Prophet - Five Hargreeves X oc UMBRELLA ACADEMY

13

On the way to the Academy again, Anneli remained uncharacteristically quiet and Five had noticed.

He watched her out the corner of his eye as they ascended the stairs, and he was about to comment on it now they were alone when a trail of dirty footprints caught their eye in the middle of the hallway.

Anneli furrowed her eyebrows and followed the trail, ending up at Klauses room.

Her heart skipped a beat when she saw him, alive, she didn't even think as she raced forward to hug him.

He stumbled back with a "whoa!" before settling his arms around the shorter girl, slightly dazed and confused.

Five stopped in the doorway to watch the scene.

She tightened her arms around his midsection and he patted her shoulder, unsure what to say to break the silence. Finally, she pulled away.

"I thought you had died!" She exclaimed, looking him up and down, noting some changes about him.

Something was off.

He was surprised for a moment. "Oh," he was weakly smiling. "Nice to see someone noticed my absence..."

"Hvordan gar det med deg?" She asked quickly, glancing him up and down, eyes lingering on the dog tags and the new tattoos. He looked like a different man. She answered herself before he even could. "You look bad."

"Thanks?" He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

She backed away as Five stepped into the room, watching his brother closely, hands in his pockets.

His first inquiry was of his general rough appearance. Second being the dog tags and third, the new tattoos.

Anneli scrunched her eyebrows together when a flash of an image embedded itself in her head.

Her ears rang.

Klaus was on the floor in front of her. It was dark. He was sobbing over the body of a man she didn't recognise, covered in blood and dirt.

She stepped back, bumping into the wardrobe and caught herself, blinking out of it. Her chest ached as Five interrogated Klaus carelessly.

Klaus shifted his eyes to her for a split second but returned them to the floor.

"Your pals, when they broke into the house and couldn't find you, they took me hostage instead." Klaus explained with a pained expression.

Anneli sat on the bed next to him and wrapped her arm around his torso for comfort. He deflated at her kind touch.

"So in return you took their briefcase," Five shook his head with a small smile and she glared at him for not taking into account Klauses emotional state.

"Then I opened it..."

"And you were where? Or should I say when?"

Klaus put his head in his hands. "What difference does it make?" He hissed tiredly.

'Vietnam war,' she mouthed silently and Five straightened, staring wide eyed at his brother.

"Do you know what this means?"

"Yeah, I'm ten months older now-"

"-no, this isn't any sort of joke, Klaus." He paced up and down, thinking rapidly. "Hazel and Cha-cha will do whatever it takes to get that briefcase-"

"-Five," Anneli cut in, the dread returning to her stomach. He looked at her and noted her forlorn expression. She shook her head sligthly. "It's destroyed."