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❛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘ. ᴘᴀɴ ᴇғғᴇᴄᴛ. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚ ▎❛ 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 ❜ ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ʟᴇᴛ's ʙᴏɴᴅ ʙʏ
ᴄᴏᴍᴍɪᴛᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʀᴀғғɪᴄ ᴠɪᴏʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴs ꒱
❝ BLINK ONCE IF
YOU CAN HEAR ME ❞
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Lila, Five and Alexa fell out of a thin air along with debris from the Commission. They landed with loud grunts as the blue portal snapped shut above them. The latter pair's siblings stared at them with varying degrees of shock at their sudden appearance. It took several moments for them to get their bearings straight; Alexa struggled to get her eyes to focus as her headache throbbed with painful insistence.
"Where have you been?" Viktor asked them, being the first to recover from his surprise.
"Facing my mortality, Viktor. I don't recommend it," Five replied as he got to his feet unsteadily. He turned to help the blonde up, who gave him a grateful smile in return.
Allison's attention zeroed in on their transport device. "You had the briefcase?" she demanded furiously. "We've been looking for this!" She bent down to examine the item.
"Well, look no further. That's the last one on Earth. . . or was the last one."
It steamed and smoked in her hands, causing her to throw it off to the side in disappointment. The brunette stood with an irritated scoff and stalked away to sit on the stairs. Five gathered up the broken pieces. "Yeah, that's toast. Oh shit. Alright."
Lila wrapped her arms around Diego in a unexpectedly warm greeting. His brows furrowed. "Hey. You're happy to see me. What's wrong?"
She pulled away to look up at him. "Turns out there's less time to hold grudges than I had planned. You're off the hook." She looked around the lobby. "Hey, where's Stan?"
Alexa watched her brothers talk quietly together with concern written all over her face. Due to the Commission's wrongness of her powers from another timeline, she hadn't been able to sense what danger they'd been in while she'd been gone. Diego's neck was clearly injured, though he seemed otherwise fine. Allison was staring off into the distance with a mutinous expression on her face as she ran her hands over her bruised knuckles.
Before she could ask them what they'd gotten up to, Five cut into their whispered conversation: "hey, Chatty Cathys, quit the chit-chat, alright? I'm calling a family meeting here."
No one looked particularly thrilled. Lila made an attempt to wander off seeing as how she didn't share their last name but Diego pulled her back. "Ah, ah, ah. That means you too."
"Where's Klaus?" Alexa asked as she took her siblings into account. Luther shrugged hopelessly.
Diego's gaze caught on movement further away: Stan had made an appearance and was rather suspiciously carrying an unusual amount of cleaning supplies. "I'll be right back."
"Don't leave me with your—"
"Dieg—" Five began to protest as well before he sighed. "Lost another. Great."
"Spit it out, Five," Allison snarled impatiently. Her gaze was dark and unfriendly as she watched the two teens.
The boy turned to the brunette with a sarcastic smile. "Oh, well, since you asked so nicely, sister-mine, our little paradox brought forth a freaking Kugelblitz."
"What the hell is a Kugelblitz?" Viktor wondered.
☂︎ ☂︎ ☂︎
The siblings regrouped around the nearby bar. A conversation about their second oncoming apocalypse could only be swallowed along with a strongly alcoholic beverage. Alexa sat at one of the tall stools next to Luther and Viktor. She swirled her cocktail umbrella around her martini glass as the rest of her family procured their own beverages.
"So this Kugelblitz, it's. . ."
"The end of everything," Five finished. "Every rock, every star, every atom sucked into a radiant black hole."
"Randomly collapsing matter every moment in time across all existence till nothing's left," Lila added.
"Hate to say I told you so, but. . ."
The blonde's lips quirked up into a faint smile. "You love to say I told you so," she corrected him fondly.
He raised his glass in her direction to acknowledge the truth of her statement. Lila set her shot glass down on the table. "You know, it's impressive. Whoever knocked off your mums hated you all enough to end the entire universe."
"We don't know that," Viktor countered immediately.
Allison looked up from her own filled-to-the-brim drink. "It doesn't matter who created the thing. We just have to kick its ass."
Luther gave her an unimpressed look. "Oh, really? How? Are you and Diego gonna punch it in the Kugel?"
Alexa gave her siblings a curious glance; they'd always gotten along, just as much as she and Five had. And yet. . . they seemed more distant than ever before. Luther sounded downright disapproving of whatever made the pair get injured last night. Five (in his typical fashion) ignored their change in dynamic. "The best plan is to go back in time, eliminate the paradox and destroy whatever it was that took out our mothers and stop the Kugelblitz before it starts but we can't do that. Briefcase is kaput."
