Love Even Near the End; Five Hagreeves

31

We finally make our way back to the lobby, tired and grunting from all of the pain.

Then I see-

Wait.

Klaus?

I run up to everyone, trying to get a better look.

"You look like hell." He says. I smile.

"Why don't you try killing a guardian?" Five asks from behind me.

"We just did," Allison says.

"So did we," Ben replies

"Klaus, I thought you were dead?" Sloane says. I can hear the hope in her voice and my heart shatters a little.

"Yes, yes, I'm alive and amazing, despite Dad's attempts to bash my brains in, but tearful reunions later. What you guys need to know right now is that" He pauses, "Dad killed Luther. And he locked me out of the tunnel, and he rang that stupid bell!" Klaus says.

I can see the look on Five's face change as he turns around to confront Reginald.

"What's your plan, old man?" He asks.

"We don't have time for this," Reginald responds.

"You killed Luther!" Sloane yells.

"I had no choice. You refused to come together as a team." Reginald says.

"All of your stupid myths and stories. There were never eight bells or Norsemen. You brought us here to die!" Ben says.

"That's not so," Reginald says.

"Oh please," I say, "You've never cared about us, let alone ever given a shit about us? What kind of fucked up reason will you give for us to believe you now? You've always been a liar, ever since I was little, you cheated at every game, found every puzzle piece, and followed every trail. Why should we believe you now?" I say.

Everyone looks at me in shock, not having expected me to say anything.

"This is not a game, children, this is a life or death situation. If you don't do what I say we will never accomplish the prophecy." Reginald replies.

"Oh, don't give us that bullshit," Ben says.

"Listen! Somewhere in this hotel is the key to resetting the universe. We just need to find the sigil!"

"I don't care about your sigil! None of us do." Sloane says.

"We barely survived that guardian with his stupid helmet and his sickle!" Diego says.

Viktor quietly speaks from behind us, "The guardian we killed had an axe."

"Ours had a sword," Sloane says.

Diego and Lila look at each other. "There's one left."

"We have to go after it," Sloane says.

"Yeah, because that worked so well the first time," Ben says.

"Oh shut the fuck up, Ben. Sloane is just giving suggestions. And besides, you couldn't have even cared less when it came to fighting. I'm sure that you can sit on the sidelines just like you did last time!" I say.

Ben scoffs at me, turning away.

"You got any painkillers, or could you just please shut up?" Klaus asks.

The family continues to argue as I notice that Five isn't by me anymore. I look around and notice that he's standing on the balcony looking at the floor.

What is he doing?

"Hey, I found the sigil! It's on the-" Five yells. But then we all hear glass break.

I see the guardian jump out from the ceiling and swing a blade a Five. And it cleanly cuts his arm off.

"Five!" I yell.

The guardian growls and starts swinging, hitting Klaus next.

"Shit!" I yell, moving away.

The guardian throws a bomb and it hits us, throwing us back.

Diego attempts to fight it but it doesn't work. He gets thrown into the ground as the guardian reaches Sloane next.

"No!" I scream, my voice breaking. Tears run down my face as I try and shut them but then I notice that the guardian stopped moving.

"Nobody hurts my wife, you son of a bitch."

Luther.

He throws the guardian back and he falls to the floor, motionless.

I smile. She's okay.

-Short chapter for an update. I'm so sorry it was so short!!