Chapter Text
There was always a moment when you realise that everything was about to go to shit.
Five had experienced plenty of these moments over the years. Of course, these moments had only increased in frequency after he reunited with his family. He wouldn't trade them for the world, but sometimes they were just so, so, so...idiotic.
Like now, for example.
You know, when everybody's shouting at you to not do something, it's usually an indication that you probably shouldn't. But, unfortunately, Allison had no common sense.
"Allison, don't do it!" Five shouted.
"Wait!" Klaus shouted at the same time.
Everyone was shouting- well, as strongly as they were able, considering their weakened condition. Again, if everyone was shouting- nay, begging for you to not do something, why would you do it? The answer is, you are a Hargreaves, and Hargreaves always do the most fucked up shit imaginable.
So, it was inevitable: Allison pushed the button, and the world glitched into static.
y̴̧̬̮̯͓̎͛̄̃̇̎Ọ̶̘̼̙̦͇̳̗̜͔̹͔͈͇̽͋̈́̉́̑͐̀̀̓̑̉̍͜͠͝u̶̢̨͎̙͕̬̖͚̣̤̺͋́͗͒̇͋̑ͅͅ ̵̡̘̳̍A̷̛͇̤̩̼̙̗̐͌͊̉̃̚̚r̵̛̳̦̼͉̟͍̱͚̗͇̻̒̉̂̈ͅE̸͍̤̻͔̞̎̈́̑
When Five opened his eyes, it was sunset.
A glance around told him that none of his siblings were around. Perfect. What the fuck had Allison done?
It definitely wasn't the Hotel, for sure. It was someplace in the middle of nowhere- just the open road. As a test, he quickly blinked out and landed on the other side of the road.
Right. His powers were still intact. That was good at least. Despite the whole timeline being reset, it seems that some things just stay the same. Now, all he had to do was make up a plan. How difficult could that be?
(Very difficult, considering his dumbass siblings).
Step 1: he would need to find his siblings somehow. They could be anywhere, but at least they would be able to somewhat protect themselves. Step 2...was that required? For once, he relished in the fact that there was no apocalypse, no disaster. As far as he knew, anyway, the timeline being reset allowed for the cycle of apocalypses to end. In fact, he didn't even need to rush to find his siblings.
For once, he shut down that feeling that something was off. He'd take anything over dealing with another apocalypse.
At least, even if some things were different in this timeline, his siblings, as well as himself, would be relatively safe. After all-
"Sorry!" A voice apologised quickly.
Five had found himself on the ground, knocked down by a figure- probably a tween. A scrawny figure with curly brown hair, and...yeah, something was definitely wrong with this timeline. In no timeline whatsoever would a tween...have hooves. Those looked real. Fuck. It was probably fine...at least it wasn't an apocalypse, right? He'd take hooved tweens over that. Yup. True.
"That's fine," Five responded a little curtly. "If you don't mind me asking-"
"Huh?" The tween responded, before following his gaze and freezing.
"Your feet." Five raised an eyebrow, deciding to voice his concerns.
"You can-" The tween responded, before his nose wrinkled a bit, making Five wince. "Huh...are you a half-blood? I haven't seen you-"
Suddenly, a roar sounded in the distance. Five saw a strange shadow-figure in the distance.
"Schist," The tween looked back worriedly. "I'm Grover. Let's go- hurry!"
Well, good as a mystery as ever.
"Fine. I'm Five."
After another period of running, they rested in a small clearing next to the road.
"Who are you, anyway?" Five asked. "You never explained...that."
"I'm a saytr," Grover said.
Five blinked. "Greek mythology?"
"Yeah, and you're a half-blood," Grover responded. "You know, a demigod?"
"Pretty sure I'm not," Five said with absolute certainty. After all, the details of the birth of those children...it was a 'miracle', sure, but nothing that had to do with mythology.
"You haven't ever seen things you shouldn't?" Grover responded, "Creatures, anything?"
Well. Five doubted anything in the other timelines counted, and that stuff was just bullshit anyway.
"Dyslexia? ADHD?" Grover continued.
"No," Five replied simply.
"But you smell like-" Grover frowned, before sniffing the air again. "We have to keep moving."
"Keep moving from what?" Five hated being in the dark.
"Oh, you don't want to know," Grover responded. "Keep running,"
Damn, if only Five could blink right now.
They didn't speak much over the next couple of hours. From what Five could gather, Grover was a lunatic, but unfortunately, Five needed more answers. That meant he had to stick with Grover, no matter how ridiculous the very notion was. He was certain whatever was chasing them could be simply defeated, but if he did so, he would lose Grover. Fuck. By the time they reached their destination, it was midnight.
They were at a beach in Long Island. It was a beautiful place, to be sure. She would of liked it. Grover went to one of the cabins, gesturing for Five to run after him. It was pouring rain, but still the strange creature Grover was so intent on avoiding was behind them. Grover knocked on the door frantically.
"Open please! Percy!" Grover shouted.
The door flew open. It revealed a lady with gentle brown hair and soft eyes filled with worry. There- Grover would be distracted. Five turned and blinked away to find whatever this creature was.
(If he stayed for a second longer, he would've seen Grover attempt to introduce Five, only to realise that Five was missing and promptly freak out.)
It was seven feet tall. It was practically made of muscle. A fucking snout. Look, Five wasn't an idiot. This was obviously the Minotaur. Which means that Grover wasn't completely delusional. He was just delusional about Five being anything but mortal. Five looked around- there had to be something he could use as a weapon. There was nothing- and who knew whether this monster was immortal, too? He would need something sharp to pierce that hide. Unfortunately, the sharpest thing near him was those horns, which glinted in the rain. And faced him.
Five blinked out of the way of the Minotaur charging towards him. Suddenly, time itself slowed around him.
That's new, he thought absentmindedly.
He's reversed time, he's time travelled...but time just slowing down? That was interesting.
He used the opportunity to blink up onto the Minotaur's head. Too late, he realised that was a bad idea- he had nothing to try and break off the horn with. He looked around. The Minotaur was still moving slower than a snail, time trickling to almost a halt. Five blinked once more and found a good sized rock. It was the closest thing he could find- the most useful, even, which said wonders for his current predicament.
He blinked back upon the Minotaur's head, and started to smash the rock, hammering away at the horns.
Time truly is the greatest resource. Five could spend however long he needed. When he had managed to knock both horns off, he spun them in his hands like two knives. He kicked up from the Minotaur's head, and slammed them downwards into the Minotaur's eyes. With that, time resumed back to normal, and Five landed on his feet. In front of him, the Minotaur dissolved- disintegrated- into nothing. All the evidence was left in the two horns which Five held in his hands. Clutching them, Five blinked back, only to find that everyone was gone.
Then, he heard the screams. Unfortunately, Diego had influenced him too much, as he found himself trying to find the source.
He entered the scene just to see a bat lady dissolve the lady from before into golden light. Another tween (Percy?) fell to his knees, and Grover met his eyes, then his eyes flitted down to the horns in Five's hands. They widened slightly.
Oh, fuck. Five did not want to deal with this shit.
But hey, at least it isn't the apocalypse. Just...mythology come to life. Reginald must be so smug for forcing Five to memorise The Odyssey now.