Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Hey Vanny!” Klaus shouted as Vanya entered the Academy, grocery bags in tow. “Come join us, we’re about to start a betting pool!”

A what? She thought internally.

“Is it okay for you to be gambling, Klaus?” she said aloud. “I know you’ve been trying really hard to get over some of your addictions in the past and I-”

She was interrupted by him making a noise with his lips.

“Pshh, it’s not that kind of gambling. Besides, you guys won’t let me go overboard. Just come in here! And if you see the whiteboard eraser that would be dandy, because the markers are kind of leaving smudges on Diego’s shirt—you know, the orange one he got in the sixties with the little black thingies on it? Although now it’s more of a black shirt with little orange thingies on it? You know I actually like it better now, I might borrow it, maybe with those black skinny jeans I like? What do you think Allie, would that look good?”

Vanya heard a laugh from the other room, and smiled, setting down the groceries on the countertop and entering the main room, secure that she wasn’t the only victim of whatever nonsense Klaus was about to drag them into.

Vanya cautiously surveyed the main room before going in, trying to make as little noise as possible, a habit she still hadn’t managed to shake no matter how many times she reminded herself that she didn’t have to hide, that she was one of them now. In a ever more frequent moment of confidence, she stepped forward, immediately taking a step behind one of the pillars as she met eyes with Luther, who was clearly sending an SOS from where he was trapped between Klaus and Allison by the couch, where they were currently debating if Klaus’s hair had grown out long enough for pigtails since his unfortunate incident undercover in the military, which he had dubbed “worse than ‘Nam” and “the second worst part of the fourth apocalypse”

Wait… Fourth Apocalypse? Vanya took a second to count up to where they were now. Unbelievable. Were they really up to six apocalypses? She counted again. Yep, six was right. No wonder they were all on edge after everything. Six apocalypses and countless losses would drive anyone mad, and her family was already madder than most. It was a miracle they were still thinking (semi) rationally! I mean, sure, rationality was a stretch, especially with Five’s just general, well, Five-ness, but thankfully she could say that she never murdered her own mother before she was even born. Well, unless her mother was born before 1963, in which case, ignore that last statement, but still, it was the thought that counted.

Speaking of Five, Vanya’s eyes widened when she caught sight of him at the bar, predictably working his way through a bottle of one type of alcohol or another. (Recently he had discovered you could mix whiskey and coffee, a concoction which Klaus had fondly nicknamed “Whiskffee” and the others had less fondly nicknamed definitely not good for you.

In fact, as she took a seat next to her brother at the bar, she realized it was most definitely Whiskffee, and she had also most definitely made a mistake choosing to sit here with her pint-sized, hopped up younger older(?) brother instead of over on the couch with everyone else.

She sat there for a moment in silence, waiting for Five to take a sip of his drink.

“You really should stop with that.” she said.

He gave her a look, as if she already knew what he was going to say, which she did, as they had almost certainly had this exact exchange before on multiple occasions.

“You know I won’t.”

Then after a moment.

“How was grocery shopping?”

She shrugged. 

“It was good, I guess? Or as good as it can be when you’re one of only six people alive on Earth and all the food is quickly spoiling.”

Five nodded.

“Well, we should be long gone by the time that happens.”

“So you’ve got a plan then?”

He took another sip of his drink.

“Working on one. That’s what we’re going to be doing once Diego gets back.”

Vanya narrowed her eyes.

“I thought Klaus said we were starting a betting pool?”

Five scoffed.

“So that’s what that idiot’s been doing. Keeps talking about making brainstorming ‘more interesting’. It’s already interesting, we’re talking about how to use time travel to save seven billion people and stop the end of the world.”

Vanya nodded.

“True. But we basically do that every  week so he does have a bit of a point.”

Five didn’t have anything to say to that.

After a couple more moments of silence, and a few glances back to Klaus and Allison, whose conversation had now turned to, if she heard correctly, sequined sweatshirts, Vanya began talking again.

“How long has Diego been out trying to bury her?” she almost whispered.

“Today or all week?”

“Today.”

“Four hours then.”

Vanya let out a small gasp.

“Four hours? After an entire week of- That’s not-”

“I know. But he doesn’t want to lay her down by the house.”

Vanya couldn’t comprehend it. She loved her mother, and appreciated what she had done for them just days before, but that was a long time to bury someone who didn’t need to be buried, someone you would see in a couple of days, once they time travelled back and set their plan, whatever it may be, into action. It wasn’t like with Claire, it wasn’t permanent, it wasn’t final. As much as Vanya loved her mother, she wasn’t a person. She wasn’t real.

“Do you think, wherever she is, that she’s happy?” she found herself saying aloud.

Five shot her a look.

“Are you asking me if I believe in robot heaven?”

She took a deep breath.

“No, but what she did, sending out the pulse that restarted all our hearts, short circuiting her systems to do it, she deserves something for that.”

Five shrugged.

“She was just following her programming. Doing what she was designed to do.”

Vanya met his gaze.

“She didn’t revive Dad.”

He looked away, quickly taking a sip of his drink, but it still didn’t cover up his small murmur of “No, I guess she didn’t.”

Vanya was about to ask about Allison when Diego stormed in through the back, very noticeably not in possession of their mother’s android body.

“Hey, how’d it go?” Klaus shouted out as he entered the kitchen, beginning to scrub the dirt off his hands. 

“How did you think it went? I buried her.”

Klaus nodded.

“Decided against the burning, then. Too bad, I would have liked to see a Viking funeral. Woulda brightened up the neighborhood.”

“It doesn’t matter what you want,” Diego growled. “It’s her funeral. Besides, she can’t burn.”

“She can’t decompose, either.”

Faster than she could say almost any phrase in the English language, Diego had launched himself at Klaus, barely intercepted by Luther, who having grown increasingly bored with Klaus’s earlier conversation, had been ready for something like this to happen at Diego’s return.

“Hey,” he said, holding his brother back against the wall. “We all just need to calm down, think this through.”

“Funny coming from you, monkey brains,” Diego spat.

Luther sighed.

“I know we’re all upset about Mom and… Claire, but the sooner we stop fighting, the sooner we can think up a plan and save them. Right Five?”

From beside her Five raised his glass, acknowledging Luther’s speech.

“See?” he continued. “Let’s just chill out. Can we do that?”

Diego shot a fierce glance at Klaus but nodded, which was good enough for Luther, who released his hold before heading over to join everyone on the couch.

“Let’s just get this shit over with already.” Diego said, following suit.

Vanya nodded, taking that as her cue that the brainstorming session- sorry, betting pool, was about to start, rising from her seat at the bar and heading towards the couch area with the rest of them.

“You coming?” she turned back to ask Five.

He shrugged.

“It’s all the same room isn’t it?”

She gave him a look.

“Fine, just give me a second to finish this.” 

Vanya nodded and left him to his drink.

“So to get us started,” Klaus said, separating the whiteboard into sections, “we will begin with bets on the cause of the next apocalypse, with a starting bet of ten bucks. I-”

“You have got to be kidding me,” Diego said. “This is what we’re doing? Placing bets on the next apocalypse? Did you forget we’re already in the middle of one?”

