∽☂ ∽

"𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐅𝐀𝐈𝐋 𝐈𝐍 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎 𝐌𝐄?"

∽☂ ∽

𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐘 𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐘𝐖𝐀𝐘𝐒 was one of their only sources of seeing the outside world without having to save everyone. Every kid's room in the mansion had windows, but most of them just faced different walls rather than streets and people.

Y/n's room had the best window seating out of everyone. Because the windowsill was made out of rock-hard materials, giving it a look of prison, the girl put some pillows and seat cushions to make it more comfortable and appealing. That's why Five always loved spending time with her there.

"Hey, Y/n?" The boy spoke up with an unsure emotion visible in his voice as he hesitantly lifted his eyes off the ground to look at the girl. "Can I ask you something?"

Y/n quickly snapped out of her gaze after humming in response and smiled for him. "Sure, what is it?"

Y/n's soft smile made Five a lot nervous, knowing that he is going to make it fade away soon enough. "Uh..." He sat up, prompting himself to ask the question, clearly avoiding eye contact. "...so, imagine you wanted to do something very badly. You know you can do it and you believe in yourself, but someone doesn't let you do it. What would you do?"

The confusion was clear in Y/n's face when she tilted her head as wheels began to turn in her head, trying to figure out what he meant by that. "Um, well, is the "thing" safe?"

That question left Five a bit silent for a second. "Well, um, I-I don't quite know it yet." He tried saying a different answer other than "no".

The girl sighed to herself and crossed her hands on her chest. "In that case, I don't think you should do it."

Hearing this answer from his closest person made Five try and think if it was really safe and worth it. Always taking advice from Y/n, he never dared to take a different path than she had told him.

But then, out of utter nowhere, Y/n let out a gasp and covered her mouth with her hand. "Wait, do you want to time travel?"

Five could feel his entire body heat up from that. "What? No, no!" He tried pulling himself out of the conversation. "N-no, I don't!"

"Oh, okay." Y/n let out a heavy sigh as she leaned against the wall. "Because if you really were wanting to time travel, then I would maybe consider it."

As if the boy wasn't going through enough of that emotional rollercoaster, hearing Y/n say that made him almost jump out of his seat. "Wait, you would?"

"Aha!" Y/n snapped out of her character and clapped her hands after she got his confession. "I knew it! You want to time travel, huh? I knew you weren't going to admit it so easily!"

Realizing that she was acting this whole time, Five rolled his eyes at her and groaned. "Yes. But you know I can do that, Y/n! I-"

"Do I really have to repeat everything dad said to you?" She cut him off, pointing a finger at him. "You cannot do that yet. It's unpredictable!"

"Nothing is predictable in this world, Y/n." Five told her in a low voice which made her go speechless. "Do you believe in me?" He lifted up his eyes and looked deep into hers.

Y/n scoffed at that question and sarcastically chuckled. "Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?"

Smoothly and cleanly, the boy slowly began to come closer to her, crawling on the windowsill before putting his lips against hers. As their lips moved in synchronization for a couple of seconds, Y/n pulled away and took some deep breaths.

Their foreheads were touching each other as a sign of being inseparable as the girl sighed and hesitantly nodded. "Promise me you'll be safe, okay?"

The two opened their eyes at the same time, making Five smile. "Always."

∽☂ ∽

"𝐔𝐆𝐇, 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐎𝐍!"Y/n groaned to herself as she tried to tie her tie with the last of strength she had left in her fingers. The breakfast bell was about to be rung by Grace and she wasn't even fully ready.

After a couple of seconds of struggling, she managed to get herself ready just in the nick of time. As soon as the bell was heard, Y/n followed her siblings down the stairs without a second thought.

The record player was playing some sort of speech no one really paid attention to. The only use it had was making that uncomfortable silence bearable which was mandatory.

The kids quickly came down the stairs and rushed inside the living room where the dining table was already filled with all kinds of breakfast items and foods. Ranging from eggs to fruits, it was one of the best parts of the day for them.

