Archive of Our Own ^beta

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He didn't know what happened. Before he could open his eyes he was hitting the ground. It was solid, almost like some kind of stone. He could hear the footsteps of multiple people but he couldn't see them. That is when he realized that he had his eyes closed.

He opened them as he sat up and looked at the people before him. They all had some sort of familiarity to their faces and yet he doesn't remember ever meeting them before. The last thing he remembered was running away from home. Nothing more nothing less. These people looked strangely like his siblings but that wasn't possible since they were still kids like himself.

They stared at him in shock as he mirrored the expression. "Does anyone else see a little Number Five or is it just me?" That sounded an awful lot like something Klaus would say. It reminded him of his not so older brother and at this moment he couldn't help but miss him. He looked around to at least see where he was and was even more shocked when he was in his childhood home.

But that didn't answer the question as to why all these people were here. Dad hated company and would try to avoid it at all costs. But he couldn't see a sign of the man anywhere, he would never let company, if he so chose to invite, wander around the mansion alone. He would always keep track of them, watching like a hawk which is why most of the time they left quickly.

"Five, are you okay?"

He looked at the lady's outstretched hand. She had light brown hair and he voice was quiet, gentle like his sister Vanya. Her eyes were so inviting and yet insecure. He had some strange amount of trust for the woman that he never met.

But the fact that she knew his name was a red flag in his book. He ignored her hand as he stood up himself. He wasn't too hungry but he needed to get out of this situation somehow. Maybe he could find mom and get some kind of information about these strangers. He jumped into the house with barely a sound.

Their mom had to be somewhere around here considering that she never left the house unless it was in search of groceries. The people ran from the courtyard behind him while he was trying to get away. He couldn't lie and not say that he wasn't intimidated. Especially by the big one with the huge jacket. He ran around the mansion until he made it to his room and locked the door behind him breathing heavily as he slid down the door.

He could hear knocks and shouts of his name but he didn't want to face whoever those people were. He had a feeling that he knew them somehow, or that they knew him but anytime he tried to recollect his memory it made his head throbbed. From how they were banging he didn't think that he could stay in here much longer. He looked around his room, if not for a little aged it looked the same way that he left it. Now that it had come to his attention, everything looked a little aged.

So it could be a possibility that those people were...not possible. He had 6 other siblings but there were only 5 out there. If they were his siblings his then he feared what happened to one of them. When all of them were gathered in one place and  one was missing. He thinks back to their faces, the blond-haired man remained him a lot of Luther.

Though his powers was super-strength it wouldn't make sense for him to have a body like that. The point of super strength was that it was disguised as a normal person. It was supposed to be unexpected, and yet there was so much to be expected by that man. But still, he looked like his brother. And the other one with black hair and an unnecessary amount of leather. He had some muscle to him and he had knives on his waist.

A lot like his brother Diego. And his eye...the puppy eyes and- and. The stutter. They weren't allowed out of the house unless it was a mission. He never heard anyone else with that kind of stutter anywhere.

He could hear the people talking behind the door when they finally decided to stop banging on the door, he leaned to it just to listen. "No. It can't be him. H-h-he left years ago." He wasn't interested in what they were talking about. He heard Diego take a calming breath after he stutters on "he" for a bit which was something that he learned from their mom. No doubt if not anyone else, that was his sibling. He jumped behind the door again, facing all the strangers and Diego.

"Five, what the hell?"

He looked at the brown-skinned woman. She talked a bit before it looked like she realized that he didn't know who she was. He walked to the kitchen, pass all of the strangers to get some food. It felt like it's been a while since he ate and since these strangers were prancing around free it seemed that his father wasn't home. He could eat anything that he wanted at any time as long as he cleaned up before he got back.

He just assumed that the rest of his siblings were on some kind of mission for them to not be home at this time but he wasn't going to volunteer to go if he didn't have to. He heard the strangers whispering behind him while he was looking for the ingredients to make a sandwich. "Five, do you not remember us?" He paused and turned around. He looked at them all individually before stopping at Diego, who was leaning against a wall barely paying any attention to the conversation.

He was completely sure that, that was his brother, now older but still. They all followed his eye-line and also paused when they got to Diego. "What?" "You sure you don't remember...someone else?" He struggled and went back to his sandwhich. He was 13 give him a break.

"Five." She grabbed his shoulder and turned him to face her.

"We're your siblings." He looked at the woman for a few seconds. She did look similar to Allison when he saw her up close. But she just looked so much older. Not the siblings that he left, not close at all.

It was easy to figure out who was who because their appearance didn't change all that much. Personality either, especially Klaus who still had the same playful personality as before. But someone was missing, who was it? He counted them him his head and like before, he only counted 5. He was missing a brother, an important brother. "Where's Ben?" They all got quiet and awkwardly looked around the room.

Anywhere but Five.

Klaus was the only one that looked him straight in the eyes. "He's 6 feet under brother o mine." Five felt like maybe it was some kind of metaphor but then Klaus pointed to something out of the window. Five followed where he was pointing and his heart dropped to his feet.

"Oh."

That was all he could say. He tried to push the grief down as he wondered what happened. "But he's still here right?" There was nothing less than a hopeful gleam in his eyes. That was their brother's power, of course, he would be able to see Ben, it was his thing. "Of cour-"

"Klaus don't even start." Luther didn't let him finish. Which was rude in Five's opinion but he guessed that his opinion was very important right now. "He can't." "Why not? It's his power."

