Chapter Text
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'The Second Disappearance of Five Hargreeves'
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A few months after they’d managed to travel through time and bring an end to the once inevitable apocalypse, it took a while before the family was able to completely mend their relationships with one another, and get back to some sort of normalcy. They didn’t have to have a funeral for Pogo or Mom, the academy was never destroyed, and during that time, Vanya was able to reflect on everything that happened in the first timeline, as she began to learn how to properly control her powers.
The Commision had also been oddly quiet during all of this, which left Five feeling unsettled. Even though Hazel had managed to put a bullet through the Handler’s head before, time was different now. There was no saying where she could be now, or if she was even alive. The woman probably couldn't be killed that easily anyways, and Five likened her to a cockroach. The nasty thing would live forever, just like he assumed the Handler would, since she liked to boast about how time was always on her side. Still, Five tried to ignore that looming threat for the time being. He had a feeling that he’d meet the Handler again, but he had bigger issues to worry about.
Eventually everything had started to feel normal again, and the siblings started to stay at the academy more often, rather than going off on their own, back to where they had lived before Reginald’s death. Through that time and newfound closeness, the Hargreeves family started to go on missions together, as a team of seven.
Stopping the apocalypse had saved billions of lives, but it didn’t stop evil from continuing to exist on earth. That’s why the family needed to team up, like they had in the past, in order to stop the disturbances that had been happening across town. The missions ranged from simple tasks, like preventing petty crimes, to shootings, to bank robberies, and, even more threateningly, to full on supernatural attacks.
One would think that the existence of other people with abilities would be shocking, but given the fact that they were living proof to that testament, the Hargreeves had known somewhere deep down that it was a likely that they’d face another person like themselves in the future. Maybe under different circumstances they could’ve gotten along with the others like them, since they were similar, but sometimes power can go to a person’s head.
♪ [ Dreams by Fleetwood Mac plays ] ♪
It was thunderstorming and the sky was pitch black, as the Hargreeves were on one of their more dangerous missions. To be specific, the case they were on involved another person with special abilities. They didn’t know their targets name, or anything about him really, just that he harnessed the power of electricity.
Remember when we learned that immense power can go to a person's head? Well this man was consumed by his, choosing to misuse his gift and ability, by causing chaos and destruction. His current target of demise, was the lobby of a local hotel in town, a few blocks from the academy. And that was where the Hargreeves were currently fighting him.
“Look out!” Luther called to the group as a blast of electric energy shot through the hotel lobby and made impact on a nearby wall. The force of the attack caused the foundation to crumble, falling towards the ground like rubble. Since their attacker had the ability to control electricity, there was a raging thunderstorm that was taking place outside and bringing rain down hard from the sky.
They had to be strategic with how they were going to take this guy down, since they still didn’t know the extent of his powers, and they weren’t trying to kill him. If he was like them, they would just try to detain him so they could ask him questions later. They had stumbled upon another person with abilities in the past, but she had slipped through their fingers before they could interrogate her. Her power had been invisibility.
Diego was currently attempting to corner the walking battery on the stairs, but when he chucked a few daggers his way, the man erupted in electricity, causing him to fall back at the intense pressure, and his blades struggled to make impact with their target. But Vanya was already charging him next, trying to use her resonance to push back against the unstable energy. Though she had learned to control her overwhelming power for the most part, it was inevitably a bit unstable against another unstable force. She grit her teeth as she pushed an oncoming blast away, giving Diego time to regroup with Allison and Klaus as they planned to attack him from different sides.
Allison’s vocal chords had never been sliced in this timeline, yet her powers didn’t seem to be the most effective against the loud buzzing of electricity that surrounded their target like a heavy fog. No matter how loud she tried to speak, the rumor could never reach its target as it was physically repelled by the electrical currents.
Klaus, on the other hand, was still working on his sobriety, so his conjuring ability had increased a lot in the past couple of months. Though he had some slip ups here and there, he was still working really hard to not rely on the drugs so that he could conjure Dave. Now, during battles, Klaus could summon Ben all the time so he was able to fight alongside them. Even though he wasn’t completely there, his transparent form was still able to attack, as he grabbed onto the guy’s torso with his tentacles in an attempt to pull him to the ground. The guy tried to send a zap through his extra appendages, but it had no effect on them, since Ben was already dead, and thus, was unable to feel the shock. But Ben couldn’t be reckless. Klaus could still get hurt and he was relying on him to keep him here, so he jumped out of the way to avoid any more sparks that had been sent his way, as Luther charged forward.
