Her body felt like it was being pulled in 10 different directions as she pushed herself through the portal Five had created. She couldn't focus on anything but trying to push forward and trying not to let go of Five, praying he'd finally done the calculations right and they'd be finally able to get back to fix the timeline and stop the upcoming apocalypse.

She could hear herself screaming as she finally fell through the other side, her head feeling like it was splitting in half as she crashed to the right side of Five who was also on the ground. Five groaned as he hauled himself up from the ground, dusting off his clothes as Elsie curled in on herself a little, her eyes scrunched shut as she got used to the new timeline they'd just created.

"Does anyone else see little Number Five, or is that just me?" Elsie heard, what she assumed must have been one of Fives brothers ask. She peeked open her eyes and noted the five strangers staring at her and Five, tilting her head as the words caught up to her and she slowly realised how massive her dress now felt on her.

"Shit." Fives proclamation re-enforced her thinking, the calculations hadn't been quite right after all.

Elsie sighed but pushed herself up, grabbing the hand Five quickly put out to her when he realised that she was ready to get up. Her head was still throbbing slightly, and she was still getting flashes of things that could happen, but it was manageable.

Five refused to release her hand once the two of them were standing and quickly pulled her past his family, ignoring Diego who had shouted for him to stop. Elsie followed as best she could with her head still throbbing and her eyes wondering to every portrait and antique as they marched past. Five led them to the kitchen, his energy was well drained from opening the portal and taking the two of them through and he was in desperate need of food before he could begin to calculate and work out how to stop the apocalypse. He released Elsie's hand as they got in the door for the kitchen, instantly grabbing a chopping board to begin to prepare food for the two of them as his siblings, who had followed the pair, gathered around the kitchen table. Seeing he wasn't going to get peace with Elsie for 5 minutes, Five sighed.

"What's the date? The exact date." Five asked as he grabbed bread from the pantry, Elsie taking a seat at the table on Fives left as she looked around the room to take it all in, earning glances and glares from the rest of the Hargreeves.

"The 24th." Vanya replied, her glaze flitting from Five to Elsie who was still looking around with wonder at the kitchen.

"Of what?" Five returned, not noticing the odd looks from his family as he unwrapped the bread.

"March." Vanya added.

"Good." Five continued, Elsie also sighing with relief as she turned back to the food Five was preparing – both glad they had at least managed to get that much of the calculations right. The family moved their eyes back to Elsie as she started to wrap up the bread that Five hadn't taken out the bag.

"So, are we gonna talk about what just happened?" Luther asked, gaining Elsie's attention. Her eyes flitted between Luther and Five as she took in the awkward tension that was filling the air, her powers weren't required to tell her this wouldn't necessarily end well.

There was a pregnant pause as the Family waited for Five to explain, expecting him to at least tell them who the stranger was in the kitchen that had landed with him. The teenager wasn't anyone they recognised, they would have remembered a blond-haired girl with grey eyes hanging around with Five before he disappeared.

Elsie bit her lip, noticing Fives demeanour and just knowing he was not in the mood to explain what was going on. She pushed her chair back and stood up, opening her mouth to offer some type of story while she put the bread away but before she could say anything Luther stood up and placed himself in front of Five.

"It's been 17 years." Five scoffed, facing Luther.

"It's been a lot longer than that." Elsie watched him blink through Luther, over to where she'd noted all the marshmallows were stored, as she moved over to where the bread came from sticking it back on the shelf.

"I haven't missed that." Luther muttered as Five picked up the spread and blinked back to the table as Elsie re-took her seat, headache all but forgotten about now.

"Where'd you go?" Diego asked, trying to pick out some information.

"The future. It's shit, by the way." Five offered, making Elsie roll her eyes.

"Called it." Klaus added, his eyes on the mystery girl who's focus had firmly gone back to the sandwiches Five was making.

"I should've listened to the old man. You know, jumping through space is one thing, jumping through time is a toss of the dice." Five explained while he got the peanut butter out from the fridge, having seen Elsie's eye roll from the corner of his eye. Five then glanced at his family, seeing Diego, Klaus and Allison staring at Elsie.

"Nice dress." Five threw out to Klaus, making all eyes turn back to him.

"Oh, well, danke!"

"Wait, how did you get back?" Vanya questioned, trying to bring the focus back to the matter at hand.

"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." Five explained, spreading the peanut butter on two slices of bread as Elsie stole a marshmallow from the packet and threw it in her mouth.

"That makes no sense." Diego countered, throwing a glare at Elsie.

"Well, it would if you were smarter." Five shot back, noting the glare, making Elsie gasp lightly and smack his arm with the back of her right hand as Diego shot up from his chair only to be blocked by Luther. Five shrugged off the light slap, smirking slightly as he continued to make the sandwiches.

"How long were you there?" Luther asked, his right arm still out in front of Diego.

