you were everything

I 12 I

☂ do you have my sister? If not, would you like a margarita? ☂ 

This act of me following Five around like a child and him treating me like one seems to have become something of a routine. 

I don't like it. 

There's absolutely no reason why he should know me, or that he even would. For one, if we all died, he would've found my body with the rest of them, hence he would not know me whatsoever. Which would, in fact, give him no reason to hate me, like he hates everyone else. 

'Why do you hate me so much?' I blurt, stopping on the pavement. 

He turns and walks away onto the street.

'Answer me,' I demand. 'I could get it out of you, but I'd rather hear an honest explanation.'

'I don't hate you,' Five grimaces. 

'Then what's your problem with me?'

'I don't have a problem with you!' He shouts. 'What do you want from me?'

'I want you to tell me the truth about how we met! Because I certainly don't think you found me dead like the rest of our siblings!'

'How could you possibly think I would lie about that?' Five whirls around. 'Because I didn't!'

'No you didn't.' I lower my voice. 'You just didn't tell the whole truth.'

'And that is-?'

'I don't know!' I throw my hands up in frustration. 'So why won't you just spit it out? Because-'

'Because I don't want you to die like last time!'

I shut my mouth fast.

'What?'

Five looks beside himself. His normally-gelled-to-perfection-hair is disheveled and poofs up right in the back.

'I said I don't want you to die like last time.'

I blink. 'I don't understand. I didn't die with the rest of our siblings.'

'You didn't.'

✨ FLASHBACK ✨ 

Five's POV

'Vanya! Ben! Dad! Anyone!' I wander through the ruins of our house. The entire building is completely collapsed, bits and pieces of my past in shatters.

Luther and Alison's bodies lie still, about five feet away from each other. I fall at the rubble, uncurling Luther's fist to remove the tiny object that remains. It's an eyeball.

That's all I have left of them.

As far as I can tell, no one is still alive.

That's when I hear the voice.

'Help.' I've never heard it before.

'Hello?' I call at the wreckage. Maybe I just imagined it.

'Help.'

Definitely not a figment of my imagination.

A girl is half hidden under a large pile of wood. She coughs, feebly struggling to get out.

She looks about my age.

'Who are you?' I ask, remaining still.

'I'm...Number 8.' With a loud breath, blue energy pulses around her fingertips and the wood is raised up and tossed to the side. 'Y/n.'

'Y/n?' I frown. 'There is no Number 8.'

The girl scoffs. 'Or so you thought.'

I blink, unsure what to say.

'Look, Dad hid me in the basement 'cause he thought I was too dangerous to be with the rest of you guys,' She says. 'Enough explanation for you?'

'Why do you look so young?' I ask. 'This is the future.'

Y/n rolls her eyes. 'Why do you look so young, darling?'

'Don't call me that,' I glare. 'I'm just trying to find a way out of here, in case you hadn't noticed.'

'Well, there is none,' Y/n says, getting to her feet. Despite looking the same age as me, she's still three inches shorter.

'Where are you going?' I ask.

'To find any other survivors.'

'There are none,' I scramble over the broken wood. 'I looked for all of our siblings.'

'Oh, so now you believe me,' Y/n scoffs. 'Why don't you just go back to the past, where you belong?'

'Gee, wish I'd thought of that!' I squeeze my hands into fists, but the energy never returns to my palms. 'I'm just as stuck here as you are.'

'Great,' Y/n uses her powers to clear away a huge chunk of wall that still stands. She turns back and stares at me with a sarcastic expression. 'That's just great.'

'Don't look at me like that!' I complain.

'Look at you like what?'

'Why are you so annoying?'

'Take a look in the mirror, idiot.'

'I would, had they not all been blown up with the rest of my life!' I grit my teeth. Why was everything so difficult?

'How old are you?' Y/n asks suddenly.

'16.' I answer. 'Aren't you the same age?'

She hesitates. 'Technically, yes. Dad put me in a cryo chamber, which stopped my body from aging. I guess you could say my mind is 28, but I'm pretty sure I didn't do much thinking in the years I missed.'

'Huh,' I say. 'What are your powers again?'

'Manipulation over anything.'

My eyebrows raise. 'Even people.'

'Yep,' Y/n sighs. 'It's why Dad kept me locked up, and on pills.'

I hesitate. 'Shit.'

'Exactly.'

'I'm...sorry,' I say. Hearing those words come out of my mouth almost make me wince.

'I don't want your pity,' Y/n turns away from me again. 'We should get going.'

'We?'

'Do you have a problem with that?' She cocks her head to the side.

I shake mine in response.

'You want us to stick together?'

'Why not?'

So we did. Whatever problems we faced, there was always a solution.

Anything was possible with her.