westwhere | do you have enough love in your heart

Five nearly stumbles mid-jump when tentacles shoot out from the shadows, grabbing at more men than he'd seen and tearing them apart. He stands there frozen, like he's watching a movie, and traces them back to Ben. Even as he's tearing through them like paper dolls, he can't subdue the panic that they might get lucky. Remember the hound.

He blinks at the first sign of movement, and launches blade first into the first body that wasn't immediately ripped in half by the tentacles. His aim is off at times, but he doesn't want to take any chances. They need to die and stay dead before any one of them can report on his brother.

The third time he tries it, he falls back, too dizzy to stand. Nauseous and covered in blood that isn't his, he leans over himself and breathes while tentacles still whip around him. He shouts back at Ben, and doesn't notice the man who managed to avoid their attacks until he lunges at him and pins him to the ground.

Ben feels the agony as he holds himself, letting the tentacles continue. He's covered in blood. It drips down his face, his clothes, and these men are still coming? That's not good. He has to retract the tentacles for a moment.

It's in that moment, already exhausted, almost hunched over himself, another one rushes Five.

"Better be the last asshole!" Ben shouts out, annoyed as he lets the tentacles rip through him once more. One grabs for the assailant to pull it off Five. Or skewer it right above Five.

In one moment Five is struggling to wrestle the larger man off so he can get the upper hand, and in the next the weight is lifted as a shower of blood rains down on him before the body is ripped to the side. The tentacles never touch him. For as much control as Ben didn't have over them as kids, he seems to have gotten a better hang of them now.

"Shit." He mops the blood from his face and tries to locate Ben. The attacks seem to have settled, but he's still uneasy. If it hadn't been for Ben, that could have gone badly, all because he let his guard down for a minute.

Bodies surround him, in bits and pieces, but he doesn't see anything moving. He stares into the darkness to be sure. "...Well done, Ben. I think you did it."

Control or not, Ben's hands shake in the aftermath, part from the anxiety and adrenaline, part from the pain. He just stares at Five for a second, panting, and only when he's sure Five is untouched does he seem to break out of shock.

He looks down at his hands, and, much like Five, Ben is covered in blood as well. It will be really obvious what happened here if anyone shows.

"We need to go. Now. Before they send more," Ben tells him, stern. He looks around around them, just in case, but so far? It seems quiet again. He's aware how deceptive that can look, though.

Five turns back when Ben speaks, and looks at him like he's only now noticing that he's exhausted and dripping in blood. That takes him back, in a horrible way, to their childhood missions. It's hard to forget how Ben reacted then, and how much he would have preferred to prevent him having to go through it again.

His fault. Guilt chews away at his insides and he can't do more than agree with him.

Getting to his feet is more difficult than it should be, but he remembers he was irresponsibly drunk before he landed in the middle of all these murders. Death bothers him on a different level, more distaste than moral objection and he hates having to clean up after. He takes two steps before he lurches, and the moment Ben turns his head, he buckles over and throws up over the gore at his feet.

...What are the odds Ben didn't catch that? He feels better once he's done, though considerably dirtier.

"Yeah." Distract him by agreeing, even as it takes him a minute to straighten back up and uselessly wipe at the mess on his clothes. Five would rather bury the hound rather than leave it here to rot, he can't say his brother doesn't have a point. He doesn't want him caught up in any more crossfire. "I can... deal with it later."

Not his fault, Ben would insist and point out to Five it was the fault of the people that attacked. As if he was going to let anything happen to Five after everything. No way!

Oh, Ben definitely catches when Five's insides churn out. He reaches over to put an arm around Five's shoulders.

"Yeah?" He almost wasn't expecting the agreement. Five mentions deal with something later, and Ben's eyes move to the hound.

"You mean the dog?"

Ben always has been more perceptive than the rest of their siblings. He sniffs and nods. The alcohol he just threw up mixed with the blood doesn't make for a great smell, and the nausea resurfaces. Luckily Ben is there to keep him steady. He wants nothing more than to wash it off of him, but not until his brother is somewhere safe. If anywhere is safe.

"Leaving it here to rot doesn't feel right." The hound wasn't the one who attacked first, or at all. He deserves better, but now he's looking at Ben and trying to get a read on his expression. He almost hesitates to ask what he's thinking. "Is it crazy to want to bury it?"

Maybe that's why he needed to be there for Klaus, for a while.

Ben keeps an arm there for Five, then looks to the dog's body.

"It's not crazy. He was yours. Like a pet, or a friend, right? It's perfectly normal," Ben assures him. "We won't leave him here. Let's get the body together, then you teleport us out of here like earlier?" It'll be faster, and keep them safe, just in case. He still doesn't see anyone else, but Ben isn't taking chances.

Knowing their luck, they'll make a move, then things will get out of control again.

Five looks, for a moment, genuinely sad. Ben is offering him reassurance that he's wholly unused to, and it makes him realize how lonely he's been without it. Few of their siblings were ever so quick to tell him he's having normal reactions to things that are inherently crazy. The dog was a demon. Not his first demon-friend, but still, it's a leap of acceptance that he appreciates.

There's one problem with that suggestion. The same problem that nearly had him making a fatal mistake in that fight.

"I don't know if I can right now." Maybe Ben is being polite not to point it out, or he really hasn't noticed that he'd been drinking. Five's powers have more limitations than most, and he's had too many misjudgments spatial jumping while he was inebriated. "At least not accurately. It's too big, I'll have to come back after."

