𝙖𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙡 𝟴𝙩𝙝,𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟵
JULIETTE STOOD NEAR A BANISTER WHEN EVERYTHING BEGUN. She watched as lights began to shine from Sloane, Viktor, Lila and Chris as they began to trap the kugel with its own gravity. She felt the vibrations and how everything began to shake a little as they attempted to contain the anomaly. She felt something speeding, something she had never felt before, but a part of her couldn't care about it. So she didn't speak, didn't move, just watched with a sorrowful expression.
Five stood near her, merely holding her hand, as he watched the ordeal.
Juliette was a statue until Grace came down into the basement. Juliette noticed a shadow and she turned her head over at the moment Grace came down from the stairs. Something shivered down her spine as she spoke.
"You didn't tell me you were building a prison for God." She garbled.
"Mom?" Diego asked.
"You have no right to do that."
Her hand tightened against her husband's and she had no time to react when Grace pulled out a flamethrower and turned it on. The flames hit skin and she felt a burn beginning on a part of her body. Grace was garbling and mumbling something that she could hardly hear. She got up, pulling Five with her behind the wall. She looked to her arm where a piece of leather from the jacket was completely burned off and her skin had turned red and black.
"Shit." She sighed, throwing herself down as the flame came again.
"Juliette, you have to let me go."
She turned her head, "What?"
"Let me go." It was then that she noticed the shield she had placed around Five.
It was embarrassing how her new found power was so telling. Her mind knew what he was going to do – try and stop Grace – but she wanted nothing more than to protect him. Her mind pushed her emotions onto Five. And hers prevented any powers to overcome hers.
Juliette looked for an escape, someone else to focus on and it was then that Diego looked back, worried beyond belief and it clicked.
Whatever Juliette had felt towards Five had then been transferred onto Diego and a purple shield surrounded him. She didn't know how she was able to take her mind off of her husband, but she had been able to. With Juliette's power off, Five was able to teleport to Grace and jump the both of them upstairs - unfortunately ending her life.
It wasn't long, however, that her mind drifted back to Five.
Something happened to Juliette as she tried to stand up from the ground. She felt nauseous and leaned over as if to throw up, but instead felt as if she was fading. Something pulled her towards the kugel, but as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared.
The rest began to fade into the day. The celebration. The cheers. The champagne popping. Her ears were wavering. Her presence was fading as if she wasn't really there. She was there. Just not...there. She was in the corner and had Been poured Five champagne, Sloane and Lila dancing with their partners, the cheering of another saved world.
But she couldn't feel it.
She didn't feel the victory anymore.
In this universe, instead of two turning away from the party, it was three.
Juliette felt as if she had known the house her entire life when she knew that wasn't true. She had passed by the house nearly everyday when she was a young girl, but she'd never been inside it. A part of herself was colliding with the memories of herself and the other one. Surely it had something to do with it because Juliette had no clue how she made it all the way to the gym.
There was a bar, surprisingly, and she grabbed a bottle of she-didn't-know-what and sat by the large glass windows that touched the ceiling, pouring herself a glass of the brown liquid. It didn't taste like whiskey or the cognac she had before – thankfully because her taste wasn't so refined – but it still burned her throat enough.
"You drink more than Julie." Her body straightened and she felt the purple radiating over herself before she turned around and saw Oliver Hayden standing above her.
She relaxed and the purple faded, "You would too if you were in my situation."
He chuckled, something so familiar yet foreign, and sat down next to her, "I suppose so. Although, I don't know your full situation."
"You don't want to know." She poured more into the glass and handed it to him, "Salute."
He grabbed the cup, "Salute." He drank from it and winced a little, "A bit bitter, no?"
"Not as bad as the whiskey Five usually drinks. I can't stand it."
Oliver went quiet for a second (as if he just remembered she wasn't his Juliette...Julie...whatever she was) and then carefully said, "What happened to you?"
"What do you mean?" She knew full and well.
"I mean...something did happen for you to turn out the way you did and you're much older apparently...I guess I'm a little curious."
Juliette grabbed the glass from his hand and took a sip, "You always beat around the bush. You never grew out of that."
Something about this sat in her stomach achingly. It was like talking to your ex-boyfriend after you had gotten married and hadn't seen each other for years. It was her biggest what-if, but at the same time it wasn't. She didn't care for what-if anymore. But she felt like she owed Oliver something. A glimpse into her.
So she laid herself bare to him for a moment.
"Did you ever go to the deli on the corner of Sunset and–"
"River? Yeah, we did. Gummy sharks and sour patches. What drinks did we get?"
"You liked Pepsi. Ugh." She stuck out her tongue, "Coke was better. I always stand by that. What about the first song we wrote together?"
"Wasn't that Welcome to New York?"
"Yep. I don't know if that was released in your timeline, but it wasn't in ours."
"Yeah. Eventually, we came out with the Dreaming album and that ended up there."
