Word count: 2039

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄 their way to Vanya's apartment and were soon standing just outside her door. 

Five knocked but sighed as he received no answer. He tried again, only to get the same result. Once more, and he was frustrated.

"Okay." Five sighed, then glancing at Elizabeth and gesturing towards the door. "Blast the door open."

"I'm not blasting her door," Elizabeth replied as she rolled her eyes. "Can't you just teleport us in?"

"'Can't you just teleport us in?'" he mocked in a rather high-pitched voice. He resumed in his normal voice as he scoffed, "Of course I can."

"Then what are you waiting for? Do it!" she exclaimed as she slapped him lightly on the (uninjured) arm.

With a small grumble of annoyance, he grabbed her shoulder and blinked them into the dark apartment. 

The outline of furniture was barely visible, but Five insisted on keeping the lights off and instead just sat on one of the sofa chairs.

Elizabeth sighed, creating a ball of energy in her hand and using that to guide her way. She found Vanya's bathroom after entering a few other rooms and grabbed a thinning roll of gauze, and an almost-full tube of antibiotic cream, and then wetted a tissue before walking back towards Five.

"Here," she murmured, handing the ball of energy to Five's free hand before sitting on the coffee table and putting the first aid things next to her.

Using the ball of energy as her light, Elizabeth gently grabbed his right hand and pulled his sleeve back to reveal the bloodied napkin. She peeled it off and cleaned the blood off his skin with the wet tissue.

Too concentrated as she delicately used her index finger to spread some of the antibiotic cream onto his wound, Elizabeth didn't notice as Five gazed at her, his eyes flickering over every feature of her face.

"Are you okay?" Five asked softly as she tore off some gauze off of the roll. "Did you get hurt?"

"A little tired, but I think I'm fine." Elizabeth shrugged lightly as she began to wrap it around his arm. She tied the ends together and leaned back, giving a satisfied nod to tell him she was finished.

"Thanks." He gave her a small smile as he handed the energy ball back to her.

She sighed as she brought the ball higher so that their faces were visible. "Remind me why we have to keep the lights off?"

"We don't want to scare Vanya and make her think that someone had broken into her apartment, now do we?" Five raised his eyebrows as he pulled his sleeve over the gauze.

"Right, so instead, we're just going to scare her once she's already in the room," Elizabeth scoffed as she rolled her eyes.

"Exactly." Five nodded, clearly choosing to ignore her mocking tone. "I'm glad you understand."

"Anyway," she sighed, "who were those people?"

Five's eyes turned to the door and he didn't bother to answer as he hushed her, "Shh, I think Vanya's coming."

He was right; footsteps were approaching near the door, and the clinking of keys sounded as Vanya unlocked her door.

Five turned on the lamp next to him just as Vanya entered, causing her to give a small jump. "Jesus!"

"Hey, sis," he greeted nonchalantly as if he and Elizabeth hadn't just broken into the home.

"Hi." Vanya shut the door behind her and sat down next to Elizabeth.

Now that the lights were on, Elizabeth could get a good look at the room she was in. To the left was a kitchen, whose countertop was dirty with a few dishes. A few bookshelves sat on the left of Five, and behind him, a beautiful, glossy violin stood.

"You still play the violin?" Elizabeth asked as she turned towards Vanya, remembering the gorgeous melodies that floated through the halls of the house.

"Yeah." Vanya nodded. "I—I'm taking part in an orchestra, still third chair, but . . . I teach lessons too."

"You teach? I'm not surprised, you're super good." Elizabeth shrugged, a small smile edging her face. "I bet your students are all record-breaking violinists, thanks to you."

"Well, not exactly," Vanya sighed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I have one student who teaches me more than I teach her. Kind of reminds me of whenever Pogo got something wrong and you'd correct him."

"Can't let people get the facts wrong," Elizabeth grinned. "Anyway, do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend or something? Anyone you're interested in? I need all the details."

"No, no, I'm still as alone as ever." Vanya shook her head, giving Elizabeth a small smile.

Elizabeth returned the smile with a warm one, reaching over and holding her hand. "You're not alone anymore, Vanny."

Vanya's small smile grew larger. "Thanks, Ellie."

"Hate to ruin this sentimental moment or whatever," Five interrupted, sounding slightly annoyed, "but I have something much more important to talk about."

Elizabeth turned to face him with raised eyebrows. "Is it you telling me who those people were?"

"I'll get to that later," Five reassured her as he waved a dismissive hand.

She crinkled her nose, shaking her head. "Then it's not important."

"Elle."

"Kidding, kidding," Elizabeth sighed, "tell her the devastating news."

"Devastating?" Vanya echoed, her eyebrows furrowed in concern as she leaned her elbows against her knees and turned to Five.

Five sighed, thinking for a moment before starting. "When I jumped forward and got stuck in the future, do you know what I found?"

Vanya's eyebrows furrowed even further. "No."

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing," Five said bluntly, leaning back on the sofa chair. "As far as I could tell, I was the last person left alive. I never figured out what killed the human race, but . . . I did find something else. The date it happens. Eight days from now, the world will end as we know it."

Vanya stood up, her expression obviously startled as she swallowed and murmured, "I'll put on a pot of coffee."

As she walked over to the small kitchen, Elizabeth turned to Five and hopefully questioned, "Now?"

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Now what?"

She scoffed, "What do you think?"