Klaus tilted his head. 

“Does that mean you’re passing on betting?”

“Oh hell no, 20 on Vanya.”

“Okay!” Klaus smiled. “We have 20 on Vanya! Anyone else?”

“I-” Luther started.

“Oop! Klaus interrupted. “We have eleven dollars and ninety-two cents also on Vanya, courtesy of Ben. A strange number but apparently ghosts don’t have a lot of money going on so that’s all he’s got.”

“Also,” Klaus said turning to Vanya. “He says sorry for picking you but he really needs more cash and the statistics don’t lie. So! Who’s next?”

“I’ll put fifteen on the Moon,” Luther said.

“M’kay, Luther’s picking the Moon, who could have guessed?”

Luther reddened.

“It’s not like that! It’s what Ben said, statistics! I mean, the Moon caused it twice, so that’s like half a Vanya.” he winced. “Sorry Vanya.”

She shrugged.

“I get it. You end life on Earth three times and this shit happens.”

“Technically it was four times,” Five piped up from the bar, throwing the rest of his drink out and heading over. “You’re forgetting the first apocalypse, the one I was in. It still had a moon so that would count as a different time.”

Vanya exhaled.

“Four then.”

“Great!” Klaus said. “I will take twenty myself on ‘careless fuck-ups’, which leaves Vanya, Allison, and Five, I believe.”

Five snorted.

“Careless fuck-ups don’t count. We’re betting on the method, not the causes behind it. If that was true I could just say ‘us’ and win automatically.”

“Ugh fine. Then twenty on Vanya, or is that not okay with you either?”

Five narrowed his eyes.

“Do what you want, just put forty on Aliens.”

Klaus gasped dramatically.

“Five! What did we say about mentioning the A word?”

Five rolled his eyes.

“I can’t believe we’re still doing this fucking shit.”

“To think,” he continued, “that a nice wholesome child like you-” Diego snorted, “could say something like that? It’s unimaginable! Impossible even! Why I-”

Five spatial jumped towards him, taking the marker out of his hand and writing in big capital letters “ALIENS” on the board, with a smaller 40 under it before jumping back.

“Well,” Klaus said, picking up Diego’s shirt and wiping away the “LIENS”, “that was unexpected. Who’s next?”

“Hey, is that my shirt?”

“ Vanya! You’re next! What do you think?”

“Um…” she thought for a moment. “I really don’t know Klaus, I-”

“Oh just pick something, it’s more money in our pockets if you get it wrong.”

“Explosions then?”

“Explosions?”

“Yeah, like-” she mimed an explosion. 

“It’s a method, so it counts,” Five added.

Klaus clicked his tongue.

“Okay then, how much for Explosions?”

“Ten.”

“I got ya, I got ya, playin it safe, huh?”

“I don’t really-”

“ALLISON! Your turn! Close us off?”

“I-” Allison looked put on the spot.

“How about…”

“It’s okay, take your time, it’s not like Dad’s gonna walk in and punish us or anything.”

Her voice went hard.

“Yeah…you’re right.

“I’ll take a hundred on Dad.”

“Whoa!” Klaus put his hands up. “Coming in with the big numbers, jeez!”

She nodded.

“It’s all his fault, isn’t it?”

Diego cleared his throat.

“As much as I would love to make money off of Dad’s many fuck ups, aren’t we betting on manner of destruction? Because if not I’d like to change my bet to Dad too.”

Klaus nodded.

“Ben and I will also be changing ours to Dad as well then.”

From behind her, Five shook his head, standing up.

“No one is going to be switching their bets to Dad. We’re betting on method, and method alone. Dad has never personally caused the apocalypse so it doesn’t make sense to vote for him.”

Allison turned to face Five.

“He hasn’t? What do you call all this then?”

Five winced.

You rumoring Dad into ending the world?

“I call it complicated.”

Allison shrugged.

“You do what you want, I’m still betting on Dad.”

“Fine then, see how I care.”

“I will.”

“Oooookay then,” Klaus interrupted. “With the bets in I now cede my power over whomsoever is the fuck in charge so we can start brainstorming. Good? Good.” he moved over to the couch and took a seat between Vanya and Luther.

“So…” Five started, still recovering from his exchange with Allison, “I was thinking we could time travel back a couple weeks, somehow stop Dad from learning about Claire's existence and wanting to run experiments on her? I don’t know exactly how we would do that per se, as she’s a bit of a celebrity so he’ll probably find out about her anyways, but it-”

“I have a better idea.” Allison said.

Five sighed.

“And?”

“We kill dad.”

No one said anything for a moment.

“Um… Allison?” Luther said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I don’t know if you remember how well it worked out the last time but-”

She turned to look at him.

“I wasn’t saying we kill him then. We kill him earlier.”

“Earlier? But if we kill him before we’re born, then-”

“Later.”

“Later, I don’t-”

Vanya’s eyes widened as she got it.

“Oh my god! You want to kill him when we’re kids.”

“Can we even do that?” Klaus said. “I mean I want to kill him and save us all the shit childhood in the process but… won’t that mess up our futures?”

Allison shrugged.

“What futures?”

“Allison,” Vanya said. “I don’t think that you understand what you’re saying. Think about Claire and-”

“My daughter is dead, Vanya!” she shouted. “My daughter is dead and it’s my fault! She died in my arms because of him! He killed her! So if I can kill him before that happens, when I know she’s safe, that's better!”

“But if you erase her existence in the process-”

“I still spare her the pain! You’ve never had a daughter so you could never understand, but if I had to choose between me losing her, and her losing everything , I would choose the former! She went through something no child should ever have to go through because of me! I can barely talk about her right now, much less face her again knowing that I couldn't save her! And just because Dad was dead doesn’t mean she would never be born. Maybe- maybe that could still happen, years later, or something- I don’t know what could happen! All I know is that I can’t let her die again, not for anything, damn the consequences!”

Vanya went silent.

“Okay. So we kill Dad.”

Allison turned to her left.

“Luther?”

“I-”

“Luther please, it’s Claire.”

He nodded slowly.

“Klaus, Diego?”

They nodded too.

“Ben?”

“He says he’ll do anything you want him to,” Klaus whispered.

Allison closed her eyes for a moment, before looking at the only person yet to respond.

“Five?”

Five let out a sigh, running his hand through his hair.

“What you’re asking… Allison, it would royally fuck up the timeline. More than anything we’ve done so far. If we do this, there’s no going back, you know that right? And what about the younger versions of us? What would happen to them? Best case they would get split up and readopted, worst blamed for his murder. How can you-”

“We can adopt them. All of them.”

“Adopt seven children? We can’t even manage seven adults! How are we possibly going to-”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “But we can’t be worse than Dad. And shouldn’t we just try? We don’t need to take all of them, just six. We can come after you leave, and you can lure them out and we can take them far away, to some nice big house in the future. Five, please. This can be the end. You were all right about Dad, he is the cause of all of this, of all of us. So just take dad out and-”

“No more apocalypse.” 

Five began to pace back and forth.

