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❛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘ. ᴘᴀɴ ᴇғғᴇᴄᴛ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ʙᴇɢʀᴜᴅɢɪɴɢʟʏ
sᴀᴠɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ ( ᴀɢᴀɪɴ ) ꒱


❝ I THOUGHT YOU
WERE RETIRED ❞

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After Klaus' narrow escape from the Amish, he'd dropped yet another bombshell on them: his mother had died before he'd even been born. Even Alexa— who wouldn't claim to be a time-travel expert— knew that that was bad news. Five had slammed the breaks on the car to turn to his brother in shock. Then, they hightailed it back to the hotel to share this finding with their siblings.

While the blonde was remorseful about their lost free time and the new challenges this timeline presented, she was glad to be back with her family. She hadn't seen them since they'd landed in the Sparrow's— their— house. As they entered the bar area, she quickly scanned over them to make sure that there really were no permanent injuries.

"Okay, gather 'round, people," Five announced as they converged together. "Where is-where's every— where's Luther?"

"Haven't seen him," Allison replied dryly.

"Who knows?" Diego added.

As her siblings stood, Alexa made a beeline (first) for Viktor. She wrapped her arms around her brother's small frame and hugged him tightly. He was understandably surprised by the sudden 'attack' from his sister but returned her gesture after a moment. "What's this for?"

She shifted her head so that she could meet his gaze, though they were practically the same height already. "I love you, you know. Five told me about what I missed and I wanted to make sure that you knew."

The short-haired man smiled softly at the girl. "It's good to see you, Lexi. How are you feeling after the fight?"

"Just fine," she lied easily. She ignored Five's sharp glare for her answer. "Have you had any trouble, Vik?"

Her tone had become unusually fierce and she pulled away from him to give her siblings stern looks. Viktor understood what she was asking and he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It's all good, Lexi."

The girl immediately relaxed and sent him a supportive grin. Then, she turned to her self-proclaimed favorite brother and he received the same enthusiastic greeting as Viktor. Luckily, Diego had been expecting it and wrapped his arms around her in response. "I'm glad you're okay, Al. You had us worried there for a second."

"Sorry," she apologized sheepishly as she separated from him. "Did I miss anything on your end? Five only filled me in about our brother."

"Uh. . . yeah. Apparently I have an alleged son." His voice was full of doubt as he pointed to a boy who was playing with a pool stick.

The blonde's eyes widened. "Oh! That means I'm an aunt!" While she'd also been an aunt to Claire, she'd never had a chance to meet Allison's daughter; Diego's son being right in front of her made the relative title so much more real.

"I guess," he allowed reluctantly. "Though Lila never showed me any proof. She just up and left."

Allison looked up from her drink to take in her sister's happy expression. She hid her eye-roll at how dumb blonde and easily appeased their Number Eight could be. Instead of voicing her thoughts, she set her glass down with rather unnecessary force. "What? No welcome-back hug for your favorite sister?"

Alexa's bright smile faltered slightly in the face of the other woman's sardonic tone. She hesitated uneasily for several awkward seconds before Five swooped in and saved her: "we got bigger problems to worry about right now."

As he unbound Klaus' aunt's journal, Allison's eyes narrowed at the coincidental interruption. "Like what?" she asked sarcastically.

"This," he answered evenly. He began to flip through the book.

"Who are they?" Viktor wondered.

"Our mothers," Alexa explained.

Klaus reached out and quickly put his hand on one of the pages. "That one's mine."

Excluding Allison, the rest of the siblings leaned towards the picture. Five looked up from the image. "They're all dead. They all died on the exact same day, October first, 1989."

"That's our birthday."

"Not anymore, it isn't. They all died before we were born."

Diego didn't seem to be impressed. "That's dumb. If we weren't born, how can we exist?"

"We don't," the blonde replied. "At least, not this timeline's version of ourselves. We travelled here from outside the linear events."

Five couldn't help but give her a proud look. "Exactly. Someone's been paying attention." Alexa smiled, pleased.

Viktor was still confused. "What are you saying?"

"What Lexa means is that when we jumped here, we created a time paradox. Alright? Not just any paradox. This is the grandfather paradox."

"What the hell's a grandfather paradox?" Klaus asked.

☂︎ ☂︎ ☂︎

Some time later, they hadn't made much headway with their siblings. Diego let out a frustrated sigh. "I'm so confused."

