6.
"GRIDDY'S DOUGHNUTS?" Y/N read the sign aloud and sighed. "Now that's a far cry from burritos," She remarked and turned her head to the boy who only forced a smile, refraining the urge to reply in a manner she wouldn't like.
Five got out of the car. The girl followed as she pulled the glass door of the cafe open. Both of them sat on the stool beside each other in silence. The door opened again to reveal a man who took his seat on the boy's left. Once again, the quiet filled the place. However, it was suddenly cut short by a ding of a bell that the young Hargreeves himself toggled.
The dishes clattered in the kitchen as no one from the staff responded to the call. Not a few minutes later, a woman in a pink uniform walked to the place behind the counter with a smile, wiping her hands on the fabric of her clothes.
The woman sighed, "Sorry, the sink was clogged,' she chuckled and pulled a pen from her pocket, smiling. "So, what'll it be?"
"Uh, give me a chocolate éclair," The man said. The waitress humned in response as she wrote his order.
"Sure. Can I get the kids a glass of milk or something?"
Y/N frowned. "Did she just assume — ?" She whispered to Five who nudged her elbow to shut her up.
The boy scoffed and went along with it. "The kids want coffee. Black."
"Cute kid," The woman stated.
"I wouldn't call him that if I were you," Callisto snorted. "He's more on the mental sorts."
They all looked at her as she cleared her throat and looked away, scratching her head to ignore the itchy feeling of their eyes. The waitress pulled a reluctant smile before disappearing again to the kitchen to prepare what they ordered.
"Don't remember this place as a shithole. I used to come here as a kid. Used to sneak out with my brothers and sisters and ate doughnuts till we puked. Simpler times, huh?" He referred to the man who looked at him as if he'd grown two heads before clearing his throat.
"I suppose," The man replied and fixed his gaze at Y/N who took the bell on the counter, examining her distorted reflection. "What's your sister's name?"
"I'm not his sister, I'm his friend," She corrected and put the bell down to hold her hand out for him to shake. "I'm Y/N. Nice to meet you." The man was about to take it when the pink doughnut lady came with their order.
"Here. I got theirs," He stated and took a bill out from his wallet.
"Thanks," Five said. The girl next to him finger guns him as a 'thank you'. Hargreeves almost choked on his coffee, shooting her a frown and a look that converted to an ominous 'what the fuck'.
"What? It's a finger gun. It's pretty popular!" They still looked clueless. "You guys seriously haven't heard of TikTok? That's where I — " Realizing she was giving out information of the real world, the girl shut her mouth and sighed as she turned to her cup of coffee.
Five diverted his attention to the person sitting beside him on his left again and noticed something on his jacket. "You must know your way around the city," He commented, his voice cracking at the end. A reminder that he was and is indeed in the body of his thirteen-year-old self.
"I hope so. I've been driving it for 20 years."
"Coffee breath," She mumbled randomly. One of the issues with Y/N was her neglect of any care in the world whether she appeared insane or incredibly out of state whenever she opened her mouth. All those things she'd seen, heard, and felt — it all had a product of something either a blessing or a curse on her as a whole person. The lack of her ever thinking straight. "Hey, Five?"
"What is it?"
"Remember when you puked all over me?"
"Oh God," He looked away in frustration, shutting his eyes as his thumb drew circles on his forehead. "Not this again."
She laughed in response, "Come on. It's a good memory!"
"Callisto, please — "
"I went home that day in shorts and you wore my skirt soaked with your disgusting vomit."
"Jesus fuck!"
A few minutes later, the man that joined their company left with a swing of a door. Five silently shoved a piece of paper in his blazer pocket while Callisto got herself involved with the radio next to her, "Who uses these things anymore? Hello? We're in 2019."
Without a response from Five, she played with the channels for a little while. The doors opened for the third time, and maybe as of this moment, they were not looking for caffeine and eclairs. Men holding out firearms slowly took their place behind both of the seemingly-children targets.
"Uh, Five?" Y/N called out as she felt a cold metal touch the back of her head.
"Hm, that was fast. I thought I'd have more time before they found me," He said calmly. The girl scrunched her nose and turned her head to his direction, giving him a funny look.
"What the fuck did you do now?" She questioned.
"Okay. So, let's all be professional about this, yeah? On your feet and come with us. They want to talk."
"I've got nothing to say." Five replied.
"They who?" Callisto asked in a pit of incredulity. "Am I the only one who doesn't know the 'They'?"
"It doesn't have to go this way — "
" — yeah no shit!" She interjected only to hear a click from the gun as if being prepared to pull the trigger.
"Hey, I'm talkin' here!" The man yelled and turned to Five again. "You might want to get your ass up before I blow your girlfriend's skull over here."