"Forty-five years?" Five replied, glancing at Elsie for confirmation. She nodded her head in response.

"Forty-five ish. Give or take." She agreed as she stole another marshmallow from the packet, ignoring the family's eyes on her as she ate it.

"So what are you saying? That you're both 58?" Luther asked as he sat back down, all five of the older (or younger?) Hargreeves children looking dumfounded at the idea that the two teenagers were nearly 60.

"No, our consciousness is 58. Apparently, my body is now 15 again." Five countered, beginning to get annoyed with the incessant questioning. Elsie threw him a small smile, sensing his mood, as she picked up the now completed sandwich from the chopping board as Five moved to the back of the kitchen.

"Wait, how does that even work?" Vanya continued, voicing the thoughts of the whole family who were staring at the two teens.

"Delores kept saying the equations were off." Five muttered making Elsie chuckle a little, Five turning around at the sound.

"Bet she's laughing now." Five shot her a quick smirk as he bit off a part of his sandwich.

"Delores?" Vanya yet again questioned, none of the family happy they were seeming to get more questions than answers whenever Five would open his mouth. Five just turned his attention to the newspaper on the table as Elsie bit into her sandwich, forever grateful for Five introducing her to the peanut butter marshmallow sandwich.

"Hmm. Guess I missed the funeral." Five observed.

"How'd you know about that?" Luther demanded, looking suspiciously at Elsie as she finished her bite and lifted a finger to answer the question.

"What part of the future do you not understand?" Five questioned, Elsie rolling her eyes again at his blunt responses and lowered her hand. "Heart failure, huh?"

Elsie felt herself smile a little to herself around her sandwich as Diego and Luther gave differing answers, Five had always said the pair of them could never agree. She made eye contact with Five who was close to rolling his own eyes.

"Hmm. Nice to see nothing's changed." Five offered, moving around to Elsie's chair and offering a hand to her. Moving what remained of her sandwich to her left hand, she took his offered hand and got up from the chair while the rest of the Hargreeves watched on. Elsie took another bite as Five led her to the door they'd come in earlier.

"Uh, that's it? That's all you have to say?" Allison finally commented, as Five was halfway out the door.

"What else is there to say? The circle of life." Five threw back, Elsie offering an apologetic smile over her shoulder at the Hargreeves siblings as she was pulled out the door. She noted Diego look like he was about to shout out another question, and gave Fives hand a small squeeze, him instantly blinking them to his room in response.

Elsie let out a breath in relief, flopping on Fives bed and staring up at the ceiling as he instantly dived over to his wardrobe to find some better fitting clothes

"Ah, shit."

"What?" Elsie asked as she lifted her head up, glancing over in the direction of the wardrobe, and instantly letting out a little laugh when she noticed the reason behind Fives proclamation, "Oh, it's fine Five, I'm probably going to have to wear the same. Besides we've definitely worn worse for a mission."

"Hmmm good point." Five countered, a blue flash appearing twice in quick succession before a skirt and blazer was thrown towards Elsie, who had moved between the flashed and instantly caught it in her right hand.

"Nice Try." She laughed before throwing the last bite of her sandwich in her mouth and picking up the clothes Five had thrown at her, noting Vanya's name being written on the inside of the label. She threw the blazer on the corner of Fives bed, choosing to just go for the skirt, shirt and tie combined with the knee-high socks, luckily her feet hadn't changed size and her boots would still fit her.

"Bathroom?" Five glanced over at Elsie at the one worded question, grabbing her hand and blinking her to the nearest bathroom – desperately trying to keep her away from the family as much as he could. Once she was safely deposited, he blinked himself back to his room to change.

Elsie felt herself shake her head at his antics, she knew what he was up to the moment he'd dragged her to the kitchen without explaining anything to his family, only problem was she wasn't sure why. He had always told her how annoying his family could be, that they weren't all as smart as him, that they were this and that – but she knew he loved them, they were his siblings after all. So she couldn't help thinking it was her he was embarrassed of, she'd heard too many stories about his family for them to be able to embarrass him.

She sighed to herself and began changing, throwing her now ill-fitting dress over the side of the bath and picking up Vanya's old shirt, throwing it over her head to save time with the buttons. Pulling the tie out the clothes pile, she wrapped it around her neck as she watched herself in the mirror, noting the light scar under her no longer bagged left eye, and reached a hand up to rub at it a little – before pushing her hand into her bedraggled hair. Pulling her hand down to quickly do up the tie like she had been doing for Five for many years, she noticed the hairbrush in the mirror and turned to grab it as well as the pleated school skirt. She pulled the skirt on quickly before giving her hair a quick brush, pulling out all the pins and clips the commission had "suggested" she used in her hair as she got older, and threw in a quick pleat to keep everything back. She gave herself a once over in the mirror before deciding to roll up her shirt sleeves to her elbow, and swapped her socks out for the new pair Five had provided from Vanya then pulled her boots back on. Letting out a sigh, Elsie looked back at the mirror, getting used to her new-old face. Being 15 again would certainly take some getting used to.

