ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ ᴇɪɢʜᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴅɪᴠᴏʀᴄᴇ
'ʙᴜɢ ʜᴇʀ'

Inanna sat on one of the few benches that were randomly placed around the Sparrows courtyard. Her skin had been itched sore but each red mark from her nails was hidden by the dark blood that stained her skin and the white shirt she wore.

She hadn't tried to wash away the blood that clung to her skin, nor had she looked for another shirt in the diner so she could get rid of the blood soaked white one before leaving with Allison and Harlan's body which had been chucked into the trunk of the car. Inanna hadn't done either of those, because simply she didn't care about the consequences that followed her recent actions.

Luther had kept his distance from Inanna, watching from her the opposite side of the courtyard with Sloane, their faces reflecting the same worry that grew with each minute of Inanna's loud silence.

"Maybe you should talk to her" Sloane suggested for the second time after being shut down immediately the first time less than half an hour before.

"No. Absolutely not" Luther shook his head, firmly sticking to his answer by avoiding eye contact with Sloane. "She will tear my jugular out with her teeth" Luther whispered harshly, pointing at his throat, which he had half hidden with the collar of the Sparrow jacket he wore.

"She's upset" Sloane argued, discreetly pointing over at Inanna who hadn't averted her gaze away from a bush that stood in front of her.

"She's a murderer" Luther said, dropping his voice even quieter, believing that Inanna would still be able to hear him.

"You're just going to leave her?" Sloane asked, feeling sorry for the woman who hadn't uttered a single word since she had left the diner with Allison.

"Yes" Luther nodded. "Five can deal with her later" Luther mumbled, averting his gaze from Inanna, not wanting her to look up and see him staring at her.

"You said that Five would be the worst person for her to talk to right now. You said that" Sloane poked her finger into Luther's chest.

Luther's eyes darted from Sloane's finger to her face. "What do I know?" Luther asked "I've never been married before. I've never even been in a relationship until I met you".

Sloane sighed. "Luther, she's-".

"Oh no" Luther pointed towards the door behind Inanna which had been pushed open by Delaney. "She's going to die" Luther whisper shouted, as Delaney walked over to Inanna holding a damp cloth in her hand and a mug of coffee in the other. "She's going to murder her with that mug" Luther panicked pointing at the red mug that Delaney held.

Delaney sat down on the bench, purposely leaving space between them. Delaney sat the mug of coffee down on the bench between her and Inanna, keeping the cloth in her hand. Anna had been against Delaney going to see Inanna, but Delaney had wanted to speak to Inanna since the Sparrows had attacked at the hotel, and she couldn't stand seeing her girlfriends double looking so lost.

Delaney extended the damp cloth to Inanna when Inanna turned her head an inch to see who had joined her outside.

Inanna took the cloth from Delaney, giving her a thankful nod. "Are you okay?" Delaney asked, although she knew it was a stupid question to ask.

Inanna didn't respond as she scrubbed at the blood that had dried on her fingers and under her nails. Luther had taken the silence as a bad thing, but Delaney knew that Inanna was just thinking — Anna did the same thing when everything got too much, she'd fall silent for hours, sometimes even days.

Inanna wasn't thinking about the blood or Harlan's lifeless body, she was thinking about the burn that once tore apart her body with every breath she took. Inanna hadn't noticed it at first, too focused on everything else, but in this silence of the car as Allison drove them to the Sparrows, Inanna had realised that her body was no longer phasing and that the tearing pain no longer ran across every inch of her body.

"I didn't know how you like your coffee" Delaney glanced down at the mug next to her. "Anna hates coffee but occasionally she drinks it black, so I-" Delaney shrugged, realising that she was rambling about the coffee.

"I don't like coffee" Inanna's voice was quiet but it startled Delaney who hadn't expected a response from the red head.

"Oh!" Delaney shook her head, going to pick up the mug again so she could make her a different drink, but Inanna stopped her.

"I didn't say I wouldn't drink it" Inanna turned her head to look at Delaney. "You shouldn't waste coffee" Inanna repeated what Five had said to her.

Delaney gave Inanna a small smile. "My mother used to say the same thing" Delaney's smile grew at the memory of her mother drinking a large mug of coffee every morning.

Delaney's mother had died six years ago, unexpectedly and suddenly from a heart attack while working at Hotel Obsidian with Delaney's grandfather. Delaney had taken over her work afterwards, knowing that her grandfather needed the help as he got older.

