On a warm afternoon, Riley sat outside in the courtyard reading a book.
"What are you reading?" Klaus asked and sat down next to his sibling.
"The book is called 'Time of Love and War'. It's about a nurse who falls in love with a soldier," they explained.
"Sounds boring," said Klaus.
"Because you don't understand," Riley replied.
Klaus didn't understand either. He wondered why Riley and other people liked love stories so much.
"They just– arg! and it was love at first sight and they met in this bar and-"
"Okay, I get it," Klaus interrupted them.
"No, you don't."
Riley closed the book and gave it to Klaus– they had already read it several times anyway.
"Read it. Maybe then you'll understand."
Klaus looked up at them when they suddenly heard a beep.
"Oh, Julien, I almost forgot about you."
The kid reached into her jacked pocket, took out the mouse. and started petting Julien.
Their brother meanwhile opened the book.
"When I enrolled in nursing school back then, I didn't expect my life to change like this," Klaus read out loud. "No. Definitely no. What the hell is this? Seriously, how can you read something like that?"
Terra laughed lightly.
"You'll understand. Someday."
~~~~
Riley walked into the living room and found Five there, also in his old school uniform. They looked together at the paintings of them hanging over the fireplace.
Riley heard footsteps at the door and turned as Vanya entered the room.
"Nice to know Dad didn't forget us," said Five, turning around as well.
Riley smiled at their sister.
"We read your book, by the way," they said and sat down on the couch.
"Riley found it in a library that was still standing," Five explained.
He went to them and put a hand on their shoulder.
"I thought it was pretty good, all things considered."
"Yeah, definitely ballsy," Riley commented. "Giving up the family secrets. Sure that went over well."
"They hate me."
"I don't think they hate you, Vanya. They might be angry, but that's all. And even if they are, we definitely don't hate you," Riley said, gesturing towards herself and Five.
"And there are worse things that can happen," Five added, stepping closer to the fireplace again.
"You mean like what happened to Ben?" Vanya asked.
"Was it bad?" Riley asked.
Vanya nodded.
~~~~
Sometime later, the siblings gathered in the courtyard, at their father's favorite spot. It was a bit cold and raining, so almost everyone had an umbrella.
Five and Riley shared an umbrella. They had their arm around Five's.
"Did something happen?" Their mom broke the silence.
"Dad died Remember?" Allison asked cautiously.
"Oh yes, of course," her mom replied.
"Is mom okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, she's fine," assured Diego. "She just needs to rest. You know, recharge."
The next moment Pogo joined them.
"Whenever you're ready, dear boy," he said to Luther, who was holding the urn containing Sir Reginald Hargreeves' ashes.
He tipped out the urn, and the ashes were not blown about by the wind as planned, but ended up in a heap on the ground.
Riley turned slightly to hide her grin.
"Probably would have been better with some wind," commented Luther, who looked disappointed at the pile of ashes.
"Does anyone wish to speak?" Pogo asked.
Like their siblings, Riley remained silent and looked down.
"Very well. In all regards, Sir Reginald Hargreeves made me what I am today. For that alone, I shall forever be in his debt. He was my master... and my friend, and I shall miss him very much. He leaves behind a complicated legacy–"
"He was a monster", Diego interrupted him. Klaus, who was standing next to Five and Riley, had to laugh. "He was a bad person and a worse father. The world's better off without him."
"Diego," Allison interrupted her brother.
"My name is Number Two. You know why, Allison? Because our father couldn't be bothered to give us actual names. He had Mom do it."
"Would anyone like something to eat?" the siblings' mom asked, unaware of the growing tension.
"No, it's okay, mom."
"Okay."
"Look, you wanna pay your respects? Go ahead. But at least be honest about the kind of man he was."
"You should stop talking now," Luther warned Diego.
"You know, you of all people should be on my side here, Number One."
"I am warning you."
"After everything he did to you? He had to ship you a million miles away."
"Diego, stop talking."
"That's how much he couldn't stand the sight of you!"
Then Diego and Luther started fighting and the others took a step back.
Vanya gently pulled her mom back by the arm. Five carefully pushed Riley away from Diego and Luther.
In the end, the brothers fought until the statue of Ben, which was also in the courtyard, fell and his head broke off.