But no one dared to take a seat - they walked over to their chairs and stood behind them, waiting for their father.

Soon enough, Reginald strode inside the room, not even glancing at his children or acknowledging Grace's smile, before walking over to his seat and pulling it away from the table.

Finally, he eyed the kids and sat down. "Sit."

As soon as he gave them his word, the eight kids began eating their breakfast. No one said a thing, everyone kept to themselves. Until Five's knife being slammed on the table made everyone stop in their movements.

Reginald gave a quick look at the boy. "Number Five?" Before quickly going back to eating.

Five didn't take his look off his father when he smiled mockingly. "I have a question."

Y/n, sitting across the table in front of him, was fully able to sense the tension in the room. And judging by Five's voice tone and acting, this wasn't going to end well. But nobody seemed to care enough when they joined their previous occupations.

"Knowledge is an admirable goal, but you know the rules. No talking during mealtimes. You are interrupting Herr Carlson." Reginald answered as he continued cutting his food on his plate.

Because dad didn't seem to be phased by Five, the boy pushed his plate away to show more authority. "I want to time travel."

As if her soul left her body, Y/n heard the words she feared most and stopped in her actions. A million thoughts started running in her head, but she couldn't pick one nor look up and face Five.

"No." Reginald said with no hesitation or thought.

"But I'm ready." Five stood up and pushed his chair away from the table. "I've been practicing my spatial jumps, just like you said." In a blink of an eye, Five was gone and standing next to Reginald. "See?"

Y/n turned her head in an instant, finally being able to look at the boy. The anxiety and tension began to rise within her with every second as she was close as ever to speaking up to dad.

But Reginald didn't care about Five standing right next to him and being able to feel his breathing. "A spatial jump is trivial when compared with the unknowns of time travel. One is like sliding along the ice, the other is akin to descending blindly into the depths of the freezing water and reappearing as an acorn."

Surprise surprise, dad's answer to everything the kids said was too hard for anyone to understand. That's why it made Five become frustrated. "Well, I don't get it." The boy looked away.

"Hence the reason you're not ready."

That was like a punch to the face. That's why Five's head jolted up from the ground as he avoided Y/n's frantic head shaking. "I'm not afraid."

"Fear isn't the issue. The effects it might have on your body, even your mind, are far too unpredictable. Now, I forbid you to talk about this anymore." Reginald clattered his utensils on his plate and turned to the boy having enough of his nonsense.

Even though Reginald thought he put an end to this once and for all, Five had enough of him as well. As Y/n's anxiety began to vanish little by little, Five turned around and began storming outside of the living room.

But as soon as the boy took a step away from the table, Y/n did the same by standing up from her seat and following him without hesitation.

"Number Five! You haven't been excused! Number Eight! Get back here!"

Just when Y/n stepped through the gates, she saw Five just a few feet away from her. Him, walking away from their house, was enough for the girl to start running right after him. "Five! Five!"

When he heard her shouting, Five stopped in his tracks and turned around to see her. "Y/n? What the hell are you doing here?" He asked, looking behind her at the same time to make sure that no one else was following them.

"What are you doing here?" The girl answered his question with a question. "Get back now, we have to-"

"No!" Five harshly cut her off but instantly regretted it after seeing her distraught face. "Y/n, I can't go back to him! I need to try this, you told me you believed in me!"

"This is not a negotiation, Five!" Y/n kept on arguing with him and not going down without a fight. "You're acting fucking crazy! You don't have a choice here - we have to get back now!"

As Y/n pointed at their mansion behind them and took his hand to bring him back, Five couldn't let himself go back to that place. The place, that made him feel like a failure, like someone, who couldn't do the impossible.

The place he once called "home" was bringing him down, the only reason he didn't leave was the girl of his dreams. But now, it seemed as if even she wasn't going to make him stay here.

"No." His voice was barely hearable but it was loud and strong enough for Y/n to stop in her steps and look at him with pain in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Y/n, but I have to do this."

In a split second, he came in closer and planted a soft kiss on her cheek, leaving Y/n speechless and agitated. The girl was now as lost as him, so her one last decision she ended up making at the last second was purely out of love and fear.

