7
The Regret Of An Old Man
The diner's doors burst open as three police officers barged in, their guns raised high in the air.
"Drop your weapons!" The first said pointing his gun at Diego.
Five watched as Diego's eyes flicked across to the police officer, the man's shoulders dropped and he placed his knife on the table. The cop padded towards his brother and began to handcuff him. Diego looked entirely unbothered as if he had been in this situation many times before.
The other cop walked up to the man that had called himself Five's partner. He looked at the cop with a smile.
"You're arresting me? Why officer, I've hardly done anything. In fact it was this giant dwarf who attacked me first." He pointed at Diego with black gleaming eyes.
"Tell that to the lady who called us." He muttered and grabbed the man's arms handcuffing them behind his back.
Again the strange man laughed, his cackle echoing through the entire diner. It went through Five, his bones creaking with it. It caused a deep ache as if he had heard the laugh many times before. He was the kind of man that his Father had warned Five and his siblings about. Reginald Hargreeves had been no saint of course but he had least tried to teach his 'children' about who was bad and good, so they could make sense of their missions of who to save and who to kill.
The man looked back at Five and smiled. "If you're going to arrest me then, you should arrest the kid over there he's murdered dozens of people, without even a care."
Five felt his whole body going rigid. He was a killer, had been? Was? He let out a shaky breath trying not to look at the man. He didn't want to, he couldn't. Did Five even want his memories back now after what he had done? Would he hear the people he had killed screaming his name, or sobbing as they watched him walk away. As if his brain wanted to imagine the screaming, he had to cover his ears and try to hide his sob.
"Son it's alright, we know you haven't done anything." The cop said with a nod.
Five couldn't look at him, so he turned his back still covering his ears. The whole room felt loud, the sounds echoing in his eardrums. He saw Vanya walking through bits of broken plate. She saw him looking distraught and made her way over to him, picking up her pace.
"Five, what's the matter?" She asked placing a small hand on his shoulder.
"It's too loud, everything's screaming." Five muttered. This was all becoming too much, how did his older self even handle it? He couldn't even handle two days. He wanted silence, the silence that had come from being in the academy and at a familiar place, where strange men he was supposed to know didn't scream at you and tell you what your older self had done. He was collapsing, falling. The whole diner felt like it was echoing and voices murmured around him. He could feel Vanya's hand on his shoulder, squeezing it. There was no good trying to reassure him, he had no idea where he was.
Five wasn't sure how much time had passed when he seemed to come to his senses and one of the officer waved a hand in front of him. The cop turned to Vanya.
"Is the kid alright?" He asked.
"I think he's a little shaken up that's all." Vanya said.
"You his mom? You can be here while he gives a statement." The cop said pulling out a notepad and flicking the page over with a lick of his finger. He clicked the tap of his ballpoint pen and began to scribble down. The sound echoed around in Five's ears, everything still felt so loud.
"No, I'm his sister," She squeezed his shoulder a little tighter and his head tilted towards her.
"Do you want me to stay with you?" She asked, looking like a mirror image of the sister he remembered so long ago as she had watched him run out of the door. What would have happened if he had stayed, if he had never left and grew up along with them? He wondered if he would have been happier, happier than how he felt right now because he was craving to run out of the door. He knew that they were only the wishes of a boy and that he couldn't get that back, even if he could they wouldn't be the same. Five was someone who had seen the end of the world, there was already so much dividing him and their younger selves that it hurt him but there was nothing he could do.
"Yes." He managed to stay, his voice sounding hoarse and foreign to his ears.
Vanya squeezed his shoulder once more and Five's eyes looked over to the cop who still writing, quick and methodical.
"Okay son let's start from the top, what happened here tonight?" The cop asked, his eyes meeting Five's.
Five swallowed, his adam's apple bobbing in time with the music that was still echoing throughout the diner.
"I was having food when he started yelling at us," Five began and then explained what had only happened an hour ago. Five made sure to leave it vague, only answering the cop's questions with short brief answers. The questioning came to an end twenty minutes later when the cop decided to stop writing.
The cop tucked the notebook away and looked at Five with a strained smile.
"From what it looks like that man caused all this, but I'm going to have to interview everyone else," The cop turned back to Vanya. "How many of there are you?"
"Six." Vanya answered.