Elsie sighed again, giving her tie an adjustment when there was a knock on the door.

"Hey, Five? You in there? Wheres the blonde?" Diego was hissing through the door, very unsure with a stranger being in the house and left unattended.

Elsie rolled her eyes and let out a huff before plastering on a small smile and opening the door.

"I'm not sure where Five is, but the blonde's here!" Diego looked down at her, glare in his eyes.

"He dump you already?" Elsie dropped the smile, glaring right back as she moved past Diego to leave the bathroom. Her eyes flitting to the portraits and artefacts, unsure of where she was actually going, but following her gut.

"Hey, I was talking to you!" Diego continued, perusing her as she walked away.

"No you were being an ass." She countered as she stepped down one of the stairs. Diego lunched and gripped her arm.

"Ass or not, this is our house. Who the hell are you and what are you doing with our brother? Did you kidnap him?" Elsie threw another glare at him.

"Since you asked so nicely, my names Elsie as for the rest of it, ask Five." Diego tugged her arm closer to him, anger radiating in waves at the answer.

"Look."

"Let her go Diego." Fives voice traveled up the staircase, drawing Elsie's and Diego's attention. Five stood with a dangerous smirk on his face with hands in his short pockets, not happy in the slightest. Elsie's glare dropped and she sent him a small smile, turning back to Diego and tugging her arm free and continued her decent of the stairs. The knife wielding Hargreeves sent the two teens a glare before taking a few steps back and retreating to his room.

Elsie let out a huff of relief, grabbing Fives hand to squeeze in thanks as she reached the bottom of the stairs. Five released her hand a second later leading her into the lounge where a portrait of himself now hung over the mantelpiece. Elsie let out a light murmur of surprise at the size and décor of the room. Five stared at the portrait while Elsie had a wonder around the room, taking in every inch of it as she tried to battle the tiredness that was creeping in. The two of them had no idea how long they were there, just settling from the time travel when they were snapped out of it by Vanya entering the room.

"Nice to know Dad didn't forget me." Five murmured, still staring at himself before he turned to Vanya. "Read your book, by the way. Found it in a library that was still standing.I thought it was pretty good, all things considered. Yeah, definitely ballsy, giving up the family secrets. Sure that went over well."

Elsie felt herself let out a small smile, it had been a good read - she'd certainly enjoyed learning about Five when he was younger and his family.

"They hate me." Vanya revealed to the teens who shared a glance. Elsie came over from the bar, moving to stand beside Five closer to the doorway, her eyes giving a slight glow as she came to a stop.

"Trust me, they'll get over it." Elsie tried to comfort, Vanya throwing her a small smile at the attempt.

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

"You mean like what happened to Ben?" Vanya offered, making Elsie look away – remembering the paragraphs dedicated to the Hargreeves fallen brother. Five took a deep breath.

"Was it bad?" Vanya nodded slightly in response to Fives question. Unsure how to answer fully just how bad it had been when they'd lost Ben after loosing Five. However, She was saved from explaining by Luther's shout letting the family know it was time to release their fathers ashes.

Elsie followed behind Five and Vanya out the door to the hallway, saying nothing as she tried to stick close to Five and keep out of the way. She knew Diego wouldn't be happy with her staying near Five, or going outside. To save herself from an argument paused at the staircase, watching on as the Hargreeves all got together and everyone but Luther and Diego picked up an umbrella to protect themselves from the downpour of rain outside. She saw Five instinctively put his left hand behind him as he got his umbrella, instantly turning around when her right hand didn't immediately touch it. Seeing her standing beside the stairs, his eyes flashed to Diego who was silently glancing between Elsie and Five, almost daring her to come closer. Five scoffed, blinking over to grab Elsie then back to where he'd been standing, keeping a hold of her hand as they followed Luther out the door and into the courtyard.

Elsie made sure to keep her head down and walk slightly behind Five, but still keeping their hands together. Wanting to make clear, she understood she was intruding slightly on a family affair. No matter how much she knew about them as children from Five and Vanya's book, they knew nothing about her.

The six Hargreeves plus Elsie and their mom stood around the area in the Courtyard that Luther had chosen. The rain setting the heavy mood that surrounded the family, everyone seeming uncertain how to react to releasing their fathers ashes. Elsie now noticing herself drifting out of the here and now as everyone gathered themselves for the ceremony, Fives occasional hand squeezing silently keeping her from glimpsing too far into the future and keeping her in the present.

"Did something happen?" Grace asked, making all the Hargreeves siblings look over in confusion.

"Dad died. Remember?" Allison gently prompted.

