6. The order

The gnawing pain reminds Elisa of one of the handler's trainings. They were horrible. Elisa knew that a normal human would not have survived them. Only she could. And that was because of the fire burning inside of her.

Being afraid of its dangers, Elisa never used it again after that one day. She never dared to. That's why the handler had to look for ways to look how strong Elisa's powers actually were without the little girl having to use them directly.

She succeeded in that. The handler quickly found out that Elisa could easily handle warmth and droughts. Even her endurance was better than normal humans. But the girl still needed to eat and drink. That's what made her human, the handler used to say.

Elisa wished to be human. She wished to be a normal girl. If she was all of that, her parents wouldn't have died because of her. She wouldn't have been taken to train to be an assassin. She wouldn't have had to endure constant pain and loss of her parents.

That's what the pain reminded her of. The constant pain of her parents' loss that she feels in her heart.

It never went away. It never will, Elisa knows that very well after all those horrible years. But she did learn to live with it. The girl learned how to wake up and go to bed with the gnawing pain. She grew up with it.

The pain of the wound is different, though, it's still pain. Elisa has had many wounds and healed from all of them. She got stitched many times, even without any painkillers. But this time it felt different.

When she was at the commission, the handler didn't allow the commission's doctor to use painkillers. It would make her weak. She needed to learn how to handle pain. Elisa did.

While Five stitched the wound that the bullet had made, she almost didn't feel a thing. He didn't give her any painkillers. Perhaps it was to test how much pain she could endure, or he just didn't have any. Assassins don't plan on getting injured. And they usually don't.

Elisa did, though, but only because she didn't knew the field that she was walking in. She made a mistake. The handler would never forget if she knew.

When realizing what has happened, Elisa sits up, immediately regretting the movement she made. She slowly falls back in the seat underneath her, groaning.

"You shouldn't move that much," Five remarked while approaching her. They aren't in the apartment that he rented just a while ago. They aren't still on the dancefloor. Actually, it has been days since that very moment when Elisa got shot.

"Where are we?" Elisa asks him, her eyes narrowing while he bends through his knees next to the seat. His face is close to hers, but his attention isn't on that. He's watching the wound on her lower belly.

Elisa's dress has gone. Now she's only in her underwear. When realizing that, her eyes widen. She'd stand up and run to hide behind the curtains that she can see, but she can't.

"Where's my dress?" She asks, not liking being in underwear next to her enemy at all.

Five Hargreeves is her enemy. The two are bound to hate each other. Bound to be each other's enemy.

"You're somewhere where you won't get shot again," he reassures her. "Don't worry."

"You killed him," The realisation hits her.

"No problem by the way," a mischievous smile comes onto his lips, making Elisa smile a little. "And to answer your second question, I couldn't stitch that wound with your dress on, could I?"

"You could at least have put me in other clothes or covered me," she rolls her eyes at him, still not liking the situation.

The mischievous smile on Five's lips grows and it does so a lot. He stands up, turns his back on Elisa who's doing her best to cover her bra with her arms and hands, and walks through the bedroom.

"I didn't mind," he admits, making Elisa scoff.

"You are unbelievable," she tells him, and he nods in response. "But that was to be expected. You are unbelievable for getting me out there and stitching me."

He stops in his tracks in front of the bureau.

"Why did you do it?" Elisa is curious. She wants to know.

"Because I wanted to be the one to kill you," he tells her, not showing his face. There might be some truth in that, but it's most certainly not the whole truth.

What the whole truth is, Elisa won't get to find out.

Five leaves the bedroom to get her something to eat, all while Elisa takes in the room she's in. It's a cold room with blueish and greenish walls. There's a bed next to the seat she's laying in. it's a tiny room next to the apartment he rented. The difference is immense. That's why Elisa expects there to be more. This isn't some apartment. This is part of a house.

Even though it hurts like hell, Elisa forces her body to sit up. She has been here looking weak for days. She can't look weak any longer. The honor left in her makes sure of that.

When the door opens, Elisa folds her arms protectively over herself again.

"You should really get me clothes-" Elisa doesn't finish her sentence. She stops immediately when a person - that's not Five - enters the room.

This makes sure that she does everything in her power to hide her exposed body with her hands and arms even more.

"Five, I need h-" the woman stops in her tracks. Her eyes widen in shock as she stares at the girl in Five's seat. "Who are you?"

The woman has a rather tiny figure, dark brown hair, and beautiful hazel eyes that are now immensely wide.

"I-" Elisa does not know what to say. Not her real name, obviously. But she can't get herself to answer Samantha, either.

"Vanya!" Five's voice sounds in the hallway. It doesn't take long until he's catching his breath in his bedroom. "You went in my room."

"I did," she frowns at him, but looks back at Elisa even quicker. "Who's she?"

"That's..." he trails off, also not knowing what the heck to answer. He knows Elisa's false name, but he doesn't want to tell her the girl's name. "Never mind."

