The answer felt justified to everyone. Diego was never the one to hold back on his feelings, especially rage. Somewhere between the stutter and deadly weapons, he figured out rage kept him centered. Rage calmed him and used it to control his speech and actions. It was a simple result of an emotionally abusive father and a literal robotic mother. Diego was fine living like this, only to soften under the birth of his kids. He didn't understand how anyone could hurt anything so precious and that day he swore to do the one thing his father didn't. He learned how to love, change diapers, accept the forever unending mess, and forgive his past. Turns out, it takes one idiot to knock down the carefully balanced house of cards he'd built.
"Ouch, Diego, no need to be so harsh. It is your brother." Klaus hissed and turned towards Diego.
"It's also my fucking wife, Klaus." Diego retorted harshly, between ground teeth. Viktor quietly got up, removing the visual partition between Klaus and Diego as they glared at each other. Viktor was grateful to have an excuse to get away from Diego's rage. He felt the powerful energy of the Marigold spilling out of him which gave him an uncomfortable feeling and a headache. Viktor was just out of sight from the kitchen, still able to hear the conversation.
"Wait, so where were you Five? You know the apocalypse is still on the horizon, right?" Allison continued.
Viktor silently grabbed an ice bag from the drawers and filled it with ice from the fridge door. He glanced at the big sliding doors that led to the backyard and saw his nieces and nephew playing with bubbles with a small giggle. He closed the ice bag and walked back to the living room to continue the conversation. He casually handed the ice bag to Five and hissed at a closer look. Viktor saw the small cut from his pinky ring and bruises that was beginning to form underneath the jaw. He couldn't help but join Klaus by glaring at Diego.
"Thanks, Viktor." Five looked in surprise and broke a pained smile. He grabbed the ice pack and pushed it against the left jaw and winced when the coldness hit him. It immediately felt better as the swelling subsided. The cut stung when a drop of water hit it. Lila smiled at Viktor and with hands still inside Five's, pulled them towards the end of the couch. They sat down and got a good look at everyone. They were still talking, throwing questions at each other, trying to piece it together. It'd been so long since they've been around people, family, and casual conversations that Lila smiled and squeezed Five's hand.
By the time Lila and Five were done explaining and answering all of their questions, they simply fell quiet. Someone trying, desperately trying, to process everything. Some had given up. One was done processing, and another was still mad. Five and Lila's hand were still clutching each other. Diego kept staring at Five, genuinely deciding whether or not another punch may be worth it. He hated it all. The damned conversation, the nonchalant hand holding, the anger slowly bubbling, and everyone's slow acceptance. He couldn't stop his mouth from speaking, it just spilled out.
"What do you want from all this, huh? Lila? Five? You can't waltz in here, in the middle of a fucking apocalypse, tell us you love each other and want to be with each other," making a sing-songy emphasis, "and expect us to say, 'okay, sure why not!'" He was standing now taking two big steps towards them.
"No, I don't. And if you kicked me out and killed me, honestly, I wouldn't blame you. I'm kind of still waiting for you to do that." Five finally let go of Lila's hand and stood up and leveled with him. "But I... just want to be selfish right now. Like you said, the world is predicted to end, yet again, tomorrow. I'll be damned if you take the little time with Lila away from me." Five ended the sentence stern and determined.
"Fine, okay! We figure this apocalypse shit out then I'll kill you, deal?" Diego matched his tone. His priorities were all out of place and even right now, he cared more about his bruised ego than the comfort on Lila's face that he'd never seen before. It made her look like a completely different person. Diego thought the 11 frowns between her brows were permanent and never had seen them down, until right now. Maybe he hadn't noticed or maybe she never felt safe with him, it didn't matter. Nothing seemed to matter now. It was just another person that would leave Diego.
"No, but seriously." Viktor chimed in, "What's happening with the apocalypse again?" Five and Diego sat back down, and Five let out a long sigh.
"To be honest I'm not sure, we need a time out. A break to think and come up with a plan. I was thinking... we should go to the subway systems. Stop the motion of time, for a little bit, gather ourselves. Ben and Jennifer are going to happen whether or not Viktor sucks them up. There are too many people, too many variables. What do you think?" Five had a far-off look when he spoke. Trying to concentrate on everything and finally snapped his head up to look around. His siblings had a concerned face and mouth slightly agape.
"What if we get lost like you guys?" Luther said.
"No, that won't happen. Let's just say another version of me figured it out, then I figured it out." Five pulled out a pocket notebook, frayed and dirtied from the subway lines. Lila looked at it and felt a small heat rise in her. The way home that complicated everything. For something so small, it sure did turn the world upside down.
"Let's do it. This seems like the only viable plan for right now, without starting something we don't know we can finish." Allison said. She was mostly doing it to buy time for the kids and took a glance at them. The Sun was finally setting, and it created a beautiful view of her Claire.