“There has to be a better way to handle this!” Allison’s voice rang through the room, as another loud clap of thunder sounded outside and she ducked as a stray blast hit the hotel's front desk, causing splintered wood pieces to go flying everywhere.
Suddenly Five appeared from behind her and she spun around at the sound of his voice.
“I have a plan.” He yelled over the noise and surveyed the room.
“Five! Where have you been?!” She hissed, dodging an oncoming attack as Klaus skid towards them to hide with Allison.
“Irrelevant.”
Allison rolled her eyes at the bluntness, but she was used to this behavior from Five. “Okay, what’s your plan then? We’re open to anything at this point.”
Five rose his voice so that the others could hear him better as thunder boomed outside once again. “Well clearly this guy seems to be maintaining his power with that crystal he’s been gripping onto like a life line this whole fucking time. So, if you guys can make me an opening, I’ll just blink over there and grab it from him so his powers will calm down and we can just end this already.”
While Diego, Vanya, and Ben were keeping the outraging man at bay, they just missed him tighten his hold on the crystal in his hand. His narrow, yellow eyes flicked menacingly as he increased the power of the electric current that surrounded his body like a vine up a mossy log. He wouldn’t let them touch his crystal.
Luther nodded and motioned towards the others to charge at their opponent and hopefully distract him long enough for Five to snag his power source.
The team of 6 spread out to initiate the plan by surrounding their target, as Five prepared to make the jump and take the crystal from him by surprise. He felt his hands spark with anticipation, sending blue light across his fingertips as he moved to jump.
He summoned the portal, but before he had the chance to completely jump through it, there was a deafening boom, and an accompanying clap of lightning struck through the glass dome at the top of the hotel as a bolt of lightning came down, hard and fast. The light struck the portal as Five was halfway through it, causing a burst of energy to shoot outwards, and he only had time to widen his eyes as he was struck and pulled into the unstable warp-- disappearing into thin air.
The air seemed to still for a beat as the Hargreeves collectively held their breath, expecting to see Five poof back in a few seconds. But when a minute ticked by and nothing came, the electric man laughed maniacally.
“Five?!” Vanya yelled at the space where Five had been before, letting her powers falter and fade a bit. Then she started to feel angry, and she whipped her head back towards their opponent who was still laughing at them and sending little sparks of light out around him.
“What the hell did you do?” Diego narrowed his eyes at the maniac as his hand itched towards his blades.
Their opponent’s laughter had caused him drop his guard, and Ben grabbed ahold of the man’s arm with his tentacle as Diego simultaneously chucked two daggers at the guy’s back. Before he had time to retaliate, Luther was charging at him, gorilla arms exposed, as the rage had built up and he ignored the electric field surrounding him and tackled the guy to the ground. Luther held him there as Diego used his knives to pin him down further, and Ben had his tentacles on his legs so he couldn’t even think about escaping. Vanya focused and had her bow held back, ready to slice at the man’s neck should he try anything. Klaus and Allison stood by as well, both prepared to use their fighting skills should the need arise, and Klaus ran over to pry the crystal from the man’s grasp.
“Hey- give that back!” The man spat at him, struggling under the weight of Number One, but the venom in his voice was still there. Klaus just held the crystal between his fingers as he stared at it. This little thing had been the catalyst for all that power?
“Hmm? Did someone hear something??” Klaus spoke teasingly into the air before throwing the crystal to the ground and slamming a boot over it to shatter it to pieces. Their opponent, who was still trapped underneath Luther, let out a strangled noise as the electric glow around him faded along with most of his previous power.
“Agh- Nooo! Do you know how long it took me to get my hands on that?!” His eyes were wide with rage as he struggled to get free. “You bastards! I’ll-” He was cut off as Allison had kicked him square in the face, effectively silencing him and knocking him unconscious.
“Finally.” Diego scoffed and bent down to retrieve his knives, as he wiped the blood off of the blades and onto his pant leg. “That dude was seriously pissing me off.”
Vanya and Ben retracted their powers as Luther stood up. He proceeded to tie their captive up so he couldn’t try to escape, before turning to face the group.
“We should take him back to the academy with us while he’s detained.” Luther was all commanding and mechanical, taking charge of the situation as he usually did as their Number One. “We can question him later.. maybe try and get more information about him, as well as that crystal.”
“...What about Five?” Vanya’s soft, hesitant voice echoed through the hotel as rain continued to drip solemnly through the gaps of broken glass in the ceiling, seeping down to create a puddle on the red carpet below.
