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❛ ᴛʜᴇ ʙ. ʙ. ᴇꜰꜰᴇᴄᴛ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ɪ'ᴍ ᴀʟʟ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴏғ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ꒱　


❝ AND WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IF
I CALLED ON YOU NOW & SAID
THAT I CAN'T HOLD ON? ❞

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Wednesday, 8:15 a.m.

Alexa was used to waking up early thanks to her decision to attend school for the rest of her life but that didn't mean she enjoyed it. While she wasn't normally a coffee drinker— she always left that to Five— she gratefully took the cup from Allison; trying to stop the end of the world was hard work. The blonde sat on one of the bar stools holding the to-go container as she let Luther get their siblings up to speed.

"The world's ending in three days," he informed them.

"Three days?"

"That's what Five said," he answered as she gave a confirming nod.

"The old bastard did mention the apocalypse, come to think of it. He just left out the part about how soon."

"But can we trust him?" Allison asked. "I don't know if you've noticed but Five's a little—" She whistled and twirled her finger to indicate craziness.

"Our little psycho," Klaus commented fondly.

"He was pretty convincing," Luther argued. "If he wasn't trying to stop an apocalypse those lunatics wouldn't be chasing him."

"And besides," Alexa cut in, "where would he have gotten the glass eye?"

"Glass eye?" Allison repeated.

Alexa shook her head. "It doesn't matter; it's a dead lead."

"What did Five even see?" Diego asked.

"Uh— apparently, we all fought together against whoever was responsible."

"Okay."

"So, here's the plan. Uh, we go through Dad's research—"

"Wait, what? Hold on, hold on," Klaus protested. "Wait a tick, wait a tick, wait a tick. What actually happened the first time around?"

Alexa groaned at the same time. "My god, Luther. Why do you have to make everything about yourself?"

"Yeah." Diego added. "What are you not tellin' us? Come on, big boy. Spit it out."

The blond man raised his cup of coffee to his lips and mumbled, "we died."

"What was that?"

More clearly he said, "uh, we died."

☂☂☂

They were still talking about it after what seemed like hours later as they sat in a close-knit group around the bar. The blonde closed her eyes as she allowed exhaustion sweep over her. Without a clear goal, her family really was dysfunction at its finest. Even with something to work towards, there had always been contention within their family. Apparently, even the end of the world wasn't a big enough problem for them to work together on. 

"No, we need to figure this out," Diego was saying.

"Is it just us?" Allison asked.

"It's everybody," Luther answered.

"In the house? The whole planet?"

"No, outside the house. Everyone died."

"Hey," Vanya's quiet voice cut through their discussion. Alexa looked up, relieved to have a break from their circling conversation.

"What's going on?"

"It's a family matter," Allison said hesitantly.

Immediately, Alexa winced. Vanya was family— even after her book— at least in the blonde's eyes. She wasn't sure how Vanya stood with everyone else but even still, that was definitely not the right approach. Their sister seemed to pick up on what Allison meant and scoffed slightly. "A family matter. So you couldn't bother to include me."

"No, it's not like that," Allison protested.

"We were—"

The brunette had had enough. "Don't let me interrupt."

"Wait," the dark-skinned woman pleaded. "I'll fill you in later when we're alone."

"Please, please, don't bother. And I won't either."

Alexa opened her mouth to somehow fix this but couldn't stop watching the scene unfold in front of her— it was almost the same scenario as Ben's death all over again— and there was nothing she could do. Her mouth closed and she slumped in defeat, an utter failure as history repeated itself.

"Vanya, that's not fair."

"Fair? There's nothing fair about being your sister. I have been left out of everything for as long as I can remember. And I used to think it was Dad's fault, but he's dead. So it turns out you're the assholes." The brunette turned and left with the man that had come in with her, leaving her siblings in silence.

"I'm gonna go find Vanya and explain," Allison finally said.

"No, wait, there isn't time," Luther stopped her. "We need to figure out what causes the apocalypse. Now, there are loads of possibilities. Nuclear war, asteroids. But I'm thinking this is about the moon. Right? Dad must have sent me up there for a reason. I was giving him daily updates on the conditions, I sent field samples. The first thing we need to do is find his research."

Alexa sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers, closing her eyes briefly. Luther was really pushing her temper especially after everything he'd done.

"Hold on. Hold the phone. We all died fighting this thing the first time around. Remember?" Klaus asked.

"Klaus, shockingly, has a point. What gives us a win this time?"

"Five. Last time we didn't have him. We weren't all together. This time, we'll have the full force of the Umbrella Academy. That's what we need."

"Yeah, but he's not here, is he?" Alexa asked quietly. "We don't even know when— if— he's coming back." Her voice cracked on the 'if' but no one mentioned it. Even with the note, there was nothing concrete about Five's reappearance.

