illicit | five hargreeves - EDITING

sixty two

chapter sixty two: champagne problems

Anthony honestly wasn't entirely sure what was going on, the plan just didn't make sense to him and he was honestly doubting how reliable the Sparrows' information was and worrying about the longevity of their solution to the kugelblitz. If this went wrong it would seriously kill them all, and he was concerned that their plan was moving a little too fast.

He didn't exactly want to do this sober, so Lila had dragged him into the living room of the Academy, both of them hesitating when they saw Allison sitting at the bar, but they approached anyway.

Lila leaned down and opened the fridge, "Just champagne," she laughed. "Absolute wankers."

Anthony leaned over "Pass it out to me."

Lila did so, before leaning against the bar across the way from Allison, "Hi, so speaking of wankers, uh do you have any inside tops on how to get your stupid brother to accept my apology?" she asked.

"People don't want apologies, they want confessions," Allison replied. "They want you to stand there and list the shitty ways you've hurt them, so they know you understand. Unless your Viktor, in which case nothing's ever good enough."

Lila chuckled softly "Yeah that was a bit exciting."

"More like fucking terrifying," Anthony muttered, pushing himself up to sit on top of the bar counter top, holding the bottle in his hand.

"Mm" Lila hummed, "How do you feel about all of-?"

Allison shrugged "Fine," she offered her flask.

"I prefer the hoppy bitterness of a good guinness," the woman declined with a small smile.

Anthony raised an eyebrow suspiciously as he took a sip from the bottle of champagne.

"You know I thought killing Harlan would make me feel better, or worse," she chuckled slightly, "Jesus just something, but it didn't."

Lila and Anthony exchanged an awkward glance as the woman told them about her feelings, "Or maybe you're feeling everything all at once, and it all just kinda cancels out," Lila suggested.

"No, I think I'm finally starting to understand everything," Allison stared blankly to the side.

"And what's that?" Anthony asked curiously.

She looked at him, "Well the way I see it in a few days we'll all be dead. Or in some new timeline where Harlan probably never even existed anyway," Allison began laughing manically, "It's all bullshit! I mean none of it...none of it's real, none of it stays."

Anthony and Lila both exchanged yet another weird glance, "Shit, you've got the spins," she commented, sitting up on the counter next to the boy.

"Mhm" Anthony hummed as he drank from the bottle, offering it to her but she declined it.

"Okay look," Lila started. "Fapping about with time travel, it's a massive head trip I'll grant you, but things are still real, they're just moving by so fast you get dizzy with the changes." she continued, and the boy next to her only nodded in agreement. "It's like figure skaters and their triple salchow doggy style whatever it is , you gotta fix a focus point."

Anthony nodded "Yeah! Like a focus point to lock onto and hold onto as everything changes around you," he agreed.

Allison looked at him sadly, "And what if I had one and I lost her?" she asked, her voice lower.

"Then find another, or you'll fall down," Lila told her seriously. "You have to think like Ant and Five, how much time travel they've been through but also keeping each other grounded."