▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅

❛ ᴡᴀsᴛᴇʟᴀɴᴅs ᴏғ ᴛɪᴍᴇ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ's ᴍᴏsᴛ
ᴡᴀɴᴛᴇᴅ ꒱


❝ I KNOW WHAT IT FEELS
LIKE TO BE AN OUTSIDER
IN THIS FAMILY ❞

▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅

The Doloreses watched their respective husbands with rather bored expressions on their faces as the two men blinked around the parking lot. From the time Five Senior had started setting up his mission's equipment until now things had rapidly deteriorated despite Luther's. . . lackluster efforts.

"So, how long are we gonna let this continue?" Dolores asked as casually as if she were inquiring about the weather.

"I dunno," Lola replied in the same tone as she absentmindedly spun the ring on her finger. "I was thinking a few more minutes? It's pretty entertaining."

The pair landed in front of Luther again as the man recovered from the blow to the groin that had happened a few moments prior. "Would you please st—" he started, though he grunted again when the Fives kicked him simultaneously. "Hey! I'm getting really sick of this!"

They blinked away again and ignored the man. Lola turned to her younger counterpart. "I'm guessing now?"

"Sounds about right, yeah," Dolores agreed.

The woman bent down and picked up the briefcase that lay forgotten by her feet. She presented it to the brunette. "Here you go, Dolores."

Dolores accepted the time-travelling device with a pleasant smile. "Thank you, Dolores." The two woman gave each other amused looks before they turned back to watch the fight.

The Fives appeared before them again; this time their labored breathing was more noticeable as Five Senior asked, "getting tired yet?"

Five gave him a cocky smile. "I can do this all day."

"Guys, this has to stop," Luther pleaded.

"Eat shit, ape-man," they answered in unison before they jumped towards each other.

It was at that moment that both Doloreses put two fingers in their mouths as they both blew a sharp, piercing whistle. That immediately brought the men to a halt as they turned sharply to face their unimpressed wives. Lola put her hands on her hips as she stared them down. "Are you quite finished?" She continued after they had frozen: "I expected better from you— both of you. Surely the end of the world is more important than fighting each other? And besides, Five— er, my Five— we've been over this already. You're too evenly matched to have a decent shot at any sort of outcome."

"Besides," Dolores added, "what have I said about compromise? It's why we're giving them (here, she nodded to Lola) the right math so we get what we want. Fighting is only wasting time."

The men had the decency to look marginally abashed as they answered sheepishly together, "yes, dear."

"Good," the Doloreses replied at the same time. The girl carried on: "now—"

Before she could finish her sentence, Luther— who had had enough— scooped up the fallen gun and waved it around, cutting her off, "I'm in charge now!"

"Now, Luther!" Five Senior's attention was immediately diverted. "Kill him!"

"No!" Five argued. "Kill him!"

Dolores froze as the man leveled the gun at her Five. Her feet kicked into gear before her mind did and she dropped the briefcase as she scrambled to get in front of the boy. While she wasn't certain that Luther would go through with it, she would never gamble her husband's life. She met the man's gaze with her own steely one, completely unafraid as she stared down the barrel of the gun.

Luther's fingers tightened on the trigger before he relented. He swung the butt of the weapon around to bash Five Senior in the face which knocked him unconscious. This earned an alarmed shout from Lola as she rushed forward to check on him. "Five!"

The man turned to his brother. "Now! Open the portal!"

Five took a moment to respond, momentarily shocked at the turn of events before he nodded. "Right." Blue energy swirled around his hands as he opened the rip in space-time.

Soon, the vortex was at its maximum and there was a magnified image of the boy's 2019-siblings that appeared in the center of the portal from the day they'd jumped to. Focused on the power, the trio almost didn't notice Five Senior recover or Lola help him up as the man attempted to get closed to the briefcase. Dolores quickly ran over to the unattended device and picked it up, giving him a stern look. "Don't even think about it."

"Into the vortex you go, asshole!" Five shouted over the noise his portal generated.

"Fine!" his older counterpart returned. "But give us the math so we don't end up looking like Tiger Beat over here!"

"You stand next to the vortex and I'll tell ya," the boy replied. He motioned towards it. "Go closer!"

The man held on to Lola's hand firmly as the approached the blue portal. The woman had an apology written all over her expression as he protested, "this is close enough! Now give it to us!"

"It was a typo!"

"A typo?" the man repeated.

"We put the decimal in the wrong spot in our proof of the existence of a bound for the number of limit cycles of planar polynomial vector fields of fixed degree. We wrote down five-point-seven. It should be. . ."

"Zero-point-five-seven," both Fives finished.

"Son of a bitch!" Five Senior swore. "I knew that didn't look right. Alright, I guess this is it."

"This is it," the boy agreed. "Go."

