Darkness | Ben Hargreeves [TBD]

6 | Old Man Boy

A flying fire extinguisher came into view as stared at the blue hole. She looked to the side to see Klaus chucking it. "What is that gonna do?" Allison yelled pulling me back. "I don't know. Do you have a better idea," Klaus yelled sassing her. I mean he is kind of true.

The thing in the sky seems to be getting larger and more chaotic. "Everybody get behind me!" yelled Luther, as Diego started doing the exact same thing. "Yeah! Get behind us!" River rolled her eyes. "Oh please, I'm stronger than both of you combined!" she yelled then stepping in front of the two.

"I vote for running! Come on!" Klaus tried pulling River but she wouldn't budge. They all see an old guy going through it, screaming. "What the," River squinted her eyes. There's something about that face that looks familiar.

Someone then fell on the ground as the portal disappeared. They all slowly walked towards the now laying person. The kid then slowly stood up. "Does anyone else see little Number Five, or is it just me?" Klaus asked wanting to know if he was having hallucinations again.

Standing in front of them was none other than Five himself. Younger Five. Just like how he used to look before he had disappeared. But with an oversized suit. "Shit," Five looked down at himself. River stood frozen, stunned. "He's back... He's back!" She quickly embraced the man child. Although Five didn't like hugs, he returned it. He was not used to it but River's hug always made him feel safe.

Everyone was now gathered at the table looking at the child before them. "What's the date? The exact date?" Five sighed grabbing the loaf of bread. "The 24th," Vanya replied quickly. "Of March," River added knowing that Five would want the whole detail.

"Are we gonna talk about what just happened?" although River hated to agree with Luther, he was right. Five ignored him as he prepares a sandwich. Luther stood up getting annoyed, "it's been 17 years."

Five scoffed standing in front of Luther, looking up at him, "It's been longer than that." River stared at Five. Something changed about him. She just couldn't figure out what. She turned to her siblings, watching the intense conversation.

Five then spatial jumped behind Luther to grab marshmallows, "I haven't missed that" Luther mumbled. River smiled proudly, seeing Five spatial jump quicker than before.

"Where'd you go?" Diego was concerned even though he didn't show it. "The future. It's shit by the way." Oh god was there an apocalypse. River had been watching a lot of post apocalyptic shows and that was the first thing that came to her mind.

"Called it!" River jumped, clearly startled at the sudden sound that came from Klaus. "I should've listen to the old man. You know, jumping through space is one thing, jumping through time is a toss of the dice," Five raided the fridge to get all of the supplies he needed for his sandwich. "Sorry," River mumbled, feeling guilty for convincing him to do whatever he wanted. Such as time travel.

Five looked up, "nice dress." Allison rolled her eyes while River looked down between Diego and Klaus to see him wearing Allison's clothing.

"Wait how did you get back?" Vanya now felt more comfortable being in the presence of the two siblings that could actually stand her. "In the end I had to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists across every possible instance of time," Five continued making his sandwich. All of the siblings looked puzzled except for River who gave a quick 'oh' understanding what he said.

She was the only one that understood what he said because she was also the one who had helped him time travel. Everyone now had their eyes on the both of them. "That makes no sense," Diego said trying to comprehend what he just said.

"Well, it would if you were smarter," River gave a loud snort as Diego stood up clearly pissed. "How long were you there?" Luther placed his arm in front of Diego stopping him from murdering Five.

"Forty five years. Give or take," this took everyone by a surprise. Even River. She didn't know that this could happen. She would've if she had continued her study about time traveling to help Five. But instead she was consumed by grief.

"Holy shit. You're 58," River looked at Five dead in the eye. "No, my consciousness is 58. Apparently my body is now 13 again," Five took a knife cutting his sandwich. "You're an old man boy," River chuckled realizing that he was now older than all of them.

Five picked up the sandwiches before going over to River, giving her the other piece. She quietly thanked him, not knowing whether she should eat it. She had stopped eating those sandwiches as she grew hatred towards peanut butter. She quickly bit down on it, not wanting to see disappointment in Five's eye.

Five turned his back before grinning, knowing that she now hated peanut butter. At first he did it to try to annoy River. Deep down he just wanted to feel like everything had gone back to normal, just like old times. He longed comfort from River.

None of the siblings knows why but River was always the one keeping them sane. Keeping them in check. Though some of them weren't close with her, they still felt comforted whenever they're around her. She had that effect on her siblings, no matter what had happen in the past. They knew that without her, none of them would even share a single fond memory of being in this academy.

"Delores kept saying the equations were off. Bet she's laughing now," Five bit down on his sandwich. "Delores?" River quickly swallowed the piece in her mouth, chiming in wanting to know more details.

"Guess I missed the funeral," Five ignored her before picking up the newspaper. "How'd you know about that?" oh that dumb space giant.

"He's from the future, you dingus," River rolled her eyes before biting down on the sandwich again. Not going to lie, she thought she would gag from the peanut butter, but instead she actually found it really good. Especially with the marshmallows.

"Heart failure huh?" River noticed a pair of eyes on her. She looked down to see Klaus staring at her. "How can she eat that stuff after almost chocking on peanut butter before?" Ben had now caused Klaus to stare at the girl eating. River quickly offered him the sandwich. Instead of taking the sandwich he just took a big bite before looking at Five again. River chuckled before finishing the rest.

Yes and no's can be heard from her other siblings. "Nice to see nothing changed" Five then headed off, not even bothering to clean up his mess.

"That's it? That's all you have to say?" Allison tried stopping Five from leaving. "What else is there to say? The circle of life," the sibling watched him leave before turning to each other. "That was interesting," with that River also left going off to find Five.