Elisa doesn't react to him saying that. She doesn't blame him.

"Why are you here?" he asks the woman.

"I was here to ask you for help with getting Klaus out of the seat, and to ask if you want to drink a cup of coffee and catch up later today," she says, still watching Elisa who's still trying to hide her body for the lot. "But I see you're busy."

"Busy?" He raises his eyebrows, letting the words sink in for a moment. "Oh, right. Well, I'll come to your apartment later today. But now I'm indeed . . . busy."

Vanya says goodbye to both Elisa and Five before she leaves the bedroom.

Just now Elisa's eyes fall on the plate and the cup of coffee in his hands. When realizing this, Five pushes both of it in her hands.

Elisa's stomach is rambling. It needs food, but she doesn't want to feel hungry. She feels unsure. This situation isn't normal. It feels weird, and she's becoming more anxious with every second that passes.

"Eat," Five half tells her and half orders her while sitting down next to her on the seat. His body lets itself fall in the soft pillows, but his eyes stay carefully on Elisa. On her face. . . mostly. Sometimes they drift away too.

She doesn't eat. Instead, her eyes stay trained on Five too.

"How did you get yourself and me out of there? Police would have been there soon, especially after that guy shot me," Elisa asks him, narrowing her eyes.

"Save your energy for later," he tells her, a smirk forming on his face again.

"For when we fight?"

_

Five's pov (kind of)

"Mhm," he replies, and afterwards he stands up again. Probably to ignore the way his breathing quickens every single time he looks down at her.

That's just the urge to put a knife in her, he thinks and probably hopes too.

Still, to test the feeling, Five opens his closet that hasn't got much in it. Uniforms, yes. But the girl would never wear that. She'd prefer her bloodied dress, he knows that.

Good thing he at least has an old pair of trousers and a very old shirt that he used to wear when he had free time. His father would only allow his siblings and him to wear other clothes on sundays, when they had an off day. No training or no tattoos. Only free time.

He grabs the clothes, turns around to face the girl sitting in the seat again, and throws the clothes at her in a rather impolite way.

He isn't polite, and most certainly not to her. This visit to his family house, the umbrella academy, will only end in a fight.

It would've been damn easy to let her die there, on the dancefloor. It would've been the best solution. If he had done so, he wouldn't have had an annoying girl following him everywhere he goes in order to help the other girl he took away from her.

But he did not.

For his assassin code, he has told himself several times while watching the girl lay on his seat. He wanted to be the one to kill her. Only him. That would satisfy him. That would make the feeling go away.

The urge to put a knife in her.

"You could've just given that, you know," she snarls and rolls her eyes at him.

He does not care, he tells himself. He should not care. But then again, isn't that exactly what he told himself a few days ago when the girl was bleeding to death?

The handler told him to report every single detail about his mission. In order to save this wretched world from the apocalypse, he did. He even reported her about the girl that started to bother him.

He knew that she was following him. If not, he wouldn't be a very good assassin. And he is that. He's one of the best, if not the best.

He hasn't received any answer till this day. He expects one soon, though. The handler will probably order him to move the girl, Samantha, out of the way.

He does not care, he tells himself again. He should not care.

The girl grabs the clothes that he threw at her. They aren't looking too bad. She should be grateful. She should be thanking him and not continuing to question him.

She should leave and never bother him again.

Five leaves her to dress, knowing very well it won't make any difference if he stays since he's seen her in her underwear for days. The only difference then was that she was asleep. Now she's very much awake, and he does not like the way he is reacting to it.

Vanya isn't in the hallway anymore, so Five decides to go walk around his father's estate. It's weird to walk around here, especially after all those years. He's finally back home. But he's home with a mission. That mission is not to kill people for the commission. It's to save every breathing person from the apocalypse.

Oh, he hates looking back at the many years he's been there. He practically grew old there. It was the most horrible life he could have lived. But now he's got a chance at another life. A happy one.

But first things first; he has to follow every single order that the handler orders him. It's killing him to kill more, yes, but it simply has to happen. It has to. He has to kill. And afterwards, he won't ever kill again.

How he's looking forward to that.

A noise catches his attention. Something metallic falling down.

Number Five recognizes the sound, of course. He's been an assassin for too long not to. That very sound is the next order that he's got to follow. The next person that he has to kill.

With his breathing already becoming heavy, he walks towards the tiny bathroom at the end of the hallway. Nobody else heard it. No one is up here anymore. It's only him. Everyone found their way and found them a life to live.

His future life is still in creation.

The door cracks open when he just touches the latch. That's how old everything here is. That's how long he's been away.

His eyes immediately fall on the order. A sort of metallic box is laying in the dusty bathtub. With shaking hands, he grabs it.

He opens it.

He reads it.

And he finds out it's exactly what he's been suspecting the handler to order him.

Kill the girl as soon as you can.