Chapter Text
So, all the things in the barn had just happened. Some more things to worry about had definitely been added into Five’s already extremely long list. (Like the fact that Lila had managed to escape and none of them had any idea where- or when- she had gone.) Along with his growing list of worries there was his- admittedly lot shorter- list of things he needed to think and be confused about for the next week or so.
At the top of that list was how Diego had straight up said that he loved his family. His family, which very much included Five if their surname was any valid indication. If not then at least Diego had very much looked at Five after his declaration of love for his siblings while trying to stop Lila from killing him.
He may or may not have frozen up on the spot for a few seconds and prayed to satan that Lila wouldn’t decide to attack right in that moment.
Five still had to handle one more thing before he and his family could finally go home and leave all the apocalypse stuff in the past. He still had to talk to Herb and talk about the future of the commission with him- perhaps Herb could even get all the assassins and such off of their backs so that Five could finally relax. If that was even physically possible for him.
For some reason Diego had insisted on tagging along. Apparently he and Herb knew each other to some degree and he wanted to say goodbye or something- Five didn’t really care so he just let his brother come along with him. There really wasn’t any reason on why he shouldn’t.
Herb’s small frame was surprisingly easy to spot among all the bodies of the commission agents that filled the otherwise completely empty field. (Though- maybe it slightly helped that Dot was standing right next to him.) He and Diego picked up their speed and waved their hands in the air as a greeting to the two. ”Herb. Dot.” Five called out while his brother called out a- ”Sup Herbie.”
Diego and Herb proceeded to do some kind of stupid hand greeting while exchanging the last of their greetings. Five pushed his hands deep into his pockets and rolled his eyes at the sight. After the exchange ended Herb looked behind them- ”Is she-” Oh- he was looking for the Handler.
”Really dead this time?” Five finished for him- ”Oh yeah.” Diego answered the question with a smug smile on his lips. Five had a lot of questions on his mind, but undoubtedly the most pressing one was- ”Now that the Handler’s gone… what happens at Commission?” Both Dot and Herb seemed to have violently varying reactions to his question- Herb seemed almost embarassed while Dot seemed- proud?
”We need to elect a new board of directors-” Well that much was obvious. ”-But until then, I um-” Herb took a short breath before finishing his sentence in one go- ”I’ve been voted in as acting chairperson.” Both his and Dot’s smiles were wide and almost identical. ”No shit. Congrats Herbie, that’s huge.” Diego stated while Five only smiled in response. The news were good. As long as Herb was in charge they wouldn’t have to worry about the commission. (Hopefully.)
Despite Herbs clear nervousness (which he vocally expressed) both he and Dot were smiling and clearly happy- for good reasons. ”You’ll do fine.” Five stated in a sure tone- no one could do worse than the Handler after all. He could happily leave the commission in Herbs hands and hopefully not much trouble would arise- but now Five had another pressing matter to attend to-
”Herb, we need a favour.”
Herb gave a few quick nods before remembering that he could speak. ”Oh sure, anything.” Five didn’t think that the two would really even care at all if he and his siblings went and stole one of the briefcases- but it was always better to ask when dealing with the Commission and its rather unpredictable behaviour. The briefcases were trackable afterall and Five really didn’t want to deal with any more assassins.
”A briefcase. We need to get back home, where we belong.” In response, Dot and Herb slowly turned around to face the army of dead temporal assassins behind them while the shorter one made a slight gesture with his hand toward all the briefcases that were littered around the field next to their deceased owners- ”Take your pick.” His tone had a slight sense of humour in it.
Five walked toward the closest briefcase on his left and grabbed it- quickly checking it out to make sure that it wasn’t broken before returning to stand by Diego. ”Thanks, we’ll be on our way now.” Five said with a smile that had a sense of finality to it. The brothers turned around to walk back to the barn where the rest of their siblings had promised to meet up in- when Dot suddenly called out- ”Five, wait!”
The boy-man in question turned his head back slightly and raised his left eyebrow in question. Dot was playing with her thumbs nervously while glancing between the two Hargreeves brothers. ”There’s still something we need to warn you about.” She then nervously glanced at Herb who seemed to realize that he had forgotten something (seeing as his smile immediately dropped). Diego looked between the two commissioners and squinted his eyes- ”What’s wrong?”
