TAILS ━ NUMBER FIVE

𝐒𝐈𝐗

There was some soft snoring coming from Elliot in the corner of the room. "You didn't untie him?" Lila shrugged again. "Was I supposed to?"

~ ☂︎︎ ~

𝘽𝙐𝙕𝙕𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝘼𝙉𝘿 radio chatter went on as background noise. After we untied Elliot, we had him start up a few machines to help us locate our other siblings. An alarm went off and Elliot ran to check one of the inventions. "Hey, we got one. Hey, one of those machines you asked for is going crazy." I walked up to him, peering at the screen. "Which one?" He fumbled around. "It's the, uh, atmospheric radar."

"Good," Five nodded. "I don't get it. What are you tracking? A hurricane? A storm front?"

"Sound waves."

"Sound waves," Elliot repeated. There was some soft beeping so I went to check the location of the anomaly. I grabbed Five's hand and left to the location. "Where are you going!" Elliot shouted, but we were already gone.

~ ☂︎︎ ~

𝙒𝙀 𝙇𝘼𝙉𝘿𝙀𝘿 𝙄𝙉 a giant cornfield. Five and I began making our way through the stalks. We finally came across a giant crop circle. I heard movement and turned to see a figure hiding in the plants. I pointed this out to Five and ran towards her.

"Vanya!" I tackled her in a hug. She seemed stunned to see me, and embraced me almost cautiously. Five scoffed softly and pushed aside the stalks. "Hi, Vanya." I let her go, surprised to see such a confused expression on her face.

"Who are you?"

I stood back up as my smile slowly turned into a frown. "You don't remember? I'm your sister." Five stood beside me. "I'm you brother." Vanya looked confused. "I have siblings?" Memory loss. "Look, you can either stay here and wait for the IKEA mafia to come back to kill you, or you can come with us."

"Wh-Why are they trying to kill me?"

"'Cause you're not supposed to be here, Vanya," I butted in. "In Dallas?" She slowly stood up. "No. Here, in 1963." She surveyed the damage she had done to the cornfield. "Holy shit." Five nodded. "Yeah, pretty wild, right? It's good to see your powers are still intact. Let's go." And with that, we walked out of the cornfield.

~ ☂︎︎ ~

𝙄 𝙒𝘼𝙏𝘾𝙃𝙀𝘿 𝘼𝙎 the waitress poured me a cup of coffee. "You know what? Just leave the pot." She plopped it on the table. "Lippy little shit," she muttered.

"You gonna tell me what the hell's going on?" Vanya asked. I let Five tell the story.

"When you were a baby, you were bought by an eccentric millionaire. He raised you in an elite academy with seven other siblings with extraordinary powers, but in the year 2019, in order to avoid the apocalypse, we jumped into a vortex and ended up being scattered throughout the timeline in Dallas, Texas." Five paused to look at Vanya. "Any questions?"

"What do you mean, the apocalypse?" She asked. "He means the end of the world as we know it." Vanya still looked confused. "Yeah, but how?" I sighed. "Are you sure you don't remember anything?" She shook her head. "No, not before a month ago."

"Then what do you remember?"

"I landed in, like, a...back alley," She started, "Got hit by a car. My head was ringing like crazy. I had no idea how I got there, where I came from." She paused. "What causes the apocalypse?" I took a sharp inhale. "Vanya, it's y-"

"Asteroid impact." I gave a questioning look to Five but he shrugged it off. "The big kaboom ends everything. Just like the one that got the dinosaurs, except way worse. Bad news is, 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 shook her head in disbelief. "That can't be right." Five sighed. "I saw it. With my own eyes. You were there. We all were."

"Shit," Vanya said, standing up. "I need to make a phone call." She rushed to the nearest pay phone. "Vanya!" Five shouted. I sighed and took a sip of my drink.

"(Y/N)?"

I turned my head at the familiar voice. "Maria?" I saw her sitting in one of the booths behind us. She waved me over. I slid in across from her. "I thought you said you had business," she said, offering me a fry. I took one and happily munched. "I still do, but it's business in town." She nodded. "So, who are the other two?"

"Well, you've already met Five but that's my sister, Vanya." She gasped. "Sister? Am I finally gonna meet your family?" I giggled. "I mean, if you want. I've already seen one of my brothers so if you wanna swing by some time, I'm sure they wouldn't mind too much." Maria looked super excited. "God, I've always wanted to know the people who made you, you," she said, grabbing another fry.

"How did you get here, by the way. Away from your dad and his guards." She smirked. "It's not that hard to sneak away, especially when you're as tiny as me." We laughed and smiled at each other. "So. When do you think you'll be done with business?" I sighed. I'd have to tell her at some point. I guess now was a good a time as any.

"Look, Maria. I'm sorry to say, but, I don't think I'll be coming back."

"What?" I looked down. "Yeah, I'm, uh, going back to my hometown once my family is all here. We've been apart for awhile, but I think we're all ready to go back."

"Wait, you'll still visit here. I mean, at least every once in awhile, right?" I shook me head. "Where I'm going, I won't be able to come back here." She looked confused. "What do you mean? Are you like, going to Russia or something?"

"No, no, no! Just, I don't know how to explain. It's a lot. I'm really, truly sorry. I've really enjoyed bonding with you and becoming so close." She smiled, though it definitely was sad. "How much longer will you be here?" She asked. "Only a few more days." She gasped. "We have to spend some time together before you leave. I need to tell you something."

I nodded. "Tomorrow?" Maria questioned. I looked over at Five, who seemed to have stopped Vanya's call. "I think I'll contact you." She nodded. I saw Five making his way over. "I'll see you?" I said standing up. "Yeah." She stood next to me and embraced me in a hug. With one final kiss on the cheek, she let me go.

Five came by and grabbed my hand. "We need to go." I nodded and waved to Maria before walking out the door.

—𝘼𝙐𝙏𝙃𝙊𝙍'𝙎 𝙉𝙊𝙏𝙀!
We're one of a kind, no category,
too many years lost in history,
we're free to take our crowning
glory, for five more minutes,
we're 👑 S I X 👑 Sorry, the
chapter number got to me.
-AJ

P.S.
congrats to AllenAkuma
for solving the riddle :)

QOTD: What's your favorite musical?

AOTD: I'm really into Broadway, so here are my top five: Spring Awakening (Deaf West Revival), Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, Six, and Jagged Little Pill. I also love Hadestown, Bandstand, Miss Saigon, and many many more.