Word count: 5168

𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐍'𝐓 𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐓 to notice the snow that littered Sissy's farm, nor was it challenging to see the massive storm that was brewing over it.

Elizabeth's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she stared out the window and watched as the green grass slowly changed to white as they approached, and she muttered a soft "What the hell?"

"Whatever's going on," Diego murmured in her ear, "you be careful."

"Yeah, I'm not the one you should be worried about," she scoffed lightly, though she still gave him a reassuring smile.

Vanya quickly parked a few meters away from the farmhouse, and the family quickly scrambled out of the car.

"You think whatever's going on inside is causing the cold front?" questioned Diego as his eyes fixated on the farmhouse.

"Well, the correlation is high," Five responded.

The door of the farmhouse suddenly burst open, and a blonde woman with a gun—Sissy—came running out towards them, a look of fright clear on her face.

"Sissy!" Vanya shouted as she ran forward. "Sissy!"

Sissy cocked her gun as she kept it pointed in their general direction, and shouted, "Get back! All of you, just get the hell back!"

"Hey, hey!" Vanya cried out, holding a hand up. "What's wrong?"

Sissy panted for a moment, her eyes nervously flickering over the group before she breathed out, "Carl."

"What did he do to you?" Vanya questioned, her eyebrows furrowing.

Sissy's breath became shaky as she shook her head and told her, "He's . . . He's dead."

Vanya straightened up, her hand lowering as a look of shock came over her face.

"Harlan tossed him aside like a rag doll," Sissy continued. "Same way you sent those policemen flyin'. What did you do to him?"

Vanya quickly shook her head. "No—"

"Vanya, what the hell did you do to my son?"

Diego began to step forward, glancing over to Vanya as he said, "We don't have time for this, Vanya."

Sissy aimed her gun at Diego as she questioned, "Where you think you're going?"

Diego raised a hand towards her as he urged, "To help your son."

"Look, Sissy," Vanya spoke quickly, "I found my family. These are my brothers and my sister, and . . . a friend."

Sissy's eyes flickered over them once more, and her grip on the gun slackened slightly.

"Ma'am," Luther greeted nervously, raising a hand as he gave a quick nod.

Sissy's gaze turned back to Vanya as she lowered her gun, and, with a pained expression, she asked, "Were you lyin' to me the whole time?"

"Of course not," Vanya said softly, shaking her head as she took a step towards her. "Look, I didn't know who I was. But I do now. And we are not the monsters that they say we are. We did not kill the president. We are not terrorists. We're not here to hurt anyone."

"Then . . ." Sissy panted softly as she slightly shook her head and inquired, "who are you?"

"The only one who can help Harlan," Vanya answered firmly.

After a moment of consideration, Sissy gave a small nod and led them to the entrance of the farmhouse.

She pulled the wooden door aside, and the group all stumbled in to see a little boy, around the age of eight—Harlan—trapped inside of a whirl of energy. He was floating in the air, his body slightly being whipped around as he gasped and groaned.

"Harlan!" Vanya yelled as she ran in front of him. "Look, Harlan, I know you're really scared, but I can help you. I need you to listen to me, okay? Can you do that?"

Vanya then glanced over to Sissy, who gave her a nod, and then proceeded to enter the energy before continuing to shout to the boy.

Suddenly, Klaus called out, "Uh . . . guys?"

"What?" Diego questioned as the rest of the family walked over to him, who was at the entrance at the other side of the farmhouse.

Elizabeth let out a small groan as she saw two people that they least needed to see, only a hundred feet away from them—the Handler and Lila.

"Ah, shit," Diego grumbled.

"What, who are they?" Klaus asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

"One's the Handler, the other's Diego's girlfriend," Five answered.

"Lila," Diego corrected. "That's my ex-girlfriend."

"You know what? Doesn't matter," Luther interjected as Allison and Klaus gave Diego incredulous looks. "They both look angry."

"Yeah, well, our brother has that effect on people," Allison remarked as she returned her gaze to the pair waiting for them.

"I'm gonna go find out what they want," Five told them. "You guys stay with Vanya and the kid."

"I'm coming with you, too," Diego muttered. "Come on."

As the two headed to meet the Handler and Lila, the rest of the four remained in their spot to watch.

Eventually, the four of them crept out of the farmhouse and to where the snow met grass as they watched the others exchange words.

