful. I mean, I've lived a long life, you're still—"

"If you call me a child you're a pedophile."

That had left him speechless, he lifted both of his eyebrows up, turning to face forward with a 'hm' sound.

A car approached, and they all three stepped out of theirs.

The briefcase was firm in her grip, Five turning to Luther "If this all goes sideways, do me a favor and tell Delores I'm sorry."

Freya rolled her eyes, letting her scoff be audible this time "Yeah what ears is she gonna hear him with?"

"I gotta say, jealousy is the only color that doesn't look good on you, Freya." Five tucked his hands in to his pockets, turning to face the car that was now parked.

The two people that attacked the academy walked out in the same masks, meeting Five in the middle of the street "The masks really necessary?"

They pulled them off, "So where is it kid?"

"Wow, that's how you're gonna start. You know, we can get right back in our car and call it a day."

Cha-Cha pulled out a gun, "You wouldn't even make it halfway there."

Freya took a slight step forward, but decided against going any further.

"Maybe not. But I'm sure you found out in your previous foray, the girl is not your average- frail teenager. My brother is not your average giant, either." Five reminded them, Freya smirking with her arms over her chest.

"He's right. You dropped a chandelier on him, got right back up. The girl was stopping my bullets with her mind." Hazel said, looking over at his partner.

"By the time you took him out, he'd smash your precious briefcase to a pulp."

"Probably us too, right?" Hazel asked, Five shaking his head "Oh no, much worse. He'll let her deal with you."

"So, how do we help each other?" The man sighed, Cha Cha still pointing her gun.

"I need you to get in contact with your superior so I can have a chat with her, face to face."

"About what?"

"Well, I don't believe that's any of your concern."

Cha-Cha sighed, shaking her head and pursing her lips "Just don't tell her about the briefcase."

"Fair enough." Five walked back over to the two waiting by the car, Cha-Cha walking over to the phone line.

"What happens now?" Luther asked, Five leaning on the car "Now, we wait."

The chiming of an ice cream truck made them all turn their bodies, and it drove up slowly, "Is that her?" Luther asked, but when the van got closer they discovered it definitely wasn't.

Klaus had a big smile on his face, waving at his siblings, who were all looking at him with the same 'what the fuck' face.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Five asked, Klaus sped up in the van, hitting both of the commission workers and throwing them out of the way.

The next thing Freya knew, she was frozen.

When she unfroze, the first thing she said was "Five!"

He was gone.

Freya threw the briefcase up in the air, "Come get it!" She swung her hand out, flinging it across the grass field next to them.

Luther helped Diego and Klaus In to the car,  Klaus flashing Hazel the middle finger from the back seat.