Capítulo XIII- Pánico

Out of panic, Allison and Vydia shook Five, repeating his name. "Five, you moron we can't keep going without you," Vydia sniffled. "We need to take him to a hospital-"

Five opened his eyes, "No, a kid with a shrapnel might raise some questions. Take me back to the academy."

Five had a point. They would never get out of the constant questioning, not to mention his disappearance. "I might know a way to help him, but we need to hurry. Start the car." They rushed out of the attic, Vydia stomped down the stairs. She would've geo-leaped to the academy, but she didn't know if it'll affect Five. 

Allison opened the backseat door for her as Diego started the car. Vydia had Five's head on her lap. She was bouncing her knee anxiously as she ran her hands through his hair. She softly kept repeating 'I'm sorry' over and over under her breath. She should've pestered him to tell him what was wrong earlier.

"Stop." It was Five, he was awake again. 

Vydia apologized," Sorry."

"It's gonna be fine, Vee," he panted. Vydia bit her lip, staring outside holding him tighter. To short-lived car ride felt long to her. Arriving at the Academy, Allison opened the backseat door again allowing Vydia out with Five.

"We should have taken him to the hospital," Allison spoke.

Vydia sighed, "I know, but I'd never hear the end of it from his stubborn ass. I could stitch him up. When you spend time in the apocalypse, you know how to treat deep wounds." Vydia set Five on the couch as he groaned in pain. She apologized again for the billionth time. 

"He's still losing a lot of blood. What do we do?"

"We gotta get the shrapnel out," Diego instructed, walking away.

"He better be getting tools," Vydia lifted Five's shirt, blood seeped out of his wound. Her hands were stained with red paint. Vydia wiped her eyes with her wrist to get a clearer vision, blood erupted from Five's wound. "Shit," Vydia cursed.

Diego appeared with Grace by his side. "She's gonna help him, okay, Vydia?" Diego lowered himself to her level and put a hand on her shoulder. Hesitant, Vydia glanced between Five and Grace. She sent her a warm smile, the same warm smile she saw a few days ago at the ceremony. Vydia gave in, nodding, she let Grace take Five away.

Vydia sat on the couch, bouncing her knee. Unwanted thoughts raced through her head. Her body temperature got colder by the second, a wave of nausea struck her as her stomach twisted and turned to knots. Vydia didn't notice the couch dip next to her until a hand rested on her knee. Her glossy eyes glimpsed up to see Allison and Diego.

Allison removed her hand, "Oh my god, you're cold."

"I'm glitching again. My molecular structure is screwed up."

Allison nodded even though she didn't comprehend what Vydia meant. Still, she offered to comfort the verklempt girl. "Five's going to be okay. Mom is going to help him."

"Then why do I keep having these terrible thoughts in my head? What if one moment he's fine but the next he's in some casket? That's what happened with Thomas. We thought he was getting better," Vydia rambled.

Allison looked at Diego. She furrowed her eyebrows, asking, "Who's Thomas?"

"One sunny morning, something felt wrong. Parent instinct I guess you could say. We thought Thomas was just sleeping in but the feeling was getting worse. So, we tried waking him up, but he wouldn't budge. Five and I looked for a heartbeat and there wasn't. He passed during the night. I didn't- We didn't get to say goodbye." A whimper slipped through her lips. 

Allison and Diego's forehead creased not knowing what to say at the moment. They took in all the information Vydia exposed through her breakdown. They couldn't muster up what to say because Vydia was a 58-year-old woman who didn't need things sugar-coated. It took a while before they did anything but soon enough, Allison embraced her and Diego put his hand on her shoulder disregarding her cold touch.

Once Vydia calmed down from her breakdown, Allison left to call Vanya. Meanwhile, Diego and Vydia waited outside Five's door. She couldn't rip her gaze from him as Grace finished patching him up. Vydia's hands returned to her porcelain tone after spending 10 minutes in the bathroom washing Five's blood off. Her nails were the most difficult.

"Anything?" Diego asked his sister.

"There's no answer at Vanya's place and the receptionist at her school said she was a no-show for her lessons today." Diego started walking away but Allison stopped him. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah," Diego paused, "I don't know it's just surreal seeing her. I just want to tell her I'm s-" He cut himself off. "We don't have enough time. We gotta go," Diego proceeded to walk.

"I don't know, Diego. Five is laying there unconscious. We need them. Vydia isn't gonna want to leave until he's awake."

Vydia could feel their eyes set on her. Without bothering to spin around, she spoke, "She's right. I'm not leaving Five. Even though he might condemn. You have to stick together. You know where to go and if they aren't at the cabin then we can think of something else," Vydia finished.

Allison and Diego bobbed their heads and left. Vydia strayed towards Five to sit on his bed. She held Five's hand, running her thumb over his knuckles. "Is there anything you'd like, dear?" Grace warmly questioned.

Vydia lifted her head and met Grace's eyes. "Oh, uh- no, thank you, I'm okay," Vydia smiled. "Thank you, for saving him."

"It's what I do," Grace said, smiling. She rose and left Five's room.

Vydia laid next to Five's left side, waiting for him to wake. She rested on her side with her hands tucked underneath her head. Her eyes landed on the prosthetic eye on Five's desk. "Stupid eye," Vydia scowled. She turned to the other side, bringing her head closer to Five. 

Vydia faded in and out of sleep, she fought to keep herself awake. Unfortunately, her body betrayed her and she fell asleep.

Five took a deep breath and fluttered his eyes open. He glanced around his room and to his side when he heard light breathing. Vydia's eyes were tightly shut from distress. "Vee," Five's soft voice spoke.

Vydia's eyes shot open. She cringed as her heavy eyes burned. She rubbed her eyes, sitting up against the bed frame. Finally, aware of what suddenly woke her up, Vydia grabbed Five's hand. "I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for?" Five placed his hand on top of hers.

"For not noticing sooner. You were hurt and I didn't notice until you almost died. Did the explosion back at the commission do this?'

Five sighed, "Yeah, but that's not important. We had the name of whoever was respo-"

"So you did," she emphasized, "There was a shrapnel in you. I know it's selfish but I can't continue if you die on me. What would have happened if you bled out? We've already lost Thomas, I can't lose you too." She broke eye contact and glanced at the desk upfront. Tears slowly fell from Vydia's eyes, "I didn't know how to cope with his death. Five, I'm a mess. If it wasn't obvious already."

Five knew Vydia was far from okay but when he did ask or tried to talk to her about it, Vydia always changed the topic. "I miss him too, but we can't go back and fix it," Five lamented. "I'm here and I'm okay," he grabbed her hands to bring her attention to him.

Vydia wiped her eyes and weakly smiled. "I know and I'm sorry for calling you a moron." Five furrowed his eyebrows. "It was when you passed out. I was kinda mad at you."

A lazy grin invaded his face. Confusion struck Vydia's. "Typical Vydia Bennet, always calling people names."

Vydia hit his arm rolling her eyes out of reflex. Five winced. "Sorry." She leaned her head on his shoulder, "I love you."

Five placed his head on top of hers, "I love you, too."