His Only Hope

Scars

"Fine," Luther said after a moment of awkward silence. "Empty your pockets." Everyone began digging through their pockets, and you raised your eyebrows when you pulled a battery and spool of string out of one.

"Condom?" Luther asked as he held a few out in his open hand. "Put the knife away!"

"Can't exchange those for cash," Klaus informed him. "Why do I have a hairnet?"

"Oh!" Luther exclaimed, pulling off his watch. "All right. What does this get us?"

Chet took the small piece of jewelry, inspecting it with a magnifying glass.

"One room."

Your siblings groaned, but you dug around some more in your pockets, relieved to find a torn-up five-dollar-bill and handful of coins.

"Here," you said, dumping them on the counter. Chet counted them out quickly before walking over to a wall of shelves, taking something from one of them.

"Two rooms," he said as he handed you two keys, and Luther slapped you on the back happily, making you wince.

"Awesome," Klaus whispered giddily, grabbing the keys, as Chet said 'mazel tov'.

"All right," Allison said after a moment. "Well, let's Brady Bunch this bitch."

"Uh, meet back in the bar in two hours so we can make a plan," Five said as you walked down the lengthy hallway toward the rooms.

"I have a plan," Diego said, leaping up onto the stairs so that he could turn and face all of you. "We attack the Sparrows, and we take back the house, and then we punch Dad a bit until he admits that we're better and he loves us more! Boom! Done! We're wasting time!"

You paused to face Diego as everyone else walked into the next hallway.

"Oh, come on," you said, wiping more blood off of your nose. "Do we really care about them? We've got everyone here."

"They're going to hunt us down if we don't first," Diego insisted, his eyes trailing to your torn pants. "You're a wreck, kid."

"I'm not a kid," you muttered. Before you could shove past him, he grabbed your shoulder gently and pulled you back. You still winced, though, your back aching from slamming into the wall multiple times in the past few hours. His dark eyes fell to your cheek, and you turned your head to the side self-consciously.

"Eight," he said firmly. "I'm... listen. I'm sorry about when we were younger. I didn't mean it. You're not a... I mean..." He looked uncomfortable with having to apologize.

"Yeah, I get it," you said. "It doesn't matter anymore. I'm over it."

"No, it does matter," he said, his voice turning agitated. "And you're not. I can tell."

You looked up at him, frowning.

"Since when are you Mr. Kindness and Love?" You walked past him after the others, but he jogged next to you.

"I can care about my little sister," he said. "I'm trying to watch out for you."

"Maybe I should be watching out for you," you replied tersely. "I'm the one with the shield power, remember?"

Everyone stepped into the elevator, and Five shot you a questioning look, but you shook your head. You felt bad for brushing Diego off - he was making an effort to make you feel better. He never did that.

"Hey," Five said softly as you were pushed into the far corner. "You all right?"

You nodded quickly, staring at the gash in his forehead again.