"Five. What do you think?" Luther asked, everyone's eyes swivelling in his direction.

Five had stopped listening as soon as Luther took over the conversation, not having the patience for that much stupid after enduring personal training that morning. Of course the training itself wasn't difficult, Five's powers were well beyond those he had originally possessed at thirteen. But having no one but Reginald Hargreeves as company for three hours had been very draining. Three hours back in the apocalypse would have been preferable, an opinion he had entered upon after only ten minutes in the training room.

"About what?" He asked disinterestedly. They kept asking him what he thought. It was annoying. Why was it when he wanted them to listen they ignored him, yet when he wanted to be left alone they started pestering him?

"It's been a week." Luther restated, annoyed by Five's seeming lack of concern. "Vanya still shows no sign of remembering. Do you think she ever will remember on her own? If not, do we tell her what happened?"

"We should." Allison insisted. "We can't keep this from her."

"Not if we're going to help her c-control her powers." Diego chimed in.

"But how do we even do that?" Ben asked. "If we get her off those pills now, we might just accelerate the apocalypse by seventeen years. We need to do this the right way."

Allison shook her head. "We can't try to control her, we need to make things better this time. We need her to trust us, she'll never let us help her otherwise."

"Well we're not exactly off to a great start." Klaus said, gnawing at his fingernails. "We're all in here and we've left V by herself. Again. Did anyone else see how she looked when we all told her we would be busy even though we aren't training?"

"I'm not saying it will be easy, from this point we've already got mistakes under our belts. I'll never be able to take back breaking her violin," Allison said sadly, "or yelling at her to go away. But we've got years now, and I for one am not missing out on another opportunity to be close to my sister."

Luther put a hand on her shoulder, for which Allison looked at him gratefully.

"Are we sure she doesn't remember," Klaus started, "I mean..."

Five got bored listening to them all.

He teleported into Seven's room, finding her curled up on the bed with her feet tucked under the blankets. A ridiculously large book obscured her face but the slight pop alerted her she was no longer alone.

"What have you got there?" Five asked, dropping heavily onto the bed. The jostle had no success in getting Seven to put her book down.

"Anna Karenina."

"Grim." He judged. "Why do you always read such grim books? Why don't you read something more light-hearted?"

Seven sighed. "I like Tolstoy."

Five glared at the cover. "What's this one about? Wait, no. Let me guess – betrayal?"

There was a pause before she answered: "Lucky guess."

"There's nothing lucky about it, he's a renowned realist. Or as we would call him now, a killjoy."

"I still like it."

Five groaned and reached forward to snatch the tome out of her hands but Seven dodged him. The book continued to mask her face.

"Well you've got me suspicious now." He said feeling surly. "You haven't been crying have you?"

"No."

He curled a finger over the lip of the spine and pulled the book down.

Seven had been telling the truth, her eyes were dry; although she was wearing an almighty scowl that took him aback.

"Five," she scolded, "you made me lose my place."

"I have it." He said impatiently, his finger still marking the correct page. "Now can we go do something more interesting?"

"I thought you already were." Seven sniffed, snatching her brick of a book back.

"Ugh, I doubt anything that involves Punchatron, Zorrnot or Spirit Boy could be characterised as interesting. One just wanted to give us one of his," he lowered his voice, "'I'm Number One, Number One means best, best means do what I say' speeches."

Seven shot him an unimpressed look as she slotted her bookmark into place.

"Yeah, I know. Spirit Boy isn't one of my best, I'm still working on it. Maybe I need to try to use the word Ouija instead. Somehow. Zorrnot is pretty good though – like Zorro? But not as cool or interesting. Zorr-not?"

"This," she said, circling her apathetic expression with a finger, "is for that terrible impression."

"I'd like to see you do better." Five said, feigning hurt.

She lit up to his delight before producing a ridiculously deep voice, coming closer to Luther's tone in adulthood rather than as a teenager. "I'm Number One. I hit things and make them go smash."

Five burst out laughing, joined by a more restrained laugh from Seven who hid her grin behind a hand.

"See, this is way more fun than Tolstoy." Five said, taking her book and tossing it with a thud on her nightstand. "Now can we get out of here, your room is several shades of depressing?"

