Finally, yesterday, we never watched the Rocky Horror Picture Show, Klaus and I. We didn't have waffles, and not even Mom's eggs and bacon. Upon my - quite late I admit - return to Hargreeves Mansion, I discovered him slouched on one of the sofas in the reception room, wearing only a pair of horrific rainbow-leopard underwear. Did he keep his promise to remain sober yesterday? Of course not. I instantly turned on my heel and went to sleep in room 33. I just hope he didn't do any other stupid things.
From Allison, I know that the small eulogy was finally held for Reginald Hargreeves yesterday. I also know that nothing went as planned. Well, it was quite predictable that nothing would go according to plan. Interestingly, I encountered another one of the Hargreeves siblings in the bathroom this morning. Undoubtedly, the most unexpected one among them. ~Five~.
We made eye contact, yet neither of us uttered a word at that moment. Bit now I find myself attempting to relax in Diego's former room, while secretly observing what Five is up to in his own room. He's organizing his stuff, mostly clothes. Perhaps it's the opportune moment to introduce myself to him... before he potentially vanishes once more. I step off the bed and walk across the corridor. He ceases rummaging through his wardrobe and glances up upon hearing my footsteps.
"Hello", he says, a subtle yet hurried scowl on his face.
He looks at me for a moment before glancing back at his own business. It almost seems like he intends to ignore me, and I'm aware that he does it intentionally. I suspect that Allison, Diego, and possibly Klaus have already informed him about me. Simply because I live on the same floor, for practical reasons, but perhaps they have also informed him about 'what I can do'. There is a smirk on his face. Yeah. Five definitely 'knows'.
"My name is Rin", I say, but maybe, he knows this already too.
He looks back at me over his shoulder.
"What do you want?", he asks bluntly, pretending not to be interested as he straightens a pair of dark grey short. I cross my arms and continue to watch his little spring inventory, and I say:
"It seems like we're neighbors for a while".
This time he looks at me. He even starts gazing at me somewhat fixedly, as if he were analyzing the nature of my eyes. Strangely, he seems to find them ordinary, and then he relaxes a little.
"The name's Five", he says, and I nod in response.
"Yes, I had a feeling that you weren't Luther".
He chuckles dryly.
"You're pretty witty".
I heard the voice of Luther earlier, talking to Allison in her room. I haven't met him yet. But as for Five... I guess nobody expected him to show up anymore, although Klaus was pretty sure he wasn't dead. Like Allison said yesterday, nothing should surprise me anymore. Perhaps Five came back for the eulogy as well? I don't know.
"So... you're new", he declares, turning his full attention toward me now.
What does 'new' even mean? I feel like I'm 4 years old again and going to my new school on another continent. I look at all those uniformes, all from the Umbrella Academy era, just like the one he's wearing now. They are rather well preserved: Five is lucky the cupboards are stuffed with mothballs here. He begins to empty the pockets of a jacket, removing possibly 15-year-old handkerchiefs. And without looking at me again, he asks what had been burning his tongue all along:
"You jump, don't you. Space? Time?"
I tilt my head.
"I don't jump through Time", I say assertively. "I only did it once and I scared myself. No chance I'll do that again."
Five raises an eyebrow, clearly intrigued.
"You did it once, so you can. What about space?".
He smirks, a hint of defiance appearing on his face.
"Show m-"
I don't give him a chance to ask me. One step forward, and I'm already by his window in a crack of blue light, looking out down into the backstreet. A side smirk tugs at his lips.
"Interesting", he comments. "You're another me".
I could retort that he's the one being another me, but I hold back: it would be useless. He scans my appearance, taking in everything from my bangs to my boots.
"Does your power work similarly to mine?"
As I finish turning to face him completely, I notice he's not very tall.
"It seems so", I say. "I don't know you yet, I could not compare. My only reference is what Klaus told me: you decide if it's reliable or not".
Five pouts a little.
"Indeed, let us come to our own conclusions".
He looks back down at his uniforms, as if wanting to choose the most appropriate one for an occasion. To me, however, all those serious rags look the same. And suddenly, he turns his attention back toward me.
"How about a deal?"
"What deal ?"
I look interested as this question comes out of the blue.
"Well, I suppose it's more of an exchange of information than a deal. You let me know exactly how your power works, and I'll tell you how mine does".
I put my hands in my pockets, and he does the exact same thing in mirror image.
"It would be, how can I put it, a trade. I have ten minutes to spare".
I blink, staring at him, before finally answering:
"Okay. Deal. Can I find a place to sit?"
