𝙖𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙡 𝟯𝙧𝙙,𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟵 - 𝙪𝙣𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣
JULIETTE WATCHED AS FIVE OPENED A CIRCUIT BOX AND ATTACHED PLUGS TO THE CABLES. Her husband wasn't completely sure if this would work, but it was better than nothing. Lila stood next to other similar cable boxes as Juliette fiddled with the case and the wires attached to it.
Lila had been rather quiet most of the time she was with the couple, but if she wasn't, her remarks were towards Five. Juliette didn't mind, in fact, she was rather pleased that Lila was uncomfortable and silent around her. She had the decency to feel a tad bit ashamed of her betrayal against Ella – her lies and her disappearance.
"Nice suit." Lila chimed in as Five turned around to help Juliette with the cables.
"Thanks. Tailor in the lobby is a master craftsman." He nodded nonchalantly, sparing a glance at Juliette. She merely nodded.
"Still." She sighed playfully. "I will miss those pasty knees."
Five held back a scoff and sent a sarcastic smile, "Yeah, well, we could all stand to be showing a little less skin these days."
Lila seemed to take offense, but only smiled as she murmured, "For you."
Juliette sighed as Five took the clamps of two separate cables. Damn they're a lot of cables in here. I hope it doesn't cause a shortage.
Lila held a power charge in her hands, "Ready to hot-wire this briefcase?"
"Five, you sure about this?" Juliette touched his shoulder.
"Not at all, my dear, but at this point, we're out of options." He nodded. "Mind taking a step back?"
She reluctantly went to stand next to Lila, "If this fries yo–"
"Nothing can kill the little cockroach." Lila smirked. "I've tried already."
Juliette ignored Lila and instead gave a trusting nodLila turned back and turned on the generator. Electricity ran up the wire as quick as light to the eyes and into Five's hands.
"Ah! SHIT!"
Five's body jerked back at the instant contact of electricity Juliette watched as Five slumped next to the wall as the amount of electricity they were using began to flicker the lights and light up the room with the smell of smoke.
"SHIT! Lila!" Five shouted as Lila began to laugh. He shouted out in pain, trying to push through, but Juliette had enough already.
"THAT'S IT!" Juliette snatched the generator from Lila's hands and shut it off. Five stopped generating his power when he noticed the briefcase caught on fire!
Five began putting the fire out as Lila laughed and exited the room. Once the fire got put out, Juliette pulled Five into an aggressive hug.
"No more experiments. Okay?" Her tone was assertive and authoritative. She pushed him away after a moment and pointed her finger at him. "No more. We should have known that wouldn't have worked."
"Yeah, I was 99% sure that wouldn't work." Lila chuckled, sitting at a decorative desk in the hallway.
"Well, I'm glad my pain amuses you." Five scoffed in annoyance.
"You have no idea. It's like my therapy."
"Maybe actual therapy could help that sadistic mind of yours." Juliette muttered under her breath as she leaned on the wall outside of the room.
"Well, regardless," Five came out of the room, closing the door. "We are down to one half-dead briefcase and my jumps are only accurate up to a couple minutes. So essentially, we're screwed."
"Maybe..." Juliette put a hand to her head and pulled her hair slightly. Five noticed and quickly pulled her hand away from her head, rubbing it softly. They were all stressed, but even then, the sight of Juliette pulling on her hair just made him ache. Juliette leaned her head on his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
"Maybe not." Lila sent the both of them a teasing yet menacing smile.
"Oh I hate that smile." Five groaned, letting Juliette lean into him.
Lila began to explain, "Listen, on your own, your little jumps are rather pathetic." Five scoffed. "But if we powered up together, you blinking, me mimicking that blink, I think we could create some kind of feedback loop and get enough juice to jump-start the case."
Juliette lifted her head and turned towards Lila. The woman almost jumped as it was the first true time that the sixty year old woman even looked directly at her on purpose.
"Wait, that could work." She snapped her fingers, standing up from leaning on her husband. "But you would need a barrier. The briefcases work as a barrier between times and if you jump start it with both your powers, it would probably hurt like hell. But if you have a barrier, then you could jump more effectively and without any issues of landing in the correct time. Would still hurt like hell, but it'd be more accurate."
"What kind of barrier would work?" Five thoughts for a moment.
"Maybe someone who has already had issues with the case." Lila nodded to Juliette.
Five shook his head, "No, no. That's not–"
"Think about it. She's right." Juliette said. "I already had two instances with cases that messed me up. It has sent me back in time, changed my physical being and erased my memory. It's possible it could have made me immune or something. Maybe it'll be useful for this."
"Juliet-"
"We have no time. We don't know when this thing is going to take people, so save the protective husband act, which I thank you for, and let's get to it!" She held his shoulders.
Five finally sighed. He was not getting out of this one and neither was she.
"That means all of us have to work together. The three of us." Five looked to Lila.
Lila hummed, "We'd have to trust each other."
Five scoffed, "Lila, you just spent the better part of the last ten days trying to end my life and the last one trying to kill my wife."
"Well you killed my birth parents." She hopped off the desk.
You were the reason why I ended up in '63 and tried to kill me for defending my husband, Juliette said internally, folding her arms.
"Fair enough."
"And even if you had tried to save me, Juliette," Lila turned to Juliette and Five, "your entire family stood by while that greasy Swede put a cap in the woman who raised me."
"That woman," Juliette sneered, "was the reason why I ended up in the 1960s with my memory erased and in a hospital that fried my mind. She was using you and tried to kill me for going after you. Took me away from the only family I had for the last forty years."
