After the End

Chapter 11: A Rift in Time

The garden was silent for a moment as Five stood before his siblings, his heart racing. They stared at him, wide-eyed and disbelieving, as if seeing a ghost. It had been years—decades, even—since they had last seen him, and now, here he was, back in his teenage body. It was surreal, and none of them knew how to react.

Klaus, always the first to break the tension, let out a low whistle. "Well, I’ll be damned. Little Five. After all these years. You actually made it back.”

Five’s expression remained hard, determined, despite the overwhelming emotions rushing through him. He had made it back, but this was no time for reunions. There were bigger things at play.

"There's been a mistake," Five began, his voice steady but laced with frustration. "Xiaina’s calculations... they weren’t perfect. I wasn’t supposed to come back in this form." He gestured to his youthful body. "But it worked. I’m here, and that’s what matters. Now we need to focus."

"Wait, who’s Xiaina?" Diego asked, narrowing his eyes, his arms crossed as he stepped forward. "You keep mentioning this Xiaina. Is she another time-traveler? Someone you met in that... future of yours?"

Five’s jaw clenched, and for a brief moment, a flicker of emotion crossed his face, but he pushed it aside. "Xiaina is—was—someone important. Someone who helped me survive and get back here. That's all you need to know for now."

"Is that all we need to know?" Luther asked, his voice skeptical. "Five, you’ve been gone for years. We all thought you were dead. And now you come back and start throwing around warnings about the end of the world?"

"I don’t have time for explanations," Five shot back, irritation creeping into his tone. He glanced around at the familiar faces of his family—his siblings—but their confusion only heightened his sense of urgency. They didn’t understand. Not yet. "What day is it? What’s the date?"

The siblings exchanged glances, unsure of how to respond. It was Allison who finally spoke, her voice soft but clear. "It’s March 24th, 2019."

Five froze. The words hit him like a punch to the gut. March 24th. That meant… he had eight days. Eight days before April 1st. Eight days before the apocalypse. His heart raced, but his mind remained focused. There was no time to waste.

“Eight days,” Five whispered, more to himself than anyone else. His mind was already racing through the possibilities, the calculations, trying to piece together what he needed to do. "I have eight days to stop this."

“Stop what?” Vanya asked, her brow furrowed. "What are you talking about, Five?"

Five turned to face her, his expression cold but determined. "The apocalypse. The one that’s coming. The one that’s going to wipe out everything if we don’t stop it."

The siblings exchanged glances again, disbelief evident on their faces. Klaus chuckled nervously, stepping closer to Five. "Hold on, hold on. You're telling me there's an apocalypse coming? In eight days? And you’re the only one who knows about it?"

“Yes,” Five snapped, his patience wearing thin. "I’ve seen it. I’ve lived it. And now, I’m back to stop it. But I can’t do it alone."

Diego stepped forward, his skepticism clear in his voice. "And we’re supposed to believe that? After everything we’ve been through, you show up out of nowhere, telling us the world’s about to end?"

Five clenched his fists. "Believe what you want, but I don’t have time to convince you. I’m telling you the truth. The apocalypse is coming, and I need to figure out what triggers it."

Allison raised an eyebrow, her arms crossed. "And how do you plan to do that?"

Five’s gaze grew distant, his mind flashing back to the endless days spent in the wasteland, to Xiaina’s words, her warnings. "I need to find Xiaina. She’s the key. But I also need to figure out who’s behind the apocalypse. There’s someone pulling the strings, and I’m going to stop them."

The confusion among his siblings deepened. Luther frowned, shaking his head. "Five, none of this makes sense. We don’t even know who Xiaina is. You’re talking about things we’ve never heard of."

"Of course you haven’t," Five replied sharply. "Because this is bigger than any of you realize. You didn’t live through what I did. You didn’t see the world burn. I did. And I’m telling you now, we have eight days to stop it."

Klaus, still trying to lighten the mood, smirked. "Well, if the world’s ending in eight days, at least we have time to party, right?"

Five shot him a glare. "This isn’t a joke, Klaus."

Klaus raised his hands in mock surrender, but the tension was still thick in the air.

Diego, always the one to question, stepped closer to Five. "So, what’s your plan, genius? How do you stop an apocalypse that hasn’t even happened yet?"

Five looked around at the faces of his siblings, each of them questioning, each of them unsure. But he didn’t need their certainty. He just needed time. And if there was one thing he had learned in his years trapped in the future, it was how to work against the clock.

"I don’t have all the answers yet," Five admitted, his voice low but determined. "But I’m going to find them. And whether you believe me or not, I’m going to stop this. With or without your help."

The siblings stood in stunned silence, the weight of his words hanging heavy in the air. They didn’t understand—how could they? But Five wasn’t waiting for them to catch up. He had eight days, and every second counted.

And somewhere out there, Xiaina’s memory lingered. He owed it to her to finish what she had started.

With a final glance at his family, Five turned on his heel and headed back toward the Academy. Time was running out, and there was no room for doubt.