“That- that might actually work. If I can get them all out of the house, and you can get rid of Dad, then we might be able to do it. We’d have to time travel to the future immediately after to avoid the cops but-” he turned to look at Allison. “We might finally stop it.”

“So it’s decided?”

He nodded.

“Tomorrow we kill Dad.”

Chapter Text

“You think they’re in there?” Luther asked, looking at the darkened Academy through his binoculars.

“Let me see and I’ll tell you,” Diego said, making a grab for them.

Five sighed, looking up from the map of the highway he was looking over in the front seat..

“Of course they’re inside, it’s midnight. Now if you two imbeciles would shut up, I might be able to look at this map and figure out where I want to jump us from!”

“Hey,” Vanya said, turning to Five from her spot next to him in the passenger seat, “You’ll figure it out. You’re good at this stuff.”

He sniffed. 

“Good enough to stick myself in the Apocalypse for forty-five years?”

“Good enough to make your way back to us. Besides, you’ve been practicing and getting a lot better with the time travel. I know you can do it.”

Five let out a sharp laugh.

“We’ll just have to see what happens. Transporting thirteen people and a car through time is harder than it sounds, and that’s not even accounting for the position of the Earth, or the speed the car is moving at, or-.”

Vanya placed a hand on his shoulder, her touch lightening when he stiffened.

“I’m sure you can do it.” she said with a reassuring smile.

Before Five could smile back the van door began to open, entering Allison and Klaus,  each with a small bag in hand.

“Okay,” Allison said, “I just got back from the real estate agent, and the new house should be ready for us when we get back to the future. While we were out we also-”

“Got everyone masks!” Klaus said, reaching into his backpack and pulling out a stereotypical thief mask, like the kind you would see in a movie for children.

Five blinked.

“I’m not wearing that.”

“You’re not going to be,” Klaus replied. “Everyone else is!”

“Uh-uh” Diego said. “No way. They’re going to take one look at me and think I’m a criminal.”

Allion laughed.

“What, are you afraid of being beat up by a bunch of fourteen year olds?”

“ Superpowered fourteen year olds.”

“You have superpowers too!”

“Guys!” Vanya said. “I still don’t get why we have to wear the masks. We’ll hardly be able to see anything.”

Klaus tapped a finger to his head.

“But they won’t be able to see us.”

“So?”

“So, they’re likely to freak if they saw a bunch of older lookalikes running around, right? It’s insurance.”

“Yeah, insurance that they don’t trust us.” Diego interjected.

Allison sighed, cutting back into the conversation.

“They’re not going to trust us either way.” she said. “I mean would you trust a bunch of random adults at that age? At least this way they won’t start asking questions we can’t answer.”

“Yeah, and if they ask about the masks we can just say we have a skin condition.”

“All of us?” Luther wondered.

“Well maybe only one of us does and the rest are wearing them in solidarity.”

“Klaus!” Allison chided. “You’re getting off topic. And Luther, hopefully they won’t ever see the masks. That’s why we bought...this!”

She lifted a large piece of fabric out of the backpack, bright orange with little yellow ducks printed on it.

“A blanket?”

“No,” she said, fastening it to the rod separating the front and back of the van, “A curtain!”

“You think a bunch of kids are going to see a giant curtain and then not look behind it?” Diego asked.

She crossed her arms.

“Yes. And even if they do, it’s better than seeing us from the get-go, when they can still make it home.”

“Speaking of home,” Vanya asked. “Are we just going to be staying in the car while Five brings young us out here, or…?”

“Ideally one or two of you will also sneak inside, and murder Dad after I get the kids out, but that seems to be the plan, yes.”

“Oh.”

“Oh what?”

“I just- I thought you were going to be the one to kill Dad.”

“Hey,” Luther said, smiling at her. “You don’t have to be the one to do it. I’m sure one of us can do it instead.”

Vanya smiled back.

“Thanks, Luth.”

“No problem.”

“So,” Five said, ever to the point. “Any volunteers to kill Dad?”

“I could try and-” Diego started, before Allison cut him off.

“I’ll do it. He deserves nothing less.”

“Allison, are you sure you want to-”

“Shut it Luther, I’ll be fine. Besides, with my power I should be able to get it done without making too much noise. It’ll be easy.”

Luther furrowed his brow.

“Still, you shouldn’t go alone, killing Dad-”

“I’ll be fine, I’ve done it before.”

“I know, and that’s why I’m-”

“Hey,” Diego said, getting between them. “I’ll go with her, give her some backup. None of us deal with Dad alone, okay? We’re Team Zero, we’re never alone.”

“Nice speech Diego,” Kluas laughed from behind him.

“Stay out of it, Klaus,” they said in unison.

Klaus put his hands up in surrender before retreating back into whatever conversation he was having with Ben.

After a moment of pause at Diego’s offer, Luther nodded, Allison following suit a moment later.

“So now that that’s settled, we should really do a team cheer,” Klaus said, putting his hand in the middle. “Ready? Kidnappers on three! one, two, three-”

“We’re not kidnapping them,” Five said.

“Really? Wow, I wonder how I got that impression with the white van and the whole killing their dad thing?”

Diego tilted his head.

“He kind of has a point.”

“We’re not kidnapping them! We’re saving them,” Five said again. “Besides, the auto yard didn’t have any other cars that were big enough for all of us.”

“Sure Five, whatever you say. Team cheer on three! One, two-”

“Yeah, I’m not doing that.”

“Sorry guys.”

“I’m good.”

Klaus sighed.

“Wow what a letdown. But you won’t let me down, huh Benny?”

Klaus turned to the side where his ghostly brother was sitting on the floor of the van.

“Ready? Kidnapping on three, two, one-”

“I hate this,” Ben muttered, but still raised his hand for the cheer.

“Great!” Klaus said. “Now for everyone els-”

Five blinked out of the car, cutting him off, and landing in the yard in front of the house, slightly damp with dew.

He swore, patting the sides of his uniform, before making another jump, this one into his bedroom to give himself a second to prepare.

As he came out of the jump, Five steadied himself, leaning against his dresser for a moment to rest. 

It was an easy jump, barely consequential, but Five knew he had to conserve his energy, especially with the bigger jumps he was set to make later tonight, if everything went to plan.

He took a peek back out the window, where he watched two shapes exit the van, most likely Allison and Diego, on their way to find Dad.

That meant he had to get moving.

Five pulled at the space around him, a blue glow lighting up the room as he prepared to jump into his siblings bedrooms. He was about to make the jump when he noticed something, something that wasn’t supposed to be there... 

In the light of his powers the lump in his bed shifted, making a soft groaning noise as it twitched under the covers.

“Five?” a voice called out.

Five froze.

“Five, is that you?” it asked again, a shape beginning to reveal itself from where it was nestled in his bed.

Five’s throat tightened. It had been years since he had heard that voice, the one he was used to hearing having deepened and matured, but he remembered it just the same.

“Hi Vanya,” he whispered. 

Vanya stilled for a moment before moving, jumping out of bed and running over before he could barely register the fact that he was being wrapped in her arms.

