Word count: 3552

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆, Elizabeth had only one thing set in her mind: she had to find Five.

No matter how upset she was with him, she needed to tell him about Hazel and Cha-Cha. They had disappeared after Luther had exposed himself to the rest of them, and for all she knew, they had gone after Five. 

The only problem was, she had absolutely no idea where he had gone.

There were about a thousand places she could think of, unfortunately. She had made a shitload of portals trying to find him in the past hour. 

First, she went to Griddy's, hoping that, perhaps, he was in need of a morning fix. All she was met with, however, were cranky businessmen and bright early-risers, and pretty much anyone except for Five. Agnes, who had begun to tremble at the sight of her, quickly shook her head no when Elizabeth had asked if she had seen the boy.

Elizabeth then went to Vanya's apartment, only to be met by darkness and silence; no one was home. She quickly took a notepad and pen, scribbling down a note telling Vanya to tell Five to come home if he swung by. She added another note at the end, telling her how sorry she was about the way Diego had acted, and giving a small reminder that she loved her (and, of course, she included many drawings of hearts).

Then, Meritech. She checked with the receptionist, and even asked a few people, but to no avail.

After that, she went to any place she could think of, hoping that for some reason, he had gone there. He hadn't.

So, she gave up and made her way back home. 

She needed a nap, badly. She was pretty tired from all the portal-making, and the fact that she was unsuccessful in finding Five didn't help her mental state either.

Before she could head back into her room, however, she found Diego walking up the stairs to the third floor. 

He noticed her as she neared the bottom of the steps, and he changed his direction and went back down the stairs towards her.

"Hey," he spoke softly as the two halted, meeting in the middle of the staircase.

"Hi." Elizabeth gave him a small smile as she put a hand on his shoulder and gently asked, "You doin' all right?"

"Not really." Diego swallowed, trying to muster a smile for her. "Do you know where Five is?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "I've been looking for him all morning. I can't find him anywhere."

"Shit," Diego groaned, looking up to the ceiling with exasperation.

"Why?" She narrowed her eyes at him, now suspicious. He didn't sound too happy while talking about him, and she was sure he wasn't trying to find him so that he could give him a grand ol' hug and kiss.

He shook his head. "I'm going to his room. I need to find that little bastard."

"Me too. Let's go." Elizabeth nodded her head and followed him up to Five's room, whose door was already wide open. 

Both of them were surprised to find Luther in the room, rifling through the drawers as he searched for something.

"What are you doing here?" Diego questioned as they watched Luther sort through Five's things.

Luther immediately stopped as he turned to them, his eyes widening as they flitted between the two. 

"Uh . . ." He slowly stood up, swallowing nervously. "Do you guys know about Mom?"

Diego shifted uncomfortably in his spot, his voice losing some of its confidence. "Well, it looks like you got what you wanted, one way or another, right?"

Luther then questioned, "Wanna tell me what you're doing here?"

"Looking for Five," Diego answered.

"Let me guess, you're gonna save the day," Luther replied with a roll of the eyes.

"It's what I do. Asshole," Diego muttered, turning to leave with a small smirk on his face.

"Really?" Luther called lightly. "Last I checked, you mopped floors."

Diego stopped, the smirk fading. He turned back to Luther, slowly stepping forward with a taunting tone in his voice.

"And what do you do?" he scoffed. "Sit on the Moon for four years, waiting for orders?"

"Guys" —Elizabeth sighed, running a hand through her hair— "this won't help us find Five."

They ignored her as Diego continued, "Keep on being a loyal soldier after everything our father did to you?"

"What?" Luther raised his eyebrows as he took a few strides forward and asked, "You mean save my life?"

"No, I mean" —Diego leaned on the dresser, his eyebrows high— "turn you into a monster."

Luther was silent for a moment before taking a great step forward and punching a large hole into the left door of Five's dresser, the sound of wood splintering echoing around the room. Elizabeth flinched, looking at the fist hiding in the gap with disdain.

Diego smirked, shaking his head slightly as Luther pulled his hand out. "Can't hide it anymore, champ."

"He had a difficult decision to make, and he made it," Luther insisted, his voice low.

"Grow up, Luther," Diego told him as he shook his head. "We're not kids anymore."

"That's what leaders do," Luther added, "by the way. "

"He sent you on that mission all alone," Diego reminded harshly. "Almost got you killed."

"Yeah, well at least he was there. Where were you?" Luther gave a small shrug. "You and everyone else in this family? You walked out."