And only a few minutes later did they see a sight that made them gasp and step back nervously: hundreds of Commission workers popped up, guns clutched in their hands. Some of them wore helmets that were similar to Hazel and Cha-Cha's, and they all held a briefcase in their other hand.

And as they all began to run forward with shouts, Elizabeth, Allison, Klaus, and Luther decided to flee.

As the workers began to shoot at them, they threw themselves behind a stack of hay, hearing the thud of the bullets as they made impact with the hay.

Elizabeth then caught sight of Five running towards the house, and, only having prayer to keep her from getting hit, she jumped to her feet and sprinted in his direction.

Once she was a few meters away from him, she shouted his name to get his attention and thrust her hand out, creating a portal just in front of him.

He quickly jumped through it, and Elizabeth swiftly followed.

The two of them arrived inside the house, though they had no time to take in the decoration as Five grabbed Elizabeth and pulled her under the dining table.

Bullets shot through the window, shattering the glass as it hit the wall beyond. Sparks flew as light fixtures were struck, and furniture split and fell to the ground.

Five quickly wrapped his arms around Elizabeth, and she covered her ears to muffle the piercing sound of bullets and shut her eyes as she waited for it to pass.

And it did only a few moments later. The eerie silence of absolutely nothing caused them to perk their heads up in hope, and they quickly scrambled out from under the table.

"Are you okay?" Five muttered as they approached the window to see what had happened.

"I'm fine," Elizabeth reassured him as she peeked out.

All the Commission workers were now lying limp on the ground, their guns next to them.

And what seemed to have caused the massacre was Vanya, who looked as she did in the Icarus Theatre, with her pale, glowing skin, and white eyes. Although this time, she was hovering mid-air.

Elizabeth's eyes then widened as she watched Lila transform into the same form and rise up to meet Vanya, and she stumbled backwards as she tugged at Five's sleeve.

Muttering a quiet curse, Five wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back under the table, and the rumble of the ground told them that the energy wave that Lila had sent had shaken the house.

Once they were reassured that it was over, they got out and stood up once again, only to be interrupted by Luther falling through the ceiling.

The two of them rushed over to Luther, who was groaning and covered in dust and wood chips.

"Luther, you all right?" Elizabeth asked worriedly.

"Oh," Luther groaned, "I think I swallowed my tongue."

"Luther, if you swallowed your tongue, you wouldn't be talking, you big moron," Five pointed out with a roll of the eyes. He then grabbed Luther's arm and pulled him up as he muttered, "Come on, to your feet."

"Hey," Luther spoke, his voice hoarse as Five steadied him, "what the hell happened? What was that?"

Elizabeth glanced back at the walls that were now full of bullet holes as she murmured, "She must've redirected Vanya's energy wave."

"Yeah, I know," grumbled Luther, "but how?"

Suddenly, Five pushed the larger man away as he shouted, "Luther, watch out!"

A pile of bricks that had been gradually crumbling then toppled onto Five, causing Elizabeth to let out a small cry.

Both she and Luther dropped to their knees as they began to dig through the pile of bricks to find the boy, though they soon stopped as another presence joined them.

Lila, who had teleported inside, gave a small chuckle as Elizabeth and Luther stood up.

"What are you?" questioned Luther.

Lila pressed her lips together as she gave a small shrug and stepped towards them. "Someone who wants to kill your brother."

"Well, that's understandable, Diego can be a lot to handle," Elizabeth agreed, receiving a nod from Luther.

"Yeah, I was talking about Five," Lila quickly corrected.

Elizabeth stared at her for a moment before shrugging. "Him too."

"But, unfortunately," Luther cut in as he stepped towards Lila, "they're family, so you're shit out of luck."

He then threw a punch towards Lila, but she grasped onto his fist before it could make contact with her face. Luther groaned as he tried to push his hand forward but to no avail; Lila matched his strength.

"How is this possible?" Luther grunted as his face screwed up.

A smirk played on Lila's lips as she answered, "Gotta believe in yourself, big boy."

She then proceeded to throw Luther out the front of the house, and he smashed through the wood and into the snow.

Lila then turned to Elizabeth, who gave her an awkward wave.

"Man," Elizabeth sighed as she put her hands on her hips, "I am horrible at reading people. I really thought you were one of the good ones."

"Well" —Lila tilted her head— "clearly, you thought wrong."

