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❛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀʀᴛʏ ᴍᴄғʟʏ ᴇғғᴇᴄᴛ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ᴀ ᴅᴀʀᴋ, sᴀғᴇ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ ꒱　


❝ YOU GUYS ARE SO WEIRD ❞

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The diner was only slightly crowded as Five, Vanya and Alexa claimed three seats at the bar and placed the newly-found Hargreeves purposefully in the middle. A waitress came by to collect their order and returned with a pot of coffee before she carefully poured three servings. Alexa knew hers would still be left in the mug.

"Leave the pot, dear," Five requested. "Thank you."

The waitress turned to go and muttered, "lippy little shit" under her breath as she shook her head. "Kids these days."

Then, the trio was left alone.

"You going to tell me what the hell's going on?" Vanya asked, breaking the silence.

"When you were a baby, you were bought by an eccentric billionaire." Here, Alexa snorted. She never knew why Reginald preferred that adjective. Five continued as though he hadn't been interrupted: "he raised you in an elite academy with seven other siblings with extraordinary powers but in the year 2019, in order to avoid an apocalypse, we jumped into a vortex and ended up being scattered throughout the timeline in Dallas, Texas. Any questions?"

Alexa leaned forward to catch Vanya's gaze. "That's how I ended up like this," she said, and gestured to her teenage body. "Because somebody can't control his powers."

Five turned to look sharply at her. "I wasn't the only one using my powers at the time if you can recall," he reminded her coolly. "Maybe you're the one who messed it up. Everyone else turned out normally."

The blonde blinked, stumped into silence. That was true. Even if she hadn't seen all of them in person yet, she'd seen their pictures. Everyone else quite clearly returned to their normal age. How had she never thought of that? She closed her eyes for a second as she tried to remember the last few moments of 2019. There had been a pull on her powers as the vortex strengthened but she'd thought that was just the effect of time and space.

Maybe that wasn't true, though. Alexa distinctly remembered her siblings appearing de-aged but she'd been the only one to stay that way. Her powers were a source of protection— from anything.

"Oh my god," she breathed out.

Vanya looked at her in confusion. "What?"

"It was me!" Alexa's eyes were wide. "My powers were in use at the same time the vortex opened. We all appeared de-aged but as my powers interacted with Five's, I became protected from time and space. They sort of all meshed together and prevented me from bouncing back to my physical age."

"Am I the only one who's lost here?" Vanya asked.

"So it wasn't me," Five said smugly. "Although your theory has no proof yet. We'll have to wait three more years to see if you grow." He paused. "You landed in 1960, right? Aren't you supposed to be eighteen?"

Alexa nodded. "Yeah, but I didn't take any pictures when I landed. I was a bit preoccupied."

She shifted under Five's calculating gaze. "You do look fifteen. I mean, I remember what you looked like."

Her head shot up to look at him. "You remember?'

To her surprise, his tone softened. "Of course. You were fifteen when I left. I wasn't about to forget that easily. You look the same now as you did then." He paused. "With, uh, different clothes of course."

Alexa blinked as she felt a strange sort of happiness warm through her at the thought of Five thinking about her. "You look the same, too," she offered. "Even the clothes are the same."

The boy snorted. "Not by my choice, of course."

"You guys are so weird," Vanya put in, feeling a strange, sudden fondness for her two newly-found siblings.

Alexa grinned at her. "So you've said."

"I have?"

"Oh yeah. Multiple times. In fact, I thought that was your way of saying that you were on to us—"

"Alexa," Five hissed her name warningly.

The blonde broke off as her eyes widened. "Oh, shit!"

The boy sent her an irritated look. "If we were sitting next to each other I would so kick you."

She blushed. Pink filled her face and she quickly turned her gaze to the coffee mug in front of her.

"On to you?" the dark-haired woman echoed as their conversation only confused her more. She looked at the boy next to her when it became clear that the girl wouldn't answer. "What does she mean?"

For the first time, Five looked uncomfortable and the older woman watched his ears go a startling shade of red. "It's nothing," he said dismissively. Then, he picked up his coffee mug and began to chug it to avoid answering any more questions.

Vanya decided that it was a good idea to change the subject and she returned to the original story. "What do you mean, 'the apocalypse?'"

Putting his mug down, Five wiped his mouth on the back of his sleeve and said, "I meant the end of the world as we know it."

"Yeah, but how?"

"You really don't remember anything?"

She shook her head. "Nothing before a month ago."

"Then what do you remember?"

"I landed in. . . like, a back alley—"

"Commerce and Knox," Alexa provided helpfully.

Her sister nodded and continued: "I got hit by a car. My head was ringing like crazy. I had no idea how I got there, where I came from. What causes the apocalypse?"

Alexa's heart twisted in her chest for her sister. To be dropped off in 1960 alone was one thing but at least she'd had her memories intact. She couldn't imagine how scared Vanya must've been and felt renewed guilt at the lack of success in finding her. Maybe it would be a good idea not to say anything about her role in the last end of the world.