He knew that he had been dabbling in some drugs when they were 11, but it was his power. True, certain things could affect their powers. Drinking obviously which they learned from Klaus at a very young age, energy, there was a surplus of things. "He can't use his powers when he's high." Klaus looked at him with his lip poked out.

"What? If he's as young as he looks we're not going to lie to him." He saw Klaus look at a spot next to him before nodding and staying quiet. "I believe him." "You're like..3, of course, you would." Yup. Still the same siblings.

They were all older so they had to have been at least 10 years into the future. "Five it's been 17 years. Where have you been?" Okay, so way more than 10 years into the future. Where the hell did he go? "I don't know. The last thing I remember is jumping somewhere in 2002. And then I woke up here."

They were all quiet for a second. "So you don't know where you went?" He shook his head. He thought as much as obvious. Looks like it was time to trace his steps.

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It was hard to remember. Maybe it was a lot to remember or maybe he took a really bad hit to the head. Either way, he couldn't remember anything. He was relieved when he learned that their father was dead. Unlike any other child would be, he was glad.

He could do what he wanted now, leave when he wanted, eat what he wanted. It wasn't like he wasn't doing that before their father died but now he didn't have the risk of getting caught. To say he was happy was an understatement. They went to the funeral and then they left Five sat in his room for a while trying to remember just what happened to him. Clue number one, he was covered in dirt and a suit that was way too big for him when he got here.

His face had dirt as well as his clothes and most of the clothes weren't matching either. It looked like the outfit was more for useability than actual fashion. He couldn't help but think of one of those cheesy movies from the early '90s about some kind of apocalypse. Which was highly unlikely but like the nerd he was, he wrote it down as a possibility. Clue number two, when he was changing out of his clothes to put on his academy uniform, he found a glass eye in his pocket.

Not sure where he got it from and he was pretty sure that he still had both of his eyes. Which made him think about where, or who it came from. He was sure that he didn't have it before he left, it came with his rugged clothes and very messy hair. He kept hold of it in case it meant something. And there was a voice ringing around his head.

By default, he called her Deloris. A voice of reason perhaps, that he wasn't sure that he had before. There was so much that could have happened to him for him to end up here. It was hard to narrow it down to just 1 thing. But he had a bad feeling about the next few days.

He couldn't shake the feeling that something big was going to happen. He sighed as he ran his hand through his hair irritated. Maybe he needed a change of scenery. Vanya didn't tell him where she lived but luckily she didn't need to. He followed the cab yesterday to make sure that she made it home safely and he wasn't one to forget directions easily.

So he used his power and jumped to her apartment. It seemed like nobody was home and her door was locked. Luckily for him, the window was not, he was going to have to talk to her about that. It was better than the mansion in a lot of ways, it was cozy and not too big to be uncomfortable. Surely she wouldn't mind him making himself at home.

He knew that she would be at practice right now there was no point in waiting for her to get home. He set his notebook down on the coffee table as he started to go over equations and the possibility that there would be an apocalypse. The more he thought about it the more it made sense. If he didn't remember how he got here then maybe he wasn't in a memorable place. Or a place that didn't have enough to remember. Or maybe…this place had a little too much to remember, things that were bad and that his mind blocked out for his own safety.

And the random dust and the glass eye. There was something that he was missing. He decided to move on as he looked at the other possibilities. He must have fallen asleep at some point because when he woke up it was morning and there was a blanket wrapped around him.

He checked on his now older sister before he went to Griddy's. It was different from when he last saw it but of course, it would look like that after almost 2 decades. He ordered from the nice lady "Agnes" is what her name tag read. He didn't know when he started drinking coffee but it came out before he could think. "Coffee. Black."

He didn't feel like eating but he should have probably gotten something. He regretted it as his stomach rumbled while he walked. He was going to get to the bottom of this. He sat in the grass as he tried to think. He pushed his brain to remember what happened past when he jumped.

But he got nothing. It was blank, he jumped and he felt something warm no, hot. And then he landed in the courtyard. What happened between that? He pushed for something, anything.

But he came up with nothing but a headache that pulsed behind his eyes. A whole lot of something was missing. If only he could figure out what it was, it would give him the answers to all the questions he had. Maybe if he tried to reenact it he would be able to remember. He went back to the front entrance of the mansion.

He walked forward like he did the first time, pretending to jump and not see the stares he was getting. He closed his eyes as he felt the hotness and then nothing. He stood there trying to figure out what it meant. Maybe he jumped to some kind of desert, that would make a lot of sense. But at the same time not at all.

The clothes, how would he get that in the middle of the desert? And there was no sand in his hair when he got here. He didn't know where he went but wherever it was, was a warm place. Overly warm. The only other thing he could remember was the smell.

It smelled like cooked meat, but other than that there were no more clues. He could only imagine a place like that.

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Over the course of the next few hours, he started to see things. More like people. There were random memories of him. They weren't enough to put together into a story but it was a glimpse of where he went. He was sitting at his desk writing when the first one came. 

The vision of himself looking around frantically in the middle of nothing. There was nothing but destruction around him. The rubble of what used to be the city. And behind him was the rubble of what used to be the academy that they were sitting in at this moment. Then it was gone just as fast as it came. 

