Lila pushed Five to the side the second he opened the door. "Exsqueeze me." She announced.
"You're excused." Five sighed and shut the door behind Kal. There was an actual working light in this hallway. Thank fuck. This hall didn't lead anywhere besides one huge, circular door, labeled, operation bunker. It had a round blue screen right in the middle of it. It reminded her of a submarine hatch, minus the screen.
Lila read out the sign above the door and nodded in satisfaction. "Well, we found it."
Five aggressively scratched his neck again, earning a strange look from Kali. This kid has issues. He was acting an awful lot like when they had met his older doppelgänger, back in the '60s.
Lila leaned forward and put her eye up to the screen. It made a buzzing noise as it turned brighter and scanned her eyeball. Kali watched in fascination but it quickly faded when the scan denied her eye and a loud alarm rang from behind them, twice.
"We're screwed." Lila admitted.
"Unauthorized access." A voice from the screen, informed . Kali blatantly flipped it off.
Lila looked at Five who was panting like a damn dog and scratching his neck still. Okay, maybe Kali should be concerned.. what if Five has some sort of terminal disease of some sort and dies.
"Jesus. You look like a dodgy shrimp on ice. What's wrong?" Lila quizzed. A second later, Five let another one rip. Except this fart lasted almost a whole five seconds.
Kali stared at Five in horror. He's genuinely dying. Oh my god. His organs are probably collapsing, causing all this flatulence or something. She's not a doctor, but that's her guess.
Five paused, like an idea had clicked in his head. He marched over to the door and scanned his eye.
"Unauthorized access." The voice stated, again.
"Who would be able to open this door?" Lila questioned. "Everyone in the Commission is dead. We're literally gonna die. It's all over." She accepted.
"Kali." Five spun around, his face stern. She froze up and faced him directly, not knowing what he could possibly want from her, but looking everywhere but his face. Five can be scary sometimes.
"Go." He pointed to the door. His sudden mood switch was slightly nerve racking but she slowly walked up to the door and stood in front of it. "Scan your eye." He groaned impatiently, as if it were obvious what he wanted.
Her eyebrows furrowed together in deeper confusion.
Lila spoke up, "Why would Kali be able-"
"Shut up." Five growled. "Kali, scan your eye."
The girl turned her body and put her eye up to the screen. It was super bright and it really hurt but she finished it, nonetheless.
It beeped once it was finished. "Access granted." The voice informed.
She backed up and stared at the door as it slowly opened. Why was Five suddenly so harsh with her? He never talks to her that way. What did she do wrong? Whatever it was, she'll have to be extra good to make him happy again.
The room was white - with a cold and clinical type of sense to it. She didn't know how else to explain it. There was strips of lights running down each wall, a clock, and a couple chairs in the corner. But the thing that caught her attention the most, was the long metal incubator-like bed.
"Wow." Was all Lila had to say as she stepped in, Five and Kali following after.
Five took two steps and then a look of confusion spread over his face as he became aware that he was no longer itchy, sweaty, and irritated. He looked around in slight confusion and the door slid shut behind them with a small thud. He then realized that he needed to have some alone time with Kali ASAP so that he could give her a sincere apology. Dammit, he was such asshole. He was ashamed of how he treated her.
Lila chuckled as she walked around the room, admiring its blandness. Kali, on the other hand, could only think of what she could have done wrong and how to fix it. It was taking up her whole mind.
Lila looked inside the ventilator. There laid some old, wrinkly, dead-looking man, wheezing like he had just ran a marathon. Kali stared at him, she was creeped out. What if he's possessed?
Five stood over by the chairs on the other side of the room as the girls stood by the metal contraption. "That's him, huh? The founder."
"Looks like tinned beef." Lila stated. Kali chuckled lightly and tapped the glass with her finger like a little kid at a fish tank. "I was expecting more man and less... can." Lila began tapping the glass too and the girls started making a little song out of it.
Five walked over to the two and his face twisted in a sort of terrified expression. "It can't be." He gaped. The two stopped tapping.
Suddenly, the old man's eyes opened a crack and Kali jumped back and hid behind Five, fearfully. She clutched onto his suit and stood on her toes to try and see the man over his shoulder, watching as his eyes slowly closed again.
"It's me."
Lila was quiet for a second then burst out laughing. She clapped her hands a couple times, thinking he was joking, but his expression stayed the same. "So. This whole time you've been complaining about the Commission, and you're the one that founded it? Classic."
Kali stared at the dude. Damn, Five may not age well but he can survive a lot of shit. How old it this wrinkly mother fucker? Must be over 100. This bitch is immortal. If anyone disagrees, she bets 10 dollars.
"If I did, I have no memory of it." He claimed.
"Here I was thinking you were a maverick, but you're a company man, down to the bone. I mean, you..." She laughed. "You literally cannot breathe without this place."
Kali watched as old Five's eyes opened again, but this time, they stared straight at her. She froze for a second and then ducked back down behind her boyfriend.
"Somethings not right. I don't have paradox psychosis. I could feel it outside, but in here, it's..." He looked around in confusion. "Nothing."
"Never were too bright... were we?" Old Five rasped out. Now Five and Lila finally realized that he was awake and he understood why Kali was hiding. "The operation bunker is paradox-proof. I constructed it as a panic room in case of a time continuum." He explained, with deep struggle. He didn't look at either of the twos faces whilst he talked, he was waiting for Kali's head to peak out again. He wanted so desperately to see her. "In this room, all permutations of yourself can exist. You must be here because of a... Kugelblitz."
"Is that like a cheese blintz?" Lila questioned.