Elizabeth jumped away as Lila shot a blast of gold energy, and silently cursed as she tried to think of a way to defeat Lila; she had never had to fight someone with powers as strong as hers, much less someone with the same power as her.

As Lila sent another blast her way, Elizabeth created a portal in front of her, and the energy blast shot into it. Another portal opened behind Lila, and before she could react, she was hit in the back of the head, causing her to give a small cry and stumble forward.

Elizabeth sent blast after blast and avoided all the ones that came her way as she circled around the room, keeping her gaze solely on Lila's hands.

But with every blast and dodge, Elizabeth could feel herself grow more and more exhausted, and after unsuccessfully avoiding a blast, she found herself flying back through the hole that Luther had created.

She groaned as her head hit the soft snow, and she rubbed at the area on her chest that she had been struck at; it felt strange to be the victim of her own energy.

Her attention then snapped over to the side as she heard Diego cry out for help, and she quickly got to her feet and ran over to him.

She approached him just as the other siblings did, to see that his leg was trapped under the weight of a red tractor.

"What took you so long?" Diego shouted as they surrounded him.

"Well, we're here now," Luther scoffed as he grabbed onto the wheel that was facing the sky. "Do you wanna stop complaining?"

"Or we could just leave you here," Klaus suggested loftily.

"What he said," Allison grunted in agreement as she tugged on Diego's leg.

"Does everything in this family have to be a discussion?" Vanya questioned incredulously as she worriedly glanced over at the farmhouse, where Elizabeth assumed Harlan still was.

With a loud groan, Luther lifted the tractor, and Allison quickly pulled Diego's leg out.

"Are you out?" Luther grunted.

"Yeah!" Diego reassured him as he crawled forward and got to his feet. He had a large grin on his face as he cheerily shouted, "Team Zero! Unstoppable!"

He then high-fived the fist that Luther offered, and an awkward expression came over both of their faces as they lowered their arms.

"Okay," Allison sighed as she glanced around them, "has anyone seen Five?"

"I don't know," Elizabeth answered with a frown, "he's around here somewhere."

"By the way," Luther called to Diego, who then turned his gaze away from the gaping hole in the house and to him, "your ex-girlfriend can blink like Five."

"Yeah," Allison agreed, "that bitch just rumoured me so I couldn't breathe."

Elizabeth nodded. "She used my energy against me and blasted me out of the house."

"And destroyed, like, half the farm with a shock wave," Klaus added as he gestured towards the hundreds of motionless Commission workers. "So unoriginal."

"If she can do everything we can do . . ." Elizabeth wondered aloud with a shrug, "she might as well just be one of us."

"Yeah," Luther agreed with a small smile. He then processed her words, and his smile dropped as he shook his head. "No. No, there's no way. It can't be."

"It's a reasonable conclusion," Allison said tentatively.

"Eh" —Klaus shook his head— "but there were only eight of us."

"I mean, you only thought there were seven before I came," Elizabeth pointed out, receiving a few widened eyes of realization in response. "Maybe we need to consider that there's even more of us out there."

"Are we surprised?" Allison scoffed. "Dad never told us the whole truth about anything."

"But she's not our biological sister . . ." Diego questioned nervously as he looked around them for reassurance. "Right?"

The five of them stared at them with looks of incredulity before Luther shook his head and changed the topic, "Okay, so, if she can mirror our powers, that means anything we throw at her, she can match, right?"

"Yeah, but she can only mirror one of our powers at a time," Elizabeth pointed out as she raised a finger.

Allison tilted her head as she questioned, "You sure about that?"

Vanya gave a small shrug as she said, "Only one way to find out."

As the six of them approached the farmhouse, Elizabeth felt a sense of relief wash over her as she saw that Five was in there, perfectly okay. A little sweaty and covered in dried blood, but okay.

"She never cared about your parents," he told Lila, whose back was to the group. "She was looking for you."

"Why?" whispered Lila.

"'Cause you're one of us," Diego answered, causing her to whip around and weakly point a knife towards him as the group walked forward. "The Handler stole you, Lila. Just like our asshole father took all of us."

"No," she said quickly as they surrounded her. "It's not the same thing."

Elizabeth rushed over to Five's side, taking a moment to assess his figure to make sure he wasn't hurt before turning back to the others.

"You're right. Because he didn't have our parents murdered. Listen to me, Lila," he said gently as he reached a hand towards her. "You were born October 1st, 1989, the same day as all of us."