"Well, he had a plan to change the timeline." Luther said determinedly. "He'll be back soon. You of all people should know to believe in him, Alexa."

"I'm going after Hazel and Cha-Cha," Diego decided as he stood up.

"What, right now?"

"Hell, yeah. Three days. I'm losing light by the minute."

"Wait, Diego. Look, I know you wanna avenge your friend but we got a bigger problem here." Luther was clearly desperately trying to corral them together but Alexa wasn't about to help him with that. The deep-seated ache in her chest was making it hard to contribute anything at the moment.

"She wasn't just some friend," the dark-haired man countered. "If I'm gonna die I need to know I killed those bastards first."

Diego was the first to leave the room and Alexa truly didn't blame him. As much as she would fight for them, there were some fights that she knew she couldn't win. 

Luther turned to his next brother. "Klaus? Klaus? Klaus!"

"Yeah! Sorry."

"So, what? You're giving up on the world, too?"

Klaus stood up, already distracted. "Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. Mm-hmm."

"So that's it. You're cool with us all dying in three days? I can't believe it," Luther said. He looked at the two remaining women. "It's just us— oh, please, not you, too."

Allison stood up. "I have to book a flight back to LA," she said apologetically. "If this happens I have to be with my daughter, custody be damned. And you said it yourself we need the full force of the Academy to even stand a chance. I'm sorry, Luther."

The leader of the Academy turned to his last remaining sister. Sure, they'd had their arguments but she'd always been Five's biggest supporter. She wouldn't turn her back against him now, would she?

Luther didn't even have to be the most socially adept person to know that, as he laid his eyes on her, her answer would be no as well— she was already shaking her head.

"I'm sorry, Luther," Alexa said. "There's no one left to protect, nothing to hold on to." She sighed deeply. "Since we're going to die in three days I'm not going to waste my time here." She stood and paused awkwardly to look at him. "You were never my favorite person in our family and I know I wasn't yours, but before these last few days you did have my respect. I-I hope you enjoy the rest of the time you have, Luther."

While her sentiment may have been clumsy, she did truly mean it. Three days was too short to hold on to old grudges. Alexa turned and left the room, then exited the main foyer and finally passed through the door to The Umbrella Academy before she closed it for the last time.

☂☂☂

The blonde stood on the steps of The Umbrella Academy for a moment lost on what to do next. Her whole life had been tied to the building she was standing outside of and even after leaving it to teach, a part of her knew she'd return someday. Now, though, she had three days to live the rest of her life and staying cooped up in the forty-two bedroom house was not on her list of things to do. The sudden thought hit her: she never had to return!

A giddy laugh escaped her lips as the realization dawned on her and in a sudden burst of excitement, she skipped down the steps like a child. A soft breeze blew through the streets, carrying a hint of warmth and the only thing Alexa wanted to do was run. She had never enjoyed athletics, though, as they were a forcible reminder of her childhood but she could run in other ways. The blonde made a decision to return home and get her paints to paint in the park and enjoy the last seventy-two hours left of the earth. Then, she realized she had no reason to budget her expenses anymore and decided to indulge in a whole new painting set because why not?

After spending a leisurely time looking at paint sets in a downtown store and stopping by a restaurant for lunch, she finally set up in a grassy space that faced the walking path. Trees dotted the area and there was a park bench nearby to give her enough interest in her painting. She set up the collapsible table she'd gotten as well and prepared her paints and canvas. As she raised her paint brush to the canvas, though, there seemed to be a mental block. It had been awhile since she'd had the time to paint but Alexa knew that it was more than that— she'd always had an observer while she painted.

On a whim, she pulled out her phone and called the one person she knew she could depend on. True to form, he picked up on the first ring. "'What's up, Al?'"

Instinctively, a smile bloomed on her face. "Hey Dyl. Can you come to the park? I'm painting and you know I usually like—"

"'I'm already there,'" came his cheerful response, cutting off her explanation as he already knew.

Nearly twenty minutes later, a man in his early thirties came jogging up to her. He had light blondish hair and hazel eyes. He might have been considered attractive if not for his bad habit of spouting history facts whenever a woman (besides Alexa) spoke to him which was a deterrent for most potential dates. The blonde didn't understand why, though, as she probably would've fallen in love with him if her heart didn't already belong to another.

The light-haired brunet greeted her with a familiar, bright smile. "What's up, Al?" he asked as he arrived.

She couldn't help but grin back. "I'm painting," she answered as she waved her brush towards the canvas.

Dylan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, no shit. I don't have short term memory loss, you know. I meant how's the family thing?"

Alexa looked considerably less happy at this question. Her best friend took one look at the change and sighed. "That bad, huh?"

The blonde nodded. "I always thought I'd have to return someday but everything was so. . . unchanged. Things are supposed to look different as you grow up, right? But the academy. . . nothing had changed the entire time I'd been gone and my siblings. . . they're more dysfunctional than ever. We could barely work together for two seconds."

