TWENTY-FIVE | HOW MANY
MULTIPLE OF FIVES IS THIS?

Five and Tate walked inside the diner, watching the multiple versions of Fives stare at them. "Wow... freaky..." Tate shuddered as Five took off his jacket. "Here," Five offered as Tate unzipped her jacket.

"Hey, you, over..." One of the Fives' eyes landed on the redhead as Tate handed Five her jacket.
"Here," He said, barely forcing out the last word as all the Fives started staring at her in shock.

"Am I the whore of this diner?" Tate whispered, tugging onto Five's arm. "I hope not," Five muttered as the two approached Booth Five.

"Can someone get Drunk Five out of here?" Another Five asked as Tate and Five slid into the booth across Booth Five.

"What is this place?" Five asked as Booth Five lowered his mug. "It's a gas station, the hell does it look like it? It's a Deli," Booth Five said sarcastically as he sipped his coffee, causing Newspaper Five to lower his paper as he chuckled at the comment.

"Coffee," Waiter Five walked towards the trio with a tray in his hand. "And two pastrami," Brisket Five set down the plates before his eyes landed on Tate. "Wow..." Waiter Five's eyes wandered around Tate before she spoke up.

"Water and a..." Tate tried shaking off the uneasy feeling before Waiter Five walked away. "Bon... Appétit," Brisket Five said as Booth Five opened up the two slices of wheat bread. "It's a little light on the sauerkraut, no?" Five asked, pointing to the sandwich.

"Yeah, it says that on the menu. I keep telling him, but he never listens," Booth Five scoffed as he let go of complaining to Brisket Five. "Sorry," Five apologised as Tate watched the eerie interaction.

"It's not your fault," Tate reassured as she shook her head understandingly. "Theoretically it is," Five said as he picked up the coffee mug. "Oh, you're not gonna like that," Booth Five reminded before Tate lowered Five's mug.

"So I take it you figured out the subway system by now?" Booth Five asked as he took a bite of the sandwich. "Alternate versions of the same moment in time?" Five assumed as he made a circling motion with his finger.

"That is correct," Five said as Tate stared at the multiple versions of Five, sitting in the same room. "You'd be surprised how long it took some of the Fives to figure that out," Booth Five stated before he pointed at Five.

"We're all you from alternate timelines," Booth Five explained as Tate sipped her water. "Most of us here have given up trying to fix the problem," Booth Five concluded before Tate spoke up. "You've... all given up?" Tate asked before Five cut her off.

"What problem?" Five asked. "The broken timeline, man. There's supposed to be one," Booth Five answered as he held up the white mug to his lips. "I don't get it... I... so we all die?" Tate asked as Five stared at Booth Five in confusion.

"Look around, Five. Does this seem right to you?" Booth Five asked as the married couple stared around at the multiple Fives existing in the same room. "No, but--" Five said before Booth Five interrupted him.

"You think Einstein was thinking of this when he was figuring out relativity?" Booth Five asked rhetorically before Tate answered with a sarcastic remark. "No, this shit would've made his head explode,"

"Okay, so what shattered the original timeline?" Five asked as Tate felt the sinking feeling in her stomach getting worse. "Not what," Booth Five lowered his mug. "Who," Booth Five corrected. "And I'll give you three guesses to figure it out,"

"We did!" Three Brisket Fives yelled out from the counter. "Why you always gotta wreck shit, Brisket Five?" Booth Five sighed frustratingly while Brisket Five raised his hands innocently. "Why?" Booth Five asked again before Tate spoke up.

"By, we. He means us, our family, our siblings?" Tate asked as she moved on to fidget with her necklace. "The morons, yeah," Booth Five nodded. "I'm familiar with them, yeah," Five agreed.

"One perfect timeline, and the moment we come into existence, boom!" Booth Five muttered."Shattered to an infinite number of alternate timelines, in an infinite loop of time as we try and save the world-- how many times was it again?" Booth Five asked Newspaper Five.

"145, 412," Newspaper FIve answered after he lowered his paper. "That's a lot..." Tate muttered softly. "He's like Rain Man, that one, he loves numbers," Booth Five commented before he pursed his lips.

"Oh, by the way, check out the artwork," Booth Five pointed to the other frames. Pictures of each timeline version Umbrella Academy managed to wreck the world, from Viktor blowing up the Moon to The Incident at Hotel Oblivion.

"It's all different how we've made our universe go kaboom," Booth Five said as he sipped his coffee. "Wow..." Tate gasped softly as Five exhaled sharply. "Gold Star for consistency, am I right?" Booth Five asked.

"We need to fix this," Five and Tate said in unison. "Oh trust me, we've tried. That's why one of us created the Commission, he wanted to undo all of the broken timelines," Booth Five explained again before Tate spoke up. "Get back to the one and only..." Tate muttered before Booth Five stared at Five.

"But that always fails because..." Booth Five glanced at Five for the obvious answer. "My family is the problem..." Five answered. "We're doomed to save or destroy the world over and over again, ad infinitum," Five muttered as Tate thought about something. "Bingo," Another Five from another table joined in.

"But if the problem the whole time was technically us or because we have Marigold inside of us, shouldn't we just remove the pixie dust within us?" Tate asked before all the Five stared at her like she had created something.

"That... might work..." Booth Five muttered before Five grabbed onto Tate's hand. "Sorry, we gotta back to our family, stop this from ever happening," Five said as Tate got up with him. "Well, good luck with that," Booth Five said before Newspaper Five handed Tate a stone.

"Use it," He stared at her, remembering his version of Tate in the alternate timeline. "Guess you don't want your brisket to go?" Booth Five asked before taking Five's plate for himself. "Also Tate is pregnant!" All the Five called out as the two walked out of the Deli.

💌
the secret is out... I guess, I mean notice how they won't  die... (okay they won't but erm... something slightly sadder is coming for them...)

I'll prob edit this chapter soon bc I rlly wanted to include every five knowing tate was pregnant but five himself, thought it would be funny

also 4K reads on this book omg tysm I already have two endings in mind and I plan to post both ver

I do feel like both endings can fit the show's trajectory and I hope it's a better, more fitting ending for all of the characters <3

also I'm going to see olivia rodrigo GUTS WORLD TOUR ekkkk