Oh, he's such a fuck up.
Five should've known it never would've been that easy. Stopping the end of the world was never easy.
So that's when it clicks for him.
The Apocalypse was always going to happen. Regardless of any damage he did to the timeline, Harold Jenkins would always be the fuse, and Vanya Hargreeves would always be the bomb. The moon would always explode and incinerate everyone on the planet.
But this timeline is different. He's here now, and he'll be damned if he's going to just let his siblings die without trying to save them.
Because that's what it's always been about, right?
Saving his family.
Even when they act like colossal dumbasses.
"... at least we're together," Luther is saying, "in the end."
Five whirls around, his thoughts spinning faster than they ever have. "This doesn't have to be the end."
In unison, Diego, Klaus, and Luther turn to look at him, each one in varying degrees of confusion.
"What?" Diego asks. "What are you saying, Five?"
"I think I have a way outta here," Five replies. "But you gotta trust me on this." A chorus of nos and I don't think sos greets him, but he doesn't let their blatant distrust deter him. "Then we might as well accept our fate, because in less than a minute we're gonna be vaporized."
"What's your idea, then?"
Five wonders how they ever did anything without him. "We use my ability to time travel. But this time, I'll take you with me." It's a risky endeavor. It might end with them spontaneously combusting, or scattered around the quantum realm in broken bits of consciousness, but it's better than rolling over and dying without a fight.
"You can do that?" Diego asks, and his hesitance is warranted.
"I don't know," Five admits. "I've never tried it before."
"What's the worst that can happen?"
Oh, boy. There's a whole list running through Five's head right now, but he opts for the snarkier, less serious one. "You're lookin' at it. A 58-year-old man inside a child's body, so there's that."
"Oh, what the hell, I'm in," Diego says.
"Yeah, whatever, I'm in," Klaus sighs.
"Me too," agrees Luther, and Five hates his easygoing tone like he didn't lock Vanya in a dark hole earlier that day. "Allison?" Still mute, her eyes wide with fear, Allison gives a shaky nod. Then Luther looks to Klaus. "What about Ben?"
A brief glance at thin air, and Klaus says, "great. Yeah, he's in."
"Okay, great," Five says. "Luther, grab Vanya." Everyone is quick to obey him.
"Wait. Should we be taking her?" Luther asks, even as he scoops Vanya up in his big arms. "I mean, if she's the cause of the Apocalypse. Isn't that like taking a bomb with us?"
"The Apocalypse will always happen," Five explains, weary of their constant, incessant questions about things larger than their understanding. Sometimes he wishes they could read minds, so they could just understand instantly without relying on words. "And Vanya will always be the cause unless we take her with us and fix her."
There's a long moment of pensive silence. Then everyone begins lacing their hands with each other, showing their trust in Five. Let's hope he doesn't let them down again.
They all gather in a tight circle, with Five gripping Allison's and Diego's hands. He takes in a deep breath. Only done this twice in his lifetime.
Five tilts his head upwards, gazing through the skyroof. Then he pushes.
The air above them ripples and begins crackling with blue electricity, casting a strange, wavering light over them. Five quite literally shoves through the folds of spacetime, reaching through to yank them forward. The pulsing, flickering mass of blue above them twitches and expands in size. Five fights to keep his grip on the timeline. It's like grabbing wet rubber, slippery and a dangerous thing to be dangling off a cliff while holding.
Gale-force winds pick up around them, nearly making him lose his concentration, but he steels his resolve. I am not a slave to my powers. A rippling blue sheet descends around them, encasing them in a bubble of quantum energy that he's barely bending to his will. This is much, much more difficult than before.
Allison shoots him a terrified look. Even Diego is wide-eyed and afraid.
"It's working!" Luther shouts, and Five resists the urge to actually snarl at him.
Klaus sways on his feet. Diego blinks rapidly, and Allison's hold on his hand slackens. No. No, no. He can't lose them to the quantum realm, not when they're this close.
"Hold on!" Five yells, tightening his grip on Allison and Diego. "It's going to get messy!"
The white-blue bubble shrinks around them, boxing them in. Five is accustomed to squeezing between the folds of space, but the others aren't. They'll all be experiencing the worst hangovers of their lives in a few moments, though.
Then the folds of time completely cover them, and Five yanks his family as far as he can into the unknown.
