•Lonely is more than an adjective• || A Number Five x Reader Story

Chapter 5 - The past is the future

Vanya's home was just around the corner, so Five drove us there in no time. It took me most of the journey to reposition my wings, since reapplying feathers into my skin was certainly not painless, but slowly I could hardly feel it.
"Don't they have bones and such?" Five broke the silence.
"Yes. But bird bones are lighter and smaller so I can retract them into myself when I lose the feathers. Can't hold it for too long though. Gets itchy." He nodded in acknowledgment and pointed me to a window two floors up. I flew up and pushed the window open and Five jumped from the ground into Vanya's apartment. He sat down in an armchair and I set off to fumble around in the dark for a first aid kit of some sort. I heard the door open and voices filled the rooms behind me. I ventured forward until I found a bathroom, sifting through cupboards until I found some bandages and ethanol. I hurried back down the hallway, wings tucked in tight as to not knock down any objects I couldn't see. A light illuminated the faces of Five and Vanya sitting in the small living room. I ignored Vanya and moved straight to Five, who pulled up his sleeve for me and allowed me to clean up his arm. Vanya was silent for a while before she finally spoke up.
"Why are you here?" Five didn't even wince as I wiped away the blood, alcohol running into the wound.
"I've decided you're the only person we can trust." Did he say we? Have I gotten myself dragged into something? I don't even know what we're trusting Vanya with here. Not that anything can be trusted with Vanya. But what Five had to say was important, and if he wanted Vanya's help I had to respect that.
"Do you know what I saw when I jumped forward and got stuck in the future?" Five looked up at me as I tied the last knot on the bandage, signalling for me to sit. I perched myself on the arm of the chair across from Five.
"Nothing. It was all gone." I suppose the comments he'd been making made sense if he'd seen the end of the world.
"The apocalypse is in eight days. And I have no idea how to stop it." Wait wait wait.
"Eight days?!" I could deal with the apocalypse but in my lifetime? No way was I dying stuck at 13.  No no no no. No. I had so much to do with my life. Eight days is no time. And I've definitely going to end up spending trying to stop the apocalypse. My head dropped forward to rest in my hands as my eyes hit the floor. I'm going to waste the last few days of my life of the fight is futile. I'm not ready to die...

It was the raised voices that brought my eyes back up to the light. I have no idea how much time had passed.
"Five! Five, Five. Wait." Vanya seemed desperate.
"I haven't seen you in a long time and I don't want to lose you again. That's all." Wait was he just going to leave me here? Vanya somehow managed to convince Five to stay, before leaving and heading to her room. Five sat down beside me, one leg crossed over the other, glass on hand.
"Nice to see you've decided to join us." I scowl at him lightly.
"This is not something I can just take in its stride you know. Death to all humanity is quite a startling announcement." I slide onto the chair and let my head rest on the back of the seat.
"I really thought I'd have fixed this before I die, you know?" I rolled my head to the side to look at Five. For once he didn't know everything, and I kind of wanted to keep it that way. But I couldn't.
"When you left, Dad sent me after you. I almost caught up to you too. But obviously I didn't." I brushed my forefinger and thumb together and let the blue light spark between them.
"I touched this stuff when you jumped. Been stuck like this ever since." I'd never really addressed what had happened before now. No one really wanted to talk about it; it was either too hard to talk about Five, or they didn't want to upset me. Five just sat in silence, sipping on something that smelled very strong. I looked over him and saw the bottle of cooper liquid perched on the counter before deciding I deserved it and grabbed myself a glass too. I let myself drop down against the sofa and leant back into the seat.
"Should you really be drinking at your age?" Five looks over at me with a light smirk.
"I'm twenty-nine, old man. I can drink as much as I like." The silence settled back into the room and for a short while we just sat, basking in it.
"Something's been bothering me." Five looked up as I spoke.
"When you first arrived back here, you didn't seem surprised to see me like this. Yet you say you had no idea how this happened?" What little emotion he showed on his face floated through , and I could see the pain in his eyes.
"You don't have to say! It was just a weird thought..." Five shook his head at me and sighed.
"When I jumped, the apocalypse had just happened. I wasn't sure how long before but it can't have been more than a day." He paused for a minute, looking away from me.
"I found the academy. Or at least what was left of it. And I found everyone. Dead. All of them. And then I found you."