Chương 2: A Very One Sided Conversation
(y/n), after gulping down a large glass of water, makes her way back to the small wooden table. Keeping her eyes fixed in awe at the younger boy in front of her, she pulls out one of the chairs and sits down next to her sister Vanya. The room is bathed in a pale yellow light and (y/n) can't help but feel anxious at the sound of Diego's rhythmic knife tapping echo throughout the silent room. Prying her eyes from the boy now making a sandwich, she takes a moment to study the faces of her siblings. They all share the same look of disbelief at the sight of Number Five's sudden existence.
"What's the date?" Five asks abruptly ,"The exact date?"
"The 24th" Vanya quickly replies
"Of what?"
"March."
There's a moment of silence as Five contemplates, messily spreading marshmallow fluff onto a slice of bread. The siblings share confused glances as they watch their younger brother, eager to hear more.
"Good" He quietly sighs in relief and begins to spread peanut butter onto the second slice of bread. Luther's face twists in confusion as he shifts uncomfortably in his chair.
"So, are we gonna talk about what just happened?" He asks. Klaus, sitting on top of the table with his head resting on the palms of his hands, nods excitedly as he continues to stare at their younger sibling. When Five, acting almost as if he did not even hear the question at all, doesn't answer him, Luther stands and takes a few steps towards him.
"It's been 17 years-" Luther begins, but is cut off immediately by Five
"It's been a lot longer than that" He scoffs. (y/n) furrows her eyebrows at the confusing statement, glancing over at her other siblings to see that they all are doing the same. Using his powers, he teleports through Luther to get to a few napkins resting on the counter.
"Haven't missed that" Luther angrily sighs
"Where did you go?" Diego questions abruptly, his eyebrow twitching in frustration. Five teleports back to the head of the table to finish up his masterpiece of a sandwich
"The future" He begins ,"It's shit by the way."
"Called it!" Klaus exclaims, smugly smiling. Allison lightly elbows him in the side, listening intently as Five continues
"I should've listened to the old man" He walks over to the fridge to grab a drink ,"You know, jumping through space is one thing, jumping through time is a toss of the dice."
Klaus, clumsily trying to pull down his skirt so that he can sit comfortably without exposing anything, catches the attention of the younger boy
"Nice dress"
"Oh, well, danke!" He smiles at the compliment and winks at him. (y/n), beginning to feel incredibly frustrated by the details Five was failing to provide, tapped on the table to try and pull his attention back to the subject
"Wait, how did you get back?" She questions, confused by his nonchalant state.
"In the end, I had to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists across every possible instance of time"
"That makes no sense." Diego sighs, looking at the faces of the other siblings to make sure that they felt the same way.
"Well it would if you were smarter" Five retorts. Diego, now visibly pissed off, stands up suddenly. Luther, most likely sensing what was about to happen, shoots his arm out to stop him before he starts anything.
"How long were you there?" he asks, trying desperately to change the subject.
"Forty-five years, give or take"
Luther and Diego, upon learning this, sit down slowly and stare at him in perplexity.
"So what are you saying?" Luther begins, but pauses for a moment to fully process this new discovery ,"You're 58?"
Five leans against the table and lets out an annoyed sigh. He pinches the bridge of his nose and shuts his eyes for a moment. (y/n) smiles slightly at the familiar pose.
"No, my consciousness is 58" He finally explains ,"apparently my body is now 13 again."
"Wait, how does that even work?" Vanya questions. The siblings watch in curiosity as Five begins to walk away from the group, taking a large bite from his sandwich
"Delores kept saying the equations were off" He turns back towards the group and smiles lightly ,"bet she's laughing now"
"Delores?" Allison asks, shaking her head slightly at the new name. Five, completely ignoring the question, picks up the newspaper sitting at the edge of the table. He studies the front page for a moment, reading the article about their father's death, before tossing it onto the counter next to him.
"Guess I missed the funeral." He states plainly. Luther furrows his eyebrows and studies his brother for a moment
"How'd you know about that?"
"What part of the future do you not understand?" He nodds over to the paper ,"heart failure huh?"
"Yeah" Diego responds, smirking lightly.
"No" Luther retorts immediately after. Five looks between the two with a mix of confusion and frustration. Diego sighs as he rolls his eyes at his brother, leaning back in his chair to distance himself from him.
"Hmm" Five clicked his tongue, raising his eyebrows at the two men ,"Nice to see nothing's changed."
Five, grabbing his drink in one hand and his sandwich in the other, begins to leave the room.
"Uh, that's it?" Allison begins, following his movement ,"that's all you have to say?"
"What else is there to say?" He continues to walk out of the room ,"The circle of life."
Silence falls upon the room as the siblings gape at each other over what had just happened. (y/n) takes a moment to go over the almost one sided conversation in her head, making mental notes to try and confront him on her own about a few things. She couldn't help but feel almost angry at her brother for being so vague about his whereabouts and how he was feeling. She wanted nothing more than to know what was going on in his head. (y/n) shifts her gaze over to the door Five had walked out of and sighs quietly.
"At least he's alive" She reminds herself. She recalls all of the times she spent worrying over her brother after his disappearance, all of the times she almost cried over the thought that he might have been dead. She may be angry with him now for his nonchalant state, but she sure as hell was relieved to see him.
"Well..." Luther interrupts her thoughts and clears his throat loudly, all of the siblings fix their gaze on him ,"That was interesting."
"Interesting is putting it lightly." (y/n) quietly replies, running her fingers through her hair. Diego, noticing the movement, stares at her anxious figure and chuckles darkly
"Don't go crying on us, casper"
"What?" She returns his gaze and smirks ,"Do you care about me or something?"
His face quickly twists in disgust at the comment. She laughs at the way he rolls his eyes and begins to stand up from the table, moving away from the group.