No one said anything for a minute, not wishing to address the topic occupying each of their minds.
“Oh he’s probably fine!” Klaus reassured, feeling uncomfortable by the glum atmosphere all of a sudden. “You know how he is, never staying in one spot, always off doing who knows what. I’m sure he’s just back at the academy waiting for us right now!”
Allison glanced down at the carpet, trying to share in her brother’s positive sentiment but.. something felt different this time. Something had gone wrong. She’d just barely seen what had happened, but that lightning.. It must’ve done something to his time warp. The way it had struck down so fast.. Allison fiddled with her hands and looked up to see Luther watching her curiously.
“But.. what if it’s like last time..” Vanya paused, dread filling the pit of her stomach as she tried to find the right words. “What if he doesn’t-”
“He’ll come back.” Diego’s stern, yet hopeful voice cut her off. They couldn't be thinking the worst right now. Vanya, on the other hand, still wasn’t sure.
“Plus,” Klaus sprang forward with a grin on his face as he gestured to the empty space behind him to where Ben had previously been. “Ben here says that we’ll find him no matter what!”
Vanya nodded at where she assumed Ben was standing, as Luther hoisted the unconscious man up and moved to leave. The others followed after, but Vanya couldn't help and look back behind her towards the spot where Five had disappeared from.
Had they seriously lost Five.. again?
When he opened his eyes, his body felt light and he stumbled a bit with his footing when he saw that he was standing back amongst the rubble of the other future. Well, he guessed it would be called the other past now, since they’d stopped the world from succumbing to this fate months ago. He saw the familiar and desolate apocalypse right before his eyes, and for a second, Five thought he really was back. Back in that lonely world of nothingness. But no, he had to think rationally. That couldn’t be possible.. so this- what he was seeing before him- it must just be a memory. He couldn't actually be back here, right? He was simply just reliving a memory of being here.. and he had a feeling that his failed jump earlier had something to do with this.
Still, Five scuffed his shoe against the cracked earth to make sure he wasn’t just hallucinating it all. The dirt moved beneath his foot, and sighed before looking up once again at the post-apocalyptic world.
He was standing in the rubble of where the academy used to be, and ash covered the rest of the town in a blanket of death. It was barren and cold, and Five knew that if he turned around, he’d see the same newspaper headline, and the same lifeless, beaten bodies of his family, covered in the black soot. Instead, Five chose to remain forward. He didn’t want to relive that. Once was already too much.
Five took a deep breath and reminded himself that this wasn’t real. His family was fine and well. The world had never ended. Billions of people didn’t die, and everything was fine.
He continued on through the rubble, not turning back, and if he was trapped in this memory for now, he figured he’d find the only person he’d known while here. He knew exactly where to find her too, since he’d done all of this before.
Five had lived a whole life in this place and it was almost hard to believe it now that he was back. Before he returned back to his original home and timeline, he’d spent 40+ years here, just learning how to adapt to his surroundings and survive on his own. He’d also met the Handler here, and it was after meeting her and becoming a temporal assassin, that he began doing things that he should feel ashamed of. He doesn't, though. He doesn't feel ashamed..
Five shoved his hands in his pockets as he continued to walk through the rubble. He hated being here. He had grown old in this strange place, and he survived for the majority of his days with only her to talk to. Maybe he was delusional because he knew it and just didn’t address it, but even though she was a mannequin, talking to someone- something, kept him sane. And since she was all he had, he couldn’t help it how he had started to rely on her. How he had started to fall in love with her.
And during the apocalypse, Five had to keep talking. He had to keep thinking and going over various equations, no matter what. Stopping meant silence, and silence was too painful. It made everything real, and he didn’t want the loneliness to distract him from getting back to his family.
Five stopped when he was standing in front of the familiar spot where she was waiting for him.
Dolores.
She was smiling at him from her place on the ground, just like she had before, and Five walked over, happy to be reunited again, though under strange circumstances. When he had left her back with her friends before, he didn’t think he’d ever see her again. Funny thing about memories, though, because here she was.
Five kneeled on the ground and reached a hand out to touch her, but suddenly the earth started to shake beneath his feet, and a blinding white light emitted from Dolores' torso. Five had to look away and shield his eyes with his hands as the light became overwhelming.
“Dolores?” He tried to call out to her but the light covered everything it touched, and his words felt muffled over the white noise and static. In an instant, Five was pulled back into reality.
