1963.

"is this one okay?" brie stepped out of the bedroom and did a small twirl and spin showing off her dress. she used her hands to flatten the skirt and fix the sleeves before looking back up to lila to see her response.

lila sighed, her legs crossed. "you look like a hooker." brielle scoffed and crossed her arms before giving up and going back into the room, flipping her off as she walked back inside.

"what if that's the look i'm going for?" brielle asked, sarcastically. she took off the first dress and tried on another one, this one black. more elegant than the first and definitely cuter in brie's opinion. it would make her blend in more with the high class rich people at the party the group was going to.

she snapped out of her thoughts, shaking her head and stepping out of the dressing room, her heels clicking every step. "i don't know about this one."

"mm, you look hot." lila smirked, looking brie up and down playfully, biting her finger. brie chuckled to herself, hanging up the other dresses and putting her heels to the side so she could get ready. moving to the bathroom to do her hair and makeup, she messed with her bracelet waiting for lila to join her. she finally entered the room, deciding on her place to sit; the toilet seat. a comfortable silence filled the room. "what happened with you and diego? why are you ignoring him?"

brie put her hair straightener down and rested her hands on the sink. she looked down at her feet, embarrassed to admit what happened that night while lila was gone. she hesitated before blurting out the words. "he kissed me."

lila squealed, her mouth agape but her hand covering it in shock. "oh my god! brielle! i'm so happy! does this mean your dating now?" lila pretended to faint, dramatically putting her hand on her forehead and leaning backwards, like those background cheerleader characters when they see the football captain.

brie rolled her eyes at lila's over-exaggerated response. "no, lila. we're just friends. don't get ahead of yourself."

"'just friends?' yeah right. 'just friends don't steal secret glances at each other. 'just friends don't get jealous when the other one is talking to someone else. 'just friends' don't get butterflies from each other. this is your dream come true."

"that was your dream. but.. we had an argument before he kissed me. bad timing, i guess." brielle picked her makeup tools back up and continued to style her hair in silence. the once comfortable silence that calmed the two girls had turned uncomfortable, anxiety filling the room. "i just.. i wish he hadn't done that. i'm really mad at him."

"you were mad at him?" lila paused, looking up at brie. "or were you scared?" brielle fixed her posture, looking up into the mirror. her profound word of advice had made brie think. being stuck in a traumatic place like that never gave her the experience of experiencing a real relationship. obviously is was shitty of diego to kiss her, but brie did lean into the kiss, even if she didn't want to. lila got up from the toilet and stood behind brie, putting her hands on her shoulders and fixing up her hair. "you look nice"

"thanks," brielle whispered, shyly. "you do too." she turned around and gave a small kiss to lila on her cheek, giving her a small hug as well, before turning back around and going silent.

"i'll go talk to him okay?" lila bargained, wanting the pair's relationship to continue without anymore disputes.

"please don't," brielle pleaded. "i'll talk to him on my own... when im ready." lila nodded, looking at brie in the mirror and walking out the bathroom, closing the door gently.

𖤐ᝰ.ᐟ𖦹₊⊹

the four crouched down behind a car, inspecting the outside of the building, watching everyone coming in and out. it would be a beautiful mansion if it's wasn't filled with president assasinators and old, racist, white men.

"what's the plan?" brie asked, peaking over the car. diego snatched her arm and dragged her to the ground so she didn't get spotted by anyone who happened to be passing by.

"don't do that," diego scolded, quietly. he paused, looking back at the crowd before turning back at the three. "we infiltrate, we identify, we extract. double time."

"what do any of those words mean?" lila asked. brie nodded in agreement but also in confusion. both of the ladies eyebrows were furrowed.

"what the hell is he talking about?" brielle turned back to five for some guidance, or maybe a dictionary.

"find the old man and get out fast." five looked between brie and lila, nodding his head, waiting for either of the women to agree with him.

brie nodded her head and took a peak back at diego, who's eyes seemed to be laser focused to the front door. he scoffed, turning his attention to the group. "that's what i said." brielle chuckled at his words, turning to the door to scope out the area, causing diego to loose focus of the door and focus on brie instead.

he blinked his eyes aggressively, snapping himself out of his thoughts. while still crouching, he ran to the car in front of them, still somehow going unnoticed by the real guests at this party. lila, being in front of both brie and five, turned to them and stuck out her arm, motioning them to go first.

five chuckled to himself, smiling at lila and brie sarcastically. "what i can't be polite?" lila asked, her tone sassier than it normally is.

"cut the crap," five blurted, a little too loud for comfort. brie shoved him slightly, putting her finger over her mouth, signaling him to be quiet. he rolled his eyes before continuing. "my dimwitted brother might by your ladies' bullshit, but i don't trust either of you for a second."