"Oh. Yes, of course." Grace nodded, turning sombre at the reminder.

"Is Mom okay?" Allison asked, turning to Diego who had always been the closest to their mom

"Yeah, yeah, she's fine. She just needs to rest. You know, recharge." Diego explained as Pogo moved over from the other entrance to the courtyard.

"Whenever you're ready, dear boy." Elsie turned her attention from counting the gaps between Fives hand squeezing to Luther, giving a long squeeze back to Five in thanks for helping.

Everyone watched on as Luther took a deep breath and turned the urn containing their fathers ashes over, allowing them to fall to the ground. Elsie felt herself wince a little at how they just collated in a pile on the ground, almost wishing she controlled the elements so it looked less awkward.

"Probably would have been better with some wind." Luther muttered, voicing most of the families thoughts.

"Does anyone wish to speak?" Pogo asked, moving them back to the reason they were all gathered together. All of the Hargreeves looked down or away, not sure what they'd say about their father if given the chance.

"Very well." Pogo acknowledged before continuing himself, "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 cut in, making Klaus laugh and Elsie wince again, moving further behind Five as her mind instantly clicked on what was going to happen next. Five noticed, peeking back as if to ask if it was going to be bad – Elsie shook her head. Five turned his head back to Diego, Elsie peeking her eyes over his shoulder and continuing to watch the scene.

"He was a bad person and a worse father. The world's better off without him." Diego continued his rant.

"Diego." Allison cut in, aware that this was not the situation for this and with Pogo and Luther here it was unfair for him to lay it all out.

"My name is Number Two. You know why? Because our father couldn't be bothered to give us actual names. He had Mom do it." Diego continued, either not sensing the changing mood or not caring.

"Would anyone like something to eat?" Grace cut in, not seeming to know what else to do.

"No, it's okay, Mom." Vanya cut in gently.

"Oh, okay." Grace responded with a nod, smile on her face.

"Look, you wanna pay your respects? Go ahead. But at least be honest about the kind of man he was." Diego offered as he moved forward and turned to look at the rest of the people gathered, bringing everyone back to the situation.

"You should stop talking now." Luther warned, Elsie noted how tense he'd gotten and bit her lip.

"You know, you of all people should be on my side here, Number One." Diego countered, turning to eye his larger brother up and down.

"I am warning you."

"After everything he did to you? He had to ship you a million miles away." Diego continued, again not seeming to care about his family's feelings or not noticing them.

"Diego, stop talking." Luther tried again.

"That's how much he couldn't stand the sight of you!" Diego shouted pointing his finger at Luther's chest.

Luther instantly pushed Diego's hand down, going in for a punch. Five turned back to Elsie as his taller brothers started fighting raising an eyebrow to which she shrugged – Five had always said they fought a lot as kids, she thought it was normal. Allison, Vanya, Grace and Pogo all took a few steps back, not looking amused in the slightest at the pair. Klaus seeing his other family step back put his arm on five to push him back slightly that Five pushed down but took the two steps back with Elsie.

"Boys, stop this at once!" Pogo shouted, as Diego and Luther continued.

"Come on, big boy!" Diego shouted at Luther, egging him on further. Elsie felt herself wince, regretting not telling Five as she saw the family's reaction.

"Stop it!" Vanya shouted.

"Hit him! Hit him!" Klaus added in, just confirming to Elsie this had been a normal family occurrence when they were younger. Elsie felt Five squeeze her hand, drawing her attention from the fight to him.

"We don't have time for this." Five muttered, to which Elsie nodded - not wanting to admit that she'd maybe forgotten about the bigger mission. Getting heavily distracted by meeting Five's family and seeing his home in one piece, it was a lot to take in.

Five stuck the umbrella back in the stand as the two got back inside and instantly blinked them up to his bedroom. Elsie threw herself back on Five's bed, staring at the ceiling as Five started to pace back and fore muttering ideas to himself, pulling the glass eye out of his pocket and looking at it as he walked.

Elsie focused on his pacing and light muttering, her eyes closing slightly as she took what little rest she could. Her slight overload downstairs of possibilities meant she was running on near fumes. She could see a great deal of possible futures, which narrowed down after each person made a decision, the further away she looked the more variables she saw. Seeing peoples next move was easy – narrowing down what would kill them 20 years in the future was next to impossible.

"Coffee." Five suddenly said, turning to Elsie.

"I don't have any." Elsie retorted, peeking her eyes open as she heard him move closer.

"We need coffee." Five elaborated as he sat next to her on the bed, to which Elsie nodded.

"We do but didn't you say your dad hated the stuff?" Five nodded at the question, eyes dashing back and fore as he thought for a second before blinking away. Elsie rolled her eyes before closing them again, knowing she had 4mins and 32 seconds before Five would be back.