“Vanya I-” his voice wavered.

“You’re really here, right?” she said, squeezing tighter. “This isn’t a dream?”

He smiled, allowing himself the strange indulgence of hugging back, although he would never admit it to any of his older siblings, the hug or him reciprocating.

“I think you know the answer to that.” 

She nodded, his already damp uniform becoming even more so with her tears.

“Where were you?” she asked, when she finally let go.

Five smiled sadly.

“The future.”

“So you did it then? What was it like?”

What was it like? He paused, thinking of the apocalypse and his years spent there, doomsday, his sibling’s bodies laid out in front of him, the consequences of his many failures.Then he thought about his siblings, their lives, Allison and her daughter, the others and the people they had come to love, just as much as he loved them, no matter how annoying and stupid they may be. He thought about the good times with them, their rare moments of peace, when it would just be him and his siblings and their constant bickering, which he had come to see as the greatest sound of the world. So what was the future like? Vanya asked, fourteen years old and with her whole life ahead of her. The future Five came from was dead and gone, overwritten again and again, never to be. That future was in the past. So what could the new future be? What could it become?

“It’s beautiful.” Five told her. “So beautiful. And I hope to show you just how beautiful someday soon.”

She smiled.

“I hope to see it with you too.”

You will, Five promised himself. I’m going to take you there, all of you, and we’re never going to look back.

Then came a sound at the door.

Both Five and Vanya stilled, and Five watched as his sister slowly shrank back into herself, as if hiding from whatever, or rather whoever was waiting behind that door.

“Vanya?” a voice called out. “Vanya is everything alright? I was reading and I heard a noise and-”

Five made a noise, somewhere between a choke and a gasp as Ben stepped into the room, young and worried and alive.

“Five?” he said, as if he didn’t believe it. 

Five couldn’t bring himself to speak and just nodded, standing up from his spot on the bed.

They both stood there for a second, disbelieving, before Ben spoke.

“It’s really you,” he said, “You’re back.”

“I am,” Five choked out. “And I’m sorry it took so long but I’m here now, you have to believe me, I’m back for good, and I’m never leaving again, I swear it.”

Ben stared at him for a moment longer, before twitching his lips into a small smile.

“I believe you.”

You won’t regret it.

Another noise at the door prompted the entry of another sibling, and Five mentally prepared himself for the addition of Diego, or heavens forbid, Klaus.

“So, come to ol’ Fivey’s room then, Benny boy-” Klaus started, pushing the door open. “I can get the appeal, sneaking around and all, although it is rather late so-” his eyes caught on the other occupants of the room. “FIVE?!?”

Five flinched.

“Quiet or you’re going to wake the whole house!”

Klaus gasped. “It is him! And I bet you weren’t that mean to Ben when you-”

“Well Ben didn’t scream my name as soon as he saw me, you-” Five started on reflex, before remembering exactly who he was talking to, or rather, how old the person he was talking to was.

“I’m sorry I- just, try and keep it down okay? I don’t want to deal with Dad just yet.” Or tip him off to what’s going to happen next.

“Did someone say Dad? What’s going on?” another voice called from the hallway.

Five took a deep breath.

“Come on in Luther, I was just about to come looking for you.”

“For me?” the door moved. “Klaus, what’s… Five. ”

“Hi Luther. Are Allison and Diego out there with you? I want to see them too.”

“You’re- you’re back.”

“I am. Allison and Diego?”

“I think they’re still asleep, I don’t-”

“Great, can you go and wake them up for me, I really want to talk to them.”

“I don’t- I should probably get Dad and-”

“Luther please, I’ll talk to Dad in the morning, but I just want to see Allison and Diego first, you get that, right?”

Luther paused, uncertainty written across his face.

“I don’t know Five, I-’

“It’s just been a while since I’ve seen them,” Five lied, “And I just- I really miss them you know?

“Really?” Luther said, glancing first from Five, then to Ben and Vanya. “I just thought you wouldn’t-”

“Luther, please.”

Luther sighed, turning back to the hallway.

“I’ll get them, but you really should go see Dad.”

“I will. And Luther?”

Luther turned back towards him.

“Thank you.”

Luther blinked, looking uncomfortable at this sort of talk from his coldest sibling, before walking off to get the others.

“Five?” Ben asked. “Are you okay? I just-”

“He’s asking why you were so nice to Luther,” Klaus finished. The and me too, went unspoken.

“I just want to see Allison and Diego,” Five said. “That’s all.”

From the looks on their faces they didn’t believe him in the slightest.

“And I didn’t want to deal with Dad.”

They nodded. That made more sense.

After a moment or two, the sound of hushed arguments began to float down the hall, a sure sign that Luther was bringing Diego, and most likely Allison along with him.

“I don’t know w-what you’ve got in your thick skull of yours, but Five’s gone, and he’s not coming b-back.” they overheard.

“You don’t know that,” a different voice said. “He went to the future, so maybe he went here.”

“We don’t even know he went to the future! For all we know he’s just dead somewhere we’ll-”

“Never be able to find him?” Five called out, albeit somewhat dramatically.

Diego paused, mouth hanging open.

“You… I… B-but…”

“Luther was right,” Allison gasped softly behind him. “You’re back.”

“I am. Care to come in?”

A dazed Diego and Allison nodded and entered his old room, Luther shutting the door behind them, for even he understood the need for privacy at a time like this.

Five motioned them to the bed in front of him, where the others were already sitting.

With all of his (younger) siblings all in one place, he moved towards the window, facing away from them, part for the drama of it all, but mostly to check on the van and the state of his other set of siblings outside.

It had been four, maybe five minutes since he had left them out there, so Allison and Diego should be making their way inside the building by now. He was running out of time.

“Time? Time for what?” Luther asked.

Five froze.

Did he say that aloud?

“Time to leave,” he said, this time certain it would be heard.

“Leave?” Allison asked. “Where are we going?”

“We’re not going anywhere,” Luther answered. “Dad didn’t okay it.”

“I was thinking about the roller rink?” Five ignored him. “Have any of you ever rollerbladed?” 

“Ooh!” Klaus gasped. “There was the one time I fell down the stairs in Mom’s heels, does that count?”

“You broke your jaw,” Diego said. “Do you really want it to count?”

Five kept staring at the van, waiting for the signal. There.

Two flashes of light from the front window. Vanya telling him that the older Allison and Diego were in the building and on the move, he was running out of time.

“Me neither,” he said. “I found a pair once, but the wheels were broken and there was nowhere flat for me to use them. I always wondered what it was like.”

“When did you find a pair of roller skates?” Allison asked.

Five’s heart skipped a beat, he probably shouldn’t have said-

“In the future,” Vanya said, almost too soft to hear.

“The future? You think he time traveled?”

“He said-”

Five rolled his eyes. Arguing would only cost him precious time he didn’t have.

“There’s a roller rink on the other side of the city.” he talked over them.

“The other side of the city? Five we can’t- That’d take ages!”

He turned towards his siblings and walked over, taking a seat on the bed. This part would take some convincing.

“I made some friends while I was gone. They have a car, we could get there in minutes.”