"what's that supposed to mean?"
"o ye of little faith."

brielle and lila went in two different directions with their responses, brie's tone being full of confusion, while lila's without fail, sassy as always. five groaned at lila's bible reference. "stick it up your ass," five smiled, his mouth almost touching his ears he was grinning so wide.

lila smiled back, almost unknowing that the smile was sarcastic. turning away and moving towards diego, she grabbed brielle's forearm and dragged her too. she looked back at five, seeing a cold expression on his face.

five quickly joined the three, moving from car to car until they reached the entrance. they slipped into the door as easily as they had hoped for, blending in as well as a parrot among ravens. their hairstyles not era appropriate, and the dresses not exactly classy.

when brie walked in, she felt an immediate wave of insecurities and rude stares coming from each guest she walked by. her childhood thoughts came flushing back, the ones that the doctors at the mental hospital gave her pills for.

quiet and slow mariachi music was playing, a nice quiet background noise for her to sway to. she noticed a hostess walking around with champagne, offering it to various guests. lila stopped them, putting her hand on their chest and grabbing two glasses, taking a large sip out of one and handing the other to brielle. she happily grabbed the drink, before pausing.

"you know you're supposed to drink it right?" lila quipped. brie sighed, bringing it to her mouth and taking a small sip. a disgusted look quickly plastered on her face, realizing how gross alcohol was. "what's that face you just made?"

"i've never had alcohol before. hadent been outside in 14 years." brielle admitted, before pouring the drink out on a potted plant and placing the empty glass on a nearby table.

diego scanned the room, hoping for a familiar man with white hair to show up. "i don't see dad anywhere."

"just keep an eye out for the majestic twelve," five recommended. "i got the upstairs." everyone nodded in agreement to five's instructions. before dispersing into different rooms, five stopped diego. "hey, try not to do anything too stupid."

lila chuckled softly at his remark, taking a small sip of the sparking champagne. she chugged the rest of the drink, throwing the glass on the floor causing it to shatter. guests gasped at the sudden loud noise from the impact, quiet murmurs roaring between them. lila took broad steps away from the mess, glancing over her shoulder every so often, walking into the bar.

brie went to follow her, hoping to catch up and make small conversations. before brie could pace over to her, diego grabbed her hand, stopping her from moving any further. she turned around to look at him him, with a confused expression plastered on her face.

"you're with me," diego corrected her.

brielle scoffed, turning her whole body towards him. "says who?"

"says me." brielle looked over at lila, who was already talking to another guest and laughing loudly, causing many people to stare at the two. apparently they were hitting it off. diego's hand went to her chin, moving her gaze from lila over to him. "last night. where'd you go?"

"the roof. i... went to clear my mind."

diego sighed, calming down finally knowing where she had gone. she looked around the room, hoping to find a way out of the dreadful conversation, finally landing her eyes in the ballroom and the mirachi band. a smirk formed on her face, turning back to diego. she dragged diego by the tie, walking fast and making him lean over a little in order to maintain his speed.

brie paused in the middle of the room, moving her grasp from his tie to his neck. "they're playing our song."

diego's face was red from embarrassment, all the judgmental looks he got from the guests wasn't helping them blend in at all. his hands slowly moved to her waist, getting comfortable with the position they were in, earning a small gasp from brie at the sudden contact to her skin. they swayed back and forth, moving in sync with each other and the other people there. but those other people didn't matter, only the two of them did

the only thoughts in her mind was the fact that she was free. she could travel wherever she wanted, she could do whatever she wanted. she didn't have to worry about the restrictions and restraints the asylum had on her. every other worry melted away.

"someone's got moves," she commented, noticing how well he was dancing and spinning her around.

"my father insisted on ballroom lessons," he explained. "one never knows when the paso doble will be the difference between life and death."

"you're a very well rounded person, diego. even if you have a few screws loose in her head."

diego chuckled, accepting her remark as a compliment not caring to comment a witty remark back at her.

she was too focused on her feet moving in a relatively normal fashion, as to not make herself look like a fool, to notice diego staring at her.

"why have you been ignoring me?"

brielle sighed, but continued dancing. she dreaded this conversation to come, and had not planned out what she was going to say, causing more panic to set in than she had anticipated. "i just.. what you did was kind of shitty. i mean, we were in the middle of the argument, i was furious at you, and you decided to kiss me!" brie paused, looking at diego to read his expression. "are you even listening to me? i mean how could you do something like that? why would you-"

"i'm in love with you."

brielle snapped into place, unable to move; her lungs sucking out all air she had. her mind went blank, unknowing of what to say back. kissing her in the middle of an argument and then admitting his love when she was expressing her feelings that she was mad made her reluctant to say anything back.

"can we talk about this later?" brie mumbled, her voice quiet. diego sighed loudly, removing his hands from her waist.

