"Mr Hargreeves, you never told us you had the ability to apparate. It's an amazing skill to have, and I'm thoroughly impressed - you must have practiced this many times to be able to do it that efficiently - but I must ask you, how did you do it within the school walls?"

Five allowed Riddle to hop back onto his feet, swiping off the dust that settled on his pressed black trousers with a faint scowl.

"I'm afraid that I haven't attempted apparition yet." The professor nodded like a bobble head, gesturing for him to continue.
" I was simply born with a gift no other human, which or creature has."
Merrythought questioned him further, although keeping in mind that messing with him too much wasn't going to be the smartest decision, seeing as to how easily he was able to take down their star pupil.

"How do you do it though?"
Five waved his hand around the air suggestively before he explained.
"Let's just say that I can manipulate specific things."

He gave a quick fake smile, one that he's used many times.
Five sighed as he clasped his hands, the sound bouncing off the wooden floors.
"Now, I'm not trying to rush you here professor. But don't you have a class to teach?"

---

The rest of the day was, uneventful.
For Five at least.

Nothing new or interesting happened, and the old teen actually feels as though he died a little bit during History with a dead wizard who believed that he was still alive.

Five was right, half the people there were insanely mundane - even if they could do something like knock someone over with a weak gust of air, it was common.

Boring.

Usual to the old timer at this point in time - and it was only the first official day at the wizarding school.

The most interesting thing that happened, was Tom Riddle.
Five's known his name for thirty-one hours - that's usually more than enough for him to analyse people properly.

But this ebony haired teen, wizard - he's like an unsolved riddle, a code to decipher.
So many secrets - secrets that Five would love to figure out.

But he doesn't have the time.

The world they all lived on, was going to meet a horrific end.
The inhabitants of the world are going to meet a horrific end.

Five had survived off scraps for 43 years.

He had seen the bodies of his family.

He had been pushed up to a point where he had a serious mental breakdown - things he never ever gets.

But the worst thing was - that he had been alone.
So fucking alone.

And to prevent these things from happening again, he had to figure something out, and quick - he couldn't afford to waste time.

The world's people depend on it, on him - even if they don't know they do.

---

Reginald Hargreeves sat at the head of the long, wooden table - seven dining children seated around it, nothing but the sound of cutlery chinking and a scratchy old record playing in the background.

A steak knife was suddenly dug into the table, Five smiling as all eyes shot up to him.
He spoke without hesitation, voice ringing out confidently.
"I have a question."

"Knowledge is an admirable goal, Number Five. But you know the rules, no talking during meal time. You are interrupting Herr Carlson." Reginald said, seemingly unfazed by his adoptive son's reckless action.

"I want to time travel."

"No." Reginald quickly shut down Five.

"But I'm ready, I've been practicing my spacial jumps - just like you said!" He persisted, blinking with a sea blue haze before reappearing beside the old man - outstretching his arms dramatically.

"see?"

"A spacial jump is trivial when compared to the unknowns of time travel. One is like sliding along ice." Reginald explained.
"The other is akin to descending blindly into the depths of the freezing water and appearing as an acorn."

Five furrowed his eyebrows.
"Well, I don't get it."

"Hence the reason you're not ready."

Five huffed furiously, aggressively shoving his hands into his pockets whilst speaking with a very sarcastic smile.
"I'm not afraid."

"Fear isn't the issue. The effects it might have on your body, even your mind, are far too unpredictable." He slightly shifted his body towards Five as he threw down his silver cutlery in anger.

"Now! I forbid you to talk about this anymore!"

Vanya slightly shook her head from her position at the table, somehow knowing what Five was going to do next.

The boy turned. And walked away.

"Number Five! You haven't been excused!" Reginald shouted, clenching his pale old fists into tight balls.

The boy escaped onto the busy streets, running forwards and warping time - progressing into the future.
Everyone who had been wearing winter clothes were now wearing summer dresses and garments, some of the shops looked really run down - he had at least jumped forwards by four years.

"Not ready my ass." Five said as he grinned to himself, letting the familiar blue light engulf him as he jumped forwards again.

Smouldering flames flickered and spat into the dark atmosphere, grey ash raining down onto Five as he stumbled forwards.
Darkness has overcome the place, debris littered around the place - the strong acidic smell of fire burning at the back of his throat.

Five's eyes widened, he inhaled sharply as he soon clenched his fists tightly- the space around them turning blue and warping for a second before fading away, as if some barrier were stopping him from using his power.

"Shit."

He quickly turned back, running before finding himself in front of - nothing.
Five was breathing heavily, not a single brick was sitting in the position it was meant to be.
The umbrella academy, along with nearly everything else, had been reduced to redundant pieces of rubble.

Five's foot got caught in something as he stepped backwards, eyes still glistening as unshed tears threatened to run down his face.
He felt his heart shatter even further in his chest, slowly walking over towards something.

The thing he stepped on

was the dead and bloodied body, of Diego.
Four other mangled bodies of people he knew were spotted as he turning his head from side to side rapidly, lying in unnatural positions under and above the wreckage.

The four people.

Luther.

Allison.

Klaus.

Vanya.

---

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