"Where do you want to go?" Seven asked, her smile quickly fading.

She was so cautious, ever since they came back. That his siblings didn't notice only confirmed their low status on the intellectual pecking order of the Hargreeves household in Five's book. The old Number Seven was always worried about getting in trouble or attracting scorn from someone who was ostensibly supposed to be her family, yet that hadn't stopped her caring for them and finding joy in what little they offered her. The girl before him now was coloured by Vanya, who had learned to expect nothing and to always doubt her siblings' intentions.

"Five?" She pushed after he didn't answer.

He held out his hands. It took longer than it used to before she took them.

"It's a surprise."

She quirked a brow at him. "Am I bringing my violin or the book?"

"Whichever you prefer." Five replied, trying not to sound smug as she confirmed his suspicions. Vanya chose the book.

It had been uncommon to hear Seven play the first time around, she was so shy and hesitated to let them listen as she honed her skill. Since they had arrived she had only played it once, on the day she had spent in the kitchen baking with Grace. She'd worn a giant smile and finally picked her instrument up again, playing was significantly better than any thirteen year old, even a genius like his sister, should be capable of.

Vanya hugged the book to her chest as they walked along the corridor, the curious stares of Diego and Ben lingering on their backs. Evidentially his siblings had finally noticed his absence, somehow managing to climb out of their own asses long enough to, and had been looking for him.

At least they had the good sense not to follow. While Ben would likely be fine, Vanya was still jumpy around the others. Although she was doing a good job pretending not to remember anything; his siblings' had all written it off as a young Number Seven still being shy and unaccustomed to prolonged attention.

He led her to their old hideout, settling on his side of the bed.

"You didn't bring something to read?" Seven asked as she took her seat next to him.

"No, I thought you could read to me for a change."

"I thought you said Tolstoy was a killjoy?"

"Maybe I'm in a morbid mood." He said. "We can take it in turns."

Five folded his arms under his head and kicked his legs out while Vanya curled into herself.

"I'm already halfway."

"I'll get what's happening from context." Five bluffed, not feeling confident in that statement. Not when he was over three-hundred pages behind. "Unless you want me to get my book and we read that instead?"

Vanya looked at him. "What are you reading?"

"A book on emergence. The theory that the rise of a system cannot be predicted or explained from antecedent conditions." He said with as straight a face as he could manage. His mouth couldn't help but twist into a small smile as he watched Vanya's eyes widen.

She opened her book. "Okay, where was I?"

Vanya tracked her finger down the page until she found her place. "Rummaging in our souls, we often dig up something that ought to have lain there unnoticed." She cleared her throat uncomfortably.

"So grim." Five commented helpfully, understanding her agitation.

He plucked the book out of her hand again, replaced the bookmark, and tossed it towards the foot of the bed. Which at their current height settled far away from their feet. If Seven wasn't his favourite there would be no way in hell he'd be willingly suffering through puberty again, he thought, as he looked at his short legs with disdain.

Still, at least he would eventually get taller. Seven would barely grow, always remaining a diminutive and deceptively helpless size.

"Then go get something else." Vanya huffed, settling her chin on her knees.

"Talk to me instead."

It was a rare thing for the two to sit down and simply talk – unless they had a firm topic in mind like a philosophical debate or a theory (musical or scientific) they wanted to bounce off the other.

Five was well aware he was lacking in the more emotive skills; he was never the kind to stop and ask someone how their day was. With Seven he'd always at least tried and now he knew he needed to try harder. She deserved them trying harder.

"Talk?" Vanya asked dubiously, wrinkling her nose. It was the same expression Seven would make when Grace served fish pie thinking it was her favourite. Although being the good and subservient Number Seven she never voiced her dislike, instead offering their pseudo mother a dim smile with a polite thank you for good measure. Seven's real favourite was lemon tart with vanilla ice cream.

"Yeah."

"About what?"

He was going to fall down at the first hurdle.

