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He was at the diner again. He rolled his eyes as he ordered a sandwich and nursed a cup of coffee. The timelines were fucked, for good supposedly, but Five wasn’t listening to that. It would be fine. He was fine. Everything was fucking fine.
No thanks to Dolores, though. And no thanks to himself. In every possible timeline, Five couldn’t figure things out. Most versions of himself gave it up. They couldn’t see the obvious cue— or rather, they saw it, but didn’t want to get rid of their siblings. Even if it meant giving up on the timeline, they couldn’t do the obvious thing.
The timelines broke because marigold was spread out into the world creating 43 children with special powers. Most of those children would die before they could do any harm. Only a few lived until they were in their mid-thirties. Five had outlasted them all with his bout across time. However, it didn’t feel good because the end would always come.
He cursed as he flopped the soggy sandwich over. He wasn’t even hungry and yet he had ordered the brisket. He took a drink from his coffee mug instead, ignoring the fact that he was in a room with different versions of himself that had given up.
He wouldn’t give up. Not in a million years. He had his family. Fuck the timeline. He didn’t care if it shattered. He didn’t care that a different version of him created the Commission that had put him through hell. He would figure this out.
He would. And he’d do it without having to die alongside his siblings. There was no point in having this timeline exist if they couldn’t live their lives happily, content with what they had.
Five sighed as he looked down to the soggy brisket sandwich. He realized, now, that he was in a room of alternate selves that thought the same thing. In every timeline, Five tried to save his siblings. Over 145,000 times they had ruined the world, making it unlivable. Just a single timeline could be so messed up.
He briefly thought about Lila, of their time stuck in the train station together. The word “codependent” came to mind. They had been forced to co-habitat, forced to rely on each other for emotional and physical stability. Lila took the place of Dolores, just as Five became Lila’s Dolores.
Wasn’t that pathetic? He scoffed internally. None of the other Fives seemed to have partners, all making their peace with being alone forever. Lila may have been undiscovered in those other timelines. The Commission was the reason that Five ran into Lila Pitts. If the Handler didn’t exist to adopt Lila, then Five most likely never ran into her.
That would mean that Lila was an outlier, right?
Five gnawed on that thought. Lila could mimic his power. His powers were different now. He didn’t just have the ability to teleport, but he could time travel forward and backward quite easily. And… and now he could cross timelines.
If he and Lila combined their powers, could they do more? Could they cross more than just timelines? So what if this timeline was in disarray? He would essentially be doing what was asked of him, yes? Him and his siblings would no longer exist in the world and the timeline would no longer be broken.
But how could he convince Lila to help him? She was going through marital issues— part of the reason why he never fucking got married. Well, that and the fact that he didn’t really enjoy intimacy in ways that others did. Lila never complained about it either, preferring to huddle close together for warmth.
But she would do it, if it meant saving her family. So what if the world was in disarray? Five would fix this. He always managed to fix it.
… Were there other ways? There had to be. There had to be other ways then to get rid of himself and his siblings. But the fix would only occur for a short time before they brought upon the end of the world again. Children weren’t supposed to be born from marigold. They weren’t supposed to be born out of nowhere, gifted with abilities, and thrust into the timeline like nothing happened.
But that short time in between apocalypse wasn’t too bad. Sure, he didn’t get to experience a lot of it himself, but he had enough solitude. He had a great grasp on his powers now. He could warp himself across time and across the world.
Surely the ability would let him cross worlds as long as he had help.
Without a second thought, with a plan in mind, he walked out of the diner. He boarded the subway train, carefully tracked his spot on the map, and ended up where he started about 8 years ago. Lila wasn’t by his side but he had speckles of other versions of himself to keep him company.
He walked out of the subway, teleported himself to his siblings, and walked in on an awkward conversation. His breath hitched as he faced them. He would never give up on his siblings. He had before, and look what happened.
Lila wasn’t in love with him— probably never was, in truth, in reality. Neither of them were in love. They were just lonely, so lonely. He wanted to know what true love felt like but he was beginning to understand that he didn’t fall in love with people. He almost felt bad because Lila and Diego were happy before the universe reset, therefore fucking up everything they had built in Hotel Obsidian.
Lila and Diego, hell, all of the Hargreeves weren’t made for normal lives. Being ordinary was boring for them. But in a different universe all together, that wouldn’t matter, would it? This timeline was wrecked with their presence, but a different universe wouldn’t be.
That was the hope, at least.
So, he told them, “We’re the problem. We’re causing the world to end again. And again.”
His siblings looked back at him, blinking in confusion and realization.
