#igarashisora

Diego blinked. "What?"

"Quinctus," Five repeated. "I've decided that that would be my fake name. It's Latin for five, so it will be easier for me to remember." There was utter silence, before Klaus burst out laughing.

"Oh, Five, my dear brother," he said, once he finally got most of his giggles under control, "I'm saying this because I love you, but you're going to get bullied." Five scowled. Before he could say anything back, Vanya spoke up.

"How about we think of something else? Like, anything? Anything at all." She said this with a voice filled with desperation and eyes wider than the moon she almost blew up the year before. "How about the list Allison gave you? Did you like any of those?"

"I think Aidan fits really well," Allison suggested. "I worked with a kid named Aidan a few years ago, and he looked a lot like you. I think it would suit you."

"Yeah, Aidan sounds like a good name! What about that?" Vanya looked at him hopefully, but if anything it irritated him more.

"Aidan is a pretentious name," Five snapped. "Like some kid with coiffed hair." Klaus hummed.

"It does sound like a fuckboy," Klaus conceded, just as Diego said, "Well, you are pretentious."

Five scowled. "I am not choosing the name Aidan. Absolutely not."

"What about Nikola, like Nikola Tesla? That's a good, science-y name," Allison suggested. Five mulled it over for a moment. Just as it seemed he was ready to consider it over Quinctus, Klaus clapped in delight.

"Oooh! That's so adorable! And then you could go by Nicky for short!"

"No. Definitely not. Words cannot express how much I abhor this suggestion." Allison pinched Klaus' arm, and he pouted.

"But Nicky is adorable."

"Well, I'm not adorable!" The silence and blank stares from all of his siblings only served to anger him more, for he growled and slammed his mug down. "You know what? Forget this. It's Quinctus now, and I'm leaving." The rest of his siblings protested rather loudly at this, with Klaus reminding him that the other kids would take turns shoving him into lockers.

"Hey, hey, wait a second, okay? Just wait. Hear me out." Surprisingly, it was Luther who jumped in, stepping in front of his smallest brother to keep him from escaping. "How about we all just try to meet each other in the middle, huh? Is there a name close to Quittis that sounds a little more normal?"

"Quinctus," Five corrected.

"Yes, that."

"Well, Benny boy says Quincy sounds pretty close," Klaus piped up from his spot on the kitchen table. "'You could even try Quinn for short', he says." Everyone watched as Five thought it over, before he finally relented.

"Fine, that works," he said, and his siblings all cheered.

"Five won't get his ass kicked!" Klaus exclaimed, while Diego said,

"He sounds even more pretentious!"

Vanya smiled softly and told him she was happy he liked the name, and that it suited him quite well. Allison grumbled that Aidan was still a cuter name, but that she was glad he wasn't going to sound like the old man he actually was. Luther gave him an awkward smile and told Five he was glad that Five liked his and Ben's idea. Five, meanwhile, still thought Quinctus suited him best, but conceded that perhaps it wasn't casual enough to go under the radar.

Five finds himself in the Upside Down. He and Will, another unfortunate soul, learn to survive together.

"Five never understood regret. He certainly does now."

El is very, very lost. Again. Needless to say, Five is extremely disgruntled to hear that his favorite apocalypse companion isn't where she should be. (Aka with him)

From a young age, Klaus was taught that his own ideas didn't matter- that his emotions, thoughts, and desires were unimportant, wrong, and a "distraction". He was told to tamp down on his sense of self- after all, it was of utmost importance that he fit the mold created by his Dad for all of his children to fill.

But someone helped him realize how wrong that was. They encouraged him to be better, to reach for what he wanted, to take what Reginald said with a grain of salt. They cheered him on the whole way through, was there when he needed someone the most. They would get him out of his mind, when he couldn't bare to be in it anymore. They were one of his most dearly loved people. In return, Klaus became one of theirs.

or

"Would you like us to get rid of it for you?" El hummed and looked down at her tattoo. The branding had been there for nearly as long as she could remember, deep black ink seared into her skin to remind her of just what she was, what she always would be, for the rest of her life. They were offering to wipe it all away.

"No," she said, finally. El flashed the woman a smile. "I'm good, thanks." Five watched her carefully, an amused light to his eyes- and maybe there was pride there, too. He knew what she was thinking, after all.

This tattoo, the simple 3-digit number that sat innocently on her wrist, represented nights punctuated by tear-stained pillows and bruised knees, an echo of waking nightmares and roaring demons, reeked of rotting flesh and stung like a throat sore from blood-curdling screams. It represented the shadows of a small, scared little girl who didn't even know how to dream.

And she dared not remove it.

Because those nights, those endless living horrors, would never own her like they'd wanted. They made her, molded her, chased her down til she fought back, beat her til she broke them. They would never control her.

But they were a part of her that was ingrained and nearly essential to her. 011 was not her identity, but it was a piece of El, which was. 

El saw no reason to change that.

So, for the two people who messaged me earlier, here's the title for chapter two. I'm thinking of making all of my chapter titles after songs, lol