"Oh, well..." He paused, brow furrowing as he desperately tried to think of something to suggest. He should just ask how she was, like a normal brother would. Of course he knew what he actually wanted to talk about – Seven's powers. The fake amnesia. Her reluctance to pick up the violin. Really, there were plenty of things he wanted to talk about. But he wanted to wait and see, wanted to know if she would trust him with those answers on her own terms.

He was even less known for his patience as for his compassion and concern, so it was anyone's guess how long that resolve would last. Looking over at Vanya, trying to make herself as small as possible on the pillow beside him, he knew now was not the time to push her. Not yet anyway. She needed to stop seeing them as a threat first. Although, as their pitifully short fight at the theatre had shown, they weren't much of a match for her at full strength anyway.

Vanya sighed, taking pity on him. "What did you do in training this morning?"

"Nothing fun." Five winced, which only spiked her curiosity further. "I was literally jumping through hoops – targeted jumps. Making sure I can target my landings, especially when I have to land in less than ideal conditions. Like on a ledge or in a vent or in a moving vehicle. I need to adjust to the spaces as I jump. Go from standing to sitting, things like that."

"Sounds complicated."

He'd mastered those kinds of jumps years ago.

"Nothing I can't handle." Five managed, sounding boastful to his own ears.

"I'm sure you can do anything you put your mind to." Vanya said.

"What I need to practise is jumping with someone else. Care to volunteer?" Five asked, waggling his eyebrows.

"Not a chance." She replied, tensing up. "I'm not going first when you do that."

Vanya already had gone first, along with the other five, but wanted to try again. To get better at it. Theoretically doing a spatial jump with someone in tow had to be easier than a group time travel trip. Sure he'd done it with Delores plenty of times in the apocalypse but she didn't have her right arm or any legs. There hadn't been as much mass. Or risk.

"I can do it." Five scoffed.

"Well do me a favour and practice on the others first."

He turned his head to look at her. "Which one gets your vote?"

"Anyone apart from me." Vanya insisted, although it pleased him to see she had softened slightly.

"Fine. And then we'll go somewhere. I was thinking the next time the old man goes off on his own we could try to go to the park. It'll be easier to sneak out if we teleport."

"That sounds nice." She agreed cautiously.

"Then where do you want to go?"

Her answer was different to last time. "Somewhere warm."

"Like a beach or something?" Five asked, curious about the twinge of irritation he felt with Seven's new answer. It had been forty-four years, of course she'd changed her mind since then.

"I don't really mind. Just somewhere warm. And quiet. I don't like it when it's crowded."

"Neither do I."

Not anymore. Being the only person on earth did that to a man.

"Where do you want to go?" Vanya asked.

Five leaned back on his arms again. "I'm fine with somewhere warm and quiet. I'll think of some places, then you can choose one."

Vanya had just managed to relax, uncurling from her unforgiving crouch to stretch out on the bed, when a timid knock came at the door and interrupted their quiet conversation.

Five grumbled and rose to go answer it, noticing that his sister had instantly tensed again. Every time he seemed to make progress with her, someone forced him to take a step back again.

"What?" He asked bluntly, glaring into Diego's eyes.

His brother was looking over his shoulder at Vanya. Five didn't need to turn to see she didn't like being the focus of his stare, he could practically feel her discomfort radiating across the room.

"What?" Five asked again, drawing Diego's attention back.

"We were planning to p-play a game of tag and we w-w-wanted to know if you both wanted to play." Diego asked, emphasising both.

"We're fine..."

"Actually," Vanya spoke over him, clearing her voice so they could hear her more clearly, "I wouldn't mind getting back to my book. But you should go Number Five. Although I don't know why they bother to ask you anymore, you always win." She added with a sly grin, coming to stand by his side with Anna Karenina tucked under her arm.

"Seven..."

"I'll just go back to my room, I'll see you at dinner."

She slipped out of the room, folding into herself as she squeezed through the narrow space between the brothers to ensure she didn't touch them.

They watched her go. Five returned his glower towards Diego.

"Tag?"

Diego shrugged helplessly. "We a-always played tag and V-Vanya never got to play. We thought she would like to."