"Asteroid impact," she cut in, almost afraid that if she left it up to Five, he'd probably say the real reason.

To her surprise, the boy nodded. "Big kaboom ends everything. Just like the one that got the dinosaurs except way worse." He sighed. "The bad news is that it followed us here."

"What do you mean, 'followed us?'" Vanya asked.

"Eight days from now the world ends in a nuclear doomsday. It's a different disease but. . . same result."

She stared at him, then looked towards her sister. "That can't be right."

Alexa's shoulders slumped. It had been hard for her to believe, too.

"I saw it. With my own eyes," Five confessed and the blonde turned to look at him with surprise and felt a prickle of hurt. He hadn't told her that. He looked first at Vanya, then his gaze slid towards her and stayed. "You were there."

Something about the way he said that made her swallow harshly and she suddenly forgave him for not telling her first.

"We all were."

"Shit," Vanya said quietly before she turned around in her seat. "I need to make a phone call." She leapt out of her chair and ran towards the phone.

"Vanya—" Five started, but Alexa reached out to place a hand on the table next to his arm.

"Let her go," she said softly. "It'll only take a minute."

He stayed tense, though, and he got up to intercept the call. Alexa stayed seated and sighed. Sometimes it was like having her old Five back and sometimes she was looking at a stranger.

☂☂☂

Alexa followed Five and Vanya into the crowded, smelly, dark underground fighting pit. She wrinkled her nose and pressed closer to her sister to avoid the strange men. While she could protect herself and her siblings well enough, trying to act as a normal person meant not using her powers and therefore it made her uneasy to be in the rowdy space.

The crowd cheered around them as they made their way to the floor seating as they tried not to disturb anyone. As she crouched down next to her sister, she watched as Luther sent a massive swing towards his opponent. Despite leaving each other on less-than-stellar terms thanks to him choking her, she'd forgiven him after three years of separation and was just relieved that he was alive. Granted, she wished he was in a better place but she supposed she'd rather him be here then dead in a ditch somewhere.

Then, Luther seemed to freeze. His opponent made an attempt to swing and seemed surprised he got a hit. Alexa's stomach clenched as her hairs stood on end. Something was wrong.

Her brother got hit again. By now, her instincts were screaming at her to climb over the freaking barrier and do something. She hid her antsy-ness by tugging on her long hair harshly in an attempt to distract herself. She watched the other man hit him again and again and—

Before she could comprehend what she was doing, Alexa was lifting her leg over the barrier to scramble onto the field. She couldn't watch her brother get hurt and stand on the sidelines. She'd done that too often—

Firm hands grasped her arms and pulled her back as a voice hissed, "what are you doing?"

She struggled against the grip and balled her fists as she tried to jerk away from her holder. "I can't— he's being hurt— I have to—"

Alexa barely saw Vanya's wide-eyed look as she watched her sister struggle. All she was focused on was the sound of flesh against flesh as Luther was hit again and again—

"Lexa," suddenly, she stilled. She recognized that voice. "You can't help him," Five murmured quietly as he continued his tight hold on her. "He's asking for it. You know he can defend himself."

Alexa blinked and her panicked, narrow focus broadened as she remembered where she was. Her mouth went dry as she glanced at the pit. Had she really been about to go out there? Her sister's worried gaze swam into focus and the blonde forced herself to breathe. She squeezed her eyes shut. To the person holding her, she said quietly (although she wasn't sure if they heard), "I'm sorry. I'm—"

She gave a little sob. She didn't want to watch anymore. For whatever reason, Luther wasn't fighting back and she'd only make a mess of things if she tried to help. Her sixth sibling flashed through her mind. Even in a new timeline, in a new body, in a new life, the guilt wasn't ready to leave her. 

Then, the hands holding her back relaxed their firm grip on her arms and turned her gently. Alexa's eyes blinked open to see Five giving her an apologetic look. "I shouldn't have brought you in here," he said, sounding surprisingly guilty. "That was my mistake."

She bit her lip. She was a fully-grown adult— mentally, at least. She should be able to handle herself. "It's my fault," Alexa argued back with a shake of her head. "I should be able to control the instinct—"

The boy's expression softened and he seemed to hesitate for a moment. Then, to her shock, he moved his hands from her arms and carefully pulled her closer, allowing her the chance to escape if she wanted to. When she didn't, Alexa found herself pressed against the boy in the first hug she'd received from him in eighteen years.

She closed her eyes to tune out the rowdy noises and disgusting smells as she cautiously returned the hug. In a moment of self-indulgence that she could be embarrassed about later, she buried her face against the familiar, rough fabric of the Umbrella Academy uniform. As his arms tightened around her, Alexa could almost pretend they were back in the dark, safe place of the library and that no time at all had passed.