The Angel of Small Death || Five Hargreeves

viii. we've got a small family business and the family won't like this

Olivia Margaret Elsey was finally retired. Five's mathematic equations and physics models worked, and they were able to time travel to 2019. It wasn't exactly what Liv had been hoping for her retirement. She would have favored a beach in the Bahamas or an apartment in Paris, but she supposed she could make a weird mansion filled with whiny adults work.

"What's the date? The exact date." Five asked, walking around the kitchen. The rest of his siblings were all scattered on one side of the table, some taking chairs, others standing, one even sitting directly on the table. Liv sat at the opposite side, reminiscing about the dress she had to leave behind. And to think she spent ten dollars on it.

"The 24th," Vanya said. Liv remembered her face from the back of Five's book.

Five grabbed a loaf of bread, "Of what?"

"March."

"Good." Five said, he turned to Liv, "Want a sandwich?"

"I'm all set."

"So are we gonna talk about what just happened?" A different sibling asked. He was aggressively fit, he was probably two normal sized people wide. Five didn't respond so he stood up. "It's been seventeen years."

"It's been a lot longer than that." Five teleported across the room to look through the cabinets. He was probably making one of his disgusting peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches.

"Who the hell is this?" The sibling asked, pointing towards Liv.

"I'm Liv. Elsey." was all she said before the conversation turned back to Five and his time travel abilities.

"Where did you go?" A different sibling inquired. He looked kind of like a ninja.

"The future. It's shit by the way."

"Called it!" The one on the table said. He was wearing a skirt and had a hospital band on his wrist. Perhaps he was Klaus the drug addict.

"I should've listened to the old man. You know jumping through space is one thing, jumping through time is a toss of the dice." Five looked up to Klaus, "Nice dress."

"Oh, well, danke!"

"Wait, how did you get back?" Vanya asked.

Five scooped some peanut butter onto his sandwich, "In the end, I had to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists across every possible instance of time."

"That makes no sense." The one dressed like a ninja stated. She suddenly remembered the conversation she had with Five, he must be Diego, the one that has a thing for knives.

"It's just basic physics and mind projection." Liv chimed in.

Five turned to her, "Don't act as if you understand it either."

"Hey! I understand it. At least I understand more than he does and that's saying something considering the educational system in the 1900's wasn't exactly the best"

The one taking the lead on the questions turned the conversation back to Five, "How long were you there?"

"Forty-five years. Give or take."

"So what are you saying? That you're fifty-eight?"

Five smirked, clearly getting annoyed with the idiocy of his siblings, "No, my consciousness is fifty-eight. My body is seventeen because of some serum."

"Serum?" Vanya asked.

"My employer is guilty of that. Wasn't my fault." Five picked up the newspaper off of the table. 'CITY SAYS GOODBYE TO REGINALD HARGREEVES' was on the first page. "Guess I missed the funeral."