He could feel what he felt at that moment. Panic, scared, hot. It was so much at one time. That didn't give much information as to what happened. Other than everything getting destroyed, by something or someone who didn't know what they were doing. 

There was nothing but dead bodies for miles from what he could see in the vision. What was it that caused something so bad? He tried to catch his breath as he rubbed his hands on his shorts to get the sweat off so that he could at least grip the pencil. That was one of the things that he least expected and he was starting to think that he didn't want his memory back as much as he thought, because wherever he had gone had been hell.

 He could barely focus his eyes on the paper as he felt a chill go through his body. He tried not to focus on it too much but it just kept popping up in his head. He shook his head to get rid of the thoughts as he went back to writing as he was before. It was strange but he didn't say anything about it. He thought that the one vision would be the end of it.

 But he was in for more than a surprise. He was sitting on his bed with a book when the next one came. Thankfully he hasn't had one around his siblings yet because he could feel how he would freeze up when one was coming. They would all try to ask questions after and he wouldn't be able to answer because he didn't even know what was happening. He tried not to let himself submit to it, trying to push it to the back of his mind but that never stopped it. 

He was walking, to where he didn't know and then he was there. He couldn't see any faces but he grabbed the glass eye out of the hand of what he assumed to be a dead man. He shook as he holds it tight in his hand. Whoever it was must have been important to him because in the flashback he shed a tear which was unusual for him. He hoped that the man was at peace because whatever happened had to have been painful. 

He tried not to think about what it must have felt like but it was human nature to be curious. Was it a fireball that destroyed the world? Is that why it was so hot in here at the moment. He could feel himself shaking while he sat on his bed, the book forgotten about in favor of trying to figure out what happened. Over the next few hours, there were just visions of him walking around and talking to the voice that he named Deloris.

 And then there was some lady with red lipstick. He didn't know who it was but she felt familiar. Nobody could ever forget that shade of red lipstick. And then he was at a building that he had never seen before with a lot of people who were looking up to him. In the next vision, he was holding a gun. 

Something that he had never done before but looked to be well trained in, in the flashback. Then there were multiple sounds of gunfire in the course of many, many flashbacks. The sound of a gun firing and then a body hitting the floor. He couldn't see who was holding the gun but he knew that it had to be someone he was with because he didn't even know how to use a gun. And then every vision was just red and red and red.

 Not the bright vibrant red of the lady in the lipstick but the dark wine red, the color of blood. On his skin. Why did he go with this person everywhere if they were always going to kill someone? It didn't make sense to him. He was still a kid of course, who would show such vile things to a child?

 And then he was wearing a suit, and he was the one holding the gun, but he couldn't remember ever firing it. All he saw was the aftermath of whatever happened. There were sounds of his name everywhere. "Agent Five, Agent Five!" People called him agent like they were in some kind of spy movie and he couldn't help but wonder where they were.

 He could see suitcases everywhere. Everyone had a suitcase, and a suit and they wore these strange things on their heads. Animal mask? That's what it looked like. He was sure that he was somewhere shady but the woman kept bribing him saying that she would get him to his family.

 He didn't know who she was but he could already tell that she was shady. Something about her wasn't right. The way that she would touch him, her long red nails trailing alongside his jaw. The way that she would comment on his body or clothes or just anything. And her hands would always be on him most likely because she knew that he didn't like to be touched. 

He wasn't going to lie and say that he was not intimidated by her. Intimidated and extremely confused about how he let himself end up in this situation. He tried not to be bothered by it but this woman's whole vibe just threw him off. If he did meet her and this wasn't some twisted dream then he wasn't planning on meeting her again. He decided to chill at Vanya's house for the day.

 It's not like she minded the first time so what harm could it do? She seemed to enjoy being a big sister and as much as he didn't want to admit it, he liked being the little brother. They all treated him like the little asshole he was but they had limits now it wasn't just teasing they seemed to think before they said certain things. There was one last vision that he had, it was Vanya in an all-white suit and pale skin. Her eyes were an eclectic blue which was a big contrast to her honey brown eyes. 

Something shot out of her chest into the moon and a huge chunk falls towards them. But that part couldn't be real. 

Could it?

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Five wasn’t sure what the last vision was about but he didn’t want to dwell on it for too long. If what he saw was true he needed to hang around Vanya way more to figure out what made her do it. So he stayed at her house and just waited. She got back from her practice and she was getting ready to start doing her lessons. Five personally thought that she was a great teacher, especially for kids.

She had the patience and the talent. What he wasn’t expecting was for a grown man to walk in claiming that he wanted to start learning. Not at all strange how he looked at him when he walked in. Vanya looked at him like she was waiting for him to leave and Five looked back. He wasn’t going anywhere.

He was giving Five the same vibe as the lipstick lady. He was more than strange and creepy and Vanya just couldn’t see it. So as her brother, it was his job to protect her. She ignored him as she started to teach the weird guy. Five tried to pretend that he wasn’t listening while he read a book.

“I didn’t know you had any children.”

Five looked up when the man said that. Why would he know? From the way he said it, it sounded like he knew her personally. She seemed to get more comfortable with him throughout their time together in the lesson so he’ll just give her a pass. “Huh? Oh. OH, no that’s my brother.”

It took her a while to get what he was saying but her face was red from the misunderstanding. Five did a sarcastic smile as he waved slowly at the man. The man did the same. “As in, from the Umbrella Academy?” Five wasn’t going to judge him. Most of the people that were grown now were kids when they were.