"First, I was his sister, and now I'm his girlfriend. What's next? I'm his grandma?"
"I swear to God if you keep talking!"
"That will encourage her more," Five mumbled. "You lay a finger on her, it's your funeral."
Callisto wasn't certain what to make of that, but she knew one thing, it was either a threat he'd kill them himself or he just had a lot of faith on what she could do. Who wouldn't smile at the thought of having someone think highly of her?
"I'll lay a whole foot over her body, if that's what it takes, but I'm feeling generous. You think I want to shoot two kids? Go home with that on my conscience?"
"Well, I wouldn't worry about that," The boy said and fixed his gaze at the man. "You won't be going home."
Y/N hid her smile as she watched Five's hand slowly get a hold of the butterknife in front of him. With that, he spatial-jumped behind the man who was pointing the gun at him earlier.
He briskly jabbed the sharp object to his neck. The pain that was inflicted to him was so much that his eyes watered and his grip on the gun tightened even the trigger. He accidentally fired, causing bullets to fly everywhere injuring his associates who groaned in pain.
Blood splattered on the floor and bodies fell along with it. Y/N's eyes widened at the sight and let out a breath, laughing at what happened. She watched the guy who was holding a gun on her head turn to try and shoot Five.
"Oh no, you don't." She mumbled and quickly stood up from her chair, sweeping her feet to hit the man's, sending him to the cold shop's floor. He dropped his gun and just in time, the girl took it, grinning.
"How'd you know I love guns?" She asked and held it, she prepared her trigger finger and bang! The bullet hit his skull welcoming him to a long and peaceful slumber.
The girl turned around, "Five! I mastered my sweep kick!"
Suddenly a pair of hands grabbed her aggressively. "You little shit, where's the other one?" she heard him ask, pointing his gun everywhere like a damn fool.
"Fuck, I thought Five was already taking care of you guys — " The girl choked as the man tried to tighted his hold around her neck.
"Answer me!" He furiously shouted, making Y/N's ears hurt. her eyes turned glossy by the action.
"Don't — ch-choke me then — " she managed to breathe out when he slightly loosened his grip. Suddenly, Five appeared, just chilling on a table.
"Hey, assholes!" He called. "Why don't you let her go?" The boy asked and spatial-jumped as soon as they turned and fired their guns endlessly.
Y/N looked around and found the boy outside the door. He raised his index finger to his lips which made her blush for a reason. 'Shh!'
She laughed. Five shook his head and decided to knock on the door to get their attention. He saluted then teleported when the man started shooting nothing but the glass entrance.
The lights flickered and there, Number Five appeared in front of another one attacking him. The man screamed in horror as the boy fixed his gaze at the guy who had Y/N clutched in his arms, struggling as she kept on talking about that time she got stuck in the bathroom.
That was the only thing keeping her calm at the moment. Her knees were shaking as profusely as her hands.
Five spatial-jumped behind them and kneed the man's back exactly on his spinal cord, breaking it. Callisto was finally released. She quickly ran away from the spot as her friend disappeared again. Loud gunfires were heard.
The girl in a school uniform stood up on the bar and jumped on a man who tried to shoot her. Y/N screamed as she did the triangle choke which didn't work as her body is too small and weak like a kid's.
So, she shut her eyes and snapped his neck using her bare hands. 'This is the fictional world, not the real one. So, that doesn't count as killing,' she thought. 'Right?'
The armed men were so focused on the boy who disappeared that they forgot about her still being there. Five came into sight at the back of that one man with a beanie on his head. He revealed a tie, looped it around his neck, pulled it down aggressively — harder and harder until he was completely out of air.
Grabbing a butterknife, Five stabbed it to another man's crotch area.
"Get a load of that!" Y/N cheered as she danced on the music from the radio at a table. Their heads snapped towards her. "Oh," she mumbled in regret.
Number Five snatched a plate and threw it on a guy who was about to go after his friend. Then, he stabbed the knife to his earlier opponent's eye causing him to fall back with a frantic howl.
A screaming man dashed forward ready to attack her with a . . .
"Is that a fucking fork?" She inquired. He started to swing the utensil to which the girl dodged. She wanted to laugh but, this was life and death. It didn't seem too fitting.
A few swings later, he finally hit Y/N on the leg, ripping a small part of her skirt. The girl fell off the table with a very loud groan. "You motherfucker," she breathed out.
A tear escaped her left eye from the throbbing pain. Despite the wound on her right leg, she stood up and hissed. "That was my goddamn leg and my goddamn skirt!"
Five heard her and chuckled. Still focusing on two of the armed men, he managed to comment, "Man, she hates it when someone messes with her uniform. Run!"