Seven. Thought Five, the urge to see Ben came back even stronger but he knew he couldn't.
"You all family or something?" The cop asked with a frown. "Or is he someone's kid?" The cop got up from his chair and looked over to the rest of the siblings who were stood talking to the cop. The man who had called himself Five's partner had placed into one of the police cars, Five assumed Diego was in one of them as well because he was nowhere to be seen.
"We're all brothers and sisters." Vanya muttered sounding uncomfortable as she too looked at the rest of her siblings.
The cop looked back at Five. "Bit of an age gap."
Five frowned. Yes there was and that was another thing he hadn't really thought about much until now. The fact that he was younger than his siblings. He was trying not to think of his older self, he had decided in that moment that he was thirteen. He didn't have the experience of his older self and he was going to keep that way. Although if his 'partner' was anything to go by, was his older self like the man? Half crazy by killing people? He didn't want to think about it.
"I'll go last if that's okay, going to keep him company." Vanya said with a smile completely ignoring the cop's comment.
With that the cop walked away with an awkward nod and went to the other siblings. Five felt like he should take a massive sigh of relief but let out a shaky breath, the events of the day were finally settling on to him and he was tired. He wanted to sleep but when he slept memories of the apocalypse came to him. He couldn't win no matter what he did.
He heard the scrape of a chair and looked up to see Vanya sitting next to him.
"What a day huh?" She said with a grimace.
"Yeah," Five sighed and rested his cheek on his hand. He looked down at his academy uniform that was getting wrinkled. He played with the sleeve of his blazer and wondered if his older self owned any other clothes. Would they feel the same as when he put them on? He shook his head, it didn't matter. Come tomorrow he wouldn't be thirteen any more. Then it would be up to his older self.
"This is normal for us. We have to make a scene everywhere we go." Vanya muttered.
Five wondered what she meant but didn't ask. His other self might have not even been there for that. There was a 17 year history that he would never be able to know unless his siblings told him everything and that wasn't something that was going to just magically happen.
"It is, even back when Dad when was alive." Five replied to her, thinking about when he had ran out of their Family dinner so long ago.
"I wish you had never left you know Five." Vanya said looking at him with sorrowful eyes. Five could see the loneliness that had been built up over the years, an echo of the best friend he had left behind.
"I know, I'm sorry." He whispered.
He felt her move the chair closer to him. Without thinking he laid his head on her shoulder. He felt her freeze for a second before she relaxed. He breathed in and let his eyes close, feeling his chest rise and fall. Five let himself drift off into the darkness.
=
Morning came for Allison as sunlight streamed through her window. She squinted as he eyes adjusted to the light. The previous day's events then hit her all at once. The cop had come to ask them for their statements, it turned out that Diego would spend the night at the police station and they would decide what to do with him in the morning. Nobody was really happy with the outcome, not even Five. The boy had constantly asked if his brother would be okay much to Allison's distress. It seemed he had only stopped when they had arrived back at their home. Five had disappeared upstairs the minute that they had come back, not saying a word.
Each of the siblings had gone their separate ways trying to process everything that happened over the morning and afternoon. Allison had decided it was a perfect moment to head to her bedroom, collapse and stare at the bedroom mirror. She must have fallen asleep at some point as she was still wearing yesterday's clothes that had become rumpled in her sleep.
Getting up, she walked over to her wardrobe where she saw a pair of jeans and a red turtleneck sitting proudly on their hangers. They were the last of her clean clothes that she had brought with her when she had only thought the trip to her Father's funeral would only last a couple of days. How strange that it had been two years since then for her. She got them up and laid them out on her bed. She left her bed unmade and padded to one of the many bathrooms where she proceeded to take off her rumpled clothes and began to run herself a bath.
About forty minutes later, Allison was dressed and was staring at the posters that she had put up as a teenager. She could remember idolizing the young actors that she saw in the magazines. Mom had got them for her, when the AI had found one of them buried underneath her pillow. If Allison's Dad had caught her reading the magazines she knew it would have been extra training but Mom had called up and started a subscription behind Reginald Hargreeves's back. Allison wondered if that had been a sign of her Mom gaining her own intelligence and not her father's programming. She missed her Mom sometimes, Pogo too but there was no bringing them back. They had to live with the fact that they were both gone for good, even Diego.