"And thank Christ that I did, or I would have ended up just . . . like . . .you." Diego jabbed his finger towards Luther, a scowl on his face. "Let me ask you a question. When you watch one of these nature shows—"

"Diego, please," Elizabeth said quietly, putting her hand on his arm.

"—does it turn you on?"

Elizabeth shook her head as she muttered, "Guys."

"So what? Is Pogo just an animal to you, too now, Diego, huh?" Luther questioned ruthlessly, now angered as he stepped forward.

Elizabeth gave an exasperated sigh, "Guys . . ."

"Don't." Diego shook his head.

"Shut up and listen to me!" Elizabeth exclaimed, folding her arms over her chest.

Both men paused, reluctantly turning to look at her.

"This house was just attacked. And now Five is missing, and this is how you rise to the occasion?" she scoffed. "You two need to get over yourselves and focus on what's important. And let me tell you, whatever issues you have with each other, are irrelevant right now."

"Sorry," Diego muttered.

"Now, either you two come with me to look for the other stupid brother, or I'll go myself and not let either of you talk to him about whatever you need from him. Which is it?"

"The stupid brother option," Luther mumbled as he looked off to the side.

"Right. So, I need you two to be civilized while we figure this out." Elizabeth looked between the two boys, a stern expression on her face. "Where do you think he could be?"

"Maybe he's still in that van," Luther suggested. "I mean, he could've slept in it and stuff."

"Okay, it's worth a shot." Elizabeth shrugged before pushing a hand out and creating a portal.

After going through, the three of them landed where she had been the day before, sunlight casting down upon them. There was a slight buzz of chatter in the air as people walked by, but no familiar face greeted them.

They looked to the side of the road, seeing the plumber's van that they quickly rushed towards.

"This is it. He's still here," Luther sighed in relief as they reached the vehicle. "This is Five's van."

"Go." Diego insisted as Luther tried to open the passenger door. "Go."

Luther stopped after a few moments, clearly unable to open the locked door. He nervously glanced at the other two, a small pout on his face.

"See, this is where you say 'Diego, can you please help me?'" Elizabeth leaned forward and said gently to the giant man.

"Diego, help me," Luther mumbled.

"'Diego, can you please help me?'" she corrected.

Luther was silent for a moment, an annoyed look coming across his face as he muttered out, "Diego, can you please help me?"

With a small smirk, Diego lightly shoved Luther to the side and pulled out one of his knives. He wiggled the edge of its tip around the lock before it busted open, and Diego quickly opened the door.

At the same time, both men tried to enter the doorway. They looked at each other, and did the same thing, resulting in only more bumping.

"I'm One," Luther said before shoving Diego aside and trying to fit in through the door.

Diego rolled his eyes and played with the handle of the back passenger seat until the door sprung open. He stepped in, Elizabeth behind him, while Luther struggled to even make it through the small frame.

While she and Five had been staking the place out, Elizabeth had never paid too much attention to what had filled the back; there were a few plastic boxes and crates that were stacked onto each other, though what its contents were, she hadn't the slightest clue.

She frowned as she dug through some of the boxes, only seeing tools that seemed to belong to the plumber who originally owned the van.

"Hey," Diego murmured suddenly, causing her to turn to him.

She peered over to see that he was holding a copy of Vanya's autobiography (Extraordinary: My Life as Number Seven), and the page was opened to the first one.

Ignoring the pain she felt from the scribbles of equations in blue pen that covered the entire page, Elizabeth's eyes found a black stamping that read: 'THIS BOOK IS PROPERTY OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY—ARGYLE STREET BRANCH'

He held it up for the others to see as he nodded and said, "I know where to find Five."

The three of them then made their way to where Diego suspected Five was: the Argyle Public Library.

They entered the circular building after a half-hour's worth of a walk. It wasn't all too busy, which was in their favour. 

She had never been to a real library before; Reginald, of course, never usually allowed to go out other than missions, and her parents never allowed her to indulge in such pleasantries.

This library was amazing to her. It was a circular building and had about a thousand floors that towered upwards with millions of books available for anyone to read. There was a spiralling staircase that travelled around the building, and a couple of people climbed up and down, books in hand.

As much as Elizabeth wished she could roam around and read as much as her heart desired, she knew she had to keep her focus on five.

"Let's split up," Luther instructed, looking around the room to see if he could catch sight of a familiar face.

"Wow. Good thinking," Diego scoffed before turning to Elizabeth. "You're with me, kid. Let's go."

"Not a kid," she muttered but followed him up the right staircase nonetheless.

She stumbled over one of the stairs, grabbing onto Diego's arm for support as a sudden wave of dizziness rushed over her head. 

