𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍 | 𝐅. 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐒

𝟹𝟹. 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙳𝙴𝙰𝙻 𝚆𝙸𝚃𝙷 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙷𝙰𝙽𝙳𝙻𝙴𝚁

𝚃𝚘: 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚁𝙴𝙰𝙳𝙴𝚁𝚂
𝙵𝚛𝚘𝚖: 𝙿𝟻𝟷𝟹𝟾𝟸𝟻𝙷
𝙳𝚊𝚝𝚎: 𝟶𝟿𝟷𝟶𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟷

𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝚃𝙷𝙸𝚁𝚃𝚈-𝚃𝙷𝚁𝙴𝙴: 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙳𝙴𝙰𝙻 𝚆𝙸𝚃𝙷 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙷𝙰𝙽𝙳𝙻𝙴𝚁

━━━━━━

"You seem to be the sensible one of the bunch," Reginald told Five as they both sat on bar stools, waiting for their drinks.

"That's because I'm the oldest." Five said. Reginald raised an eyebrow in surprise and confusion before taking a liquor. "Cognac?" Reginald asked.

"Just a smidge." Five replied with a small smile.

"The other night you quoted Homer at me. Why?" Reginald questioned as he poured down drinks for him and Five.

"You forced us all to learn it as kids. In the original Greek, no less."

Reginald gave Five his drink. The two men raised their glasses before drinking. Five set his glass down. "This world ends in five days if we don't get out of the timeline."

"Worlds end. Paleozoic, Jurassic, and so on."

Five shook his head. "We can do something about this one."

"Man's greatest flaw: the illusion of control."

"I need your help. All right? You're my last sane option. Otherwise, I gotta make a deal that I really don't wanna make."

Five took a moment of silence before asking Reginald a question. "What do you know about time travel?"

"In theory?"

"In practice."

"I know it's akin to descending blindly into the depths of freezing waters and reappearing—"

"As an acorn. Yeah." Five finished.

"What transpired when you tried traveling before?"

Five sighed. "I botched it."

"How?"

"I jumped too far forward, got stuck in the future for twenty-five years in an apocalypse. Then I jumped too far backward..." Five continued. "... except this time I brought my entire family with me."

"Maybe your appetite is disproportionate to the size of your abilities," Reginald told Five. "Start small. Seconds, not decades."

"Seconds?" Five questioned in disbelief.

"Mmm." Reginald hummed in response.

"Look, no offense, but I need a bit more time for what I'm trying to accomplish."

"So much can change in a matter of seconds. One could overthrow an empire. One could fall in love." Five blinked his eyes in surprise as he suddenly thought of someone but shook his head. "One could save a life. An acorn doesn't become an oak overnight."

"I was really hoping you had more than that." Five sighed with disappointment.

"I'm sorry I can't be of more help."

Five shook his head. "I'm sorry, too. I gave you such a hard time as a kid. I didn't know any better."

"Hmm." Reginald sighed. "No skin off my teeth, old man."

The two drink their alcohols down, Reginald slowly drinking his while Five gulping it fast as if he was in a hurry. Five sighed and spaced out for a bit before thinking of another question. "How did (Y/n) ended up working for you?"