As a last resort to this, Y/n gripped Five by his right hand and the next thing she saw was astounding - they were in a different place at a different time. Only getting a second to look around, Y/n was dragged by Five's steps as he jumped once again.

"Oh, my god." The girl murmured to herself under her breath as she let her hand slowly slip away from Five.

"Not ready, my ass." Five grunted, making Y/n react quickly and jump again with him.

This seemed like it was going to go on forever, so Y/n decided to end this. "Five, don't-" But she did it, just not in time.

The next thing she felt under her feet was ruble. The next thing she saw was destruction. The next thing she said was silence. Everything was gone. Demolished. Broken. No sign of relation to life. Nothing.

Not only was Y/n confused and scared of this place, but Five was also. He turned around and was stunned to see Y/n standing right next to him. "Y/n? What are you doing here?"

He came in closer to her, hoping that Y/n was going to say something back. But being in too much of a big shock, the girl was disheveled. "Wh-where are we, Five?"

But not even Five could answer that question when he looked around themselves. "I don't know..." Even though he was the one who brought them here into this place, he had the same ideas she had. Including the same hopes and fears.

∽☂ ∽

"𝐖𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐏𝐒. Canned food, cockroaches, anything we could find." Five chuckled with coffee in his hands. "You know that rumor that twinkies have an endless shelf life? Well, it's total bullshit."

"I can't even imagine." Vanya answered horrified by their story in every possible way.

"You do whatever it takes to survive, or you die." Y/n looked at the ground and back at Vanya. "So the three of us adapted."

"Yeah, whatever the world threw at us, we three found a way to overcome it." Five looked at Y/n smiling slightly.

"Three?" Vanya asked confused looking back at Five and Y/n.

"You got anything stronger?"Five asked lifting his coffee mug up.

Vanya poured in some alcohol for Five in a glass while Y/n drank her coffee. Vanya gave the glass to Five and he drank it. She kept looking at him trying to get everything in and understand it.

"You think we're crazy." Five scoffed.

"No, it's-it's just a lot to take in." She blinked a lot and shook her head.

"Exactly what don't you understand?" Five asked angrily.

"Why didn't you two just time travel back?"

"Vanya, we couldn't-" Y/n tried to explain to her but Five cut her off.

Five just scoffed and sighed. "Gee, I wish we'd thought of that. Time travel is a crapshoot. We went into the ice and never acorn-ed. You think we didn't try everything to get back to our family?"

Vanya just nodded at Five's response, still in shock and trying to process everything he just said. "If you two grew old there, you know, in the apocalypse, how come you two still look like kids?"

"I told you already." Five went to the counter to pour in some more of the drink. "We must have got the equations wrong."

"We"? Oh no, I told you that they were looking suspicious, but you ignored me, just like you do every time..." Y/n pointed at Five with the coffee mug in my other hand. Vanya just turned to look at Y/n in confusion and back at Five while the boy just sighed to the girl's intervience.

"I mean, dad always used to say that...time travel could mess up your mind. Well, maybe that's what's happening?" Vanya suggested. Y/n just scoffed.

"Vanya-"

"This was a mistake. You're too young...too naive to understand." Five put the drink down and was about to go. "Let's go, Y/n." He took Y/n's hand and they were on their way to the door.

"No, Five we can't-"

"No, Five, Y/n...Five, wait." Vanya stopped him. He stopped at the door while Y/n took her hand out of his grip and looked at Vanya. "I haven't seen you two in a long time, and I don't want to lose you again. That's all."

Five turned around, glancing at Vanya, and back at Y/n. Y/n looked at him also and gave him a look that said "We can't walk out on her".

"And you know what, it's getting late, and...I have lessons early, and I need to sleep, and I'm sure you two do, too." She explained.

Y/n looked at her with a sympathetic look and back at Five. He looked at Y/n understanding that he messed up so he put his head down.

"Here." She said putting the blanket on the couch for them to sleep. "We'll talk in the morning again. Okay? I promise. Night." She said walking away from them.

