𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐀𝐍 𝐄𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓 ━ five hargreeves³

II│INTERLUDE II: RELATIONSHIPS III

Soon enough, anger began to replace the hurt. As Allison would say in the future: "you don't want to see me upset."

With the paper balled up in her fist, she stalked out of the room and slammed the door behind her. Blood thrummed in her ears as her body filled with white-hot anger. She was sick and tired of her sister (no, her competition) always coming out on top. It was her turn to win— to be first— to be on the pedestal.

(Unfortunately, Allison has never taken into account the other side: that Alexa hated being held above her sister and would have happily given all the praise to her, free of conditions.)

She reached the blonde's room in record time and opened the door without knocking. It banged loudly against the wall as she let it swing out of her grasp, causing the other girl to startle and drop her paintbrush. Even Allison didn't recognize her own voice as she sneered her sister's name: "Number Eight!"

Alexa looked down at where her paintbrush left a red stain on the wood and groaned. "If that dries dad's gonna kill me."

Through her haze of anger, the brunette barely took in her sister's messy, paint-stained appearance; her hands were covered in colors of red, yellow and blue. The smock that she wore over her Academy uniform was even worse with old paint that was dry and crusted against the plastic covering. Discarded paper from trashed ideas littered the floor, almost covering the entire carpet. Her bed was rumpled and messy, her school books— which had been piled haphazardly on her desk— slid out of their precarious position and onto the floor with the force of the door's slam.

In all honesty, Allison didn't know how her sister got away with her unkemptness. The very thought that she could get away with it only made her more furious.

"I heard a rumor that you cleaned up your room," she began. The words barely relieved the pressure that built up in her mind— raw and hot and red.

"I heard a rumor that you wished you looked like me!"

"I heard a rumor that you will never go near Luther again!"

"I heard a rumor that you think Five hates you!"

"I heard a rumor. . . I heard a rumor. . . I heard a rumor. . ."

Eventually, she exhausted herself and her voice. She fell silent, expecting the blonde girl to be in tears as she believed all the cruel things the brunette forced her to. A part of this was true: Alexa was in tears— but not for the reason that Allison hoped (er, thought.)

She was still standing in that stupid, stupid smock, staring at the other girl with glassy blue eyes as tears slipped down her cheeks. Her lips trembled as she took a shaky breath. "Allie. . . why would you say those things?"

Allison stared at her in shock. There was no way that Alexa could know she was Rumored until after her words wore off (and sometimes they never did.) Why on earth had they not seemed to work?

☂︎ ☂︎ ☂︎

Like with most things, they first brought the discovery to Pogo. While Alexa could barely look her sister in the eye, the chimpanzee listened to the girls with concern. To Allison's relief, he didn't scold her for the abuse of her powers but just questioned them for more information. Then, Reginald got involved.

In a special training session, he brought One, Three and Eight to the practice room. They stood in front of him in their workout uniforms as they all watched him attentively. To bring their leader up to speed, he summarized the events: "at approximately half-past eight on the eleventh of April, Number Three used her powers on Number Eight for the first time. However, Number Eight was able to resist Three's influence, which is my hypothesis. We will be conducting a series of exercises to determine if this is the case or if Number Three's powers have ceased to exist."