"I'm down." Klaus agreed. Diego huffed a grunt as a yes. They agreed to no goodbyes, neither to the kids or the rest of their family. They'd be back to save them all and there was no reason to worry them. Lila and Allison hastily wrote a note, mostly about a family mission and love for the kids, and left them by the coffee table. They held hands and Klaus said, "This is starting to feel like my cult meetings," as they blipped away.
Another small stumble with each of them and they landed on the eerie platform. Lila and Five looked at each other and remembered the pain from their latest memory here. Now it was replaced by ooh and ahh of his family.
"Jesus, seven years here? I don't blame you, Lila." Luther said, and everybody stared at him in disbelief. Allison leaned over and whispered, 'dude, read the fucking room.' Luther shrugged it away.
A far away voice spoke backwards, '.yltrohs evirra lliw mroftalp ,sdnah hctaw esaelp ,ot gniog niart dnuobtsae eht si siht'
"Huh?" Viktor said.
"Don't worry about it. Get in." Five said, moving past them and dragging Lila by the hand and into the train. They shared a glance that reminded them of their lives in here. They weren't sure where they were going or what they were looking for, but in here, everything stopped, just for a little bit. They all grabbed a seat and continued with a solution. They were all sharing ideas and hopes for their situation. They wanted to know when and how to do things, which were questions they did not have an answer to. Throughout the maybe stops, one of them caught Five's attention. Five saw Five, giving him a wink and walking away from the trains. Five didn't believe his eyes for second and shot up. "Wait, what? Everyone! Off! Right now!" Five yelled excited and curious. Lila knew this voice well and remembered how in year two, the same voice had gotten them turned around in the orange lines. But this time he muttered, "I think... I just saw myself."
They all filed off in a semi-clean subway platform. Almost a replicate of their own timeline's. Five led Lila and his family down into another crevice of the platform. As soon as they reached the last steps, it hit them with the smell of coffee and bread being toasted in butter. Luther drooled a little and charged in first, opening the doors to 'Max's Restaurant.' The neon sign clattered against the door as a massive Luther squeezed through, followed by an excited Klaus, skeptic Allison, worried Diego, and a very confused Five and Lila. Even Five couldn't explain this. Lila laughed and pointed to the sign 'OPEN FOR ALL OF TIME.' which Five chuckled at.
Brisket Five was hurriedly slicing a brisket and faced away from the door but like habit yelled "Welcome to Max's!" After finishing a small mound of brisket, he finally turned to face them. "Oh, well that's new." He swung the towel on his shoulder and approached the group.
"Hi guys! Wow, it's so good to see you... not dead!" Brisket five glanced at all of their faces and looked satisfied of their safety. He skimmed over and had to double take at Lila. "Oh, okay, you brought Lila. Did you... Are you saving her?" Brisket Five couldn't take his eyes off of her. He looked like he hadn't seen her in a decade and grateful that he could. He scowled a grimace unable to hide the stretch in his chest. He broke away, grabbed his towel and glanced at his shoe, only to return back to work. He didn't wait for an answer. "We only have one thing on the menu. Sit and Server Five will bring it out to you." He gestured at a large table with an irritated Five trying to finish his crossword puzzle. He got the hint, got up and moved a table over with yet another Five sipping his coffee. They broke in conversation about the crossword. Most of the Five's in the room didn't seem to mind the presence of the family, but a few of them stared in awe and surprise.
"I'm guessing this doesn't happen every day around here." Diego whispered to the group as he was eyeing the restaurant.
"Here are seven Brisket sandwiches. Seven coffees." Server Five said as he placed each dish. "If you need something, don't tell me. I don't care." He broke a smile with his dimples and walked away.
"Five's personality is kind of the same in every timeline, huh." Klaus said and giggled. Luther gave him a knowing nudge.
They were only a bite or two in before a Five with a full blazer and tie grabbed an empty chair, dragged it to the table, and sat down.
"Did you figure it out?" He said to Five and Lila.
"Alternate dimensions of time through relative space? But I'm guessing non-linear, jumbled version of Einstein's theory?" Five said to Five. His head was starting to ache as he did all the calculations in his head. He wished he had a pen and paper but resorted to writing equations on Lila's thigh. Lila kept snapping her head at every Five around the restaurant. She didn't mind Five wearing an apron cutting brisket, or Five in a suit trying to read the newspaper. She didn't mind the various views of Five, nonetheless alternative versions of him, in fact, she enjoyed it too much.
She noticed a Five sitting in the corner, underneath the speaker that softly played, 'dream a little dream of me... Sweet dreams 'til sunbeams find you, Sweet dreams that leave all worries far behind you, But in your dreams, whatever they be..." Ella Fitzgerald sang and it seemed to directly stab Lila right in the chest. She felt like Five in the corner held a gun and hit bullseyes. He looked so pained. Lila saw the clenched jaw and veins jumping through his collar. She saw small glints of water on his eye and his hair shook with him, but it was as if Five couldn't look away. He was awestruck by her and jealous of Five doing the math on her leg. Lila wondered if it was another version of their lost time, and she wondered if he lost her. She felt like she finally saw Five when she wasn't with him. Last time he showed her nothing, such a blank face that she never wanted to play poker with him. But this version of Five looked like he didn't even have the energy to pretend. He was hiding behind glass panes and wanted her to watch him in pain.
