AU for you - Five comes back early. Not just early for him, so he’s still a kid, but early as in Reginald is still alive. Reggie calls everyone home but Luther is the only one to show up and it’s a lot harder to stay in denial about the abuse when Reggie is manhandling his traumatized kid brother. So Luther gets Five out and gets all the sibs together to keep him safe and meanwhile the Commission decides the best way to get rid of Five is to tell Reggie that Five is the cause of the apocalypse.
OHHHH okay so Five comes back after only maybe a year (or a few years) in the apocalypse, and comes back before Luther gets the serum used on him so he’s still a regular boy trying to make his dad proud and living in this big empty house alone and his siblings have all vacated and he feels kind of betrayed by them, actually
So he’s sitting in his room making model planes and there’s a disturbance in the courtyard, and he rushes to see what it is - and he sees the vortex and his father is there with Pogo and they watch as little Number Five falls into the courtyard and he looks at them with barely disguised horror, eyes trained on Reginald
and Reginald orders Luther to go back inside very calmly because he’ll handle it. And Luther trusts his father, and he goes back inside, and he doesn’t look back when he hears Five yell out
Except over the next few weeks, he doesn’t see Five. He asks about him, once, but Reginald tells Luther that it’s none of his concern - and if he has enough freetime to be bothering him then he might as well take a mission.
Except Luther doesn’t see Five, but that doesn’t mean he can’t hear him. Hear the muffled yells coming from areas of the house he never really explored because those were the training rooms of the siblings that weren’t him. He had no reason to approach them, and so he never did.
Except a few weeks in, he can’t resist. Because he hasn’t seen Five in so many years, almost half his life now actually. He’s twenty-five and even though he trusts his dad, he’s concerned. So he goes to the rooms in the house that he doesn’t go to.
He follows the muffled yelling which, now that he’s listening more carefully sounds alarmingly like sobs. So he opens a door, and the noise chokes off as Luther lays his eyes on his brother for the first second time in over a decade.
Five is restrained. Straightjacket underneath more restraints, trying him flat against a table. There’s blood in his hairline and his eyes are just slightly glazed in a way that reminds Luther of Klaus. There are tear tracks down his cheeks and under the restraints Luther can see Five is wearing the same odd lowkey hobo clothes he arrived in.
He doesn’t even think about it before launching himself forward to free his brother, and Five is babbling about the apocalypse and four years and time travel but Luther isn’t really listening he’s too focused on unbuckling his brother. Except -
“Number One!” His father is in the door, voice sharp and demanding. Luther is stepping back automatically, a lifetime of conditioning making him defer to his father. He’s ordered away, told that Number Five is unwell and this is for his own safety.
(Reginald let Five slip through his fingers once, he’s not about to let Five go again - and Five made his intentions to leave the house clear enough from day one that Reginald wasn’t willing to take chances)
And Luther does back off. Then. He can’t disobey his father, he can’t. He’s been groomed his entire life to follow orders, and that isn’t undone in a day. He’s not a stranger to violence, but he’s been conditioned to the idea that violence is okay when used against villains. His brother is thirteen. He must have just jumped from that first family dinner, right? Five is still a kid. Violence is for criminals, not kids. But - Five was rambling and Dad did say that time travel messed with the mind. But surely this wasn’t the way?
Luther tries to contact the rest of the family for advice, very much on the down low. Because he feels guilty for doubting his father, but as the days pass and he can hear the yells (the sobs) his trust in his father is undermined. He doesn’t have Diego’s number. Klaus doesn’t even have a number as far as Luther knows. Ben is dead. Allison isn’t returning his calls. He doesn’t even think to contact Vanya even if he did have her number. He doesn’t have time to track them down. He’s on his own for now.
And he might have been groomed to follow Reginald, but he was also groomed to be a hero. Or at the very least a vigilante.
His father would have never seen a betrayal coming, not from Number One. So when Luther steals a whole bunch of cash and discreetly buys a little furnished apartment close to the offices of some psychologists he’s been looking into because if Five is as messed up as his Dad is implying then he needs help not to be locked away.