When he opened his eyes for the second time, he found he was staring up at a plain, white ceiling. He had to blink to adjust to the sudden change in setting, and there was a very loud, very consistent, beeping noise to his left that made his head pulse.
‘What the-? Where-? Dolores?’
He sat up from the stiff bed he had been laying on, and glanced around the room to find that he was in a hospital.
“What the hell?” Five’s body felt sore for some reason, and when he looked down, he saw that he was wearing a pale blue hospital gown.
Feeling annoyed by both the situation and the beeping, he yanked whatever tubes they had stuck into his arm out, hoping that’d maybe do something, but it ended up making the beeping even more annoying. Instead of a constant noise, he turned his head to see the monitor in a thin line and blaring one note continuously. Five cupped his hands over his ears.
Why was he even in a hospital in the first place? The last thing he remembered was fighting at the hotel and then that memory, but- had something gone wrong? He didn’t remember ever blinking back to the academy after the lightning attack, so did he get knocked out or something? But if so, why would his family bring him here? Usually when one of them got injured or hurt during a fight, Pogo or Mom would just take care of things back at the academy.. so why-?
Five had too many questions and no answers, which was pissing him off, and he hated feeling in the dark. Dammit.. he had to get out of here. Five ripped the annoyingly white covers off of him as he stood up and ran towards a cabinet across the room.
Clothes. If he was getting out of here, he needed his regular clothes.
He had his back to the door as he searched through the dresser, and when he heard a rush of footsteps thundering down the hall- making their way towards his room, he narrowed his eyes and cursed under his breath. He continued to search for his clothes, and the door burst open as a group of nurses and doctors dressed in white came streaming in, carrying different machines and crash kits along with them.
Five rolled his eyes and turned back around. Maybe his clothes were in here instead. He opened another drawer up but it just contained various gauzes and bandages. Damn it all.
At once they all stopped scrambling when they noticed the empty bed, and that he wasn’t in fact flat lining and had just ripped his IVs out, as they turned their head to see their patient rummaging through the various drawers. One of the doctors sighed and motioned for two of the nurses to stay behind and handle this.
A nurse with brown hair walked carefully over to where Five was tearing through the different drawers in search of something- what exactly she didn’t know.
Five heard someone clear their throat behind him, and a hand reached out to push the drawer he’d just opened closed. Five whipped his head back around and glared at the nurse who had the balls to try and stop him.
“Young man.” The nurse’s voice was gentle, yet a bit panicky at the same time, like she wasn't entirely sure how to handle the situation, and Five just glared at her for calling him ‘young man’ when he was clearly older than this random intern or whatever the hell she was.
“Please, young man," The nurse tried again. "You really need to be resting.” She reached down to grab a hold of Five’s arm as she tried to bring him back to the bed. “You were just electrocuted. You’re in no condition to be moving around.” Another nurse came from seemingly nowhere as she tried to direct him over to the bed as well, but Five was having none of it.
“Oh was I now?” Five pulled his arm violently away from them and held his place, glaring daggers at them. “Well clearly," He gestured up and down to his body. "I’m fine, so how about you shut the fuck up, stop patronizing me, and just let me leave.”
Both nurses seemed taken aback by such rude behavior, and Five couldn’t help but smirk at their idiotic expressions. “That’s what I thought.” He bit back and was about to continue his search for his clothes again, when he felt a hot pain shoot through his back, and he legs gave out as he kneeled on the ground. W-What the hell?
“Young man? Oh my gosh! Are you okay? Please, come lay down!” The nurses started fussing over him frantically and Five widened his eyes at the pain in confusion. What was this sensation? ..That lightning from before, it really had struck him.. hadn’t it? Dammit.. he’d been too reckless.
“Sir, please, tell us where it hurts. We’re only trying to help.”
Five was silent as he let them help him up and lead him over to the bed. He already felt embarrassed enough that he’d let this happened to himself, and now his damn legs decided to betray him at a little bit of pain? So now there was no way in hell that he was going to tell these failed doctors ‘where it hurts’. Yeah no fucking thanks.
When Five refused to speak, one of the nurses sighed and whispered something in the other’s ear. The blonde nurse nodded before scurrying off and out of the room, leaving only Five and this condescending brunette who was staring down at him with pity. Frankly, Five wanted to gag. He didn’t have time for this. He had to get back to the academy again.
“Fine.” The nurse spoke up after a while of silence, as Five had been trying to think of an escape plan. “If you insist on not talking," She stuck her hand in her pocket. "then will this make you feel better?” Five rose a brow curiously, but when the nurse pulled out a goddamn lollipop, well, Five was just about ready to start throwing shit.
