Attacca ─ Five Hargreeves

04. Secrets and Lies

That night wrapped up in heavy silence, and the next morning Five decided not to bring anything up. He acted as if those words had never come out of her lips. And since then, he frequently asked himself—was he doing this right? Did he do something wrong? Was there anything he shared that was offensive to make her think that way? He didn't have much experience with this, he had always been someone who thought he did better on his own, but it didn't mean he wished that to be his entire personality.

Five had been alone before and he wanted to be okay with it, but it hadn't completely worked out. He truly hated the concept of being the only human alive. He spent months talking to a mannequin, for goodness sake. It was already bizarre, but he had no choice. Hell, he wasn't thinking about anything, he just needed something to take his mind off his unfortunate fate. At first, he didn't want to take notice of that beeping sound. He almost opted to leave, it was too much for him. That day he was ready to try his spatial jump again, he didn't care where it took him, anywhere better, anywhere but here.

However, then, Genevieve came into the scenario.

The girl was as clueless as Five was. She really didn't know what to do when she woke up only to discover the world had been destroyed by who knows what. She lost everyone, everything, exactly the same as him, but she managed to handle it just fine. She grieved for her family in silence, yet she didn't let those emotions got the best of her. He noticed that she preferred to bottle it up and sort it out in her head until it condensed on its own. There were no complaints even though what she got did not match the plan given by her mother.

Sure, it did take some time for her body to function properly as before, and he did say not to slow him down, but it was just him being himself, the one who didn't allow her to know that he favoured the idea of her as a helpmate in the apocalypse. After arriving in this timeline, he couldn't tally how many times he despised being alone, and then there she was. She came out of nowhere, and it was enough. So, if he had to do something to keep her, he would.

After all, Five was also the one who had awakened Genevieve. The last thing he could think of doing was leaving her alone.

That was why Five tried.

He attempted to include himself more in the conversation, responding to her questions, and letting her help with their supply-seeking activities. It wasn't that bad, she wasn't always talkative either, she gave him the space he needed if necessary. It felt like she was aware that he wasn't essentially capable of setting up friendships every day. And he was just glad she didn't ask anything personal yet because he didn't know if he would be able to recall the memories with his family, not after he also witnessed the adult versions of his siblings die trying to avert this destruction from happening.

"What's that?" asked Five when he found the girl crouching down while staring straight at an old, torn leaflet.

"The Orchestra Verdammten," her fingers brushed the ragged piece of paper agitatedly as she spoke, "they held a concert last year. April first."

"Is it something you know?"

Genevieve shook her head. "No, but... turns out my brother was part of it." She looked so puzzled as if trying to make sense of it. "I don't remember him liking this kind of music."

"Well, he had eighteen years to get a hobby," the boy assumed. "I'm done here, let's go."

Five had a point. It wasn't like Genevieve had just gotten into the pod a month ago, it had been eighteen years ago. She had been in the apocalypse for a year now. And everything must have changed during her absence, their lives continued to move onward as time passed, and it was unlikely for it to just remain as it was.