Word count: 2049

𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐊𝐄 𝐔𝐏, blinking slowly as she tried to adjust her eyes to the darkness.

Five's right arm was wrapped around her, warming her from the chilly November air that breezed through the slightly open window. Judging by the dusky sky outside, it was quite early in the morning, meaning she probably still had some time until they would have to get up.

She carefully looked up to see that Five was still sleeping peacefully, and she remained quiet, not daring to interrupt the rare moment of rest.

She sighed, feeling his faint heartbeat as her hand rested on his chest and listening to his gentle breaths as he slept.

Valerie wished that they could go back to simpler times when they were just fighting Hazel and Cha-Cha and tracking down the owner of the eyeball. . . . Sure, there was still an apocalypse, but at least the family was together. . . .

She gazed at Five's sleeping face, a small smile playing on her lips as she adored his features. She snuggled closer into him, feeling his hands unconsciously tighten their grip on her.

Valerie closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep again, but found herself unable to. She kept her eyes closed, instead focusing on the slight shifts Five made and the soft creaks of the bed.

Sometime after, the sky outside began to lighten, and sunlight started streaming inside the room. Valerie was more than awake but still kept her eyes shut, enjoying Five's company.

Five stirred around half-past six. His eyes still closed, he rolled onto his right side and pulled Valerie closer to him, wrapping his other arm around her and sleepily stroking the back of her hair with one hand.

"Val?" he murmured, his voice a little gruff from exhaustion.

"Mhm?" she hummed.

"I love you."

Valerie smiled before leaning her face up and kissing him lightly. "I love you too. But we should get up now."

Five groaned, only pulling her closer to him.

"What happened to you?" she giggled. "You were so obsessed with stopping the last apocalypse, I'd expect the same behaviour with this one."

"I like being with you like this," he mumbled into her hair before kissing the top of her head.

"But the world is still ending." 

After pulling the blanket off of her, she wiggled out of his grasp, quickly moving away as he reached towards her again. She only laughed when she receives complaints in return, and she quickly bent over to kiss the side of his head. 

She straightened out the skirt of her dress before running her fingers through her hair, trying to detangle it as best as she could.

She turned around to see Five moving slowly, reluctantly getting up. "Come here."

His forehead creased. "Why?"

"Just come here, you doofus," she sighed as she turned on one of the lamps, the soft, yellow glow illuminating the room.

He got out of the bed and walked over towards her, his eyebrows furrowed. Valerie placed one hand on the left side of his jaw, and mistaking this as an affectionate gesture, Five began to lean in.

"No, idiot." She firmly gripped his lower face and turned it so that she could get a good look at the cuts on his neck.

They were less red and, although they were fading away, it seemed as though they would leave light scars. Luckily, it didn't seem like they were infected, which was a relief.

"Good." She nodded as she allowed his face to resume its normal position. "Let's go, I think I can hear Elliott eating his cereal."

Before she could turn around, however, Five muttered, "Wait."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

Five only winked before pulling her closer to him by the waist and kissing her deeply, ignoring the fact that both of them had just woken up and hadn't brushed their teeth.

He drew away after a minute, though he kept his forehead pressed on hers, and smirked against her lips. "Okay, now let's go save the world."

An alarm rang as soon as they came into the living room, and Elliott called them over, his mouth stuffed with cereal, "Hey, we got one. Hey, one of those machines you guys asked for is going crazy."

"Which one?" Five asked as he rushed over, leaning a hand on the back of Elliott's chair as they gazed into a screen that had a green filter and circles expanding over it.

"It's the, uh, atmospheric radar," Elliott answered as Valerie approached with tightly knit eyebrows.

"Good." Five nodded.

"I don't get it." Elliott shook his head as he peered towards the screen. "What are you tracking? A hurricane? A storm front?

"Sound waves," Five breathed out before grabbing Valerie's hand.

"Sound waves," Elliott repeated, seeming amazed by this answer.

Five didn't allow Elliott any more time to speak as he spatial-jumped both he and Valerie into a large cornfield. The space they were in, however, had the plants pressed deep against the ground, much of it doing so so that it formed a circle.

"Huh. Vanya definitely was here. Anyway, here." Five dug through his blazer pockets and handed her a smushed bar as he instructed, "Eat."

"Did you sleep on this?" Valerie crinkled her nose as she reluctantly unwrapped the bar, not wanting to bring the 'food' anywhere near her mouth.

"Doesn't matter," he answered, which meant yes. "Eat."

"Disgusting," she muttered before shoving the bar into her mouth, almost gagging as soon as it hit her tongue. She was never going to get used to the taste, that was for sure.

They began to walk through the rows of tall corn, searching for their sister, though it didn't take too long.

They soon approached a crouching Vanya, who was trying to hide behind a cluster of cornstalks and was watching them. She was no longer wearing the white suit that they had last seen her in, instead wearing a blue plaid button-up, a light jacket, and jeans.

Five pushed aside the corn as he gave Vanya a big smile. "Hi, Vanya."

"Who are you?" Vanya asked as she stood up, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Had Vanya lost her memory? That wasn't good. Great. Another problem.

