Lost Without You

5.

"What's the date? The exact date," Five questions, as he grabs two halves of some bread.

"The 24th of March," I answer, as we all watch him in shock.

"Good."

"So, are we gonna talk about what just happened," Luther questions. He stays silent, as he lies the two pieces of bread down, carefully. "It's been 17 years," He says, standing up.

"It's been a lot longer than that," Five scoffs, looking up at him. He teleports around Luther, grabbing something off the shelf.

"I haven't missed that," Luther rolls his eyes. 

"I have," I mutter to myself.

"Where'd you go," Diego asks.

"The future. It's shit, by the way," Five replies, teleporting back over to his bread.

"Called it," Klaus says.

"I should've listened to the old man," He admits, opening the fridge. "You know, jumping through space is one thing, jumping through time is a toss of the dice," He continues, walking back over to the bread. He glances up at Klaus, speaking. "Nice dress."

"Oh, well, danke."

"Wait, how did you get back," I ask.

"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," He explains.

"That makes no sense", Diego says.

"Well, it would, if you were smarter," He shrugs. Diego stands up, but without looking at him, I force him to sit back down. I glance back at him, glaring. 

"I haven't missed that," Diego groans.

"How long were you there," Luther asks.

"Forty-five years. Give or take," He answers. Luther suddenly sits back down, shocked.

"So, what are you saying? That you're 58," Luther says.

"No, my conciousness is 58," He corrects, annoyed. "Apparently, my body is now 15 again," He adds, in frustration.

"Wait, how does that even work," Vanya says.

"Delores kept saying the equations were off. Eh," He mutters to himself. "Bet she's laughing now."

"Delores," I say, raising an eyebrow.

"Hmm," He says, picking up the newspaper lying on the counter. "Guess I missed the funeral."

"How'd you know about that?"

"What part of the future do you not understand," He rolls his eyes. "Heart failure, huh?"

"Yeah," Diego nods.

"No," Luther adds.

"Hmm. Nice to see nothing's changed."

"Uh, that's it? That's all you have to say," I say, crossing my arms.

"What else is there to say? The circle of life," He replies, leaving the kitchen.

"Well... That was interesting," Luther says.

*later*

I slowly walk into the living room to see Five staring at the picture of himself. "Nice to know Dad didn't forget me," Five comments when he hears my footsteps behind him. He slowly turns around to look at me.

"I didn't either...," I admit. "In fact... I kind of died."

"Wait... What," He says, shocked. 

"I... died, a year after you disappeared. Some said it was because of a broken heart," I explain. "Everyone found me. I was laying on my bed, and it looked like I had just passed out, but I never woke up. I think not eating and sleeping also played a part in my death, but... I woke up today, and I thought it was because of Dad, but it was really because my body knew you were coming back today, and it knew I had to wake up," I say. 

"Because of me?"

"Yeah... When you disappeared, I was so lost. I was numb. I was... truly heartbroken. My best friend was gone," I nod. 

"If you died a year after I ran away, how are you still fifteen," He says.

"I don't know," I admit, shrugging. 

"This is crazy."

"Beyond."