Carolina Rose

Date (3)

Third Pov

"You got anything stronger?" Five asked Vanya, who went to get the two of them a glass of whiskey.

Five gently replaced his lap with a pillow left on the couch and used his jacket as a temporary blanket for Lina. He would've used an actual blanket if it wasn't for the two of them having to leave and not stay the night. As he sipped at the whiskey, he took notice of Vanya's doubting gaze.

"You think I'm crazy," Five said, snorting.

"No, i-it's just... It's a lot to take in." Vanya replied.

"Exactly what don't you understand?"

"If you weren't there to see it and experience it yourself, it is a bit hard to take in, handsome. The brother and friend that you've expected to be dead, gone, or lost for sixteen years come back and start to tell you that the world's gonna end in eight days. How would you react?" Lina cut in, her sleep-laden voice catching their attention.

"You should sleep a bit more, Lina." Five said, almost instantly at her side.

"No, no. We don't have much time, after all. I'm just saying, try to understand that what we're telling her is kinda hard to take in all at once." Lina continued, giving Vanya a wink.

Vanya gave her a grateful smile and handed Lina a shot of whiskey as well.

"I have... a question. Why didn't you just time travel back? The two of you are both capable of time travel." Vanya said as Kina chugged the alcohol down in one shot.

"Gee, I wish I'd have thought of that," Five retorted, scoffing lightly.

"The first time Lina time travelled to find me, she was practically comatose for a week. And at the time, I wasn't sure if I could time travel with another person. I wasn't going to risk that. Even before Lina came to join me, I'd tried multiple times to time travel back. And you know what? Time travel is a crapshoot." Five continued.

"You think I didn't try everything to get back to my family? You think I liked surviving day-by-day on practically nothing? Do you know how horrible it feels to be unable to help the love of your life? To sit by her unmoving, barely alive body, and wish desperately to have some kind of knowledge, skill, or equipment to help her but know that you don't have any of it?"

Realizing that she'd touched a sensitive topic, Vanya backed off and decided to ask something else. While Five and Vanya had a heated conversation, Lina was nodding off on the couch, sitting up with Five's blazer on her lap.

"Okay. But if you and Ro-ro both grew old there, then how come the two of you still look like a kid?"

"I told you already. I must have got the equations wrong. And since we both used my powers to get back, what affected me affected her."

Five walked over to the counter where the whiskey bottle was and proceeded to get himself some more alcohol.

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

"This was a mistake. You're too young- too naive to understand." Five stated, walking briskly over to Lina.

"No, Five- Five, wait."

Placing the mostly empty cup on the table in front of her, Five put Lina's arms around his neck and pulled her into his arms, carrying her princess style. Despite being the same age, Lina was 10cm (about 4 inches) shorter than Five and was a lot lighter to boot. All in all, Five didn't have much trouble carrying the girl.

"I haven't seen either of you in a long time, and I don't want to lose you guys 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 and Ro-ro do too."

Vanya walked over to the fairly large couch and pulled it out to form a bed. She then grabbed spare blankets from her room.

"Here. We'll talk in the morning again, okay? I promise. Come on. Your little princess needs her beauty sleep."

Five chuckled slightly at her last comment and placed sleeping Lina onto the pull-out bed.

"'Night," Vanya whispered, before going off to her own room.

"...Night." Five replied.

After removing Lina's shoes and tucking her into bed, Five sat beside her and pulled out a small ball of cloth from his pocket. Inside was a prosthetic eyeball. An eyeball that had a serial number and the name of its company maker marked in the back.

"Goodnight, beautiful. I'll come to find you tomorrow." He whispered, leaving a soft kiss on her cheek before leaving.

~~~ /// ~~~ \\\ ~~~

To note:

Nicknames: Lina/beautiful (Five), Carol (The Handler & others in Temps Commissions), Ro-ro (Academy siblings), Gramps (Lina to Reginald Hargreeves), handsome (Lina)

2.4 pages, 837 words