Chapter Text
Five had always prided himself in his precision. His jumps were precise, his work in lessons was precise. Later in life, his kills were precise.
He had an almost perfect success rate, save the time traveling that left him stranded in the apocalypse in the first place.
He’d worked out the calculations for this jump for years, figuring out every single detail and scribbling them between the text in his sister’s book. He had a date and time he was aiming for, a destination and a goal.
He was going to find his family and save the world.
So he opened the portal and forced himself through, ignoring the way it rattled his very atoms. He stayed focused, catching sight of his siblings, gathered below him in the courtyard. They were older, almost the same as they’d been when he found them dead. Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Vanya…
No Ben.
The thought was a distraction. He tried to ignore it, push it away, but it stuck with him. No Ben. No Ben. His brother would be dead, gone hardly four years after he’d disappeared.
The tension the portal was exerting on his body snapped like a torn sheet of paper, throwing him forward and sending a shock of pain through him. He landed in a heap on the ground, an odd tingly feeling replacing the pain once it had faded.
Chaos was what greeted him.
There was shouting, the sound of fighting. Someone was crying out in pain. And gunshots, lots of them.
He curled into himself on instinct, making himself a smaller target while he still didn’t know what he was up against. Footsteps thundered past, and then paused.
And then-
“What the hell are you doing here?” A hand grabbed the back of his suit jacket, hoisting him up before he could react. He yelped, swatting at the stranger, and met a pair of familiar brown eyes.
Ben was staring at him like he’d seen a ghost.
“Holy shit.”
“Shit,” Five echoed, because he’d fucked it up. He’d gone too far back.
“Five, you-“ Another round of gunshots went off somewhere and he flinched, setting Five down and shielding him with his arm. “Shit, shit. We don’t have time for this right now- Klaus! KLAUS!”
“WHAT?” His other brother skidded into view, nearly slipping in his academy shoes. He opened his mouth to ask more, brow furrowed, but his eyes met Five’s and his jaw dropped comically.
More shots.
“Get him out of here!” Ben ordered, pushing him toward their brother. Klaus reacted automatically, raising his own arms to shield him while still staring at him in shock. “Go! I’ll get the others to meet you once we’re done!”
“But- but he’s-“
“Klaus!”
“Right, right!” Klaus grabbed Five’s arm, wrapping one of his around his shoulders, and ignored Five’s cry of protest. He quickly ushered him towards the nearest door, eyes darting around the room.
“What the hell is going on?” Five demanded, finally finding his voice. He tried to push himself from Klaus’s grip, but his brother was holding on far too tight, practically clinging to him as shouts and gunshots drowned out their footsteps.
Klaus managed a shaky laugh, glancing at his brother.
“What’s it look like, Cinco? Another one of Dad’s stupid missions.”
They were almost to the door when something slammed into Klaus, sending him stumbling. His grip on Five slipped and the elder fell to the floor, cursing. Klaus whipped around, coming face to face with one of the gunmen.
“Trying to sneak out?”
“No!” Klaus laughed, holding up one hand. The other slipped behind his back, dipping under the fabric of his blazer. “Why would I do that? I love a fun time.”
Five caught a glint of light reflecting off metal.
The man leveled his gun with Klaus’s face, and the teen jumped forward, extracting one of Diego’s knives from his back pocket and jabbing it into his stomach. His attacker grunted, crumpling forward, and the gun went off.
Klaus was still standing, the man was on the floor, and there was a searing pain in Five’s shoulder.
“Shit!” He hissed, raising a hand to press against the wound. Klaus turned with a start, face quickly draining of any color, and he crouched down next to him.
“Fuck!” He helped him into a sitting position, holding him up with one hand and pressing the other over his where it rested atop the wound. He was a little shaky, eyes wide and spooked in a way that didn’t relate to their current predicament.
Klaus had never really gotten physically involved in any of the missions he’d been around for, and he’d certainly never been one of the siblings to seriously hurt anybody. That was always Ben or Diego’s department.
The man was bleeding out on the floor behind him, and Klaus’s hands were trembling as he tried to stop the blood seeping through Five’s oversized suit.
“Fuck,” Klaus whispered, gritting his teeth. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not that bad,” Five huffed, trying to push him off. Truthfully, he’d dealt with worse. It wasn’t in a spot that meant it would be fatal, and while it hurt like a bitch, he shouldn’t be able to bleed out so quickly that it could cause any lasting damage.
Klaus did not accept this answer.
“You got shot!” He cried. A bloodied hand ran back through his hair, matting his curls. “Shit. My little brother shows up after three years and I get him killed right off the bat.”
“I’m not dying, you idiot.”
He noted the comment about how long it had been and stashed it away for later.
“Klaus!”
His brother jumped, wide eyes flicking up to someone behind Five. Footsteps approached, and he realized there weren’t as many gunshots as before.
“What the hell are you- is that blood?”
“I didn’t- he’s-“ Klaus’s mouth opened and closed like a fish, head shaking quickly.
Diego appeared beside him, staring at Five like he couldn’t quite believe his eyes.
He looked between him, Klaus, and the unmoving human behind them.
“What did you do?”
“I didn’t!” Klaus stared at him pleadingly. “Help!”
“Fucking-“ Diego crouched down, scooping Five into his arms. The time traveler let out a yelp, a flash of pain jolting through him.
“Put me down,” he rasped, struggling weakly. Diego just adjusted his arms, turning back to Klaus.