"Not only that, but The Handler was going to kill you, Lila." Five glared, "In fact, she did kill you. Then I rolled back time," he put his hands together in mock innocence, "and let the meatball do his work." He perked up for a moment, "Oh and by the way, if you're leading Diego on as payback for what happened in Texas, you're pissing up the wrong ladder there 'cause that idiot may actually love you. The Handler never did."
Lila stayed in silent shock as Five grabbed Juliette's hand, pulling her down the hallway.
Lila wasn't great with her emotions. In fact, she was taught to run from them and wallow in her emotions. Not only that, but to harm others that harmed her. Forgiveness was not in her vocabulary, but it was the key to her favorite pastime – un-forgiveness.
"What do you know?" Her eyes watered. "You two spent decades shagging in the middle of an apocalypse."
This bi–
"Do not talk about Juliette like that, Lila!" He shouted storming back to Lila. Juliette was hot on his heels, already about to repeat what Five had already said. Lila may have been angry about being called out by her husband and her, but in no way was she going to allow continuous disrespect.
"This is insane. There is no way we're gonna get past this to make it to the Commission." Lila glanced from Five to Juliette quickly before returning to the man in front of her.
"Okay." Juliette came between the both of them, her hands on both their chests, "Maybe we can work something out." She turned to Lila and sighed, "Lila, I understand where our differences may stand, but a part of me trusts you for how you protected me back in the '60s. I trust you."
Lila was...innocent in a sense. Or at least in Juliette's eyes. She was an undeniable, but deniable innocent. There were two sides of the coin and Juliette chose to see one while Five chose to see another. She respected both choices.
Lila smiled weakly, "Oddly enough...I trust you too." And it was the honest truth. As much as Lila never spoke or acknowledged out loud what Juliette had tried to do for her when she was a child and what her mother did to her, she knew it to be the most noble thing anyone had tried to do for her.
Juliette smiled in return, " Good. Now, there is something you both share with each other. Wanna take a guess?"
Always the peacemaker. Always the protector, Five nearly rolled his eyes, but he felt the endurance in his chest.
"Okay, perhaps," Five turned to Lila, "we can't get to trust like my lovely wife can, but there is a certain honesty in white-hot hatred."
Lila took a minute to accept both answers before sighing in mock annoyance and walking over to the door, "Then come over here, you awful-shit and you endearing but mildly annoying peacemaker," She put her hands in front of them, "and hold my hands."
The two looked at each other, nodding, taking her hands as Five closed the door behind them.
AFTER ABOUT TWO HOURS OF FIDDLING WITH WIRES AND CABLES, AND A SHORT SNACK BREAK, THE TRIO WAS READY TO ATTEMPT THEIR SECOND (AND FINAL) TRY AT TIME TRAVEL.
Juliette took a deep breath after coming to a realization of what they were going to do, "This is crazy." She placed her hands at her sides, closing them into fists.
There was no backing down now, she knew it was clear as day. The two needed her as the barrier and she would not abandon them now, even if Five would agree in a heartbeat. But the thought of the briefcase going haywire, of her getting stuck once again, burned in her mind. She couldn't go another lifetime without Five – she wouldn't do it. That briefcase had stolen her life twice.
Not again.
"Hey." Five grabbed her hand, sensing her anxiety from a mile away. "We're going to be fine. I will not let it happen again." It was up to Five (and Lila) to make it to the Commission safely – he'd careless for his doomed fate, but he would not mess up Juliette's.
Juliette nodded, "I know." I just hope.
"Okay, relax." Lila said after she turned on the generator. "We're gonna make it."
Five shook his head in disgust, "I can't. Your breath is terrible."
"Garlic is for winners!" She smiled. "Enough foreplay!"
The two placed their hands on the briefcase before reaching their hands out for Juliette's. She took one last look at the two before taking their hands. They had to do this. For the sake of humanity, for the sake of the lives being built, for the sake of the only family they had left.
It wasn't a choice.
"Let's do this." Juliette squeezed Five's hand.
"This is so stupid." Five muttered, but squeezed back.
Their I love you rang in the air.
"Power up, shithead."
Five nodded for a minute before straining forward, blue emitting from his hands into the briefcase before it began to radiate from his entire body into Juliette's. She felt herself get weak almost instantly, but stood strong. It was like a strong fire licking up her right side, burning her entire body and bones. Flashes of being strapped to a table rushed through her mind. She bit her lip, keeping cries of pain from her mouth. Lila began to strain forward, trying to grab onto a line of power, but unsuccessful.
"Let me in!" She shouted.
Five's voice was stiff and choked and Juliette could see the veins in his hands beginning to arise, "I can't! It's too much!"
"Five!"
"Don't bitch out on me now!"
Five pushed through the pain (which would have been worse if Juliette wasn't there acting as a barrier) and allowed Lila a sliver of power – which she latched onto like a child with their favorite toy. The fire began to run up her left side once Lila began to radiate the power that Five allowed her.
"I hate you so much."
"Then get this right or it's us in the Stone Age forever!" She shouted over the defending noise of energy booming through the room.
Juliette let out a yelp.
She held on tight as the two pushed through the energy, when she felt the power begin to change. It was working. But she couldn't hold on for much longer.
"NOW! DO IT NOW!" She shouted, feeling her legs begin to give away.
The trio screamed to the top of their lungs before zapping out of the room.
As if they were never there.
novaspeaks: if this chapter seems incomplete that's because it is. it was orignally a part of a larger chapter (but that chapter was going to be well over 7k words and i'd rather not do that just yet. maybe for the finale I will) so here's a shorter one but the next chapter is definitely over 5-6k words.
Also i did change how their time travel worked for the sole purpose of juliette (very self indulgent, but it's my book-verse so i get to choose)
i'll leave you with the ominous question of what they'll discover because there is a lot. love you lots my darlings and see you soon in the next one.
𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 - 𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