His hand quickly pressed the front of her shoulder to prevent her from falling as he questioned, "You okay?"

"Yeah." She nodded as she regained her balance. "Just kind of tired. I made, like, twenty portals in a row today."

His eyes widened. "No more portals for the day."

"Whatever," she mumbled as they made it to the second level.

"What was Five doin' at that place anyway?" he questioned as he peered over and around the many bookshelves.

"Uh . . ." She tried to come up with something. "Stuff."

"Hm. Helpful," he remarked as they proceeded around the room. "Seriously, Goldie, what was it?"

"I . . . am not allowed to say," she admitted, shrugging.

Diego stopped and turned to her, an eyebrow raised. He put his hands on his hips as he questioned, "And why is that? What sneaky stuff are you two up to?"

"Not sneaky . . . just . . . secret?" Elizabeth began taking long strides forward, hoping that Diego would just drop it as they went up the twisting staircase to get to the third floor.

"Okay, what secret stuff are you two up to?" Diego corrected.

She scoffed as she looked towards him, "Do you know what 'secret' means, Eggo?"

"And do you know what 'best friend' means, Goldie?"

"Pray tell," Elizabeth said as they passed through the rows of bookshelves.

"That means you tell me everything," he explained with a stern expression. "Even if you promised to keep it a secret."

"But what if this is a secret from my other best friend?" she questioned.

"Negative." Diego shook his head as they passed a table with computers sitting on it. "You don't have another best friend."

"I do."

"You don't. It's only me."

"In fact" —she folded her arms— "I have, like, three other best friends."

He scoffed. "How dare you."

"That's right." A grin spread onto her face as they headed up the next and final staircase. "You ain't the only bitch in my life."

"Wow." He shook his head once they made it to the landing before insisting, "Anyway, tell me."

"No," she refused. "If Five wants to tell you, he will."

"If we can even find him," Diego muttered before they met Luther in the middle of the room.

"Anything?" Luther questioned hopefully, that hopeful light then dying once Elizabeth shook her head.

"No."

"Dammit," Luther groaned, rubbing his forehead as he looked at the empty space around him. "I thought you were sure about him being here, Diego."

"Well, I thought so," Diego defended. "I don't see you coming up with any ideas, Number One."

"Any idea from me is better than yours," Luther scoffed, folding his arms. "That's why you're Number Two."

"Okay, and I'm Number Eight, can you two just shut up?" Elizabeth sighed, rolling her eyes.

They ignored her as Diego continued to argue (as usual).

"Well, you know what? You can take that and shove it right up your—"

Elizabeth shook her head as Diego let out a string of insults, each word getting worse than the last. She then furrowed her brows, something catching her eyes from across the room.

While the two bickered, she headed straight towards that something, hoping it was what she thought it was.

"Elizabeth?" Luther called out from behind, the two men stopping their fighting as they turned to watch her. "Where are you going?"

She ignored his and Diego's calls as she reached the other end of the landing. She sighed when she saw what was in front of her, "Oh, Five."

Five was leaning between the corner of the wall and metal railing, totally passed out. Strangely, his knees and socks were covered in dust and dirt, the top of his uniform also subject to unclean punishment.

Spread around him were a couple of notebooks, a newspaper, a couple of pens and markers, and an empty bottle of whiskey. Another nearly empty bottle lay slack in his left hand, the top of it almost touching the ground. The wall and stone poles next to him were covered in equations that he had written in permanent marker, his messy writing scrawled everywhere.

Diego and Luther appeared behind her, their eyes widening when they saw what she had found.

Luther furrowed his eyebrows, awkwardly leaning towards them and questioning, "Is he, um . . . ?"

A smirk grew onto Diego's face as he watched Five's limp hand drop the bottle onto the ground. "Drunk as a skunk."

"Let's get him out of here before he gets in trouble," Elizabeth sighed as she walked over to him, picking up the two empty bottles and throwing them out.

Luther scooped Five up into his arms, the boy's head lolling to the side. He led the way as they exited the library, pretending not to notice the weird stares they got as they tried to look as innocent as they could.

It was dark out by the time they had begun to walk the streets. The dim streetlights and the glow from inside the apartment windows they passed lit the way for them as they headed down an alley. The stench of alcohol and burnt food wafted through the air, letting them know that people were spending their Monday night quite well.

"All right" —Elizabeth rubbed her hands together— "where is my portal going to?"

"You're not making one, remember? No more portals today," Diego reminded strictly.

She sighed, "Either way, that doesn't answer my question. Where are we going?"

