𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗 ─ explanations,

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Emelia and Five were inseparable, they wouldn't let one another go - the girl freely sobbing into her brother's shoulder again and the boy still trying desperately to hold back his emotion. To no avail of course, his cheeks were wet and his mouth was pulled up into an unfamiliar smile - his facial muscles wanted to repel the odd action but Five simply grinned brighter.

Emelia pulled away, taking him in. "You're so tiny," she hiccupped with a laugh that turned into a tiny sob.

"I'm still older than you," Five retorted, wiping his nose hastily on his oversized sleeves.

"C'mon," persuaded Diego, taking the lead into the house, pulling the double doors open with unwarranted aggression.

The Hargreeves' found themselves in the kitchen rather quickly, and Emelia clocked her mother rounding the corner as she left the room that became her own. The kitchen was a large space, comforting too and it was filled with state of the art cooking equipment for the android who every time without fail - still cooked three meals a day for nine people, in the hopes her family would come back to her.

There was a flash of blue and Five disappeared from Emelia's side, who instinctively reached out for him - her fingers grazing the energy he left behind, shimmering momentarily in the air. Five was back before she could properly register what had happened - she'd missed that mischievous but authoritative air that he carried with him so effortlessly.

He reappeared in front of one of the spotless counters, setting down a wooden chopping board and a knife gently, his long sleeves rolled up past his elbows. He moved to the cupboards lining the walls, choosing to walk rather than use his ability, his aura calm and collected despite his siblings undivided confusion.

"What's the date?" He asked, his voice clearer now he'd stopped crying. "The exact date," Five grabbed a loaf of bread from the cupboard, the plastic-wrapped top twisted closed and he took it back to his work-station.

"The, um, 24th," Vanya stuttered, she could've sworn she felt her heart thump oddly against her chest everytime she looked at her younger brother. Or older - she didn't really know anymore.

Five took a deep breath. "Of what?" He asked again impatiently, unwrapping the loaf of bread.

"March," chimed in Emelia, her cheeks now dry and her nerves settling down although her shoulders still shook slightly.

He took a second to think. "Good," said Five simply, the smallest hints of a smile playing at his lips as he continued to choose his bread.

Luther huffed and puffed, his entire attitude screaming of disrespect and utter disbelief. "So, are we gonna talk about what just happened?" He asked.

Five ignored him, placing out four slices of bread onto the chopping board whilst his siblings watched him - as if they were in a trance and following his every move with their wide eyes. Klaus was seated in the middle of the table, his legs crossed comfortably and underwear-less body covered by a long black skirt of Allison's. The others had chairs pulled out and sat around the table, apart from Diego who stood tall with Emelia, his arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders. She smiled thankfully at him.

Tired of having no reply, Luther threw himself from his seat, the lapels of his large coat becoming ruffled. "It's been seventeen years," he stated, malice in his voice.

Five scoffed, Emelia could almost feel his eyes rolling. "It's been a lot longer than that," he stepped away from the counter, his small body hardly comparing to Luther's, and yet, the larger man backed down.

With a smirk, Five spacial jumped back to the cupboards pulling out an unopened bag of marshmallows and a jar of peanut butter. He gathered his ingredients for a meal that would taste of his childhood before appearing back in front of his siblings.

"I haven't missed that," whined Luther, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Where did you go?" Interrupted Diego. "You left our sister here, pretty messed up," Emelia elbowed him - hard in the ribs, he recoiled but didn't retract his question.

"The future," said Five rather bluntly, using his ability to jump through the kitchen before finally settling down. "It's shit by the way." He stated.

"Called it!" Yelled Klaus, excitedly, throwing his arms up in the air.

"The future?" Worried Emelia.

"Hmm," Five hummed his agreement, his eyes softening again as he looked at her.

"I should have listened to the old man, jumping through space is one thing, jumping through time is a toss of the dice." Five took a second to look at his brothers and sisters, before stopping on Klaus. "Nice dress."

"Oh!" Klaus exclaimed. "Well, danke!"

Emelia opened her mouth to ask a question but was cut off by Vanya, who had finally spoken with a stutter or stammer, her hands making odd gestures in the air. "Wait, how did you get back?"

