Chapter Text
“I know that we can be your family,” Diego said, voice softer than Vanya had ever heard from him, “if you just let us.”
She watched the scene with her heart in her chest, fingers glowing dimly, terrified that this woman would reject her brother’s offer and return her assault on her family. This woman, who could mimic their powers, who was just as dangerous, if not more so, than Vanya herself, could very well be leading him on, leading them all on before attacking. Vanya knew what it was like to have someone you loved lead you on like that.
Movement caught her attention out of the corner of her eyes. She heard an unfamiliar gasp moments before she caught sight of Five wrestling a gun out of a blonde woman’s grasp.
The woman’s hands flew up above her head, tense at the realization that Vanya’s brother had bested her, and Five…
Five was covered in blood.
“It’s true, isn’t it?” Lila spoke, but Vanya couldn’t tear her eyes off of her littlest (oldest) brother, “What Five said.”
The woman didn’t respond, and Vanya took a step forward, closer to Five, who spit a glob of blood on the floor. He wavered briefly but stood his ground, expression firm as he kept the weapon trained and steady. Blood was growing on his vest, and she could see it dripping off the bottom of his shorts.
When did he get injured?
“Answer me! Is it true?” Lila demanded.
“Well-”
Vanya heard the gunshots before she saw the man at the door. She jumped back, eyes wide as the woman crumpled to the ground. Blood spilled out of her lips, staining the hay on the ground, and Vanya could only spare her a glance before she was running towards her brother.
“Five, are you-”
“The case!”
“No!”
There was a flurry of motion as Lila darted for the briefcase. Diego jumped in front of Luther, causing them both to hit the ground. Vanya reached for Five’s arm right as Lila disappeared in a flash of light.
His sleeve was wet with blood.
He shrugged her off as he stepped forward, standing in front of her and her siblings and aiming the gun at the man in the doorway. His shoulders were trembling, and Vanya could see a hole, a very distinct bullet hole, exiting his back.
The man aimed his gun at Five, and Vanya’s fingertips glowed. She stepped forward, but then Five was dropping the gun on the ground, stepping back on unsteady feet.
“Enough.”
For a moment, Vanya was sure the man would shoot. She grabbed Five’s arm again, and he didn’t shrug her off this time, instead leaning into her suddenly. Vanya felt her eyes turning white as she stared at the man down, ready to attack if he tried to harm any of them.
But he didn’t.
He dropped his gun on the ground as well, and he spoke in swedish, “Enough.”
He turned his back on the six siblings, and he walked away from the barn.
With the three people who had attacked them either dead or gone, Vanya felt her powers finally ebb back. She was safe. They were s-
Five collapsed into her.
“Five,” she gasped. Her arms quickly wrapped around him as she sat him on the floor, struggling under his weight, “Five, what happened?”
Blood trickled down his chin. He took in a strangled breath, and his hand jerked up and grasped her wrist in a weak grip.
“Time travel,” he said, voice barely louder than a whisper.
There was a hand on her shoulder. She jerked her head up to Allison as her sister knelt down beside them. There were tears in her eyes.
“Five, where were you hit?” she asked in a trembling voice.
Five didn’t answer, but his green eyes flicked to her, then darted behind both of them, where Vanya was sure Luther, Diego, and Klaus were standing.
“S-saved you,” Five said. He made a gurgling sound at the back of his throat, and Vanya reached out with a shaking hand and tilted his head to the side. He spit blood out again and took in a desperate breath, “Safe now.”
A sob left Vanya’s mouth. She took his hand in hers and squeezed it, nodding.
“Yeah, Five,” she whispered, and even though she had no way of knowing exactly what happened that had caused Five to time travel with numerous bullet wounds, she could assume it had something to do with the woman with the gun, “You saved us. You did it.”
Diego was on his knees on Five’s other side suddenly. He grasped his other hand, and Vanya briefly noticed the tears streaking down the man’s cheeks.
“Y-you’re okay, F-f-five,” Diego stuttered out, and Vanya nodded in agreement, desperate to believe it, “Y-y-you’re going t-to be f-fine. Just b-b-b-breathe.”
He wasn’t going to be fine. They could all tell.
“Go,” Five spoke. He took a breath, struggling to get his words out, “Home.”
“We will, and you’re coming with us,” Luther said from above Vanya. His voice was steady, but when Vanya looked up, she could see the fear in his eyes, “You can’t die on us now, Five.”
“You still have to meet Claire,” Allison agreed. Her hand came out, wiping some blood off of Five’s forehead.
“Sorry,” Five said. His eyes trailed away from Allison, coming to rest up at the ceiling, and he took in another stuttered breath. Vanya squeezed his hand, another sob leaving her lips, and shook her head frantically.
There was no stopping this, she knew. There was no mom around the corner to stitch him up, no Pogo to jump in and save the day. The nearest hospital was a thirty minute drive from the farm, and the first aid kit at the house would do little to help his wounds.
There was no going back in time to stop this. Not anymore.
Five was going to die.
Vanya sniffed. She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his bloody forehead as his eyes fluttered closed.
