▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅

❛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀʀᴛʏ ᴍᴄғʟʏ ᴇғғᴇᴄᴛ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴏᴡɴ ꒱　


❝ I'M NOT WHO I USED TO BE ❞

▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅

Alexa and Five waited outside while Vanya went to speak to Luther. The blonde girl leaned against the hood of the car as she stared pointedly away from the boy next to her who was leaning on the doors. She jumped at the sound of a shout and looked up to see the previously-whole wall crumble into an opening. Minutes later, Vanya reappeared, clearly angry.

"Well, that clearly went well," Five greeted her. "You ready to go?"

Without pause, Vanya said, "I'm going back to the farm."

The boy ran after her. "Hey. Unacceptable, Vanya. Remember, we need to stick together."

"Oh, why, so I don't end the world again?" They'd joined Alexa now and she winced. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to hide the truth from her. "Were you ever going to tell me?"

The blonde reached out a hand to stop her sister from getting in the car. "Of course. I'm sorry we hid it from you. It's just a lot to process and we didn't want to overwhelm you—"

Five cut across her, "you know what, in my defense, no, alright? And can you blame me? When you get angry, shit blows up!"

"Which is why we should've told her," Alexa put in, sounding reasonably guilty.

Vanya glared at the boy. "Great. Are there any other family secrets you failed to mention? Like how I was on to something between you and my sister?"

The brunette shook off the younger girl's hand and got into the car as Five leaned forward. "A boatload, Vanya, which I don't have the luxury of sharing them with the—"

She slammed the door on his words, forcing Five to knock on the window. Vanya rolled it down but kept her eyes focused straight ahead. "The clock is ticking on doomsday. Just tell me that when I need you, you'll be ready."

Vanya stared at him impassively. "I can't help you, Five. I don't even know who I am."

"You're our sister," Alexa put in suddenly as she crowded next to the boy to stick her face in the window. "Please, Vanya. You're a member of The Umbrella Academy. You belong with us—"

The older woman turned towards her. "That's who I was, okay? New timeline, new me. Keep in touch," she added to the blonde. Then, she turned towards the boy. "You, don't bother."

She drove off with Five calling after her: "that's not how it works!"

Turning, they saw Luther giving Five (Alexa didn't think she was included in the gesture) the middle finger. She couldn't help but grin a little.

He sighed. "I wonder if it's too late to be un-adopted."

"Ouch."

The boy rolled his eyes. "Not you. Although, that would've made the past a lot easier."

She studiously looked away. As he turned to go, Alexa suddenly spoke: "let's take a walk."

"What?"

"A walk. You still know how to do that, right?"

Five gave her an unimpressed look. "Haha, very funny."

She smiled at him innocently. "I'm being completely serious here. We need to talk."

He looked away immediately. "No, no we don't."

Alexa sighed. "Now you're being like Luther."

Five looked sharply at her. "Never compare me to Luther."

"So you'll walk with me, then?"

The boy gave an exasperated sigh, knowing he was trapped. "You're insufferable."

The blonde beamed happily. "Nope, that's all you. By the way, I need to stop in to the office to let them know I'm on official world-saving business. Not in so many words, of course, but I'm still a decent human being."

"Fine, but make it quick."

☂☂☂

After stopping by Alexa's workplace— where she'd left Five outside in fear he'd threaten Marilyn or another employee unnecessarily (the prosthetic eye doctor came to mind here)— they walked side-by side down the main street. It was almost surreal to her that they could actually do this. 

It was only now that she realized they'd never truly spent one-on-one time together without the threat of their father looming over them or an apocalypse, although the latter was still true. Silence fell between them as Five stuffed his hands in his pockets until it grew unbearable. "So, what did you want to talk about?" he asked uncomfortably.

"Nothing."

He gave her an incredulous look. "Really?"

Alexa nodded. "I just wanted to scare you." While that wasn't strictly true, how was she supposed to broach the subject of buried feelings when they were starting to rise to the surface again? She'd like to think she was brave but maybe not that much.

They fell back into silence as they walked down the main street of Dallas. One thing about the sixties that hadn't been disappointing for her was the storefronts. The old-west, historic feel was something she'd always wanted to experience and never grew tired of looking at the differences between what she was used to and what she now saw.

A bright display caught her eye and she couldn't resist tugging on Five's sleeve to pull him towards it. He followed her begrudgingly and protested all the while: "Lexa— we-we don't have time for this. Slow down!"

The blonde girl paid him no mind and came to an abrupt stop outside of the comic book store. She pressed one hand flat against the glass and peered inside as she felt nostalgia sweep over her. "Remember when we used to read these as kids?"

Reginald Hargreeves was never one for 'light reading' and only encouraged books for study or personal advancement but Five, never being one to follow authority, had used his powers and stolen more 'appropriate' reading material when they had been children. Alexa in particular had liked the comic books to see the art styles and what regular people thought superhero-ing was like. Eventually, she'd coerced Five's interest in them as well.

She watched his expression soften in the reflection of the glass. "Yeah."

The blonde turned slightly to look at him out of the corner of her eye. "I never asked but I meant to: did you have a favorite? Superhero, I mean."

He blinked, confused for a second before a slow smirk spread across his face. "Of course I did."

"Oh, really? Who?" she asked curiously. She hadn't thought he would.

"You, of course."

Alexa's face turned a brilliant shade of pink. "No, really. I meant in the comics."

Five rolled his eyes. "Why would I have a fake favorite superhero when I could have a real one right here?"

