☂ 𝑰𝑵𝑺𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻 || 𝙵𝙸𝚅𝙴 𝙷𝙰𝚁𝙶𝚁𝙴𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚂 𝚡 𝙾𝙲 || 𝑩𝑲. 𝟐 ☂

10. TWO TEENS & AN AMNESIAC

Vanya ended up driving them all to a nearby diner that didn't mind Elaina's presence. The three of them currently sat at the counter: Five in the middle as Elaina was on his right and Vanya on the left. A graying waitress stood in front of Five as she poured his second cup of coffee.

Once she finished, Five nodded slightly. "Leave the pot, dear," he said pleasantly as she complied. "Thank you,"

"Lippy little shit," muttered the older waitress as she walked away.

Elaina overheard and glared at the woman's back. "Fossil bitch," she murmured back, opting to not argue to avoid getting kicked out of the establishment.

Five ignored it as he lifted up the coffee pot and poured some into the white mug in front of Elaina. The girl looked at the boy and smiled in gratitude as she grabbed the sugar to the left of her and started adding it into the mug.

"You gonna tell me what the hell's going on?" questioned Vanya as she held on to her own mug.

Five put the pot down and turned to her. "When you were a baby, you were bought by an eccentric billionaire. He raised you in an elite academy with seven other siblings with extraordinary powers, but in the year 2019, in order to avoid the apocalypse, we jumped into a vortex and ended up being scattered throughout the timeline in Dallas, Texas." quickly filled in Five.

Vanya paused for a moment, trying to process the mind-boggling information the boy just dumped on her.

Sensing Vanya's hesitation, Elaina offered a small smile. "It's okay if you have any questions," she said gently.

Vanya nodded slightly as she found her voice. "What do you mean, 'the apocalypse'?"

"I mean the end of the world as we know it," said Five.

"Yeah, but how?"

"You really don't remember anything?" asked Elaina, absent mindlessly stirring the sugar in her cup of coffee.

"No," answered Vanya, shaking her head. "Nothing before a month ago."

"Then what do you remember?" questioned Five.

Vanya stared off, visually trying to remember as he thumb tapped against the handle of her mug. "I landed in, like, a... back alley. Got hit by a car. My head was ringing like crazy. I had no idea how I got there, where I came from," Five and Elaina stared at Vanya as she explained her experience. "What causes the apocalypse?"

Five turned back to look at Elaina as she gave him an anxious look, pressing her lips in a tight line. He understood her body language and looked back to Vanya.

"Asteroid impact," he lied smoothly. "The big kaboom ends everything."

Elaina nodded, forcing a tight smile on her face. "Yup. Just like the one that got the dinosaurs, except way worse."

Five gripped his coffee cup. "Bad news is, it followed us here."

"What do you mean, 'followed us'?"

Five took a moment before saying, "Eight days from now, the world ends in a nuclear doomsday. It's a different disease, but same result."

Vanya paused again before forming a small smile in denial. "That can't be right."

"I saw it," Five responded instantly. "With my own eyes," he sighed. "You were there. We all were."

Elaina sighed. "What is that? Near death number four?" she scoffed quietly to herself as she took a sip from her coffee. "No, five. The alley with the albinos is five." she corrected herself, keeping a mental list of her close-calls.