"I'm your brother." Five took a step back and then gestured to Valerie. "That's your sister."

"I have a brother and a sister?" Vanya questioned, holding onto the cornstalks so they didn't snap back into place.

"Look, you can either stay here and wait for the IKEA mafia to come back to kill you, or you can come with us," Five said hurriedly before turning around and heading back towards where they had first arrived.

"Wh-why are they trying to kill me?" Vanya asked as she followed.

"'Cause you're not supposed to be here, Vanny," Valerie answered with a sigh as they made their way through the extremely tall plants.

"In Dallas?"

"No." Five shook his head as they arrived back at the crop circle. "Here, in 1963."

"Holy shit," Vanya breathed out as she saw the wreckage she had caused.

"Yeah, pretty wild, right?" Five smirked as he clambered over the dead plants. "It's good to see your powers are still intact. Let's go."

—♫—

Valerie, Five, and Vanya sat inside a diner, seated at the counter. Although, Valerie was invisible because again, racism.

"You gonna tell me what the hell's going on?" Vanya asked quietly, her mug clutched tightly in her hands.

"When you were a baby, you were bought by an eccentric billionaire. He raised you in an elite academy with seven other siblings with extraordinary powers, but in the year 2019, in order to avoid the apocalypse, we jumped into a vortex and ended up being scattered throughout the timeline in Dallas, Texas," Five explained briefly before pausing. "Any questions?"

Vanya's eyes shone with fear as she leaned forward and apprehensively questioned, "What do you mean, 'the apocalypse'?"

Five gave a small sigh before clarifying, "I mean the end of the world as we know it."

"Yeah, but how?"

Valerie, who was leaning next to Five against the counter, furrowed her eyebrows and asked, "You really don't remember anything?"

Vanya's eyes darted around where her voice had come from, not knowing where to speak to. "No, nothing before a month ago."

"Then what do you remember?" Valerie inquired.

"I landed in, like, a . . . back alley. Got hit by a car. My head was ringing like crazy." Vanya squeezed her eyes shut as she remembered, and she shook her head. "I had no idea how I got there, where I came from. What causes the apocalypse?"

Five glanced over to where Valerie was standing, and she kicked his foot, silently telling him to avoid saying the truth.

Five looked back to Vanya and heaved a heavy sigh before telling her, "Asteroid impact. The big kaboom ends everything. Just like the one that got the dinosaurs, except way worse. Bad news is, it followed us here."

"What do you mean, 'followed us'?" Vanya asked softly.

"Eight days from now, the world ends in a nuclear doomsday," Five said lowly as he furrowed his eyebrows. "It's a different disease, but . . . same result."

Vanya stared at him for a few moments before giving them a nervous smile and uttering, "That can't be right."

"We saw it. With our own eyes," Five told her as he looked down at his cup of coffee. "You were there. We all were."

"Shit," Vanya muttered, looking back behind her and towards the phonebox. "I need to make a phone call."

She rushed up from her spot and headed over to the telephone that was attached to the wall a few meters away, ignoring Five as he called her name.

"Let her call," Valerie murmured, putting a hand on his shoulder and squeezing it gently.

Five stood up, restlessly folding his arms and leaning back against the counter as he watched Vanya lift the phone to her ear.

"Should we tell her?" Five asked quietly, his eyes fixated on the girl who was tapping her foot as she waited for the call to go through.

"Of course not," Valerie responded instantly, shaking her head profusely. "She'll get scared and lose control over her powers again. No, she can't find out."

"What if Luther says something?" Five pointed out as he raised his eyebrows, speaking softly so that no one thought he was a lunatic. "He didn't even want her to come with us in the first place."

"Well, I don't know if Luther's going to be joining us," Valerie sighed and shrugged. "And besides, I can shut him up before he can finish a sentence."

"I guess." Five tapped his foot against the ground, becoming more and more restless as Vanya continued to talk. After a few moments, he shook his head and muttered, "Nope, that's it."

Valerie rolled her eyes. "Five—"

But Five had already gone and hung up the phone, causing Vanya to turn to him in outrage.

"What the hell?!"

"We don't have time for this," Five said, shaking his head.

"That's my friend you just hung up on!" she exclaimed, still clutching the black receiver.

"Listen to me." Five grabbed Vanya's shoulder and pulled her close as he quietly warned, "Those people from the field are coming after us. They are never going to stop. Do you understand me?"

"God, Five. How many times do I have to tell you to be nice?" Valerie rolled her eyes once more before pushing Five aside. "Listen, Vanny—I'm here." She gently placed her hands on Vanya's face, which had been swivelling to find her, and faced her in the right direction. "Vanny, right now, we need to stick together, find the others, and figure out how to stop the end of the world. If we don't, whoever your friend is, they're going to die with the rest of us. I promise, you can talk to them later. Just please . . . please come with us."

Vanya hesitated for a moment before sighing and clicking the receiver back into its spot. "Fine."

"See, idiot?" Valerie mumbled to Five as they began to head towards the exit. "Be nicer."