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❛ ᴛʜᴇ ʙ. ʙ. ᴇꜰꜰᴇᴄᴛ. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚ ▎❛ 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 ❜ ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ᴡʜᴏ's ʙᴀᴄᴋ,
ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ ꒱
❝ THERE'S A PRETTY BIG
DIFFERENCE, PAUL BUNYAN ❞
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Both Number Five and Number Eight— ten years old now— were in Five's room again, but this time both were curled up on the bed. The boy leaned against the girl's non-dominant side as she continued with her drawing. Her father had found out about her skill a few years ago and at first he'd been mad, but Pogo had convinced him that Eight— now Alexandra— could keep her talent by painting pictures for the house and their robotic caretaker, to which Sir Reginald had reluctantly agreed as long as it didn't interfere with her superhero-ing.
Alexa could now draw freely and not fear her father's wrath which was why she was relishing the moment. Five lay beside her as he watched the steady stroke of her pencil as an image was created before his eyes.
"Tell me about the future," Five said, almost a demand.
The girl smiled slightly; this wasn't an uncommon question. She was a fairly good storyteller (or so she thought) and she often enjoyed using her imagination while she drew to entertain the usually fidgety boy. While she couldn't actually see the future, Alexa enjoyed picturing what it would be like.
"Well," she started, "when we're eighteen, we'll leave."
This was generally how it always started and Five asked his customary follow up question, "we?"
The blonde nodded. "Yes. We'll leave together and go somewhere."
"The city?" he wondered, as was tradition.
She frowned and traced a line on the paper. "No. I think the country. A little cottage with yellow paint and flowers outside. You can always use your power to come back. I'll be an art teacher for little kids since that's what I'm good at. You could probably be a rocket scientist."
Five laughed softly. "There aren't any rocket scientists here."
Alexa grinned as she created curved lines in the shape of plants. "I guess not. You could be the first though." The boy nodded and she continued: "when we have enough money we can travel anywhere we want and I can make art all over the world. When we're done travelling we can return home."
"And get married?" Five asked. He smirked at how she blushed predictably.
"If you want," was her soft reply. She certainly didn't object, after all.
"What about our siblings?"
"We'll keep in touch, of course, but since we're travelling it'll be hard to see them often. Maybe when we come back," was her response as short spikes formed on the page.
They continued this way for some time, creating their future together with everything they planned to do. Their father hardly allowed for free time but when he was busy with the other Umbrella Academy members they were able to escape to Five's room and have their own time. Later, Pogo found the two of them curled up on the bed and requested them to come down for their studies. Five and Eight complied and the girl left behind her drawing of a yellow house surrounded by a white picket fence that enclosed a garden of flowers.
☂☂☂
Alexa stared at the drawing she'd made so many years ago. The yellow of her colored pencil had faded slightly but the drawing still sharp and clear as it hung on Five's wall. After their argument, she'd paid a visit to his room to. . . well, she didn't really know why, but she'd felt she had to. Now, looking around the tiny room, she remembered all the time they'd spent together here and her heart sank. Alexa had always believed Five would come back but it didn't change the fact that he'd left and was gone for years.
As she turned to leave, the first notes of I Think We're Alone Now filtered through the house, causing a small smile to form on her lips. Luther really is a big sap, she thought fondly, even if he is an idiot and sometimes a jerk. This had been the Academy's song when they discovered it one night during their secret escapades and they'd loved it ever since. Rolling her eyes in amusement, she began to sway with the music.
All of a sudden, there was a loud crack! of thunder that was accompanied by a flash of blue lightning. She didn't even notice that the music had stopped as she ducked to avoid flying pieces of metal that were in Five's room. Metal? she thought, and then, magnetic force. Those two thoughts together combined in the answer: temporal anomaly!
Rushing out of the room, she joined her siblings heading out to the courtyard. The doors flew open as they rushed outside. Alexa ran out with them and stopped to stare at the moving blue light which was emitting loud crackling sounds.
"What is it?" Vanya asked over the noise.
"Don't get to close!" Allison cried as she reached out to stop Luther.
"Yeah, no shit!" Diego exclaimed.
"It looks like some sort of temporal anomaly. Either that or a miniature black hole. One of the two!" Luther said.
"There's a pretty big difference, Paul Bunyan," Diego snarked.
"It's a temporal anomaly!" Alexa confirmed over the wind. Hope surged in her chest; there was only one person she knew who had the potential to create something like this.
Luther glanced back at her but didn't reply. Klaus pushed them aside as he yelled, "out of the way!"