As always- Five had a very bad feeling about this.
”Um, well, when the Handler called all the assassins here for war- we and the rest of the resistance seized control of the headquarters since there really wasn’t anyone around to stop us from doing so.” Five noticed how Herb seemed to be looking at everything but him and Diego, he also noticed how Herb was seemingly dodging around the main subject of the conversation.
Dot carried on the explanation with equally as small amounts of eye contact and equally as much dodging of the subject at hand- ”We started looking through her office when I happened to notice a file that was open on top of her desk. It was a file for a particular temporal assassin. That in itself doesn’t seem all that interesting- but this assassin was declared dead years ago so I don’t know what she was doing with his file.”
Five pulled his left hand from his pocket to pinch his nose in annoyance. ”Oh just spit it out will ya?” He groaned with an agitated smile. Dot sighed deeply while Herb just slightly shook his head in defeat- ”Do you remember Mikael Nilssen?” Herb asked and finally made eye contact with Five- whose eyes had widened in shock the same second that the name of the supposedly deceased norwegian man had been uttered.
”Mikael Nilssen?” Diego asked- absolutely butchering the pronounciation of the name, but Five didn’t care enough to correct him and apparently neither did Herb or Dot. Instead the conversation just carried on. ”He was one- if not the most skilled assassin at the Commission before Five joined. Not too long before he did, Nilssen’s partner died during a mission and thus he was assigned as Five’s partner since temporal assassins always work in pairs. Commission policy and all that.” Herb explained.
Diego looked over to his brother with a confused look on his face- ”I thought you didn’t have a partner?” Five pinched his nose harder with his hand before pushing it back into his pocket- ”For the most part I didn’t. Nilssen died pretty soon after I joined because he was an idiot that couldn’t handle working with someone no matter who they were.” The brunette spat out the name as if it was venom on his tongue.
He then looked over to Herb and Dot- ”Are you telling me that he’s still alive?” -Disbelief was the one thing clear in his tone. ”We’re not sure. But we also can’t think of any other reason on why the Handler would’ve had his file.” Now it was Diego’s turn to raise an eyebrow- ”What do you mean by that?” He asked and Herb elaborated- ”The Handler obviously wanted to get rid of Five- and so did Nilssen. It wouldn’t be that surprising if she had ordered someone to go back in time to save him as a fail-safe for if Lila ended up failing to kill you. Like she luckily did.”
Diego slapped the back of Five’s head- ”Why do so many people want you dead?” Five only smiled smuggly at Diego’s annoyed expression while rubbing the now slightly aching spot before turning back to the barn and beginning to walk towards it- ”Well then, thanks for the warning I guess. I’ll keep an eye out for dead assassins.” He called out while waving his arm out high in the air.
Diego turned around to follow his littlest-oldest brother, but was stopped when Dot grabbed his shoulder- ”Keep him safe. Nilssen was- is a dangerous man. And it’s safe to say that he might want your brother dead even more than the Handler did.”
Five forced himself to keep his eyes closed for a few seconds after landing- afraid of what he might see when he opened them. Time travel was a crapshoot after all, but luckily once he did open them he saw the familiar walls and floors of the academy (before they got destroyed by Vanya of course.) ”W-What day is it?” Luther mumbled through his obvious discomfort. Five grabbed the newspaper in front of him and glanced over at the date- immediate relief enveloping him almost immediately.
”April 2nd 2019.”
His siblings all made various noises of victory and happiness- Klaus, Allison and Vanya even shared a group hug which Five smiled at as he put the news paper back onto the table. ”I need a drink.” He announced and began to walk toward the bar- being followed by Klaus who was pulling Allison and Vanya by their wrists. From the corner of his eye he saw Luther shrug at Diego before the two followed after them as well.
Five hopped down onto one of the stools and began mixing himself some tequila that definitely wasn’t at all safe for his 13-year old body- but he could worry about that later. Allison looked like she was ready to point out the same thing to him but just gave up with an amused smile- she would definitely make fun of him when they’d have to bring him to the hospital or something equally as horrifying.
