•••

IT WAS NIGHTTIME. They were all still riding in the large van, Levi was bored out of his mind, not that you could blame him. Leaning his head on Five’s shoulder, Six had stopped rambling about random things long ago, the ghost eventually getting bored too, causing Levi being left in silence, only a little hum in the back of his head.

Five was going through his bag from the book shop, reading one of the books that Richie bought him, ignoring everyone around him, sometimes turning his head to whisper about the book, or an occasional kiss plant on Levi’s forehead when he hears the blue-eyed boy sigh loudly.

The two were confused as the rest of the group grew more and more excited about finally almost reaching their destination. They still didn’t know what they were doing, and now apparently they needed to wear masks to do it judging by how Dottie threw two extra masks near them.

Five was growing even wearier than before, he was always alert with new people (other than Eddie and Richie obviously) but he thought he could trust them since Eleven was having a good time and judging by how she acted around the band of misfits, trusted them. But as they pulled up to an unfamiliar apartment complex, Five decided maybe he should have judged them a bit more.

Five glanced around seeing everyone putting on their masks, even Levi put on his with a dash of hesitance, even in the bad situation they might be in Five held in a coo at his friend as Levi put the blue carebear mask on, looking towards the green-eyed boy for approval.

Five shook his head, placing his book inside the bag again, before placing the mask Dottie gave him on his face, she explained that the plain white mask reminded her of him because in her words he is well...plain, which he hid his offense to.

The group started scrambling out of the van everyone except Mick, of course. Levi snorted as Axel almost fell out of the van, quickly shutting up when Axel glared his way.

Levi goes to follow behind the group but stayed back as he sees Five looking up at the apartment hesitantly. Levi steps closer to the boy, grabbing the older boy’s hand and giving it a soft squeeze.

“I don’t have a good feeling about this.” Five stated, turning his head to look at his best friend.

Levi shook off the feeling in his stomach, smiling gently at the green-eyed boy, “It’s okay.” he whispered, pulling Five to follow him, catching up to the group who were now sneaking into an apartment.

The two boys followed behind the group, Levi looked around the apartment in curiosity, turning at he hears a crackling of static coming from the tv in the other room, glancing he saw El’s glare behind her mask, coming to the conclusion that she was doing it.

He followed the group absentmindedly, not listening to a word Kali was saying to the chunky bearded man who lived here, Levi was to busy looking around the living space.

The wall beside him held his attention as his blue eyes gazed at the pictures that hung on the beige surface, he saw multiple photos one that held the man Kali was interrogating with two young girls, one looking around his age and the other younger.

And the other two photos on the wall were of the girls individually, their poses were similar to the pictures that hung on the walls of Mike’s house. The boy stared at the picture of the older girl, looking at her sparkling brown eyes and curly brown hair.

“Pretty,” he whispered, his heart clenching when a flash of Nancy Wheeler flashed through his mind, making him miss everyone back home.

“Take Jasper with you.” He heard Kali say, causing him to snap out of his trance, looking up he saw Dottie and Axel coming towards him.

Dottie grabbed the boy’s open hand clutching it in hers before skipping off into another room with Twelve confusedly following.

Dottie let out a giggle, letting go of the boy’s hand as he looked around the room that he confirmed to be a bedroom.

Levi plopped himself on the bed that was way larger than his, he bounced up and down, humming a melody, not paying any mind to Dottie shuffling through the belongings in the room, or Axel who was by the doorway, blocking Five from leaving.

“I don’t like these people.” Six exclaimed, suddenly popping up, Levi flinched, glaring towards the ghost who held his hands up in surrender. “Sorry, bub.”

Levi sighed as Dottie grabbed him again and led him towards another room, Dottie and Axel cursed as they looked in the room. Levi peaked over Dottie’s shoulder, following the two’s line of sight, frowning when he saw the girls from the pictures huddled in the corner of the room, fear in their eyes as one held the telephone close to their chest.

Five glared at Axel’s back, trying to look around the man when he hears something from where Kali and El were, just as he was about to go check what’s wrong, Axel and Dottie began pushing the two young boys towards where El was.