"And why the hell can't you just jump us out of here?" Allison suggested.
"Last time I tried that, we all got trapped in time," he explained flatly. "Do you really wanna risk that again?"
Viktor studied the boy thoughtfully. "What's plan B?"
☂︎ ☂︎ ☂︎
Not long after, their missing siblings made a reappearance. Klaus reached over the bar to pick up a bottle of whiskey. "Gimme that."
Five turned to look at his brother with concern. "What happened to you?"
At his question, Alexa looked up from the dregs of her drink to take in the man's appearance. Her eyes widened at the sight of the very noticeable wound that was right in the center of his chest. "Klaus!" she exclaimed frantically. "What— where have you been? Are you okay?"
He gave her a slightly loopy smile. "I'm all good, Lexi. Just a spear gun to the chest. No big deal."
"No big deal?" she repeated incredulously. "Klaus! That's-that's not—"
A warm hand settled on her shoulder, causing her to look up at Diego's reassuring expression. Quietly, he said: "don't worry, Al. We've got it handled."
That did little to assuage her. She frowned deeply and rubbed her hands over her arms. Her powers must be really screwed up if she hadn't felt the danger her brother had been in. Unless. . . it hadn't really been danger at all? But that couldn't be right because there was no way he could've survived that wound. Even the most recent Kuglewave wasn't enough to bring her out of her whirring thoughts.
☂︎ ☂︎ ☂︎
"Hey, Lexi." The sound of her brother's voice made her jump. He gave her an apologetic smile in return. "Sorry. You were pretty zoned out there."
She blinked a few times before she looked around the bar; she and Klaus were the only ones still there. "Where is everyone?"
"Ah, well, you know. . ." he trailed off until her quizzical look made him continue: "just deciding the fate of the universe. Usual family stuff. Anyway, what were you thinking about?"
"My powers," she answered honestly. "I. . . something's wrong with them. I mean, even more than when they turned me back into a teenager in the '60s. I can't use them without getting a splitting headache, I haven't been able to sense when one of you guys are in danger. I think that Sparrow really did a number on me."
Klaus took a seat next to her and pulled over one of their siblings' abandoned shot glasses. He filled it and took a sip before he spoke: "you're really messed up about this, huh?"
"Yeah. Wouldn't you be?"
He nodded. "I find myself in a similar conundrum. I just found out that my near-death experiences were actual-death experiences."
The blonde whipped around to stare at him with wide eyes. "What?"
The long-haired man chuckled. "Yup. I always thought that I was just incredibly lucky but apparently my powers are cooler than just getting the chance to be locked in a mausoleum."
It took a moment for her to process that her brother had actually died and she'd probably failed him more times than she could count. Her lips tugged into a frown and she reached out to place a hand on his arm. "Klausy, I'm so sorry."
He tilted his head with confusion. "What for?"
"I— you— you died," Alexa finished in a whisper. "I-I couldn't. . . stop—"
"Oh!" Klaus' expression became understanding. He placed his own hand on top of hers and gave her fingers a squeeze. "Don't worry 'bout it, Lexi. I mean, what's the point of having powers if I don't get to use them? Dying's not so bad, you know. I even got to see my mom."
She blinked back the tears of guilt that pricked her eyes. In a slightly tight voice, she prompted him: "you did?"
"Yeah. . . yeah. She's really pretty and nice." He gave her an almost shy smile. "She said that she likes to watch me live."
The blonde's expression smoothed out and she sent him a fond grin. "So you got to meet your mom after all."
"I did," he agreed happily. "You know—"
Five came over and joined them then, looking thoroughly spent. Klaus noticed his appearance and poured him his own shot.
"Thanks." The boy launched into the next topic without preamble: "I saw my future self die."
His brother gasped. "That's crazy. Lexi and I were just talking about that! Well, sort of. It was how I kinda maybe died, but not really. . ."
"He told me not to save the world and then he died. What do you think he meant by that?"
Alexa watched the two men talk about their recent-death experiences. Five hadn't breathed a word to her about the aftermath of his older self's death; it was almost like it had never happened. She was worried about him— she always was, so that wasn't a surprise— but he seemed. . . shattered in a way that he'd never been before. She longed for him to be able to take a break, to not have to fight every day against what seemed like the inevitable end.
