Word count: 2088

𝑊𝑒𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑑𝑎𝑦. 8:15 𝐴.𝑀. (. . . 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛)

"𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐄," Klaus spoke up as he raised a hand from his stool in front of the bar counter. "We all died fighting this thing the first time around. Remember?"

Everyone, save for Five and Vanya, were all situated around the bar counter in the living room, with Diego and Elizabeth leaning against the sink while the other three stood in front of the counter, facing them.

Luther and Elizabeth had decided on telling the family about the oncoming apocalypse, and they received it just about how anyone else would've—with fear and panic. 

Five was nowhere to be found, and worry built up inside of Elizabeth as each second passed by. Although, it didn't seem as though the others were feeling the same enthusiasm about saving the world that they were.

"Klaus, shockingly, has a point," Diego said as he tossed his knife in the air. "What gives us a win this time?"

Suddenly, electricity crackled overhead as the lights flickered. A blue wave warped above the bar counter, one that they had only seen once before. 

Diego stepped in front of Elizabeth, his knife now firmly clutched in his hand just as someone fell out of the wormhole.

"Je-Jesus!" Allison exclaimed as she took a step back.

Klaus, who had fallen back onto the couch, leaned himself up, his eyebrows furrowed as he asked, "You guys, am I still high, or do you see him, too?"

Five was laying on the countertop, although he had a thick briefcase underneath him, which he was holding onto tightly. His hair, face, and clothes were completely enveloped in dust and dirt, his hair looking as if it was in the process of greying from it.

"Five, where have you been?" Luther questioned just as Five tumbled off of the briefcase and towards the ground.

"Are you all right?" Allison asked as she used her free hand to grab onto Five's arm and help him stand, Luther doing the same with the other arm as he continued.

"Who did this?" Luther demanded. 

"Irrelevant." Five snatched the coffee cup from Allison's hand and took a big sip of it as he walked away.

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes as she noticed his limp, him favouring his left foot.

Five used his sleeve to wipe his mouth before turning towards them with a sigh. "So, the apocalypse is in three days." His tone was bitter as his eyes shifted from person to person. "The only chance we have to save our world is, well, us."

"The Umbrella Academy." Luther nodded.

"Yeah, but with me, obviously," Five said with irritation. "So if y'all don't get your sideshow acts together and get over yourselves, we're screwed. Who cares if Dad messed us up? Are we gonna let that define us? No. And to give us a fighting chance to see next week, I've come back with a lead." From his pocket, he pulled out a folded piece of paper, which was completely wrinkled from corner to corner. "I know who's responsible for the apocalypse. This is who we have to stop."

Allison stuck out her hand and Five gave her the slip of paper. Everyone huddled around her as she opened it to reveal that it was an assignment from the Commission, meant to go to Hazel and Cha-Cha. And in the middle, read:

REASSIGNMENT: PROTECT HAROLD JENKINS.

"'Harold Jenkins'?" Allison read out loud with a puzzled expression, glancing up at Five before looking back down to the page.

"Who the hell is Harold Jenkins?" Diego questioned as he looked to the boy for an answer.

Five took another long sip of the coffee, downing the rest of it before he threw it to the middle of the room, the cup and lid separating before clattering to the floor. 

"I don't know . . . yet," he answered heavily. "But I do know that he's responsible for the apocalypse. So we have to find him. And we have to do it now."

Luther furrowed his eyebrows. "How is he connected to what's gonna happen?"

"I don't know," Five admitted. 

"Wait, so you just know his name?" Diego asked incredulously as he stepped forward towards Five, his forehead creased. "That's it?"

"That's enough," Five insisted.

"There's probably dozens of Jenkinses," Diego continued, obviously not on Five's side in the situation.

"Well," he sighed, "we just better start looking, then."

"I'm sorry," Allison interjected, shaking her head as everyone faced her. "Am I the only one that's skeptical here? I mean, how exactly do you know all of this about what's his name?"

Elizabeth's suspicions from before were only further confirmed as Five gave a scowl of pain, leaning backward as he glanced down toward the right side of his stomach. She knew that look; it was one she gave many times after she had been stabbed.

He quickly normalized his face as the others look back towards him, and he rolled his shoulders back. 

"Harold Jenkins," he corrected snidely. "You know those lunatics in masks who attacked the house?

"Oh, yeah, I think I remember those guys." Klaus nodded as he scratched the back of his neck with one hand, the other folded across his stomach.

Diego turned to him, putting on a fake cheery voice as he mocked, "Yeah, the ones that attacked us while you were getting drunk."

"Yeah, the ones who kidnapped you," Elizabeth reminded with a crinkled nose.

"Yeah. Them," Five confirmed. "They were sent by the Temps Commission to stop me from coming back and preventing the end of life on Earth."

Allison folded her arms, her eyebrows knit together tightly as she inquired, "The Temps what?"

"My former employer," Five informed them. "They monitor all of time and space to make sure that whatever is supposed to happen . . . happens. They believe the apocalypse is coming in three days. So I went to Commission headquarters and intercepted a message that was meant for said lunatics. 'Protect Harold Jenkins.' So he must be responsible for the apocalypse."