She stood up from her chair and made her way to the door. The house was silent, it didn't sound like anybody was awake yet. As she opened her door, she was a pair of feet resting on the wooden floorboards. She looked down to see the brazen blue of his academy pajamas. It was Five. He was huddled into himself cradling his legs and looking straight forward.
"Five?" Allison asked.
He looked startled when she said his name. He looked at where he was and then pulled at the air and blinked. Allison frowned as she stared at the space where he had been, why on earth had he been outside her room? She knew that she would have to and see him. Allison began to head towards his room and knocked on.
"Go away." She heard Five say although it was muffled.
Allison sighed and entered his room anyway. She had always thought Five's room had been lonely ever since he had left. Cobwebs had often covered his toys that he he left behind, no one the siblings had entered much except for Vanya when they were younger. She had always left peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches on a plate in his room.
She saw the covers pulled over a figure on the bed. She stayed where she was for a moment before deciding to walk towards him. Part of Allison wanted to take the covers off him but she knew that he would ignore her with her experience with Claire. It was a safety net for him and so she stayed where she was watching him.
"Allison why are you in my room?" Five sniffed, he sounded like he had been crying.
"I wanted to ask you why you were outside my room." Allison sound softly, she didn't want to sound like she was judging her younger brother.
"I must have blinked in my sleep." Five replied shifting the covers a little so she could see the top of his hair. It was greasy.
Allison didn't quite believe him.
"That might not be the only reason?" She prompted.
Five didn't answer, only stayed under the covers.
"Well if you're not going to answer me, I'll stay here until you do." She sat herself down on his chair and began to study the equations that were written all over the walls. She couldn't make sense of them at all but pretended to be interested in them so that she could keep herself busy.
A couple of minutes passed and she could feel herself being watched. She turned her head slightly to see Five's eyes poking out from the cover and he gave a long yawn.
"You're not leaving are you?" He muttered.
"No." Allison said with a smile and turned to face him.
Five pulled the covers off to reveal his bed hair and tired eyes. He looked adorable. It felt wrong to think that, Five and adorable didn't belong in the same sentence. Only goblin, gremlin or murderous felt right.
"Fine…I had a nightmare," Five admitted. "I wanted to get out of my room and thought the best place to go would be your room."
"What happened in the nightmare?" Allison asked, feeling protective over her younger brother. If there was any way she could help.
"It doesn't matter. It won't matter." Five said sighing and sitting on the edge of the bed.
"It does Five, you can't keep ignoring it." Allison said, knowing all too well that feelings couldn't be pushed aside. They rose back up either in the form of anger or nightmares. They could control you if you didn't know how to control them.
"It won't matter," Five repeated and he brought his knees back up to his chest. He looked so small and frightened that Allison wanted to hug him. "The other me can deal with it. I- I want to be rumoured back."
"Now?" Allison asked with a frown. Now? She would have thought he wanted everybody to be there, including Diego.
"Yes it's who I'm supposed to be isn't it? I'm not really thirteen, I shouldn't be here." Five said although he didn't look like he believed those words. She could see tears in his eyes.
Allison had never really thought Five Hargreeves could cry until a couple of days ago, maybe it was because he was younger than he normally was and could access his emotions easier although he was still a little bit of an asshole, however that was just his personality. There was no changing that.
"Five, I don't have to do that if you don't want me to. I admit I shouldn't have done it in the first place but I'm giving you the choice."
"Allison, I can't do this. I don't know what will happen if I learn more about what I did. At least older me knows how to deal with it." He said looking straight at her. He wiped the tears away from his eyes.
Allison took a deep breath. It was what he wanted, she had to do it. To fix her mistake.
"What about if it doesn't work? I can't take rumours back Five, you must remember that." Allison said with a panicked expression.
Five shook his head.
"It has to work, it's a different rumour. You're making me my true age again."
She was, she had tried to reserve her rumours in the past when she had felt guilty. She had quickly learned that there were consequences.
"Okay then, here we go," She said it as a warning, hoping that it would give time for Five to prepare himself for what was to come. "I heard a rumour that you were fifty eight."
She watched as Five's eyes turned white and waited when they would become their normal hue of green again. However they stayed white and a panic began to build in Allison's chest.