“This timeline will always find a way to end because we exist here,” said Five. The words tasted like ash in his mouth, making his throat dry and voice scratchy. “But if we— If we’re not here anymore, the timeline will be fine.”
Lila must have picked up on something, having known him longer than any of his siblings at this point. He may have grown up with his siblings but he was in his 70s now. He had changed drastically from being in the apocalypse, and then trained in the Commission under the Handler. Lila knew him better than anyone else.
“Five,” she warned, an alarm going off in her head. Lila stepped forward, eyes widening. “Why are you thinking dangerous things?”
“I’m not—”
“Bullshit! That’s the look you have before you do something ballistic!” Lila pointed at him. Was this a bad time to think that Lila looked better in shorter hair, hair more akin to Dolores’ bob?
Five gritted his teeth. “The timeline is destroyed because we exist. If we cease to exist in this timeline, then the world goes back to normal. No more doomsday, no more apocalypses. No more anything.”
“Oh, is that right?” Lila was chuckling now, a tinge hysteric. “We all just have to die and it’ll be fine?”
“I won’t allow any of you to die,” he spat out, enraged at his alternative selves and the people in front of him. Didn’t they realize by now that he would do anything for his family. “I…”
Five felt a little faint. In the side of his eyes, he noticed Diego stepping forward with a concerned expression. Allison, who was resting, wiped blood off of her lip and opened her mouth to speak. Five didn’t hear a thing, too busy looking at Klaus and Luther, too busy at recognizing looks of horror.
There was suddenly a hand on his shoulder. It grounded him, just as it had thousands of times before. Lila was blinking at him, a soothing voice overtaking his mind. Five shuddered and exhaled roughly. He must look rough because Diego was suddenly next to him as well, all anger gone despite the fact that Five and Lila were something while isolated in the train station for years.
“Five, hey, Fivey, what’s wrong?” Lila, for being such a snarky shit, was being completely serious right now.
“Everyone else gave up,” he whispered, ashamed to admit the words. He received a blank, confused look in return. Five continued, “The alternate versions of myself from the other timelines… They gave up on saving our families.”
Lila made a small choking noise. He reminded him gently, “You gave up for a moment as well.” As if he could forget those months living in that greenhouse.
“No, you don’t… They gave up and opened a diner together.”
Diego whispered to Lila, “He’s lost me.”
Faintly, Five heard Luther agree with a quiet, “I haven’t been following the conversation for a while now.”
Lila cleared her throat. She asked, “We met many, many different versions of yourselves. We met tens of different versions of the Umbrella Academy. If we’re the problem with the timeline, what do you suppose we do other than dying to set the right events up?”
“We leave,” said Five, like it was obvious.
“We leave,” echoed Lila. “Just like that?”
“I can teleport easily. I can time travel easily. What if… What if I could universe hop. Instead of worrying about traveling to different timelines, what if we just switched worlds completely?”
“You think that’ll solve the problem? We just… skedaddle out of here and what? Time traveling is tricky enough. What’ll happen if we enter a universe in which we don’t belong?”
“It has to be better than the alternative.” Five must have looked pitiful, for no one spoke. “It’s better than all of us dying right now, right here. There’s a chance we could make a jump to another universe. We’re going to die in this timeline no matter what. Might as well take a leap of faith.”
Lila continued to blink at him. The rest of the room was quiet, likely because Viktor was too stunned to allow outside interference into his mind as he processed the words. Five would have smiled at his family to reassure them of things, but he wasn’t happy with what was going on either. But it was the only choice he was capable of making without feeling like a complete and total failure.
“You’re serious,” said Lila. “We really only have those two options?”
“Hey, hey, hey!” Diego was waving his arm around. “What the hell is going on? I get that you two are close now or whatever—”
“We’re close,” agreed Five, “but we’re not in love.”
Diego’s eyes widened, a flicker of hope filling his pupils. “What?”
Lila breathed out unsteadily and Five huffed, annoyed.
“What does that mean? You said—”
“We weren’t in love,” repeated Five. “Or, if it was, it wasn’t the love that you have. She was my Dolores.”
Instantly, groans went out around the room. Claire leaned down to ask her mother what was going on.
Lila rolled her eyes and said, “Why does that feel like a bad thing to be compared to?”
“It’s not.” Five shrugged. “I loved Dolores. Although… she looked better in sequins.”
Lila blinked. Then blinked again. And then she yelped and pounded her fists against his arm. “You prick! Are you comparing me to the bloody mannequin!?”
“Don’t act like you wouldn’t have been happier with someone else! I became your Dolores! Weird things happen when people are isolated.”
Lila went from unamused and angry, to giggling brilliantly. “You… You’re my Dolores?”