Allison remained aloof from the group as she leaned against a nearby pillar. "Shocking," she commented.

"Well, someone killed our mothers, so we shouldn't exist," Viktor reasoned. "But clearly we do exist and the universe can't handle it, which is a problem."

Klaus was listening to his siblings debate from his spot on the pool table where he lay face-up on the green surface. He repeatedly hit himself in his face with the journal out of boredom. Alexa had jumped up to sit on the edge of the billiard cloth to let her feet swing above the floor. Five had commandeered a cup of coffee and was leaning against the table next to her, close enough that his side pressed against her leg. At his brother's explanation, he lifted his cup in acknowledgement. "Big problem."

Stan— Diego's son, who Alexa had been indirectly introduced to— remained nearby as he twirled a pool stick around in the air. He let out occasional 'karate' sounds to accompany his movements. "Yah!"

The dark-haired man immediately turned his attention to the boy. "Stanley! Now is not the time to be doing karate, okay?"

The twelve-year-old rounded on him. "Yeah, well mom said I need to practice."

"Yeah, she's not wrong," Diego agreed more quietly. "You're very bad."

"Well, I saved your pathetic ass."

At the boy's comment, Alexa shot her brother a sharp look. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," he replied quickly. He knew that she'd only worry incessantly over the fact that she hadn't been there and blame herself for anything that happened. It was already in the past so if she didn't know, she couldn't feel guilty about it.

Thankfully, Allison cut in to keep her from badgering him about it. "Okay, hold on. Five, so we caused a paradox. What does that mean?"

"It's hard to say," he admitted. "It's all been theoretical until now but things have started to disappear."

"What things?"

"Right now? Uh, lobsters."

"And a whole field of cows," the blonde added. "Poor Henry."

"Henry?" Viktor repeated.

"Forget Henry," Five huffed. "I have a feeling that this is just the beginning."

Allison rolled her eyes— again— at that. "A feeling? I thought you were retired."

He sighed. "I want nothing more."

His sister pushed off the pillar and took angry steps towards him. Her tone was hostile as she said: "you know, you can't keep dragging us through hell because you have an itch only an apocalypse can scratch and then expect us to deal with the fallout. You're not the boss."

Alexa jumped off the table to face her sister. It was a rather comical sight due to their height difference as the blonde stared up at her with narrowed eyes. "Leave him alone, Allison. He didn't ask for this to happen!"

The brunette scoffed. "Of-fucking-course you side with him. Don't you have a mind of your own? Or is the only thought in your head about when you can suck his cock next?"

"Whoa!" Diego exclaimed as he all but leapt between the two women. He held his hands out in an effort to keep them apart with a disgusted expression on his face. (Because only a psychopath would want to think about something like that.) "Too far, Allison. Too far. Cool it off, alright?"

Five attempted to appear unruffled by his sister's jab— arguing back would only escalate the situation— though he felt righteously angry on Alexa's behalf. His ears and face flushed from both Allison's comment and the scenario that his hormone-affected mind came up with. Instead, he did his best to steer the conversation back on course: "fine. I'm the messenger, and I'm telling you something terrible is coming."

Alexa wasn't willing to let Allison's dig at her go. Her face flamed with shame as she glared at the woman with a wounded expression. It wasn't that she was embarrassed to be with Five— far from it— but that her sister thought so little of her. They'd never had the best relationship; as the only two girls in the Academy (since Viktor hadn't been 'one of them' back then), they'd been constantly paired against each other.

Which one had the best fighting skills? Which one had the coolest powers? The best hairstyle? The best relationship with their siblings? The list went on and on until it was long enough to drive a wall between them. While Allison had some semblance of a connection with Viktor, their sisterly bond had been torn down brick by brick— or word by word. It didn't help that almost every time, Alexa came out on top. As they got older, her sister's bitter feelings only festered until they could barely speak civilly to one another. Even with the controversy that went along with their relationship, Alexa still held out hope that one day, they'd be able to find common ground. Unfortunately, it looked like she was doing so in vain.

Allison's voice was still furious as she responded to her brother. "Well, then let's go attack the Sparrows, get the briefcase and go home."

Five stood from the pool table. "This is our home, Allison. Accept it."

A loud clatter broke their intense conversation. The group turned to look at Stanly, who had lost control of his pool stick. The end collided with the cue rack and the force had caused it to fall to the ground. Diego shot to his feet. "That's it! I'm telling your mom."