"Idiot." Five shot back, heading for the staircase. Now they would really have to play it – he was fifty-eight years old; that was too old to play tag. He'd felt too old to play when he was actually thirteen. And with his power it really was pointless, no one could lay a hand on him. Even if he was forced to go first, he quickly caught a sibling and disappeared to a quiet corner of the house for the rest of the game.

Of course if they had ever invited Seven to play he might have joined in more. Back then however, they didn't have as much control over their powers as they did now. There was always a little too much risk that one of them could push too hard and she would get hurt.

Now there was a chance she could hurt them; if she'd stopped taking the pills like he suspected, anyway.

The remaining four were waiting in the sitting room, sat closely together far away from the door so they wouldn't be overheard by the adults. Each of their faces fell to a degree as Vanya failed to emerge behind him and Diego.

"Told you." Ben said.

"Who's stupid idea was this?" Five asked.

No one took the blame but several pairs of eyes darted towards Klaus.

"Where's Vanya now?"

"In her room reading." He replied, adding that she wanted to be alone before Allison could go after her.

"I don't like leaving her alone." Allison said. "We hardly get any spare time together like this – we should spend it as a family."

"We can't push her." Ben interjected. "Besides, if we completely change our behaviour towards her it'll show Dad that things have changed. He always kept us apart from her, remember?"

"Yeah, why did he do that?" Klaus asked. "I know he was always a top grade asshat, but it's not like he kept the rest of us apart."

"Maybe he wanted to make it easier for us to kill her." Luther spoke up, refusing to meet any of their eyes. "If her powers came back. That seems like something he would do."

The silence spoke volumes; that was exactly something Reginald Hargreeves would do.

"He had to know it would build r-resentment. That she would hate us for it." Diego said.

Five shrugged. "Like he cared."

"God, I can't believe we're doing this again." Allison sighed. "What if Dad makes it worse? I mean, what if he finds out about her? What if he tries to lock her..?"

She trailed off awkwardly.

"Lock her up?" Five asked, watching his siblings' guilty expressions manifest. "He used to lock her up – where?"

"There's a bunker under the house, specially made for her." Ben readily explained. "Pogo told Luther about it after Allison got hurt."

"And I put her in it again." Luther confessed, meeting Five's eye as he did.

To his credit he didn't look away even as Five felt his face contort into a furious scowl. He took a step back however when he finally gave him a toothy grin.

"After she attacked Allison, I thought it was the right thing to do."

"I'd like to point out I was unconscious at this point." Allison said, distancing herself from the argument.

"But you let her out?" Five asked sweetly through bared teeth.

"We tried." Klaus said, his tone helpless.

"Barely." Ben contradicted him. "Luther was the only one who said we should keep her in there."

"And you three bone heads couldn't figure out a way to get around him?"

"I tried." Allison replied. "But I didn't have my power."

Five turned on Diego and Klaus. "And while she was trying to get around him you two couldn't have just gone over to the door and opened it? The last time I counted, Number One only had two arms, not three."

"I was in withdrawal." Klaus quickly answered, while Diego remained silent.

Five turned back to Luther. "Her powers had been unleashed by that point. How did you subdue her then when you couldn't on the stage?"

"She came back to apologise for attacking Allison; she thought she was dead when she arrived. I told her she was recovering and offered her a hug; I told her everything was going to be alright." Luther said, swallowing thickly as he glanced between Five and Allison. "Then I squeezed until she passed out."

Ben made a sound of disgust, getting off the couch to stand by the door instead.

"I am sorry for it." Luther insisted. "I know it was the wrong thing to do – but when I spoke to Pogo. He was just so scared of her. I don't think I've ever seen Pogo scared like that before, he was always so calm even when we went on dangerous missions. And after seeing she had nearly killed Allison, I didn't think we had any chance reasoning with her. I did what I thought was best."

"And ignored the rest of us as u-usual." Diego grumbled, playing with his switchblade. An annoying habit he had picked up when he was ten and apparently never grown out of.

"I blame it on the lack of oxygen in space." Klaus piped up. "I swear he was never this stupid before he left."

Luther shot an irritated look at his brothers but didn't retort.

"I want to apologise to her but if she doesn't remember I guess I can't. Which is why we need to decide what to do – do we wait and see if she remembers on her own? Or do we tell her ourselves?"

