The Truth
4
Five took a step back away from Vanya, it sounded ridiculous. Vanya caused the apocalypse? Was she joking?
"You don't have powers." He said looking straight at her.
A flash of hurt went through Vanya's eyes but just like that it was gone. She was looking at Five as if he was something broken, like a vase that had fallen off the top shelf and shattered into half a dozen pieces. Vanya frowned at him, studying him. Five didn't know what to do. She was acting strange; he didn't like it. It was a reminder that she wasn't the sister he knew. She had no powers; he was pretty sure of that.
"Five...have you lost your memory?" She asked with an innocence that he had only ever contributed to her. It was nice to hear that in her voice again.
Five wanted to nod and tell her but he said nothing only jutted out his chin in defiance. He wished he could admit it, yes, his memory had gone but that would mean he was weak. His Father had made sure his children never showed weakness. At least with knowing the date, he knew his Father was dead and he wouldn't have to deal with the man.
"I'm fine." He said through gritted teeth. He wanted to flee but he was confused. Did she really have powers?
Vanya's eyebrows scrunched into a scowl and a glow beamed from her chest. Five scurried backwards as he stared at his sister. Her eyes were glowing white, like that of a zombie in he had read in some comics he had found in the apocalypse. The magazines had hardly survived but they had provided a couple of hours worth of distraction. He had almost made him wish zombies were in the apocalypse, at least he wouldn't have been alone.
"Five, you're lying." She replied, she sounded distant like she was a ghost and wasn't all there.
He didn't reply, looking at his sister in horror as she the glow from her chest began to become brighter. He pushed his fear down and approached her, looking at the white of her eyes. He made sure that his power was ready, balling his fists. There was a hum of noise coming through his fists that rhymed itself with Vanya's chest, creating an orchestra.
"Vanya what's going on?" Five raised his voice, hoping that the others would hear.
Her chest was so bright.
"Your memory's gone so I just wanted to show that I do have powers." Vanya said, sounding like herself although there was an echo in her voice.
"This doesn't make any sense; how do you have powers?" Five whispered.
"If you had your memory you would know, our Father decided that it would be for the best if he kept me on pills." There was disgust in her voice.
"Why would he do that?" Five asked in another whisper. There were more questions rising in his throat, it was clear by the way Vanya's chest was glowing that she had powers, but the apocalypse? He didn't believe she had caused it, or didn't depending on how he looked at the situation with his memory.
Vanya scoffed, something that he wasn't used to. He had always been used to Vanya being quiet but this woman seemed to wear her emotions on her sleeve.
"Because he was scared of me? He treated me like nothing," Vanya's anger was rising and the whole kitchen began to shake. Five watched as the table chairs began to vibrate. He gulped as he watched his sister.
"Vanya!" He shouted, trying to get her attention. However, her eyes were glowing whiter.
She didn't seem to hear him, like the world had become obscured for her.
"He threw me away." She shouted.
The whole room began to shake and the world felt like it was shaking along with it. Five tried to blink towards his sister but as he began to run towards her, he was knocked by an invisible shield. As he was flying back, he then finally understood how his sister would have been able to cause the apocalypse. It was like sound waves. She could control sound, and channel it. He knew that given the chance that any of his siblings could have caused it but they had been trained, albeit badly but still trained. Her powers were raw, unrefined and seemed to respond to her emotions.
Five was slammed against the wall and he felt a dull heavy pain in his back. His vision was cloudy as he tried to stand up, his hand clutching his head. He heard a loud bang and the sound of voices all shouting above each other, most of them were male but he could make out Allison's raised higher than the others.
He couldn't see too much but then felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Five?" A man's voice asked. He didn't know who it belonged to.
"Vanya. Is she okay?" He asked, worried about his sister looking in her general direction.
He heard a loud gasp.
"Five I'm sorry, what have I done?" She whispered. He could make out the silhouettes of people now as his vision cleared.
"It's okay." He said and then looked up at the man who had spoken to him.
He was huge, a foot and a half taller than him with a collared jacket on. He looked up and saw hands that looked grey covered in gloves. Five could make out a clump of blonde hair and a face that he knew would be a mature version of his brother; Luther. It was strange seeing the body he had buried moving and looking at him with concern.
"What happened?" He asked Five.
"Irrelevant." Five replied, moving Luther's hand off his shoulder. He tried to stand up from the wall but wobbled onto his feet. His back was aching so much but he ignored it. It would fade away eventually.
Luther managed to catch him and lift him onto his feet like he weighed absolutely nothing.