”Is it really over? There are no other apocalypses we need to prevent? Nothing else we need to take care of?” Vanya asked in a small voice- her eyes focusing on Five since of course she’d expect him to have the answers to such a question. He took a long sip from his drink before nodding- ”As far as I’m aware, yes.”
Klaus- who was sitting on the stool on his left- wrapped his arms around him tightly and shook him for a moment. Five’s entire body tensed up and he just remained in place, looking like one of those big dogs when they get picked up. He definitely saw both Diego and Allison chuckling at his dumb expression but he honestly couldn’t find the energy to actually care in the moment. Klaus let go of him before he even had the time to find his words to either insult or yell at him any way.
”Wow, you hugged Five. That’s got to be bucket list material right there.” Allison gave a smug smile to Five’s lovingly murderous glare. ”I feel like that’ll be the last hug Five ever gets- he’ll die from that-” Diego pointed to the glass of tequila Five was still holding- ”Before anyone else can catch him by surprise again.”
Five Hargreeves totally non-existent list of things he needs to think about at 5am with a cup of coffee:
-Diego looked at him (Diego loves him?)
-Klaus hugged him
- Luther threw him down the stairs
-Luther blamed him for the 60s
-Vanya blamed him for the 60s
Five layed around on his bed with his arms crossed behind his head, a newly brewn cup of coffee sitting on the bedside table next to his head. The still very much hot steam floated up to the ceiling of his room which told him that it might not be a smart idea to drink it just yet.
His thoughts had been running wildly the entire night- mainly being filled by the thoughts of the two events that had happened earlier that day (or technically yesterday since it was already 3am.) There were two thing that stood out more than the others though- Diego’s speech at the barn, and Klaus’ surprise attack of a hug at the bar. Both acts of love from a brother to another (or in Diego’s case from a brother to siblings.)
Why was Five so shocked about this? Had he subconsciously thought that all of his siblings hated him?
Well, maybe he wouldn’t have been that shocked if they did. Two of them had verbally admitted to blaming him for the fiasco that was the 60s, one of them had taken physical action against him, none of them seemed too happy to be around him (well, except for Klaus. But Klaus was typically an exception anyway.)
Yet two of his siblings had openly shown their love for him- Diego verbally and Klaus physically.
Maybe they were the only ones? Perhaps Allison too blamed him for forcing her to leave her amazing husband behind, not to mention all the racism she had undoubtedly faced. Luther and Vanya had already told him how they blamed him and to top that off Five had also forced Vanya to leave loved ones behind. (Not that any of them could’ve stayed, but it was always easy to blame Five the messanger.)
Was he looking into this too much? Shouldn’t it be obvious that they all loved each other because they were family. (It’s never that simple and he knew it.)
Five pushed himself up into a sitting position and grabbed the now much cooler- yet still quite warm- cup of coffee and took a long sip. The flavour was quite pleasant but not as good as he had hoped it to be. Maybe he should just let Grace brew his coffee from this point forward since everything she made tasted heavenly.
The boy-man looked around his room and felt something close to annoyance envelope his mind. He had only been in his room once after his return and during that time he had been far more interested in writing math on the walls to actually look at the furnishing of his room. Which was way too childish for him. He kind of wished he could redecorate his room- but that would be a waste of his time.
His time. Which he now had a lot of since he didn’t need to constantly look out for signs of an apocalypse.
What was he supposed to do with all that time that he now had so much of? Did people with lots of time on their hands redecorate their rooms that they hadn’t been in for over 50- nearly 60 years? Was that what he was supposed to be doing. ”You should definitely buy some new clothes. Those academy rags need to go Fivey.” He heard Klaus’ voice in his head state. New clothes huh? It wouldn’t hurt to burn all his uniforms.
He took another sip- so new clothes and furniture- somehow that sounded so weird. During the apocalypse he hadn’t got new clothes in months- sometimes even years- and he had been forced to wear broken and dirty clothes that were usually too small for him for days, weeks and sometimes even months.
Why did he have to get stuck in the apocalypse in the middle of his growth spurts?
