Rachel pushed herself through the hole Five had created. How he suddenly felt like his formula was correct this time after so many years was beyond her. As she struggled through, she began to free fall, unceremoniously landing on dirt and leaves. Groaning, she glanced over to see Five slowly getting up, except he wasn't how she had last seen him. Most recently he'd been a well-dressed 58-year-old man with completely white hair and a matching mustache. The Five beside her was his 13-year-old self. His slim build and shorter height caused the suit he was wearing to swallow him. His hair was once again a dark brown color. Looking down at herself as she got to her feet, Rachel became aware that her mint green pencil dress was a few sizes too big, one side falling off her shoulder. Additionally, her hair was back to her youthful shoulder length pale blonde, her skin a sickly white as if the sun barely touched her. She noticed Five's focus was in front of him, so she looked ahead as well.

Before them stood five individuals who looked at them in shock, two women and three men. One man was incredibly muscular, the two other men were dressed in head to toe black though one was wearing a skirt, one woman was beautiful with golden curled hair and dark skin, and the other was a pretty, mousy woman with dark brown hair. It was obvious on sight who they were as they stepped forward. It was the Hargreeves family, exactly how Rachel remembered them at a terrible time in her past and their future. The memory pained her like it was yesterday.

It was 45 years ago when Five and Rachel had been trapped in the future for a day so far. Some fires here and there were still going, proving that whatever happened was quite the ordeal. The two of them now had a mannequin Five named Dolores sitting with all their current resources in a little red wagon. Food was scarce, but a few things were still able to be salvaged from stores. The two of them were at the Hargreeves Academy. Five was doing this best to figure out what happened. Rachel wandered around the ruins trying to find signs of life or anything useful. She found a book that seemed to be written by Vanya. It was majorly damaged, but she held on to it anyway. When Rachel came back around toward the wagon, she noticed Five standing off in a far corner, his emotions both scared and sad. As she walked over to him, she noticed the dead bodies. They all looked vaguely familiar, making her heart sink into her stomach. Reaching Five, she looked at what he was. On the arm of the body back here was the Umbrella Academy tattoo that most of the kids shared.

She was brought out of her thoughts by someone speaking.

"Does anyone else see little Number Five and Rachel, or is that just me?" the man in the skirt asked.

"Shit," was Five's brilliant response as he looked down at himself.

"Five, you screwed up the formula somehow…" Rachel whined.

She dusted off her hands and dress before looking around. The courtyard looked dingier than she remembered, but she recognized it as the Academy where the Hargreeves were raised. A statue she did not remember was now in the space. It was of Ben who, she remembered from Vanya's book, had died. Those before her were definitely the other Hargreeves, Luther, Diego, Klaus, Allison, and Vanya. Unable to stop herself, Rachel ran forward and tackled Allison and Vanya in a hug. Though surprised, the woman hugged her back.

"I've missed you both so much," Rachel told her, pulling away after a moment," Look at you two, you're radiant."

Allison stared at her with wide eyes. Vanya let out a confused laugh.

"Uhm, thank you. I missed you, too…What-?"

"What just happened?" Luther demanded.

Rachel sighed and looked over at him. He certainly hadn't changed. Being Number One was still a complex for him. Five marched through the group at that point, heading for the door inside.

"I'm hungry."

Despite the confusion, everyone followed him to the kitchen where he began making a sandwich. Rachel fended off questions, insisting they wait for their sibling's explanation. They all sat or stood around the kitchen table watching Five as he moved around at the head of the table. Rachel leaned against it by the sandwich making station he had set up. Klaus sat cross-legged on the table, seemingly thinking. As he grabbed food, Five sighed.

"What's the date? The exact date," he questioned them.

"The 24th," Vanya responded.

"Of what?"

"March."

Five thought a beat before nodding.

"Good."

"So, are we gonna talk about what just happened?" Luther asked.

Five made no move to explain, which made Rachel roll her eyes. If someone was going to explain, it needed to be him. Luther's patience was running thin. He stood up and moved toward them.

"It's been seventeen years," the big man stated aggressively.

Five looked over and scoffed at him.

"It's been a lot longer than that."

He then spacial jumped through his brother to search the shelves.

"I haven't missed that," Luther mumbled.

"Where'd you go?" Diego asked, arms crossed on the table.

"The future," he responded, jumping back to Rachel's side," It's shit, by the way."

"Called it," Klaus exclaimed.

"I should've listened to the old man," Five bemoaned searching the refrigerator this time," You know, jumping through space is one thing, jumping through time is a toss of the dice."

Rachel crossed her arms and leaned on the table.

"One he accidentally rolled with me in tow," she informed them with a sarcastic smile.

The Hargreeves, especially Vanya and Diego, were taken aback. The Rachel they remembered wasn't very sarcastic, she was meeker and sweeter. Rachel knew Vanya hadn't believed her and Five had disappeared together, but she wondered if Diego had also been against that idea as well.

Five paused, looking at Klaus who was directly in front of him.

