☂ 𝑰𝑵𝑺𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻 || 𝙵𝙸𝚅𝙴 𝙷𝙰𝚁𝙶𝚁𝙴𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚂 𝚡 𝙾𝙲 || 𝑩𝑲. 𝟐 ☂

28. DOWN THE SPARROW HOLE WE GO

Elaina stared up at the hole in the ceiling with a frown, a frown that deepened as her eyes followed the trail of the loose and scattered bricks from Sissy's ruined chimney. Her gaze fell upon the pile of bricks that fell on Five -- correction. The pile of bricks she blasted to fall on, not just Five, but Luther too. Elaina let out a deep breath, her left hand tightening it's preexisting grip on her right arm, wincing slightly from the sharp pain it brought. Though the tears finally stopped flowing, it didn't stop the heaviness in her chest.

After her siblings managed to calm and convince her to stop apologizing, they heard Sissy's cries for help in the barn's cellar and all followed Vanya where they found Harlon huddled in the corner, terrified. Vanya managed to enter in the colorful, mini energy vortex that surrounded the young boy and, after a few encouraging words from her, Vanya placed her hands on Harlon's knees as orange orbs of lights shined through his skin. The orbs all made their way to Vanya's hands as she absorbed them back into her body, seemingly removing any bit of power that he accidentally received from her. Once that was done, and all was calm, the siblings separated, needing time on their own to decompress everything that's happened.

And here we are now.

"Stop it," the voice made Elaina turn her head to the side, Five standing not too far away from her in the destroyed living room, a first aid kit in his hands. "I can hear you blaming yourself,"

"How can I not?" she said, the frown still prominent on her face. "I lived with Tony for nearly a year, and I never suspected anything," she scoffed humorlessly. "He turned me into his goddamn puppet. If his hold over me never broke, I would've-"

"But you didn't," interrupted Five as he walked over to her.

She stared up at him as he stopped right before her. "I was pretty damn close," she whispered, swallowing the lump in her throat.

Five sighed, his own eyes going towards the hand that held her arm. "How's your arm?" he changed the subject, not wanting her to dwell on it.

She looked down at it as well, lifting her hand off her arm. Elaina removed her jacket earlier, so she was now only sporting her short sleeve turtleneck. She lifted the sleeve slightly to get a better look at the weeping wound.

"Still bleeding," she said, staring at it a bit disappointed. "It's been over an hour," she noted, looking back at the boy. "I think I need some stitches. Can you help me? It's been a while,"

Five gave her a soft smile, bringing up the first aid kit and shaking it gently. "Call me doctor," he said lightly, nudging his head over to the relatively intact couch. "Come on, let's sit down,"

Elaina followed his lead as they took a seat on the couch, Elaina rolling her sleeve up completely as Five began to sanitize the stitching needle with an alcohol wipe. She grabbed a wipe as well, cleaning off the excess blood from the cut as she watched him thread the suture string. Once they both finished, Five leaned in and began to stitch the finger-length slice.

Five looked up momentarily to see her wince slightly from the needle. "So, is this it?" he said, turning his attention back to the task. "No more healing?"

Elaina shrugged with the opposing arm. "This is the longest it's been so far. Unless I'm just healing very slowly and my stitches will just end up randomly popping out later, then, yeah. This may be it. No more serum,"

"Well, hopefully, that doesn't happen," joked Five as it put in the next suture. "Exactly how long has it been since your last stitch?"

"15 years," she responded after some thought. "Remember the Paris job?"

Five looked at her with both his brows raised. "Since then?" he asked, remembering one of their last missions together.

She chuckled briefly. "Yup. A nice 5-stitcher on my back, though I think this one might give it a run for its money," she said, wincing suddenly. "Ow,"