Elsie felt her breathing slow, trying to almost meditate for the 4 mins to allow her to gain her focus again. Fives family was an amazing distraction. She'd always wanted to meet them and ask them about Five. He had already told her what he was like as a child but she knew he hadn't been fully honest, no one ever was about their childhood. It had been so different to hers and intrigued her so much, she could have been a part of it had her mothers family said yes. How could she forget, she'd been reminded of it everyday by her mother, cursing the day she hadn't opened her own mouth and just taken the money. She'd always looked at the Hargreeves with envy before she'd found out what it was like for them, but even still unloved with siblings seemed better than unloved and alone.

"El, get up. Let's check the kitchen." Five muttered as he blinked back into the room. Elsie sighed.

"I'm up, I'm up." Five let out a small smile, dropping his guard slightly.

"You're not." Elsie laughed from her position on the bed and opened her eyes.

"I supposed not." Five head out a hand to her which she took to pull herself up.

"A whole apocalypse and years at the commission and you're still the last to get up." Elsie rolled her eyes.

"When you can see what's coming, you know when there's a rush… plus this is the comfiest thing I've ever laid on!" Five chuckled at that, his smile slowly morphing into his signature smirk.

"El, You've said that exact phase about a rug, a half destroyed couch, a pile of blankets, a pile of clothes, the commissions supplied beds, me…" Elsie smiled a little.

"Ahh the good old days." She joked, before holding her hand out, "the kitchen?" Five smirked, grabbing her hand and giving it a quick kiss.

"The kitchen." Before there was a flash of blue and they were standing in the middle of the kitchen, startling Klaus to the point of nearly falling off his chair. Elsie sent him an apologetic glance as she moved to the table, catching the marshmallows Five threw at her as she sat down.

"Hi Klaus." Elsie offered, not even asking about the guitar on his lap.

"You know my name?? Little Five told you about little old me?" Klaus gasped, hand moving to his chest. Elsie let out a small laugh and nodded.

"He mentioned you once or twice." Klaus's eyes lit up, laughing with delight as Five tried to throw a bag of something from the cupboard he was searching at his head that Elsie caught without thinking.

"Oh, I am honoured!" Elsie smiled, setting the tin of beans down and taking a couple marshmallows out the packet, sticking them in her mouth before offering Klaus who shook his head and went back to fiddling with the guitar. She watched Klaus open his mouth to ask another question before closing it as footsteps caught his attention.

"Where's Vanya?" Allison asked as she walked into the kitchen. Elsie stuck another marshmallow in her mouth, knowing the question wasn't directed at her.

"Oh, she's gone." Klaus offered.

"That's unfortunate." Five muttered, referring to the empty coffee pot in his hand.

"Yeah." Allison agreed looking a bit surprised, thinking Five was talking about their missing sister.

"An entire square block. Forty-two bedrooms, 19 bathrooms, but no, not a single drop of coffee." Five clarified, placing the coffee maker down on the table. Elsie sighed, she'd been kind of excited for coffee since Five brought it up earlier.

"Dad hated caffeine." Allison reminded Five, bringing up the same point Elsie had earlier.

"Well, he hated children, too, and he had plenty of us." Klaus laughed sarcastically, making Elsie smirk but get to her feet and move to beside Five. Five wouldn't be staying anywhere without coffee, especially when he was working a mission.

"I'm taking the car." Five muttered not amused in the slightest. Allison and Klaus shared a look as the two teenagers took a step towards the garage.

"Where are you going?" Klaus questioned, looking suspiciously at the two and wiggling his eyebrows.

"To get a decent cup of coffee." Five retorted with a glare, getting the insinuation and not appreciating it at all.

"Do you even know how to drive?" Allison questioned, arms folding as she did so. Elsie bit her lip in amusement, laughing internally at how Fives siblings couldn't comprehend how old the two of them were besides looking like teenagers again.

"I know how to do everything." Five snapped back, before grabbing Elsie's hand and blinking them to the garage.

Elsie had little chance to even glance at the garage having been blinked inky the passenger side of the car, Five in the drivers. She felt herself sigh and sink into the leather, pulling her legs up to her chest and moving her body so she was facing Five a bit more, with her head leaning against the window.

"Keep this up and I'm going to forget how to use my legs." Elsie joked, Five send her a side smirk for the effort but Elsie noted he definitely wasn't in the mood for playing. She sent him a smile before closing her eyes and leaving her head back against the window, pulling her pleat over here shoulder.

"Watch out for a guy two blocks over, he's wanting an insurance claim. Take the first right to avoid him." She murmured to Five, letting herself relax for a bit. Five hummed in acknowledgment and turned the engine on, pulling them out of the garage.

