power lines / five hargreeves x gn!reader

The Old Switcharoo

Y/n had been rapidly decaying ever since all those versions of themself had started appearing. At this point, their face was heavily distorted and the reality matter wouldn't stop leaking from either their eyes, nose, or both. Sometimes they coughed up reality matter too. They felt so, so weak and tired and yet it was as if their powers were sizzling at their fingertips, just waiting to pour out and release a tidal wave of.

Ghost had stayed at their side the entire time. They had been reassuring them that it would be alright, that it would be over soon, that they could wait it out. The fourth stage would be over soon.

Y/n knew they were very close to properly hitting the fourth stage. And they were beginning to see things with an odd, sickening kind of clarity. They needed to tell Nine. And so, despite the disagreement of Ghost, Y/n had conjured a rift and neatly stepped through it into the hotel room the both of them shared.

They were completely awestruck at first. Calculations were scribbled all over the walls, some maths, mostly words. Y/n couldn't quite make sense of them- a bitter irony which wasn't lost- but had vague ideas of what it meant. They scanned carefully over each and every notation, and were so distracted that they didn't notice Five enter the room.

He shut the door behind him and cleared his throat, "So, have you come to any sort of final decision, yet? Any sort of grand revelation on this whole 'Project Oblivion' thing?"

"Have you been drinking?" Y/n asked quietly, trying to grasp onto the loose memories.

Five cleared his throat, "A little. We're having a sort of... celebration of their engagement. A proper one, this time. You said you were busy?" He paused, "I just came back briefly to see if you'd reached a conclusion."

Y/n turned around, "Oh. Wrong Y/n." They laughed a little.

Five paused, staring at them. He stood for a few moments, taking in the reality matter leaking thickly from their face, their face which was barely identifiable. It looked like some poor reconstruction of a human being.

"Sorry. I don't... I'm not scaring you, am I?" They frowned.

Five was frowning slightly, fascinated and slightly horrified by their appearance, "So, what stage of Reality Incompatibility is this?"

There was something about the mild horror... and Y/n felt something hit them. "Fourth." They responded, the words feeling like static on their tongue. They barely noticed the door vanishing behind Five.

Neither did he, in all fairness. "Ah. Can I ask what you're doing here, exactly?"

Y/n took a step forward, "What, not happy to see me?" They teased. They leaned forward slightly, grinning, "Be honest, am I the least favourite Y/n?" they laughed.

"I just want to know what you're doing here." He responded, voice low. He moved a little to a position that allowed him to glance at the door. The door that no longer existed. Five started making a note of the windows and tried to get an idea of the corridor outside in case he needed to blink out.

Y/n tilted their head slightly, "You aren't scared of me, are you?"

"Of course not. It's interesting, I've never seen Reality Incompatibility before. You explained it to me but... I didn't think it would look like this." Five said calmly, staring at them. He was a little afraid to break eye contact with them.

They hummed and the windows disappeared, "It is, isn't it? I mean, it's horrible and ruining my life and is the worst thing to happen really, but... it's a genuinely fascinating thing." They nodded slightly, and laughed a little, "At least even at my worst I'm still interesting."