Cheers and shouts of excitement erupted from the crowd of people that hollered at the top of their lungs as they watched the fight between Luther and another buff-looking man. Five, Vanya, and I were sat below everyone, staring at the bloodied men, who were both taking hits at each other in the ring.

Luther took a swing at the lumberjack-looking man, socking him right in the cheek. I saw blood fly out from his bruised mouth. Luther took this as his moment to swing again from the other side. He had the advantage in the fight, not only because of his super strength but because the other man was beginning to get sloppy in his defensive moves.

Out of nowhere, Luther froze. His clenched fists dropped to his sides and his eyes appeared to be dazed and confused. The buff, brunette in front of his swung his fist right into the center of Luther face, punching his nose. He gave Luther a once-over, surprised that he wasn't fighting back anyway.

"Let's go!" A man shouted from behind me.

Another person from the crowd yelled at Luther, "Come on!"

Punch after punch, Luther took it without any emotion or action. It was almost like he wanted to be hurt.

Vanya winced as she witnessed her other brother getting beat up. "Look, he's pummeling him," she said to Five and me.

"Hit me again," Luther spoke up. My eyebrows furrowed. He actually wanted to be hurt.

The other man grabbed ahold of Luther's neck and growled angrily as he tossed him to the side. His large body rammed right into the wooden barrier Five, Vanya, and I were standing in front of.

"Oh my god, Luther!" Vanya scolded. She—along with everyone else watching the fight unfold—couldn't understanding why he wasn't defending himself.

"Why isn't he fighting back?" Five exclaimed.

"Hit me again," Luther demanded. His face was swollen and deformed. Blood was dripping from his cut lips. The scene was absolutely awful and even though I disliked the man, this was just painful to watch. "AGAIN! HIT ME!"

Five leaned over into the ring slightly as he tried to get his brother's attention. "Luther are you crazy? Just hit him!"

"Come on, Luther!" A man shouted. The crowd was starting to get increasingly more angry the more this fight went on.

"Hit me," Luther repeated. "I wanna feel pain. I wanna feel all the pain."

"Has he lost his mind?" I exclaimed.

"Give me everything you've got!" Luther shouted.

I glanced towards Five. "Should we do something? I could phase into him and win the fight."

"Phase into him?" Vanya repeated in confusion.

I shook my head as I spoke, "I'll fill you in later."

"He'll pull through," Five stated but he sounded a bit unsure himself.

The man before him took a couple steps back, about to comply. He took joy from Luther's refusal to fight back. It was sickening. He swung his fist one last time for the night, landing an upper-cut right into Luther's jaw. The blonde man was sent flying through the air until he crash landed on the ground, completely unconscious.

Five, Vanya, and I stared at him with wide eyes of disbelief. "Shit," Five breathed. "Luther."

"Why didn't he fight back?" Vanya asked. Her question seemed to get lost in the shouts of protests from everyone around us though because of Luther's disappointing performance in the fight.

★・・・★・・・★

My back was pressed up against the brick wall of the small building behind me. Five and I were stood closely beside each other in comfortable silence as we both waited for Vanya to return from her talk with Luther.

The tips of my fingers grazed over the brand on my forearm, catching the attention of Five's lingering gaze. He tilted his head to get a better look at the imprint on my skin. A part of his dark hair fell over his face slightly. I pulled my own hand away from my arm as Five's fingers ran over the scar softly. "Have you always had this?" He asked.

I felt a nervous shiver run down my spine as his skin touched my own. I hummed in response. "The Order branded each of us." It truly was a cruel reminder of all the friends I lost in that cursed compound. I missed each of them, especially right now as I was reminded of my memories.

"You must miss your friends," Five spoke up, almost like he was the one reading my mind now. It was fascinating about how much information you could get out of someone solely based off of just their expression.

"There were seven of us," I said. I smirked slightly at the irony. "We hardly ever got along with each other, but when we were all together it was like we were a family.. almost."

Five chuckled softly. "I know all about dysfunctional families," he said.