Five did his best to keep his driving as calm as he could, seeing Elsie trying to get some sleep while everything was calm, but the traffic and car were not helping. As a horn blared for the third time since turning down one street, he heard Elsie sigh and rub her eyes, and sighed himself. She had had a long day and while he knew coffee would help her, sleep was always the best thing for curing her future blurring that he knew she'd been experiencing since they'd arrived. Elsie hearing Fives sigh, blindly reached a hand over to squeeze his arm – knowing it wasn't his fault.

Her powers had always been complicated, she needed focus to keep them in check. The gut reactions that allowed her to move just in time were normal, she used those daily. It was the possibility glancing that was driving her up the wall, she could see them all the time if she wanted to, see what one decision would lead to then the next then the next, and all the other choices and what they would lead to. They only became definite when someone decided, and that became the future. It was how she knew Diego would fight Luther after he decided to say what he had at the funeral. But it took focus not to dive into these too much, she and Five had learnt the hard way if she dived into it too much it would be very hard to bring her out – especially if she was tired and hungry.

Elsie opened her eyes feeling Five's decision being made, seeing a coffee shop on their right. She smiled sadly, recognising the place from the apocalypse as one of the first places they had camped out. Five pulled the car to a stop in the car park and the two of them got out, Five slamming his door. Elsie walked around the side of the car, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the door of Griddy's Doughnuts.

The place was deserted Elsie noted as they walked towards the door. Five released her hand and took two big steps to get in front of her and open the door. She followed behind, gently tapping the back of his hand with her fingertips when she noticed him holding his left behind him as he entered the inner door. She followed him up to the counter where they sat down, Five ringing the bell that sat between them for attention.

Five let out a sigh as no one immediately appeared, Elsie smiling at him as she placed her elbows on the counter, holding her head in her hands. She thought about saying something when the door opened behind them and an older man walked in with a newspaper, sitting to the left of Five.

They waited for a while longer, no one saying anything except for Elsie letting out a sigh. Finally a older lady, clearly a waitress, appeared from a backroom behind the counter.

"Sorry, sink was clogged." She chuckled looking at the older gentleman, while getting her pen and pad out for taking the order, "So, what'll it be?"

"Uh, give me a chocolate éclair." The man ordered.

"Mm-hmm. Sure. Can I get the kids a glass of milk or something?" The waitress asked gesturing to Elsie and Five. Elsie felt laughter bubble in her but held it down, knowing she'd look nuts at laughing for being called a kid. Five however just scoffed.

"The kids wants coffee. Black." Five ordered. Elsie removed her hands from her face and folded them in front of her, smiling politely at the lady.

"Cute kids." The waitresses chuckled, again looking at the older man. When he didn't acknowledge her she looked back over at Five who mimicked Elsie, putting on what should have been a polite smile – if his eyes weren't looking like he wanted to kill her.

The waitress nervously took a step back to start preparing the order. When Elsie suddenly got a gut instinct.

"Umm, ma'am could I also get a doughnut and a knife…. So we can share." Elsie added, earning a confused glance from Five – he knew she didn't like doughnuts that much. As the waitress gave her confirmation, she shrugged at Five - she'd just felt the urge to order a knife, but thought it would look weird without something to cut.

Shaking his head, Five turned and sighed towards the older gentleman.

"Don't remember this place being such a shithole. I used to come here as a kid. Used to sneak out with my brothers and sisters and eat doughnuts till we puked. Simpler times, huh?" Five reminisced, making Elsie smile slightly as she listened in. She'd always loved hearing about his times with his siblings.

"Eh. I suppose." The older man laughed a little, looking at Elsie very confused. She just sent him a smile and shrugged lightly.

"Here." The waitress murmured as she came back over with the 2 mugs of black coffee for the teens and the éclair for the older man, she quickly turned back around and grabbed the doughnut and knife for Elsie who muttered a quiet thank you and stuck the knife in the doughnut.

"I got theirs." The older man added, as the waitress opened her mouth, handing her over money. Making Elsie smile over and Five nod his head.

"Thanks. You must know your way around the city." Five added, noting the towing company name on the man's jacket. Elsie picked up her coffee and took a sip as she watched on.

"I hope so. I've been driving it for 20 years." The older man responded.

"Good. I need an address." Five added, taking a sip of his coffee as he noticed Elsie beginning to tense. He moved his right hand and touched the side of her arm. She jumped slightly, telling his straight away something was wrong.

"I'd advise being quick. I'm going to the bathroom." Elsie muttered to him quietly before jumping off the stool and heading to the ladies room before Five could stop her.

Elsie sighed as she got to the bathroom, moving to the sink and quickly splashing her face. Noting she'd also appeared to have grabbed the knife in her quick exit. She took a deep breath looking herself over in the mirror, when she heard a faint closing and opening of the front door. She moved to press her ear against the door to the bathroom.

"Hmm. That was fast. I thought I'd have more time before they found me." She hear Five say in an eerily calm voice.

"Okay. So let's all be professional about this, yeah? On your feet and come with us. They want to talk." Elsie didn't recognise the voice of the person they'd sent, which meant it wasn't one of the usual commission teams.