Five stared down into the abyss that was his pure black coffee, he shook the cup a bit and watched the liquid swirl around for a bit before calming back down. ”What am I supposed to do now?” He asked no one in particular and took a third sip of his coffee- finishing it off at the same time.
He the sound of someone opening his door and closing it. No matter how quiet they were trying to be Five’s room was still quieter in the dead of the night.
He glanced at the door through the corner of his eye-
Mikael Nilsson.
His mug dropped from his hands and bounced off of his bed and onto the ground- immediately breaking upon impact- as Five blinked behind the man and wrapped his arms around his head and neck in an attempt to break his neck. Nilsson grabbed the arm that was wrapped around his throat and threw the much smaller male over his head and ontot he ground (like the swede had done just a few days ago.)
Five’s back hit the ground and he immediately blinked away from the mans next attack (a punch to the gut) he looked around the room and quickly spotted the light switch before blinking to it and turning the lights on. Immediately making the fight a lot more easier for him.
At the same time, he got the first good look at the man he hadn’t seen in who knows how many years. He looked exactly the same, stupidly tall, stupidly muscular, long blonde hair with brown roots that was pulled into a messy ponytail that reached halfway through his back. Light blue eyes that seemed to stare straight into your soul that were being accompanied by thick brown eyebrows that seemed to always be bent downwards in an angry expression. The most familiar thing though was the crazed toothy grin.
The one that he was wearing right now.
”I thought you died.” Five took a fighting stance that felt like a reflex at this point- Mikael only shrugged and shook his head with closed eyes and a smile. ”You probably wished that I had. After all, you must’ve felt a lot safer without me around.” Five let out a humourless chuckle. ”I’d be lying if I said that it wasn’t nice to know that you wouldn’t be in my room trying to murder me every night.”
Five blinked to the spot right in front of Mikael and punched him in the gut. The blonde topled over and gasped- unexpectently punching his hand in Five’s direction and managing to connect his fist with the brunettes face. Five took a few steps back in shock and rubbed his hand against the bruise on his cheek.
”You still punch like a gorilla.” Five muttered with a crazed look in his eyes- he quickly side stepped when Nilssen made a quick recovery and rushed at him with a spin and a kick. Five tried to kick the man behind his knee but he ducked and spun his leg at Five’s feet- effectively knocking him over.
Mikael took the chance he got and stomped his foot down on Five’s torso as hard as he could- the sound of something cracking being burried under the sound of Five’s loud pained grunt. He quickly blinked away to the other side of the room and gently pressed his hand against his ruined chest.
Nilssen rushed forward and slid behind the brunette with the intent to take a strike at his back- Five turned around and jumped back while grabbing the item closest to him (some kind of toy truck from way back when) he jumped forward and blinked toward the man- bringing the toy down at his head.
A mistake. Having the high ground apparently didn’t always mean victory. Damn you Star Wars.
Mikael grabbed his wrist and collar and used his momentum to throw him against the wall behind the two- Five let out a loud gasp which Mikael seemed to greatly enjoy. The blonde broke his wrist with one simple yet greatly efficient move before pulling at the arm with all of his might and dislocating the thing.
He would’ve screamed grunted if a large hand hadn’t closed around his slender neck and squeezed.
Fives useless right arm layed at his side while his left one immediately flew up to grab at the fingers that had wrapped around his throat. Mikael grabbed his left arm and wrenched it up on top of his head- holding it there in place with a strong grip that would not let up.
Tears watered his eyes against his will as he tried to first suck in breath through his nose but ultimately giving up and opening his mouth to try and do the same. The room felt quiet despite the fact that Five’s struggling was actively making a lot of noise.
Desperate gagging and gasping that Mikaels hand was silencing.
His legs firstly kicking at the blonde’s legs and then at the wall behind him- trying to find some kind of staple ground under them because the pressure was too much.
His left hand scratching both Nilssons hand and the wall behind him- trying to do something to be freed.
Five closed his eyes and the salty tears in them were thus allowed to roll down his cheeks and onto the hand killing him. Mikaels smile grew wider as Five’s struggles grew more slow and silent. His left hand had long since stopped working and was now uselessly laying in Nilssons merciless grip.