Five rolled his eyes, "It's german for 'ball of lightning.' Its an extra kinky type of black hole." Kali chuckled at the word kinky but quickly remembered that some creepy old version of Five was also in the room.
"The kind that can suck up entire timelines." Lila nodded in understanding.
"Let me see her." Old Five demanded, suddenly.
"What?" Five quizzed, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. He knew what his old self meant, though.
"Kali."
Eights fist tightened, holding onto Fives sleeve harder. Nope, fuck that. He's creepy. She already hates people, so why would she let some wrinkly cunt stare at her? Nuh-uh.
"She doesn't want to." Five said calmly, but his face was a different story.
"I dont bite." Old Five rasped, talking to Kali. "Cmon." She peaked her head over Five's shoulder, just enough so that she could see him. "Come on out."
Kali slowly moved half her body out from behind Five but wrapped both her arms around his arm, staring down at the ground, and letting her hair fall down in front of her face as a sort of shield. She was a shaking mess, she could sense his eyes staring so intensely at her that it burned. It was extremely uncomfortable, she liked the other old Five better, he remembered not to stare.
"Eyes to yourself, asshole." Five snarled. Old Five tore his gaze off the girl with great difficulty and looked up at him. "Now, how do we fix this?"
The old Five chuckled, which quickly turned into a painful sounding cough. "You don't." He managed to answer.
Kali glanced up worriedly at Five through her curtain of hair. She could feel the sudden cold waves of anxiety that just shot off him. Five being scared made her terrified.
Five's muscles tensed and he took a step forward toward his older version. "If you created all of this, then you must have created a solution."
The old Five wheezed once more, his lungs rattling, then he looked to Kali who went right back to staring at the floor again. He turned his gaze back to Five, "Keep... keep her safe. No matter what. S-She is... the key, when all that shall be left is... Oblivion."
"Oblivion?" Lila questioned and then leaned on the ventilator. "What do you mean?" She demanded. Five was froze in his spot, trying to process what the man's words meant.
Suddenly, the clips along the side of the ventilator unclipped and the table that he was laying on, pushed outward. His body was exposed to the room but now he was even more scary. Kali could count each individual bone on his body that his pasty, pale, thin skin covered. She had also just noticed that he was missing his left arm and there was a weird, faded tattoo of something in the middle of his chest. AND. JUST TO TOP IT ALL OFF, HE HAD JUST TOLD FIVE THAT SHE'S A FUCKING KEY. Kali shivered slightly, the creepy corpse-looking version of Five giving her the chills. She was still terrified that he might be possessed and that he could get up off that table at any second and crawl after her. She's gotta stop watching horror movies.
"This is what you have coming." Old Five warned.
Five quickly leaned towards his older self and Kali had to let go of his sleeve, out of fear from being too close to the body.
"Listen to me, you ass." He hissed. "I just spent the last twenty days running around, saving the world from apocalypses, only to keep trying to save the world. Now I am stuck in this prepubescent body, my hormones are raging, and all I want to do is go out and buy a 1970s Corvette Stingray, and live happily ever after with my girlfriend."
"Take it easy on him Five." Lila defended.
"Lila, this is between me and myself, stay out of it. Thank you." He looked back to himself. "Now, this Kugelblitz, it is not some tiny leak that we can simply fix by patching a couple of pinholes. It is a giant trash compactor which is grinding up the universe and consuming it whole. So tell me how you stop it!" He yelled, causing Kali to instinctively cover her ears at the volume.
"Whatever you do..." Old Five managed to get out. "don't save the world." He slowly went limp and exhaled his last breath, his eyes staring up at the roof. The device powered down and the room went darker.
"What do you mean, don't save the- Five! How do I fix this?!"
Lila checked the bodies pulse. "He's dead, Five." She confirmed.
He breathed heavily for a second and then let out a sudden, sharp exhale, and closed his eyes. "Can I have the room?" He asked quietly.
"Er... I don't think I should leave you three alone."
"Lila, I need the room." He repeated.
Lila looked to Kali and then nodded silently, walking out the room without another word. Kali lowered her hands from her ears and slowly walked up to Five, touching his arm very lightly, to try and comport him. "Kali. You too." She tilted her head in confusion and he opened his eyes to look at her. "Please. Get out."
"But you're sad." She stated, telepathically. He's never kicked her out like this before. She was always allowed to stay when he was upset.
"Out."
"But-"
"Kali."
She stared at him in hurt but obeyed, slowly leaving the room, just as Lila had. The door slid open and then closed behind her.
Lila looked at the girl in confusion, "He kicked you out?"
Kali nodded and then sat in the corner. She pulled her legs to her chest and set her head on top of her knees, sighing shakily, trying her best not to start crying. She still didn't know what she did wrong, she doesn't know how to fix this. Why can't she do anything right?
Lila sat next to Eight, being sure not to sit too close but also close enough to give reassurance that she was there for her. She wouldn't ever tell anyone this but Kali was always her favourite - besides Diego. Kali was just genuinely nice and didn't have to pretend to be a kind person, not many people are like that anymore. Kali didn't even need words to express her love for other people. Her eyes and actions said it all.
Eight raised her head and Lila sent her a reassuring smile. She gave a teary one back and then set her head back down.
(WORDS: 2377)
AN: Hello beautiful people!
I was contemplating making Five yell out Kali but I decided not to be that mean cause my baby's been through enough😭
also, i can't remember who gave me this idea but i wanna give us a cult name, so be creative and give me some good names for it.
i don't really have anything else to say today so that's it
i love you all so much <3
-ash :)