~~~~
"Where's Vanya?" Allison asked as she entered the kitchen where Five, Riley and Klaus were.
Five was looking for something in the cupboards. Klaus and Riley were sitting at the large kitchen table, the Teenager was resting his head on it and had their eyes closed.
"Oh, she's gone," Klaus explained.
"That's unfortunate."
"Yeah."
"An entire square block. Forty-two bedrooms, 19 bathrooms, but no, not a single drop of coffee," Five complained.
Riley rolled her eyes. Five always got grumpy when he couldn't get coffee.
"Dad hated caffeine," Allison reminded him.
"Well, he hated children, too, and he had plenty of us," said Klaus.
Riley laughed and gave their brother a high five.
"I'm taking the car," Five reported quickly. "Riley, are you accompanying me?"
"Of course."
"Where are you going?" Klaus wanted to know and put the guitar he was holding against the table.
"To get myself and my– and Riley a decent cup of coffee."
"Do you even know how to drive?"
"I know how to do everything", Five replied, grabbed Riley's hand and they disappeared.
~~~~
Five parked the car in front of Griddy's Donuts. Riley remembered very well how they and the others used to come here when they were kids- good memories from simpler times.
They sat together at the counter and rang the little bell.
At the same moment, an older man entered the diner. He sat down one chair down from five and leafed through his newspaper.
"Sorry, sink was clogged," the waitress apologized as she stepped out of the kitchen and joined the three guests. "So, what'll it be?"
"Uh, give me a chocolate eclair," the man stated.
"Hm, sure. Can I get the kids a glass of milk or something?"
"The kinds want coffee. One Black and one with milk and sugar and one chocolate donut," said Five.
The waitress chuckled and looked at the man. "Cute kid."
She looked unsure if Five was serious, then turned to take the order.
"Don't remember this place being such a shithole," Five said. "I used to come here as a kid. Used to sneak out with my brothers and sisters, my spouse came with us, too. Well, they weren't at that time of course–"
Riley giggled and shook their head.
"We ate donuts till we puked. Simpler times, huh?", said Riley.
"Eh, I suppose," the man murmured.
"There," said the waitress and placed their drinks in front of the children and walked back to get the eclair and the donut.
She put the small plate with the donut in front of Five. He thanked her and pushed the donut over to Riley.
"I got theirs," said the man and gave the waitress some money.
"Thank you," Riley said.
At that moment Five noticed what was written on the man's vest – the name of a towing company.
"You must know you way around the city," said Five.
"I hope so," the man replied. "I've been driving it for 20 years."
"Good. We need an address."
The man gave Five and Riley the address they were looking for and left the diner.
Five put the note with the address he in his pocket as the door opened again.
In the reflection of the small bell in front of him, he recognized several armed men.
"Eat your Donut. I'll take care of this," Five murmured to Riley.
"Hmm," the boy greeted the men. "I thought I'd have more time before you found us."
"Okay," said one of the men. "So let's all be professional about this, yeah? On your feet and come with us. They want to talk."
"We've got nothing to say," Five replied. Neither he nor Riley looked at the men.
"It doesn't have to go this way. You think I want to shoot kids? Go home with that on my conscience?"
"Well, I wouldn't worry about that," Riley said, taking a sip from their mug. "You won't be going home, gentleman."
Out of the corner of their eye, they saw Five slowly reach for the butter knife.
Then he disappeared.
One of the men groaned and slumped to the ground. His colleagues were now on alert.
They fired a few shots but stopped when Five disappeared. The bullets broke a few lamps and the light started to flicker.
Half were looking around now, guns drawn, and the others had their guns trained on Riley.
The child simply ignored her and ate her donut undisturbed. Five would take care of it like he said.
This suddenly appeared on a table at the other end of the room.
"Hey, arseholes!" he addressed the men.
Now the whole group turned their guns on Five. That was exactly his plan, he wanted to distract the men from Riley.
The men didn't hesitate and started shooting at the boy.
This will end in a huge mess, Riley thought.
There was shooting and fighting all around the child. Riley just sat still, and nothing happened at first.
"Even old New York was once New Amsterdam. Why they changed it I can't say. People just liked it better that way," Riley hummed. "So, take me back to Constantinople. No, you can't go back to Constantinople. Been a long time gone, Constantinople."