Better get comfy, because this trade with Five could take some time. He moves a pile of jackets further onto the bed and points to the free space on the bedspread. I sit down. His room is pretty simple and very, very dusty. I cross my legs and ask : "Do you go first?"
"Of course. So space first. I imagine Klaus told you that I can pretty much warp it to be exactly 'where' I want.
He's also making himself comfortable by leaning back against the wall.
"To put it simply, I can instantly travel to any place I can see or I've previously visited, within a reachable distance. Your turn."
He narrows his eyes. As much as I read Klaus like an open book, I can't do it at all with Five.
"Alright, it's quite similar for me, so I'll explain 'how' I do it".
I'm looking for the most appropriate words. Might as well do things well.
"Just like you, it's easier if I can see the place, but it's not absolutely necessary. If I can't see the destination, I can only go if I've been there before as well. I need a clear mental image of my target destination".
He nods and adds:
"Sometimes, I've attempted to create mental images solely based on pictures. It's quite risky. The margin for error is substantial: I don't want to end up inside a wall or underground".
And this time, it's me who agrees. I go on. I quite like this game of ping pong.
"I need to briefly focus on my target; a quarter of a second is sufficient if it's nearby. Then I feel... that urge. Similar to the need to sneeze. Sorry for the analogy, I don't have a better one. After that, I let go, and the jump occurs".
"Lock and trigger. Yes, you're right".
Five appears pleasantly surprised, and I sense a shift in his tone. He doesn't speak to me as an equal yet, certainly not, but at least he's showing some consideration. He raises an eyebrow.
"Is your range limitless?", he asks, and I reflect on this.
"I think it's not. The closer the distance, the easier it is. I have tried covering longer distances a few times. It's tiring. So I would conclude that it is not limitless. And I cannot jump too many times consecutively, it quickly tires me out".
"Yeah, multiple jumps requires a lot of energy".
We both remain silent for a while, both of us searching for more details to add. And then I say:
"Oh and I need to move to do it. Even just a little. I cannot do it if I just... stand still. It's like..."
"... performing a movement, yeah. Can you take someone with you?".
I shake my head. If he starts finishing my sentences, then...
"Well, I have never attempted it".
"I can do it. Maybe you can as well"
Five's expression shows a mix of contemplation and shock as he realizes our similarities regarding space. He even stopped fussing in his room, which appears quite unusual. And suddenly, he begins rummaging again through his uniforms.
"Now time. How far into the future do you think you could jump?"
I shake my head.
"I don't know. I'm not a very bold person. I told you, I stopped jumping through time because I couldn't aim for my destination precisely enough. Getting a mind picture of a place is relatively easy, but pinpointing a specific moment in time... no, no it's too unpredictable. I won't do that a second time."
Five remains silent. But judging by his face and the focused look in his small, blue eyes, I can guess that we share similar experiences with time jumps as well. Nodding deeply, he responds with a somewhat distant expression:
"I can relate".
I can guess that there is a heavy debt behind these words. He lets a fairly long silence pass, then he looks back at me:
"Want to know the furthest I've ever leaped forward?"
I run my finger through the dust, then I stare at him and ask with a bit of teasing: "The furthest in space or in time?"
"Time. It was a jump of exactly sixteen years, four months, and twenty-two days'".
Suddenly I feel like he's relieved to say this count. I look at the dust again. I know he has been away, likely trapped wherever he landed. For sixteen years? From the age of thirteen? I'm not great with numbers, but that brings us... somewhat to the present. He stares at me now.
"I feel you, when you talk about the randomization of the time jumps", he says. "There's no way to control it precisely, to really know when you will end up".
His eyes wander in this room he left so long ago.
"Sometimes you get lonely. And regret often follows from not heeding advice".
I struggle to grasp the full meaning of his words, and his inscrutable expression makes me furrow my brow.
"How long were you stuck? You don't have to answer if you don't want to".
But Five's expression doesn't waver, as he answers:
"Approximately thirty years".
His answer may seem blunt, but he doesn't sound particularly uncomfortable about telling me. In fact, he almost sounds like he wanted me to ask. My eyes widen for a moment, and then I shake my head, pursing my lips. This confirms my intuition:
"Jumping through time again is definitely the last thing I will do".
The word 'lonely' he used a minute ago now takes on a new perspective. All of this feels like a vertigo. Five simply gives a slight nod in response. However, when he speaks again, his smirk grows slightly larger:
"So, to take our deal further... Do you want to discuss exactly how our powers work? At the level of space time mechanics and at quantum level. If you already have some understanding about special relativity, it will be easy for you to-"
"Ah, Five..."
