Lost in Time ~ Five Hargreeves

Chapter 17

After the sun completely disappeared, Five and Riley made their way back to the Academy.

But even from afar they realized that something was wrong.

Riley only stopped when the teenager was standing right in front of the ruins of the house where they and the others grew up– again.

Five stopped next to Riley a moment later and showed them the newspaper he suddenly had in his hand.

Riley glanced at the headline and realized they and Five made a mistake.

"Look," Five said and pointed to the house.

He saw the others and, luckily, they didn't seem okay, at least from a distance.

"Guys."

"Thank God, you're okay."

The couple made their way through the rubble and stopped at Allison, Luther, Diego and Klaus.

"This is it. The apocalypse is still on. The world ends today."

"I thought you said it was over."

"I was wrong, okay? This newspaper, I found it in the future the day Riley and I got stuck. The headline hasn't changed," Five explained.

"No, that doesn't mean anything," replied Diego. "The time could've been changed since that newspaper came out this morning."

"You're not listening to me. When I found it, I assumed this place came down along with everything else. But here we are. The Moon's still shining, the Earth is in one piece, but not the Academy."

"I'm confused," Klaus muttered.

He picked up the newspaper and looked at the pages.

"Then listen to me, you idiot!"

"Five!"

Riley's husband rolled his eyes, took a deep breath, before he continued.

"Vanya destroys the Academy before the apocalypse. I thought Harold Jenkins was the cause, but he was the fuse. Vanya is the bomb. Vanya causes the apocalypse."

In the distance, Riley heard sirens from several police cars and a helicopter.

"We have to find her."

Suddenly the helicopter was flying directly over the house.

"We gotta go, now."

"Regroup at the Super Star. Go!"

The group split up.

Five took Riley's hand and jumped.

~~~~

A short time later, Riley and the others sat in the 'Super Star Lanes' bowling area and discussed their next steps.

"Look, I hate to be the one to say this, but everyone needs to prepare," Luther began.

"For what?"

"To do whatever it takes to stop Vanya."

Riley looked at Luther in horror and Allison hit him in the arm with her small notebook.

"I... We may not have a choice, Allison," Luther defended himself.

"Bullshit. There's always options," said Diego and Riley nodded.

"Yeah, like what?" Five wanted to know.

"I don't know."

"Look, whatever we decide, we need to find Vanya. And fast, okay? She could be anywhere."