Author's Note: Ever wondered what it might have been like, if Vanya had followed after Five when he disappeared? Me too, hence the creation of this story. Only Vanya is not called Vanya, she is still little Number Seven. I headcanon that the Hargreeves children didn't get 'regular' names until after Five jumped through time. This tidbit is overtly present in another of my stories, I Am Not Ordinary, and is implied in my other story, Klaus Has An Idea, and it will likely be in other Umbrella Academy AUs of mine in the future.

Story Warnings: This story will contain a multitude of mature and/or sensitive themes, including but not limited to: drugs, drug withdrawal, PTSD, violence, corpses, mental breakdown(s), illness, near-starvation, and the eating of animals, bugs, and expired foods. There will also be trans characters, queer characters, and psuedo-incest ships/pairings among the Hargreeves children. The main ship in this fic is going to be Five/Seven. In addition to these overall warnings, I will be posting specific content warnings at the beginning of each chapter.

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As always, if you spot any mistakes, please don't hesitate to point them out to me. Any and all reviews, favs, follows, etc.

Enjoy.

Chapter Warnings: minor panic attack(s), emotional breakdowns, fires, corpses.

Chapter One: A Hop, A Skip, And a Jump (to the End of the World)

Seven, though usually meek and quiet, gave no thought to the possible consequences when she lurched up out of her chair to follow Five as he stormed out. She didn't hear the chair she had been in clatter to the floor, nor the exclamations of her siblings' surprise at her sudden movement. She didn't even hear Dad yelling at her to return. The only thing she heard was a faint ringing in her ears, accompanied by a thick, ugly pressure in the pit of her stomach, like something awful was about to happen.

So, Seven ran after Five like she had never run for something before – except maybe when Four fell down the stairs and broke his jaw last year. (That scream of agony had scared her half to death and haunted her dreams for weeks after, stopping only when the wires were finally removed from Four's mouth.) She was so intent on catching up to Five that she didn't realize she had until it was too late and she was crashing into him.

Right as he attempted a Jump through time.

The world around her flashed bright blue, and then she and Five were falling to the ground in a heap, startling a pair of women wearing brightly colored sundresses. Seven's eyebrows pulled together in confusion, even as she detangled herself from Five and stood. She was fairly certain that it was supposed to be early autumn – but no, everyone around them was in summer clothes, and there was a warm breeze blowing through her hair. Understanding hit her suddenly, and she turned excited eyes to Five, who looked just as excited (and maybe a bit smug).

"Not ready my ass," he said, a wide grin taking over his face as he grabbed Seven's hand and pulled her along through another Jump.

And suddenly it was winter, thick flakes of snow falling around them, and icy wind nipping at their faces. Unable to help it, Seven giggled, hand tightening around Five's as he took in the changed scenery. Seven didn't bother to investigate beyond noting the season, too caught up in the sensation of Five's power. It was sort of hard to describe, but she likened it to suddenly being dunked into chilled water, but at the same time feeling like her bones were full of static electricity. Not exactly a pleasant experience, yet not altogether uncomfortable, either. Their brothers and sister had experienced Spatial Jumps before, as part of Five's training, but she had never been allowed to – because she was ordinary.

Now, though, little Number Seven got to be the first one to experience Temporal Jumps, and she wondered how far they could go.

As if reading her thoughts, Five broke into a run, dragging her along through yet another Jump into –

Their hands fell apart as Five stumbled back a few steps, and Seven let out a noise somewhere between a gasp and a whimper. There was nothing around them but destruction – the broken remains of buildings, many of which were on fire, and so much smoke and ash filling the air.

Looking as panicked as she felt, Five turned and ran back the way they came, back towards home. Seven whimpered again and took off after him, afraid of being left alone in this frightening hellscape. She caught up as they reached the front gate of their home and looped her arm into Five's, wary of being left behind, even if only briefly.

To call either object a gate or a home anymore, however, was extremely generous. The gate was barely a few broken and twisted stems of painted iron, and their home was indistinguishable from the rest of the burning rubble around the pair of siblings. The only things still standing were pieces of walls, and metal fragments of their front doors clinging to the broken hinges of the stonework frame.

Next to her, Seven could feel Five's breath quicken as he stared at the former doorway. Her own breathing, she could tell, wasn't far behind, hysteria bubbling up inside her.

"Six?" Five called out into the wreckage, just as Seven called out, "Four?"

"Dad?" Five continued, hoping against hope that someone in their family would materialize in front of them. "Anyone!?"