“I love you,” she whispered into his ear, “We all love you.”
His eyes opened once more, connecting with hers. He didn’t speak, but she understood what he meant.
“You can rest now, Fivey,” Klaus said, his voice impossibly soft as he knelt down behind his head and carded his fingers through Five’s matted hair, “Don’t stick around, okay? You can rest. Ben is… he’s waiting for you.”
Diego let out a broken cry. He brought Five’s hand up to his cheek, and Vanya wondered if Five had ever known that he would die surrounded by his family, or if he had thought he would die alone, stranded in the apocalypse or on a mission.
She held Ben as he left.
She would do the same for Five.
His eyes slipped closed again, and Vanya’s breath hitched as he let out his last breath.
He was gone.
The hours that followed Five’s death were a blur for Klaus.
He vaguely registered Vanya calming Harlan down and Diego in a discussion with a small man called Herb who handed over a modified briefcase that would somehow eliminate the danger of paradoxes, and there was a brief argument over whether they should bury Five at the farm or take him home.
They decided to bury him at the farm. There were too many risks that came with taking him with them.
He dimly recognized that Vanya and Allison went to say their goodbyes, too, and he realized, with a pang, that there was no one for him to say goodbye to.
And Five was gone.
Really gone.
Klaus had seen him briefly, just after he had died. His ghost had appeared outside of his body the moment he gave his last breath. He was his proper age in ghost form, no longer stuck in the body that he so desperately hated.
“I know I never said it,” Five had spoken to him, “but I love all of you.”
Klaus nodded through tears. His siblings watched him. They knew what he was seeing. They didn’t believe him the first time.
“We love you, too,” he told him, “Thank you, Five. For saving us.”
So many times.
“It was my job,” Five said. He smiled, a genuine smile, and Klaus tried to remember the last time he had seen that on his brother’s face, “You’re safe now. You’re alive. That’s all I ever wanted.”
And then he was gone. He did not stick around like Ben, instead following the light, resting, just like Klaus told him.
“Are you ready?” Diego asked him, breaking him out of his thoughts.
He looked up from his spot on Sissy’s couch and blinked at his brother.
“Oh, yeah,” he said, nodding as he pushed himself off the couch, “Ready to leave one apocalypse and return to another.”
“We don’t know that,” Diego said, but his grip tightened on the briefcase, “And if it, we can always come back. Or go anywhere we want with this thing.”
Klaus almost made a comment on how he wouldn’t mind seeing the dinosaurs, but he was honestly done with time travel.
If they had stopped the apocalypse, he was staying in 2019.
Allison eyed the briefcase in Diego’s hands as they stood outside of Sissy’s farm. She clutched Vanya’s hand tightly and swallowed, eyes burning. She could see blood on Luther’s shirt from carrying Five’s body, and she didn’t want to think about that.
She didn’t want to think about how close they had been to having their brother back, because in the few days that he had been back in their lives, they had not been able to truly reconnect. Not when two apocalypses had been at the forefront of his mind.
Now they never would.
“So what exactly does this do?” Klaus asked from Allison’s left, eyes on the briefcase, “If it’s so… special.”
Diego glanced up. There was some smeared blood on his lip that was his own and dried blood on his hands that wasn’t. He clutched the handle with white knuckles, tense.
“Herb said it will put us back in our bodies. We will still retain all of our m-memories, but there won’t be two of us running around in 2019. Instead of dropping us off somewhere, like when we landed in that alleyway, we will appear right back to where we were at the time set, which is March 25th, 2019. The funeral.”
He spoke emotionlessly, quietly, as if simply repeating directions. No one missed the slight waver in his voice, though. He looked up, eyes locking with Vanya.
“It’s several days before the apocalypse. We can save Pogo, and M-mom, and Patch.”
Allison nodded as Diego spoke. That was good. Luther had filled her in on the whole two Fives fiasco. She would rather avoid trying to kill herself if she could.
And she would rather not end up in a body that couldn’t speak again.
She licked her lips and reached over, grasping Klaus’ hand in her own.
“Alright, let’s get this over with,” she said.
The others nodded, and after a short pause of Klaus racing over to grab a floppy, black hat, the five siblings disappeared in a flash of light.
March 25th, 2019 meant that Allison should find herself at the Academy with Luther, Diego, Klaus, and Vanya.
Instead, Allison woke up in a soft, but unfamiliar, bed. Her eyes snapped open, staring up at an equally unfamiliar ceiling. Soft music was playing throughout the room, and light filtered in through the curtains. She could faintly hear birds chirping from outside, mingling in with the music, and the scent of vanilla drifted through the air.
“What?” she whispered to herself. She pushed herself off of her bed, her bare feet touching cool hardwood floors. She glanced down and frowned at her clothes. She couldn’t remember wearing these pajamas on this day, let alone buying them.
There was a knock at her door. She jumped, head turning as the bedroom door slowly opened. A head peaked through, cheerful brown eyes gazing over at her.
“Morning, Mom!” the child said before disappearing from the door. Allison could hear small footsteps heading away from her door, and she stared, eyes wide.
“Claire?”