It's what he does. Talk sense to Klaus, play pranks with Diego on Luther, and reassure everyone else. And this? Feeling sad over the loss of a pet? Totally normal, even if it's not a normal dog. They were bonding, that much was obvious.

"No. We're not risking leaving it here," Ben insists. "Just get ready to run." He's done crazier things before. This is nothing. And it'll save them a trip, later.

He walks over to pick up the hellbeast's body, refusing argue about this further.

No objections. Five doesn't even know how to process what he's watching at first. Ben doesn't seem to hold a single judgment towards him, despite the fact that he risked both their lives for a demon and a bottle of alcohol. He simply identified the thing that Five thinks is important and took it on himself to help.

When he comes back to the present it's sudden, with a jerky movement of his shoulders that can't quite constitute as a shrug, and he steps over to find where the head lies severed nearby. The head is lighter, if more awkward to carry. If he could just...

"You can't run with it." Let him point that out right now. He intends to bury the body, but he's not risking his brother for it. The head feels strange in his hands and he keeps his eyes locked on Ben. "...It's too heavy. If we can get it out of sight, that'll be enough until I can blink again."

It's that simple to Ben. After everything he helped Klaus through, this is almost normal.

Ben...can't deny Five is right. He's not running this with body.

He nods his head, and manages to at least lift it enough to not outright drag it along the ground.

"Okay. We are still getting it out sight, though. And coming back later."

This seems to be a good enough plan for the moment. If Five can just view this as a simple task to get from Point A to Point B he can ignore the conflicting emotions that he's not sure what to do with.

The head alone is heavy, so it feels wrong to leave Ben with the larger share of the weight. He doesn't have it in him to blink them to safety, but he can manage to do this much. It takes effort to remember the direction they were facing when he'd teleported with Ben just before they retaliated.

"There were crates," he says, somewhat uncertainly. "...where we were before. You remember? They were... they'd work."

There are a lot of things Ben imagines Five needs to talk about, but they can do that, later.

The crates! Ben nods his head and cants it toward the place they teleported to, earlier. It's not that far, thankfully.

"Going," Ben grunts out. He's got this, really, but he can't pretend the body isn't heavy. Still, he gets it over there, and, at least for the moment, tucks the hell hound's body behind the crates, for now.

It takes effort, but with Ben's help, they manage to obscure the hound from view. Five may not be in his completely right mind, but he's fairly confident that they won't find it until he comes back.

The other bodies are a different story. It briefly has him thinking of the cleaning crew the Commission used, and he's instantly compelled to do the opposite. The gore behind them will look worse in the light of day, and he hopes it sends a message. This is what happens if they go after them. Sometimes peace can only be achieved through horrible violence.

"Thank you," he tells Ben once he sets the head near the body. He's covered in so much blood it's hard to even make out his expression, but he thinks he's taken the whole thing well. He sniffs and tries to put on a calm facade. They've dealt with this. It's handled and over with and he's fine.

"You should get cleaned up. You've helped enough."

Ben gives the crates a morbid look, along with a sigh, checking to make sure the hell hound isn't visible from the other side. Far as he can tell, no, and most people will probably not be looking behind them. He hopes.

"You're welcome," is the tentative response, words slow as Ben processes the appreciation. Shadowing Five and Allison is way different than Klaus.

When Five tells him to get cleaned up, Ben crosses his arms, expression going firm.

"Only if you're leaving the area."

It's noted how Ben takes care to see that the crates are enough of a cover. Temporarily. They'll have a window before it starts to be sniffed out, or someone tracks the trail of blood that didn't end with the bodies they've left scattered pieces around.

He feels drained, filthy, and all he wants is to scrub the blood off his skin and get some rest. Ben bought them some time, so hopefully he can afford to at least check off one of those boxes.

"For now," he agrees. Staying here will only make him easier to find. Better to return when his powers are reliable and he's got a clear head. He's still not completely sure where they are right now. "How close is your place?"

Ben feels about the same. Somehow, he never really gets used to this feeling of being covered in gore.

They need to go - there's no argument there.

Ben cants his head in the direction of his temporary place.

"Close enough," he responds and starts walking, fast. He would run, but that might be too suspicious.

Five has to put in a little more work to keep up with Ben, short stature always working against him added to the fact that he has to put in a conscious effort not to trip over his own feet. Not that he's about to tell him to slow down. Anyone passing by would see that they look like a horror show, and he'd rather not deal with that.

Ben hasn't been critical of anything he does, which is odd enough considering the grief the rest of their family gives him. What a difference it would have made if he'd been able to be around in more than spirit when he was trying to avert the apocalypse.

He says nothing on the way, but he does look back at the alley one more time. What happened was his fault, and as much as that hurt, it would have been worse without Ben showing up. Even now, he would have been at a loss where to go without him.

He knows he hates to use his powers like that. Five can't ask anything more from him.

Hopefully he can find his way back without resorting to listening to wear they found all the bodies. That may be harder to narrow down soon enough.

Ben isn't ready to be stopped, either, and he's walking plenty fast, even if he's trying to be considerate of the fact he doesn't want to leave Five behind. It would be difficult to find his lodgings, otherwise.

In comparison to Klaus, there isn't anything here to criticize. Especially this situation. Five had been in danger, and something needed to be done about it.

He looks back to see Five look back toward the alley, and quietly, he promises, "We'll come back."

do you have enough love in your heart

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