You Better Bring an Umbrella, Vol. 1

Chapter 4: All the Science and Violence

   Despite the confusing circumstances, I couldn't help smiling as I watched Five bustle around. The suit he was wearing-- I'm not exactly sure how or where he got it-- hung loose on his younger form, slightly impeding his progress.

"What's the date?" Five asked as he slammed a wooden cutting board down. "The exact date." He reached for a loaf of bread on the shelf, causing Klaus and I to grimace slightly. God knows how long that was sitting there, completely unused.

"The 24th," I answered after another moment of silence.

"Of what?"

"March." Where the hell had he gone that he didn't know what day it was?

"Good." Everyone looked to me, waiting for me to continue talking to Five. I suppose, given the circumstances, they trusted he would give me answers easier than any of the others.

"So, are we gonna talk about what just happened?" Five remained silent, focusing on making his food. He continued to ignore us until I stood, drawing his attention upward. "It's been 17 years."

"It's been a lot longer than that," he scoffed, trying his best to get up in my face. He glared up at me for another moment, then the air around him bent and turned slightly blue, allowing him essentially to teleport in order to get around me. He reached up for a jar of peanut butter as I sighed, allowing my eyes to fall downward.

"I haven't missed that." I picked myself back up, determined to figure everything out. "Where'd you go?"

"The future." He pulled a bag of marshmallows off the shelf. "It's shit, by the way."

My eyes widened. He had actually time traveled? I thought he had just accidentally jumped to some remote location and couldn't come back. This... this was an entirely different, and far more dangerous, story. I turned to look back at the others, who all shrugged, appearing just as confused as I was. That is, except for Klaus, who remained half in the conversation.

"Called it," Klaus stated, holding a finger up.

"I should've listened to the old man. You know, jumping through space is one thing, jumping through time is a toss of the dice." Five looked up for a moment, barely sparing a glance at Klaus. "Nice dress."

"Oh, well, danke!"

"Wait, how did you get back?" I questioned, trying to bring us back to the point of this meeting.

"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." We all looked at each other, more confused than we were before.

"That makes no sense," Diego muttered, speaking for me as I attempted to process.

"Well, it would if you were smarter." Diego shot up from his seat, but thankfully, Luther held him back, nodding at me to encourage my line of questioning.

"How long were you there?"

"Forty-five years, give or take." My brows flew up further as I shook my head, pinching the bridge of my nose. This still made no goddamn sense. I felt myself teetering slightly, and the next thing I knew, Luther reached out to help me into a chair.

"So what are you saying? That you're 58?"

"No, my consciousness is 58." He sounded frustrated that I still wasn't understanding. "Apparently, my body is now 13 again." I couldn't fight down a tiny, nostalgia-fueled smile as Five finished assembling his peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich. But not two seconds later, the confusion set back in.