With that squared away, Luther waits until his Father is occupied with something and Luther innocently asks Pogo if he’ll help locate some old things or whatever probably in the attic or one of the storage rooms. It’s a request with the kind of sincerity that Pogo can’t refuse. Luther claims he’ll look in one of the storage rooms while Pogo searches the attic. Except Luther has no intention of searching for some old trinket. He makes a beeline for the room that he is aware contains his brother.
(They would never expect Luther to betray them, it would be like expecting your sofa to betray you - Reginald attributes just as much agency to both. It’s his biggest mistake.)
Luther goes in, and Five is weakly crying and struggling still, and Luther shushes him. “I’m going to get you out of here and get you some help.” He tells his brother very seriously, taking charge the way he’s always been taught to. Five stops moving as Luther makes quick work of snapping the buckles and helping his brother sit up so he can undo the straight jacket and gently pull Five’s too-skinny wrists out.
Five is shaking like a leaf and immediately in Luther’s arms, face buried into Luther’s neck as he gasps out apologies over and over again. Luther doesn’t bother making Five stand, just scooping him up into his arms feeling like he’s made the right choice.
Luther gets a cab to his new apartment, the cabbie looking concerned as Five plasters himself against Luther’s side in the backseat as Luther rubs his back and attempts to make soothing noises (he’s never had to comfort anyone before, all the civilians he saved were abstract to him - swept away by police and other people while the Umbrella Academy focused more on the villains, the bad guys)
so Luther gets to his apartment with his traumatized baby brother and settles him down and Five won’t let go of him long enough to do anything so he just kind of ends up,, scooping Five up in one arm and letting him koala against him and using the other hand to flip on light switches and attempt to put sheets on the beds and things like that (getting two bedrooms turned out to be non-essential because Five won’t allow Luther to leave him alone so they end up together in a kind sized bed as Luther wonders what he’s doing)
The next day Five has calmed down just enough that, while he still won’t let go of Luther, he manages actual words. He tells Luther haltingly about exactly where he jumped, to the apocalypse. The world of rubble and ruin and ash. “It’s in four years, Luther.” Five tells him, “I found - I found a newspaper. With the date. April 1st, 2019. That’s the day the world ends.”
“Okay,” Luther says, because he believes it. Reginald always said that the apocalypse would happen. “Okay, well we’re going to stop it. What do you know?”
and Five tells him, hand clutching Luther’s hard enough it might bruise if one aspect of Luther’s powers wasn’t durability alongside his strength, about finding their bodies in the rubble of the academy. A glass eye clutched in Luther’s hand, the serial number of which Five has long since memorized. Reginald frisked him when he arrived and took everything he had. The glass eye. Vanya’s book, which Five can quote from memory (which convinces Luther of his story if nothing else - the book didn’t come out that long ago and certainly not when Five was thirteen), a smattering of other random items like a swiss army knife and other items he used to stay alive in the apocalypse - Reginald took it all.
and okay so maybe they don’t have the eye but they have the serial number and Luther is much more reasonable when he trots over to Meritech with Five trailing behind him like a duckling and Luther calmly makes up something about needing to look up maybe a family member’s eye in the system and gives the number and the receptionist is just kind of like “Sorry you must have gotten the wrong number written down there, that one hasn’t been made.”
and they leave disappointed with Five insisting he remembered the number right and Luther calmly agreeing with him and it’s likely that the glass eye simply hasn’t been made yet. The apocalypse is in four years, after all. It could be made at any point between now and then.