“Some friends? A car? Five this is crazy, think of what Dad’ll do? I can’t support this!”

“ Luther.” Five said, his remaining time ticking away by the second. 

“What?”

“I’m going to be in deep shit with Dad in the morning either way, and this way we get to have a fun night out. Think of it like the bowling alley, but just a bit farther.”

“Five, I still-”

“I don’t know what Luther’s doing, but I’m going,” Klaus interrupted.

“Me too,” Diego agreed.

“If you guys are going, I’m going,” Ben said.

“I-” Luther stammered. “Allison?”

She shrugged.

“I’ve always wanted to learn how to roller skate.” 

Luther frowned.

“Vanya?” Five asked.

The girl jumped, as if she had forgotten that they knew she was there.

“I-”

“I can’t hear you from over there.”

“I’d like to go,” she said a little bit louder than before. “Only if I’m invited, of course.”

“You are. Luther?”

Luther bit his lip, looking at each of his siblings for a moment before letting out a sigh. 

“This wasn’t my idea.”

“No, it wasn’t. Ready?” Five held out his hand.

“What are you doing, you can’t jump this many people. We’ll go and get the rope from the closet, it’ll be-”

Five shook his head. He couldn’t risk them running into the older Allison or Diego in the halls, or worse, Dad.

“I’ll be okay,” Five lied. “I can jump lots of people now.”

He reached out and linked hands with his siblings for the seventh time since this all began and took a deep breath, preparing for the jump.

“Here we go….!”

They landed on the lawn just by the bushes the van was parked behind, Five falling backwards onto the wet grass as his siblings lay scattered around him.

“Remind me to never let you do that again,” Diego gagged into the bushes.

Five smiled, out of breath.

Just a few more steps and he wouldn’t ever have to see the Academy again. None of them would.

“Come on,” he said, pulling himself up with Ben’s help. “The car should be right behind this bush.”

***

Allison watched on as the flashlight shone from the van window, blinking twice before shutting off again.

“That’s the sign,” she whispered to Diego, who was crouched down next to her in the back garden. “Five’s headstart is up, so we can go in, just stay quiet.”

He gave her a look.

“I know what the sign means.”

“Just making sure.”

He huffed, before going up to the back door and twisting the knob. 

The door opened without a creak, and Allison was suddenly thankful for their mother’s constant cleaning.

After pausing to check that their entrance was clear, Diego slipped inside, Allison following right after.

Hidden by shadows, they crept across the living room and into the foyer before nearing the stairs. As Diego began to move towards the steps, Allison paused, hearing something faint coming from somewhere deep in the house above. Shit. 

She reached out, grabbing Diego by the back of his shirt and hauling him back into the dark.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” he hissed into her ear.

She gave him a look, motioning to her ear before pointing upstairs.

His eyes widened as he took a listen.

“What is that?”

She moved her arm, motioning walking with a crutch.

“Pogo.”

Allison nodded.

“It sounds like he’s on the third level, south side of the building.”

“Oh, well that shouldn’t be a problem, Dad’s study is on the north side.”

“It is, but so are our bedrooms.”

He paused.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Well then, let's hope Five gets them out of the building before we get there.” Diego said, starting back up the stairs again.

Allison let out some air, giving her eyes a quick roll for good measure before following after him. 

The house was quiet. Quieter than she had remembered. It had always been a quiet place, long stretches of silence dispersed by her mother's humming or the tapping of Pogo's cane, but this was different, quieter, even. 

Allison assumed it had something to do with her siblings. With just her and Diego it was easy to pretend that they were just sneaking around at night, maybe passing each other on the way to the bathroom. But they weren’t heading to the bathroom, were they?

This was desperate, real, in a way that it had never been before. Each creak, each slight shift of the academy, put her on edge, as if it was working against her, screaming out for all that could hear what she was about to do. What she was about to end. Her father’s life.

So there was relief in the silence. Until there wasn't. Relief or silence.

They saw the light before they heard his voice. A lamp shone, illuminating the entranceway to their father's office, where he worked inside. It was bright, unyielding, like a beacon, almost, staring into their souls and bringing light to all the dark parts, the jagged little pieces that had wanted more than anything to be standing where she was now. It seemed, as it were, that even cosmic forces themselves paid heed to Sir Reginald Hargreeves in his own home.

Her hand snaked out, almost without warning, searching for something substantial, something real. Diego . In a moment of panic, her hand found his, gripping tight, nails digging into his palm, as if this was some dream she would just wake up from if she moved the wrong way. It wasn't.

In the face of their father, just a few feet away, he squeezed back, a squeeze of reassurance and of fear, neither of which he would ever admit.

Slowly, as if each second were an eternity, she unpeeled her fingers, taking a deep breath as her lungs filled with rage, rage she had been carrying with her for a very long time.

 Rage for her daughter, her precious baby girl, fading into oblivion at his hand. Rage for her siblings, stepped on and sharpened, with no care for any of the pieces that fell away. And rage for herself, wave upon wave of anger for a little girl fashioned into a weapon, used over and over again until the only one left to harm was herself.

In that moment, there was no Five, there was no Diego, there was only rage, boiling over without a care in the world for what happens next.

Allison smiled and kicked the door down, her anger bubbling up from whatever depth she had hidden it in as she saw that man's face, startled and surprised, and best of all, scared. He was long past due for being scared.

"I heard a rumor," she spat, the words rising up in her throat. "That you shut your damn mouth."

Reginald’s eyes bugged out, his lips sealed shut, but his frantic motions said it all.

As if gasping for air he reached for a pen, frantically scribbling something down on a sheet of paper. 

Fuck your paper, Allison thought. You couldn’t say a single damn thing that could change what comes next.

She turned, meeting eyes with Diego, who nodded, letting a knife fly loose towards their father, pinning his shirt to the wall.

She moved forward, taking a cursory glance at what he was writing, before throwing the entire sheet into the fire, darkly scribbled three and all.

His names didn’t hold any power over her anymore.

“I heard a rumor that you didn’t run, or scream, or try to escape,” she said, pulling the knife from the wall and holding it up to her father’s throat. “You may speak now.”

“Allison what are you doing,” Diego hissed. “This isn’t in the plan, he-”

“ He demands to know the meaning of this,” Hargreeves spoke.

Allison rolled her eyes, knife pressing deeper against his neck.

“The meaning,” she said. “Is that you’re a problem. And we intend to fix that problem.”

“Ah, so you intend to kill me, save the world, is that it? I’d expect such a fantasy from Number Two, but you, Number Three? I guess what they say is true, time changes all things. All things except your utter idiocy, I suppose.”

She just shrugged.

“I’d say if anyone, it’s you who fancies yourself the hero, Dad. Fantasies about gathering superpowered children, creating the team that saves the world... But I’m afraid your hubris got ahead of you, old man. For the team you created? That weapon? It’s deadlier than anything they could ever face.”

Hargreeves laughed.

“Then I have succeeded in my part. As you have said, I created a weapon strong enough to combat the end of life on Earth. If said weapon fails, it is on nothing but itself.”