"I've got nothing to say." Five countered.

"It doesn't have to go this way. You think I want to shoot a kid?" Elsie took this moment to peak out the door, seeing Five with a gun being held to his head by one person dressed in black, four others behind them. "Go home with that on my conscience?"

"Well, I wouldn't worry about that." Five muttered, looking down at his coffee cup. Catching Elsie's gaze at the man holding a gun to his head and seeing her slowly sneaking out, he felt a smirk appear on his face as he saw her lining up the throw.

"You won't be going home." Elsie declared, throwing the knife at the first gunman's neck before diving behind the counter as Five blinked out the way of the gunfire.

From that all chaos broke loose, bullet hitting lights making the room plunge into darkness. Five appeared beside Elsie behind the counter.

"Nice throw." He smiled. Elsie looked over, he hands having been over her head to protect from falling glass.

"Thanks!" She smiled, before becoming a bit more serious and peaking over as she noticed a brief halt in gunfire. Only to duck as they refocused on her.

"I think I pissed them off…"Five smirked at her before blinking to the counter.

"Hey, assholes!" He shouted, redirecting the shots as Elsie found a couple things she could throw if required.

Gathering a knife and a sharpish bit of glass that had been broken by the bullets. She knew Five had flashed somewhere else, and waited until she heard the gunfire changed direction. Jumping up when she heard her opportunity and throwing her knife into the back of one of the men that had her back to her and tossing the chunk of glass at another. Five blinking and attacking the men as well, ensuring Elsie was well covered as he blinked.

Elsie placed a hand on the counter, jumping and swinging her legs over and rolling over to the man that had fallen to his knees with the knife in his back. She pulled the knife out ducking behind him as another gunman turned and took a shot at her, only to end up killing the man she'd stabbed. She heard the shooter grunt and assumed Five had taken care of him, pushed the now dead man to the side and moved to the other when she heard a beeping. She glanced over at the action and noted Five seemed to be managing with taking care of the remaining men. Elsie knelt down next to the original man that had held a gun to Fives head, going through his pockets until she suddenly felt a shooting pain across the top of her left arm making her shout in pain and immediately move and jump over the counter for more protection. Elsie bit her lip, holding her arm as she blinked away the tears that had appeared at the initial shock of the hit.

Five blinked beside her instantly, having watched her leap over the counter after her shout. He noted her holding her left arm and glanced at the blood slowly dripping down her arm. He placed his hands on either side of her face, drawing her gaze from the wound to him.

"Stay here." Elsie felt herself nod, it had been a while since either one of them had gotten shot it was a bit of shock to both of them.

Five blinked away to finish off the rest while Elsie shook herself out of it. Using her right hand she quickly undid her tie, pulling it over her head and slid it up over her left hand until she it was just above her new wound and pulled it as tight as she could with one hand to try and stem the bleeding. She took a deep breath, and bit her lip before looking at the wound – letting out the breath when she noted the bullet had just grazed her mostly and wasn't still there but she'd definitely need stitches. She peeled her eyes back from the wound, feeling her gut telling her to move to her right where she spotted another shard of broken glass. Shakily moving to her knees, she grabbed it and turned pushing herself to her feet before throwing it at the last person, hitting them in the back of the leg. The man let out a small shout of pain, falling to his knees, allowing Five to finish them off. Once the body had hit the ground, Five blinked over beside Elsie moving to take a look at the wound – seeing it was dealt with as best could be in a shot up doughnut shop he sighed.

"I assume they're all dead?" Elsie questioned, wincing as Five touched the wound.

"Would you rather they were still shooting?" Five retorted, dropping his hands from her arm.

"No but I would have liked to give the one that did this a kick in the balls. You forget how much a bullet hurts." She joked back, earning a small smile from Five.

"We need to get you patched up." Elsie smiled at the concern, but shook her head.

"I'll get a bandage in a while, we need to get rid of the trackers first." Five nodded, moving to the other side of the counter, offering a hand to Elsie to help her over as he glanced around for a clean knife. Elsie let out a grunt as she jumped of the counter, before moving over to the man she'd previously paused beside – picking up the beeping monitor that had distracted her.

Five came over to her side seeing her stopping beside the monitor, showing her the knife he'd taken of the last man he'd killed, smiling apologetically at Elsie as he held his hand out for her arm. She bit her lip and placed her left in his hand, looking away from the arm in hope it wouldn't hurt as much if she couldn't see it. Five as gently as possibly cut her arm open, glancing up briefly at the hiss Elsie gave out, before he pulled out the Commission's implanted tracker, setting it on the counter alongside the beeping monitor.