There was a moment of silence before Allison wrinkled her nose in disbelief. "What do you mean, 'protect time and space'?"

"Where is this Hazel that you're talking about, Five?" Luther asked simultaneously as he walked back over to the counter.

Klaus, who had sat down on the couch a few moments before, breathed out, "My skin is on fire."

Five rested his hand above the spot on the right of his stomach that seemed to be bothering him, his face screwed up in pain.

Oh, Jesus. Elizabeth was more than a hundred percent sure that he was hurt now.

"Do you have any idea how insane this sounds?" Allison questioned, her voice rather high-pitched.

Five looked up at her with an incredulous expression. "You know what else is insane? I look like a seventeen-year-old boy, Klaus talks to the dead, and Luther thinks he's fooling everybody with that overcoat. Everything about us is insane. It always has been."

Klaus looked over at everyone else as he shrugged and conceded, "He's got a point there."

"We didn't choose this life, we're just living it," Five said earnestly before a scoff escaped his lips. "For the next three days, anyway."

"But the last time we tried to stop it, we all died," Allison pointed out as she shook her head. "Why is this time any different? Why shouldn't I go home to my daughter?"

"Because this time, I'm here. We have the name of the man responsible. Guys, we actually have the chance of saving the lives of billions of people." Five was silent for a few seconds as he looked towards Allison and softly added, "Including Claire."

She furrowed her eyebrows. "You know her name?"

"I do" —Five gave a small nod— "and I'd like to live long enough to meet her."

Allison nodded slowly, taking a few steps forward as she yielded, "All right. Let's get this bastard."

Diego agreed, "You had me at Gerald Jenkins."

"Harold Jenkins," Five corrected with an entertained glint in his eyes.

"Whatever. I've already lost two people this week, I'm not losing anyone else," Diego said roughly before walking towards the archway entrance.

"And Luther?" Five questioned as he turned to him.

"Yeah, you go." He nodded. "I'm gonna stay and go through Dad's files. I still think this has something to do with why he sent me to the Moon."

Diego stopped and turned around to face Luther, his eyebrows raised. "Seriously? Now you wanna make the end of the world about you and Dad?

"No. 'Watch for threats.' That's what he told me," Luther argued. "You think that's a coincidence? This all has to be connected somehow."

Allison took a step towards him, shaking her head. "No, we should all stick together."

"We don't have time for this," Five said with frustration, rubbing the top of his head.

"Let's roll. I know where we can find this asshole." Diego nodded over to Klaus, who was still sitting on the couch. "Klaus, you're with me."

"Yeah. I . . . I'm good. I think I'll, uh . . . I think I'll pass, I'm" —he got up, hobbling past them and towards the door— "feeling a little under the weather, so, uh . . ."

The rest of them exchanged eye-rolls as Klaus stumbled out of the room. Diego sighed before following him out.

"You. Come with me." Elizabeth grabbed Five's wrist with one hand and made a portal with the other, pulling both of them through to land on her bed before he could protest.

Five let out a groan of pain as slowly sat himself up.

"Wait here," she sighed, to which he gave a quick nod. 

She left the room, closing the door behind her before heading to the bathroom. She grabbed a fresh hand towel from the closet and turned on the sink, letting the cloth dampen under the running water for a few moments before giving a satisfied nod and shutting the water off.

She walked back to her room and sat beside him, a frown forming on her face as she examined his dirtied skin. She used the side of her index finger to move his face toward her and began to gently wipe his face of all the grime and dirt that covered him.

His eyes carefully followed her narrowed ones as she rubbed his cheeks, which turned slightly red from the pressure, though she hardly had the time to blush as she examined his face. 

"What happened?" she questioned quietly as she moved onto the top of his forehead.

"I already told you," he sighed. "I went to the Commission, stole that paper, and . . . here we are."

"No" —she paused to look at him before wiping the tip of his nose— "there's more."

"No, there isn't," he insisted, his shaking head causing her to sigh and grab a hold of his jaw in order to keep him still as she continued to clean his face. 

"Yeah?" Elizabeth raised her eyebrows as she folded the washcloth in half and gave one last wipe to his cheeks. "Then why are you limping?"

"I'm not," he said stubbornly as she put the cloth onto the nightstand.

"You are," she rebutted as she folded her arms. "And you obviously have pain in your stomach. What happened?"

"Nothing happened" —he raised his hands in defence, nodding unconvincingly— "I swear."

"You—fine. I'll find out myself," she sighed as she leaned forward, stretching out her hand to lift up his shirt and peek at what was bothering him so badly.

"No!" Five exclaimed as he instantly moved backward, wincing as he did so.

"Wha—" She furrowed her eyebrows as she moved closer to him and reached out again. "Five!"

"No, we should—" He hurriedly stood up, leaning onto his left foot as he nodded towards the door. "Let's go."

"What are you—Five!" Elizabeth protested as he limped his way to the door.

He ignored her as he exited the room, and he left the door open as he hobbled down the hall.

With a sigh, she followed him out and down to the main foyer, where Diego and Allison were speaking. The two of them looked up to Elizabeth and Five as they joined, grim looks on their faces.

"Ready to go?" Diego questioned, his free hand toying with his knife.

Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows. "Where exactly are we going?"