1 | thrown into the future | | terra nova, the umbrella academy

eleven

time skip . . .

2145 / 2146 . . .

Time seemed to fly by. Soon Five was a senior, getting ready to go to the University of Chicago at age fifteen, almost sixteen. He'd taken an IQ test offered to seniors and ranked in the top ten highest IQ's in the country, which apparently made him a desirable student. Attending UofC meant that Five could still live at home, and he had permission to bring Zoe into school whenever it was needed. Things seemed to go by quickly. Maddy started her freshman year while Josh went into his last year of middle school. Maddy had worried that Josh would be angry that she had overtaken him in school, but he seemed happy and took to defending her from whatever bullies attempted to pick on her. Josh, now fourteen, had started dating his childhood friend Connor, much to their parents surprise. They had always thought Josh had liked Kara but supported him anyway.

By the end of his first year at College, Five had completed all of the work for the accelerated course, which normally took two years to complete. He graduated with a BA in Theoretical Physics and went on to complete a masters in Applied Mathematics, followed by a PhD in biophysics and math. Everyone was ecstatic for Five's achievements, which overwhelmed him a little, because Hargreeves had always belittled his accomplishments as dumb and immature.

A few weeks after Zoe and Five took a trip to a local marketplace Josh had told Five about in order to pick up a few gifts.

"I promise, I'll keep my rebreather on." Five swore for the third time to Elisabeth, who was fussing with the zips on his jacket. "And I won't let Zoe out of my sight. But neither of us have left this apartment since I was in the hospital in November other than for school. We need to go outside." Granted, the air outside was toxic and visibility wasn't great, but Josh had told Five about a market a few blocks over that he wanted to check out, see if he could get some birthday gifts for Josh, Maddy and Elisabeth, whose birthdays were coming up.

"I trust you, Five, you know that." Elisabeth reminded him. "It's just with your illness I worry, that's all."

"I'll be fine, Máthair." [ Irish ; Mother ] He insisted.

"Alright." She relented.

"Zoe, are you going to be okay walking? Or do you want to be carried?" Five asked, crouching down in front of the two-year-old.

"Carry?" She asked hopefully. Five playfully rolled his eyes.

"M-Máthair, can you help me with the wrap?" [ Irish ; Mother ] Five asked, stumbling a little over calling Elisabeth mom, despite having done it for years, positioning Zoe on his back and standing up.

"Of course sweetie." Elisabeth picked up the wrap and they made quick work of securing Zoe to his back, Zoe giggling the whole time. Five bounced on his toes a few times to make sure it was secure, then craned his head to look at his sister.

"Ready to go?" He asked.

"Yep!" She beamed. Elisabeth put Zoe's rebreather on while Five put his own on.

"Now, don't take it off. Have fun and be home by five for dinner." Elisabeth instructed. Five nodded, hesitated, then quickly took off his rebreather, kissed her cheek, put it back on and teleported away with Zoe. Elisabeth shook her head. Her parental love for that boy was growing by the day.

street market . . .