"I d-don't think she'd believe us even if we did." Diego said. "I mean, w-what are we going to say – in the future you go on a killing rampage, blow up the moon and destroy the p-planet?"

"She'll think we're pulling a prank on her." Ben added. "That we're making fun of her for not having powers."

"You're right." Five agreed. If Vanya didn't remember everything for herself that's exactly what Seven would have thought.

They really were cruel pricks growing up.

For now he just needed to stop his siblings from trying to tell her themselves. If he was right Vanya would reveal it herself. In time. If his siblings could find a way to share their one collective brain cell effectively and not screw everything up again.

"No, we should tell her." Allison insisted, Luther immediately nodding in agreement. "I get it will be difficult, but it'll just make everything worse if we don't. And I want to talk to her. Really talk to her, not just stilted conversation in the hallway while she looks at me like – like she always used to."

"Like you're going to rumour her to shut up, slam a door in her face or tell her she's getting in the way?" Five supplied helpfully.

Honestly, he was happy for Vanya's sake that the relationship between his two sisters had progressed towards civility during the eight days before the apocalypse. It didn't make up, however, for the thirty years Allison had treated Seven like a piece of furniture. To be used or to blend away into the room. And he intended to remind her of the fact that outside Five and Ben (occasionally joined by Klaus) they'd all been content to ignore Seven just like Hargreeves had wanted.

"I want to apologise to her. I need to apologise. This whole thing was my fault."

"No it wasn't." Luther blurted, trying to take her hand.

"Yes it was." Allison insisted, folding her arms.

"Allison, you were four years old."

"I should have realised sooner what he made me do, Luther."

Five's eyes darted between the two, unhappy that there was something else they had kept from him.

"Care to share with the class?" Klaus asked, pulling his gangly legs up on the couch. They weren't allowed to put their feet on the furniture but in the scheme of things it hardly mattered.

"Dad made me rumour Vanya when we were kids," Allison confessed, worrying her lip between her teeth, "I never put it together until I got to the cabin and saw Vanya use her powers."

She paused before continuing. "It was amazing, I know you only saw the destruction – when she destroyed the house and at the theatre – but when she was playing there the music was coming off of her in waves, it was like there was a storm inside the cabin blowing everything around. The whole room seemed to sway, but it was warm and the music was so beautiful."

"She can make wind?" Klaus said, quickly frowning. "I made that sound weird. But how many powers does she have exactly?"

Allison shrugged. "She'd only had her powers a few days by that point, who knows."

"Pogo told me her powers were almost limitless." Luther sighed. "If only we could get the red book without Dad noticing, I bet he has notes on Vanya in it."

"He has it on him all the time, there's no chance." Ben said, shooting the idea down.

Five raised his hands, redirecting attention back towards him. "We can plot theft another time. What did you do to her, Three?"

"Do you remember when Dad told us Vanya was sick? And she had to be kept in quarantine?"

They all nodded except Klaus.

"No. She was? I don't remember that. At. All."

"Well, he brought me down to this room they'd been keeping her in, I don't know for how long. Mom and Pogo were there. Mom gave Vanya some pills saying they would make her better and then Dad told me to rumour her, gave me the exact phrase to use."

"Which was?" Five asked, dreading the response.

Allison grimaced, eventually choking it out. "To make her think she was ordinary."

"You knew this whole time?" Diego said accusingly.

"I never put it together." Allison said, throwing her arms up.

"You didn't think it was a strange thing to be made to do?"

"Why didn't you ever tell us?"

"Ordinary? That's brutal, even for him." Klaus scoffed over his brothers. "Why didn't he just get you to make her think she had no powers?"

"I don't know." Allison insisted. "I remembered the room, but it was so strange I thought it was a dream more than a memory. I mean you guys saw it," she looked hopelessly at the brothers who had grown alongside her, "it was dark and there were those weird spikes on the wall."

"You saw Vanya take the medicine though." Ben pointed out.

"We all thought she'd been sick." Luther argued. "Besides, none of us questioned it. How many times did we watch her take those pills – how many times did we ask why? Did any of us ever suggest that she stop?"