One of the men remembered that Five was not alone here. He turned, aimed the gun at Riley's back, and walked toward them.
Five responded immediately. He appeared in front of the man and rammed a knife in his eye.
"Stay. Away. From. Them," Five hissed.
"Why did Constantinople get the works? That's nobody's business but the Turks."
After a few moments there was silence. Riley had finished the doughnut by now and was wiping himself with the napkin.
The dark-haired boy adjusted his tie and sat back down in his chair next to Riley.
"Now we know how they found us," Riley said, looking at Five.
"What?" the boy asked.
Riley held up a small tracking device. "We need to remove our transmitters,"
Without hesitation, Five grabbed another knife and cut his right forearm.
"Five, what-"
"Psst."
The boy rummaged around in the wound, took out his tracking device, which looked like a large pill, and placed it on the table in front of him.
"Now you," Five explained. "You want me to do that?"
Riley nodded and slowly rolled up their sleeves. The boy put his hand under Riley's arm and at the same time grabbed a new knife.
They twitched slightly as the knife cut their skin.
"Sorry," Five murmured.
He didn't want to hurt Riley, but they had to get rid of their tracking devices.
"You know what?" Riley interrupted the silence.
"What?" Five inquired.
When Riley talked, it took her mind off the pain.
"Now we have a scar in the same place. Kinda romantic," Riley joked.
Five scoffed and the corners of his mouth turned up, although it wasn't funny. He had to cut Riley in the arm. He had sworn to protect them above all, including himself.
"Very romantic", Five said. "Listen Riley, you should get the tracker out yourself. My hands are covered in blood."
Riley grimaced at the thought. But he was right, they knew that. Their wound would become infected if he did that.
They rummaged around in their arm until they found the tracking device and pulled it out.
"Ok, now we can go", said five and got up.
"Wait," Riley stopped him.
The teenager hopped off the chair and faced Five. Wordlessly, they straightened his tie before stepping back and nodding.
Riley and Five left the diner hand in hand.
"So, take me back to Constantinople. No, you can't go back to Constantinople," Riley started humming again.
"Been a long time gone, Constantinople. Why did Constantinople get the works?" Five continued to sing the song.
"That's nobody's business but the Turks," Five and Riley finished the song while dropping their tracking devices in a puddle next to a drain.
~~~~
Five and Riley sat on Vanya's couch waiting for their sister. The two had talked about trusting Vanya the most.
The two didn't wait long when Vanya unlocked her apartment door. She groped for the light switch.
Before Vanya found him, Five turned on the floor lamp that was next to the couch and Vanya jumped in shock.
"Jesus!"
"Sorry to disappoint. It's just us," Riley murmured, looking at their sister.
"You should have locks on your windows," Five commented.
"I live on the second floor," Vanya said.
"Rapists can climb," Five pointed out.
"You are so weird," Vanya commented.
She closed the front door and sat down across from the teenagers.
That's when Vanya noticed a red braid on the collar of Five's old school uniform.
"Is that blood?"
"It's nothing," Five dismissed.
"Why are you here?" Vanya wanted to know.
"We've decided you are the only one we can trust," Five explained.
"Why me?"
Riley's face twisted into a sad grin. Vanya was their sister. Why did she think they wouldn't trust her?
Just because she didn't seem to have any powers?
Riley hadn't told anyone, but they'd always envied Vanya a bit for that. Vanya didn't have much responsibility back then, while the others and Riley were always sent on missions.
The teenager never wanted to be a superhero or anything or have their powers. Even when Riley was a child, they wanted a normal life and a family.
"Because you'll listen," Riley answered the question.
"OK."
Vanya's eyes fell on the bleeding piece of cloth wrapped around the teenager's right arms.
She got up without a word and got something to dress the wound.
"When I jumped forward and got stuck in the future," Five began to say as his sister tended to the cut. "Do you know what I found?"
"No," Vanya said.
"How would she know?" Riley asked Five, rolling her eyes.
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. As far as I could tell, Riley and I were the last people left alive. We never figured out what killed the human race, but... I did find something else. The date it happens. The world ends in eight days, and we have no idea how to stop it."
Vanya didn't know what to say.
"I'll put on a pot of coffee," she said just as we got up.