"Stay back!" Lila yelled as she thrust the knife forward.

"Hey! Hey, stop!" Diego shouted, spreading his arms out as all the siblings made to go towards her. "Wait. Wait. Hey! Lila? Lila, stop."

"I trusted you," Lila told him harshly. "I got you a job, I even introduced you to my mother, and then you took off on me!"

"Because I needed to save the world!" Diego protested. He sighed, lowering his voice as he continued, "She's using you, Lila—the Handler."

"You're wrong," Lila insisted. "She raised me. She loves me."

"Yeah, you know what?" Luther interjected, and he quirked an eyebrow as Lila looked towards him. "Love shouldn't have to hurt this much."

Lila stared at him for a moment before making a gagging noise, pointing a finger inside her mouth.

Luther gave a small shrug as he yielded, "All right, I tried."

"He's right," Five muttered as he edged forward. "We have to kill her."

"Hey!" Diego shouted as he raised a hand towards him. "Five! Five, stop. I got it."

Five hesitated as his eyes flickered past the woman and to Diego, and, with a sigh, he conceded.

"Hey, Lila," Diego called softly, grabbing her attention once again. "Truth? She's dangerous. And you're scared of what she'll do with all that new power. That's why you dragged me to the Commission. Because I know what it's like to love dangerous people. Difference is . . ." He glanced around at the family, and Elizabeth gave him a smile as they locked eyes. He returned his gaze to Lila as he gave a small shrug and continued, "They love me back."

Lila raised the knife towards him again as she whispered, "Shut up."

"The only thing she loves is power," Diego proceeded, glancing down at the knife. "Now, the minute she can't use you, she will turn on you, and deep down, I know you know that."

"You don't know me, Diego," uttered Lila.

Keeping his eyes fixated on hers, Diego took a step forward, and the knife gently rested against his chest. "Don't I? I know that we can be your family . . . if you just let us."

Lila's eyes moistened as she stared up into Diego's eyes, and, slowly, she glanced around at each member of the family, all of whom gave her a smile.

Before anything else could be said, however, the piercing sound of gunshots rang through the air, and Elizabeth suddenly felt a sharp pain in her lower stomach that knocked her backwards.

Quickly, her eyes glanced towards the entrance of the farmhouse to see the Handler standing there, a heavy gun in her hand as she looked around.

Elizabeth swiftly shut her eyes and slowed her breathing, trying her best to pretend to be dead. She did her best to fight back a sob as she realized the others hadn't been so lucky, and she pressed her lips together.

"Diego, no . . . ," Lila cried, the sound of hay crunching sounding as she crawled over to him.

Elizabeth held her breath, trying not to imagine the blood that soaked Diego's clothes as Lila went towards him and softly wept.

"Aww," the Handler murmured amusedly.

Lila gave a small sniff before she asked, "It's true, what Five said, isn't it?"

"Darling, I need to know that we can get past this, be a happy family again!" the Handler urged, a smile practically in her voice. "Hm?"

There was a small pause before Lila croaked out. "They're my real family." Another small pause. "Do you even love me?"

Gunshots sounded again, and the thud of a body hitting the floor reached Elizabeth's ears.

Lila was dead.

"Que será, será," the Handler said lightly.

Elizabeth suddenly heard a gasp at the side of her, and she felt her hopes lift slightly; Five was still alive.

Unfortunately for him, it seemed as though the Handler had noticed as well, judging by the footsteps that then neared them.

"Oh, good!" she exclaimed. "You're still alive. Lucky you. You got to see how this all played out."

Elizabeth slightly peeked an eye open to see that the Handler was pointing the gun towards him, and she felt worry rise in her chest.

Then, the sound of gunshots—but not from the Handler's gun.

The Handler gave a gasp as she turned around to face her attacker, and she was only met with more bullets. Blood spurted from her chest, and she fell to the ground; someone had shot her from behind.

Elizabeth felt hopeful again. Was one of the siblings still alive?

That hope was soon diminished as she saw who walked up to them next: the remaining Swede.

As the Swede kept his attention on Five and pointed a gun towards him, Elizabeth racked her brain for anything, anything that could save them from the looming death that was to come in a matter of seconds.

And then, it hit her.

Reginald's voice rang through her head: 'Maybe your appetite is disproportionate to the size of your abilities. Start small. Seconds, not decades.'