Of course, he would know about the academy. And Vanya had written a famous book, a lot of people knew that she was a U.A. kid. It was no secret and they didn’t try to make it one.

“Yup.” The guy has a strange look in his eyes when he looked at Five. “Lenard Peabody nice to meet you both.” Vanya was nice enough to at least introduce herself but Five just got up and went to Vanya’s kitchen to find something to eat. She had the kitchen mostly stocked and even went out to get some marshmallows for him to make something that he would eat. He ignored the sputter from the guy as he got his food and sat back down with his book this time with his back turned to them but at an angle that he could only see Vanya.

He didn’t like this guy at all and he was taking forever to leave. It wasn’t Five’s apartment but since it was for his sister it was his in relation. The guy finally left and Five would be lying if he said that he didn’t let out a sigh of relief. Vanya seemed to like him and like most siblings would do she asked for his opinion and it was her fault for telling him to be honest.

“I hate him.”

Her face fell before she put on another smile which turned into a laugh. She knew that he wasn’t joking but she thought it was funny how blunt he was being. He had always been like that but hearing it first hand after also 2 decades, she couldn’t hold it in. And her laugh made Five smile, it wasn’t anything big but you could tell that he was amused.

They started to hang out way more after that. Vanya had forgotten how fun it was to hang out with Five. Five kept waiting and the visions were bad on one particular day. April 1st, and call it childish but he thought that his mind was playing a trick on him for April fools. The same vision of Vanya’s “powers” came up multiple times and especially during the afternoon.

So he waited and waited and nothing ever happened. But he did happen to find the red notebook that dad carried everywhere. Pogo had fished it out of wherever Klaus had thrown it and they all read it. What they read was more than shocking, and seeing that Vanya had powers? Never thought that he would see the day.

It was almost midnight now and Five decided to take a walk. It’s been a while since he was able to relax like this, he just had a feeling. He was walking around, just the park for a bit. There were still some people out but it was mostly teens smoking and kids asking their parents to stay a little longer. It was dark but he just sat under one of the streetlights on a bench next to a tree.

There was nobody else there so he would be able to read his book in peace without anyone to interrupt him for now. It was a public park so he didn’t take much notice when a woman sat on the bench next to him. He scooted a bit to give her more room since she did sit kind of close to him and continued reading. “Agent Five.” He almost didn’t notice that she was talking to him.

He looked up at the woman who had a newspaper mostly covering the lower half of her face. She sounded familiar but he couldn’t put where he heard her from. She had grey hair with a small tilted black hat. Along with some gold pearl earrings and a black dress. She was wearing heels and her hands were kind of tight on the paper like she was going to tear it.

“Yes?” She pulled the paper down and that’s when he noticed. The red lipstick, that specific shade. The woman that he said he would never want to run into. She seemed to enjoy watching him freeze up as a devilish smile appeared on her face. He didn’t know what to say or do so he just listened.

“When are you coming back to the commission?”

He looked at her more confused than he had before. Commission? What the hell was that? That thought was evident on his face. He had no idea what she was talking about and was not too keen on the answer. If the commission was what he thought it was then he sure as hell was not going anywhere with her.

He could care less what she thought about it. But he was sure that woman was not going to take no for an answer. Maybe previous experience or he just knows how to pick his battles but this is not one that he wants to fight. He was sure of that.

There was a moment of silence before the woman laughed. Five did not, he failed to see what was so funny. “You were our best killer. Be a shame to waste such young potential.” Killer? He doesn’t remember killing anyone much less working for whoever this woman was.

He didn’t think that the person he had been seeing was him. The person who was killing couldn’t be him. He was a hero, that’s what he was raised to be. “I’ll give you some time to think about it.” The woman got up and he listened to the sound of her clicking heels as she walked away.

He didn’t believe it, especially because it was this strange lady that asked him. After all, it was April fools day, or could have been some kind of dare. But that woman looked too accurate for it to be a coincidence, something was up. There was no use trying to look up information about the commission because it was nowhere to be found. For all he knew it could be something made up.

He tried not to think of it but that shade of lipstick was very prominent. It was hard to miss something like that. The color was buried into his head as he walked down the street. The visions weren't better at all maybe they had gotten worse from so much happening in a day. He went back home for their family dinner which had been initiated by Allison.

She thought that they should take this time to hang out after years or not doing so. And like siblings usually do, they would bicker the whole time or they would ignore each other. There was some in between but it wasn't important. There was always a seat open for Ben. He deserved it, and as much as the other siblings didn't believe Klaus, Five trusted him 200%.

He lied about a lot of things but this would not be one of them. Speaking of Klaus he looked way more tired than usual. He had bags under his eyes and he was moving sluggishly. His eyes were a surprising shade of red and if anyone knew any better they could say that he hadn't been sleeping well. He looked like he had a headache as he winced whenever the light met his eyes.

Was he sick? He should have told someone, Five wouldn't mind taking care of them. Pogo had fixed Mom but that didn't mean that Five didn't want to play Docter. Another vision appeared when he thought they were over. The woman in the red lipstick, her hands trailing everywhere.

His jaw, shoulder, leg, and back up. A shiver went through him as he tried to shake the image out of his head. Which he was successful in but that didn't make the phantom touches of what was go away. He tried to ignore it once again like he did most things. But it just wouldn't go away, saying that it was a distraction was an understatement.