He looked around the room to see all of his siblings gathered in the kitchen. Allison stood next to Vanya who was huddled into herself. Vanya was whispering something to herself. Five recognized Klaus watching with a grimace but there was another man in the room that he could only guess was Diego. He was clutching a knife and running his finger up and down the blade with the exact precision that belonged to his other brother. He had long hair as well that didn't really seem to suit it like it was a bad wig that he had brought from a costume had a belt strapped across his sweater full of knives resting above his heart.
Here all his siblings were, alive and full of life. He looked to each of them watching their chests rise and fall. Alive.
"What the hell happened?" Diego asked looking straight at him with a scowl.
Five blinked, Diego had always scowled but this was a scowl that had some sort of resentment.
Before Five could reply, Vanya did for him.
"I think Five's lost his memory," She said with Allison propping her up by the shoulders.
As soon as those words left her lips, all hell broke loose. Luther and Diego's voices raised above everybody else's and even Klaus's laughter filled the air.
"What do you mean-." Luther's voice.
"There's no way in hell-," That was Diego.
The voices began to build as Vanya chimed in. They swirled in the air. A tornado blowing around the room. It was so noisy; he had forgotten about how noisy the world could be. And god be it his wish for silence was strange because why on earth would he wish for the silence of the apocalypse?
He wanted to shout and scream that they were too loud, he was confused but from what it sounded like they had no idea either.
"He didn't know I had-," Vanya's voice mingled into his ears.
Five backed up against the wall trying to hide from the noise. He wanted the quiet, he wanted to shout to tell them that they needed to be quiet. That stubbornness and determination he used to have, had gone swallowed by the apocalypse.
"Everyone just stop!" Allison's voice shouted, echoing around the room. It was salvation.
Five looked up to see her shaking her head, looking at each of her siblings in turn.
"Can't you see that he's scared?" She pointed towards him. Everybody was looking at him with a mixture of grimaces and shocked faces.
Five didn't say anything only stared back, unsure of what he should be doing.
"Fivey, it's okay." Klaus said walking towards him. The taller man looked like he knew what was going on which was a feat in itself. Klaus hardly ever knew what was going on.
Klaus reached out his hand and Five took it, letting himself be taken out of the kitchen. He could feel the rest of his sibling's gazes boring into his back.
Five felt like crying again but he wouldn't cry. Not in front of Klaus. He had seen his now older brother cry plenty of times when they had been the same age. When Klaus had come back from special training, his eyes had been red and his knees stained black. The others had often wondered where his Father took Klaus. Five had been curious and followed them once, straight to a graveyard. Assuming that his Father made Klaus kneel on people's graves trying to summon their ghosts; with his answers, he had left going back to his room. However, when Klaus came back the next day, there was dirt on his face and bruises on his knees, forming purple right underneath his kneecap. Five had vowed to follow them again to see what his brother's special training really was but a next time never came as he had time traveled the next week, his stubbornness and pride overwhelming him. In fact, he was pretty sure that it was his pride keeping him together.
He followed Klaus into the lounge and noticed for the first time that there was a large portrait of him hanging above the fireplace. He hated it as he stared at it, it was a mockery of his disappearance. His Father was obviously was the one who had hung it up, it was a warning to the others that they couldn't betray their Father or lest they suffer the consequences.
He looked at Klaus who had plonked himself onto the sofa, his legs dangling in the air. Five stood watching his brother, there were questions burning on his tongue.
"Fivey normally I would love attention from a man but you look like you could be my son." Klaus said with a smirk.
Five scowled. "Shut up." He didn't want to be rude but Klaus had never had a filter.
"Ah yes even at thirteen you didn't know patience." Klaus flicked his wrist and then his eyes drifted towards the corner of the room.
Five who had been debating to pester him watched him with another scowl. He knew Klaus could see ghosts, but he wondered if the academy had to have any ghosts running around. Then it clicked.
"Ben," He said aloud in a whisper.
"Ben? Fivey don't tell me you can see him." Klaus almost looked astonished.
"No! He's here, though isn't he?" There was desperation in his voice. Ben might have died but he was still around and would know what was going on, he would explain better than Klaus could.
"Yes, he's a right pain though." Klaus said blowing a kiss to the fireplace.
"Summon him." Five demanded, wanting to see his brother.
"I can't I'm afraid," Klaus said this time sounding more serious.
Now that Five was feeling slightly better he let out a growl of frustration. Klaus was high, of course he was. He remembered reading in Vanya's book how the man had turned to drugs to hide out his demons, so could he really see Ben or was Klaus lying? Five felt a little hurt by that, his brother had lied to him before but this was different.
"You're lying." He stared at Klaus trying to hide his quivering lip.
"I'm not, I already exhausted my power earlier. He wanted to talk to Allison." Klaus replied with a shrug. He decided to sit up and the sofa and held his brother's gaze.