"Anna didn't send me to spy on you" Delaney said, noticing how Inanna's shoulders tensed slightly. "And I didn't tell Anna that you were staying at the hotel either" Delaney continued as Inanna looked at her. "I never wanted any harm to come to you or your family and if I had known how bad things would have gotten I would have warned you".

"Well, that's over and done with now" Inanna muttered, scrubbing at her itching skin again.

"Careful" Delaney sat her hand hesitantly over Inanna's as she shifted closer to her. "Let me help" Delaney knew she was over stepping but she knew Inanna would tell her to leave if she felt like Delaney was invading.

Inanna loosened her grip on the cloth as Delaney took it from her fingers. Delaney held Inanna's wrist and turned over her hand. Inanna opened her hand and Delaney began gently scrubbing at the dried blood on Inanna's palm which had sunk into the faint lines and the crescent scars.

It fell silent between Inanna and Delaney, until Delaney decided to speak again. "You know, you even sound the same" Delaney said, her eyes locking with Inanna's as she glanced to her face. "I didn't expect you to sound so alike but I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised, right?".

Inanna didn't respond and she averted her gaze back to her hand, watching as the blood slowly disappeared with each swipe of the cloth.

"I don't expect you to tell me anything, Inanna, but if you keep it all bottled up, from someone who has loved another version of you for five plus years, I know it will only make you feel worse" Delaney said, stopping her movements for a moment as she spoke. "Violence doesn't have to be the only outlet for your anger and pain, you have people who love you-" Delaney glanced to Luther and Sloane. "-and if you speak to them, i'm sure they will listen".

Delaney left Inanna alone once Inanna's hands were almost spotless and when she passed by Luther and Sloane, entering the academy through the door next to them, she urged Luther to speak to Inanna.

With further encouraging words from Sloane and her promising that she wouldn't let Inanna hurt him, Luther hesitantly walked over to Inanna and sat on the edge of the bench.

"If you're going to tell me that I shouldn't have killed Harlan, you should keep your mouth shut" Inanna leaned forwards, pressing her elbows into her knees as she rested her head in her hands.

Luther shook his head, looking over at Sloane who waved her hands at him, encouraging him to speak.

"I-I, uh... Are you okay?" Luther asked, Inanna nodded. "Do you- should we find someone for you to talk to? Maybe Grace or-".

"I'm not talking to a robot with one eye" Inanna muttered.

It fell silent between Luther and Inanna, with Luther fighting the urge to run away from her when she picked up the coffee mug next to her and drank half of the hot drink within seconds.

Inanna tossed the remaining liquid into the bush behind her, making Luther flinch as she sat the mug on the floor next to the bench.

Luther looked over to Sloane who was half hidden behind a tree and mouthed 'Help me' as his eyes flickered from her to Inanna.

Sloane mouthed 'Hug her' but Luther struggled to work out what she was trying to say. Luther squinted his eyes, hoping it would help him, but it didn't and he was still lost, repeating 'Bug' over and over in his head.

Sloane sighed and she shook her head as she wrapped her arms around the tree trunk to demonstrate what she wanted Luther to do and she mouthed 'Hug her' again before pointing at Inanna.

Finally understanding, Luther shook his head. He didn't think it would be the wisest thing to do. He knew that Inanna didn't enjoy physical touch — unless it came from Five — the shoving or slapping of hands whenever Diego or Klaus had touched her shoulder told Luther that he would only end up fingerless if he dared to.

But Sloane was persistent with her words and her soft glare began burning into his skin as she grew impatient with the large man who was afraid of the woman next to him.

"Inanna" Luther cleared his tight throat, which he believed was closing up to save him from a painful death. Inanna hummed, "Do you-" Luther held in his scared laugh. "Do you want a hug?" Luther asked.

Inanna turned to look at Luther as he extended his arms slowly out to his sides, with his shoulders tensed and brows furrowed deeply.

Inanna straightened up, flattening her palms against her knees. "From you?" Inanna asked.

Luther nodded, afraid that if he spoke his voice would give away how scared he was in that moment.

Inanna nodded, just as hesitantly as Luther had done seconds before, her response shocking Luther who was preparing for a knife to the torso.

Luther shuffled across the bench, dropping his arms down, and when he was close enough to Inanna, he waited for Inanna to make the first move.