Five is frantic, but they have four years. They can afford to take some time, and the money Luther stole will go a long way but not far enough so he needs to get a job of some kind. I still say mechanic. So maybe he gets a job as a mechanic and the owner or the garage is sympathetic when Luther explains that he’s looking after his brother now and Five is still a little shaky around strangers and tends to hide behind Luther in a way he hasn’t since they were both little kids and the owner can make some assumptions here and lets Five come with Luther to work as long as he stays quiet and out of the way (which is very good for them since Five refuses to let Luther out of his sight)
It takes a few months but they get into a rhythm between the two of them. They eat,, a lot of takeout between the two of them admittedly. But eventually Five asks Luther about their rest of their siblings, because he wants to see them. And Luther has become really very protective of his little brother since, you know, he’s the one who has been letting Five sleep in his bed and waking him up and comforting him after nightmares and gently prodding every new and terrible detail about apocalypse living from Five (Luther will never look at bugs the same way after an unfortunate incident followed by a frank conversation about what was considered edible in the non-apocalypse world). So he’s soft, and he can’t deny his brother that much even if he doesn’t really want to reach out to his siblings
Allison still isn’t returning his calls (she hasn’t since the wedding that he wasn’t invited to), but Luther figures if he can rely on anything it’s his brothers habits. Klaus in the alleys and Diego being a vigilante. So he goes to the police station and awkwardly meets with a detective named Eudora Patch who apparently knows his brother somehow? Diego-brother, not Klaus. Detective Patch seems skeptical at first, but when Luther admits that he’s trying to contact Diego because he has news about the brother of theirs that ran away when they were thirteen - well, she gives him and address and tells Luther he didn’t get it from her
So Luther takes Five with him after work and they end up at a gym? Luther asks the owner about Diego and is pointed to the boiler room. He knocks on the door insistently enough that it eventually opens, Diego clearly having just woken up despite the fact that it’s afternoon (on those nocturnal vigilante hours) and he opens the door and before anyone can react Five has already moved forward and is wrapped around Diego’s chest and chanting “You’re alive you’re alive you’re alive.”
and well,, that gets them in the door. Diego is furious that Luther has known Five is back for months and starts in on yelling about Reginald except Five cuts that the fuck off with the proclamation that Luther rescued him from Dad. Diego is clearly incredulous but when faced with the evidence,, Luther tells him about his apartment and about his job as a mechanic
and then they tell Diego about the apocalypse. Diego is incredulous and denies it, he doesn’t believe them. Except then Luther very evenly asks Five to explain where he got their one (1) dead end lead. And Five is reluctant because it’s a big raw wound but he hesitantly chokes his way through recounting finding all of their dead bodies (except Vanya, except Ben - he didn’t find Dad either, but the newspaper that spoke of Reginald’s death explained that at least, but he didn’t find out until later about Ben’s death from Vanya’s book)
and Five has dissolved into sobs by the end of telling and has let go of Diego to reach back to curl against Luther’s side as has become routine for them and,, Diego has always been soft where family is concerned when it comes down to it so basically he’s on board now even if he’s still salty at Luther about not finding him to tell him about Five sooner
(they end up staying at Diego’s place for the night, Luther and Five sleep on the floor even though Diego tries to insist that Five take the bed. Five is asleep with his hands clenched in Luther’s clothes as Luther takes the time to explain to Diego fully about the circumstances that forced Luther - Luther, the loyal lapdog - into fleeing and Diego is swearing and vowing to kill their father and Luther isn’t even scolding him for it. That more than anything convinces Diego of the seriousness of what had happened.)
“I can probably find Klaus.” Diego admits grudgingly in the morning before Luther has to leave to get to work. ”You can uh, you can leave the kid with me if you want?”
Luther turns and leans down, “Five?” He asks, and when Five shakes his head Luther stands back up with a sigh. “Maybe another time. I’ll leave you my number, call if you figure out where Klaus is. Call if you don’t.” Five nudges him. “We can do uh, dinner sometime. I’ll try Allison again.”
“And Vanya.” Five insists, completely ignoring the grimace on Diego’s face.
Luther sighs, “Yeah. I’ll call Vanya’s publisher tomorrow, see if they can put us in contact with her. I had no idea how difficult it would be to get all of us together, god.”
“You were together when you died.” Five points out absently, not looking at the brothers so he doesn’t see them wince. Five is frowning. “Maybe that’s a clue? Everyone was there except for Vanya. I didn’t think about that.”
“We aren’t going to die this time, Five. We’re going to stop it.” Luther responds patiently, almost automatically. Like this is something he’s told Five time and time again.