Dylan gave her a sympathetic look as he lowered himself onto the grass and crossed his legs as he sat down. "At least you got your brother back, yeah?"

Alexa lowered her paintbrush and her blue eyes found his hazel ones. "Yeah," she agreed quietly, "but I'd almost rather that he'd stayed in the future."

The man's eyes widened as he understood how profound her wish was. "Shit, Al, I'm sorry. Do you. . . do you want to talk about it? I know I came to watch you paint but you shouldn't keep stuff like this bottled up." He waved his arms to emphasize his point.

The blonde glanced at the green-tipped brush in her hand and thought about the familiar tightness in her chest. The fact that she— they— only had three days brought a surge of unexpected grief and suddenly there was a lump in her throat. It was so hard being the one that tried— and failed— to keep her family from tearing apart. A choked sob escaped her lips and she fell to the ground as paintbrush fell next to her, forgotten. She pulled her legs to her chest and buried her face in her hands as she tried to muffle her tears.

Almost immediately, she felt gentle arms wrap around her in a hug and Dylan's warm breath fanned the side of her face as he said, "I know how you feel about touching, Al, but I think you need this."

The blonde didn't protest but leaned into his touch. She buried her face in his shirt as she sobbed, the years of bottled up emotions finally spilling over. As the family's protector, she'd always been expected to be the strong one, the determined one, the optimistic one even in the face of impossible odds. Keeping an upbeat outlook helped her siblings stay in positive moods and ensured the mission's success. Everyone looked to Luther for directions as leader but as the last in the group, everyone looked to her for moral support.

Alexa had always been happy to provide the much-needed emotional attention for her siblings, but there was no Number Nine for her to lean on. All of her siblings thought she relied on Five but as much as she cared for him, he was not a good person to turn to for such support. Instead, she'd had to deal with her problems by herself, or that was how Reginald had molded her to think.

Even after the Academy, that way of thinking was so ingrained in her that she always put others— her students, her acquaintances, Dylan— first with hardly a thought to her wellbeing. Now, though, with only three days left to live, she didn't care what she was supposed to be.

As she calmed down, Dylan gave her a gentle squeeze. Alexa sniffled as embarrassment filled her in the wake of her grief. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve and pulled away from him slightly. "I'm sorry, Dyl. I don't. . . I don't know why I did that."

His hazel eyes were soft as he looked at her. "You could do that a thousand times and I wouldn't mind, Al. I know you don't have much outside support but this is what friends are for."

She gave a watery chuckle. "I guess it's just that, after everything. . . this week was the fuse, y'know?"

"Why do you think so?" Dylan asked as he pried gently.

Alexa sighed before she answered, "the world's ending in three days and I finally let the Academy go."

That certainly took several minutes for her best friend to digest. "Wait, what?" he asked before the pieces fell together. "So when you called. . ."

Alexa nodded. "I already knew but didn't want you to freak out. When Five returned, he said the world was ending in eight days and needed my help to stop it. Well, all of our leads are dead, he's disappeared again and the Academy fell apart at the seams so I made the decision to lead my own life for the rest of the time we have."

Dylan smiled softly at her. "That's a big step, Al, but I'm not even going to ask if you're sure because there's not much time to regret your choices."

The blonde gave him a small smile. "Is there anything you want to do in seventy-two hours? Any family you want to see?"

The man was quiet for awhile and Alexa took the time to think as well. Her entire life had been held up by the Academy. All of her relationships, her life choices, her emotions, had been tied there— to the only reason she still truly stayed and it all led back to the missing fifteen-year old boy. To truly be free, she knew what she had to do. "I think I'm ready to move on."

Dylan gave her a puzzled look. "Move on?" After all, she'd already given up the Academy.

Her blue eyes raised to his hazel ones, "I'm ready to move on from Five." As his expression morphed into one of shock, she added hurriedly, "there's only three days left and he's gone. I've spent my whole life waiting on him and I think I'm all out of love for him. If he wanted to be here— if he still cared like he used to, he'd be here. But, he's not and you are." She could see Dylan swallow as his gaze flicked down to her lips. "I know I denied you the first time and if there's someone you'd rather spend the rest of your time with, I understand. And I know I'm late but—"

"I don't care," he breathed. "I've always been satisfied with being your friend, Al, but you know I've also wanted more and there's no one else I'd rather spend my remaining time with."

Alexa knew she wouldn't truly be moving on from Five— that would take years she didn't have— but it was a step that made her feel as free as when she'd stood on the steps of the Academy earlier that day. It made her feel like a child again and a giddy laugh escaped her lips. Even if it was just her imagination, she felt years of weight and grief fall off her shoulders and she sat up straighter.

As Dylan smiled at her sudden change, Alexa grinned back. "Well, what are you waiting for?" she asked. "Kiss me."

There was quite a lot she wanted to do in three days.