Chapter Text
I stood across the street from a closed department store, furrowing my brow, I checked the piece of paper in my hand ‘Gimble Brothers’ scrawled on it. I was positive my memory was serving my correctly, but I also was now back in my 17 year old body, which if I’m correct, so is the boy who got me in this mess in the first place.
Five Hargreeves.
I was Five’s partner at the Commission, and I use the term partners loosely. I held a lot of resentment towards Five, I was pulled out my life and plopped into his, because the commission thought I would be perfect for him. I wasn’t and their plan backfired and crumbled.
When we were partners, all Five talked about was getting out of the commission, coming back to 2019 and stopping the apocalypse. Now, I had left the commission about a year before Five did. I was restarting my life in California when Five decided to time travel back, in turn bringing me with him and plopping me in the city he called home, back in my 17 year old body. I’m sure he isn’t expecting that, and I can only assume he screwed up his ‘equation’ coming home.
Now look, I didn’t want to be here, but since I am, the least I could do is find Five and help him stop the apocalypse. I was now in this world to, and I would like to see it survive.
I shook my head to clear the thoughts as I watched two figures wearing animal masks make their way towards the back door of the department store.
“Ah, so she sent Hazel and Cha-Cha after him.” I muttered, standing up straighter. They broke the lock on the back door with a crowbar before throwing it behind them, the clattering noise echoing around the empty street.
I waited for a minute after they had slipped in through the back door before jogging across the street and slipping in through the same door. I slowly walked down the hallway to the sales floor, crouching slightly. I peered around the room, trying to spot Five when I heard him shout,
“No!” and the once dark room was lit up under the gun fire. With a silent groan, I stood up, weaving my way through the aisles. I turned one corner and was face to face with Cha-Cha.
“You!” She growled. I smiled, tugging the hood of my jacket back and letting my hair fall around my shoulders.
“Hey, look, I’d love to sit and chat, but obviously, we both have better things to be doing.” I gave her a cheeky grin before slipping a knife out of my sleeve and flinging it towards her, the blade slicing through her arm. In the blink of an eye, I was gone.
“You see that?” Cha-Cha called out.
“You said that he was special, now she’s here too? Now what?” Hazel shouted back
“You start over there; I’ll go to the other end. Meet in the middle. Shoot anything that moves.” I sighed as the gunfire picked up again, zig zagging through the aisles. I could see the faint blue of Five’s powers but didn’t hear the familiar sound of him jumping. I felt a piercing pain go through my arm, looking down I saw blood running down my arm. I slid behind a jewlery case, holding my breath and my arm. As I heard the sirens approaching, I took the stairs to the roof, figuring it was the safest place for me to be with the cops showing up. I let out the breath I was holding, looking down in the alley below. As Five stumbled into the alley, a giant green bag slung over his shoulder, he glanced up towards the rooftop. I had already backed myself away from the ledge.
I could feel the anxiety and stress bleeding out of him, as he was finally able to jump himself home. When the cost was clear, I scaled down the building, making my way towards the street.
When I got to the shitty motel, I shed my jacket and shirt, leaving my in my tank top and athletic leggings. I sat cross legged on the bed, the news playing in the background as I surveyed the damage on my arm. It wasn’t terrible, and after wiping away the dried blood surrounding it, I deemed I wouldn’t need stitches, just a bandage. Wrapping the bandage and gauze around my arm I threw away the scraps and collapsed backwards onto the bed.
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Five sat in the van, his gaze on the Meritech building but his mind was wandering around about a mile a minute. “Oh, shit” He reached in the back and grabbed the bag from last night out of it, pulling out a near empty bottle of alcohol and Delores.
“Sorry you were in there for so long Delores.” He sat the mannequin on the seat next to him.
“No, I’m not drunk. I’m working.” Five rubbed at his arm, massaging the sore muscle. His head snapped away from the building and towards Delores.
“She is not here. She can’t be.” He muttered, glaring at her and dropping his arm. “I was also injured last night, but I’m fine. Thanks.” With an eye roll, he adjusted so he was back to staring at the building.
As he watched kids playing in the street, he felt himself get pulled into the depths of his brain that he tried so hard to shut off, to block out the images of the apocalypse. And then like a beacon of light he heard it. He heard her voice.
“C’mon Five, you’re okay. You’re not there anymore.” He sucked in a large breath, and as he came back to reality he quickly glanced around the street, his gaze falling on her. y/f/n y/l/n. Her hands were tucked into pockets of her jacket, her lips upturned in her signature smirk, her y/h/c blowing around her. Hearing a knocking on the window, his head turned to see Luther knocking on the window. When he glanced back to where y/n was standing, she was long gone.