She faced forward again as she was finding it very hard to look at anything but his reflection and she sighed. "We used to be so close when we were younger."

The boy noticed the sudden change in her demeanor as her eyes grew distant and he dropped his teasing. "I know," he agreed quietly. "I'm not who I used to be."

He said it almost regretfully and Alexa felt her heart twist in her chest. She'd spent so long dreaming of the time when he'd come back that she'd never considered he'd be different. "I'm not the same either."

Next to her, Five shifted slightly. At first, she wondered if the conversation was making him uncomfortable but then she realized he'd moved closer. Her heart sped up and beat rapidly in her chest. She swallowed. "You've had a really rotten two weeks haven't you?"

He let out a sound that was almost like a strangled laugh. "Yeah, you could say that. It must be a record."

"Worst two weeks ever, huh?"

To her surprise, she watched as Five's reflection shook his head. "I've had worse, actually. At least I'm able to do something now. Waiting was the hardest part."

Alexa didn't know what to say to that so she did the only thing she could think of: she tentatively moved her hand to brush her fingers against his as she kept her eyes focused on the glass in front of her to help ease the embarrassment. Electricity zipped up from her fingertips as they touched his and she made a move to pull away, only intending to show support.

She startled slightly when the boy's fingers grasped her own in response and stopped her from pulling away. Then, he released them and after gentle prodding from his fingers at her palm, Alexa relaxed her hand to allow him to slide his fingers down and tangle them with her own.

All of this had been down with both of them staring resolutely at the Captain America comic display, neither able to look the other in the eye. Five coughed awkwardly. "We should head back."

Unable to actually speak, Alexa nodded in response. 

☂☂☂

"So what, you just let her go?" Diego asked.

They had returned not long before and Five immediately got back on task as Alexa sat next to Diego on the couch. Lila sat on the other side as she tended to the previous night's stab wound.

"Well, Vanya had a lot to process. She'll come around. I know she will."

"Maybe we shouldn't have lied to her," Alexa put in mildly, causing the man next to her to give her a sharp look.

"What?"

The blonde rolled her eyes. "We didn't want her getting angry again, so we might've. . . omitted some very important things. Like how she was the cause of the apocalypse."

Diego stared at her incredulously. "And I thought you were the smart ones!"

"Ouch."

He sighed. "What about the guys that went after her?"

"The Swedes?" Five clarified.

"Yeah. I mean, how do we know they won't go after her again?"

Elliot came in and handed a mug of coffee to Lila and one to Alexa but the blonde shook her head. She'd already wasted enough coffee today. Instead, he put it on the table for Diego.

"We don't," Five said evenly.

"Any idea who sent them?" Lila asked.

"Oh, I have my suspicions." The Commission. Three years without trouble and the minute Five showed up, they arrived. There was almost no doubt in her mind. "But right now, our priority is finding Dad and getting answers 'cause everything else depends on it."

Alexa raised her hand. "Uh, yeah, can we not do that? Or maybe find our other siblings first?"

Her questions were ignored as Diego put in, "which, for the record, I found him already."

"And then let him go," Five replied shortly as he sat down, "before we could have a meaningful conversation."

"He stabbed me."

"I'm surprised he waited this long, Diego. We've all had the urge."

Alexa shifted against the pillows and freed one to lob it at the boy. "Be nice."

Five ducked it easily and rolled his eyes as Lila laughed. "Good one!" she exclaimed, holding out her hand for a high five. No one responded and she put it back down.

"Good thing I know where Dad's going to be tonight." He handed the invitation over to Diego who reached forward to take it.

"Where'd you get this?"

"Found it at his office while he was busy stabbing you."

Despite already having seen it, Alexa leaned towards her brother to eye the fancy script on the card. Diego coughed slightly and made a batting motion. "Get your hair out of my face!"

Rolling her eyes, the blonde pulled her hair to her opposite shoulder away from the man. "Sorry," she said, not sounding sorry at all.

"'Hoyt Hillenkoetter and the Consulate General of Mexico in Dallas cordially invite you to a gala,'" Diego read.

"Wait," Elliot said as he recognized the name. "Hoyt Hillenkoetter? Are you serious? You know him?"

Alexa sighed. Here we go again with the conspiracies.

On the other side of Diego, Lila gasped. "We should go. It says there's gonna be a seafood tower."

Elliot brushed her aside. "No, Hillenkoetter is one of the Majestic Twelve."

"The hell is the Majestic Twelve?"

"What? It's-it's a secret committee. Uh, scientists, military, deep state."

Alexa tuned him out as she watched Lila feed her brother, wrinkling her nose with disgust. It seemed all of her siblings had that lovey-dovey relationship thing. Luther and Allison with their heart eyes, Lila doting on Diego. At least she and Five had never been that disgusting. She knew that the boy would probably rather shove an actual stick up his ass than do anything close to that.

"Wait, so they're government?" Diego asked.

"Shadow government," Elliot corrected him. "Yeah. Kennedy was the first president to push them into the light." He continued to search through his papers. "But those guys are not to be trifled with. Oh, here we go, right here." He came back to the group with a piece of paper in his hands. "This, uh, right here," he said as he placed it on the table. Pointing to the first man on the left, he added, "that's Hoyt right there."

They took in the image as Lila said, "I only count eleven."

"Well, that's because they've only identified eleven so far."

"Who's the twelfth?"

"I think I can hedge a bet," Alexa murmured.