Five decided to ignore it as he went back to his food. They all ate and then he took Klaus to the infirmary which looked like he wasn't planning on telling anyone he was sick. When Five asked what it was he said something like, "Drawback's a bitch." And then he laughed and winced as the action made his head hurt. Drawback means...he's getting clean.

No matter the reason his brother, at the ripe age of 29 is going to finally stop his drug addiction. Five was happy that he was getting clean what for he didn't know but he thanked that person in his head. He didn't think too much, the day hadn't been too bad and Klaus had finally fallen asleep with the IV drip in his arm. Five decided to go to bed too since it was pretty late. He jumped into his room and was about to walk to his bed when he paused.

The lady with the red lipstick was standing in the middle of the room with 2 people on either side of her with their masks on holding huge guns. He almost wanted to run, this was more than intimidating, this was scary. "Times up." Five was still confused. He was slowly inching back.

"You're coming with us."

It wasn't a question this time, he didn't have a choice. But when you're Five, you always have a choice. And he's choosing not to be dumb about this. If he made so much as a sound, all of the other siblings would be running to his room.

It wasn’t a hard choice to make but that didn’t mean that he would be smart. He was a child, and in moments of panic, it seemed like he was not doing well. He jumped into the living room without a second thought and he could hear the shots going off behind him. All of his siblings looked at him with wide eyes when remembering that Klaus’s room wasn’t too far from his own. He turned back again and took Klaus with him while the others stood their ground.

He got behind them while he held Klaus close and hoped that he was alright. Diego wrestled the guns out of their hands with some newfound power while Luther tied them up with something he found around the house. The Handler smiled at all of them, “Well, I wasn’t planning on meeting the Hargreaves family like this. But that doesn’t make it any less exciting.” The room was an unsteady rush of air.

Everyone was tense not wanting to be too careful around this woman. She looked dangerous and the lipstick made it hard to take your eyes off of her. “I’m coming to collect what’s mine.” Her eye pointed at Five who was trying to ignore her in favor of checking on Klaus. He was still breathing but he was pale and sweaty.

He was somehow still asleep even after all of the commotion and part of Five was glad about that. “What do you want with him?” He could feel Vanya try to shield him from the lady’s view with her small body. “Let’s just say…somebody broke a contract.” They could see Vanya fall back as the clicking of heels filled the room.

“Oh…children.” Grace walked into the room and immediately stopped as if she had interrupted something. “Mom. You need to go, it’s not safe here.” Diego tried to usher her out but she had a firm look on her face. It was unlike anything they had seen before.

She looked between the kids and then to the woman with the lipstick. “What’s going on here?” She could see that the woman wasn’t invited in was all of the children were tense. “Nothing, mom go back in the kitchen.” She did listen but she didn’t take her eyes off the woman the whole time.

She watched from the kitchen because what the children didn’t know was that she was built with weapons. Just in case the children couldn’t protect themselves. She watched and waited. “Seems like you haven’t had enough time to collect your thoughts. Your last chance.”

She held her suitcase tighter. Five didn’t say anything. “Five what is she talking about?” Vanya whispered back to him. “I don’t know.” And he didn’t.

There was a very vague idea but he was just hoping that it wasn’t what he thought. “Fine. Just don’t be too surprised tomorrow when your present arrives.” Whatever she was giving him wasn’t going to be good. He had a feeling. After she left he went to check the damage in his room.

It wasn’t too bad, it looked like most of the shots were for show because there was only 2 in the walls. Now to wait for the present whatever that might be.

Chapter Text

He didn't sleep the whole night too paranoid about what the lady had left for him. There were so many possibilities of what could be. And because he didn't sleep, nobody else slept either. Their mom even skipped her charging session to run on some backup batteries. Everyone was on edge, not knowing when the present would come.

The only one that was sleeping was Klaus for obvious reasons. Klaus would wake up now and then to check on everyone else. It looked like someone was waking him up periodically because he woke up at odd times and he would look at the arm of the couch before parroting whatever he had been told. Like always Luther just assumed he was high and ignored whatever he said but everyone else could see the effort. It was 7 am, when they decided that nothing was going to happen.

They all stayed up the whole night and nothing happened. They were all tired and some of them had work. They didn't have any more time to sit around. Luther went upstairs to look through dad's office because it wasn't like he could do much about it. Klaus stayed on the couch and slept, there was no need for the IV anymore and everyone could feel mom's eyes above the living room checking every 30 minutes.

They collectively decide that Five shouldn't leave the house alone. They had no idea what could be coming and everyone else was scared to leave the house out of fear that he would be gone when they got back. Mom had disappeared for a second to check the security cameras to make sure that nobody was in the house or close to coming in. She was as paranoid as a robot could be and the others who didn't see her as human as Diego could certainly see it now. When she had finally gotten back she decided to make everyone breakfast which could count as stress cooking for anyone who looks too deep but nobody bothered her.

She went to Klaus last because she didn't want to wake him. He ordered something for Ben but not himself. She wasn't sure if she was allowed to not believe him. She always had faith that her son was telling the truth. As always when they went to eat they left an empty spot for Ben.

They were getting ready to eat when they all heard a whoosh like when Five used his powers. Which wouldn't usually be considered strange if not for the fact that Five was also sitting at the table. Everyone froze and Diego stood up with his hand reaching for his knives. He stood against the wall next to the door, ready to surprise whoever was coming in. He could hear footsteps but there was nobody there.