"Those guys?" He leaned back in his seat, shaking his head as he, once again, told her, "Later."

"No, not later!" Elizabeth exclaimed quietly, not wanting to disturb Vanya as she leaned over and pushed his shoulder. "I murdered some of them! I'd like to know who I've killed!"

"It's this . . ." Five sighed, rubbing his eyes. "It's this whole thing, it'll take time to explain. Time that we don't have right now."

Elizabeth groaned, sending a glare his way. "I'm going to kill you."

"I'd like to see you try," he replied with a smirk.

She folded her arms, quickly calculating in her head before smugly telling him, "The chance that I'd win in a fight right now is eighty-four percent."

"Out of two hundred?" he questioned, though he didn't seem to hopeful.

"Out of one hundred," she corrected.

"Dammit," he mumbled, frowning.

"So, if I want to kill you" —she raised her eyebrows— "I probably can."

"Well, If you do that, you'll never find out who those guys are," Five pointed out, raising his own eyebrows in rebuttal.

"God, you could've just told me by now," Elizabeth complained.

He gave her a humoured smile. "How unfortunate."

"You know what?" Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at him. "Fu—"

"Here." Vanya handed both of them their own mug of coffee, her lips pressed together. She nodded to Five as she sat down in her spot once more and instructed, "Anyway, continue."

"Right. While I was there, I survived on scraps. Canned food, cockroaches, anything I could find," Five chuckled humourlessly. "You know that rumour that Twinkies have an endless shelf life?" He raised his mug with an air of amusement as he continued, "Well, it's total bullshit."

"I can't even imagine," Vanya said softly.

"You do whatever it takes to survive, or you die. So we adapted." Five shrugged. "Whatever the world threw at us, we found a way to overcome it."

Elizabeth exchanged a baffled look with Vanya. Elizabeth questioned, "We?"

Five ignored her and raised his cup towards Vanya, his eyebrows raised. "You got anything stronger?"

Vanya quietly nodded and stood, gesturing for them to follow her. She grabbed a glass from the cabinet, and then a tall bottle of whiskey, pouring the drink into the cup. She raised her eyebrows at Elizabeth, silently asking if she wanted some, though the girl shook her head.

Five took the drink from her and sipped from it, giving a small nod of satisfaction. Vanya watched him carefully, her eyes doubtful as they flickered over his figure.

He took notice, and gave a small scoff as he turned towards her, "You think I'm crazy."

"No, that's—it's—that's just—" Vanya stammered, shaking her head. "It's just . . . it's a lot to take in."

"Exactly what don't you understand?" Five questioned.

Vanya shrugged. "Why didn't you just time travel back?"

Five scoffed once more. "Gee, wish I'd thought of that," he said mockingly before the fake smile on his face dropped. "Time travel is a crapshoot. I went into the ice and never acorn-ed. You think I didn't try everything to get back to my family?"

Vanya clearly still wasn't fully convinced. "If you grew older there, you know, in the apocalypse, how come you still look like a kid?"

"I told you already," Five said with an irritated tone, walking over to the counter and grasping the almost-full bottle of alcohol. "I must have got the equations wrong."

"I mean, Dad always used to say that time travel could mess up your mind." Vanya shrugged. "Well, maybe that's what's happening?

Five shook his head. "This was a mistake. You're too young" —he grabbed a startled Elizabeth's hand and pulled her towards the door— "too naive to understand."

"No. Five," Vanya called, causing him to stop. "Five, wait. I haven't seen you two in a long time, and I don't want to lose you guys again. That's all. And you know what, it's getting late, and . . . I have lessons early, and I need to sleep, and I'm sure you do, too." She walked over to the couch, moving a couple of the pillows and grabbing a throw blanket. "Here. We'll talk in the morning again. Okay? I promise."

He nodded reluctantly.

"Night." Vanya gave a small smile to both of them before heading towards her room, closing the door behind her.

Five sighed as he sat down on the couch.

Elizabeth sat down next to him. "Is now the time?"

"No." He shoved his hand into his blazer pocket and pulled out a black cloth, unwrapping it to reveal the eyeball. He turned it over, revealing the name of the manufacturer: Meritech. "We have to go here. Find out who this eye belongs to."

She sighed, "All right. We'll go after talking to Vanya tomorrow."

"No." Five stood up as he corrected her, "Now."

"Now, as in we're leaving now?" Elizabeth questioned, her eyebrows furrowed. "Or now, as in we're leaving in the now of tomorrow after talking to Vanya?"

He scrunched his nose as he looked down towards her. "Which one do you think?"

"Why do we—whatever." Elizabeth shook her head as she stood up, fixing her blazer. "I'll go tell Vanya we're leaving."

"Don't. Let's go." Five grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the door. If she wasn't so annoyed at him, she would've blushed. But she was annoyed.

"Wha—Five! We should tell—"

"It's okay." He shook his head, using his free hand to quietly open the front door, craning his neck to make sure Vanya's door didn't open.

"Five—"

"Listen." He turned to her, his eyes serious as they locked onto hers. "She doesn't believe me. We are the only people who can stop the apocalypse. We have no time to waste."

"But—"

"Elle, please," he sighed.

"Jesus—okay, fine." Elizabeth gave in, rolling her eyes as they slipped out of the apartment. "But for the record, you suck."

Five shrugged. "I know."