Of course, no one answered, and Seven watched as Five attempted to Jump. His fists clenched tightly, the familiar blue energy building up for a moment, then fizzling away.

"C'mon," he murmured, trying again, only for his power to fizzle out even faster. Desperate, he tried a third time, but there was barely even a distortion of air around his hands before he was forced to give up. Vision blurring slightly with unshed tears, Seven tightened her hold around Five's arm in some semblance of comfort (whether for herself or for him, she wasn't sure), and his head jerked up in surprise, as if he had forgotten she was there.

"...Five?" She whispered, her voice cracking halfway through.

"...Shit." Is his quiet response, his tone a mix of shock and regret. Seven understood, though, exactly what that single word meant. Five had pushed too far, overextended himself and his powers, and they were stuck here, in what seemed to be the end of the world. She lets the tears that had been building up fall freely down her face, barely noticing when Five's arm slipped through her grasp as he sank down to his knees. She joined him on the ground after a moment, her own legs suddenly jelly-like, and that high-pitched whine in her ears returning with a vengeance – so loud that all other noises were drowned out completely.

This was so far beyond the scope of what she expected, or even imagined, could happen. Surrounded by the devastation of the apocalypse, the only two people left. (She refused to let herself hope in the possibility that anyone could have lived through this.) Survivors only by virtue of having missed whatever event had caused the end of the world. No more siblings, or Mom, or Pogo, or Dad. No more helping with hero training, or practicing the violin, or sneaking off with Five, Six, and Four to Griddy's Doughnuts at night.

Seven wasn't sure how long she and Five sat in their shared despair, but eventually Five managed to pull himself together enough to wipe his face and stand, dragging Seven up with him. She stumbled slightly but didn't resist, scrubbing at her own face roughly.

"First thing's first, a water source. Then shelter, food, protective clothes, and clues about how this shit happened," Five said decisively, ticking the list off with his fingers. He paused, looking around, then down at Seven's skirt and his own shorts, and scrunched his nose.

"Maybe the clothes first, actually," he added, and despite the situation, Seven found herself smiling ever so slightly and nodding in agreement. She never really liked skirts, anyway.

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Together, they began to search through the rubble of their home, taking care to avoid getting too close to anything still burning. (Together being a relative term, however, as Five had decided they should split up to cover more ground.) After only ten minutes, however, Seven came across something she wished she could un-see. The bodies of her siblings, vacant-eyed and half-buried under rubble.

She found Number One first. She hadn't immediately recognized him, the initial shock of seeing a dead person up close for the first time distracting her for a few moments. When she looked closer at the large blond man lying before her, though, the angle of his jaw and the shape of his nose seemed eerily familiar. She leaned closer still, eyes narrowed in concentration, before she reeled backwards, slipping on a rock and falling back on her rear.

"Five!" she screamed, even as she scrambled to her feet and stumbled her way towards the woman she knew without a doubt was Number Three, her only sister. And just a foot or two away, a man who bore a striking resemblance to Number Two.

"Seven?" Five called out to her, his voice concerned, but she ignored him as she hesitantly approached the last body she could see. It was Number Four, she knew, but she couldn't stop herself from hoping she was wrong – that those dust-covered curls belonged to a stranger, and not her (second) favorite brother. That hope was thoroughly crushed when she caught sight of the umbrella tattoo on his wrist, and Seven started crying again.

Five found her about a minute later, kneeling next to Four and gently running her hand through his hair. Something Four had only ever allowed Seven and Six to do, and only when he had been in a particularly cuddly mood.

"Seven, look at me." Five's voice was quiet, his tone soft in a way she'd never heard it before, and she was compelled to do as he said. When she met his gaze, she was momentarily surprised at how open and raw his expression was, before his face turned serious and he crouched down next to her. Slowly, he laid his hand over hers and gently pulled it away from Four's body.

"I get it. Really, I do. They're our family. We can bury them – and do the funeral, memorial thing if you want – but right now, we need to worry about ourselves."

"But what about–" Seven tried to protest, still reluctant to leave the bodies of her family just lying in the rubble, but Five just shook his head.

"They'll be fine for a few more hours, Seven. Come on," he insisted, pointedly not looking anywhere but her face. Seven looked away from his intense stare, back down at their siblings, and nodded slowly.

"Okay," she said meekly, glancing once more at Four's dust-covered face before she stood and rejoined Five in the hunt for supplies.