The fork guy smirked. "Or what?" He asked tauntingly. Y/N laughed sarcastically and kicked the spot between his legs, making sure the action made a sound.
He lost his grip on the small bloody utensil as he gasped in pain, holding it. The girl rushed towards the 'weapon' and slashed him on the neck with a satisfied sigh. Soon enough, the man collapsed, gasping for air and choking. There he lays in his own pool of blood, eyes open.
Y/N heard a few gunshots, then silence. Five showed up in the shop. He took the tie he used to strangle the beanie guy and tied it back to its place. The boy fixed his blazer as the girl walked towards him, limping.
"Who are these guys?" She asked and looked at the bodies scattered all around the doughnut shop's floor.
Five held his hand up and made his way towards a guy who's still alive. The girl followed him and jumped on the said person. "Adrenaline rush," she grumbled.
Her friend nodded. "Would you do the honors?" He asked and motioned to the lad she's jumping on.
"No. As exciting as this whole thing was, I don't really enjoy killing people." Number Five nodded and snapped his neck without hesitation. "Why the hell are these men tracking you?" Y/N asked as she watched him as he cut his wrist deeply with a grunt.
"Life fucked you up that bad?" Callisto taunted.
"You know, you would really do the world a favor if you stopped talking." The squish of flesh was heard as he took out something from inside his flesh with his bare hands. Y/N grimaced, looking away.
"Ever heard of infection, genius?" She asked.
Five ignored her and groaned as he finally got the little vermin out of him. The girl heard a chip beeping resulting in her turning and gazing at it. Neon green lights blinked with the contraption.
"Come on, we're going somewhere else," she heard him say.
"Do you mind telling me what the fuck is going on?" She asked.
"I'll tell you later, let's go."
Callisto walked towards the door still limping. The boy watched her. "Are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine," she answered and opened the door, completely walking out.
Five looked concerned but, this wasn't the time. He had to go to Vanya. He needed another hand, and for all he knew, he couldn't save the world with just one of the people in the academy.
༉‧₊˚.
"Whose place is this?" Callisto asked as she looked around.
"Vanya's." Five simply answered.
"How'd you know?" She asked again.
"I have my ways," He responded.
"Yeah. I'll be right back," the girl stated and disappeared in the rooms of the apartment.
Not long after, she walked in the living room with a round basin of water, a clean cloth and rolls of bandages. She quickly placed a chair beside Five and started tending his wound. His hardened demeanor softened at the sudden action. He was aware that it was normal for someone to care for someone after a large commotion that ended in physical injuries, but being alone, even with Delores, he'd never felt such a touch from someone with this fragile care.
The boy watched as she took care of him, her face painted with the vibrant colors of worry for him. Then, and just then, he started to entertain the thought that she might be the only one he could tolerate. His eyes trailed over her, catching her eyes through the peaks of her lashes, trained on what she did, her lips parting in the process.
"Was it lonely? Even though you considered Dolores a good company, I mean." Callisto suddenly asked. He looked away, staring at the view outside the windows that barricaded the tension-filled room.
"Was it?" Five returned the question. Her hand stopped what they were doing before she let out a huff of air.
"I had company," she answered vaguely. He can't know. Even if she wanted to tell him, he shouldn't.
There was a pregnant pause after that response. They both resumed what it was that occupied their minds, but then again, he wasn't finished studying the art before him. He hated art — or maybe he didn't. Ah, whatever. For five, art is always a mystery, and the only way they can be understood is for the beholder to define them. The saying did not apply to Callisto. He couldn't define her himself. He wondered if he even knew the girl at all. Only she has the answers to the conundrums as to who she was, truly.
"It was," he spoke abruptly. She pursed her lips as his gaze fell on them. There was something about it that he didn't realize until now. It kept him quite . . . distracted. "You mentioned something about your family. How come we've never met them?"
She sat up in frustration, "There are things better left unsaid."
"We never knew you, did we?"
Callisto was taken aback, "What do you mean?" She knew what he meant, and at this point, everything had plot holes and she was soon to be found out by everyone she'd been with for the past few years that her world hasn't been normal.
"I wonder why the old man let it slip. He was always curious, and I can't be the only one who felt like something was off with you. You suddenly appeared many years ago and claimed to see the future. Then, you disappeared just as I did, returned the day I also did. It's all too strange, Y/N. My siblings might be dumb, but I'm not. Is there something you want to tell me?"
It was getting hot. She was caught. Her blood rushed to her reddening face. It was not because of fluttery reason, but the thought of being read and straightly told about it. "Five, I never told anyone for a reason."
"So you don't deny it?"