"Night." They both said in unison. Vanya went to her room and leaned against the door trying to calm down. Then she took her medicine and went to sleep not knowing if the kids will really do the same.

Five and Y/n sat down on the couch. "Is something wrong?" Y/n asked looking at Five.

"We need to find the owner of the eye." He explained holding the eye in his hands. Y/n looked at it and back at Five.

She knew about the eye since they found the dead siblings in the apocalypse together, but Five was more interested in it than Y/n.

"We will, but how? I mean, finding the company or place that made this eye can be impossible." Y/n scoffed.

"Yes, but there is a serial number on the back. We can find the company and-"

"And find the owner of the eye." Y/n completed the sentence for him. "You're not planning on sleeping, are you?"

"The world ends in 8 days. Every minute is worth much more than you could ever think of. If we want to do it, we need to go now." Five said standing up rom the couch and walking to the door. "But if you want you could stay here and sleep since you-"

"No, I'll go." She cut him off not even glancing at him as she stood up. Y/n went to him when he was about to open the door. "Wait, we can't just leave Vanya like that, she will be worried about us-"

"We need to go now, Y/n." Five said looking at her sternly. Y/m just hesitent;y nodded and so they went out of Vanya's apartment into the cold night.

∽☂ ∽

𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐘/𝐍 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 in the building of the company that the eye was made a couple of hours later. They were standing in at the reception until a man came in and greeted them.

"Uh, can I help you?" The doctor looked at the woman at the reception and back at the pair having no clue what two teens might want from them.

Y/n and Five turned to him and Five started talking right away. "We need to know who this belongs to." Five said walking up and holding the eye in his hands.

"Where did you get that?" The doctor asked pointing at the eye.

"Why do you care?" Five replied sassily.

Y/n just cleared her throat in order to give a sign to Five that he needed to calm down. Five looked at her and back at the doctor with a more nicer look.

"We...we found it...at a playground, actually. Uh, must have just.." Five clicked his tongue and smiled. "...popped out."

The doctor nodded at his response with a nervous smile.

Y/n saw that Five didn't make any progress making them help them so she chimed in with a genuine smile. "We wanna return it to its rightful owner." Five looked at her with still a fake smile and agreed.

"Oh...what a thoughtful young couple." The receptionist smiled and tilted her head.

"Yeah. Look up the name for us, will ya?" Five looked at her and smiled. Y/n's smile dropped because she knew he wasn't going to get the answers that easily and going straight to the point wasn't really going to do any real job.

But the doctor answered for the receptionist. "Uh, I'm sorry, but patient records are strictly confidential. That means I can't tell you-"

"Yeah, we know what that means." Five's smile dropped and he became even more annoyed. Y/n nudged him to give him a sign to be nicer but she was really getting tired at this.

The doctor tried to look at the brighter side of things. "But I'll tell you what I can do. I will take the eye off your hands and return it to the owner. I'm sure he or she will be very grateful, so if I can just-"

"Yeah, you're not touching this eye." Five glared at him. Y/n leaned in and whispered to his ear not breaking eye contact with the doctor.

"Five, what-"

"Now, you listen here, young man-"

Five grabbed the man by his collar and pulled him closer to him."No! You listen to me, asshole. My wife and I here have come a long way for this-"

Y/n was shocked, to say the least that Five didn't listen to her at all so she had enough of his shit and decided to make it clear.

"Screw it." She muttered. She knocked Five out by kicking in his leg as he fell on the ground grunting. The man and receptionist just watched in shock as Y/n took Five by his legs and dragged him out. "Sorry about him, he has some anger issues. Have a lovely day and thank you for your time."

She dragged Five to the elevator and dropped his leg. He stood up and shrugged at her as she presed the butons. "What was that for?"

Y/n crossed her arms on her chest and scoffed. "How many times do I have to tell you, do not call me your wife? I'm sick of-"

"I'm sorry, jeez, okay? But was that the only reason you knocked me out?" Five fixed his blazer.