Inanna shook her head, turning her gaze away from Luther as she leaned her head against his shoulder. Sloane raised her thumbs at Luther, smiling proudly at him when he put his arm around Inanna.

The tension in Luther's shoulders only disappeared when he heard Inanna sniffle quietly, and realising that she was crying, Luther wrapped his other arm around her, placing his hand on the back of her head to comfort her.

Inanna's hug with Luther lasted much longer than any of them had expected and so Anna volunteered to go to the hotel to collect the rest of the Umbrellas for a joint family meeting.

Delaney had tried to join her but Anna was against the idea, knowing that at the academy Delaney was much safer, but when Anna arrived at the hotel, she partially wished she had allowed Delaney to come with her, to keep her company while she searched every floor for the others.

"I didn't get this by giving a mummy a hand job, all right?" Anna scoffed, recognising Diego's voice at the end of long hallway. "I went in there, and I lost my fingers to this thing with... with a knife on a chain".

"Hey, look, Diego might be 90% moron and 10% pelvic thrusts, but he's right about Oblivion, okay? We're not just gonna waltz back in there just because you say so" Anna didn't recognise the woman's voice and she didn't care all too much, but the word 'Oblivion' which she had heard her father say more than once in conversation with Pogo, piqued her interest slightly.

Anna entered the large and obnoxiously pink hotel suite which was decorated with white fluffy furniture, turning her nose up in disgust.

"This room is vile" Anna fake gagged as she glanced at the buffalo head on the wall. "Oh, what did you ever do to deserve such poor treatment" Anna brushed her hand against the stuffed buffalos fur as Diego and Lila turned to her, following Five's line of sight — who had expected to see his wife when he turned around.

"How did you get in here?" Diego asked, subtly putting his arm in front of Lila.

"I walked in. It's a hotel" Anna responded, dropping her hand next to her side.

"What do you want?" Five asked, untucking his hands from his pockets as he took a step towards her.

Like Delaney, Five also found it odd that Inanna and Anna sounded exactly the same, he wasn't surprised, but it did throw him off, especially since Anna looked like a slightly older version of his wife.

"Ben has called a family meeting. We already have three of you, we just need the rest of you to get this thrilling family gather going" Anna shrugged lacing her hands together in front of her.

"Do you have my wife?" Five asked, tilting his head as Anna nodded.

"She's unharmed, don't you worry" Anna chuckled, still taking in the room that she stood in which had been poorly decorated by her standards. "Physically anyways, the last I saw of her, she was hugging Luther, so emotionally I think she's a little broken".

"That's concerning" Diego muttered, glancing to Five, who shook his head, knowing that he was one of the reasons she was 'emotionally broken'. "What the hell did you do to her?" Diego raised his voice as he walked towards Anna.

Anna shook her head as she raised her hand, reminding Diego that she was much more powerful than him by creating a bright orange flame, which danced around her palm.

"The world is ending" Anna said as Diego stepped back next to Lila. "We got we wanted and so now we can work as a team to fight against it".

"You got what you want?" Lila repeated and Five asked "What does that mean?".

Anna smirked as the flame died down in her hand, "You'll have to ask your wife when you get to the academy".

Diego shook his head "Who said we're coming with you?" Diego asked, nodding his head at Anna. "I mean, the last time we saw your ass you were trying to torch Red, how do we know you haven't already done it?" Diego asked.

Five sighed as he tucked his hands back into his pockets. "Because if Inan and Anna have anything in common besides their name, DNA and looks... Anna isn't a cold hearted killer" Five stated taking another step towards Anna. "My wife may enjoy murder a little more than the rest of us, but she has a moral compass".

Anna hummed, "You think you have me all figured out don't you" Anna's eyes met with Five's as he stopped in front of her.

"Not at all" Five shook his head, "I'm relaying on the nature vs nurture debate here".

"Oh" Anna chuckled dryly. "That bullshit? It means absolutely nothing".

Five raised his brow as he stepped around Anna to leave the White Buffalo suite, believing that although Inanna and Anna had been raised different and lived completely different lives, they were much more alike than either of them realised, but Five noticed the similarities that laid in their personalities.

hi! this is a very early update.
i've literally been awake for
about 20 minutes and my eyes
are still blurry but i wanted to
get this chapter out because
delaney has my entire heart.
and sloane and luther are so
cute.

the next chapter is uh,
interesting to say the least..