"Well, we can't go back to the house," Luther pondered aloud as they trudged their way through the dark night. "It's not secure. Those psychopaths could come back at any moment."

"My place is closer." Diego nodded. "No one will look for him there."

Five suddenly woke up with a small burp, hiccuping slightly afterwards.

"If you vomit on me . . ." Luther looked down at him, a warning glare in his eyes.

"You know what's funny?" Five breathed out with a small grin as he leaned his head backward, staring up at the stars. "Aah! I'm going through puberty. Huh. Twice," he scoffed. He then chuckled lowly, "And I . . . I drank that whole bottle, didn't I?"

"Two!" Elizabeth corrected with a mocking smile. "In a public library! Like an idiot!"

"Sorry, Lizzy-Bizzy, but that's what you do when the world you love goes bye-bye," Five sighed, leaning back up as he held himself up by gripping Luther's shoulder. "Poof, it's gone. What are you guys talkin' about?"

Luther sighed, "Two masked intruders attacked the Academy last night."

"They came looking for you," Diego continued for him as he walked in front of the three, guiding the way to his home. "So I need you to focus. Elizabeth won't tell us, so you better. What do they want?"

"Hazel and Cha-Cha," Five exhaled, his voice mixing with a groan. "Ah, the best of the best. Except for me, of course."

"The best of what?" Diego questioned with furrowed eyebrows.

"You know, Dennis always said he hated when I drink. He said it made me surly—"

"Hey!" Diego shouted as he stopped and turned to face Five, who raised his eyebrows, unfazed.

"Hm? Yeah?"

"I need you to focus." Diego stepped closer to him, calming his voice down to a much lower level. "What do this Hazel and Cha-Cha want?"

Five only stared at him, a grin on his face.

Diego sighed, "We just wanna protect you."

"Protect me," Five scoffed, the same sarcastic grin only growing larger. "I don't need your protection, Diego. Do you have any idea how many people I've killed? No," Five breathed out as Diego exchanged a look with Luther. "I'm the Four frickin' Horsemen. The apocalypse is coming." He then gagged and turned his head, vomiting all over the street.

Elizabeth rubbed her eyes in exasperation. "Oh, Jesus."

They soon entered Diego's living space, which was a utility room inside of a boxing gym. The room was dimly lit, and was quite the mess, with a clutter of junk on his desk. A poster of the Umbrella Academy was framed on the wall, reminding him of their past.

Luther laid a sleeping Five down on his side on top of the single bed that was pushed against the farthest wall. Sure, Elizabeth was still not that happy with him, but damn, was he cute.

"Funny. If I didn't know he was such a prick, I'd say he looks almost adorable in his sleep," Diego remarked as the three of them gazed down at him.

"Well, don't worry. He'll sober up eventually. Be back to his normal, unpleasant self," Luther reassured as they all turned in the other direction.

"Yeah, I can't wait that long." Diego walked over to his desk, beginning to fidget with some of the items that rested on top. "I need to find out what his connection is with these lunatics before someone else dies."

A troubled look came over Luther's face as he glanced back at Five. "All that stuff he was saying before . . . What did he mean by that? Do you know, Elizabeth?"

"Uh . . ."

Luckily, she was saved by a clunk and footsteps that came just outside the door. 

Alarmed, Diego's head whipped towards the door, and he unsheathed one of his knives from his belt. He hastily climbed up the small set of stairs they had just descended and snuck his way to the door. Carefully, he wrapped his hand around the doorknob, waiting a moment before pulling it open and raising his knife.

Instantly, the voice of an elder man screeched out, "You throw another one of those goddamn knives at me, I'm pressin' charges."

A look of exasperation came over Diego's face as he lowered his knife and opened the door all the way. "What do you want, Al?"

An older man that was a little shorter than Diego stepped in, wearing a red jacket and dark beanie. He clutched onto the metal rail as Diego went back down the steps. "I ain't your secretary. Some lady called for you, said she needs your help."

Diego's face scrunched up. "What lady?"

"I dunno. Some, uh, detective." Al waved his hand around as he tried to recall the name. "I think she said her name was, uh, Blotch or somethin'.

Diego's eyes widened. "Patch?" A small grin came onto his face as he murmured to himself, "She needs my help."

Al unfolded a small piece of paper as Diego jumped back on the steps. "She needs you to meet her at that motel—a dump on Calhoun."

"When?"

"About half an hour ago. Uh, said she found your brother," Al said with a shrug before turning and leaving.

Elizabeth turned back to glance at Five before looking back towards the other two. "Well, that doesn't make sense."

Simultaneously, they all then realized.

"Klaus."