Chapter Text
His only proof was the weather, really. Five noted the clearer sky that came with his first jump. The greener leaves.
But the difference was too subtle. Five jumped forward again and was pleased by the snow covered streets. Maybe he should have stopped there, but he was emboldened by the adrenaline rush of success and in no hurry to return home.
Time is on my side, Five thought, Dad's got nothing on me.
So he jumped forward for a third time. Then a fourth.
Five was disappointed by the cars, which looked basically the same, and by the buildings which likewise remained as they had been in 2002. Five doubted himself for a second. Had he just been using spatial jumps this whole time? Tricked by his own optimism?
But jumping through time felt palpably different from space in a way he couldn’t quite explain to himself.
And there had been snow.
Five decided he would jump again in search of more snowy weather, but when he tried nothing happened. He was out of energy.
Well. There would be plenty of time to experiment.
His preoccupation with time travel led him to neglect his surroundings. When he finally decided he should go back to the Academy, Five realized he wasn’t sure exactly how to get there. He’d never gone out on his own before. And maybe the streets were different now. Everything was unfamiliar.
Then again, dear old Dad didn’t exactly take them out on field trips. Only missions. The rest of the time, they stayed home.
Finally a police car rolled to a stop beside him.
"You lost, kid?”
Five scowled. “Just a bit turned around.”
“Come on then.” He opened the passenger side door. “We’ll sort it out.”
Five hesitated.
“I know it’s annoying,” the officer said. “But you’re too young to be out on your own.”
“Says who?” Five said.
“Says me. C’mon Five, just get in the car.”
Five blinked. “You know me?”
“Course I do,” the officer grinned. “You’re famous, little man.”
Of course he was famous. He was part of the Umbrella Academy. Five forced himself to relax and got in the car.
“Little man?” Five scoffed. “I don’t appreciate your tone, officer.”
“Sorry, sorry.” The man cleared his throat and softened his smile. “So you’re on foot today? Finally lost your car privileges?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Five said. “I don’t know how well acquainted you are with the scope of my abilities, but-”
“Everyone at the station is very well acquainted, don’t you worry son.”
He had been prepared to inform the officer that the Five he was familiar with wasn’t necessarily the same as the boy before him, but now he huffed in annoyance. It seemed he hadn’t traveled as far into the future as he would have liked.
“How old do you think I am?” Five said instead.
He was a decent height for thirteen. Not as tall as Luther, but not as stunted as Ben. He could probably pass for older than he was.
“Aren’t you fourteen or so?” The man squinted at him. “Can’t be older than fourteen.”
Maybe he’d just gone a year forward. Two or three at best. It was disappointing, but still a success. Dad didn’t think he’d be able to time travel in the first place, but Five had proven him wrong. That was all that mattered.
“Did I get it right?” The officer asked.
“Sure,” Five said, absently.
Instead of taking Five home, the officer dropped him off at the police station. “Beaman will get you sorted,” he said. “Just ask for him at the front desk.”
Well alright.
Beaman turned out to be a harried man in khakis. Bald, with a trim beard and glasses, he seemed like a gentle sort. But he glared at Five when he spotted him.
“You can’t keep doing this to me, Five,” Beaman said. “I can’t take it.”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” Five said.
Beaman sighed. “You can make all the arguments you want about Montana or wherever, but we’re in New York. You have to be sixteen before you can apply for a learner’s permit.”
The clues clicked in his mind like puzzle pieces and Five grinned. It made sense, he decided, that he would be a prodigy in all things. Even something as mundane as driving.
“Sorry officer,” Five said. “Guess I just like to jump the gun.”
The man blinked. “Detective,” he corrected.
“Of course,” Five said. “Detective. But I wasn’t driving today.”
“You were on foot? Where were you going?”
Five stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Nowhere in particular. Just out for a stroll.”
“A stroll?” Detective Beaman was incredulous. “Officer Castillo said he found you out by Prospect West.”
Five wished he knew street names. Was that a street name? Was it far from the Academy? He'd been walking for hours in his attempt to get home, growing frustrated when the sun went down overhead.
Maybe he'd been walking in the wrong direction.
"I just… got a bit turned around."
