OɹǝZ ɹǝqɯnN (An Umbrella Academy Fanfic)

Little Number Five

After cooling down, I was rummaging through my old wardrobe. Lucifer was sitting at my old desk flipping through my old sketchbooks.

"Ya' know, you need to pursue a profession in art. You're really talented." Lucifer said simply. I sighed.

"Yeah, that's not happening," I said with a sad smile, repressed memories flashing before my eyes. Lucifer looked at me with a frown. Before he said anything else, music started playing; it was muffled through the walls. I almost gasped when I realized it was one of Luther's old records. I stood in place with a confused expression plastered on my face as Lucifer stood up and approached me. He extended his hand for me, a playful grin spreading on his face.

"C' mon," He said gently. "Let's dance." I smiled and shook my head.

"Why not?" I asked with a shrug and a laugh as I placed my gloved hand in his. He spun me around and held me close. We danced like lunatics; spinning, laughing, and close. For the first time, I didn't need to force my laugh or my happiness. I didn't need to be sarcastic or pretend to be a way I wasn't. Lucifer held me close when the song suddenly stopped and a loud clap of thunder sounded; the whole house darkening. I jumped away from Lucifer as we shot each other a confused glance before I bolted downstairs and out the back door. All my siblings were already out there, watching this giant blue ripple of electricity in our backyard. Diego caught me as I tripped, trying to get closer. I held his hand tight as Allison spoke up.

"What is that thing?" She yelled over the sound of the cracking electric surges.

"It's either an electrical anomaly or a giant black hole!" Luther yelled back.

"Those are two completely different things, there Paul Bunyan!" Diego yelled back as the electric surge grew bigger. Diego tightened his grip on my gloved hand. I heard running behind me and soon, Klaus was pushing past Luther and Diego with a fire extinguisher in his arms.

"Out of the way!" He yelled as he tried to extinguish the surge. When that didn't work, Klaus threw the extinguisher into the surge.

"What good is that supposed to do?" I called to him. Klaus slumped miserably.

"I don't know! Do you have a better idea?" He shouted back as he ran to us. Suddenly, the surge grew greatly and got increasingly louder.

"Get behind me!" Luther yelled.

"Yeah, get behind us!" Diego called after Luther. I held Diego's hand as I stood my ground. Klaus came beside me and held my other hand gently. All six of us watched as the surge grew and a figure appeared within it. The figure began to push through the surge and eventually fell to the ground. The surge closed immediately, leaving a boy in an oversized suit on the ground, brushing himself off. The boy looked up and I gasped.

"Am I the only one seeing this or is that little Number Five?" Klaus asked from behind me.

"Shit!" Five said with concern as he looked around and at himself.

---Time Skip---

"What's the date? The exact date." Five said as he grabbed the bread off the shelf. We all headed into the kitchen after Five appeared. Luther, Diego, Allison, and Vanya sat in chairs around the kitchen table. Klaus sat on table Indian style, and I was leaning on the back of Diego's chair, my arms folded on the backs of his shoulders.

"The 24th," Vanya replied.

"Of what?" Five asked annoyedly as he returned to the table.

"March," Vanya said. Five nodded.

"Good." Five began making himself a sandwich. Luther straightened up.

"Would you care to explain yourself?" He asked. Five looked at him dismissively. Luther continued, "It's been 16 years, Five. Where have you been?" Luther stood in front of Five, who was trying to get to the cupboard. Five glared at him as he teleported through him. Luther looked to us annoyed. "I didn't miss that at all." He muttered, taking a seat again.

"It's been longer than 16 years." Five said as he looked in the cupboard.

"What do you mean?" Diego asked. Five sighed.

"It's been 45 years for me." He said. Diego looked at me with a puzzled expression. I shrugged at him. I turned back to Five and watched as he grabbed marshmallows from the cupboard and came back to the table.

"If you must know, I went to the future and got stuck." He said as he began sprinkling marshmallows on to his sandwich. "It's shit by the way." Five added, still focused on his sandwich.

"Called it!" Klaus and I said together. We looked at each other with a smile, while the others just looked at us. I looked back to Five as he picked up the newspaper.

"Heart failure, huh?" He said as he placed the newspaper down, the article about our father facing up. "Typical."

"You knew Dad died?" Klaus asked. Five looked at him like he was stupid.

"Yes." Five answered shortly. Then added, "Nice dress by the way."

"Danke," Klaus said triumphantly. I smirked with a roll of my eyes, then turned back to Five.

"Five, why did you come back now of all times?" I asked skeptically. Five looked at me.

"Well, it just took me this long to get back, Onyx." He said sincerely, then looked at me closer. "Hey, since when did you have a scar?" I swallowed at his question, remembering how I got the scar on my cheek. I looked down at my hands on Diego's back. I felt everyone's eyes on me. I expected Diego or Klaus to change the subject for me, but instead it was Luther. I looked at him wide-eyed as he cleared his throat and turned to Five.

"If you were gone for 45 years, you'd be 58. Why are you still 13?" He asked Five. I felt Klaus put a hand on back to comfort me. I smiled weakly at him as I looked back to Five.

"I'm not 13, my body is 13. My mind is still 58. I must've got the quantum equations wrong causing the space-time continuum to reverse my body look but not my mental capacity." Five said, mostly to himself.

"What does that even mean?" Diego asked. Five looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"You'd understand if you were smart." Five said sassily. Diego immediately stood up, causing me to jump back and trip over the leg of his chair. Luther caught Diego as Vanya caught me.

"Thanks," I muttered to her as she helped me back up. She just nodded and smiled. I glared at Diego as he sat back down. He looked at me once and his expression changed. I smacked the back of his head as I came back to his side.

"Sorry, Nix." He whispered as he rubbed the back of his head. I rolled my eyes as I watched Five pick up his sandwich.

"Wait! That's it?" Luther called after him.

"What else is there to say?" Five called back as he left the kitchen and walked away. Luther looked at us, sighed, then went after Five. I shook my head and walked out the back door again, leaving the others to find something to do. I took a breath when I walked out into the courtyard, the feeling of the free, cool air gave me a sense of comfort. I headed over to the bench by the wall. Next to it was a statue for Ben, my fifth and final brother. I sighed as I placed my hand on the base of the statue. I ran my fingers gingerly over the lettering on his plaque.

'BEN HARGREEVES "MAY THE DARKNESS WITHIN YOU FIND PEACE IN THE LIGHT"'

I held back a sob as I looked up to the statue's face. A single tear fell down my scarred cheek and rolled to my jawline, dripping onto the ground at my feet.

"I'm so sorry, Ben," I whispered miserably. "It was all my fault," I muttered as I hung my head and fell to my knees, hugging myself close as I cried. "I'm sorry. . . I'm sorry. . . I'm sorry."