"What's the point of denying it?" Y/N had to keep playing her cards well or else she was dead to him. She had to stick being herself; the careless stupid Callisto that she had been playing for a decade and more. "We're all going to die anyway. It's you and I, Vanya if in case she does help us, against the end of the world. It's already a loss. What's the point? I mean, yes, we could try, but expect the unexpected. You, however, have a chan — "
A sudden grip on her wrist caught her off her guard. Her eyes widened as she looked up to the boy who had his finger wrapped around her skin. He leaned and stopped a few centimeters away, narrowing his eyes at the girl, "I didn't come this far just to go this far, Callisto. I didn't find my way back to watch you — or any of you die. I can't not try. You of all people should know hope."
"I don't have any talents. You said it yourself. I can only see tiny bits of the future. I never even knew about the apocalypse."
"Y/N, I wanted your help for a reason."
"I just don't understand."
"I don't understand you, but I still chose to trust you."
"Five — "
"I swore on my life not to lose my family," he hissed at the statement as it felt wrong. Shutting his eyes, he corrected himself, "And you."
She didn't know what that meant, but she wanted the distance to increase just so she wouldn't do anything stupid. Having a mental photo of Five like this, close to her, was enough to make her whole body feel distracted from the pain on her leg. Taking note of the quaint silence and resisting himself from doing what had popped in his head, the boy looked away and untangled his fingers from her wrist, leaning back to the chair unable to meet his companion's eyes. "It's done."
"Thanks."
Y/N whispered a 'welcome' and started treating her own. "That was seriously a clever choice of weapon. I can't even believe I'm saying this but, I think the cut's deep," she breathed out.
The girl grabbed another clean cloth and dipped it in the water. She hesitated to touch her injury to which the boy quickly noticed as he watched.
"Let me do it." He snatched the fabric from her hand and did it himself.
"Feeling genuine?"
"Just trying to make it even," he simply answered as he cleaned the blood stain and its clotting grains on the side of the cut. Y/N gritted her teeth from the sting of the contact. She turned her head to the boy, her brows scrunching at the way the sight unfolded before her. As he tried to clean the scratches the fork left, she moved her leg away from him instinctively.
"Ow!" She whisper-yelled.
"Stay still, Callisto!" Five exclaimed.
"Fine! Just don't fucking press it like it's a slime!" He continued his work.
The girl hoarsely laughed. "Didn't know you're a doctor."
"Shut up, Y/N. Just because I know how to do this doesn't make me a doctor or you a nurse. I said stay still"
Y/N frowned and gave him a scrutinizing look. "Are you — I can't believe I'm asking this, but are you mad?" The boy glanced at her for a second before grabbing a bandage and wrapping it on her wound, not answering her question.
"Sorry," she apologized. Five leaned back on his seat and waited for Vanya.
A few minutes of stealing glances back and forth later, they heard keys jingling and the door opening. Y/N and Five turned to the entrance as Vanya walked in. The boy switched the light on making Number Seven jump.
"Jesus!" Vanya exclaimed.
"You should have locks on your windows," he said.
"You should have bars on your window," Callisto corrected.
"I live on the second floor."
"Rapists can climb."
Y/N switched her gaze from Five to Vanya then Vanya to Five.
"You are so weird," Seven said and closed the door.
"I second that," the girl sitting in a corner said. Vanya sat on the couch as Five shifted in his seat.
"Is that blood?" She asked. the boy looked at him and answered, "It's nothing."
Y/N snorted. "We burgled a house. He got hurt." She joked. "Pretty stupid."
"Says the one who got hurt by a fork," Five said, emphasizing the last word of his statement.
Vanya cleared her throat. Both of their focuses were snapped back to the physically adult person in the room.
"Why are you guys here?"
"I've decided you're the only one I trust — "
"Hm," Callisto passively cleared her throat.
"And her as well."
"Why me?" Vanya questioned.
"Because you're ordinary," Y/N furrowed her eyebrows. Did he trust her too because — but he didn't know she was average, right? Callisto nudged his elbow before he corrected himself. "Because you'll listen."
"Then why did you bring Y/N? She's not ordinary," Vanya said.
"Yeah, she's not, but she understands."
"What he meant by saying is I appear to be so incredibly out of my mind, that he knew I'd believe something insane like what he has to say," the girl next to the Hargreeves boy spoke.
"Okay."
"When I jumped forward and got stuck in the future, do you know what I found?" Five interrogated, ignoring his companion's sudden comment.
"No," both girls answered.
"Nothing," Five answered.
"Absolutely nothing . . . as far as I could tell, I was the last person left alive. I never figured out what killed the human race, but . . . I did find something else. The date it happens. The world ends in eight days and I have no idea how to stop it."
Y/N and Vanya's face was written with worry. They were both terrified and stunned by the words they heard. The only difference is that number seven doesn't seem to believe a word of it, but Callisto does.
"I'll put on a pot of coffee."