"At least I still have one arm." Elsie muttered as Five placed the knife down and ripped the bottom of her shirt off, bandaging the new wound as best he could. Five sent her a half smile before wiping off the knife on his shorts and proceeding to do the same with his own arm, grunting as he pulled out the tracker. Elsie staring at the wall so she wouldn't have to watch.

Five grabbed both trackers from the counter and moved over to Elsie, who was still looking away. Smirking to himself, he grabbed her right hand his injured left and gently tugged her towards the door. Elsie looked back toward him, sending him a small smile and allowing him to lead her away.

"Where are we going?" Elsie suddenly asked when she realised they hadn't taken the car or blinked anywhere.

"Somewhere safe." Five replied, still leading the way as he looked at street signs.

"Somewhere safe? Nowhere's been safe since we were 15 the first time." Elsie muttered. Five knew it was mostly to herself but couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"No one forced you to grab my hand the first time." He reminded her. Elsie winced but sighed in defeat, they'd had this argument before and she was not in the mood for a repeat just because she was wounded and tired.

"I know. Sorry." Five glanced back at the apology, now knowing Elsie was not in great shape. Apologies weren't unusual from her like they were from him, but there were usually a lot more remarks between the start and end of the argument. Five sighed.

"Just hold on, I know Vanya lives here somewhere." Elsie nodded her head, stumbling a little making Five pause to try and hold her steady, "you okay?"

"Just lost my balance." Elsie whispered, her voice sounding miles away as the adrenaline from the fight started to wear off and tiredness crept in once again. Five looked around before he sighed, turning his back to her and gesturing for her to climb on. Elsie did so without complaint, making Five worry all the more.

Five began walking once again, only traveling for two more minutes when he saw the street sign he'd been looking for. He turned down the dark street, pausing long enough at every door to read the names on the buzzers. Finally stopping when he spotted Hargreeves on the name plate. He glanced up at the window he knew would be Vanya's before blinking up into the room. Elsie who had nearly fallen asleep on Five woke up at the familiar feeling of traveling through space, jumping off his back instinctively so he could fight if need be. Five smirked at her.

"Lie down while I try to find a bandage." Elsie shook her head even though she lay on the couch.

"No point you won't find them… or will you… kinda hard to see… but if you do then," she started before Five cut her off.

"Don't, try not to look." He warned grabbing her hand to begin squeezing at random intervals. Elsie sighed, closing her eyes as she started counting the gap to keep her mind occupied until she could sleep.

"Vanya be home in two mins." She muttered before Five felt the pressure she was putting on his hands disappear and her breathing evened out. Five smiled a little and snorted, Elsie had always been a quick sleeper.

Nodding his head, and taking a moment to revel in the peace and quiet he took a seat on the chair to the left of the couch – directly opposite the front door. He had about 1 minute until Vanya would be home so took 30 second of it to close his eyes and tilt his head back, debating what he should do. He hadn't had time to discuss his plan with Elsie since they'd gotten back and she had the same training he did, he needed an outside perspective and he believed Vanya would be the best person to offer the view.

Five tilted his head back up, lifting one leg up and placing his ankle on top of the opposite knee as he heard footsteps outside the door. He glanced over at Elsie who stirred a little as the locks clicked, nearly smiling as he saw her glance at him then fall asleep again – trusting him. The doors hinges creaked as Vanya walked in, Five lifting his left arm up to turn on the small light above his head making Vanya jump.

"Jesus!" Vanya shouted, he hand flying to her chest.

"You should have locks on your windows." Five offered, after a quick glance at Elsie to make sure she was asleep.

"I live on the second floor." Vanya countered, setting her keys in her bowl as she watched her brother glance at his Blond haired friend from earlier.

"Rapists can climb." Five shrugged, focus back on Vanya who turned away to close the door.

"You are so weird." She replied, moving over to stand beside the couch, closer to the two teens.

"Is that blood?" She questioned, gesturing to Five then Elsie whose arm was exposed.

"It's nothing." Five waved her off. Vanya looked back down at Elsie before sighing.

"Why are you here?" Five debated the answer before sighing himself.

"I've decided you're the only one I can trust." Vanya looked at him with shock.

"Why me?"

"Because you're ordinary. Because you'll listen." Five offered, knowing his other siblings were not the greatest at listening at the best of times and it would soon turn into a competition between some of them.

"Okay." Vanya nodded, as she got up. Heading to her bathroom cupboard and grabbing her first aid kit. She came back through to the living room to see Five without his blazer and his blond friend with a cover over her. Vanya moved to Five and pulled out some cotton and rubbing alcohol to clean the wound.

"When I jumped forward and got stuck in the future, do you know what I found?" Five asked, ignoring the stinging feeling in his arm.

"No." Vanya muttered as she focused on the wound.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. As far as I could tell, I was the last person left alive. I 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 I have no idea how to stop it." Five watched Vanya's face as she took it all in before she let out a shaky breath.

"I'll put on a pot of coffee."