Hazy Shade of Winter [ON HOLD FOR NOW]

03

They made their way into the kitchen and Five grabbed a breadboard, setting it on the table. As he walked towards the fridge, Adriana stared at him, trying to figure out how he knew her.

"What's the date?" Five asked. "The exact date?"

"The 24th of March," Adriana answered.

Five nodded. "Good."

"You know me. How?"

Five smiled and replied, "I can't tell you. I'm sorry."

"That's a load of stupidity."

Luther frowned. "So are we gonna talk about what just happened?" Five didn't answer. "It's been 17 years."

Five scoffed at Luther's words. "It's been a lot longer than that."

He spatial jumped past Luther to get to the cupboard and Luther muttered, "I didn't miss that."

"Where did you go?" Diego demanded.

"The future. It's shit, by the way." He jumped back over to finish his sandwich and locked eyes Adriana. "You want one?"

She nodded slowly. "I'll try one. Thank you."

As Five made Adriana a sandwich, Klaus raised his arm. "Called it!"

"I should've listened to the old man," Five muttered. "Y'know, jumping thorough space is one thing. Jumping through time is a toss of the dice." He looked back at the sandwiches, then finally noticed Klaus' choice of outfit. "Nice dress."

Klaus smiled and swung the skirt in his hands. "Oh, well, danke."

From her chair, Vanya said, "Wait. How did you get back?"

Five glanced at her. "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."

"That makes no sense," Diego deadpanned.

"Well it would if you were smarter."

"How long were you there?"

"Forty-five years. Give or take."

Luther sat as Adriana smirked.

"What are you saying?" Luther asked. "That you're 58?"

Five scoffed. "No, my consciousness is 58. Apparently my body is now 13 again." He took a bite of his sandwich, offering the other half to Adriana.

"Thank you," Adriana said.

Five smiled at her. "You're welcome."

"Wait. How does it work?" Vanya wondered.

Five stepped away from the table. "Dolores kept saying the equations were off. Eh." He took a second bite. "Bet she's laughing now."

Vanya and Adriana's brows furrowed. "Dolores?"

Five said nothing and picked up a newspaper. "Guess I missed the funeral."

"How'd you know about that?" Luther asked.

Adriana met his eyes. "The future, idiotule."

(you idiot)

Luther glared at her as Five said, "Heart failure, huh?"

"Uh-huh," Diego agreed.

"No," Luther replied at the same time.

Five clicked his tongue. "See? Nothing's changed."

He began walking away and Allison called after him. "Uh, that's it? That's all you have to say?