Lola attempted to usher her husband through the vortex despite his resistance but something sailed out of it instead: a red fire extinguisher entered 1960s-Dallas and it hit Luther on the head, knocking him down. The momentary distraction allowed Five Senior to slip out of his wife's grip and launch himself towards Dolores, who was still holding the briefcase.

"No!" Five shouted, though Dolores couldn't tell if he was concerned for her or the briefcase as he threw himself forward. He wrapped his arms around her to add his weight to their impromptu tug-of-war.

On her end, Lola pulled Five by the shoulders in an attempt to send them through the portal. Dolores was sure that this was a very comical scene had it not been so dire but she didn't have time to stop and take in the hilarity of it.

As Luther recovered and lifted his head, his eyes widened as he saw what was going on. "Five! It's shrinking!"

The boy released his hold and attempted to shove his older self away instead, though the sudden extra force caused the girl's hands to slip on the handle. Luther added his strength to the fight by Spartan-kicking Five Senior (and, by addition, Lola) through the portal. The last act was enough to let the handle slide free completely as Dolores stumbled backwards. By now, the vortex had shrunk to half its original size and, as it snapped shut on their older selves, it also closed on half of the briefcase. It tumbled to the ground, completely useless.

"Dammit," the girl cursed. She kicked at the still-intact half, fed up and exhausted from the day's events.

Unfortunately, Luther hadn't noticed as he cheered enthusiastically, "we did it!"

Five turned away as he ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. "The briefcase, you idiot."

"What?" he asked, though his gaze quickly fell on the item as the boy started pacing. "Hey, you know what? A thank-you for preserving your existence would be nice."

"A thank-you," Dolores repeated incredulously. "Really? I did more to preserve his life than you did. Besides, I had him handled! I literally had my hands on that stupid thing before you started to go all gun-ho on us—"

"Yeah, about that," Five interrupted her. He turned sharply in her direction with his eyes narrowed. "Why the hell did you put yourself in front that gun? That was the definition of completely reckless as you always complain I am!"

The girl placed her hands on her hips as she glowered at him. "I was saving your life which I'm prepared to do at any cost if necessary. I may not be a superhero like you but that's the most I can do. I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: I'd rather not live in a world without you—"

"Well, that's great," he cut her off, his tone irritated, "but I don't want to live without you either, you idiot. I'd rather you not risk your life for me—"

"Sucks to be you, then," Dolores shot back, "because I'd be willing to do it in a heartbeat if it meant—"

"Guys!" Luther called over their heated tones to earn their attention. "Kennedy's coming." He pointed towards the road.

The pair rapidly changed course as the boy grabbed the normal briefcase and placed it against the fence before he stepped on it. Dolores joined him as they peered out over the top. Luther was last to stand next to them. "Look, there's dad. What do we do?"

They watched as another familiar figure made swift progress across the field. "Damn," the brunette complained.

"Agh," Five groaned as he caught sight of his brother.

"Oh, shit," Luther agreed as he understood.

Thankfully (or not thankfully) their concern was for naught as the telltale sound of gunshots rang out, scaring the civilians as they met their target.

✧✧✧

"'Authorities are asking for help identifying several persons of interest at the Dealey Plaza at the time of the assassination,'" a newscaster announced on one of the black-and-white TVs. "'The FBI believe they may have been acting in concert with the alleged shooter, Lee Harvey Oswald.'"

The Hargreeves had regrouped back at Elliot's and were now scattered on the first floor around the TV that was playing the video. "'Vanya Hargreeves, wanted in connection with the deaths of several FBI agents inside the federal building at Dealey Plaza.'" The woman herself was standing a few feet away with her arms crossed as she watched her mugshot appear on the screen. "'A Cuban exile known only as Diego—'"

"Cuban?" the man repeated as he leaned against the railing of the stairs. His gaze turned towards the TV at his name.

"'. . .who recently escaped from the Holbrook Sanitarium. A bare-knuckle boxer with suspected mafia ties—'" An image of Luther with Jack Ruby appeared. "'—who fights under the alias 'King Kong. Allison Chestnut, a Negro radical responsible for instigating and organizing the recent riots at Stadtler's Lunch Counter.'" Allison scoffed at the words from her place on the first stair landing.

"'And finally Klaus, the controversial cult leader and known tax evader.'" While a photograph of man himself was absent, a cartoonish image was provided by the newsman. "'The FBI is asking the public to be on the lookout for this unidentified boy and girl—'" A picture of Five and Dolores was given with the pair's heads visible above the fence. "'—who they believe are being held hostage by the suspected terrorist network. . .'"

"Well, it's true," Five agreed with the TV as he leaned on the opposite railing from his brother. "I do feel like I'm being held hostage most days."

Dolores remained quiet, perched on the first level of stairs in front of Allison with her elbows resting on her knees as she stared off into space.

"God, I hate that photo," Diego complained.

"They're saying I instigated the riot?" Allison scoffed. "That's unbelievable."