This time I interrupt him.
"I... I didn't go beyond high school, you know."
I shake my head.
"Maybe instead... I could tell you... what else I can do..."
Five's expression shifts immediately to confusion, because on the side of his own powers, we have covered the overall question by now. His head tilts slightly.
"What do you mean..? You have more abilities beside space and time travel?"
His curiosity almost manages to overshadow his disappointment of not discussing equations.
"Tell me".
There is urgency in Five's request. A need to know, that goes beyond simple curiosity. This time it will be easier for me to show him than to explain. I stare at him, and when he raises his head, he no longer sees me: just the mark made by my bottom on the bed blanket. I say to him out of nowhere:
"I can turn invisible, intangible... or both".
The surprise that flashes over Five's expression is difficult to describe in words. It seems his siblings kept this information from him.
"How... How do you do that? Can you explain?"
"I... I just do it. I don't know. It's a similar feeling to the one you get when you let your eyes go unfocused sometimes. My ordinary state is focus of course. But I can just... 'blur myself' if I relax. And it's not as tiring as jumping, see? I'm sorry, it's a terrible comparison again".
"No... not at all, no."
He catches his breath and whispers:
"Mind blowing".
And this is the purest and most honest words I have heard him say since we concluded our deal.
"I told you", I say, "I didn't go to college, skipped physics classes in high school, yeah... but my power seems to deal with... matter, in addition to space and time. Actually, it even came first. It all started with invisibility for me".
Five swallows hard, taken aback. He pinches the base of his nose between his eyes, deep in thought. But then he opens them wide, as struck by an epiphany.
"Space time doesn't exist apart from matter and energy. It makes so much sense..."
If I weren't invisible, Five would be able to see me blink. But he goes on, on the verge of taking a notebook to write everything down.
"I bend space time directly, I'm quite sure about it. You... you are a matter and energy bender, and by extension, space-time. For you the jumps through space and time are just a collateral effect of -"
"Hey, I'm still here."
I turn myself visible again, still crossing my legs on the bed. Five has delved into his own gibberish and appears to have forgotten my lack of proficiency in what seems to be his favorite hobby. Despite the equations dancing before his eyes, Five eventually stops and takes into account my need to make things simple. He looks at me as if he were witnessing some kind of miracle.
"You are not another me. You are... somewhat beyond".
"Five, isn't it just because you didn't try?"
The more I observe the Hargreeves, the more I realize that they haven't had much time to explore their abilities, despite always being pushed forward. However, Five is definitely the most accomplished of them all. But he shakes his head and chuckles a bit ironically.
"If you only knew everything I tried to do. We will never ne completely out of the woods with what our powers can do, many lifetimes would not be enough, but... No, it's something different".
Frozen, he continues to stare at me for a moment. hen suddenly, as if returning to reality, he glances at his watch.
"Damn, I gotta go".
I nod.
"That's fine. I'm going downstairs to see if Klaus is awake. I found him stoned on the couch last night".
I shake my head, feeling slightly disheartened.
"I didn't expect anything from him, yet I am still disappointed".
"If it's difficult to move him, ask Luther for help".
Five put his jacket on, ready to leave, now. I don't know where it's going, but it seems important.
"Are you going for a morning walk?"
Obviously not, and my smirk says it all. Five lets out a long breath, as if I just brought him back to reality, then he plays with something round in his pocket.
"No, I need to go to..."
He stops himself, appearing to reconsider.
"Never mind."
I am not seeking further details. After all, it's his own business, and I need some coffee now. Oh, I should have asked him about the coffee: to find out if - for him too - it increases his liveliness tenfold. The opposite effect, in a way, of what Klaus's drugs do on his own power. But it's too late; Five is already heading towards the window that overlooks the fire escape. I stand up too.
"Hey, Five", I say as I rise to my feet, and he turns to look at me from the window ledge. "Welcome back".
I can immediately see the shadows in his eyes caused by my two simple words. Under different circumstances, our 'deal' this morning would have made his day. But the way he looks at me, I understand that I don't know everything. He smiles at me anyway.
"Yeah, what a comeback".
And in a bend of space time, he's gone.
Notes:
I hope you endured Five's wibbly wobbly physics explanations. No, Rin is not "another him". And is there any coincidence in their similarities? Time will tell. But what is Five playing with in his pocket? You know.
Chronological markers: this scene also fits like a deleted scene from the first episode of season 1, around 17:00 (after Luther and Allison's talk, just while Pogo is talking to Klaus. Five just came home to change clothes, and he's heading to the prosthetics lab).
Any comment will make my day!