She laughed, "I missed that."She didn't give him a chance to respond, "I did grow up here in New York. I did have my own Silas, Adella, Patrick and you. I have known you guys since Kindergarten. You were my best friends." She smiled at the thought that seemed so far away now, "We formed "The Papercuts" and had two albums out before I disappeared. Long story short with that, I ended up years into the future where the entire world was destroyed. An apocalyptic wasteland. That's where I found Five." A soft smile shadowed her face as she took another chug of alcohol. "He'd gotten stuck there too. We stuck with each other and stayed together until we found a way back. I got stuck in the 1960s in an asylum, but he found me again and then we saved the world and got back to this absurd timeline." She waved her hand in the air as she looked over the skyline of New York, "There's so much more in there, but that's what happened. I lost everyone in a snap because I got curious and now..." She lifted her hand, it radiated the mystic purple, "I'm afraid I lost the trust of the person I care for the most."
Five didn't say it and neither did he show it, but she felt it.
He didn't trust her anymore. Not fully, at least.
And she didn't blame him.
"Then maybe he doesn't love you enough." Oliver whispered and that shot up her adrenaline.
"Impossible." She shook her head, "There's not a word to describe how much Five loves me or how much I love him. He searched entire timelines for me. He's defied the laws of nature to get me back. He promised to look for me anywhere I go and I know he keeps his promises as much as he can. He loves me, I know that."
"Did you love me?"
Oliver knew it was selfish, but he couldn't come to care. Julie had been acting so weird since Juliette and Five appeared that she didn't want to talk to him about it. But there was something there, he knew it. And Juliette...Juliette was something greater than Julie was. He couldn't explain it or describe it. There was just something more to Juliette.
"Eh." She shrugged, candor flowing from her drunken mouth, "You and I were...something. You always flirted with me. You never really went out of your way to ask me out or anything, but I was your saving grace. Everytime you were upset, you were angry, you needed reason or you missed the comfort of someone, you came to me. But you never made me your girlfriend. Guess I wasn't good enough for a girlfriend for you in my timeline." And that was like a stake to the heart, "I know you're not the version that I should be telling this to, but I'll never get the chance to and I won't risk it again," She turned to face him and look into his blue eyes, "Oliver, I loved you. I really did. More than myself and I think that was the issue. I loved you to a point where I destroyed myself every time you left because I didn't understand how I was good enough and yet not enough. I loved you, but not anymore. Time has withered that part away and even then, my love was not enough for you."
"It could be."
She shook her head, "No. I will never be enough for you. My ambitions were too large for you to understand. It was like...you were my sunshine, but I was like the thundering storm that rained on your parade because I didn't want the things you wanted. You wanted a bride and I was making something of myself. There's nothing wrong with that, but we weren't for each other."
"But I'm married to you." He pleaded, "We are good together."
"Oliver." She placed a hand on his shoulder, "I am not your Juliette. I am not her just as you are not the Oliver I once called my friend. And even then...I'm sorry, Ollie, but I have always loved Five more than you. It has always been him. I believe that if he had showed up when we were kids, we would have ended up together. I rather the grumpy, pragmatic, intellectual man who always wanted me to be myself rather than a shell to please him and even though sometimes he made me feel like I had to beg for his attention or that it was better off if we never met because of how much pain I've seen him in. I know that his love for me has never wavered and will never change whether we are together or not. He is a hardworking, selfless and honorable man and I love him." She sighed, drinking more, not looking at Oliver, "What we had was something of teenage infatuation. It's always Five, Oliver. In every universe or timeline. It's always him. That will never change."
Oliver stared forward.
"I don't want to believe that." He gulped. "I wish I had a chance with you. Your verison of yourself." He knew it wasn't right. His wife somewhere in the house, alive and healthy, and he was here begging Juliette to admit that they would have been happy together, "I want to believe that I could've made you happier than Julie. Because Julie isn't you. She's a shell and you're...you're yourself. You're Juliette. You're the girl I fell in love with."
Juliette only stared forward, taking in the sight of New York that she longed for since her first day in the apocalypse. She took her last drink of what she was drinking and took a deep breath.
"When fake gold oxides, it turns maroon before changing into a deep sepia." She whispered. "It loses color before it fades into nothing."
And Oliver closed his eyes, wishing it wasn't true.
Before he could respond, the world began to shake.
FIVE LEFT VIKTOR TO HIMSELF, FINDING HIMSELF WANDERING THE HALLWAYS OF THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY. . He knew it was cruel to say what he had to his own brother, but he meant it. Viktor was growing too careless to be the hero he once wanted to be.
He couldn't risk him becoming a villain.
He searched through the hallways of his childhood home, hoping to find Juliette, who had said nothing since they had stopped the end of the world.
He hoped that it was the last time he ever did that.
