some things fade, some get saved

[descendency]

WHO: five and mingyu
WHEN: after five starts going nuclear
WHERE: some enclosed space, a room, a shack, something
WHAT: mingyu is a problem solver. he's just not overly concerned with ethics.
WARNINGS:

It's been hours, and Mingyu finds himself exhausted. He's tracked Five's downward spiral for some time now, and that was then. The elderly pre-teen's sanity had been on a steady downward track with everything else that'd been going on, and just now, with the sudden departure of two of the Hargreeves siblings, it's just about fallen off a cliff.

There are many things Mingyu is aware he doesn't know about Five, his siblings, or their lives, but one thing he does know is Five absolutely cannot be trusted not to come up with a cure worse than the disease when pushed to such emotional extremes. They're alike in this, and the stark reminder of himself is something Mingyu finds particularly unpleasant.

Regardless, it has to be dealt with before Five pulls reality apart at the seams trying to find that which may not even be there to be found.

So Mingyu spent his time preparing, waited for a lull in the chaos, and finally found a secure space he could place airtight wards around, directional so things could enter but could not leave. Like a live trap for animals, only the animal in question is the wild thing that is Five in his grief.

It's finally done, and Mingyu wants nothing more than to take a fucking nap and have dinner with Fox, but any more time wasted and Five might come the rest of the way unglued.

Rubbing his face, he pushes on, sending a message to Five through their usual channels.

'We need to talk,' he whispers over the network to Five alone. 'Meet me.'

The location follows, just an unassuming place for Five to warp.

Don't think too hard about it, Five, just come.

Comments

[somebadnews]

Everything fell apart. Up to a point, Five had this under control. He was meticulously solving how he would do what nobody else could, collecting his siblings quicker than he could have possibly predicted, and soon he'd get them home like he promised he would. He'd been focused, once. Then he let a problem fester. He knew it was bad, but he didn't count on it driving him insane. Sure it was a mistake, but it was a fixable one. Until it wasn't.

Nobody had to tell him that he killed them. He felt it the more time went on, when the chaos began to settle and he still couldn't reach them, and he was terrified of having to tell the ones who were left. After decades of thinking about nothing but how to change the timeline, make it so they survived, he'd been the sole person responsible for murdering his family.

He ran himself ragged trying to find the bodies, hoping they were at least intact. The anguish he absorbed pulled at him and twisted in his grief. All pointless. After all that, pulling them through decades and other dimensions, they died for nothing but a childish tantrum. He deserves to suffer, but he's not without one last option.

By the time he got Mingyu's message, he had already decided what he had to do.

He hadn't kept up with him once the chaos started, and he's surprised enough not to ignore the invitation. Mingyu knows his family, what they look like, and what they mean to him. That's the only reason he could be contacting him now.

Five blinks in with a flash of blue and scans the entire room before he settles on Mingyu. Just the two of them. That's how it usually is, but at this point he's not sure if the secrecy is really necessary. He looks over him briefly, noting how tired he seems, but otherwise unhurt. At least that's one person accounted for. He lets out a shaky breath while his fist clenches and unclenches at his side as he braces for whatever news he brings.

"What did you find?"

[descendency]

"It wasn't your fault," Mingyu begins, flatly. He knows it's futile, breath wasted in vanity at best, and is surprised to find himself compelled to try anyway. There is no reasoning with this depth of grief, when solid ground has turned to sand beneath Five's feet. Mingyu knows, too, this is not the first time Five has been violently thrust into a world without his family, that Five has faced their deaths before and lived out decades of his life alone and apart from them. It's an unfathomable thing, and Mingyu is more than aware of the depth of violence he would bring to ever have to miss Fox again.

He hopes someone will do him this kindness, should that ever come to pass.

He would even hope for one better, to simply be put down as a dangerous thing, a beast beyond all sense and reason, but therein lies operative difference between the two of them standing here in this room.

Five still has a sister, still has things left undone.

Mingyu steps closer, offering his hand.

"You need to take a breath. Have you spoken to Allison?"

[somebadnews]

That wasn't an answer to his question, and it does nothing to ease the tension that radiates between them. His eyes darken when he offers his hand and he pointedly keeps his shoved into his pockets.

Mingyu must realize that telling him it isn't his fault and then mentioning one of his siblings is a dangerous approach, especially now, when Five has been frantically trying to find out what happened to them. He doesn't know why he's singling out Allison, unless she was the one who found their bodies. — Once that thought occurs to him he can't make himself jump to any other conclusion, and the fact that he won't come out and say it feels especially patronizing.

"I'm speaking to you." His voice breaks at the worst possible moment, and he clenches his jaw until he's confident he can keep it from wavering. Mingyu knows what he's lived through, he's seen more death than anyone alive, he can handle this. "Did you call me here just to tell me to see my sister?"

[descendency]

Mingyu is singling out Allison because he doesn't suspect talking through problems is Diego's strong suit. But that's neither here nor there. He sighs, giving Five a slow, calculating once-over, taking in the tension, the fraying seams of him, the barely contained emotion. While Mingyu had set this up with a clear end goal in mind, he was surprised to find some part of him hoped it would not come to it. That against all reason, against everything Mingyu knows about Five, everything he knows about family, everything he knows about loss, Five would be holding together enough to not take such drastic measures.

A grim smile touches Mingyu's lips, more than inappropriate for the situation. But gallow's humor is all he's had for a long time now.

Fox will find this funny, he thinks.

That Mingyu surprised himself with his own lingering capacity for hope.

"No. I called you here to see if you were a danger to the group." He pauses, wondering if he should waste his breath. He knows Five won't believe him. He wouldn't believe him either, were their positions reversed. But perhaps hearing it will help in some small way, chip at a lifetime of heartbreak and disappointment. Mingyu thinks it has been working for him, lately, in all of Fox's small kindnesses.

He's not Fox. He feels that, acutely, all the time. Still, he tries.

"...or to yourself."

[somebadnews]

Five openly scoffs when Mingyu finally reveals what he deemed so important that he needed to drag him out here. Of all the things to focus on. The world could be ending around them, his family might already be lost, and he's worried about him? His last words are even more insulting, and Five is at once furious and disbelieving. He's the only chance his family has. This was his fault, but he's not going to kill himself when he's the one who can change it. Mingyu of all people should understand that. All the risks of time travel stop mattering if a single one of them dies because of him.

The irony of his sudden interest is that he's too late. All he needs is to look outside to see the damage he's already done. If he had figured that out he might have earned some grudging respect instead of a sneer for all his sympathy.

There's so many things he wants to say in response. Mingyu thinks he knows him because he read his mind once. They've spent enough time together that he might have a solid idea of what he'd do if he was staring down another apocalypse. And he's right, he is dangerous, but it's not his place to step in and try to stop him. Five knows that he's not doing himself any favors that he's practically shaking from indignation the longer he stays silent, but he's beyond caring what it looks like. His fists are out at his side, clenched as if he can't decide if he's going to blink away or start a fight.

Ultimately he admits to the only thing he knows for certain.

"I don't have time for this." He doesn't give him a chance to respond. He disappears in a flash of blue — followed shortly by a loud banging noise when he hits a wall. He's thrown back as if he'd been shot midair, and skids more than halfway across the room where he lands. He stays still for a moment, stunned as he tries to figure out what just happened. Space has pushed back at him when he's been too tired to teleport, but this was different. This was like an opposing force slammed into him and tore him back out again.

A horrible realization starts to dawn on him. When he lifts his head he looks straight at Mingyu, accusation in his glare.

"What did you do?"