"Nice dress," he commented.

Klaus looked down at his skirt and then back up with a bit of a smile.

"Oh, well, danke!"

"Wait," Vanya jumped in," how did you get back?"

Five looked bored as he responded.

"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."

The group was silent for a moment before Diego spoke on behalf of them all.

"That makes no sense."

"Well, it would if you were smarter."

Diego go to his feet to strangle his brother, but Luther held him back.

"How long were you there?" Luther asked.

"Forty-five years. Give or take."

Rachel nodded in agreement. Luther sat back down as they all looked at the two of them in shock.

"So, what are you saying? That you're both fifty-eight?" Luther questioned.

Five smirked.

"No, my consciousness is fifty-eight. Apparently, my body is now thirteen again."

It was at that point that he finished making his peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich and began eating it, turning away from the group.

"Wait, how does that even work?" Vanya asked.

"Dolores kept saying the equations were off. Eh," he said to himself," Bet she's laughing now."

Rachel rubbed her forehead.

"They were off…sort of. You didn't plan on us being teenagers again."

"Small detail," he responded, waving her comment off.

"Dolores?" Vanya questioned the two of them.

They both ignored her as Five picked up the newspaper lying on the table. The lead story read 'City Says Goodbye to Reginald Hargreeves.' A large picture of the Academy's deceased leader was on the front.

"Guess I missed the funeral," Five noted.

"How'd you know about that?" Luther demanded, suspicious.

"What part of the future do you not understand?" Five sassed back," Heart failure, huh?"

"Yeah," Diego responded.

"No," Luther insisted.

Rachel raised an eyebrow at them. Five made a face at their exchange.

"Nice to see nothing's changed," he quipped.

He then walked out of the kitchen.

"Oh, that's it? That's all you have to say?" Allison demanded.

"What else is there to say? The circle of life."

Klaus shrugged while Luther stared at the open peanut butter jar on the table.

"Well…that was interesting."

As they all turned to look a Rachel, she put her hands up before picking up the things Five left all over the place.

"Look, I've been stuck with him for forty-five years, I just need a break. Either of you young ladies still have a wardrobe here I can raid? Anything in size teenager?"

Vanya shook her head while Allison moved away from the table.

"Come on, I've probably got something."

Rachel felt a bit out of place in the clothes Allison gave her, but it was better than walking around in a dress that was too big. Especially one designed from the 1960s. She was now dressed in a bright blue skirt and a yellow top with an excessive amount of white strings. Allison had been a teen in the early 2000s. It really showed. Rachel was lucky her and Allison had the same shoe size back in the day as well, as she was able to borrow some black sneakers, too.

After changing, she headed down to the main sitting area of the Academy. On her way down, she ran into Diego who seemed to be waiting for her in the foyer.

"Hey, Diego. It's been a long time."

"Did you run away with him?"

Rachel couldn't help but heave a sigh. She should have known he would have asked her that question.

"No, it was purely accidentally. Go figure that grabbing at the jacket of someone who can jump through time can be…consequential. I'm sorry if us disappearing at the same time really…affected you. And the others."

Diego nodded before striding away from her.

"That's all I needed to know."

She watched him go, glad that she could put his mind at ease. Though she wasn't sensing, she had a feeling that he'd wondered for seventeen years whether he and his brother had actually liked the same girl, but only Five had the balls to run away with her.

In the sitting room, she found Five in one of his old Umbrella Academy uniforms. When he saw her, he snorted in amusement.

"I think I've been blinded," he teased.

"Says the guy in his childhood uniform," she sneered back.

Five scrunched up his nose as he looked down at his clothes.

"Yes, well, I didn't care about much outside these walls back then."

He turned as he talked and noticed a portrait of himself on the wall. Rachel moved over and stood beside him. It wasn't a bad likeness. The girl turned as she heard footsteps behind them. Vanya was carefully walking toward them. Five heard them too as he spoke.

"Nice to know Dad didn't forget me."

He turned to Vanya as well.

"Read your book, by the way. Found it in a library that was still standing."

He began to walk around her, looking around the room. Vanya looked at Rachel.

"Yeah, I read it, too. Eventually. The first copy I found was damaged. Five also almost stopped reading it to me at one point…"

Five cut in abruptly.

"I thought it was pretty good, all things considered. Yeah, definitely ballsy, giving up the family secrets. Sure, that went over well."

"They hate me," Vanya responded.

"Oh, there are worse things that can happen."

"You mean like what happened to Ben?"

The room was silent. Rachel folded her arms across her chest. In 45 years alone together, Rachel learned there were few things that could shake Five. What they read about Ben had been one of the few.

"Was it bad?" he asked, softly.

Vanya just nodded in response. In the awkwardness, Vanya turned to Rachel.

"So…did you two…was it an accident or did you run off together?"

Rachel couldn't help but laugh at the thought.

"Vanya, don't doubt what you said in the book. You were right. It was pure coincidence..."