"I did." Five said.

"Me too." Ben added. "I always thought it was weird. I mean what kind of illness requires medication for years after she was physically sick? And if she had been that sick, why didn't Dad taken her to the hospital? If she was really normal, there was no harm. Then they said it was for her anxiety – which never added up. But whenever I asked she would change the subject."

Klaus groaned, leaning his head back against the couch and shutting his eyes to the situation. "I stole one once, thinking it would get me high. It just made me fall asleep. I still felt slow a few days after, never tried one again."

"Well, once we tell her, we can get her off them." Allison said, standing up. "Now do we agree that we should tell her?"

"Yes." Luther said immediately.

"No." Five insisted. "Ben was right, she won't take it well."

"Yes – I mean, I vote no – yes, I agree with Five." Ben said. "It's got to be buried under there somewhere. We need to trigger her memory and let her realise by herself. Let her see that we have done nothing to try and stop her, then wait for her to come to us."

"And think that we were trying to hide it from her again? No." Allison persevered. "We have to tell her, we need to show her we will be there for her and that we'll help her."

"Yes. As in I vote yes." Klaus clarified, his eyes still shut. "Because fuck Dad."

Diego nodded slowly and, despite Ben's attempts to convince him otherwise, settled on Allison's plan.

"Why are you all such morons?" Five seethed. "This is a terrible idea. Why do you all always have such terrible ideas?"

"Five..."

He cut Luther off. "You shouldn't get a vote. You either." Five said, pointing at Allison.

"We're doing this, Five. It's f-four against two." Diego said. "It's the right move."

They all remained seating.

"Okay, who's doing this?" Diego asked when he saw no one was moving. "We can't all go, it'll f-freak her out."

"I will." Allison volunteered.

"And when you explain everything are you going to tell her you're the reason she doesn't remember having powers?" Ben asked dubiously. "I should do it, I wasn't involved in anything that happened that week – she shouldn't have anything against me."

"So you're going to have the 'you were dead for ten years' conversation too. Downer." Klaus said, unhelpful as always.

"I'll do it." Five said with an air of finality. "When the time is right."

"You just said this was a t-terrible idea."

"I do think it's a bad idea, especially if you did it. I'd rather it came from me than you; if you recall, it wasn't me who left her in a cage." Five sneered.

"I seem to recall you j-jumping onto the plan to kill her q-quickly enough." Diego retorted.

"After you made her go supernova!"

"Five should do it." Luther said, trying to ignore the look of betrayal Allison shot him. "Vanya – Seven – will trust him. She always did, way more than the rest of us."

"Great, now that's settled." Five said, looking around the room for any lingering signs of discontent. "Why don't you get on with that game of tag? They'll get suspicious otherwise."

He teleported to the upstairs hallway, surprised to find Seven's door open. Peering his head around the frame he found her scribbling on some bits of paper.

"Anything interesting?"

"I had some ideas for a new composition." Vanya replied, her eyes focused on the page.

"Can I hear it?"

She shook her head. "It's not ready yet."

"Okay. Just let me know when you're ready to play it for me."

Vanya gave him a small smile. "You'll be the first one to know."

Closing her door, Five headed back to his room. The rest of them would undoubtedly be back soon enough to pester him, but it didn't matter. This time around it was about Seven, not them. They needed to learn that.

I know a lot of you were waiting to see them go to the donut shop as promised in Experiment 5068 and I swear that is coming, but not just yet. I also know talking about what Luther did in the penultimate episode is a minefield but try not to bash him too much - for Allison's sake, not mine :D Until next time (and yes, I have lots and lots and lots of ideas so this Then and Now series is ending no time soon) 3 P.S. For my FanFiction readers I get comments asking me questions but you've turned off private messaging so I can't answer you! I get asked a lot about why this isn't the second timeline so: (Timeline 1) Five never returns, the apocalypse happens with the siblings trying to unsuccessfully stop it, Five then arrives in the apocalypse after this has happened (Timeline 2) Five returns eight days before the apocalypse, again they fail to stop the apocalypse, (Timeline 3) the Umbrella Academy all travel back in time thus starting a new timeline. Three timelines :P