She finally looked away as the song finished and zoned back into the conversation. Five and Five were ricocheting off of each other, ideas, past trials, fails, and minor successes.
"Guys, English, please." Luther waved his hands between the two Fives.
"Essentially, we have two options." Five looked around at all of them. "We separate the Durango which is what Jennifer is. Or we kill the Marigold. Don't forget about Jean and Gene, containing ourselves, Ben, of course, and the paradoxes, a.k.a. the kids."
"Okay... um... okay! Yeah! We've survived worse." Klaus said, optimistically.
"We've tried to solve this how many times?" Five asked Five.
"Roughly? Half a million? Give or take." He said nonchalantly.
"What if Viktor absorbed it, but also contained it?" Allison tried.
"Tried that, but he exploded. Once Ben and Jennifer started to effect each other, it's impossible to contain it." He picked under his nail. Viktor winced.
"Okay what if we go back to the moment right before they start effecting each other?" Five suddenly said, jolting his hand up and pointed at the other Five. "I mean let's be real, I'm kind of special. My powers are different from the one I was born with. After I drank it, it's kind of shifted. Changed."
"I guess. You may be the one that changes it all." He waved his hands dramatically, "Time travel has been our enemy and only hand full of us have survived it. Most of us have only done it once at the barn with the Handler." Five leaned in, "It's possible. It's the one thing most of us refused to try. Too many factors, too many paradoxes. But with the subway system it might be different. You never really had access to this before."
"Ben would lose his powers." Klaus whispered. "But he would like that. He would love that. At least our old Ben would."
They continued solidifying their plan. Five would start slow, with 5 seconds then build up to 5 mins, and hopefully to 12 hours before. They would find Ben, trap him, contain the Marigold, and deal with Jennifer. It was a hell of a plan, but the other Five started to lose interest once the Family got talking. By the time they figured it out, the coffee was so cold, Klaus went to drink it, but it slid right back out into the cup while Five winced down a gulp at the terrible coffee. Luther managed to finish most of the sandwiches for them while Diego continued protecting his. He wasn't hungry, he just felt like never sharing ever again.
Lila was awfully quiet. She was panicked at the Five in the corner, but he started softening his gaze and breathed in ease as another Five started a conversation with him. She liked that the whole restaurant smelled like Five, liked the different ties, and the constant grinding of the slicer. She whispered to Five's ear, "Is this what your brain is like?" and she saw how it tickled him. And he broke a small smirk at her. He returned back to the theories.
Diego couldn't wrap his mind around everything that was happening. The one thing he didn't need right now was a million Five's strolling about giving him nods of 'hello' and a double take. The last thing he needed was for more Fives to bother him. But he needed his family alive. He decided his priorities and pushed everything deep down. He buried that shit in concrete and called it a day. If he needed to save the world to live another day to kick Five's ass, he was going to have to do it.
When a passing Five pulled a cigarette and headed towards the trains, Five got up and slid out of the chair. He asked the passing Five as he was putting on his outer coat, if he could have two. The other Five silently complied and walked out the door. Five gestured at Lila and she did not hesitate to follow him right outside of the restaurant. She pulled out an old lighter with barely any fluid in it. It was in the pocket of the cardigan that was Five's in the greenhouse and lit it. She took a puff and pressed it against Five's as he inhaled it. They leaned back on the brick wall with the windows barely starting by their shoulders. Behind them, the family bombarded the other Five with questions.
They were only a quarter way through when Five slid his hand in Lila's. She squeezed it and took another puff.
"You think we can do it? Like actually do it?" She kept staring ahead and refused to look at him.
"I want to. I need it to happen." Five did look at her. He wanted her to know he was telling the truth. "I want to one day promise you we're safe. Like actually safe." He dragged two puffs out of his cigarette. They started smoking only when they found a pack. They had saved it for special occasions, just spaced out enough to keep them warm and hopeful.
"I just want to sleep next to you, to be honest. The damned world can burn and end, but I just want it to be when I'm sleeping. Next to you." Lila said exhaling the smoke. He loved how pretty she smoked. The smoke looked like it was there to serve her.
They both ran out of things to say but kept their hands clasped. They finished it and crushed it under their feet, only to pick it up and throw it in the nearest garbage can around the corner. As soon as they were out of sight from the windows, Lila pushed him to kiss him. She made him turn around and kiss her. She just wanted to remember that this was still real and alive. That they were alive trying to find more ways to survive. Always trying to survive just so they can be together. It was deep and sweet, and all she tasted was cigarettes, but she didn't mind it. He eagerly put his hands in her hair and breathed deeply. They separated but lingered for three more soft kisses; it was just enough to say 'I love you' without saying it.