"I'm not lying, Five. Not when you're like this," Klaus trailed off.
Five who had frankly had enough of all the secrets his siblings seemed to know let out a groan of frustration.
"What do you mean like this? Have I actually lost my memory?" He asked, a pleading tone entering his voice.
He got his answer but in the form of Diego bursting into the lounge shouting, "You rumour him back right now!".
Allison followed her siblings into the lounge after Diego's outburst. She couldn't stop seeing their faces and the way they had looked at her. Luther had been distraught full well knowing that she had tried to be a better person, had tried to control her power. Vanya had been a little confused trying to figure out why on earth she had done it. Diego had been angry, and now here they were piling into the lounge and scaring Five once again.
"Diego, I need to explain to him first." Allison said softly looking at the boy.
He was looking at Diego with a measure of annoyance and curiosity, the two emotions fighting to have control of his face.
"Please explain, Allison. So far nothing has made sense, everybody keeps calling me old and the last thing I can remember is sitting by your...your graves,"
Allison watched as Five struggled to get the last word out, his whole body shaking. She had seen plenty of dead bodies and killed her fair share of men and women, mostly criminals in her superhero days but she had never seen someone she cared about dead. The thought passed through her head, Claire lying dead in rubble next to Five. She swallowed and shook her head trying to drown out the images in her head.
"Five, I didn't mean to it I was drunk and missing Claire and you were sitting there looking so childlike, I couldn't help myself and rumoured you into thinking you were a kid." Allison finally admitted. She had expected for the confession to feel like a weight had been taken off her shoulders but instead it felt like several bricks had come crashing through the ceiling to knock her over.
Five tried to laugh but it came out raspy and quiet.
"But I am a kid, I can't be anything else." Five was looking at them all as if they had grown three heads.
"You're really 58, you spent 45 years in the apocalypse that I caused." Vanya said crossing her arms over. She looked so small when she talked about what she had done. "Which I'm sorry for because I did that to you." She buried her head into her hands. Allison walked towards her and began to rub her back.
"45 years? No that's not true...," Five was studying his hands. "I would have wrinkles; I would look old."
"You were old but then you time travelled back and said you messed up an equation which meant your body become thirteen again." Luther said so straightforward that Allison was pretty sure even she would have a hard time believing all of this when it was said like that.
Five creased his brow.
"But how would I get back? I couldn't get back before. This makes less sense than losing my memory!" The boy protested, his eyes flickering to each of his siblings.
Allison could feel the mother in her, she wanted to reach out and hug him. However, she couldn't do that because one, even though this Five was thirteen he could probably rip her arm off if he really wanted.
"You worked with an organization called the commission, who monitor the time-line and make sure it's secured. They took you out of the apocalypse." Diego said, leaning against the wall.
Allison noticed how he skipped past the crimes of Five's past. She personally didn't know how many people he had killed or what he had really done to get back to them and she was afraid that if they told him any more he might break.
He was shaking again, looking almost feverish with the way his eyes darted around the room reading his sibling's expressions.
"Bullshit. That's all bullshit." He muttered playing with the sleeve of his blazer.
"Language young man!" Klaus cried out.
"I don't care, I get that Vanya has powers and that she caused the apocalypse but as to the reason I got home that's ridiculous!" He shouted, there was raging seething underneath the boy, but it was unstained nothing like the rage of his 45 year old self who had had time to mellow out.
"Five, it's not, because I rumoured you. I'm the reason you don't remember anything."
The look of disbelief on Five's face hurt Allison, he looked so confused and scared. She couldn't imagine being in his situation that she had brought upon him.
"I don't believe you." He scowled looking at each of his siblings again.
She watched as Diego sighed deeply looking at his younger brother.
"Fine if you don't believe us, just let Allison rumour you back to normal."
Five shook his head. "Nobody is rumouring me; I'm leaving." And with that he blinked out of the room, the sound of his powers the only evidence that he had ever been there.
"God damn it Five!" Diego shouted throwing a knife at the sofa with a quick flick of his wrist. Klaus scooted away with a shriek. Diego then turned to Allison.
"This is your fault, when we find him we are setting this right."
"Maybe you should ask him want he wants instead Diego, I'm not forcing to do something against his will." Allison moved, standing her ground. She was not being told what to by her brother with a hero complex.
Diego let out a bark of laughter.
"Yeah you're not. I'm going to find him."
Allison didn't move knowing that Five needed his space, he would be found when he wanted to be found. That's how children were, if they wanted attention they would come back although in Five's case he wasn't a normal child.
Diego left the room followed closely by Luther who looked like a lost puppy trying to follow its owner.
"As far as things go in this family, that could have been a lot worse." Klaus mentioned from where the glass table where he was sitting cross legged.
