rollercoaster | five hargreeves

sidekick

1.o8

"𝐈 𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐏𝐒, 𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐃 food, cockroaches — anything I could find. You know that rumor that Twinkies have an endless shelf life? Well, it's total bullshit."

Nini cringed at the idea of cockroaches and expired Twinkies anywhere near her body. She didn't even like the texture of rice. Imagining those things made her shiver.

"I can't even imagine." Vanya says, getting them back to the topic at hand. Nini looked down at her empty hands. Vanya had offered her some coffee, but it was hot, so Delphini lightly turned her down.

"You do whatever it takes to survive, or you die. So, we adapted. Whatever the world threw at us, we found a way to overcome it."

Nini furrowed her eyebrows together and looked at him with curiosity. Wasn't he the last one alive?

Vanya seemed to have the same question. ""We"?"

Five chose to ignore her and glanced at his coffee. "Got anything stronger?"

After a few minutes, Nini had a cup of whatever alcohol Vanya had. She sloshed it around occasionally just to watch the ripples. Wincing, she let the liquid burn her throat. It's been a while.

Five sighed at the look Vanya gave him. "You think I'm crazy."

"No," Vanya stammers, trying to regain her brother's trust. "It's just... it's a lot to take in."

"Exactly what don't you understand?" Five snapped.

Nini glanced between the two of them. "Give her some time, Five. It's only been a few minutes."

Said boy scoffed and rolled his eyes, shaking his head in impatience. He gave her a side eye and she shrugged.

"Why didn't you just time-travel back?" Vanya interrupts, finally asking the question that had been running around in her head since her lost brother returned.

Nini shook her head. "It's not that simple, Vanya."

Five scoffed again and sighed. "Gee, wish I thought of that. Time travel is a crapshoot. I went into the ice and never acorn-ed."

Nini furrowed her eyebrows and twisted her lips as she looked at Vanya. "Acorn-ed?" She asked in confusion, to which Vanya just shook her head and brushed her off.

"You think I didn't try everything to get back to my family?"

Nini felt her heart ache by the tone in his voice. It was subtle, but the pain of doing everything you could and still ending up nowhere was there. She was tempted to rest a hand on his shoulder, but Five wasn't that type of person. She just wanted him to know that she understood.

Vanya nodded slightly, before averting her eyes. "If you grew old there, you know, in the apocalypse, how come you still look like a kid?"

Five scoffed, again, making Nini roll her eyes. "I told you already. I must have got the equations wrong."

He walked passed and poured himself another drink, Nini and Vanya following him with their eyes.

"I mean, Dad always used to say that... time travel could mess up your mind. Well, maybe that's what's happening?"

"This was a mistake," Five said as he set his empty cup down and turned around. "You're too young, too naïve to understand."

Five gently tugged on her wrist, bringing them closer to the door. "C'mon, Dell. We're leaving."

"No. Five... Five, wait."

Delphini was actually quite surprised to find that the boy had stopped, turning to face his sister. She wriggled free of his grasp and sat on the arm of the couch.

"I haven't seen you in a long time," Vanya started. "And I don't want to lose you again. That's all. And you know what, it's getting late, and... I have lessons early, and I need to sleep, and I'm sure you do, too — both of you."

"You can have the couch, Five." Nini hummed in his head as she curled up in the chair. Five went to protest as Vanya came out with blankets, but Nini stopped him, "Your old bones probably couldn't handle it, anyway."

Five shook his head at her teasing remark and Nini couldn't tell if he was smiling or not. Vanya tossed her a blanket and laid the other across the couch. She thanked the woman softly as she unfolded the blanket and got cozy.

The boy sighed softly as he sat on the couch, Vanya biding both of them a good night before disappearing into her room. Nini watched as Five produced something from his pocket. "What's that?"

He glanced up at her, showing her a glass eyeball wrapped in a deep blue cloth. Nini furrowed her eyebrows and stood, dragging the blanket with her. She plopped down next to Five.

Gently taking the eye from him, she rolled it around in her palm. It surprisingly had a slight weight to it, and it was a brown color. There was a serial number on the back with some sort of company name. She looked up at Five. "That's our first lead."

""Our"?" She questioned gently. Five didn't seem like much of a team player, and Nini originally just wanted a cup of coffee.

"Well, yeah," Five shrugged casually. "You could be useful — I need a sidekick."

Nini grinned, then chuckled softly. "Okay, then what's our first move?"

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