“We got a problem,” Axel said.

“Kids in the apartment.” Dottie finished.

Levi and Five looked at the scene in front of them, Kali with a frustrated look on her face, El with tears in her eyes, her lips quivering, and the owner of the living space on the floor sobbing, his face bright red.

Five knew they had to get the hell out of there, he didn’t know what was going on anymore. He wanted to shout and scold himself for letting El get close to these people.

Levi didn’t know what to do, he stood frozen staring at the man on the ground who was sobbing and begging for his life, not even processing the shouts from Kali, Axel, and Dottie.

Twelve clutched Ben tight, his knuckles turning white as he swallowed harshly, finally snapping out of it as he hears sirens blaring loudly.

Five quickly pulled Levi, following the group when they ran out of the apartment. They ran down the staircase outside, the sirens getting louder, Axel pushed the two boys in front of him, helping them catch up.

They finally made it to the van, quickly getting in, as soon as the door closes Mick drives off the wheels screeching loudly.

•••

Levi sat next to Mick, looking out the window as Five sat at the table watching Axel, Funshine, and Dottie who were all playing poker.

The boy’s head was rested on his fist, staring out the window with a tired expression. He was exhausted from running from the cops, he was glad they made it out on time, but all he wanted to do was sleep. But how was he supposed to sleep if he had a feeling something bad was gonna happen?

Just as that thought invaded his mind, he furrowed his brows, squinting at the window when he sees headlights along with flashing blue and red lights.

Nudging Mick beside him, Levi whispers shakily, “Bad cop.”

Mick blew out their cigarette looking down at the kid in confusion, “What?”

Levi pointed out the window, Mick cursed as they saw what he was talking about.

“What’s going on?” Axel exclaimed as he saw Kali and El running towards them in a panic.

“They found us.” Kali panted finally making it to them.

Axel pulled a gun from his pants, Kali’s eyes widened hurriedly stopping the man. “No!”

They all stopped, Levi inching closer to El as he stood in between her and Mick. They heard footsteps coming towards them quickly.

“Shh...” Kali put up an illusion, making them invisible to the cops as the group of men finally made it where they were.

Levi heard his heart pounding loudly in his ears as the cops walked around them, guns pointing, trying to find them. Levi glanced at Five who was by Axel, the blue-eyed boy was surprised to see Axel actually scared, grasping onto Five’s shoulder tightly.

Once the cops passed them, Five whispered. “Everyone hold onto me.”

The group, other than El and Levi, were hesitant but put a hand on his back or shoulder, Levi and El holding his hands. Five used all his strength, closing his eyes before they all disappeared.

They all popped up in front of the van, Axel shooting at the four cops outside. All of them hid behind the van, Levi whimpered at the loud sounds of gunfire going on behind him, causing Five and El to squish together, holding him as close as possible.

Axel screamed at Kali to do something when suddenly all the loud sounds stopped.

“Let’s go!” Mick yelled, opening the door to the driver's side as Axel and Funshine open up the back, letting Dottie hop in before themselves and Kali.

Levi goes to follow but Five grabbed onto him before he can. Twelve looked at the boy in confusion, Five nodded his head towards Eleven.

"What are you guys doing? Get in!" Kali demanded.

El looked at the older girl with tears, thinking back to what she saw, Mike shouting because he and his friends were in danger. "I'm sorry, we have to go back. My friends…" She trailed off, glancing towards Levi and Five, who watched with supporting faces. "Our friends are in danger."

"We got to go!" Axel shouted.

"We belong together. There's nothing for you there. They can not save you." Kali stated, tears falling from her eyes.

"No." El said, standing on the other side of Five, grabbing a hold on his hand. "But we could save them."

El nodded her head at Five, the boy sighed and closed his eyes, ignoring the shouts of their names coming off Kali's lips as a bright blue halo swirled around them.

"Home?" Levi asked, grasping Five's hand tightly, holding Ben to his chest with his other hand.

"Yeah." Five nodded, looking towards El who smiled softly through her tears.

"We're going home."

"YAY!"

•••

A/N) i made it, lol! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a nice weekend! ♥