☂ 𝑳𝑶𝑺𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑺𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻 || 𝙵𝙸𝚅𝙴 𝙷𝙰𝚁𝙶𝚁𝙴𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚂 𝚡 𝙾𝙲 || 𝑩𝑲. 𝟑 ☂

18. BLINDSIDED

Author's note:

I love you guys, please don't hate me 🙈

This one is a long roller coaster (nearly 9k words!), buckle in and prepare for the ride.

All I have to say is, there's a reason for everything!

*~*~*~*

After the commotion in the lobby died down, everyone (with the exception of Diego, Klaus, Stan, and Tony) swarmed around the bar. Five claimed the spot behind the counter and took over the role of bartender. He presumably figured it'd be best to break the news of the group's present situation over a shot of rum.

It was honestly a great idea, one that no one turned down.

The teen male poured up five shot glasses and slid them down to each individual surrounding the bar. When he got to Elaina's tiny glass, he kept his gaze low and only offered a small, tight smile after noticing her staring. It was a polite smile if anything, but not at all sincere. Five didn't let his gaze linger as he swiftly passed her her drink and moved on to Lila.

The girl blinked at his unusually bland actions toward her. She observed him, tilting her head in thought as she did. It was wholly possible that she was just overthinking things, after all, Elaina had a tendency to do so. Maybe he was just exhausted and she was misreading him. Clearly, the trip to the Commission didn't go as planned. He could just have a lot on his mind right now.

In an attempt to overcome the pestering thoughts, Elaina reached over and grasped the poured shot, bringing it up to her lips for a taste.

"So this Kugelblitz, it's...?" questioned Viktor open-endedly.

Five glanced at his brother grimly. "It's the end of everything," he finished the sentence solemnly. "Every rock, every star, every atom sucked into a radiant black hole,"

"Randomly collapsing matter every moment in time across all existence till nothing's left," tacked on Lila while cradling her face boredly in between her hands.

"Hate to say I told you, but..." Five gave a forced smile while toasting the bottle of rum in his hand.

"You love to say I told you so," Viktor commented, downing his shot as Five followed along and took a big swig of the liquor.

Lila looked behind with her shot glass in her hand, giving the uniformed stranger at the table behind her a polite toast before awkwardly placing the small cup back on the bar's counter.

Elaina finished her shot and wordlessly slid it back over to Five for a refill. Despite him not looking at her directly, his hand automatically reached out and poured her shot glass perfectly. He paused for a moment after doing it, almost like he just processed what he did. With an expression of self-disappointment, Five turned his head in the opposite direction and took another gulp from the bottle.

It looked like he internally scolded himself just now.

"You know it's impressive," idly noted Lila. "Whoever knocked off your moms hated you all enough to end the entire universe,"

Viktor shook his head and instantly responded with, "We don't know that,"

"It doesn't matter who created the thing. We just have to kick its ass," stated Allison, clearly exasperated with the whole situation.

"Oh really? How?" asked Luther with his shot still in his hand. "Are you, Elaina and Diego gonna punch it in the Kugel?" he snarked, bringing his shot to his mouth.