"Ooh," his son sneered, completely unphased.

The mention of the boy's mother caught Five's interest. "Wait, where's Lila?"

"Shower. I told her that she could stay with us."

Viktor looked surprised. "Wait. When did Lila get back?"

Five turned away from the group and began to head for the entrance. On his way out, he grasped Alexa's hand to pull her along with him. Diego called after them: "hey, guys, where are you going?"

"To go talk to somebody who only has half her head up her ass."

"Don't leave, Five, Lexi. Don't leave," Klaus pleaded.

The boy didn't bother to look back as he replied, "no Klaus. We're leaving."

☂︎ ☂︎ ☂︎

As the couple walked towards the showers, Five sent the girl a concerned look. "How are you holding up, Lexa?"

"Just fine," she replied simply— though she kept her face covered by her blonde hair and refused to look at him.

He sighed. "Your relationship with Allison's only gotten worse. I mean, it was already contentious during our Academy days but now. . . I never thought that she would've said something like that."

"I don't really wanna talk about it," Alexa mumbled.

Five paused outside of the doors to the washroom and turned the teen to face him even if she wouldn't meet his eyes. "Lexa," he began softly. "You know you can talk to me about anything, right? Yeah, I've missed a lot, but in case you didn't know, I can pick up things pretty fast." This was said with a note of amusement. Then, he became serious again. "Okay? You've already been there when I needed you so let me do the same for you."

She finally looked up to meet his gaze. Her cheeks were still pink from her sister's irate remark and her hurt expression hadn't changed. Five's heart twisted at the sight.

"I know," she allowed. "It's just something that can't be changed so why even bother? Besides, we have more to worry about than Allison's bitchiness."

While he admired her prioritizing, he also knew that she was using the incoming apocalypse as an escape. Alexa was rather skilled at avoiding conversations that she didn't want to have. Still, he let it go for now, knowing that she was right. "Well, if you do ever feel like talking about it, let me know. Yeah?" When she nodded (though he didn't fully believe her), he continued: "right then. Let's go—"

Before he could open the door, Alexa slid in front of him and held out her arms to block his entrance. "Uh-uh. I don't think so."

He gave her an impatient look. "What's the problem now?"

"I'm not letting you go in there while Lila's in the shower."

Five smirked. "Oh? And why not?"

The blonde's eyes narrowed at his taunt but didn't rise to the bait. "She's probably naked, genius. I'll go."

The boy lifted his hand and gently tucked her blonde hair behind her ear. Then, he placed his hands on either side of her head, flat against the wooden panel of the door. He leaned down until his lips brushed against the outer shell of her ear. He was so close that he could hear her breath hitch from his actions, making him feel incredibly pleased with himself. So quietly that she had to strain to hear his words, he murmured: "the only woman I'm interested in seeing naked is you, darling."

Then, he pulled away.

Alexa stared at him with a deer-in-headlights expression; her eyes were as wide as dinnerplates and her mouth was parted slightly in surprise. Her face flushed pink for a different reason. She scrambled to form any sort of logical sentence and eventually managed: "I-well-you-great! Goodbye."

She whirled around and yanked the door open to escape into the washroom. The blonde slammed it shut behind her but was barely given a chance to recover. As soon as she turned to face the inside of the bathroom, a dagger came flying towards her face. She hardly flinched as it hit her blade-side up on the forehead before it bounced off as if her skin were rubber. The blonde gave Lila a very unimpressed look. "Why'd you do that?"

The other woman shifted in her soapy water to take in the girl. "I was trying to see if you could make a shield."

"I can make a shield, just not for puny daggers." She watched Lila appraise her warily for a minute. "Look, I know that you have bad history with my family but. . . could you not throw any more sharp objects at me? It's really just an inconvenience for both of us. I understand you're a deeply mistrusting person and. . . I respect that, but your fight isn't with me."

Finally, the British woman sank back against her tub. "You know, I'd have thought that your angry boyfriend would've come to find me. He's sending little messengers now?"

After her altercation with Allison earlier, Alexa was entirely unaffected by such benign words. "He's waiting outside. I figured that it would be better if we talked first than to have you two waste time fighting."

Lila gave her a curt nod. "Fine. Let's start talking."

A/n: a little Spiderman: NWH reference for you at the end there :)