Allison fumed. He’d blame this, all of this, on us? Why I-

“Allison!” Diego said. “As strange as it is for me to say this, yelling at Dad isn’t going to help us!”

“You’re right,” Allison nodded. “It is weird to hear you say that.”

He grabbed her shoulder, forcing her to take a step back.

“No matter what you say, it’s never going to change anything,” he told her. “He’s never going to be sorry, he’s never going to admit he’s wrong. All you’re doing is giving him another second in this world, and god knows he’s had far too many already.”

Allison bit her lip, looking first at her father, still held in place by her rumor, then to her brother.

“He killed Claire, Diego,” she whispered. “He killed my daughter.”

Diego nodded.

“Yeah he did. And we’re going to kill him for that, just like he deserves.”

She nodded, turning to look into her father’s eyes for the last time.

They looked exactly how they always had, icy blue and indifferent, with not a hint of remorse within.

“You were right,” she said, starting softly, then moving up to a louder tone. “He is a monster.”

In a motion they had practiced so many times before, Allison stuck out her hand, palm up, and a knife landed in it, her fingers curling tight around the handle.

In less than an instant, she struck out, the knife coming away red, the same red as the blood gushing out of the gash on Sir Reginald Hargreeves throat.

“That was for Claire,” she whispered in his ear. “Now all three of us know what it feels like to have our throats slit.”

She took a step back, before leaning down onto his desk, bloody knife still in hand.

“Hey,” Diego said, taking a nervous look back at the fastly cooling body by the wall, “We should probably go, everyone will be waiting.”

“Not yet,” Allison gasped, out of breath.

“If we stay here any longer someone will find us!”

She shook her head, wiping her bloody fingers off on her jacket before finding a pen and paper.

“We will, there’s just one more thing,”

“What?”

Allison smiled.

“I heard a rumor that for the next five minutes, Diego Hargreeves’ handwriting looked exactly like Reginald Hargreeves.”

Diego's eyes widened, glazing over with the rumor.

“What the hell was that for?”

She grinned.

“Oh nothing, I just thought you’d want to help me write his suicide note.”

Diego’s eyes widened again, this time for an entirely different reason. 

“Hell fucking yes.”

“Great! Want to start off calling him a dick or a bastard?”

“How about both?”

***

A few minutes and numerous jabs at their father later, Allison and Diego made their way away from Hargreeves office and towards the door, moving considerably faster and quieter than they had on the way in. 

As they neared the middle of the second level, Allison stopped by a window, something outside catching her eyes.

“What are you waiting for?” Diego hissed. “We’re already behind, we need to move!”

“I see something,” she said, narrowing in on the gap in the bushes that hid their van. There!

“Three flashes,” she told him. “Get the fuck out of there we have to go.”

Diego rolled his eyes. “”I know what the flashes mean.”

“So then why aren’t you moving?”

“Because you stopped! Fuck you!”

She smiled, starting forward again.

“Keep it down, you’re going to get us caught.”

As soon as she said that, Allison heard it again, the noise from earlier, which they had deduced was Pogo’s cane as he moved throughout the house. Shit. And it was getting closer.

“Master Hargreeves?” the monkey asked. “Is that you?”

They froze. Shit.

“We have to run,” Diego whispered, grabbing Allison’s hand and yanking her the opposite direction.

“Where are we going? He blocked off our exit!”

Diego swore.

“We’re going to have to take a detour through Mom’s art gallery, then go out the front.”

“What about Mom?” she asked.

He stopped.

“ Fuck, Mom!”

Allison grabbed his arm again, keeping them moving . 

“We can’t stop! What are we going to do about Mom?”

They were nearing the art gallery, and Diego still hadn’t offered an answer.

“We take her with us, that’s what.”

Allison turned to look at him.

“ Are you out of your fucking mind?”

He shrugged. 

“She saved our lives, remember? And she’s our Mother, we can’t just leave her.”

“Yes, yes we-”

“HEY MOM!” Diego shouted.

The woman turned around, unplugging from her charging station as a confused expression spread across her face.

“Why hello there! What can I do to help you two? I must say, you look incredibly fami-”

He grabbed her arm, pulling her along after him.

“No time, we have to go!”

Grace laughed.

“Why, I’m not permitted to leave the house. Actually when I think about it, I don’t believe anyone is permitted inside the house at this-”

“Shit!” 

Diego cursed, fumbling at his harness as Pogo’s footsteps drew closer.

“Diego, leave her, we have to go!” Allison shouted, already by the stairs.

“I’m coming, just give me a sec!”

“We don’t have a sec!”

“Diego?” Grace tilted her head. “Why one of my sons is named Diego, he’s a charming young man, I must say.”

“Thanks Mom,” Diego said, finally freeing the knife from his belt. “And sorry for this. Again.”

With that said, he ripped his knife into her arm, cutting the wires, and watched as she deactivated, before flinging her body over his shoulders and making a break for the stairs.

“I’m coming Allison!” he called, catching up with his sister.

“Good, you were taking a while, wait- is that Mom?”

“Yep,” he said, running down the stairs.

“Is she okay? What’s wrong with her?”

“She’s dead, she’ll be fine later.”

“She’s dead?”

Diego sighed.

“She’s going to be fine.”

“Diego, what part of dead do you not understand because-”

“Allison, can you shut it? We’re almost to the van.”

And they were. Now on the lawn outside the academy, they made a run for it, Allison helping with Grace’s excess weight as they slipped behind the bush and into the already crowded front seat.

“There you two are!” Five whispered, peeking his head through the curtain that separated the van. “I was worried you two had fucked something up.”

Diego winced, hauling their mother’s body onto his lap. “So about that…”

Five’s eyes widened.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me! ”

Allison shook her head. “He isn’t.”

A couple of seconds passed as Five had to say something to one of the younger Hargreeves in the back before he could stick his head through again.

“Ugh, you know what?” he said, once he was available. “Vanya, just drive. And stop by a McDonald’s, I’m going to need some more fucking coffee before i can deal with this bullshit.”

She nodded and stepped on the gas.

Chapter Text

It was, how do you say, a shitshow.

If Five was being honest, t was exactly what you would have expected from a car ride with his siblings, one set, let alone two..

As of right now, he was sitting there, juggling his time between two different sets of equally annoying siblings, both of which couldn’t, under any circumstances interact, or else. Oh, and he still hadn’t gotten his coffee.

They had left the Academy about five minutes ago (ironic, he knows) and still hadn’t gotten close to the freeway. (curse this city for being so big)

By this point they were starting to leave the close quarters of the city behind and were beginning to bleed into the suburbs, nearer but still not close enough as he would have wanted.

“Hey,” teenage Diego said, from his spot by the back window. “I think we’re heading the wrong way.”

Five cursed his rotten luck.

“We’re heading the right direction,” he told him. “We’re just taking a shortcut one of my friends knows.

“You never did tell us how you met those peachy ol’ friends of yours,” Klaus said. “Come on, Fivey, tell us all those future stories. I mean there must be one, because who would be friends with you otherwise?” He laughed again.

