Stuck In The Past | Five Hargreeves

Chapter 8: Explanations

As Cassie tried to recover her balance she took a step back away from Five as she looked at him almost second-guessing if her eyes were playing a sick game on her and this was just an illusion. It was crazy to think that for these past 6 months, all that the girl had been hoping for was to see Five again, but now that he was right in front of her she didn't know how to react.

All Cassie knew was that she felt relieved and happy to see that Five was alive and well, but at the same time she couldn't help but feel upset and angry because of how he basically abandoned her in a completely different timeline to fend for herself while being in the body of a 13/14-year-old girl.

Little did she know that the boy had only arrived this morning and was already out on a quest to find all of his siblings.

Regardless of only being a couple of hours since he last saw the girl, Five was also surprised to have found her this quickly without even trying. Some might even call this fate, but something that he wasn't prepared for was Cassie's skeptical reaction to seeing him.

Five could easily tell that it had been at least a couple of months since Cassie arrived at this timeline. Not only because Elliot mentioned it but because she looked slightly different from only hours ago.

The girl's dirty blonde hair was slightly longer than he remembered and it was tied in half up half down with a ribbon. She also was slightly taller but not enough to pass his height since he had always been a couple of inches taller than her. But what caught his attention the most was what she was wearing, which was a green school uniform.

"Aren't you late for school?" Five commented with his signature sarcastic tone trying to break the ice while looking at the girl with a smug look on his face.

"Oh, shut up," Cassie replied rolling her eyes and letting out a small laugh before wrapping her arms around the boy into a warm embrace.

This completely caught Five off guard who just stood there completely stunned by Cassie's hug. After all, the boy wasn't really used to receiving or giving any sort of affection but slowly began to loosen up and wrapped his arms around the girl and rubbed her back gently almost getting lost in the moment. He knew that this hug probably meant a lot to Cassie but what he didn't realize was that he also needed this as well. The fact that Cassie was right in front of him alive and well almost made him forget the nuclear war he had witnessed only hours ago.

The girl couldn't help but feel tears of joy leave her eyes from finally being reunited with Five after all this time but as soon as she pulled away from the boy she wiped away her tears with her sleeve not wanting them to ruin the moment. "I wish I could say that I'm angry with you for leaving me completely alone in this timeline but I can't." The girl said letting out a nervous laugh as she looked up at Five.

"You all knew there could be a risk when I made the jump." Five said but as soon as those words left his mouth he was quickly brought back to what he realized was his new reality. The apocalypse had followed him and now if he wanted to protect those he loved he needed to find a way to stop it and not fail like he did the last time he tried.

Judging by Five's look on his face Cassie could instantly tell something was wrong, after all, spending 45 years of your life next to someone can teach you how to read some of their body language during certain situations. "Five? Is everything okay?" The girl said as she couldn't help but feel worried about what could possibly be inside the boy's head.