He motioned for Luther to stand and turn the corner or at least see whatever he wasn't. Normally Luther wouldn't comply with Diego with their whole Number 1, Number 2 competition but this would be an exception. He slowly got up and got on the other side of the wall. He slowly peeked if the edge of the doorframe and looked back at Diego shaking his head. He didn't see anyone and it didn't look like anybody else had either.

They heard Klaus get up and it sounded like he was walking to them. Perhaps he had found the people in the house and he was trying to direct them. He walked in, wobbly on his feet. His eyes were unfocused and most importantly he had his arms behind his back.

"Klaus are you okay?" Diego whisper yelled.

Klaus walked up a bit more and there were 2 people in suits behind him, both with guns pointed to his head. They both had some childish animal masks on as they scouted the area and their eyes fell on Five. The room with still, the sound of the leaves blowing could be heard inside. Klaus barely looked like he knew where he was so he doubted that he led the animal head guys to them on purpose.

"Give us the boy."

That wasn't going to happen, at least not without a fight. They would have to pry Five from his cold dead hands. There was no way they were just going to hand off their brother because some maniacs with guns told them to. Any normal person would but this family was anything but normal. 6(7 if Ben was counted, which he was. By Five and Klaus) superpowered beings in 1 house were not going to end well for anyone on the receiving end.

The woman shot a few warning shots into the roof, "Last time asking nicely." She pressed the gun to Klaus's head, "Or this one gets it." Klaus groaned, maybe from still being tired or just being over this whole thing.

"I heard a rumor that you will not be shooting anyone."

Nobody was sure who the rumor went to since they couldn't see their eyes but they just hoped that it got through to someone. The woman reluctantly put her gun pointed at the floor. "I don't have to shoot him to kill him." She was about to hit Klaus on the side of the head but the gun stopped right before it made impact. There was a transparent glitchy figure that looked like Ben standing not too far from Klaus.

The air in the room stiffened. The gun was tossed around the room but it looked like Klaus couldn't hold it any longer and Ben faded. "Klaus, how did you do that?" Klaus looked in Ben's direction. "The wonders of being sober.” That was right before he puked all over the floor.

Everyone would have been quicker to help if the other guy didn't have the gun still pointed at their brother's head. Five was tired of doing nothing, he stood up and jumped to the other side of the room where he knocked the other gun out of the guy's hands. He went to go after it but then Diego used some of his newfound power to push it further. The man growled as he stood up taller.

"This isn't a game you want to play." Five looked him in the eyes. "Are you sure about that?" He didn't know why but he had a burst of confidence. Like he couldn't lose this fight despite not fighting like this before. "Is this the surprise the lady was talking about?" The man looked at him.

Even with the mask, he could see the man's confusion. He sighed, he didn't want to be working here anyway. There was a beautiful woman that he found at the donut shop that he would much rather spend his time with. "Put my partner here to sleep and maybe I just might tell ya." The partner quickly turned to him, "Hazel wha-" "I heard a rumor that you went to sleep." The woman dropped to the floor.

The room was still tense, not as much as before but still. Little did everyone know, Grace had his face locked on. If he tried anything she would shoot him in a heartbeat regardless if he was sorry or not. Maybe it was ruthless, but her main priority was to protect the children. Whether they were still children or not.

The man took his mask off and sat at the head of the table. He looked at his watch, "You have 1 hour." Everyone looked at each other. Something about this seemed familiar to Five but he didn't know what it was. "1 hour for what?"

Diego was the only one bold enough to speak up. "Before she sends other agents to finish what we started." Five shuttered at the thought of her. Her red lipstick and long nails. A lot of things about her weren't right but he knew that being with her, would be worse than seeing her every so often.

"Who do you work for?" "Temps Commission." As soon as he said it Grace started running it through her files. The commission was nowhere to be found but from the technology that they used to get here, there was no way that this place existed. "And where is that honey?"

It was supposed to come out hostile but she somewhat stabled her voice. "Not where, when." That made no sense to maybe anyone else in the room but something clicked in her. She reruns it this time digging through the archived and hidden files that Reginald told her to never speak of. His frequent visits to a place required a case to get in and out.

She ran through dates and details of what Reginald said about this place. "1950." She said it with a straight face and then went back to her usual smile. "Mom, you know about this place?" Five was tired and confused. This place sounded so familiar and yet he couldn't put a finger on it. Temps commission rang so many bells that he got a headache.

What was it?

"Not surprising. More surprising that you," he pointed at Five, "Don't." "Why would he know anything about this…Commission?” Vanya said the last part with imaginary quotations. It didn’t take a genius to see that they weren’t buying this. "Because he worked there."

Now that was ridiculous, did he think they would buy this. Was he just buying extra time for his other buddies to get here and shoot up the place? "Okay now tell us the truth." Allison was more sick of it than anyone else. "I'm serious. When they said that he lost his memory I thought they were lying." "What exactly do you guys do?" Luther was a little late to the party.

"We correct mistakes from the timeline. When someone messes up, we fix it." Something clicked. "So you're assassins?" Five was the only one who put it together, other than Grace. "Basically."

"Are we going to skip over the part where he said that Five lost his memory?" Klaus looked to be more alert than he was before. At least he could stand up straight now. "Now that you mention it..he was acting strange when he first go back."

