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Back at Elliots, they reconvened in the sitting area - Five sitting on the armchair like a normal person while Anneli took to perching on the floor with her back to the coffee table.

He'd told her to just pick the other chair and sit down but she'd argued with a Thai food container in one hand and chopsticks in the other that the floor was more comfortable.

She stood by her claim. (Or sat.)

She'd watched him eat out of the corner of her eye and it was a brief moment where they were allowed to have a break; he may have caught her watching and thought it was odd, but she felt somewhat protective over him after coming to terms with how Five had been back for two weeks almost with no pause between apocalypses.

It was hypocritical of course; she didn't put much care into her own wellbeing but when it came to other people with any significance to her life she felt like a mother bear looking out for her cubs.

The meeting with Luther had put them both in a foul mood, solemn for prospects of how the rest of their plan to find the others would go.

"Any insight on bargain batman?" He asked out of curiosity.

She didn't look up from her food and picked at her noodles. "Milkman and the brothers tried to kill him..." she racked her brain for what she'd got snippets of earlier. "They're not dead at least, or I'd have seen it."

"They?"

She nodded and shrugged a shoulder. "Didn't see her face but he's found himself a girl who's following him like a lost puppy."

Five sighed and leant back. "Great. Another crazy person to deal with." He muttered.

She glared up from her food and he realised his mistake, backtracking quickly. "Not you." He added, putting his hand up in apology before scratching the back of his neck, looking away.

She stayed quiet and decided to let it pass purely because he'd gotten flustered and she enjoyed watching him struggle for words.

She stood up after a few minutes to clear away the takeout food leftover when her vision suddenly went white and she stumbled, slamming her knee on the table.

"Ow!"

"Hey-"

Hands grabbed her forearms to steady her and she closed her eyes, blinking to get rid of the static in her vision - it looked like white spots dancing across her sight and she grimaced, rubbing at her eyebrows with the back of her hand.

"You good?" Five asked cautiously, still holding her by the arms.

She blinked rapidly, her vision slowly clearing up but her head still fely strange, light, and she felt like she had blacked out for a moment.

"My knee hurts." She mumbled, standing straight and only when Five saw her upright without wobbling did he let her go with an air of caution. 

Five's frown concerned her. "Yeah, you just hit it on the table, I'm not surprised."

"Did I?" She frowned and pushed some her hair out of her face. "What was I going to... oh."

Her head cleared finally as she noticed the empty food containers on the table. She was intending to clear up. She remembered now. Why did she forget that? Wasn't it just a few seconds ago?

That glitch of a vision had fucked with her train of thoughts.

"Are you okay?" He asked hesitantly, scanning her face.

She swallowed and ran a hand through her hair, thoughtful. "Yes, sorry," she rubbed her eyes again as they started stinging like she'd got soap in them. "Can... can we forget that happened?" She whispered awkwardly, cheeks reddening in embarrassment.

She felt like such a burden, she couldn't even stand up without Five having to stop her from hurting herself. And she couldn't control when things like this happened.

He watched her carefully and his worry was growing the more time that passed. Something about Anneli just didn't seem... right. And yes, four years had passed and they had only recently rekindled their rel- friendship. But he felt for certain that something was really wrong with her.

He nodded and her nerves were settled slightly. She avoided eyecontact and went to grab the food leftover but a hand beat her to it.

"I've got it." He assured her, collecting the containers and spacial jumping to the kitchen before throwing it in the trash.

She wasn't sure what to do with herself just standing there watching him.

She chewed the inside of her cheek and settled on the edge of the small couch, tucking the longer strands of her hair behind her ears. Her eyes remained on the floor.

"I'll go and find Diego in the morning. I'm sure he'll be fine for the night." Five said dismissively while sitting back down.

She curled up into the corner of the couch and nodded, still staring at the blurry spot on the floorboards and trying to will it to focus.

"You should probably get some sleep."

She hummed, pulling her hood up over her head and tucking her hands into her sleeves. "You should too."

"I will."

She shot him a look.

"I've still got the caffeine in my system," he defended himself. "I'll sleep eventually."

She stared distrustingly at him before sighing and closing her eyes, curled into a ball with her head in her arms on the arm rest. It didn't take a lot for her to fall asleep, and Five found himself watching her - not in a creepy way, but out of concern.

He tried not to show it but things were getting worse the closer they got to doomsday and he didn't know what to do.

Anneli was trying to hide it or cover it up, downplaying the severity of whatever was happening to her, and maybe it was her powers backfiring on her or maybe it was something else entirely - he didn't know what to think.

He just knew it wasn't good, whatever it was.

They planned to get the Frankel footage checked out by Elliot by morning and Anneli had already guessed it was from Hazel just by glancing at the object in his hand. Her intuition had worked then, but it was strange.

Nothing with her inner sight had been clear in twenty nineteen, now things were spiking and dipping drastically along with her health.

Like her, he didn't know what to make of it.

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