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❛ ᴡᴀsᴛᴇʟᴀɴᴅs ᴏғ ᴛɪᴍᴇ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ᴀ ᴍᴀᴛᴄʜ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ
ɪɴ ʜᴇᴀᴠᴇɴ ꒱


❝ PLEASE TELL ME THAT
THIS ISN'T A DREAM ❞

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Later that night, Five returned to Elliot's apartment and was greeted by the sight of his brother lying against the man's couch. Lila was perched on top of him as she tended to his wound. He sighed. "Oh, he isn't dead."

"Disappointed?" Lila asked.

"Oh, to see you? Always," the boy responded. He reached for a napkin that was placed on the coffee table to put it on Pogo's claw marks.

"So much hostility in such a tiny package," the woman observed as she rested the arm that held the heat gun on her knee. "Did you cut yourself shaving? I could teach you to shave like a big boy."

Irritation prickled over his skin at the comment. "No, I just ran into an old family friend." He glanced over at Elliot, who was still tied to the chair and changed the subject: "you didn't untie him?"

"Was I supposed to?"

✧✧✧

The next morning, Elliot was the first one up— having been freed from his constraints the night before— and he fixed himself a bowl of cereal before he sat down at his desk. While he ate, he used a magnifying glass to look at the captured image of Luther. He startled easily when one of the machines nearby sounded an alarm. He called over to the boy: "hey, we got one." As Five walked over to look at what he was talking about, Elliot continued: "one of those machines you asked for is going crazy."

"Which one?"

"It's, uh, atmospheric radar."

"Good."

Elliot gave him a confused look. "I don't get it. What are you tracking? A hurricane? A storm front?"

"Sound waves," Five answered briskly.

"Soundwaves," the man repeated. "Wow. What—" The boy disappeared in a flash of blue, leaving him to shout: "where are you going?" to the empty room.

✧✧✧

Five found his sister in the exact spot the radar had indicated in a cornfield just outside of Dallas. He pushed the stalks away from the crouched figure and smiled down at the brunette. "Hi, Vanya."

She stood cautiously. "You're. . . Five. Right?"

The boy looked mildly surprised though he brushed past his curiosity in favor of efficiency. "Look. You can either stay here and wait for the Ikea mafia to come back and kill you or you can come with me."

"Wh-why are they trying to kill me?"

"'Cause you're not supposed to be here, Vanya," Five explained easily as they began to leave the field.

"In the 1960s, right?"

"Correct," he replied, wondering how exactly she knew this. Before he could ask, though, they came across the flattened area that she had destroyed the previous night.

Vanya looked at it with wide eyes. "Holy shit."

"It's good to see your powers are still intact," Five observed. "Let's go."

✧✧✧

Five and Vanya sat at the counter of a downtown café and the boy was on his second cup of coffee. The older waitress serving them (whose nametag read Mary) poured the dark liquid into the mug. As she finished, he nodded slightly. "Leave the pot, dear. Thank you."

She gave him an irritated look and grumbled "lippy little shit" before she walked away.

"So, do you want to know what's going on?" the boy asked his sister, whose expression turned confused. He began to explain: "when you were a baby, you were—"

"Bought by an eccentric billionaire by the name of Reginald Hargreeves," Vanya finished. "Yes, I know. You can time travel and the vortex you created scattered us throughout the 1960s."

Five stared at her. "How—"

The brunette smiled slightly. "My sister-in-law, Dolores, told me. She found me on the farm where I've been living and explained everything, including you."

The boy's breath caught in his throat at the casual mention of his wife's name. "You've seen her? Is she okay? Do you know where she is? How—"

Vanya appeared bemused. "She's alright," she cut him off gently. "She's adjusted well, at least as far as I can tell."

Five sighed in relief as the pent-up worry lessened slightly. "Did she explain the apocalypse to you?"

"Yes," Vanya replied. "In 2019, the world ended with moonrock crashing to earth and time travelling saved everyone."

The boy relaxed, glad that he and his wife were on the same page about not telling Vanya that she was the one who caused the apocalypse. "You really don't remember anything?" he asked instead.

"No." The woman shook her head. "Nothing before a month ago. Everything I know about the past, Dolores explained to me."

"Then what do you remember?" Five questioned her curiously.

The brunette fixed her eyes on a distant point as she tried to recall her arrival. "I landed in, like, a back alley. Got hit by a car, my head was ringing like crazy. I had no idea how I got there, where I came from. Then a few weeks after I settled in, your wife showed up and filled in the gaps."

"Did she say how she found you?"

"Through the newspaper. I put in ads to find my family and I guess they worked."

Five's expression softened. Of course Dolores would figure that out. She was smarter than all of his siblings combined— which wasn't saying much, but still— and had probably searched for them hoping. . . well, hoping to find him. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Unfortunately, this whole adventure doesn't have a silver lining. The bad news is that the apocalypse followed us here."

"What do you mean, 'followed us?'" the woman asked.