They thought back to not too many days ago. He was confused, and he didn't remember anyone else other than Diego. He barely responded when they called him unless it was Diego and he didn't know what happened the whole time he was gone. He came back in dusty clothes that didn't even look like his. It was more than strange.

"Well, maybe it's better that he doesn't remember most of the things that happened." They all looked up at the man, Hazel was his name. "Why? Was it bad?" Vanya's voice was so small that they barely caught it. Hazel was quiet for a while, "Worse than you could imagine."

"What happened to me?" "I don't think I could explain. The only way would be to show you. And I don't think that you would want to come to The Commission with me." "I'll do it." Diego never turned his head so fast in his life. "Five are you crazy?"

"What?" "You're going to a place that is full of people that want to kill you. Not to mention," he threw her hand at Hazel, "someone who probably is also wanted now." Hazel thought of that already.

He knew what he was going to do, there was a plan that he had in mind. "You could all come. The more the merrier right?" That would quell some of their doubt about if their brother would come back or not. They all looked at each other before they finally all nodded. "Let's meet back here in 15 minutes before the other agents can come. Get what you'll need."

Hazel held one of his hands up, "I would recommend weapons. Just in case." They nodded once more before they all disappeared into their rooms. Grace sat down next to Hazel, "I have a few questions." He didn't expect her to talk to him.

"Sure, whatever you want." "What did Reginald do? At this commission?" Oh, he was not authorized to give away this information not that he knew much, to begin with, but still. Cha-cha had woken up after struggling to get up for a bit. "Hazel. What did you do?"

The question wasn't a question. "Don't you get tired of this Cha-cha? The killing? Ever wanted to...start new?" She looked at him like he lost his mind and he probably did. What was he thinking?

Going to a place that he sold out to the greatest assassin that's ever been, to be in a relationship with some woman at a donut shop? "Fine. But you're doing this on your own. Some people are bound by a contact." He took the suitcase and jumped to whenever. Most likely to the next mission which means that he was out of luck with that being their only suitcase.

"Well shit."

The others were walking downstairs when they all slowed. They all noticed that his partner wasn't there. "She took our only suitcase." He looked back at them. The whole plan was over.

Pogo walked up behind them, a knowing look on his face. "Not only." He waved his hand for everyone to follow him. They went up to Reginald's office and Pogo walked around for a bit before stopping in one place. He moved out of the way and Grace's eyes lit up.

She lifted the floorboard and there was a suitcase sitting handle up. There had to be more things in these floorboards but they weren't going to get into it. "Looks like we're back on." Grace dusted it off as she passed it to the only person who knew how to use it. "Everyone ready? Hold on to me."

He turned the dials on the suitcase before he pushed a button. Pogo stood back as he waved them all goodbye. When they all woke up they were somewhere different. There was bright green grass and a lot of people were walking around. Hazel but walked into the place acting as if he hadn't done anything wrong.

Five and the others followed them and they could all feel eyes on them the second they walked in the doors. Whispers, mostly about Five and glances from every direction. They walked into a room called, "Infinite Switch Room. Authorized Staff Only." Hazel presented Five with the door. "Are you authorized?" Five asked him with a raised eyebrow. "No. But you are."

Five didn't ask how or why only nodded and opened the door. The man that was sitting in the chair looked at him before quickly moving back and letting Five take the seat. Hazel gave the man a peach folder and the man immediately started flipping switches. He flipped it to Five's time in the apocalypse. But there were only bits and pieces.

Which was strange. There was him arriving which he remembered, and then he just skipped to being dropped home in the courtyard. "Where's the rest of it? He spent way more time there than that." Hazel demanded. "I'm sorry sir, it seems that timeline has been altered."

Great. This looked bad for this guy. But Hazel had been getting better with his anger so he wasn't going to kill the man. The Handler wasn't at the commission right now, Hazel made the man alter the timeline they were just in. Not to the point where the actual timeline changed but the video feed did.

He leads Five and the rest of the siblings to the living quarters. "We'll get it fixed." "Yeah." Five was so close to seeing what happened to him. To..to remember how he got back.

Where he went. All this for nothing. The sun was setting, Everyone was sleeping. There would be nobody to disturb them as they all thought that Five was back on business. Five fell asleep quickly, he didn't go to sleep for a day which couldn't be good for his teenage body.

They all watched over him. Little did they know, he was falling. Not physically, of course. But in his dream. Falling and falling into the abyss.

And he landed. Just not where he thought he would not at all. Maybe the last place that he thought he would be.

Chapter Text

He was just falling until he felt something solid under his feet. And even then, it wasn't completely solid. It was like he was standing on water, seeing the reflection of himself ripple under him. Was it strange? Sure, but it wasn't the worst thing he had seen since he'd been back. 

He looked around nothing but darkness. "Hello?" He called out. He didn't know what he was expecting but it wasn't for anyone to call back. "Number Five. You're late." The room faded into the dining room from when they were kids. 

All of his siblings looked at him while he walked up to the table, still the same age he left them. "Sorry." He took his seat as Grace placed some food in front of him. It wasn't anything strange per se, but something about the situation felt off. "Five you've been sleeping all day. You missed training." He missed it?

 There was no way that he missed training. Their father would have come in screaming and yelling if he missed training. But he had a strange feeling that Ben was telling the truth. They weren't allowed to talk at the table so Five didn't respond. "How was work Number Five? Was it as exciting as you thought?"

