(y/n) - your name

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I watch the Hargreeves siblings all walk out of the diner and towards the elevator, them waving goodbye to me before I closed the door. I turn around to see Reggie and Five sitting together at the bar and I seat myself on a still next to The Boy.

"You both seem to be the sensible ones of the bunch."

"That's because I'm the oldest." Five says and his dad raises a brow at him.

"He's older than he looks." I nod.

"You know, technically, I'm older than you right now."

Doubt it.

Reggie actually looks shocked right now which amuses me, to be honest, him turning to the bar and nodding to the drinks. "Cognac?"

"Just a smidge." Five says, his father turning to me but I shake my head no at the offer while a bar attendant pours two glasses of the hard liquor.

"The other night you quoted Homer at me. Why?"

"You forced us all to learn it as kids. In the original Greek, no less." The men lift their cups in cheers before drinking, Five putting his glass down after.

"This world ends in five days if we don't get out of this timeline." I speak up and Reggie looks at me.

"Worlds end. Paleozoic, Jurassic, and so on."

"Those worlds ended by natural causes, this one isn't. We created it as soon as we got here. It's not meant to happen." I sigh out and Five nods.

"We can do something about this one." he explains.

"Man's greatest flaw: the illusion of control." Reggie answers.

"We need your help." Five takes hold of my hand that was resting on the bar countertop and his fathers sees this, even taking me by surprise. "You're my last sane option. Otherwise, I gotta make a deal that I really don't wanna make."

"Five no, you promised." I whisper and he shakes his head, looking at me softly before turning back to his dad.

"What do you know about time travel?"

"In theory?"

"In practice."

"I know it's akin to descending blindly into the delta of freezing waters and reappearing-"

"-as an acorn." Five and I say but I bite back a smile as he rolls his eyes at me, a hint of a smile on his lips.

"What transpired when you tried travelling before?"

"I botched it." Five sighs out.

"How?"

"I jumped too far forward, got stuck in the future for 40 years in an apocalypse. Then I jumped too far backwards... except this time I brought my entire family with me."

"And yet, you also managed to bring someone from an alternate universe to our world. That I commemorate you on." Five blinks at his dad, hearing praise from him after such a long time. "Maybe your appetite is disproportionate to the size of your abilities. Start small. Seconds, not decades."

"Seconds?"

"He's right Five. Seconds can do a lot more than you think." he looks at me as I remember the last episode.

"Look, no offence, but I need a bit more time for what I'm trying to accomplish."

"So much can change in a matter of seconds." Reggie nods at me in agreement, looking at Five and I. "One could overthrow an empire." Reggie looks at our entwined hands. "One could fall in love." He smiles at me gently and I blink at him in surprise. "An acorn doesn't become an all overnight."

"I was really hoping you had more than that." Five sighs out, squeezing my hands.

"I'm sorry I can't be of more help."

"I'm sorry too..." Five sighs as he looks down at our conjoined hands with guilt and regret, playing with my fingers gently. "I gave you such a hard time as a kid. I didn't know any better."

Reggie smiles briefly, raising his glass. "No skin off my teeth, old man." Five nods, grabbing his glass to clink glasses with his father before downing the rest of of his drink, jumping off his seat after but I don't jump down with him.

He turns to me waiting. "(y/n)?" I look at Reggie before turning back to The Boy.

"I'll be out in a bit. I need to talk to him." he nods and walks out of the bar, the door swinging closed behind him.

"You care for Number Five, don't you." I turn back to Reggie, nodding.

"I do, that's why I have to ask you to not adopt a new set of 7 kids later in the future." he looks at me, slight shock in his eyes but it disappears as quickly.

"So you have the knowledge of how this world is going to end." I nod. "How do you come across this information?" I go rigid, turning back around to look at the door.

Should I?

I don't know if I should say...

I make sure no one is around and I look back at Reggie, sighing out softly. "...In my universe, all this... everything that is happening here, your conversation with Five, the dinner with your future kids, the world ending... this whole universe, is not real." he looks at me with narrowed eyes and I hesitate to continue, looking away and staring at the counter with a frown. "Your lives... your lives are fictitious stories, created as entertainment, a tv show if you will in my universe." I wring my fingers together, suddenly feeling anxious.

"So the lives of every single person in this universe and the events that occur are all but a story in your universe?"

"Yes. A show that I have watched over 5 times now. It's called The Umbrella Academy."

"How fitting." Reggie surprisingly snorts in amusement. "Have you told anyone?" I whip my head up to look at him with wide eyes, shaking my head no.

"God no! How would they think if I told them that every emotion they have felt, every situation they were in, every obstacle they have faced is all but fake and dramatised to be entertainment through a screen!? They would feel so violated and feel as if their whole lives weren't theirs to live...."

"What do you know about me?" I peer up at the old man.

"I know that the face you are wearing is just a mask, that you are also not from this world. You had to escape yours and leave the woman you love behind."

Reggie hums out, taking a sip of his drink. "Why should I not adopt 7 new children? Why should I adopt those 7 same ill-mannered malcontents?"

"I know that you think that they will fail, fail to stop the apocalypse but they don't. They manage to stop it for the second time and go back home safely." I turn to look at him. "Mr. Hargreeves, I'm begging you, please don't abandon those kids. I know that you are not fond of children but please, just give them a second chance.

I know that after hearing everything that you have tonight, you would want children to succeed in stopping the apocalypse, to be harsh on them and make them reach their full potential. I know that you think that distancing yourself from these kids will give you better results, but it won't.

When you adopt The Umbrella Academy children again, please show them love. Please show them that you care and that you will be there for them as someone they can turn to when they need help. I know that you only care about results, but please, if you show them the love they need as a father figure, they will exceed your expectations.

I know that you care for them. You may say you don't like kids now but I know that they will grow on you later on. Don't push them away and see them as just tools to stop as an apocalypse, but see them as a family.

So please, please don't abandon them, please show that you care for them and they will grow up to be people that you will be proud of." I hold my breath and cover my mouth in surprise, my eyes wide at the spiel of words that just left me, my heart pounding as I waited for an answer.

"Despite being characters from a tv series, you manage to show how much you care for them." Reggie says softly, a distant look in his eyes.

"They may be characters in my universe, but they are real people in this one and I care about each and every one of them. This is their world and they are still alive. They're still people and I just want them to be happy..." I turn to look at the door, thinking about Five.

I wanted him to have a happy ending...

"Miss (y/n). What happened when you came to our world?" Reggie suddenly asks and I turn back to him.

"Uh, I guess a portal opened and it brought me to your world, but the only difference was that I was invisible. Like I wasn't part of the human dimension but part of the dimension with ghosts and those who haven't crossed over yet."

"How is it that I can see you now?"

"I think I gradually became physical in this world." He nods, suddenly standing up and I jumped down from my seat, ready to leave. We walk together out of the bar and towards the elevator. I get in as the doors open and I notice Reggie was looking at me with guilt.

"Dear, I'm sorry to tell you that you won't be going home." The doors close on me and everything quietens around me.

Did I hear that right?

The doors open again and I mindlessly walk out of the hotel, seeing Five waiting for me outside under the night sky. I look up at him to see that his jaw was clenched and he had a pissed off look on his face.

"Five-"

"-so was everything a lie?" I narrow my eyes at him in confusion as he stared up at the sky, his body tensing up when I moved closer to him and I felt hurt when he flinched away from me. "Was everything that happened between us just some sort of sick entertainment to you!?" I stumble back when he hisses at me in anger and my stomach drops in fear.

He heard.

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