How to Kill Time (Reader x Five Hargreeves)

Chapter 2

We gather around the small kitchen table, everyone staring uneasily at Five. He moves around the kitchen, casually selecting bread from the cabinets.

Okay, now he's making a sandwich.

"What's the date? The exact date." He makes it sound like a demand.

"The 24th," I reply.

"Of what?" he asks, grabbing peanut butter from the fridge.

"March."

Fear flashes in his eyes but disappears as quickly as it appears.

"Good." He looks at me for the first time "And who might you be?" he asks.

"Y/N."

"I think I need a smidge more information than that. Eh. It's not like it matters now anyways," he says, going to grab something else from the cabinets. Luther blocks him with his arms.

"So are we not going to talk about what happened?" Luther asks demandingly. Silence. He towers over the small figure of Five but his only response is to roll his eyes.

"It's been 17 years," Luther speaks through his teeth angrily.

"It's been a lot longer than that," he says, rolling his eyes again. Light flashes and he is somehow opening the cupboard behind Luther. Right. Jumping through space and time or that kind of stuff.

"I haven't missed that," Luther grumbles silently.

He brings out marshmallows. Wait. Marshmallows?

"Where'd you go?" Diego asks.

"The future," he says it like he goes to the park. "It's shit, by the way. Should have listened to the old man. You know, jumping through space is one thing, jumping through time is a roll of the dice." He pauses from making his monstrosity and stares at Klaus. "Nice dress."

"Oh, thanks!"

"I'm sorry, is no one going to mention the fact that he's gonna get diabetes from that sandwich?" I interrupt.

He stares at me weirdly. "So, you're not concerned about where I disappeared for the last decades, who I am, or that I came out of a massive flashing blue hole after years of disappearance but you're concerned about my eating habit."

"Yeah."

He shrugs. "Fair enough."

"Wait, how do you get back?" Vanya asks.

"In the end, I have to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists in every possible instance of time."

"Eh," I say as Diego says, "That makes no sense."

"It would make sense if you were smarter," he says to Diego. He stands up, seething, but Luther blocks him.

"How long are you there?" Luther asks.

"45 years. Give or take."

Everyone stays silent in shock. Except me.

"So, what are you saying? That you're 58?" Luther asks quietly.

"No, my consciousness is 58. Apparently, my body is 13 again." He takes a bite out of the sandwich.

"How is that even possible?" Vanya asks.

"Dolores kept saying the equations were wrong. Bet she's laughing now."

"Dolores?" I ask.

He ignores me and looks at the paper on the wooden counter. City says goodbye to Reginald Hargreeves. "Guess I missed the funeral."

"How do you know about that?" Luther asks.

"Guys, just stop. He goes to the future. Gets stuck, goes back again. It's simple," I say impatiently.

"Simple," he scoffs.

"It is if you understand basic science. Quantum mechanics, special and general relativity, the self-consistency principle, energy requirements, and stability," Everybody stares at me like I sprout an extra head. "What, do none of you guys take college? It's in the math curriculum."

"You get adopted when you're 13," Allison reminds me.

"I was homeschooled and was a fast learner."

"You were-" Allison starts.

"What's your name again?" Five asks, interrupting.

"What's it to you?" I scoff. His brows furrow and glare at me before turning to leave the kitchen through the large, crumbling hole that now serves as an exit.

"That's it, that's all you have to say?" Allison asks angrily.

"What else is there to say? The circle of life."

#

Five stares above the crackling fireplace, staring into  his portrait. His outfit is now changed into a more-fitting suit, a pair of shorts, and stockings. The old Umbrella uniform.

"You know, for someone that small, you are sure annoying," I say as I approach him.

"You know, for someone who isn't an Umbrella, you seem to go to our family gatherings a lot."

"I am one, actually," I say. He turns back to stare at me. "I was a replacement part for you when you went missing. My parents just sold me... a little later."

"Y/N, was it?" he asks.

"Yup." I pop my lips on the p.

"Powers?"

"Pain," I say. "Not technically physical. But the illusion of it."

"Example?"

"You sure?" I ask.

"I'm pretty sure I just-" His eyes glaze over and fear erupts on his face.

Smoke bellows out of buildings and the world erupts in flames. The sky is a dark shade of brown and red and ashes rains down from the smoke. I cry out and run across the street towards the direction of the academy, panting. The structure of it is completely destroyed, leaving nothing but a mangled entrance.

"Vanya? Ben? Dad?" I shout. Nothing. "Anyone?" My fist glows blue and the sound warps in my ears but it fades away. "Come on!" I scream. This time, the blue is nothing but a sheen of light and it disappears in a shorter period of time. "Shit."

I run, run, run, not knowing where I'm headed until I collapse onto my knees and a single tear rolls out of my eyes.

"Oh." I say. Five's head is bent down and he sighs, once. "I mean- when...What?"

"The world ends in 8 days," he looks back up into my eyes. "And I have no idea how to stop it." His face distorts into pain and confusion before pure anger replacing it. "Why did you show me this? You weren't supposed to know." He seems to hiss the words out of his teeth.

"Woah! Hold it there muchacho. I don't choose what to show to people or what I see. That's not how this works."

"I don't care! It's none of your business!"

"You were the one who asked me to show it to you!" I shout in frustration.

"I'm wasting time trying to converse with you."

"I'm wasting brain cells trying to converse with you!"

He shoots me one, final glare before warping his way out.

Vanya comes running into the living room. "Hey, is everything okay?" she asks, her eyes wide in concern.

"Yeah, I just met Five."

Her face holds back a grin as she raises an eyebrow. "Problematic." An answer, not a question.

I glare at a point on the wall. "You could say that."