“We’ve got a group chat dedicated to you, you know that?" Beaman continued. "Because we promised Diego we’d keep your record clean, but we still have to deal with you.”
“A group what?” Then Five registered the name. “Do you mean Diego Hargreeves?”
Beaman looked as confused as Five felt.
"Yeah? Your brother.”
“What does my record have to do with him?”
Beaman rubbed a hand over his face. “Look, I know you don’t think it’s fair, but the law is plain. Your brother is an adult. You aren’t. That automatically puts him in the role of guardian. Him and all your older brothers.”
Older brothers?
“I see,” Five said. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
The simple fact of the matter was, Five didn’t like looking incompetent. He worded all of his questions carefully so that Beaman wouldn’t take notice that anything was amiss.
Of course there was a part of him that wanted to blurt out for the world to hear: I time traveled! I did it.
Yet the facts, as he received them, clued him in to a growing suspicion that Dad’s warnings must have had some kind of purpose. The old fool may have coated them in fear mongering exaggerations, but Five had to give credit where credit was due. The man did nothing without purposE.
So Five had time traveled and came out the other end with a sound mind and body. Dad had been wrong about that or else he had lied.
And yet there was something significant here that was not adding up. Something that had gone wrong. Whatever year it was, it was far enough into the future that his siblings had reached adulthood. As far as the police force knew, there was only one exception.
Five himself had fallen behind. How? Why? He couldn’t work it out.
It also became clear that Reginald Hargreeves was dead. Perhaps of natural causes; he was old enough, wasn’t he? Being the only minor in the family had left the Five of this time in his brother's custody.
Beaman said Diego would come for him and then directed Five towards a chair in the station's lobby. Five noted, with some irritation, that Beaman’s desk was well within view. The man kept a sharp eye on Five, like he thought his charge would hatch a grand escape.
Whatever. Five had more important things to worry about.
Perhaps, he reasoned, the young Five these police officers were familiar with wasn’t actually native to this point in time. It would make a sort of sense if, having succeeded once, Five made a habit of traveling into the future.
He felt himself warm up to the theory. Of course he would do that. Five wanted to wield his power as much as possible. Wanted to perfect every angle of his abilities.
FoR instance he hadn’t been able to feel the span of years the same way he felt distance in a spatial jump. Was one jump six years or six months? He’d blinked forward randomly. With no control.
The only thing he'd been certain of was a vague feeling of forward. He'd jumped with the unshakable belief that he was traveling toward the future.
Five needed more practice.
And practice he would get. Then these police officers, nosy good samaritans that they were, would be there in Five's future. But a nearby future, not his adulthood.
All they would see was an unaccompanied minor. An inconvenient technicality. Perhaps an obstacle. Five studied Detective Beaman. Committed him to memory.
It made sense that Diego hadn’t clarified matters to the cops. Dad always said it was best to avoid unnecessary confusion when it came to the law. So there was definitely an adult Five, out there somewhere, that these police officers had never met. Maybe that Five had left the city, tired of running into his young doppelganger.
Five was preoccupied with these thoughts, but he kept an eye on every civilian that walked by and wondered if he'd recognize his brother when he saw him.
When a particularly conspicuous man first strode into the station Five didn't think much of him. The guy stood out in a bad way with his grungy patchwork of black leather. That combined with the scar on his head made him look like the shady sort of criminal the Academy dealt with on a regular basis.
But Five accidentally made eye contact and the man beelined toward him.
Five stood up.
“There you are, you son of a bitch!" The man threw his arms around Five in an exuberant hug. "I can't believe you did it!"
Thrown by the show of affection, Five failed to formulate a response.
Not that it mattered. The guy kept right on blabbering. "And after all that shit you said." He laughed and lifted Five clean off his feet, squeezing tightly. "When we got back from the sixties you gave us this whole lecture about the fragility of the timeline and- and damn! I never would have- I mean, Ben's pissed at you, by the way, but I-"
Five teleported a few feet to the left, to free himself from the embrace. "Don't man handle me."
This was supposed to be Diego? His personality seemed closer to Klaus. Just like Klaus he kept right on talking, unbothered by Five's attitude.