And that was when she realized what she had to do.

Keeping her movements as quiet as possible, Elizabeth quickly slipped her hand under her back and willed for her energy to redirect its focus away from healing to creating a portal, though not one of location—no, this time, well . . . time.

Just as the portal grew big enough for her to fall through, the Swede quickly took notice of the swirling gold and changed the direction of the gun to her before pulling the trigger.

She felt a burning pain come to her stomach as multiple bullets fought their way through, but she ignored it as she travelled through her portal.

She glanced around the room as she exited the portal, where she saw the family surrounded Diego and Lila, who were speaking quietly.

Relief filled her as she realized she had done it—she had time-travelled successfully, but this was no time to celebrate.

Luckily, it seemed as though everyone had been too focused on what was happening with Diego and Lila to notice the sudden portal, and they hardly paid any attention to Elizabeth as she rounded the room and waited next to the entrance.

Swallowing the pain of her bullet wounds, Elizabeth's eyes widened as the Handler stepped in. Before she could shoot, Elizabeth grabbed the gun and twisted her arm, causing the rest of the family to turn towards them in surprise.

Elizabeth pointed the gun towards the Handler, who then raised her hands in defence.

"It's true, isn't it?" Lila questioned as she shifted her gaze to her mother. "What Five said."

The Handler didn't answer, instead looking over to the side and swallowing.

"Answer me!" Lila shouted angrily. "Is it true?"

The Handler lifted her chin, and began, "Well—"

Before she could finish her sentence, however, a round of bullets rang through the air as the Swede came in and shot her in the chest. The Handler gave a small grunt as she fell to the ground, and blood spilled out the corner of her mouth.

Lila, her eyes wide, then made a break for the briefcase that her mother had dropped, causing Luther to sprint forward.

"The case!" he yelled.

"No!" Diego shouted in protest as he turned towards him, causing Luther to bump into him, and the two men fell to the floor as Lila disappeared.

Nervously, Elizabeth stepped in front of the Swede and kept her gun pointed at him as he lifted his towards her.

After a moment's worth of a stare-down, Elizabeth dropped her gun to the ground and, in Swedish, murmured, "Enough."

The Swede turned his gaze to the siblings, examining them as they nervously shifted their weight from one foot to another, and repeated the same word as his gun clattered to the hay-covered floor.

Elizabeth let out a small sigh of relief as she watched him walk away; she would not be able to handle another gunshot.

"Who the hell was that guy?" Klaus questioned confusedly as he gestured towards the entrance.

Suddenly, Sissy's voice called, "Vanya! Help!"

"Harlan," Vanya realized as she swiftly headed towards the door.

Groaning softly, Elizabeth wrapped her arms around her waist to cover the blood that soaked her uniform and quickly followed Vanya before anyone could question her.

They headed into the basement to see that Harlan was in the corner, his knees tucked into his chest as the same energy from before swirled around him.

Vanya quickly dove in as the family surrounded them, and Vanya placed her hands on his knees. Orange light began to flow down his skin and into Vanya's hands, and they watched with bated breath.

After a moment, a white glow came from Harlan's chest and soon released over all of them, causing them to stumble back.

The swirl of energy was now gone, and Harlan looked around in bafflement before his nervous eyes met his mother's, and, with a smile on her face, Sissy rushed up to him and embraced him tightly.

Elizabeth, however, couldn't join in on this joyous moment as the pain became far too overbearing, and she quickly gripped Five's arm as she mumbled, "Five."

"Hm?" He turned towards her, though his smile soon dropped as he saw the blood on her hands. "Wha—"

Elizabeth stumbled back a couple of steps before falling to the ground, letting out a small moan of agony as she clutched at her stomach.

Now having noticed the small commotion, the family surrounded her, their eyes widening as Five kneeled down next to her and pushed her hands away from her stomach to reveal the bullet wounds.

"What the hell?" Diego questioned, dropping down next to Five, his breathing growing a little unsteady as his eyes roamed over her stomach. "When'd you get shot?"

Elizabeth didn't respond, rather just giving a small wave of the hand as she shook her head.

"Elle, I—" Five's eyes flickered her face before racing back to the bullet wounds in her stomach, and he shook his head. "How—"

"Explain later," she breathed out, her eyelids fluttering.