". . .That it's. . . it's, what? It's meaningless?" Five was wondering as she tuned back in.
Klaus was quick to withhold his opinion. "Oh, well, I don't know anything. . ."
"Maybe that's his way of saying not to become him, but. . ."
Their brother nodded to the blonde. "You and Lexi both have things to work out."
The boy glanced over at her. "What's wrong with you, Lexa?"
"What do you think?" she countered, not unkindly. "My powers."
"So. . . they haven't improved?" She shook her head. Five's thoughts circled back to his older self and the guilt he felt about using the girl's powers to protect the Commission. He'd done his best to compartmentalize the emotions because they'd only hold him back but. . . the thought of ever hurting her because of self-serving purposes made him. . . He refused to let that timeline path play out. To try and lighten the mood, he reached into his jacket pocket. "Well, at least you'll never have to get such a trashy tattoo."
Klaus let out a disgusted noise. "Ugh! Is this your skin?"
"I'll be damned if I go out with an old man tramp stamp."
Alexa leaned forward to take a better look at the scrap of skin. While the concept of how Five had gotten the sample disturbed her, she tried to picture him with it. "I dunno. It might be. . . sexy."
He turned to her with a raised eyebrow. "Really?"
She shrugged and did her best to keep her face from becoming to pink. "Maybe."
Their brother grimaced. "I don't even want to think about you guys in that sense. Maybe going out to touch some grass might be a little more your speed." He gasped. "I know! You could move upstate and become alpaca farmers."
"Yeah, we could," Five admitted. "The timeline's malleable. We've proven that much. I could try and break the cycle, but. . ."
"Sure," Klaus agreed. "Just keep your arms and extremities away from sharp objects and don't join the Mothers of Agony."
"What?"
"The tattoo. It's the symbol of the biker gang, the Mothers of Agony."
The boy looked surprised. "You know them?"
"Like two timelines ago, they were. . . How do I put it? My farmacistas."
He nodded, pleased. "This is good. Thank you, Klaus." Five stood. "Coming, Lexa?"
The blonde moved to follow him but their brother reached out to grasp her wrist. "No, no, no. Sorry old man, but Lexi and I have a date with destiny. I know just the thing that'll fix up her powers."
Alexa's eyes widened. "I'm not doing drugs, Klaus."
He chuckled. "How little you expect of me! I promise it's not drugs. We'll be in good hands, for sure. I just want a little bonding time with my favorite sis. I might even get the number-one brother spot, y'know?"
Five gave her a questioning look. "Lexa?"
The girl hesitated, stuck between being with the man she loved and being able to protect the man she loved. Eventually, her sense of duty won out. She smiled guiltily at the boy. "I'd love to come with you, Fi, but. . . I don't want to be the weakest link anymore. With how this Kugelblitz thing is going, I wanna be at full strength and I can't do that with how I am now."
He pursed his lips— an expression that immediately made her want to change her decision— but he nodded after a moment. He pinned his brother with a firm stare. "Don't let her get hurt."
Then, he disappeared in a flash of blue.
☂︎ ☂︎ ☂︎
Klaus refused to tell Alexa where they were going to get her his so-called 'help.' No matter how much she pestered or pleaded with him, he remained surprisingly tight-lipped about their destination. His reason for this became clear once the Sparrow Academy came into view.
He parked the hotel's borrowed car in a side alley and they climbed out. The blonde looked the familiar building over apprehensively. "Klausy. . . how are we gonna get help here?"
"You'll see, Lexi. You just have to promise me one thing." The long-haired man came over to her side of the car to place both of his hands on her shoulders. He met her eyes seriously. "Just. . . whatever you do, promise me that you won't freak out."
Her eyes narrowed. "Freak out? Why would I do that, Klaus?"
"I. . . I can't tell you right now. You'll see in a minute."
She heaved a deep sigh. "Fine. I promise I won't freak out—"
Klaus' expression lit up into a bright smile. "Great—!"
"Only if you tell me who we're getting help from."
He chuckled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. As he led her towards the back entrance, he wiggled his finger in her direction. "You're funny, Lexi. Very, very funny."
Unfortunately, her brother was more skilled at 'breaking' than 'entering' and Alexa was certain that all of the Sparrows knew they were there. Luckily, though, they didn't run into anyone as they half-crept down a long, dark hallway. If the lights had been on, she would've recognized the path immediately; as it was, her recognition came from the familiar sense of foreboding that trickled down her spine which stood her hairs on end. She paused outside the door. "Klaus. . . can you tell me why I sense that we're walking into danger?"