The boy tried to bite back the rage he felt on his tongue, as he clenched his hands into fists at his side. The nurse continued to stare at him patiently as she held the red lollipop out a few inches from his face.
Five looked right into her eyes with a cold rage before hissing, “I’d rather get fucked by a train than eat that stupid shit.”
The nurse faltered at the intensity and Five smirked when she shoved the lollipop back into her pocket. Ha, he'd totally won that.
Now Five was hoping she’d just leave him alone so that he could get the hell out of here, but he groaned when she still remained in the room.
“..Okay, well we’re still going to need to contact a legal guardian to let them know that your here. So, do you have anyone that I can call?”
What? Had his family not been the ones to bring him here in the first place? ..Then how did he even get here if they hadn't taken him here?
“..Hargreeves." Five stated, pushing away his confused thoughts. "And I don’t care which one you call.” Five crossed his arms against his chest as the nurse nodded, he had a feeling he was going to be here for a while.
The nurse seemed happy to have finally gotten a normal answer out of the boy, and Five found it odd that she hadn’t seem surprised at hearing his family’s popular name. But then again, it’s not like everyone had to know what the damn Umbrella Academy was.
As the nurse wrote the information down on a pad of paper, the blonde nurse from before came back in, holding a container of medical equipment, and the other nurse nodded for her to come over. On further inspection, it appeared to be some kind of pain medication in an IV drip bag, and she moved back over to redo the one that Five had ripped out earlier. She hesitated at first, and Five just rolled his eyes as he let her shove the damn thing back in and she smiled softly before hanging the new bag onto the hook above.
In the meantime, Five was already planning in his head what he was going to yell at his siblings once they got here, and he stared up at the ceiling in annoyance.
'I wonder how the mission went..'
After waiting a good twenty minutes- twenty minutes in which Five had been bored out of his mind- he heard a group of footsteps coming down the hall and then stop in front of his door. There was a soft knock, and before one of the nurses could even reach the door to open it, it was suddenly whipped open to reveal all of his siblings, as well as a doctor dressed in white.
Jesus had that nurse called all of them? Why’d they all have to show up?
“Finally. It took you long enough.” Five chastised them before they were even all the way through the doorway. “So how did the mission go? Oh, and before you answer that, get me the hell out of here.”
The room was silent, aside from the beeping of the monitor again, and everyone was staring at Five with wide eyes. The doctor nodded for the nurses to leave, and he cleared his throat before walking over to adjust the IV bag that was feeding into Five’s arm. Five was giving his oddly silent family a strange look, and he couldn't help but notice that something about all of this- all of them felt off.. He couldn’t quite place his finger on what exactly yet, but when he felt the Doctor mess with the IV in his hand, he pulled it away quickly because whatever he was doing seemed pointless.
“Doctor, is he going to be okay?” Allison was the first to find their voice and Five looked back up at her. What was different about her? He then proceeded to track each of his other siblings faces, one by one, as they stared back at him like he was crazy. That’s when Five’s eyes landed on Ben who had been standing in the back the whole time.
The discussion that was happening between Allison and the doctor faded into background noise as he was looking only at Ben. Five had to blink a few times just to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating.
But how.. how was this possible? He was seeing him. He was actually seeing Ben. He wasn’t even transparent... Could everyone else see Ben too? Why weren’t they saying anything about it?
Ben gave Five a soft smile and looked around nervously, which caused Five to quickly look away. He couldn't make a scene right now, plus the Doctor seemed to have said something to him but he hadn’t been listening.
“What?”
The doctor cleared his throat again and flattened out his lab coat. “Ahem, I was just asking if you remember how exactly you managed to get electrocuted. Your family is very worried about you.”
Five blinked before looking at his siblings like it was fucking obvious. “What? It was that electric fucker from the mission before, in the hotel.”
“Electric.. guy?” Diego questioned, having chosen to censor his words, and Five resisted the urge to rip his hair out.
“Yes, dumbass, the guy we were all fighting earlier.”
Vanya had moved to stand near his bed now and concern was evident all over her face as she gently reached out to hold Five’s hand. His first instinct was to pull away, but it was Vanya so he’d let it slide. “Five..” She asked slowly, cautiously. “What mission? What are you talking about?” She was looking at him before glancing back at the others who had similar expressions on their faces.