Mikael released his now equally as useless left hand to go dig around in his own pockets for something. Five’s vision was too much of a blur of hazy pictures to make out what he had retrieved but it couldn’t be anything good. It was maybe white and maybe small but the black spots that danced around his vision didn’t want him to see it. Mikael smirked at him once more before placing the thing in his mouth.
Five closed his eyes.
And then he was thrown to the floor like a useless ragdoll. He quickly and without much thinking swallowed the thing in his mouth to not choke on it and breathed. The first breath was pure agony but he had to get air. He had to. The second, third and fourth gasps were a lot less painful and after that he was breathing.
He looked up to see Nilsson smiling at him- the smile was genuine and it was creepy.
”You put up a good fight Five. Especially considering the quite small body you happen to have nowadays.” The blonde stated with a voice that damn nearly sounded actually impressed. Five rubbed his hand against his throat and swallowed hard- nearly whimpering at the pain it caused him.
Mikael stepped toward him and grabbed his chin between his fingers in a harsh and unforgiving grip. ”I really would’ve liked to play with you for a lot longer. It would’ve been what you deserve but I’m afraid that your family would’ve rudely interrupted us and I would’ve lost my chance at killing you.”
The finger pressed slightly harder as Five opened his mouth to speak, his voice came out raspy and disgusting but he spoke anyway- ”N-News flash asshole, I’m not dead.”
Nilsson’s grin grew to the widest he had ever seen it- ”What do you think you just swallowed?”
Time slowed down as Five finally seemed to register the disgusting taste in his mouth that had appeared as soon as Mikael had put something in his mouth. Five swallowed a few times but the taste and feeling wouldn’t go away no matter what he did. A weird sound came to his ears- laughing maybe- but everything in his eyes and ears was beginning to go distorted and blurry and Five couldn’t do anything to stop it.
The last thing he heard was-
”Goodbye Fi-”
”FIVE!”
Diego woke up to the sound of something crashing. The sound came from one of the rooms in the middle of the hallway where their rooms were all positioned in. He sat up and listened a bit more to the sounds yet heard nothing more. ”Am I really paranoid?” He asked himself in a small whisper before going back under his covers and closing his eyes once more.
Then he heard the sound again.
”Fucking paranoia.” He muttered under his breath while stomping toward the door (grabbing one knife with him for whatever reason) and staring through the dark corridor- wondering if anything was out of place. The only thing he noticed managed to notice was the light shining from under Five’s door. Diego let out a silent curse- was Five really this loud? Jesus christ.
He walked over to the door and grabbed the handle when he suddenly heard the sound of someone speaking from inside. He wouldn’t have been surprised if Five regurarly spoke to himself- but he still grabbed onto the one knife he had taken with him because the voice of a child wasn’t that deep.
Diego opened the door first quietly and slowly, through the small opening his eyes zeroed in on the form of his brother that was laying on the floor- struggling to get away from a much larger man that had his chin in a crushing grip. His lip was bleeding (or the blood was coming from his mouth), his right arm was clearly dislocated while his left arm was shielding his chest protectively. His throat was what looked the worst.
The door to the room flew open- ”FIVE!” Diego exclaimed as he threw the knife toward the arm that was holding his brother. The projectile hit its target and the asshole yelled out in pain as he pulled his hand away from Five (who immediately collapsed onto the ground now that nothing was keeping him upright) and Diego charged at him, throwing a punch that connected right in the middle of his face.
The blonde fell onto his back but before Diego could trap him down and beat the shit out of him he stood up and rushed out of the room. ”Oh no you don’t!” He called out after the man, turning around to chase him when something weakly grabbed at his ankle- Five. ”D-Diego. Wa-Wait.” His younger-older brother coughed out, his voice sounded like someone had stuffed a cheese grater down his throat.
Diego looked between his brother and the door- muttering out a quiet ”Fuck.” under his breath before dropping down onto his knees next to the other brunette. Five immediately grabbed his wrist and stared into his eyes with an unfocused gaze, he opened his mouth- ”P-Poison.” –
And lost consciousness.