Five sighed. This set was decidedly more annoying, at least for now,

“The fact that I have ‘friends,’ says otherwise. Besides, I’m not seeing any of your friends hanging around, now am I?”

Klaus gave him a tilt of the head. Fair Enough.

“But that still doesn't explain why we’re not heading towards the city,” Allison said. “I thought we were going to the roller rink.”

Five sighed. 

“As I said, we’re taking a shortcut. And I need to make a stop first.

Luther sprang to attention.

“A stop? Five you never told us about this!”

Five sighed. 

“I’m just getting a drink. It shouldn’t be long.”

He stuck his head through the curtain.

“Please say we’re nearly there.”

Vanya gave him a look. 

“Three more miles. Just wait until then, and we’ll have you fueled up soon enough.”

He gave her a look. 

“Fueled up?”

She blushed.

It’s something Sissy used to say. I guess I picked it up, although that was ages ago.

He nodded, the younger Hargreeves already clamoring for his attention again.

“Well, uh, good. Just get us there ASAP. I need my coffee.” She gave him a small smile

“Of course.”

The Hargreeves van pulled into the McDonald’s parking lot with all the grace that the Hargreeves did anything with, knocking over what Five assumed was a traffic cone or garbage can.

Great. 

He rolled down the back window, or rather broke it, using one of Diego’s knives so he could talk to the person inside.

“McDonald’s. What can we get ya today?”

“I’ll have one black coffee,” he said, before anybody else could speak. “That will be all, thank you.”

“What-” he heard protests from behind him but just turned to Vanya, driving. “ That will be all. Drive.”

Vanya didn’t drive.

“What are you waiting for?” he hissed.

“We’re not leaving yet,” came her voice from the front, slightly muffled by the mask she still wore. 

“What are you talking about?” he said. “Of course we’re leaving.”

“No,” she replied. “We aren't.” You need something to eat, something that isn’t coffee, and the rest of us should eat too, while we’re at it. It’s been a long day and it’s just going to get longer.”

He sighed and mumbled a curse under his breath. 

“Fine, but it better not take too long.”

Needless to say, ordering food for thirteen people was not a quick task.

His younger siblings started first.

Klaus took the lead, ambitiously trying to order a McFlurry with M&Ms, which Five shut down soon after, forcing him to go with his second choice, a six piece chicken nugget Happy Meal with a chocolate milk. 

After Klaus came Diego, who ordered a Big Mac and a rootbeer, which Five could hear the older Diego grumbling about from the other side of the curtain. 

He sighed. There was no way this would be quick, would it?

Next was Allison, then Ben, Allison getting a McChicken combo with a coke, and Ben a simple hamburger and an iced tea, as carbonation upset his stomach.

That left Luther and Vanya. With Luther still mulling over whether or not he was even going to eat, Vanya ordered, having to repeat herself a total of three times before the woman inside could make out that she wanted a strawberry smoothie.

With the rest of his siblings (that he knew of) having food on the way, Luther finally cracked, getting a quarter pounder burger, and a water bottle.

With that said and done, Five walked up to the curtain, peeking his head through to his older siblings.

“Now,” he said. “are we done?”

They gave him a look.

“But we haven’t ordered yet,” they all said.

Five shook his head and resigned himself to having to wait a few more minutes for his coffee.

It was interesting, he might think later, how his sibling’s orders changed between their two selves, like how the older Allison got a grilled chicken sandwich instead of crispy, or diet coke instead of regular. Or like how Klaus still got chicken nuggets, but this time with an ice cream cone instead of a Happy Meal. Or Vanya, who out of all of them ordered closest to what she had before, adding only a medium fry to her smoothie.

He might have thought that all later, when there was time and patience aplenty to think of such things. But now? Now he just wanted his goddamn coffee.

They went through the paying process rather smoothly, a small miracle for the Hargreeves clan if he was being honest, but were, of course, held up at the delivery window. Figures.

“What do you mean, the ice cream machine is BROKEN!?” Klaus shrieked.

“Unfortunately sir, our soft serve machine is out of order at this time,” The woman repeated.

“ BULLSHIT! It’s always broken! I bet you don’t even own an ice cream machine, do you!”

“Sir, may I please ask that you calm down, we can reimburse you for the-”

“For the vanilla cone? The vanilla cone that you were supposed to give me? Oh, I don’t think you’ll get away with this that easy, lady! Trying to steal my hard earned money, and my ice cream too?  I paid for that, you know!”

Allison tapped Klaus on the arm before starting to talk with the woman.

“Uh, hi, I am so sorry for this, but I paid for the ice cream and he doesn’t need it, so we’ll be right on our way, okay? Okay. Thank you.”

Klaus gasped, starting to argue with her, but it was too late, as Vanya had driven away from the window and out into the parking lot.

“What was that for! I was in the middle of something!” he complained.

Diego snorted.

“Yeah, and the whole world could hear it.”

Allison nodded.

“And we didn’t have time for it.”

“But we had time for you to ask about every item on the menu? You’re just teaming up with the McDonald’s lady to keep me from getting my ice cream!”

“Shut up about the ice cream!” Five hissed.

“Well I-”

“Well I don’t care! I just had to explain to six children why my ‘friend’ up front was acting like a lunatic!”

Klaus gave him an affronted look.

“Are you implying that we’re not friends?”

“I’m more than implying it,” Five said. “Now can I have my coffee, please?”

Vanya stifled through the bags, grabbing Five’s coffee from it’s tray.

“Oh no, they got my order wrong!” she said. 

“I knew that lady was up to no good,” Klaus mumbled.

They ignored him.

“Well,” Five said, “Coffee?”

Vanya lifted up the top of the burger, and frowned.

“They put mayonnaise on here.”

Five sighed.

“And?”

“I don’t like mayonnaise.”

Five rolled his eyes, grabbing the coffee and then the burger.

“Fine, I’ll eat it, then. Will you stop complaining now?”

Vanya ducked her head down, trying to hide her smile. 

“Yes.”

After Five went back to the other side of the van Luther turned to Vanya.

“I thought you liked mayo?” he asked.

She smiled.

“I do.”

***

They were nearing the jump point.

They had been on the freeway for about ten or so minutes now, with him sitting in the back with the teenagers, quickly approaching exit 31, which they had designated for the leap.

Now, he only had to muster up his energy and…

“Hey Five?” Klaus asked.

“I must have absolute silence to complete this task,” he shot back.

“What task?” Klaus asked. “Are you trying to remember where the roller rink is or…”

“No! Just let me focus!”

There was a pause.

“You know,” Allison said, “Klaus is right. I thought you said the roller rink was close.”

“I said it was on the other side of the city. I never said it was close.”

Ben looked up from his spot on the floor of the van, making his way to the window.

“But guys,” he said, “We aren’t in the city anymore. We’ve been on the interstate for the last fifteen minutes.”

“ What?”

The car erupted into chaos.

“What do you mean we’re not in the city any more? Where are we even going? Five what’s going on? We need to get back before Dad notices! Does this mean we aren’t going rollerblading?” those shouts and more echoed throughout the van as Five tried to regain control of his thoughts. They were coming up on the exit, he had to do something…

“Is everything okay back there?” Diego said, sticking his head through the curtain, voice recognizable, even with his mask firmly stuck in place.