And that’s how it goes. Diego hunts down Klaus and all but drags him over to the address Luther ended up giving him. Five basically tackles him as well, pretty similar to his reaction to the other siblings. Klaus is pretty shocked to see little Number Five. Five learns that Klaus is living on the streets and absolutely puts his foot down about about keeping him. It’s not like Five uses the bedroom that Luther set up for him anyway, so Klaus can have that one, right? Right?
and that’s how the super extremely unlikely trio of Luther, Klaus, and Five end up living together. I mean, who would have thought, right?? Anyway, they eventually do get in contact with Vanya who insists on keeping in contact once she realizes Five is back and refuses to take no for an answer. Cue awkward family dinners where Luther is still trying to reteach Five table manners and convince him that dairy product are not The Enemy so long as they are not expired
(Vanya brings over peanut butter and marshmallows and bread and Five loops his arms around her waist and watches her make him the sandwich with barely contained excitement)
without Luther’s permission his little apartment has become the Central Hub for the siblings. Five volunteers to keep Klaus company because he’s worried about him instead of accompanying Luther to work (Luther feels anxious the whole time he’s away and he didn’t realize him and Five had gotten to be so close until Five wasn’t at his side) - and Klaus ends up realizing that he needs to help Five and can’t really do that when he’s high. The kid gave him his room, gave him a roof over his head. And Ben is nagging in his ear about looking after Five and hovering like mothering is his job and this is a long winded explanation for why I think Klaus should get clean okay
Allison eventually returns their calls but she’s still married and has Claire at this point so she probably skypes them?? Five insists that everyone be in the apartment and gather around the computer to say hi to Allison whenever they arrange a time to chat. It’s kind of awkward but Five is willing to fill up the silences with questions and ideas on how to prevent,, whatever happened.
and that’s about the time the Commission intervenes because with the family getting together (and including Vanya), the apocalypse’s chances of happening are decreasing by the day. They need a way to break the family up again, and what is the unifying factor between them right now?? Five.
So they contact Reginald, and imply that Five is the cause of the apocalypse. And Reginald is frustrated at Luther’s betrayal and Five vanishing again but he hasn’t exactly been hunting them down, either. He’d decided they were losses and moved on. Except now Reginald has all the reason in the world to find them, because he needs to take care of the apocalypse issue once and for all.
And basically what we now have is a series about Reginald trying to get at Five and being blocked by all the siblings protecting him fiercely. He’s thirteen. He’s a kid. Even if Reginald told them to their faces that Five caused the apocalypse (which couldn’t be true because the first time around Five wasn’t involved at all, he didn’t exist in that timeline) then they don’t care because even if he did they can change the timeline.
Maybe Reginald, always unwilling to get his hands dirty, hires two ‘goons’ which coincidentally may or may not be known as Hazel and Cha-Cha. Except Reginald gives them the orders to retrieve his son, not kill him, so they’re more than a little out of their element?? Because the Commission says to report back to them but obey Reginald for the time being and Reginald says not to kill any of the kids and honestly solving their problems without murder isn’t,,, really what they do
I’m actually kind of fond of this au actually,, give me the protective siblings content I crave,,,, just the whole squad banding together against Reginald gives me LIFE he deserves to be supplexed into the concrete also all the kids bonding over a common enemy?? iconic
honestly what i also like is the luther angle because my stupid idiot boy deserves BETTER and i would love to see him have an arc where he rebels against Reginald are you kidding and the best part is the two parts of him are both parts Reginald ingrained in him - the fact that he should obey his father versus the fact that he’s been groomed to be a hero. And heroes save children, and Five is a child.
It’s interesting you said both early for Five and early for timeline because I don’t think it would have gone the same way with 13-going-on-58 Five rather than raw-from-recently-seeing-his-siblings-bodies-and-also-never-rescued-13-maybe-14-year-old-Five
just this incredibly super traumatized version of Five who was traumatized by the apocalypse and then completely re-traumatized upon arrival who is just trying his best to save his siblings and also figure out somewhere along the way how to grow up?? and also having to deal with his father hunting him down and trying to highkey kidnap him and take him away from his siblings again?? wild