“Are you coming?” He snapped, and Klaus nodded quickly, climbing onto his feet. He stumbled a little, nearly tripped over the person (or body, Five couldn’t tell), and the three ran out the door Klaus had been trying to get them out of.
They didn’t wait for the others, hurrying around the back of the building and down the sidewalk. Neither Diego nor Klaus seemed to care as passerby noticed them, all staring and whispering as they ran past.
“What are you doing?” Five hissed, fingers digging into Diego’s back. “Let me jump us- it’s faster.”
“You have a bullet wound,” Diego reminded him bluntly. “And no offense, but I don’t trust your accuracy. Last time you jumped, you disappeared.”
Five rolled his eyes. He reached out, and Klaus took his hand, assuming it must have been a plea for comfort.
The world around them twisted, and then they were all in the entry hall of the Academy.
“Shit- Five!” Diego set him down, glaring at him. “What did I just say?”
“Something stupid,” Five shot back, stumbling a little as the room started to tilt on an axis. He’d used a great deal of his energy in his first jump- a second one was ill advised. But a second one while actively losing blood?
Diego and Klaus both moved to catch him as he fell back, eyes sliding shut.
When he came to again, he was laying down. There were itchy bandages around his torso, and he was almost certain that an IV was sticking out of his arm. He moaned, letting his head flop to the side.
Somewhere outside, people were arguing.
“What were you thinking?”
“Hey, at least I got him out of there, you didn’t even notice-“
“And YOU! You could’ve gotten him killed!”
He peeled his eyes open, pushing himself up. His shoulder protested the movement, burning stubbornly, and he glanced down at it.
He practically looked like a mummy. Definitely overkill.
He groaned, rubbing at his face. In the panic of earlier, he hadn’t really had much time to notice anything, but now he was noticing all sorts of things. His body felt different, not quite as worn down or achy. The persistent pain he used to have in his knee after that nasty fall in the apocalypse was gone. His face was clean shaven, without even a hint of stubble.
That, and his siblings had recognized him without a moment’s hesitation. Klaus had called him his little brother.
Shit.
He’d really screwed the pooch this time.
The voices outside grew louder, not even trying to keep it down for his sake. A glance around proved that he was in the infirmary, no doubt having been patched up by Grace. But his robot mother wasn’t around right now, and neither was Pogo or anybody else that would stop him from moving around, so he reached down and yanked the IV out of his arm.
He kicked his legs over the side of the bed, using his better arm to keep himself steady as he regained his footing. He was shorter, everything was bigger around him, which only confirmed his suspicions.
“You could’ve been killed. You know you’re just supposed to be on lookout.”
Irritated, he crossed the rest of the room on foot and pushed the door open. The sound of it slamming against the wall brought the conversation to an end, and five sets of eyes turned towards him.
Klaus’s hands were still caked with blood, and Diego had abandoned his blazer at some point between their arrival and now.
The other three were pristine and proper as ever, even after a no doubt brutal fight.
“You shouldn’t be up and about,” Diego huffed, moving to come closer. Five’s glare made him stop in his tracks.
Allison laughed.
“Seriously?” She teased, gesturing to Five. “You’re intimidated by him? Look how little he is.”
“Allison,” Ben warned, shooting her a look, but she shrugged him off. She approached Five instead, looking him over.
She was at least a few inches taller than him, so she crouched a bit with a knowing smile. He just scowled, unimpressed by the childish jab.
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t give Klaus a hard time,” he said idly, voice calm and collected as though he didn’t look like he’d just survived a close scrape with death. “He did try to save my life, after all.”
Klaus perked up a little, standing taller. Luther scoffed and Ben looked away.
“You’ve been gone a while, Five,” Number One reminded him pointlessly. “You don’t get to come back in and start bossing us around right off the bat. Besides, we’re older than you now.”
“No more know-it-all,” Allison added, standing back to her full height.
Five just pursed his lips, raising an eyebrow.
He was much older than them, and miles more mature, but why bother explaining any of that to them? They were too young, too naive to understand.
He’d hoped for them to be older, more experienced. Now he was stuck with a band of insecure super powered teenagers.
“I still know more than you,” he said instead, wearing his signature smirk. “And I don’t need your permission for anything, Number One, so spare me the sentiment. Thank you.” He nodded, waving his dismissal.
Luther stared at him, caught off guard at being spoken to like that. Diego snorted, passing it off as a sneeze, and Klaus grinned.
“You didn’t listen to Dad, either,” Luther reminded him, pointing an accusing finger at him. “And look where that got you.” With that, he stalked off, Allison following close at his heels. Diego gave him an approving nod before running off, no doubt in search of Mom, leaving him with Ben and Klaus.
“Hell yeah,” Klaus laughed, rolling his knuckles. “Stick it to the man, little guy.”
“It’s good to see you again,” Ben added, offering a smile. “Missions have sucked without you. I mean- they’ve always sucked, but… yeah.”
“It’s good to see you too.” Five took in the room, how eerily similar it was to the way he remembered. It was grand and clean in a way that would suggest children had never even set foot inside.
Home sweet home.
Ben nodded, hesitating for a moment like he’d considered trying to embrace him, then retreated up the stairs.
Klaus hummed, reaching a hand into his pocket. He procured what looked like a cigarette, fishing out a lighter as well. He lit it and stuck it in his mouth, turning like he was going to walk away.
He paused, glancing back at him. His gaze hovered somewhere behind him.
“By the way,” he added, cocking his head. “What’s with the ghost brigade?”