“Yep!” Five said in a high pitched voice very much unlike his own. “Everything’s dandy!”

Diego looked at him like he just murdered a guy in front of him. Actually worse, since he had seen Five kill people before, and still never looked like that.

“Is everything okay…?”

Five’s reply was the same.

Diego gave him another look before saying that they were approaching the exit, after which he returned to the front.

“What was that? The younger Diego asked.

“More importantly, who was that?” Five replied.

He lowered his voice, eyes skirting around the back of the van.

“They,” he lied, “are my friends. Or I thought they were. But if you’re right and we’re on the interstate instead of in the city… then I think they might be trying to kidnap us.”

There was silence, before Luther spoke.

“So we’re going to fight our way out. Vanya, get in the back, Klaus, go with her. Allison and Diego-”

“No no no, hold on a second,” Five said. 

“What?”

“There’s too many variables, I think I know another way out.”

“Another way out?”

“Yes. I might be able to jump us back to the house, but I’ll need complete concentration.”

“Can you even do that?” Allison asked. “I know you were able to jump as all out of the house, but now we’re miles away, and with all of us-”

“Yes, I can.” Five assured her. “But it will be difficult. So quiet, and huddle up.”

His smaller siblings closed in on either side of him, grabbing onto his shoulders, knees, each other, anything they could so as not to be left behind.

Now, Five thought, let’s try not to leave anyone behind.

He pressed his palm down onto the floor of the car, waves of blue beginning to spill out of it.

As the blue began to envelop the van he thought about the house they had purchased in the future, his family inside it, living there, as they too got drawn into the blue.

He saw Vanya on the back porch playing music, her older self helping her as she looked up from her book now and then, an unearthly wind rustling both their hair.

He saw the younger Ben and Diego in the kitchen, helping Grace make dinner, although they were too busy playing around to be much help. He saw the older Klaus and Allison at the kitchen table watching them, laughing as their Diego had to go over to take a kitchen knife away from, well, himself. He saw his remaining siblings in the living room, enraptured, (or enraptured and crying in the older Luther’s case) as their movie drew to a close.

And above them all, he saw himself looking down on them all, a contented expression on his face, as unseen by everyone, the ghost of Ben stood by his side, happy. All of them, happy.

He saw that in his mind, grabbed onto the blue and pulled.

A moment of nothing, then everything.

Then he landed flat on his ass.

“What’s happening?” “Where are we?” “Did you have to throw us against the ground?”

Confused and irritated shouts came from all around him as Five tried to regain his balance, pulling himself to his feet.

His head pounded, throbbed even, and he could barely see straight.

Probably an effect of the time travel and bringing so many people along. And the spacial jumps that night definitely couldn’t have helped. 

Once they got everyone inside he was going to sleep for a week. Scratch that, two weeks.

He clapped his hands over his ears, trying to quiet them down. It didn’t work, the noise still coming through.

Things like “where are we”, “what happened”, or “where’s the van?” echoed arou-

Wait what about the van?

He peeled his eyes open, both sets of siblings strewn about the lawn, no car in sight.

Fuck , he forgot the car.

“Oh well,” he whispered. “Better that piece of junk than a person.”

Five pulled himself to his feet, a remarkable feat only made possible from years of ignoring pain, before turning towards his siblings, who were quickly recovering themselves.

“Five, what is this? I thought you were only pulling us from the car?” the younger Luther said.

Five met his eyes, before turning to look at his older siblings.

“It’s getting late, we should probably get them inside.”

“What are you-” Luther started, face turning white as he realized. “ No.”

“It’s for the best, I promise.” Five said, his word buried under the rising shouts of his siblings.

“We- we have to do something,” Luther said. “I know we don’t want to fight Five, but it might be our only-”

“ Allison, ” Five said, urging his currently masked sibling to do something to keep this situation from turning into an outright fight.

“Me?” the younger Allison asked. “Why are you-”

I heard a rumor… the words twisted out, freezing the younger Hargreeves in place, as they looked on, confused and horrified, that you didn’t try to run away.

“What- how did you-” the younger Allison looked terrified. “I didn’t-”

“ Time travel,” Vanya gasped, as she looked at her brother’s masked friends. Him and five others. Six people. Six siblings. It matched perfectly.

She turned to meet his eyes.

“Your friends, they-”

“Yes. My friends are from the future. Specifically-”

“The Academy.” Vanya finished.

Five nodded.

“Wait,” Allison said. “Does that mean that the rumor…”

“Was me,” the older Allison said, taking off her mask.

“You-” the teen looked flabbergasted.

Allison smiled kindly at her younger self. “I’m you.”

The younger of the two Allisons looked surprised for a second more, before smiling slightly.

“I got tall, then.” she said. “Nice.”

They high fived.

“Aren’t we being kidnapped?” Ben asked. “I don’t know if this is really-”

“Of course it’s helpful!” Klaus interrupted. “Getting to know who’s taller is a very important part of being siblings. I mean, for all we know, we could end up being as short as that one!” he gestured to the still masked Vanya.

“No offense… Diego? ” he added.

“ Hey! ” both Diego’s exclaimed, taking a step towards Klaus.

“I am not that short!” the older Diego said, peeling off his mask so he could talk properly.

Klaus smiled.

“I found out which one is Diego!”

Five rolled his eyes.

“As much as I want to stand here slowly revealing what you’ll look like in twenty five years, It’s late, I’m cold, and I just jumped multiple people three times in one day, and probably need to pass out.”

His vision wobbled.

“Okay I definitely need to pass out. So, Allison, if we could get everyone into the house and asleep without a problem that would be great, we can deal with everything in the morning.”

“No!” Luther said, finally coming back to his senses after the initial shock of realizing who Five’s ‘friends’ were. “No, we can’t- we won’t- we couldn’t be doing this! I couldn’t- I wouldn’t have taken us-”

“Hey,” one of the masked figures said, moving next to him. “I know it seems bad right now, but we know what we’re doing, we wouldn’t-”

He tried to move a hand onto Luther’s shoulder and got a hard punch in return.

The masked man grunted before taking a step back and shaking it off.

Luther’s eyes widened. “That should have broken your arm, shattered it maybe, how did you- No. no no no no...”

The older Luther shrugged, taking his mask off as well.

“I know it seems hard for you to understand, but-”

The teen tried to take off, held in place by Allison’s earlier rumor, which he was attempting to fight, and failing.

Luther turned to his sister to help stop himself.

I heard a rumor… the younger Luther began to panic more, flailing around, that you went to sleep and didn’t wake up until breakfast.

He collapsed into the grass fast asleep, getting picked up by his older self, who gently started to carry him back to the house with the others.

“Now that that’s settled,” Five said, once they had reached the house. “I’ll see you all for breakfast.”

With a few more rumors cast to make sure their new teenage guests couldn’t leave, the Hargreeves split up for the night, resolving to see each other in the morning, or in one case, by chance encounter about an hour later.