"In the end," Five began, spreading the peanut butter across all four slices of bread. "I had to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that -"

"-That exists across every possible instance of time," finished Emelia, her eyebrows furrowed and her cheeks pink - hoping she hadn't made a fool out of herself.

Five gave an unsurprised smile to his twin sister. "Exactly."

"That makes no sense," stated Diego, his voice monotonous.

"Well, it would if you were smarter," retorted Five, still taking his time with his sandwich. "Like Em." He added with a smirk.

Diego shot out of his place, eyes wide with anger and his teeth bared in a somewhat animalistic snarl, however he was stopped in his tracks by Luther who grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him softly away.

"How long were you there?" Asked Luther, his arm acting as a thick barrier between Diego and Five, his target.

Five raised his eyebrows as he added it up in his head. "Forty-five years, give or take."

Sinking back down into his seat, Luther let out a breath of air, Diego perching himself on the edge of the dining table. "So, what you're saying is, you're fifty-eight?" Luther said, disbelief across his oblivious face.

"No, that's just his consciousness, I mean - he doesn't look fifty-eight to me, more eleven or twelve." Emelia teased her brothers, feeling much better and finally gathering her bearings.

Five narrowed his eyes at her, his lips slightly upturned. "My body is thirteen again," he emphasized his age while looking Emelia in the eyes. "I'm still a lot older than you, don't worry."

"Are you though?" She asked, a mirthful laugh bubbling in the back of her throat from the utter look of disgust that Five shot her. Emelia tried desperately to hide her growing smile but couldn't and let out an overly-excited laugh that was loud and rambunctious. Diego and Five gave sly grins of their own - each of them more than happy to have heard such a merry sound coming from Emelia after such a long time.

The small boy rolled his eyes, finally finishing the peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches he'd been making. He took a large bite of his own, humming in content before putting the other on a plate and sliding it over to Emelia.

'You always had to eat after a panic attack, this used to be your favourite.'

Emelia felt her eyebrows crease upwards into a look of delight as her twins voice filled her head, projecting his thoughts to her. She smiled, reaching down for the snack she hadn't eaten in years and taking the biggest bite she possibly could.

"Wait a minute, wait," demanded Vanya. "H-how does that even work?"

Five somewhat ignored the question, bringing himself to stand in front of his family, sandwich in hand. "Delores kept saying the equations were off." He said, contemplating before making a disapproving noise at himself. "Bet she's laughing now."

"Delores, huh?" Taunted Emelia, her eyebrows raised and her voice muffled as she choked down the last bite of her sandwich - her manicured hand covering her mouth.

He dodged the question again, humming again to show he had, in fact, heard her he just didn't care enough to answer. Instead, he took interest in a black and white printed newspaper laying across the table to his left. Five brought it closer to him, dragging it across the tan, mahogany table to his grasp where he analysed the headline and cover photograph.

"Guess I missed the funeral," Five said bluntly, throwing the paper back down to it's previous place with a small slap.

"How'd you know about that?" Luther demanded again.

"What part of the future do you not understand?"

Emelia snorted, causing every head in the room to fly to her - Five giving her a soft look and Klaus reaching his arms behind himself to hold hers comfortingly. "Sorry," she apologised falsy, casting her eyes to the ground to try and stop the quelling excitement her body felt. It was as though her entire body was in overdrive, like she'd been unconscious for seventeen years and all of a sudden her twin came back from the deep, dark abyss and jolted her awake. Every sense was in overload, her heart beating erratically as adrenaline and the thrills of the day overwhelmed her. She couldn't ever remember being so happy.

Five gave a knowing nod, but continued on. "Heart failure, huh?"

"Yeah," responded Diego, receiving a dirty look from Luther.

"No."

The younger boy spared a glance at Luther, his eyes travelling across to the knife wielder, he clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Nice to see nothing's changed." He dusted his crumby hands off on the legs of his oversized pants before taking his leave, and walking towards the door.

"Uh, that's it? That's all you have to say?" Sassed Allison, throwing a hand on her hip and cocking it out, Emelia could imagine her doing the same to Claire, her daughter, when she was naughty and gave a little giggle.

"What else is there to say? The circle of life." Stated Five bluntly before popping his head back into the room. "Oh Em, get ready - we're leaving soon." With that, he left and his footsteps trudged up the stairs and to his old bedroom where Emelia had been too afraid to go.

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