He held up a fire extinguisher and sprayed it at the blue light before he threw it in when that proved useless.
"What's that going to do?" Allison yelled.
"I don't know! Do you have a better idea?" Klaus called as he stumbled back towards them.
"Everyone get behind me!" Luther commanded. Alexa didn't have a problem with that— before she realized what an idiot she was. I'm getting as bad as Luther! While she had a hunch that the anomaly wouldn't hurt them, it was better safe than sorry, so she reached inside herself for the power she hadn't used in seventeen years. When she opened her eyes, a brief flicker of pride flared in her at the thin blue film that surrounded them and it grew a deeper blue as time passed. The wind died down in the bubble and the noise around them became quieter as the shield flared with life. Inside, her siblings were protected from whatever would come out while outside, they could still see what was going on.
"Why don't we run?" Klaus suggested, which was almost unnecessary because of Alexa's protective dome around them.
She turned her now-intense blue eyes on him and replied snarkily, "thanks. It's good to know that you appreciate what I'm doing."
The light outside of the bubble died until it disappeared completely and the sun came out again. Alexa allowed the safety shield to disintegrate as well, leaving her winded and tired because of the sudden exertion. Placing her hands on her thighs, she bent over to recover her breath while her siblings surged forward (only Klaus threw her a concerned look as he followed them.) As he looked at the body of the young boy in front of him, Klaus asked, "does anyone else see little Number Five. . . or is that just me?"
At his words, Alexa stood up and stared fixedly at the back of her brother's head. He's joking. He's got to be. Even with there being only one possibility— that could still be wrong, right? She stumbled forward in an effort to get to the front when she heard a voice that was definitely younger than her siblings say, "shit!"
☂☂☂
Alexa couldn't believe her eyes as she watched the boy move towards the kitchen. He was really back! But the joy she was supposed to feel wasn't there and instead a cold pit formed in her stomach as she took in his shortened figure. Where had he been? she wondered or, more accurately— when?
There was a sort of odd detachment about him as he moved around the kitchen. Her siblings watched his motions as they sat around or on top of the kitchen table. As he reached for the bread, Five asked, "what is the date? The exact date?"
"The 24th," Vanya answered.
"Of what?"
"Of March," Alexa supplied, trying to get his attention, but he was too focused on the sandwich was that he was making.
"Good," was all he said.
"Are we going to talk about what just happened?" Luther asked.
There was silence as he separated the bread slices and Alexa looked at the ingredients he'd laid out on the table before she figured out exactly what he was making. Some things never change, she thought fondly.
Luther stood up when there was no answer— probably to look more intimidating (but failing.) "It's been seventeen years."
"It's been a lot longer than that," Five returned. He disappeared for a moment before he reappeared in front of the cabinets.
When she thought about it, Alexa could believe it had been. After all the time travel movies she'd watched, there was a common agreement that time moved differently in the present than it did in the future.
"Where'd you go?" Diego asked.
"The future. It's shit by the way." He returned to his sandwich.
"Called it!" Klaus exclaimed excitedly.
"I should've listened to the old man. Y'know, jumping through space is one thing. Time travel is just toss of the dice." He then looked up at his assembled siblings and his eyes met Alexa's for a split second before they darted away to Klaus. "Nice dress."
"Oh. Well, danke."
"How did you get back?" Vanya asked.
"In the end I had to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists across every possible instance of time."
"That doesn't make any sense," Diego said.
"Yes it does," Alexa countered as her mind sorted out the big words. "You can't—"
But Five cut her off, "well, it would if you were smarter."
Diego stood up angrily but Luther put an arm out to stop him. "How long were you there?"
"Forty-five years, give or take."
Luther sat down heavily. "So what are you saying? You're fifty-eight?"
Five gave him an irritated look. "No, my consciousness is fifty-eight. Apparently my body is fifteen again," he picked up his finished sandwich and turned away from them.
"How does that even work?" Vanya asked.
"Dolores kept saying the equations were off. Bet she's laughing now."
"Dolores?" Alexa questioned him.
"Guess I missed the funeral," Five commented. He ignored her question.
"How'd you know about that?"
"What part of the future do you not understand?" Five snapped before he added, "heart failure, huh?"
"Yeah," Diego agreed at the same time Luther said, "no."
"It's nice to see nothing's changed," the now-boy said as he turned to leave.
"That's it? That's all you're going to say?" Allison tried to stop him.
"What else is there to say? It's the circle of life!" he called back as he walked out of the room.