The Angel of Small Death || Five Hargreeves

ii. and i'm sorry i left, but it was for the best, though it never felt right

Five realized that using his powers to travel his family back in time was a shitty idea when he fell out of the sky. The time portal was above him, creating an energy storm bigger than anything he had ever seen. He fell down into a puddle, getting his bowling shoes and high socks wet.

What he also immediately recognized was the simple fact that no one was there with him. No Liv, no Vanya, no one. "Liv! Luther! Diego!" He shouted into the sky, praying that someone would fall down just as he had. But no one did. The energy disappeared within moments causing the sky to clear up. They were all gone.

The sound of machine-gun fire drew Five to the main road. Buildings were on fire and heavily broken, bullets created holes in the street, everything was in shambles. A tan tank made its way down the street, men running next to it, carrying the flag of the Soviet Union. Russian screams were heard as explosions sounded in the distance.

Five quickly approached a pile of bricks, finding a recent newspaper from the town he was in. 'Soviets attack U.S: JFK Declares War on Reds' was placed promptly on the first page. Someone had altered the timeline, or perhaps he had entered into a whole different universe. The alternate timeline theory made more sense to him, considering just how much his family screwed up the timeline in 2019.

"No, this can't be right," He said, standing in front of the tank. "What the hell did we do now?"

Five fell to the ground as the tank fired from just over his shoulder. The missile left fire and smoke in its wake, causing his vision to fail him. When the smoke cleared, he was able to recognize the people fighting in the street. They were all dressed in black, performing what a normal person would believe to be witchcraft. It was his family.

Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, and Vanya were all there, fighting in the war. They were okay, well almost okay. They would be perfectly fine as long as he helped them in time.

Five went to stand up as Diego finally saw him, "Five! You sick son of a bitch, where the hell have you been?"

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder, pulling him back from running in and helping. "If you wanna live, come with me." It took him but a moment to recognize who the man was, who the now old man was.

"Hazel. What the hell's going on here?"

"There's no time to explain. Those are nukes, old-timer." Hazel gestured to the sky as at least six 'jet' streams came closer to them.

"What about my family?"

"You can't save them if you're dead."

Five considered it for a moment, looking back and forth at his family and Hazel. Now that nukes were raining from the sky, they were doomed. He had no other choice. He reached out, clasping Hazel's hand, as the two disappeared.

They reappeared once more on a put-together street. The very same street they had been on only moments before, this time clearly not affected by the war going on.

"Okay. What the hell was that?"

"The end of the world, November 25, 1963."

"'63." Five looked around, realizing that everything on the street was in the look of the 60's. It wasn't his exact plan to travel them back this far, but at least it worked. "You know, Hazel, I'm no history buff, but I don't recall there being a nuclear holocaust."

"No shit."

"What about my family?"

"Dead. Like everyone else."

"And where am I now?"

"Dallas. Same street. Ten days earlier. Plenty of time to restore the timeline and save them."