Number Five Imagines

Inescapable Fate

Five Hargreeves x Fem!reader

A/N: There is nothing more important to a writer than the opinions of the people who read his work. I would therefore be very happy if you would leave a comment :)

Warnings: Death, Angst

 

The rain fell in relentless sheets, pounding against the windows of the Umbrella Academy. Inside, Number Five paced the floor, his mind racing. He had faced impossible odds before, bent time and space to his will, but nothing had prepared him for this. Y/N, his wife, lay in the hospital, her condition worsening by the hour. Despite his best efforts, he couldn't save her. Yet, he refused to accept that fate.

Five's siblings watched him with a mix of concern and helplessness. They knew better than to try and talk him out of his desperate mission. He had made up his mind, and when Five set his mind to something, there was no stopping him.

"I have to go back," Five muttered, more to himself than to anyone else. "I have to find the moment when everything went wrong and fix it."

"Five," Viktor said gently, stepping forward. "You've already tried so many times. Maybe... maybe some things can't be changed."

Five whirled on him, his eyes blazing. "I refuse to believe that! I won't just stand by and watch her die."

Diego stepped in, his expression grim. "We get it, Five. But this is tearing you apart. How many more times are you going to put yourself through this?"

"As many times as it takes," Five snapped, turning back to his calculations. He scribbled furiously, mapping out yet another plan to travel back in time.

With a final check of his equations, Five opened a time portal and stepped through, determined to change the course of events that had led to Y/N's illness.

He arrived in the past, days before Y/N's diagnosis. The world around him felt eerily familiar, yet suffocatingly different. He knew every moment counted, and he wasted no time in trying to alter the sequence of events.

Five's first attempt was simple: he tried to persuade Y/N to avoid the places he believed had exposed her to the illness. But fate was cruel. Y/N, always the caring and dedicated person, had commitments she couldn't break. She smiled at his uncharacteristic insistence, teasing him about his sudden overprotectiveness.

Next, Five tried a more drastic approach. He manipulated circumstances to keep her isolated, away from any potential danger. He convinced her to take a spontaneous vacation, whisking her away to a remote cabin. For a brief moment, it seemed like he had succeeded. They laughed and talked, the bond between them growing stronger.

But the illness found her even there, in the most unlikely of ways. Y/N's symptoms began to show, and despite Five's frantic efforts, she fell ill again.

Desperation gnawed at Five's resolve. He returned to the present, only to find Y/N in the hospital, just as before. Each failure weighed heavily on him, but he couldn't give up. He wouldn't.

Five repeated the cycle over and over, each attempt more frantic than the last. He sought out experts, delved into obscure medical research, even resorted to manipulating time more recklessly than ever before. But every time, the result was the same. Y/N's fate seemed written in stone, no matter how hard he fought against it.

One night, after yet another failed attempt, Five found himself back at the Academy, exhausted and broken. He slumped into a chair, staring blankly at the wall. The room was silent except for the ticking of a clock, a cruel reminder of the time slipping away.

Allison approached him cautiously. "Five, you need to rest. You're going to kill yourself at this rate."

Five's voice was a hollow whisper. "I can't lose her, Allison. I can't."

Allison knelt beside him, taking his hand. "You haven't lost her yet. She's still here, right now. You should be with her."

The words pierced through Five's haze of desperation. He realized, with a painful clarity, that he had been so focused on changing the past that he was missing the present. Y/N needed him now, more than ever.

With a heavy heart, Five stood and made his way to the hospital. He found Y/N lying in her bed, her breathing shallow but steady. She smiled weakly when she saw him, her eyes filled with love and understanding.

"Hey, you," she said softly. "You've been gone a lot. Saving the world again?"

Five's throat tightened. He sat beside her, taking her hand in his. "Something like that."

Y/N squeezed his hand. "You don't have to save me, Five. Just be here with me. That's all I need."

Tears welled up in Five's eyes. He had been so blind, so consumed by his need to change the past, that he had forgotten what mattered most. He leaned in, pressing his forehead to hers. "I'm here, Y/N. I'm here."

In the days that followed, Five stayed by Y/N's side. They talked, reminisced, and cherished every moment together. Five knew he couldn't change the past, couldn't alter her fate, but he could make sure she knew how deeply he loved her.

As Y/N's condition worsened, Five held her close, his heart breaking with every labored breath she took. And when the time came, and she slipped away peacefully in his arms, he was there, whispering words of love and comfort.

In the end, Five couldn't save Y/N. But he had given her the one thing that mattered most: his unwavering presence and love. And though the pain of her loss would never fully fade, he found solace in knowing that he had been with her, every step of the way, until the very end.

Fate might be inescapable, but love, Five realized, was the one constant that transcended time and space. And that love would stay with him, always.