"What's the date? The exact date." Five asked when they were all in the kitchen.

"The 24th." Vanya answered.

"Of what?" Five asked as he grabbed a loaf of bread.

"March."

"Good."

"So, are we going to talk about what just happened?" Luther asked. Five didn't respond, so Luther stood up. "It's been seventeen years."

Five scoffed and said, "It's been a lot longer than that."

He teleported to the other side of Luther, grabbing a bag of marshmallows from the shelf.

"I haven't missed that." Luther said.

"Where'd you go?" Diego asked, and Five teleported back to the table.

"The future." he answered. "It's shit, by the way."

"Called it." Klaus said.

"I should've listened to the old man." Five said. "You know, jumping through space is one thing, jumping through time is a toss of the dice."

Five went into the fridge and grabbed a jar of peanut butter. He looked at Klaus and said, "Nice dress."

"Oh, well, danke." Klaus replied.

"Wait, how did you get back?" Vanya asked, to which Five replied,

"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."

"That makes no sense." Diego said.

"Well, it would if you were smarter." Five said, then began to spread peanut butter onto two slices of bread.

"How long were you there?" Luther asked.

"Forty five years, give or take." Five replied, and Luther sat back down.

"So, what are you saying? That you're fifty eight?" he asked.

"No, my consciousness is fifty eight." Five corrected. "Apparently my body is now thirteen again." Five put marshmallows on on of the slices of bread, and put the second slice on top, finishing his sandwich.

"Wait, how does that even work?" Vanya asked. Five took a bite of his sandwich.

He didn't answer the question, but instead said, "Delores kept saying the equations were off. Bet she's laughing now."

"Delores?" Vanya asked. Five grabbed a newspaper off of the counter.

"Hm. Guess I missed the funeral." he said.

"How did you know about that?" Luther asked.

"What part of the future do you not understand?" Five asked. "Heart failure, huh?"

"Yeah."

"No."

"Hm. Nice to see nothing's changed." Five said, setting the paper down. He started to walk towards the door, but Allison spoke up.

"Uh, that's it? That's all you have to say?"

"What else is there to say? The circle of life." Five replied without stopping.

"Well, that was interesting." Luther said.

Later that night, the six siblings, Grace, and Pogo gathered outside in the rain to hold a small service for their father. A few of them had bothered to bring umbrellas to shield them from the downpour, Barry not one of those.

"Did something happen?" Grace asked.

"Dad died." Allison answered. "Remember?"

"Oh, yes." Grace said. "Of course."

"Is Mom okay?" Allison asked.

"Yeah." Diego replied. "Yeah, she's fine. She just needs to rest. You know, recharge."

"Can we just get on with this?" Barry asked, feeling the rain grow heavier each passing second. He crossed his arms, regretting his decision to not bring an umbrella as he began shivering. Pogo looked at Luther, who held the jar of their father's ashes.

"Whenever you're ready, dear boy." he said. Luther took a couple of half steps forward and took off the top of the jar. He tipped it upside down, and the ashes fell straight to the ground and collected in a small pile there.

Luther looked up at the others and said, "Probably would have been better with some wind."

"Does anyone wish to speak?" Pogo asked. When nobody replied, he said, "Very well. In all regards, Sir Reginald Hargreeves made me what I am today. For that alone, I shall forever be in his debt. He was my master, and my friend, and I shall miss him very much. He leaves behind a complicated legacy-"

Diego cut Pogo off. "He was a monster." Klaus laughed, but Diego wasn't done. "He was a bad person and a worse father. The world's better off without him."

"Diego." Allison said in a scolding tone.

"My name is Number Two." Diego stated. "You know why? Because our father couldn't be bothered to give us actual names. He had Mom do it."

"Would anyone like something to eat?" Grace asked.

"No, it's okay, Mom." Vanya said.

"Oh, okay." Grace said.

"Look, you wanna pay your respects?" Diego asked. "Go ahead. But at least be honest about the kind of man he was."

"You should stop talking now." Luther threatened.

"You know, you of all people should be on my side, Number One." Diego saiad, turning towards his brother.

"I am warning you." Luther said.

"After everything he did to you? He had to ship you a million miles away." Diego said.

"Diego, stop talking."

"That's how much he couldn't stand the sight of you!"

Luther had enough, and swung a punch at Diego, who ducked. Barry turned and headed for the door. He had had enough of the funeral at this point, and he was now shivering so much he was worried he'd phase through the ground (not that it would be the first time that happened). He could hear fighting and yelling as he disappeared inside unnoticed while all the attention was on the fighting brothers. He made his way up the stairs as fast as he could, and glanced out the window in his room that looked out on the courtyard, in time to watch as Luther hit Ben's statue, causing it to fall down and break.

He scoffed and turned away from the window, before he began digging through his suitcase for dry clothes.

"Nietzsche once said, man is as a rope, stretched between the animal and the superhuman." Reginald said from the top of a winding staircase, down to where six of the seven Hargreeves children stood. A staircase of which they were about to run up. "A rope over an abyss. It is a dangerous crossing, a dangerous looking back, a dangerous trembling and halting."

Once he finished speaking, Vanya blew the whistle, sending the six into action. Barry began to run up the stairs, but not at his fastest for fear of tripping.

"As much as you must strive for individual greatness, and strive you must, for it won't come to you of its own accord, you must also remember that there is no individual stronger than the collective." Reginald said.

Five was suddenly in front of him, startling him and causing him to trip.

"Get back up, Eight." Reginald said. Ignoring the ache that had formed on his knee where he had hit it, he got back to his feet and ran faster. He made it to the top of the stairs, thankfully without tripping again. He watched from the top as the other five continued up. Klaus looked up.

"It's not fair, he has super-speed." he complained. Barry stuck his tongue out at his brother, only encouraging the other to move faster as he felt the need to slap his brother.

Tears rolled down thirteen year old Barry's face as he got his first ever tattoo- a decision he didn't even get to make for himself. It was an umbrella with a circle around it. All four of his brothers and Allison were getting it too. He tried not to move while the needle pierced his skin over and over again, but it was hard.

It was over after what felt like an eternity, which in reality was only a few minutes, but the sting remained hours later. Thanks to speed healing, by the morning the pain was completely gone, but the damage was done. Then, he decided he never wanted to get a tattoo ever again.

"The ties that bind you together make you stronger than you are alone." Reginald had told them. "They will make you impervious to the pain and hardship the world will thrust upon you. And believe me when I tell you, life will be hard. It will be painful. We can accomplish anything when we accept responsibility together. this is what creates trust. Together you will stand against the reign of evil.

Down in the kitchen, Barry was cursing his father's hate for caffeine. He still felt cold from the funeral, and was looking for something decent and warm to drink. He'd even settle for tea, but there was none of that. Nothing for him to make hot chocolate with.

So he went the opposite direction and opened the freezer, and found a carton of ice cream, buried deep in the back, that had probably been there for a long time. He checked it for and expiration, and found he was right. It was over three years past the date. With a sigh he threw it away. It was late, Vanya, Diego, and Klaus had already left. Five was on a quest for coffee. Barry wasn't in need of it bad enough to hunt for it. Allison had long since vanished into her bedroom. Barry had waited for the kitchen to vacate, not in a particular mood to socialize with any of his siblings.

All of it adding up to him regretting to spend the night in his old home. He could've been alone in his own apartment, having a hot cup of coffee, catching up on the latest episode of game of thrones. But instead he was here, searching for something- anything that looked decent enough to eat.

Noticing the bread and peanut butter had been left out by Five earlier, he just had a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of water. Nothing fancy, but in that moment, he couldn't care less.