"Look, before anyone can give you any grief I just want to say I appreciate you…" He glanced uneasily at Beaman, who was subtly glowering at them. "You know, doing what you did." The man put his hands on Five's shoulders and leaned in, forcing prolonged eye contact. "I'm grateful, alright?"
"I'm going to need more context." Five took a small step back, shrugging off the hands. "What did I do, exactly?"
If anything, congratulations were in order, not gratitude. It was clear that this man was not impressed or surprised to see a version of Five that was years out of place. It confirmed the theory.
"I saw Patch." A broad grin. As if that was supposed to mean something.
This was one of his brothers, right? It had seemed obvious, but maybe this was another police detective. It wouldn't hurt to double check.
"Okay, hold on," Five said. "Let me see your tattoo."
He expected the guy would object, or at least be offended, but instead he readily rolled back his sleeve to reveal the Umbrella Academy tattoo.
"Is something supposed to be wrong with it?" He said. "Did you try to change it?"
Whichever brother was besides the point, Five decided. This man was family and that was good enough for Five.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Five said. "But- oh. Hello."
A small woman had trailed in behind Mr. Grabby Hands. She smiled at Five. "You can give us the details when we get home okay? Everyone has… questions."
He squinted at her for a second and then grinned. "Vanya."
She tilted her head. "Yeah?"
"I knew it was you." He wondered if it would be inappropriate to hug her. Probably, she hadn't initiated one. "I like your hair."
"Um, thank you?" She glanced at Diego/Klaus, who shrugged. "Listen-"
"Take the kid home already!" The detective called from his desk. "It's getting late!"
"Yeah, thanks Beaman," His brother called back. "I'll see you later!"
Putting an arm around Five's shoulder (this was definitely Klaus) the man led him and Vanya out of the station and ushered them into a car.
"Diego." Vanya had taken a seat in the back. "Didn't you have something else you wanted to say?"
Oh. This was really Diego? Good thing he hadn't asked. Probably would have offended him to be compared to Klaus.
Five glanced back at her and raised an eyebrow, but she was frowning sternly at the back of Diego's head.
"I said I was grateful." Diego kept his eyes on the road, grip firm on the wheel. "It counts."
"Those are definitely kind words," Vanya agreed. "But I think I remember you promising something a little stronger."
Five frowned at her. He didn’t like all this confusion. When Vanya finally made eye contact she just grinned and mouthed wait for it.
"I didn't promise shit," Diego grumbled.
Then he glanced at Five. "Uh, if someone wanted to buy you a gift do you have anything in particular you've been wanting?"
Five tilted his head. "Are we talking hypothetically?"
Vanya laughed. "He's talking literally."
"Fine, yeah, I'm talking literally," Diego groaned. "I know asking defeats the whole point, but I don't know what to get you."
"Hmm." Was it for a holiday? Birthday? "What month is it?"
"September, why?" Diego snorted. "You losing track?"
"You'd think it would be important for a time traveler to know when he was going," Vanya said with clear amusement.
Five scowled. It was true that he'd made the trip with no clear destination, but he thought that was reasonable for his first time.
They didn't know this was his first, though. His pride made him reluctant to clarify.
"Getting ready for the group birthday, I see," Five said. "Hey, how old are you guys turning this year?"
He tried to infuse nonchalance into his tone, make it sound like the usual sort of small talk rather than admit that he had no idea what year he was in.
"We're finally hitting thirty," Diego said. "Though it's kind of a technicality, at this point. We're all out of sync."
"Oh man," Vanya said. "Am I the youngest? Is everyone else already thirty one or what? Wait no, Klaus has to be thirty two or so."
Five blinked.
"Yep, you're the youngest," Diego said. "And I'm the second youngest."
"I still don't know how to feel about it," Vanya said.
There was no way to ask without revealing his ignorance, but the curiosity was killing him, "How did you get out of sync?"
"We landed a few years apart, remember? In the sixties.” Vanya reached over to feel his forehead. “Hey, are you feeling alright? You’ve been kind of-”
“You're saying the whole family time traveled,” Five said. “To the 1960s?”
They reached a red light, so Diego turned fully towards him. “Are you going senile?”
“No, you idiot,” Five growled. “Look at me. Isn’t it obvious? My experiences aren’t exactly chronological.”