"Look, the good news is that we restored the timeline and we stopped doomsday," Luther began optimistically. "So—"

"Yeah, a bunch of real goddamn heroes," his brother retorted. "We let Kennedy die."

"Yeah," Allison agreed, "and now we're officially the most wanted people in the world. The FBI is after us, the Dallas police, the Secret Service. I mean, it's only a matter of time before they hunt us down here."

"Well, where are we supposed to go?" Vanya asked.

"I have this yurt just outside of Reykjavik," Klaus stated nonchalantly as he descended the stairs. "We can totally lay low there. Folks are a little weird but lovely." He received blank faces for his words.

"Hey, numbnuts," Five called. "Hiding's not gonna make a difference here. The Commission will hunt us down wherever and whenever we go."

"He's right," Diego agreed, causing the boy to look mildly surprised. "They'll never stop."

"I'm sorry. Since when are you an expert on The Commission?"

"Since I got back from there."

As the siblings began to argue amongst themselves, Dolores tuned them out as she currently had more pressing things on her mind. While she and Five had returned to whatever their normal state was after their older counterparts had been properly sent to the future, a feeling of foreboding had quickly replaced any other emotions. Truthfully, it had been there since she'd stepped in between Five and the gun hours ago, though it had only gotten more persistent over time.

It was a strange type of gnawing in her stomach, not quite nerves but not quite uneasiness either. It seemed that something was going to happen, something bad— and soon. She would have to make a choice somewhere in the next few hours that it, well, it almost seemed as if her whole life had been leading up to it.

It wasn't necessarily her. . . her higher purpose or anything (she didn't think so, at least) but there was a sense of. . . anticipation that she'd never felt before. It was almost a nostalgic, poignant feeling that sat bitter in her throat and heavy in her heart.

"I'm leaving," Vanya announced, drawing her from her thoughts.

The group immediately stopped arguing as Allison asked, "what?" as she stood from her own seat on the stairs. "To go where?"

"Sissy's farm. Something's wrong with Harlan and I need to help him."

"Vanya, we need to stick together, okay? Now more than ever," Luther told her.

"That's why I'm telling you this. Whatever's going on with Harlan, I think I might've caused it," Vanya explained.

"How?"

The woman gave her siblings a helpless look. "He drowned and, uh, somehow I was able to bring him back to life and now it's like we're connected. . ."

"Wh-what does that even mean?" Luther wondered.

"I don't know. I can't explain it but. . ." Vanya trailed off before she started again, "I know that he needs my help. I need your help, too. I'm scared," she admitted quietly, "and for the first time in my life I don't wanna do it alone. I want my family by my side."

The siblings remained silent, avoiding her gaze as Diego spoke: "look, I'm sorry. We have other priorities right now."

"Diego's right," Five agreed, earning surprised looks. "For once. We need to make our stand here and now."

The brunette looked at them before she nodded. "Okay. I guess. . . I'll see you when I see you." Her tone was dejected as she turned to walk away.

Dolores stood. "Vanya, wait." She was forced to a stop as Five caught her wrist.

"What are you doing?"

She turned to him. "I'm going to help Vanya," she replied shortly as she pulled away from his grasp. "I know what it feels like to be an outsider in this family and she's lived with you guys for years. I may not have superpowers but she does— even if you only just found that out— but she deserves to have someone with her at a time like this. So, I'm going to help her."

The girl stalked after the woman and joined her in the front seat of the car. Vanya started in surprise and Dolores gave her an apologetic smile. "I know I'm not much for a combat partner but I thought you could use the company."

Before Vanya could reply, the back door opened and Klaus slid in. "So, Ben is gone forever, huh?"

"He traded his life for mine," Vanya explained. "He saved the world in the process."

"Pfft, show off," Klaus said. "Did. . . did he say anything about me?"

"He wanted me to tell you that he was too scared to go into the light. It wasn't you who stopped him."

"That little shit-heel," he remarked plainly.

There was a moment of silence before Vanya spoke again: "look, I'm sorry, but you should get out Klaus."

"Oh, no. I'm coming with," he explained.

Footsteps approached the car and the back doors opened again. "Got room for two more?" Allison asked.

"What about The Commission?"

"Well, might as well do some good before we die horribly," Diego said as he shifted in his seat.

The front door opened. "Five, you don't have to—"

"I know," he said. "You owe me one, sis." Then he looked at Dolores and smiled at her. "Children ride in the back."

"I'm older than you," she replied pointedly. "If anything, you're the child here."

The boy rolled his eyes. "Alright, I gave you a chance."

"What are you gonna—"

He didn't let her finish. Instead, he put one foot in next to hers and slid on to her lap. Smiling slightly, the brunette wrapped her arms around his waist as he leaned against her and shifted his weight a bit to get more comfortable.

"Not a word," the boy warned his siblings in a stern tone.

At the back of the car, the trunk was pulled open and Luther climbed in, which forced the entire vehicle to the ground. "If anyone makes a fat joke I'm out."