But as he walked through the halls, wanting the company of the one he loved, finally feeling like he could untighten his tie and talk for once in a couple of weeks. But as he walked the silent hallways, he came across a weeping that sounded familiar enough for him to peek into the room. He peered into the room he had practically dragged Juliette from, Christopher's room, also his own room back in the original timeline and noticed Juliette sitting on the fire escape with the window open.
"Juliette." He entered the room, taking his hands out of his pockets, but as the face turned around, he realized it was, in fact, not Juliette, "Sorry, Julie. I didn't know it was you."
She turned away from him, wiping her nose on her sleeve, "No, no. I'm sorry. It's fine. Don't worry about it."
"I'll leave you be." He turned on his heel to leave.
"No." Julie quickly rambled, "No, um...I need to talk to you. Please?"
Five narrowed his eyes, not fully trusting this version, but still stepped forward to the fire escape. He didn't sit next to her outside the window, but instead leaned against the windowsill. It was almost uncanny how much Julie looked like Juliette and he wondered if that was how Juliette felt when she saw both versions of him.
"Do I look like her?" Julie asked, not daring to look back at Five.
"A little. We weren't exactly in the department of taking off our masks often in the apocalypse until we were like thirty-five, but yes, you do look like her." Obviously, he wanted to add, but he didn't think it was necessary considering her current state.
"That's what happened? You both got stuck in the future?"
"Yes."
"Then why didn't that happen to me?"
Five raised an eyebrow, "We changed the past, so it affected your future. I can only assume that our messing with the timelines led to a different future for you." And a part of him was so happy about it.
"I was there when you messed it up."
"What?" Five blinked and turned his whole body towards Julie.
Julie took in a breath, as Juliette often did when she was about to say something of importance, "It was July 5th, 2005. I was walking home from practice when I noticed a suitcase in an alleyway." Oh shit. "I grabbed it and was about to open it when it...exploded? It did something and I still don't know if I hit my head or if I went somewhere, but when I woke up, I was in that place you guys talked about. The apocalypse, but it was kind of fuzzy as if the world didn't know if I was there or not." She turned to look at him, "I saw you. You kept appearing and disappearing as if I was suddenly having a flood of memories hit me, but then it faded away and I woke up in the same alleyway. I had been missing for twenty-four by then."
"That's how you knew who I was."
She nodded, "I knew who you were before you even said anything." She looked like she was on the verge of crying again, "I waited for you. For years, I waited for you. I knew you were real, but I didn't know where you were. I knew you, but I couldn't find you." She turned her face back to the New York skyline on her right, "I waited for you."
"I don't exist in this timeline."
She sniffed, "I didn't know you didn't. So I waited. And waited. And waited." Her voice cracked, "And when you appeared, I thought that you found me, but then when I saw...her, I knew you weren't...you weren't mine."
Five looked at his shoes, telling himself to let her down easy - he'd never hurt Juliette, "I really wish I did exist here."
Her voice came out in a whisper, very unlike Juliette when she heard something she wanted, "Really?"
"You underestimate how much I love Juliette. I wouldn't have survived without her. I should tell her more." Five put his hands back in his pockets, "I would never want her waiting for me. I would prefer to watch from afar as she did what she wanted than to have her waiting forever for me." He looked back at Julie, "So I really wished that you hadn't spent most of your life pining for me because I would have never shown up. And I'm sorry about that, truly."
"Me too."
"But be glad you had someone with you." Five huffed, "Maybe I'm not fond of your husband, but you clearly love him to some extent."
While he tolerates me, she thought.
"But I need you to remember that Juliette is mine and you're not. I'm sorry. That's how it is. And soon, you will forget everything about me and Juliette."
"What do you mean?" Julie whispered.
"Since the world is finally saved, I'll be taking Juliette and my family away from New York and going somewhere else to restart our lives. Juliette can't exist near you or vice versa and the Sparrows won't even allow us to be near them so, we'll have to leave. You'll continue your life and we'll go our own way."
"And you?"
He knew what she meant, "Will never appear in this timeline. I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault." She brought her knees to her chest, hugging herself tightly and as quietly as she could, "I just wish you existed here."
And before Five could extend his hand, the kugel had come for revenge and the world began to shake.
darlinglore: so ummmmm hi and yes i am randomly updating on a wednesday in april 😭 so like yes i was gone, but i also wasn't.
but there's a lot in this chapter. five's POV is less descriptive because I like to think that Five is an unreliable narrator to some extent and wouldn't share so much about himself or his conversation with julie. also julie just has me in tears because she's literally just a version of juliette that lives life without five (don't even get me started on five - i have an AU planned for that)
BUT in my time away i also figured out the revisions of this books so i know exactly how i'll re-edit which means better writing, better character development and more in-dept chapters and EXTRA chapters, but that'll happen when i finish this book. the original plan was to write five and juliette's life in the apocalypse, but that'll be saved for later. (i promise that the revised verison is SO MUCH BETTER than this one since it actually has planning)
thank you for reading and until next time, dear readers
𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 - 𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