 What? Since when did he have a job? He was a child that was not able to legally work yet. "Fine." He found himself saying before he could think. 

"Do you think they deserved it?" That was more confusing. What did he do for work again? He did remember Hazel saying something about a Commission. That may be it.

 "Deserve what exactly?" He heard sighs around the table like everyone was disappointed with him. "How could you kill a family and forget?" Allison sounded upset. He didn't kill anyone and he decided to mirror that thought out loud.

 "How many times have I told you to take responsibility for your actions? You are punished. Extra training. Now." Five got up quickly not wanting to make their father angrier. He could see how the rest of the siblings looked at him. Like he had done something wrong, which he didn't believe that he did but he didn't say anything. They reached the courtyard as Five watched as Reginald opened his red book and then nodded at him. 

He jumped forward and felt himself falling again. The air was cold like it usually was when he used his powers. But then it got warmer which was nice for a while until it got boiling. Which is when his eyes fly open. He felt himself hit the rugged ground. 

He smelled something that he couldn't quite put his fingers on and the dusty air made it hard to breathe. His eyes almost cracked open before he was back in the courtyard. He blinked his eyes as he looked up at his father. "Number Five now is not the time for games." He wasn't joking and he wasn't planning on it.

 He just wanted to know what happened. "You will remember whether you want to or not. This is not a matter of what you want." He wasn't trying to forget anything. There was so much that he wanted to remember but the words that Hazel said before they left made him not want to think of anything. If he didn't remember then maybe it was for a reason. 

The reason was that he wanted to start new. "You will remember. You don't have to be a hero but you will not be ignorant." Five looked up at his father. He was pretty sure that he wasn't saying any of this out loud. He wasn't trying to either but when he had so many thoughts in his head it was hard to keep them inside. 

He blinked before looking down with his hands clenched. "Dad cut him some slack. He's been through a lot." "Number Four, did you want some extra training." Klaus turned as white as a sheet as he turned away with his hand on his neck. When their father turned around Klaus mouthed "sorry" and Five subtly nodded. 

He wasn't ready for whatever was going to happen or what he was going to see but he didn't think that any of it would be good. He heard the sound of a gunshot and jumped to see where it came from but there was nobody there. He felt a sharp pain in his chest and when he looked down there was red spreading over the white of his shirt. He looked up to their father for some kind of help but the man turned his nose up and closed the book. He walked away without a second thought and Five was left on the floor. 

He didn't know what to do. He tried to look at Klaus but he looked back at Five as if nothing had ever happened. Five felt his heartbeat speeding up before he dropped to the floor. Everything went black once more before he woke up in a hot place again. He opened his eyes and they were more than a bit blurry. 

He blinked a few times before he saw the rubble that littered the world. There was no other person around that was alive other than him. He looked and looked before he ran to check the last newspaper that was left. He watched as his younger self fell to his knees as he couldn't take the weight anymore. Minutes later he followed the teen down what used to be the entrance of the mansion.

 He mirrored the looked of horror as he saw the corpses of his siblings. The man who had the eye in his hand was his brother. He could feel his eyes welling up with tears all over again. He watched himself, the motion a little faster than real-time, trying to figure out how to get home. There were books that he read which he ultimately got bored of and started to write on. 

And once there was no more room he started to write on the walls of what used to be the library. Filled with equations and words like how Klaus used to write on his wall. He was sitting with the manikin that he called Deloris when another lady appeared. From the looks of it, he had been there 6 or 7 months at most. His hair was overgrown and his appearance had long gone down after the months of growing and needing new clothes. 

Not clothes for style of course but protection against the harsh elements. They seemed harsher in the world with nothing. Not air conditioning, or anything to shield him from the hot sun. But that lady, the lady in the red lipstick. She stood there with a wicked smile on her lips. 

She was saying something that he couldn't hear and then he shook her hand, nodding before taking him somewhere. He knew that it was her but it looked like he was the one using his powers to get them out of there. Whatever he said, it had to be some kind of deal that they had to shake on. He felt himself get hit on the side of his neck and then everything was black again. He woke up at the table with his adult siblings. "Welcome back sleepy head." 

Vanya said it quietly since Klaus was still sleeping. "How about you eat something? You must be hungry." He nodded and he could tell that he was looking at her strangely. "Why are you purposely trying to ignore it?" Five looked at him. 

He thought this was over but when he pinched himself he didn't feel anything. "Maybe it's my subconscious protecting me." "Well tell it to stop." That was the last thing he expected to hear coming from Ben who he had only seen a blurry glance of. But somehow he still made out all of his features. 

"There are things you need to remember, these guys are going to chase after us forever if you don't." Five took a breath. "Okay, fine." He was doing this for them because he sure as hell didn't want to remember. He tried to think ahead and this time didn't flinch when he felt himself falling. He landed in a chair in front of the red-lipped lady.

 "This is an easy deal Number Five." He couldn't help the shudder that passed through him. "Right." Then there was just a montage of him shooting multiple people like his mind was proud of it. So it appeared that he wasn't on the side of the gun that he thought he was. The blanks had been filled and frankly, he didn't know how to feel. 

There was a huge rush of emotions that he didn't know he could feel. But when he woke up with the rest of his siblings sleeping safely around him everything felt fine. Even for just that one minute.