Diego then carefully scooped her up into his arms, making sure to not hurt her stomach as he adjusted his grip on her and immediately headed up the stairs, the rest of the family following closely behind.

"S-stay with us," Diego mumbled. "Eliz—Elizabeth—"

"It's—it's okay, Diego," Elizabeth whispered, wincing as pain struck her, and letting out a short breath.  "It's okay."

She fought hard to remain conscious, choosing to focus on Diego's moistening eyes as he stumbled his way up the stairs and towards the wrecked home.

Gently, he rested her on the couch, whose stuffing was beginning to pour out due to the bullet holes that covered it, and he crouched at her side as he gingerly laid her head on the armrest.

"Do we need to take the bullets out?" questioned Allison hushedly, sniffling slightly as the family enclosed around the couch.

"Only if they hit any vital organs," Luther answered. "Have they?"

"I ca-can't tell," Diego muttered as he glanced up at the bigger man. "H-her clothes are in th-the . . . the way."

"Here, let me just . . . ," mumbled Five as he leaned forward.

Delicately, he took off her blazer before he slipped the straps of her dress off her arms, and lowered her dress enough to reveal her stomach. He quickly unbuttoned the bottom buttons, and a few of the siblings gave small gasps as they saw the extent of blood that painted her skin.

"Why didn't you say anything?" breathed Vanya, her eyes fixated on the holes in her stomach.

Elizabeth could only let out a short breath in response, and she quickly motioned towards her stomach to tell them to hurry up.

Diego wiped his cheek with the back of his hand as he examined the placing of the bullet holes, and he shook his head. "It's—it's fine."

"So should we suture them then?" Five muttered, seeming to not mind the blood that coated Elizabeth's hand as he threaded his fingers through hers and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

Elizabeth shook her head.

"Why not?" Klaus asked with a wrinkled nose. "You'll bleed out."

"Her healing, you idiot," Allison pointed out as she smacked Klaus's arm, eliciting a groan in return. "There's no point."

"How are you feelin'?" Five murmured, his moistened eyes carefully inspecting her face, which was slightly screwed up in pain.

"Not great," she muttered, wincing and gripping Five's hand harder as a shot of pain went through her stomach.

"Please don't die," Klaus sighed.

"Klaus!" Allison exclaimed as she slapped his arm again and glared at him.

"What?" He raised his hands in surrender as he shrugged. "I don't want her to die!"

"No one's dying," reassured Elizabeth softly, slightly shaking her head.

"See?" Klaus gestured towards her as he scowled at Allison. "She's not gonna die!"

Everyone's eyes focused on the flecks of gold that appeared underneath her skin, and she was sure that her eyes were glowing the same colour.

"That's good," murmured Luther. "A lot faster than" —he glanced towards Diego— "the last time she got hurt this badly."

"Hey, no need to bring that up," chided Vanya as she shook her head.

Diego, however, didn't look as happy as everyone else to see that she was healing; his jaw was clenched, and only more tears gathered at the corners of his eyes as he gazed at her pain-stricken face.

"I-I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"For wh—" Elizabeth then let out a small sigh as she realized what he was talking about, and she shook her head. "It's no-not your fault."

"I co-could've done some-something," he muttered, completely ignoring her protest. "I was suppo—supposed to never l-let you get hurt."

Elizabeth then gave a loud groan of agony as a sharp pain hit her stomach, and her hand tightened its grip on Five's as the feeling of a million needles in her stomach arrived.

Klaus stared at her worriedly as he declared, "I take back what I said, I think she's gonna die."

"Klaus!" Another smack to the arm from Allison.

"Oh my God," Elizabeth breathed out, shutting her eyes as the burning intensified in her stomach—she wasn't even sure if that was due to her healing working, or if she really was dying. She really hoped it was the former.

Five quickly shooed the other family members away, and they stepped into the next room, rather reluctantly.

Diego had remained, however, and his eyes remained locked on her stomach as he shifted closer to the couch.

"Elle," Five murmured as he crouched down next to her head, "are you—"

"I'm fine," she reassured him, though she wasn't so sure how much she believed her own words. The pain was increasing exponentially, and her head was beginning to hurt from all the energy she had used. Her head grew dizzy, and she knew what she had to do. "I'm gonna just . . . pass out."

Five gave a stiff nod, his lips pressed together tightly as he softly gripped her hand. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead as her eyes fluttered shut, and, soon, she slipped out of consciousness.