“Yes.” Five gritted his teeth. “When a human does not have social interaction, it’s natural and necessary to adapt. Originally, I adapted to being in the apocalypse by having Dolores. While we were stuck in time, we latched onto each other.”
“So…” Diego was looking at Lila. “You two never…?”
Lila covered her face, groaning. “Bloody hell, Diego, your brother doesn’t even like to fuck people at all! Of course we didn’t screw around!”
“Then why are you so attached to him now!?” Diego was pointed at Five. “You’re, like, all affectionate with him.”
“For 8 years, we were all we had.” Lila said it clearly and loudly. “8 years, Diego, we tried and failed to find our way home. So yes, we ended up having a strong bond. But it wasn’t… It wasn’t the same type of relationship I have with you.”
“Dolores,” was all Five contributed.
Diego physically recoiled while Luther let out a loud, long sigh. Clearly, both of them remembered Dolores well. He had issues, he could admit that. Five was never mentally stable. Ever since he found his siblings’ dead bodies he hadn’t been in his right mind.
But there was only so much that he could do. He could let them all die here. That was the simplest answer. If they all died, and ceased to exist, the timeline wouldn’t be so awful. But if there was a chance that the same thing could happen if they hopped universes, then Five wanted to try that option instead.
“Now, can we please get back on track?” asked Five. He assessed the room. They were all clearly dealt too much information at once but he was running out of time. “I’m going to try to save us by hopping to a different universe. I need to ask who is willing to come with me.”
He received flat stares in response. It made him pause in surprise.
“All of you?”
Viktor said, “As long as there’s no Reginald Hargreeves around, I’ll be fine.”
Klaus offered up, “I would love to end up in a world where ghosts aren’t abundant so that I can try being completely sober again.”
Luther just shrugged. “I’ll do what the majority does.”
“Same,” said Diego, but his eyes were focused on Lila.
“I’m in,” said Lila, staring at Diego. “If it means I get to spend my days with you and our kids… I’ll try anything.”
She forcibly turned her head to meet Five’s gaze. She asked, “How do we do that? Ben and Jennifer are all ghoulish right now.”
“Time travel,” supplied Five. “We’ll go back in time to just before we reached the fake town that Hargreeves created to keep Jennifer away from any of us. Then, we’ll try hopping into a different universe altogether.”
“... Sounds okay.”
“Great.”
Five latched onto Lila’s hand. She wasn’t adept at time traveling like he was. He had to perform calculations in his head. Lila mimicked his teleportation skills but she was unable to mimic his time travel prowess as easily. And this time, he was only sending their consciousness back in time, not their bodies.
In a blink, they were in the car. Five just groaned, coming to himself, then looked behind him. Lila woke up in a fritz, disrupting kombucha out of Klaus’s hand. Baby Shark was still playing in the van. Five had forgotten how annoying that song was.
He smiled and grabbed the bottle of marigold, stuffing it into his pocket. There wasn’t much remaining, and this time he’d let Klaus choose for real whether he wanted his powers back or not. Five then sat up in the seat and turned around.
With his right hand, he latched onto Diego’s shoulder. With his left hand, he grabbed Kalus. He watched as Lila latched onto Klaus and Allison, then directed Luther to grab onto Allison and Ben as well. They were all connected. Confused sounds rang out but Five was too busy building up power.
The van shone purple. He met Lila’s eyes. So much emotion was in them.
In a flash, they had teleported to outside of Diego and Lila’s house. Lila instantly entered it to run and get her family. His family was talking loudly, asking him to explain what was happening. But it was already explained, wasn't it? He teleported and grabbed Claire. She yelped and then flew into her mother's arms. The world was ending so they were going to leave. There was screaming now but Five and Lila had completed the plan. The entire family was here now.
Lila met Five’s eyes. She smiled and said, “We’re ready to try this.”
“To try what?” asked Diego.
“The world ended again,” supplied Five. “The only solution was to rewind time and try a new method of saving the universe.”
Lila added, “We’re going to try to land in a different world.”
With no further instructions, they huddled around one another. Lila and Five clasped their hands together. The power surged. Purple was bright. There was a flash of a train station in his mind but then it switched to a wider web. The lines existed, he just needed to find it.
He was on the ground, looking up at a blue sky. There was no smoke in the air. He felt someone pull him up. People were yelling. Others sounded confused. Five could only smile giddily as Ben glared at him. He would never be the Ben that he grew up with, but Number Two wasn't such a bad guy. Five had grown to like the asshole.
A new universe. A world where everyone could live as they wanted without being concerned about ending the world by accident. It wasn't the best outcome but at least he was with his family in the end.