He didn't answer right away but his voice was quiet when he did. "Eight days from now, the world ends in a nuclear doomsday. It's a different disease but the same result."

"That can't be right," Vanya argued. A small smile formed on her face as she thought that he must be joking.

"I saw it," he replied immediately. "With my own eyes." He sighed. "You were there. We all were." Except for one.

"Shit," the brunette breathed. "I need to make a phone call." She stood quickly and made her way over to the payphone across the aisle.

Five relented— against his will— and allowed her to do so. He picked up his coffee mug and took a sip, turning around to keep an eye on his sister as he observed the other patrons of the café.

A young, brown-haired waitress stood a few tables down from where he sat holding her own coffee pot as she poured the drink into the customer's mugs. She was tall and thin, her frame surprisingly boney against the blue service dress uniform she wore. In contrast to the popular hairstyles of the time, the girl's was cut close to her head but strands of hair beginning to curl around her ears and base of her neck as it slowly grew longer.

Straightening from her task, Five watched as she turned to leave. She gave the family at the table a friendly smile before she made her way back to the counter. That was when he caught sight of her face for the first time and his heart stopped.

Their eyes met.

Two containers of coffee— one, a mug in the boy's hand and the other, the pot the girl was holding— simultaneously crashed to the ground in a loud shatter of ceramic and glass.

✧✧✧
Three minutes earlier

Dolores paused at the table she was serving when she noticed that the adults could use a refill. She held up the pot. "Care for a refresh?"

"Please," the blond man replied, and pushed his mug forward.

"And for me," his wife added. She did the same.

She nodded and poured the coffee into each mug and ignored the pickle on the back of her neck as she felt someone watching her. "Is there anything else I can get for you?"

The young girl that was with them looked up at her parents with big eyes, silently pleading for dessert. The woman shook her head. "That will be all, thank you. Just the check, if you don't mind."

"Of course," the brunette replied with a smile. The girl let out a whine of complaint.

"Now, now, Sarah. Don't forget you have Margret's birthday party later. There will be plenty of time for dessert then," the woman chided the girl as Dolores turned away, intent on heading back to the cash register to retrieve their bill.

Her plans were short-lived as, halfway to her destination, her gaze fell on a boy sitting alone at the counter. At first, he barely registered in her mind as it wasn't uncommon to have someone his age at the café. The intensity of his expression, though, made her do a double-take.

Their eyes met.

Dolores froze at the sight of Five sitting in her café. She'd hoped and wished for him to find her but had never dared to let herself dream of it for too long, for keeping her mind in the present was the only way she could move forward. A part of her wondered if he was a hallucination, that she had finally, completely lost it.

Still, the shock was real enough to let the coffee pot slide out of her loosened grasp and the glass shattered on the floor as the ceramic mug did the same. Hot liquid splashed over her shoes but she hardly paid it any mind. Her gaze remained locked on the boy's as he slowly slid down from the stool and approached her shakily. The sounds of the restaurant faded the closer he came and the only noise that made it into their world was the rapid pounding of Dolores' heartbeat.

Five stopped inches away from her with his own shoes resting in the brown puddle that lay at their feet. Slowly— so, so slowly— Dolores raised her hand and reached out to grasp at the boy, half-expecting her fingers to pass right through him. He did the same, mirroring her flattened hand until their palms were a hairbreadth away. Both were too afraid to make the final move.

Someone did, though, and then their palms were touching. His fingers folded neatly between hers, his hand real and solid and warm against her touch. For a moment, Dolores forgot how to breathe.

The second she remembered, she released his hand and threw her arms around him to cling tightly to the boy, terrified that he would somehow slip away. "Please," she breathed out, her voice choked and cracking slightly. "Please tell me that this isn't a dream, that you're really here. Please—"

Five wrapped his own arms around her and his eyes closed as he sank against the brunette in complete contentedness. The apocalypse was the last thought on his mind for those few seconds as he relished just being with her again. The weight lifted off of his shoulders and the hellish past two days seemed like a distant nightmare, one that he would never again have to wake up to.

"I'm here," he murmured. He buried his face against the rough blue fabric of the dress she wore. "I'm here. I promise."

The girl let out a half-joyful, half-pained sob that wrenched at his heart as her fingers curled tightly against the soft material of his blazer.

He was here.

✧✧✧

Neither one of them knew how long their embrace lasted but when they finally pulled away, Dolores raised her hands to gently cup his face to marvel at how very little he'd changed. Her blue eyes were slightly teary as she gazed at him. "When did you arrive?"

"Two days ago," Five replied softly with his eyes fixed on hers. His hands were resting lightly on her waist. "It's been hell."

She gave a watery chuckle. "Dealing with your siblings? I would expect so. God knows I've had the practice."

Her words brought the situation at hand back to his mind, yet it did not feel quite as heavy before. Just knowing that she was there improved it tenfold. "When did you arrive?"

The brunette's lips thinned and she shook her head. "That's not important."