"I'm sure you do," I said with a smile. I thought about Five and the apocalypse again, specifically how he had traveled back in time to warn his siblings. "I don't know how you do it," I sighed. Five glanced down at me and gave me a confused look. "I mean, time and space and all.. When I was sent back to my past, I had to relive every moment as if it never even happened before."

"How is that possible?" Five asked in disbelief. "You should have ran into your past self and endured the seven stages of paradox psychosis."

"I don't know what that is," I replied. My brows furrowed as I restated what the woman with the red pumps told me. "When I met the Handler at Griddy's she said that I was a unique case at the Commission. She said that they considered me to be a glitch." I kind of felt embarrassed or ashamed in some odd way for admitting that. I mean, no girl really wanted to be called a glitch.

"I've heard about people like you when I worked on the field. Glitches were always labeled as special cases that needed to be eliminated immediately," Five explained. My eyes went wide at the revelation that he could have killed me a long time ago. "If you're a glitch in the system, then why would she keep you around?" Five asked to no one in particular. 

"She said that I 'held value' and was 'of much importance' to her," I told Five. "I'm not really sure what I could possibly do for her though."

Five shook his head in agreement. "I'm not sure either, but if there's one thing I know about the Handler, it's that we're all just pawns in her game." Suddenly, Vanya quickly walked out of the building as an upset face. "Well, that clearly went well," Five remarked. "You ready to go?"

Vanya walked right past. "I'm going back to the farm," she stated simply.

Five grabbed my hand and dragged me along with his quick strides to catch up with his sister. "Hey, unacceptable, Vanya," he lectured her. "Remember, we need to stick together."

Vanya paused in her tracks. She spun on her heel to face Five as she spoke, "Oh, why? So I don't end the world again?" My eyes widened. Luther must have told her the truth, surprisingly. Of course, he chose now of all times to have a heart-to-heart with his sister, who he never even seemed to care about before.

Five glanced at the building behind us as if it were Luther. "Stupid," he scoffed.

"Were you even gonna tell me?" Vanya asked. She was halfway into the car by now.

"You know what?" Five said. He was becoming irritated again. "In my defense, no. Alright? And can you blame me? When you get angry, shit blows up!"

"Great," Vanya remarked, sarcasm clearly evident. "Any other family secrets you failed to mention?"

Five glanced towards me. Both of us shrugged and turned back to Vanya. "A boatload, Vanya, which I don't have the luxury of sharing them with-" Five stopped himself and made a sarcastic smile as he knocked angrily on Vanya's closed window. The woman regretfully rolled it down, listening to what Five had to say, but acting as if she couldn't care less. "The clock is ticking on doomsday. Just tell me that when I need you, you'll be ready."

"I can't help you, Five," Vanya stated. "I don't even know who I am." Vanya started the engine of her car.

"You're our sister," he exclaimed. "And a member of the Umbrella Academy. Like it or not, that's who you are."

"Look, that's who I was," Vanya said. "New timeline, new me."

"Isn't it supposed to be 'new year, new me'?" I asked to no one in particular.

"Yes, exactly, Lexa!" Five said in agreement. He turned back to his sister. "That's not how it works!"

"It was nice meeting you, Alexa, sorry you got dragged into this mess too," Vanya said.

I shook my head. "My life was way worse before, so it's-" Vanya didn't seem to care though because she pressed her foot on the gas and drove away. "Fine," I sighed. Five huffed and shook his head. "Well, she's a lost cause," I remarked. The two of us turned around to the brick building behind us and saw Luther standing in his, flipping Five off. I rolled my eyes and called out to him, "Great fight last night, Moon Man!" Luther shifted his middle finger over to me now. I scrunched my face up and flipped him off now. "Yeah, I got one too, asshole!"

Five grabbed my other hand and began to pull me away. "I wonder if it's too late to be un-adopted," he remarked as the two of us walked away.

I shrugged. "Anything's possible at this point." Five just chuckled and nodded in agreement. Then, he teleported us back to Elliot's apartment building, where we found Lila and Diego again.