𝐌𝐀𝐃 𝐈𝐐𝐬 || five hargreeves ¹ [✔]

𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 || 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐍'𝐓

— ❝ I NEED A LITTLE CAT NAP BEFORE I SAVE THE WORLD. ❞

☂︎

Rin rounded the corner of the bar and climbed carefully up into one of the seats. She patted the leather cover of the one next to her. "C'mere, Luth." Her voice sounded clearer now. More solemn. She lifted the rim of her paper coffee cup to her lips and took a sip, nose scrunching from the alcohol she had saturated it with.

Luther begrudgingly took the seat. He waited for his sister to say something. There was an awkward silence as she gulped down the rest of her concoction and threw the emptied cup over her shoulder.

"Sometimes," Rin's tone had lost its playfulness from earlier, "I wonder if it would have been better if I had died and Vi lived. Her and Muffin. Given those bastards what they wanted from the start."

Luther's spine straightened and he frantically shook the girl's shoulder. "What? No, don't say that, Rin." He was stunned when she knocked his wrist away from her with a strength he didn't know she still had.

"Do you wanna know what she was like?" Rin asked softly. A sparkle started to light itself in her eyes and her lips started to smile. Luther hummed a 'mhm' and he shifted in his seat, giving the girl his attention.

"She was just perfect. I met her when I was, like, nineteen working at a bakery. She was the same age and new in town. Her family there from Dallas for a fresh start and I could tell from the moment I saw her that I was gonna marry her. She came by every day and ordered the same thing, stuck around for hours until I had to go on my break or clock out. What really convinced me, though, was when she met Muffin for the first time. The damn cat liked her more than me." Rin blew out a dry laugh.

"She loved to write. She had this little journal that was filled with random things; poems about anything, pages and pages of doodles and entries about her days, messages to her mom - who, by the way, abandoned her when she found out she was seeing me."

The girl glanced at her brother, who was staring back with heartfelt sympathy. "She gardened, too. We planted fruits and veggies and herbs for her to cook with because she did that, too. But she had this tiny flower garden in front of the porch and she planted roses and lilies and violets. Only those three. She called it her 'Evergarden' and watered it every day for ten years. She was so soft spoken and sweet and gentle. She could never hurt a fly and had the voice of an angel. Yet I was the one who got a second chance. When Five told us about the apocalypse, I was actually at peace with it if it meant I could see her again."

"If this is your extended way of turning your back on this, then-" Luther argued when she fell quiet. His sister shushed him loudly, sighing.

"Let me finish, Luth." She moaned, nearly banging her forehead against the counter to quiet the pounding. "Violet reminded me of someone and I never realized it until now. Not 'till I came back."

"Who?" Luther asked. He didn't know what to expect as the answer, especially when his sister snorted and giggled like a madwoman.

"Five." She admitted. Luther's mouth fell open, only making her laugh harder. "I know, it sounds fucking crazy but there's something about them. When I lost Five, my world fell apart. I stranded myself in another goddamn timeline to find him - which was my fault, sure, but I felt like I couldn't live without him. I've loved him since I was..." Rin shook her head, "I can't even remember. But Violet... She was just like him. They were different. They were fighters - Five more brutal than her, albeit. They'd do whatever it took to protect the people they love. Luther, our chances at beating the end of the world are slim. Probably close to zero. But if there's even a tiny part of it that means I can spend my life with Five then I'm in."