“Yeah seriously, did you hit your head or something, kiddo?” Klaus asked, looking between Five and the doctor for some kind of answer, and Five was a bit surprised at how put together his brother looked for once. He wasn’t wearing his usual ridiculous outfits, which was strange, and something about him just seemed.. different.
Five and the doctor ended up talking at the same time.
“Hey I’ve told you a million times, don’t fucking call me ‘kiddo’ you freak. I’m older than all of you.”
“Well that’s a possibility, or it could be that the trauma has caused memory loss, or temporary amnesia.”
Five snapped his head over towards the doctor. “Temporary amne- what the hell are you talking about?! I’m not the one who’s lost their mind, it’s you guys. Acting like you don’t remember the mission we literally just had. Plus I can actually see B-” Five cut himself off. He still wasn’t entirely sure if Ben was a delusion or not, so he wouldn’t bring it up just in case him and Klaus were the only ones who could see him. That would just made them fuss over him even more.
“Five.. why are you acting like this? You’re usually so much nicer..” Luther looked at him with pity before addressing the doctor, and Five thought that Number One looked considerably less jacked than usual.. “Doctor, is he really going to be okay?”
“Well, with cases like this, it could take some time before they’re back to normal again, if ever. You have to understand that your brother was struck by a strong electrical current. He's lucky to even still be alive right now, and its effects could have potentially altered the way he thinks and acts for the time being. I don't want to get your hopes up and say that everything will resolve itself with time because it's hard to tell when you'll start to see some serious improvement.”
Five hated how they were talking about him like he wasn’t even here. He also hated how they were all staring at him like with that look in their eyes that made him want to gouge out his own eyes so he wouldn’t have to see it any longer. He couldn’t help but flick his gaze back to Ben, though. He seriously looked way too real to be a hallucination..
“We also encourage that the patient seek help from a physician in the future to help in dealing with the trauma, as well as to try and fill in any possible missing pieces.”
This statement from the doctor pulled Five’s attention back instantly.
Oh hell no. There was no way he was going to see some shrink over a stupid injury like this. They were the crazy ones, not him.
Five was ten seconds away from just warping out of here to avoid listening to this bullshit any longer, but his world was tilted on its axis when he heard a very familiar, very distinct British accent coming from the doorway.
“Very sorry I’m late. I had to finish filling out all the blasted paper work..”
No.. It couldn't be..
He was adjusting his monocle before he turned his head towards Five. “Ah, there’s my boy!
Reginald fucking Hargreeves.
Five froze. The first thing that flashed through his mind at seeing that man again was rage. He wanted to kill him for all that trauma and torture he had put them through as kids. Kill him for being a shitty fucking father who never once gave a damn about any of them. So to say Five was a little bit surprised when the old man grinned widely at him and ran to his bedside with his arms wide, ready to squeeze him into a bone breaking hug, well, that was the fucking understatement of the century.
Five blinked his wide eyes as he was unable to move. What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck! He cursed at himself for being so weak in this moment that he couldn't even move, and he felt his heart start to beat hard against his chest. He didn’t know how to react, or how to think, and his thoughts were scrambled in his head as this man, his fucking ‘father’, was actually hugging him. What the fuck. Five could not wrap his brain around this messed up situation at all.
How was he even alive?! They'd literally had their shitty funeral for him months ago! Five had seen his ashes! Was this somehow another one of his fucked up tests? What was happening and was he trying to squeeze him half to death, because Jesus this hug felt more like a choke hold.
Five was thankful when the man finally pulled away, as the Doctor had made him let go as he'd noticed Five’s heart rate had increased on the monitor and was worried that something was wrong.
After Five had managed to collect himself for the most part, he finally croaked out, voice shaky, “What.. year is it?” He tried to keep a level head, even though his mind was racing. He must be in the past some how...
“What year- it’s 2019, silly goose!” The old man was still smiling at him and Five was sure the old man was a fucking alien or something because he’d never once seen his ‘father’ smile at him... ever.
Five put his head in his hands as he tried to process all of this. So he wasn't in the past.. he was still in the present some how. But it couldn't be the same present as before because last time he checked, Reginald fucking Hargreeves wasn't alive, and neither was Ben. Either this was one really messed up vivid dream, or Five was having an actual hallucinogenic mental breakdown.
It wasn't possible. None of this was possible.
Amidst all of his confusion, if there was at least one thing that Five knew for sure, it was that these people were not the fucking Hargreeves.
“Just where the fuck am I?”
~ ℕ𝕦𝕞𝕓𝕖𝕣 𝟝 ~