Diego studied him.
“The light is green,” Vanya said.
Diego continued driving. “I don’t know what you’re trying to get at, man.”
“You would if you were smarter.” Five didn’t have the patience to break it down. He turned back to Vanya, who was still hovering with her hand over him. Like she wanted to feel his forehead again. “So let me get it straight.”
She looked seriously worried. “Are you having memory problems?”
“No,” Five said. “So how did you guys do it? Did Dad find a way to harness my power? Was it for a mission-”
“You’re the one that took us!” Diego said. “Just grabbed us and dragged us back.”
“No kidding. With all of you?”
He never thought he’d be able to stretch his abilities that far. And without technological enhancements? The future sure was looking bright. “That’s amazing. So if I wanted to I could take any of you back to 2002 with me?”
Vanya was getting pale. “Five,” she murmured. “How old are you?”
“Thirteen,” he said. “Why, don’t I look it?”
Diego swore. “What the fuck!”
“You’re from 2002?” Vanya said.
“Jesus fucking christ,” Diego said. “We’re so stupid.”
“Yes, you are,” Five said. “Though I figured you guys have seen me make this kind of jump before, so-”
“Maybe we should go to my place,” Vanya said. “It’s bad if he runs into himself, right?”
“Call Luther,” Diego said. “Ask him if the other Five went home.”
She scrambled to comply.
“Why is it bad if I run into myself?” Five said.
“I can’t believe we forgot his first jump to 2019,” Diego said. “Goddammit, time travel is so confusing! ”
“Hey, Luther?” Vanya said. “We ran into a bit of a problem.”
She was speaking into a phone, presumably, but it looked weird. A thin rectangle. Made of glass or something.
Is that all the future had to show for itself? Weird phones?
"We did find him, but…" Vanya bit her lip. "It's… I mean, it looks like he's the younger Five."
Diego shook his head. "Unbe- fucking- lievable."
Five didn't see what the big deal was. Apparently there was a type of illness that afflicted time travelers in close proximity to their past or future selves.
It sounded like another one of Dad's fear mongering exaggerations, but Five humored their concern.
Also, he thought it was impressive that Vanya had her own apartment.
Diego dropped them off and peeled away, saying something about the public library. The older Five was presumed to be there, though the place was long past closing.
Vanya chatterer nervously as she let him into her apartment. "We were going to eat dinner together today. We were just waiting for you."
"The older me."
"Yeah." Vanya turned the lights on. "So, um, it's not much. I don't have a guest bedroom or anything, but you can borrow the couch."
Five nodded, taking in their surroundings. It was a small place, but it had a cozy feel to it. There was sheet music on a table, books with cracks on the spines on her bookshelf.
The bookshelves at the Academy were pristine. Books were displayed for show and Dad got prissy if Five tried to actually read them. Fancy first editions. Expensive vintage collections.
Stick to the assigned reading if you would, Number Five.
"I figure the inter- the dinner, um, that it's canceled now," Vanya continued. "Do you want a flutter nutter sandwich?"
He grinned. "You have marshmallows?"
"Of course."
"Wow." He shifted closer to her and tried to figure out which of them was taller. But they were basically tied. "I guess some things never change."
She nodded. "Hey Five?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I give you a hug?"
He shrugged. "You don't have to ask."
She hugged him, but not the way he was used to. It was a light touch, more like her arms were hovering than grabbing him.
Vanya's arms were trembling slightly. Fluttering like the curtains on her windows.
There was something oddly fragile about her. Five put his own arms around her and gave a firm squeeze.
A book fell off the shelf behind them and he startled. Vanya sprang back. "Sorry!"
She bent to pick it up. "Um, I'll go make that sandwich."
"Okay," Five said. "I'll close the window."
He warped over to it and realized the window was already closed.
"Huh," Five said. "I thought the wind…"
"I have super powers," Vanya blurted.
He looked at her.
"It's a long story," she added.
He laughed light heartedly. "I've got all the time in the world."
She laughed too. "I guess you do, huh?"
He warped into a casual sitting position on a nearby couch. "So powers huh? When did that happen?"
"I found out right after dad died…"