"As much as I love our family chats" He starts, sarcasm dripping with every word ,"I'd like to get this stupid funeral over with."
"Real respectful, Diego" Allison replies, also beginning to stand and move away from the group. (y/n) watches as all of the other siblings begin to shift and stand from the table, getting ready to leave, something about how normal they all seem bothers (y/n) a bit.
"The funeral is going to be in the yard, near Ben's statue. Be there in 30 minutes" Luther declares, his footsteps echoing throughout the kitchen as he leaves. (y/n) feels her heart stop at the name she hasn't heard in a long time. A name she tried to block out since the accident.
"So, how are you feeling?" (y/n) snaps back to reality, blinking slowly at Vanya sitting next to her. She glances around the room to find everybody else has left.
"Oh, I guess I'm doing okay" She quietly replies. Vanya raises her eyebrows at this before placing a comforting hand on her sisters knee.
"I guess? Are you sure everything's alright?" She asks, her tired eyes filling with concern.
"Yeah..." (y/n) is hesitant but continues ,"I guess it's just all a bit overwhelming? I don't know...A year of being completely normal, and the first few hours i'm back in this damn house, a portal opens up and spits out a brother I thought was dead."
Vanya nods at this, understanding how she feels, and smiles at her lightly. (y/n) sighs and returns the smile, resting her hand on top of Vanya's
"At least he's alive" She says in an effort to lighten the mood.
"At least he's alive" (y/n) echoes. They both ponder the comforting thought under the warm yellow light above the table. (y/n) suddenly realizes how good it is to be able to talk to her sister. For most of their childhood, Vanya was always absent from activities and because of this she was never able to get very close with anyone. (y/n) takes a moment to look at her sister as she stares off someplace else, lost in her own thoughts. She smiles. Vanya may not have been there with her family as a child, but she was making a strong effort to be here now. (y/n) appreciated that.
"Hey" (y/n) says suddenly, grabbing the attention of her sister ,"Do you think it would be possible to have a little sleepover tonight?"
Vanya looks at her sister in a moment of disbelief, taken aback by the sudden child like question.
"You can totally say no!" (y/n) quickly tries to add, feeling the moment grow a bit awkward ,"I just thought it would be fun and I'm not sure if I'd like to spend a bunch of time on a train full of crackheads that'd make even Klaus uncomfortable."
"Uh, yeah" Vanya replies, a small smile forming on her thin lips ,"I think that'd be cool"
"Awesome!" (y/n) exclaims, incredibly relieved to not have to take the night train home. She glances at the clock hanging loosely on the wall opposite to her, sighing as she realizes that the funeral is supposed to begin in about 10 minutes.
"I should probably go and change into some warmer clothes" (y/n) groans, lifting herself up from the chair and pointing to the window next to them ,"Looks like its about to start raining"
"How poetic" Vanya replies, staring out into the grey basked world outside. (y/n) nods in agreement before turning on her heels and walking out of the room. She swiftly makes her way up the staircase, but slows down her pace to a stroll down the hallway towards her room. Once she reaches her door however, she stops and turns towards Five's old room further down the hall. She notices that the door is ajar and he's cursing under his breath at something. Curious and a tad concerned, (y/n) decides to walk over to make sure everything is okay. Once at the door, she knocks lightly.
"What?" He asks, his voice tinged with frustration. (y/n) uses her palm to push the door open until her eyes land on him, standing in front of his closet and his eyebrows furrowed deeply
"Is everything alright?" She asks hesitantly, shifting until she is now leaning against the door frame. Without saying a word, he reaches his hand into the closet and yanks out one of the old uniforms we were required to wear as children. She can see the dust fall off of it as he waves it around, staring at her with an annoyed expression
"You wouldn't happen to have any normal clothes I could wear?" He asks, almost begging. (y/n) looks between the outfit and her brother, chuckling lightly at him as she shakes her head
"Perfect" He groans and tosses the outfit onto the bed sitting in the corner. When he focuses his attention back onto his sister however, he studies her eyes. She shifts uncomfortably under his gaze
"Stop worrying about me" He demands softly. (y/n)'s eyes widen slightly in surprise before she smiles lightly, fixing her gaze down at the rotting floorboards
"How did you know?"
"You've hardly changed since I left. I've practically memorized that look you get when you're worrying about something."
"Wow, maybe you really are as smart as you always claimed to be" She smirks lightly, watching in amusement as he rolls his eyes ,"Of course I'm worried about you, Five."
"Don't be, I'm fine" He states plainly.
"Five, I mean it" She begins, crosses her arms across her chest ,"I know you like to be Mr.Macho Man when it comes to feelings, but I'm here for you. Just like I've always been, okay?"
When the words pass her lips, she can see a moment of hesitation in his eyes. A gentle vulnerability hidden behind his stormy blue eyes. It takes a moment for his to compose himself once more, shielding his true feelings away, before he can look (y/n) in the eyes again. Much to her dismay, he clears his throat loudly in the way that she knows it's time to change the subject.
"I should get changed. I have a funeral to attend" He smiles slightly and nods over to the pile of clothes resting at the end of his bed
(y/n) nods and chuckles lightly, placing a hand on the door knob to start closing it, but something holds her back. She pauses for a moment before looking back at her brother, staring at his back as he messily tries to dust off the uniform still sitting on his bed.
"Hey, Five?" She asks hesitantly. He looks over his shoulder at her and raises an eyebrow, a tad annoyed at her still being there.
"I just want to say..." She pauses ,"I'm really happy to see that you're alive"
She studies his expression as it softens. He looks her in the eyes for a second before returning his gaze back onto his clothes, clearing his throat loudly again
"Yeah, uh," He clears his throat again, she swears it sounds as if he's getting choked up, "You too, (y/n)".
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