"An angry Diego and an angry Five? They might well cause the third apocalypse."
Allison said trying to bring humour into the room but it broke away, the wisps splaying out onto the ground.
She looked at Vanya who had stayed quiet, she was biting her nails a habit that she had never really gotten out ever since she had been young.
"Vanya, are you okay?" She asked placing her hands on her shoulder and looking down at him with a smile that didn't feel like it belonged on Allison's face.
"I don't know," Vanya said pushing her hands off. "This is the Five that I used to know. He's just a kid, and a real kid this time... it's different actually seeing him act like one."
Allison knew exactly what she meant. When Five had first arrived on the day of their Father's funeral, they had all been surprised seeing him look exactly the same although he was swimming in a black suit. It was that black suit that had helped her believe that he wasn't a kid anymore. Five had always been someone who took pride in appearance so the fact that he would have been wearing something far too big for him didn't make sense. She supposed the way he had talked and acted, acting a lot more like an asshole had also helped her to believe. Although she had never been close with him as kids, he had still been the one to stand up for himself and his Father, even Vanya on occasion. However, the mockery of a boy that had come back was someone who she assumed that had been weathered down by the acylase. However now, he was similar to the boy in her memory although he seemed more prone to his emotions.
"If he does eventually believe us, do you think he will want to go back to normal?" Allison asked. She was sure that deep down a part of him believed them but it would probably take some more convincing.
"I don't know." Vanya said looking at Allison.
Vanya had always been Five's favourite ever since they were kids. That clearly hadn't changed and she might have been the best person for him to listen to. Allison found herself thinking about whether he knew she had a daughter and it hurt. Claire. She hadn't even tried to talk to her today because of everything that had happened with Five.
Allison decided to leave Vanya and Klaus as they had both started a conversation that she felt rude interrupting. She walked into dimly lit hallway and saw Five. He hadn't gone far at all. He was sitting on the stairs, sock lined knees tucked up into his chest. His head was resting on top of them, gaze looking down at the stairs. She knew she needed to call Claire, but perhaps she could actually get through to him?
"Five?" Allison whispered, not wanting to scare him.
"You're not going to tell Diego and Luther I'm here are you?" He asked looking up at her with tear stained eyes.
"No, have they found you yet?" She asked and walked to the banister. She hovered, wondering if she should sit down on the other steps beside him.
"They almost did but why are you here?" He asked wiping a few tears away.
"I was going to call Claire- she's my-,"
"Daughter. I know." Five interrupted.
That surprised Allison, she knew the older version knew but she hadn't expected the younger one to know.
"How do you know?" She asked drumming her fingers on top of the bannister's, small bits of dust flew up and onto the floor and where she had laid her fingers, it left fingerprints.
"I read it in Vanya's book." Five said.
"I forgot she wrote that in there..." Allison muttered.
"Is she nice?" Five asked and moved his head off his knees.
"She is, she will talk your head off though." Allison laughed.
Five almost smiled at that, almost smiled as the corners of his face quickly turned into a frown again.
"Is it true?" He asked. "That you rumoured me?" His breathing was heavy again like he was trying to calm himself down.
"Yes, and for the record I'm sorry." Allison said deciding at that moment to sit down on the step below him.
"If," She caught how Five's voice broke. "If it's true and I spent 45 years there, 45 years trapped there and I'm really old..." He moved a step down and sat next to her. "Can't you just rumour me back to how I was?"
"I can try but I'm not sure if it will work, is that what you really want me to do?" Allison said, looking at his younger brother.
"Yes, I want to know how I survived for 45 years in the apocalypse. I-, I thought that I would only be there for a few more months or at worst a few years not 45." He was crying into his hands and tears were falling onto the wooden stairs, staining them.
Allison wrapped her arm around the boy and he leaned against her and she let her younger brother cry into her shoulder making her top sticky and wet from his tears.
The two of them stayed like that, hearing Diego's shouts coming from down below and then the sound of car doors slamming. Not once had he come to check the hallway where Five was.
"Do you want to talk to Claire with me?" Allison asked, remembering how the older version of Five wanted to meet her daughter.
"Does she know who I am?" Five asked.
"Yes, now come on." Allison lifted him up by the arm surprised at how light he was.
Five looked surprised but his eyes were alight with a childlike wonder that she hadn't seen since Claire had been taken from her.
He followed her to the phone and she dialed the number, her breathing becoming heavier. She would hate if Patrick picked up the phone, she didn't want to explain to Five why he couldn't speak to his niece when he seemed to have cheered up. The phone dialed until a voice came through.
"Hello?" Allison almost dropped the receiver. It was Claire's voice.