As Luther struggled to get into the Van, Five let out another breath he hadn’t known he was holding. She shouldn’t be here, but she is and more importantly… why is she here?
“You shouldn’t… how did you find me?” Five finally asked as Luther finally made it into the Van, shutting the door behind him. Luther gestured with his head towards the back of the Van to see Klaus holding Delores.
“Hey, a little privacy, guys. We’re really hitting it off back here.” Klaus giggled
“Get out! You can’t be here. I’m in the middle of something.” Five hissed, tossing an empty can into the back of the van and hitting Klaus.
“Any luck finding your one eyed man?”
“No” Five whispered.
“What’s he talking about?” Luther asked, looking between the two of them.
“Does it matter? It’s Klaus” Luther looked over his should at Klaus before shrugging and conceding that Five had a point.
“So, Grace might have had something to do with Dad’s death. So I need you to come back to the academy, all right? It’s important.”
Five glared at Luther before adjusting his gaze back on the building, occasionally flitting through the street to see if y/n would be back.
“Important? You have no concept of what’s important” Five hissed, his mind flitting to the apocalypse in a few days and the new arrival of y/n.
As Klaus left the van in a huff, Luther adjusted so he was facing Five.
“What are you up to?”
“Believe me, you wouldn’t understand.” Five muttered.
“Try me. Last time I checked I’m still the leader of this family.”
“Well, last I checked, I’m 28 years older than you.”
Luther let out an aggravated huff. “You know what your problem is?”
“Really hoping you’ll tell me” Five answered back, his gaze never leaving the building.
“You think you’re better than us. You always have. Even when we were kids, the truth is, you’re just as messed up as the rest of us. We’re all you have, and you know it.”
‘not all I have’ Five thought before quickly disregarding it. He turned his gaze towards Luther, a glare gracing his features.
“I don’t think I’m better than you Number One. I know I am. I’ve done unimaginable things, things you couldn’t even comprehend.”
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It was an odd feeling, seeing Five again. When I met Five, we were both older, and it was interesting to see him in a younger body. Now granted, I am beyond pissed I am 17, you never think you’ll be back in your teenage body, and then BAM one day you are. I know that Five saw me on the street, the silent questioning behind his eyes said it all.
As I trudged towards the library, my stomach rolled, and my throat burned. Stupid Five and his alcohol. The library was quiet as expected and I wandered around the lower level before walking up the steps. I bit back a laugh as I saw him, half passed out and slumped against the wall, his arm around the upper half of a mannequin. ‘Dorothy? No…. Doll? No… Delores! That’s her name.’ I thought as I took the few steps towards him, crouching down and brushing the hair out of his eyes. “Oh Five” I whispered, moving so I was sitting on my knees. He blinked a few times, groaning.
“You’re not really here.” He muttered, swatting my hand away.
“Stop being difficult and let me help you up.” I muttered, grabbing his arm and putting it around my shoulders.
“You’re not really here, so if I stand, I’m just going to fall.”
“Five, for the love of god, I am really here, and if you don’t want to spend the night in jail, you need to stand up!” Five glared at me before grunting, throwing his weight into me as I helped us stand. I braced my legs as he slumped against me.
“Oh thank god” I muttered, noticing his brothers walking towards us. Luther and Diego, because I’m pretty sure his other brother Klaus, is eccentric and would not be dressed like a discount batman. Luther gave me a small nod, as he lifted Five into his arms. I picked up the doll, handing it to Diego before grabbing the liquor.
“Who are you?” Diego asked, once we had made it onto the street.
“Names y/n, nice to meet you.” I answered, walking in between Luther and Diego.
“She’s with me.” Five muttered, ending it with a burp causing Luther to grimace.
“If you vomit on me….”
“You know what’s funny? Aah… I’m going through puberty. Twice! And I... I drank that whole bottle, didn’t I? Well, that’s what you do when the world you love goes bye-bye! Poof, it’s gone. What were you guys talking about?” Five asked, trying to look between Diego and Luther.
“Two masked intruders attacked the academy last night”
“They came looking for you. So, I need you to focus, what do they want?”
“Hazel and Cha-Cha!”
“You know I hate code names”
“The best of the best. Except for me, of course.” Five let out a giggle “You know y/n always hated when I drank. She said it made me surly”
“Hey!” Diego shouted, getting Five’s attention. “We just want to protect you” Five gave them a drunk smile before looking back up at the sky.
“Protect me. I don’t need your protection, Diego. Do you have any idea of how many people I have killed? Or how many people y/n has killed?” No. we’re the four frickin’ horsemen! The apocalypse is coming.”
“Don’t drag me into this” I grumbled, but they were too focused on Five, who had turned in Luther’s arm and proceeded to puke all over the concrete.
“Disgusting” we all murmured at the same time.