The long-haired man smiled appeasingly at her as he rested his hand on the knob. "Oh, Lexi, the crazy theories you come up with. Why don't you trust your favorite brother for a change?"
She crossed her arms with an unamused expression on her face. "Klaus, no offence— I love you and all— but you're literally the last person I'd trust to not walk us into a trap. Let me go in first, okay? I don't want you to get hurt."
Her brother seemed to hesitate for a second before he nodded. "Alright." He stood back and gestured to the door. "Lead the way, my fair maiden."
Alexa rolled her eyes at his grandeur and did as he said. Her breath caught in her throat and she was certain that her heart stopped beating at the sight that greeted her: Reginald Hargreeves— the man who'd made her life hell— stood on the other side of the entrance with a fire poker in one hand. Thankfully, his eyes first fell on Klaus. "You again? To what do I owe the intrusion?"
The man patted the blonde's shoulder gently. "You two haven't met recently but do you remember my lovely sister? This is Lexi. Our Number Eight."
Reginald's attention was drawn to the girl, whose face was frozen in an expression of abject horror. He studied her features for a moment before he nodded. "Yes, she's the loud one from dinner that night. I do believe that she walked out on our little family meeting?"
"Yeah, yeah! That's her. But don't worry— just like me, she'll grow on you now, too. I thought it would be nice for you two to get to know one another, move past a lot of bad history. Y'know, the usual family-therapy session."
"I'm not your family, young man! I may look like your father, act like him, but I did not raise you— either of you. Why does she look like McCauley Culkin's character from Home Alone?"
It was then that Klaus really took in his sister's appearance. He stepped around her and bent so that he could look into her eyes. He spoke in a gentle, reassuring tone: "Lexi. Lex, listen to me. This isn't as bad as you think it's gonna be, okay? This dad's different, trust me. He doesn't know anything about the other timeline. Yeah, he's still him but he's also not. Just. . . blink once if you can hear me."
The blonde blinked once, slowly. Her brother's face in her vision helped her recover from the sudden terror that froze her entire body. In a tremulous voice, she met his eyes with wide, hurt ones of her own. "Klaus. . . why would you think that this was a good idea? You know what he's done to me— to us— to our family. How on earth could he possibly. . ." She let out a shaky breath. "Be of any help?"
"He's so much nicer than the other one!" Klaus was quick to answer. "You know how the other one was a complete asshole!"
"Such opprobrious language for your father!" Reginald exclaimed. "I'd love to stay and unpack this preconceived notion that you have of me but I'm terribly busy." He gestured to the TV that was playing an oldies movie.
The third Hargreeves broke away from his sister and lurched forward to turn the device off. "Yeah, well, too bad! 'Cause Lexi deserves closure and everything is leading me back to you, back to here, the. . . the White Buffalo Suite. The menudo that resembled the painting."
Reginald gave him an interested look. "You know about the White Buffalo Suite?"
"That's where I died!" Klaus extended his arms and made a croaking noise as he imitated his 'death.'
Their not-father studied the pair for a moment. Klaus, with his large, exuberant movements and words and Number Eight, who was practically his exact opposite; the girl looked like she could burst into tears at the first wrong word. "What is it you want from me?"
"Have you ever felt like there's something you're supposed to be doing, something important, but no one's telling you what it is, and you're scared that you're gonna miss out or. . . or. . . mess it up because you're always screwin' things up and you're really fucking tired of it!"
"Good, go on."
"I need you to help me— us— understand certain things about who we are."
"Such as?"
"Like why you locked me in a mausoleum and slowed down my heart rate until I came to in a pool of my own vomit. And-and Lexi, tell him about Five and Ben, and all the shit he put you through."
Unlike her brother's rambling, Alexa took a deep breath and spoke in a very calm, measured tone as she wrestled with the urge to not bolt out of the room. "I want to know why you put my siblings in dangerous positions— positions that you knew might lead us to our deaths— and then put me in charge of protecting all of them. Do you know how much of a burden that was? Every time they got hurt, it was my fault. You always held each one of their injuries against me and said that I could've done so much more. But I've always maxed out my limit to help my siblings, so I knew that I would never get your approval like Luther did. I just. . . I don't know how much more I could've given them."
The man's expression became increasingly intrigued, so much so that he immediately changed his mind about spending time with them. Gesturing to his couch, he encouraged the pair: "sit, sit! Come, tell me everything."