"can you stop putting this off?"

"i'm not putting it off, diego. i'm just not ready yet!"

"ready for what?"

"loving you, diego!" brielle yelled. "i'm scared. i feel like we're rushing into things, and i don't want to hurt you." brielle dropped her hands to her sides. the mariachi band stopped playing and the room went quiet. an awkward silence filled the room for a moment, before all the guests started their chatter again. "i need to leave."

brie walked away in a hurry to go find lila, who was chugging down various alcohols with a woman at a bar. brie dragged lila away from their conversation and led her into the corner.

"what is so important that you interrupted my drinking? i was this close to making out with that girl!" lila moved her fingers close together, almost touching.

"diego told me he loved me."

lila sighed loudly. "you have to stop being a baby, brielle, and kiss him back." brie scoffed at her hurtful words. "man up and tell him you love him too. stop giving him mixed signals! you obviously love him."

"are you on his side right now? he kissed me in the middle of an argument and he confessed his love for me when i was telling him about how i felt during said argument."

"we get it brie, 'he did this, he did that. blah blah blah.' he's only doing it because he loves you, and doesn't know how else to say it. can you move on and have sex already?"

"you are unbelievable. i'm finding this old man and getting the hell out of here." brie briskly walked out of the room, not before stealing the shot lila had in her hand and chugged it down.

"not before talking to diego!" lila yelled, hoping brielle could hear her from a great distance away. she walked up the stairs, hoping to get away from everyone else, before spotting five fighting the same men that lila, diego, and brie saw in the halls in the asylum.

she swiftly moved behind a pole and collected her thoughts. she morphed into the man's coworker, and moved into the hallway. the man turned around and motioned for him to join him in fighting five, but instead he got a massive punch in the mouth.

he leaned over in pain before punching brielle in the gut, causing her to stumble back a little bit. the man yelled foreign words to her, which she didn't understand but figured it to be danish since her mother made her take language classes when she was younger. he ran up to her, kicking her hard enough to make her fall over. five teleported in between the two and started kicking and punching him.

diego ran up the stairs to hear all the commotion that was going on, but not before getting choked out by another of the danish men. the third man came up to diego and hit him in the gut repeatedly.

briefly took sight of this and ran over to diego, knowing that five could probably take on one man. morphing into diego as she ran, she took a knife from her, technically his, jacket pocket and throwing it at the back of one of the men. the man yelled in pain, distracting the man enough to stop punching diego. that gave him enough time to grab a knife as well and throw it at him, however ultimately missing.

brielle morphed into five, getting quite tired from all her transforming. she teleported behind the man who was choking diego, kicking him in the back. she tried to strangle him off of diego, but failing since she was only the size of a 13 year old boy.

the man she had stabbed previously came up to her and kicking her hard in the legs, causing her to fall over, hitting her head on the wall. the man kicked her ribs, causing lots of blood to he coughed out. lila came running up the stairs, noticing diego and brielle getting beaten up badly on one side of the hallway and five on the other, also getting beaten up and kicked by the danish men.

diego screamed out for lila to help him, trying to gain back air he was losing from being choked. she made a decision quickly in her head and ran over to five, grabbing the knife diego had punctured the wall with and helping him out.

brielle kicked the danish man in the gut with both of her legs, jumping up while doing so. the man stumbled back, regaining his balance quickly. she transformed back into herself and pushed him out the window, the glass shattering onto the ground below.

she leaned out the window smiling to herself that she had won a fight, a fight she had been training for all her life. she turned to diego, grabbing the knife on the ground she had stabbed into the danish man earlier and cutting the belt that diego was being choked with. he fell towards into her arms, not expecting the pressure to be gone in an instant. she caught him with her hands and leaned him back.

"sorry i ran away earlier. i really like you too," brielle admitted, whispering into his ear before pushing him to the side. winking at him, she stabbed the last remaining danish man. she pushed him into the wall, slamming his head hard enough to knock him out.

diego ran up to brielle, who turned to look at him. he opened his arms wide and engulfed her in a deep hug. she was shocked at first. he usually didn't show much affection like this, but eventually she gave in and wrapped her arms around him and leaned her head on his chest. she let go, grabbing the hem of her skirt and pulling it down.

diego grabbed ahold of her hand tightly and led her down the stairs and out the door. loud police sirens surrounded the two as they caught up to five and lila.

"was that him?" diego asked. five nodded his head, unable to speak from being worn out and tired. the four watched in shock as reginald drove away in his shiny black car in defeat.

𖤐ᝰ.ᐟ𖦹₊⊹

word count: 3147

a/n: sorry for making brielle fight with everyone but it's to further the plot 🤭 sorry i took so long on this chapter i was feeling really burnt out lately.

i haven't been getting a lot of support recently and i think i might discontinue the book but idk we'll see