He frowned slightly. "It is," he insisted as he studied her face. "You look older. And-and taller," he added rather lamely.

"I'm still not telling you," Dolores answered sternly. "You'll only feel guilty about it if I do and this is supposed to be a happy occasion."

Five's brows furrowed before he gave her a wry smile. "That was a reference, wasn't it?"

"You've gotten better at that," she noted with a faint grin. She dropped her hands from his face to grasp the boy's; there was still the lingering fear that if she wasn't holding on to him, he would disappear.

His expression dropped. "Unfortunately it's not. A happy occasion, I mean." He sighed and looked up at her— that was something to get used to— as he momentarily debated on leaving her out of this whole ordeal. He'd put her through enough, after all (some husband he was) but selfishness made him continue: "you know that apocalypse we didn't stop in 2019? Well, we brought it back here with us."

Dolores was very tempted to respond with yes, I know, but she swallowed back her words and pretended to be surprised. "What?"

Apparently, she was a very good actress. "I know," he agreed with seeming reluctance. "We have eight days and I have no idea how to stop it."

"Wow. Okay," she tried to act as if she were processing the information. "So, basically the exact same situation as before?"

"Yes."

The brunette closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, knowing she'd put off saving the world long enough (maybe if she'd gotten over herself, they wouldn't be in this dilemma) and straightened. "Right then. Let me ask to take off work— Mary owes me days off anyway— and we'll get started, yeah?"

Five stared at her in awe. After all the pushback his siblings gave at the news of stopping the apocalypse, her easy acceptance was the last thing he'd been expecting. But still, he shouldn't have been surprised. His wife had survived the last one with him, after all, and knew how dire the situation was.

✧✧✧

Dolores joined her husband— he was really here!— at the door with an irritated-looking Vanya in tow. As soon as she was within reaching distance, her fingers clasped around his, reassured by the solid warmth under her touch. She gave a friendly smile to the brunette. "Hello, Vanya."

"Hi, Dolores. You work here?" The Hargreeves' tone was surprised.

"Yup," the girl answered with a nod before she turned to the boy. "Have you found the others?"

Five shook his head as they made their way outside to the car. "Only Luther and Diego and neither were particularly keen on stopping the apocalypse."

The girl gave a little snort. "Of course they're not," she said rather condescendingly. "They can't see past the end of their own noses. Well, don't worry. I know where Allison is and Klaus' last location, though I have a feeling he's heading back to Dallas. Despite how dysfunctional you Hargreeves are, somehow you always end up in the right place at the right time."

As they climbed into the car— the boy chose to sit in the back with his wife— Vanya glanced up into the rearview mirror. "But you're a Hargreeves too."

"Only by marriage, thank god," the brunette answered dismissively. "No offence, Fives, but I'm glad it's not by blood."

"None taken," he said in agreement. "Sometimes I wish I wasn't a part of this family either."

✧✧✧

While the last thing Dolores wanted to do was collect Luther— she'd happily never see him again— there was nothing to be done about it and she followed the two Hargreeves into the dimly lit fighting ring. (She had several other ideas about how she wanted to spend this time but could not, unfortunately, act on any of them in this particular location.)

"There's Luther," she pointed out rather unnecessarily. The large man was in the center of the ring with his opponent.

"Come on," Five replied, and he lead them to the first row of bleachers.

The crowd's cheering became louder as Luther took two hits to his opponent and steadied himself for the return. Then, inexplicably, he frowned as he appeared to become lost in thought. His lack of focus allowed the other man to smash his fist into Luther's jaw. Despite the hit, the larger man remained still as his opponent swung again. At first, the unknown man looked confused before he took advantage of his challenger's lack of response to hit him again.

"Look, he's pummeling him," Vanya observed.

Luther's lips moved as he spoke to his rival but the words were indecipherable over the noise of the audience. The crowd began to go crazy at the sudden turn of events as the shorter man began to gain the upper hand. He grabbed Luther by the back of the neck and tossed him with surprising ease against the wall.

"Oh my God, Luther," the female Hargreeves exclaimed.

"Why isn't he fighting back?" her brother asked. All three of them watched the fight with wide eyes.

The cycle continued with Luther accepting every attack from his opponent without raising a fist to defend himself, even despite the blood and bruises that came from them. He spoke again, this time his voice barely audible: "again! Hit me! Hit me, I wanna feel pain!"

Dolores rolled her eyes at the man's self-pitying behavior, finding that she had no sympathy for her least-liked sibling-in-law. She let out an impatient sigh. "Do we have to watch the whole thing? He's embarrassing himself."

Neither Hargreeves answered her as they watched their brother get easily beaten down. Shocked expressions were prominent on their faces as the opponent swung his arm back before he punched Luther with all the force he had. He sent the man sailing through the air before he landed with a thud.

"Shit," Five breathed.

"Why didn't he fight back?" Vanya wondered.

Dolores placed her hands on her hips and gave the man a critical look. "What. An. Idiot."