1 | back in time | | the umbrella academy

two

the hargreeves family mansion, greenwich village, manhattan...

new york city, new york...

2002...

"In the timeline we remember, Five ran away at breakfast a month after our thirteenth birthday." They had decided that Ben would be the best person to explain their story since he was always the more articulate of the group. The rest of their siblings were looking for Five and taking turns showering upstairs. Klaus was beside Ben, his fingers tapping against his thigh. "He insisted he was ready to time travel, and you told him he'd never be ready." Reginald looked rather upset by that, surprising the brothers. "He was gone for seventeen years, but his leaving destroyed the family. Klaus turned to drugs, Vanya turned against herself and became cold, Allison and Diego left as soon as they could, and I died. When he came back, he was different. Angry-"

"Homicidal." Klaus chimed, lounging back on the chair and running his fingers through his flat, goth hairstyle he sported at twelve.

"Secretive." Ben finished, shooting Klaus a look. "Klaus and I weren't around for much."

"I ended up in Vietnam for ten months after getting kidnapped and tortured by two time-travelling assassins looking for little Fivey," Klaus revealed, showing their father the set of tags that he had around his neck. Reginald's eyebrows shot up at that.

"When we found out Vanya had powers and that you had been suppressing them her entire life, it was because she accidentally hurt Allison. That's why she can't speak, her vocal cords are damaged. Luther then proceeded to choke her and throw her into this soundproof prison in the sub-basement. Vanya then tore down the house, killed mom and Pogo, then destroyed the world. Five brought us back in time in hopes that we could help Vanya learn to control her powers early, so we could prevent the apocalypse." Ben finished.

"Well, that is quite the story," Reginald said after a moment. "But, you have no reason to lie, and it does explain a few things." Both boys breathed sighs of relief. "We will discuss this in more detail tomorrow. Go, shower and change. I do not expect you to wear your uniforms unless you are learning. We'll go over the rules at dinner. Now, I'll see if I can locate your brother."

Five had been hidden up in one of the smaller unused rooms in the attic of the mansion when Reginald finally found him. The boy was knelt on the floor and scribbling on the wall in chalk, looking half out of it. The walls and floor were covered in scribbles of equations and thoughts, and Reginald was stunned by them momentarily. Each was part of a larger equation, detailing different timelines and jump ratios. Reginald approached slowly, crouching about a foot away before clearing his throat. Five flinched, spinning on his good knee and pressing his back up against the wall. He was reaching for a weapon he didn't have, which just worried Reginald further.

"Five," Reginald spoke, abiding by the boy's preference to be called a number. "Are you alright?"

"Am I-?" Five cut himself off. He was suddenly completely back to himself, blinking several times. The pain in his side was at a dull ache, thankfully no stitches were torn. His leg was hurting from the prolonged position and there was phantom pain in his old scar. "She's going to come after me. I've made too many changes to the timeline, but I can't- I can't account for the changes or for the- the differences." He sounded far too much like the thirteen-year-old he looked like rather than the fifty-eight-year-old man he was inside. But to be fair, Five hadn't been this terrified since he jumped into the apocalypse forty-five years ago. Everything in Five was on the defence then, clearly prepared to fight back.

"I spoke with your brothers. They told me some of what happened." Reginald revealed.

"I didn't mean to get stuck." Five said quietly.

"I believe you." Reginald held his hand out, two small white pills on his palm. "Take them, they're paracetamol." Five clearly didn't know if he could trust Reginald, and briefly, white-hot rage flashed through him at the thought of someone causing such mistrust in his son. But he took them, swallowing them dry. "You worked for the Commission?"

"She said she rescued me." Five said bitterly, turning his eyes to a set of equations. It only took Reginald a moment to decipher them. "She used me. She wanted me. She turned us into killers." Before he could ask who 'us' were, Five kept speaking. "I did it all because I knew I needed to get back to them, to save them from dying. I did everything I could to save those fucking assholes, but they didn't listen and now-"

"You've changed the timeline." Reginald finished.

"I think, when I jumped us here, I was wishing our lives had been better." Five pointed over to the wall. "I was thinking about helping Vanya, of saving my family. I wasn't thinking about the ramifications. I didn't think I could manipulate time like that without conscious thought." He was also thinking, hoping, he might see them again, but he didn't hold out hope. The equation detailed how Five's thought process could detail how things are when he time travels. Reginald was impressed.

"These are very well thought out, Five."

"Thanks." He twisted on his knees to a half-finished equation to his left and scribbled the answers. "You were very insistent on them being right. Made me write and re-write and study them until it was all I could think about sometimes."

"Perhaps next time you could write them down in here, not on the floors and walls." Five paused in his writings, surprised to see Reginald holding out a navy blue notebook. It was A5, but thick, about two-hundred pages, blank with a gold ribbon to mark the last page he was at. There was a fancy stencilled '5' on the front.

"What do you want in return?"

"I don't want anything Five. It's a gift." He accepted it, opening the first page and running his hand over the blank paper.

"I can't remember the last time anyone gave me something without wanting something in return." Five mumbled. Reginald held out a pencil for him, one with an eraser on the opposite end.

"Copy down the equations you need and then join us in the basement kitchen for dinner. Grace is cooking duck. You don't want to miss it."

"Why are you being so nice?" Five asked, feeling all of his years and sounding like a child at the same time.

"Because I love my children," Reginald informed him, matter-of-factly, standing up. "Just because you are not the same children that sat down for breakfast this morning does not mean you are not still my children. I will support you, love you, and care for you however I can. If writing on the floors and walls helps you, we can invest in some chalkboard paint for some walls in a few days. Please wash up and change before dinner. Uniforms only have to be worn between nine am and three-thirty pm on weekdays. As it is almost six pm on a Thursday, you may put something comfortable on. We will be going over the house rules at dinner." And with that he left, leaving Five gawking after him. After a few moments, Five started copying down the equations into the journal, his mind wandering as he did.

authors note

meh, i re-wrote this chapter like three times and edited the size just to get it to my liking. it's kinda naff sorry dudes

date written : 09 / 12 / 2020
date published : 16 / 02 / 2022
edited : yes
word count : 1270