CHAPTER ONE: NINETEEN SIXTY-THREE

Lotus Ingrid hasn't expected to survive, not when her and a group of other people grasped onto Five Hargreeves hand as they travelled through time. She had no idea what his plan was, or if she was even alive in the darkness that hugged them tightly, debating on never letting them go.

The ground was hard as she landed, sprawled out on dirty cement. A yelp escaped her lips as she opened her eyes, sun being partially blocked by dust that coated the air like a thick sheet. There was so much shouting, her ears filled with the sounds of gunfire and marching coming from close by.

"Five?" She called out over the commotion, bringing herself to her knees. She was in an alleyway, alone. When her eyes landed on the open gap between two buildings, panic filled her eyes. "What in the—"

Blue static appeared out of nowhere, a figure dropped from mid air and landed in a crouch just in front of her. The familiar figure gasped, staring out at the troops marching passed them.

"Five!" She yelled, pulling herself up. He was here and he was alive. Their eyes locked and she rushed over to him, but inside of grabbing him into a hug as he presumed, arms spread and prepared to take her in— Lotus whacked his shoulder as hard as she could, brows furrowed in confusion and anger. "What did you do!"

His eyes widened in surprise, quickly hidden with his normal expression of distaste and annoyance.

"Where's everyone else?"

"I have no idea." Lotus told him, "Are they even here— how are we going to find them?"

The sound of gunfire was overpowering, fear trickled down her spine. Five turned again, moving out towards the alley. Lotus scrambled after him as he leaped into action, scurrying up the street where a solider knelt down, holding a wounded civilian. Of the troops raging forward, one soldier fell in a sudden lump on the ground, dead.

Lotus read about war, and even seen a few movies about it and it was nothing she wanted to be apart of. All the fear and death, it stained the ground and air. Five carried on, weaving through bodies as a man yelled for them to get out of there. He crouched, she didn't bother trying to see what he was reading, she was watching out for any stray bullet that might come there way. As if she could even stop it, if something like that were to happen.

"Soviets attack the US." He looked back to her, Lotus grabbed his arm and yanked him up. He blinked, eyes staring at the sun. "What the hell did we do now?"

Lotus could hear the loud, impossible ringing of a missile before it shot out. When it did, Lotus didn't even have time to scream as both her and Five were thrown into the air in a mix of rock, blood and dust.

She hit the ground, hissing as her hands and knees stung. Five was already up in an instant, dragging her along with him. They turned up the street, she prayed they were getting out of here— wherever the hell they were.

"Holy shit." He muttered, stopping. Lotus followed his gaze, the troops weren't fighting the soviets, they were fighting the other Hargreeves children.

"Is that Vanya?" She whispered.

Vanya was floating in mid air, a blue ripple of waves cascading off of her. Her eyes shone white— in another timeline, was this what Luther was so afraid of?

On the ground Klaus marched first, both hands stretched in front of him. He wore all black, a long jacket bellowing in the wind behind him. His dark hair was long and a goatee hugged his chin. Lotus couldn't believe it, he was alive. She wanted to run to him, to hug him but this certainly was not the time. He shouted, a group of hazy blue dead soldiers appeared behind him before charging forward.

Luther appeared next, having screamed until he hit the ground at Klaus' feet. He wore no coat, and his unusually sized upper half was covered in cuts and blood. They spotted Diego next, standing atop a car roof. His hair was long as well, clad in all black which seamed to be the family colour. Allison took on a group of three soldiers, all with their guns up and aimed at the woman. She didn't look scared, or even worried as she opened her mouth and said something. Their heads exploded, and Allison walked away as it never happened.

"Five, you sick son of a bitch!" Diego's voice yelled, "Where have you been?"

Five lunged into the action, but before he could get anywhere hands grabbed his shoulders and pushed him down. Lotus jumped, eyes wide as they landed on Hazel.

"Come with me if you want to live."

Lotus snorted, even in this environment and impending death she wasn't having it. "That's definitely a conversation starter."

"We don't have time for this." Hazel huffed, pointing up at the sky. A trail of smoke clouded the blue, her heart sank. "Those are nukes, old timer."

Five shook his head, "What about my family?"

"You can't save them when you're dead."

"What about me?" Lotus inquired, "I hate to sound a little selfish, but am I included in this deal?"

Hazel's eyes narrowed, he stuck both his hands out. Five and Lotus shared a quick nod before grabbing on, the world around them disappearing in a blink. Unlike the last time they jumped, this was much shorter. They landed on a quiet street, not much people were around. Lotus let go of Hazel's hand and stared up at him, he too looked the same despite the greyed hair and glasses.

"Ok!" Five breathed looking around, his gaze quickly landing on Hazel. "What the hell was that?"

"The end of the world. November 25th, 1963."

Lotus's eyes widened, "Excuse me?"

"63'? Look, Hazel, I'm no history buff but I don't recall there being a nuclear holocaust."

"No shit." Both Hazel and Lotus said. They shared a weary look. Five continued to look around him, he looked paranoid despite what he'd say about it.

"What about my family?"

"Dead, like everyone else."

Lotus pursed her lips, "I mean, you couldn't have expecting anything else."

It was Five's turn to glare at her before looking back to the older man, "Dallas, the same street. Ten days earlier." He wandered over to a bus bench just in front of them, they followed cautiously as he sat down. "Plenty of time to restore the timeline and save them."

"Okay, so." Lotus mumbled, "What do we do?"

"Where do we start?" Five questioned, taking a seat next to him. Lotus opted for standing, arms crossed with confusion and a little bit of anger. This wasn't supposed to happen, they were supposed to go back in time by a few years and stop the apocalypse— not bring it with them!

"We?" Hazel's brows furrowed, "You're on your own pal, I'm just here to keep a promise to Anges."

Lotus's face paled, they were gonna be left alone to do this again? Look how well that turned out.

"How is she?" Lotus asked.

"Dead." He said bluntly, "Cancer. It took her quick."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Hazel sighed, "But we had twenty good years together. I guess forever just wasn't in the cards."

"What about the commission?" Five questioned next, eyes wandering from a bus parked across the street back to Hazel.

"I quit those assholes, remember?" He chuckled, "I don't owe them the fuzz of my peaches."

Five tensed, eyes going to the street. He stood up, "Then who the hell are those guys?"

Three men marched towards them, their pale blonde locks shining in the day's sun. Guns were gripped in their hands as they raised them, one for each of them. Hazel sighed, shoving his briefcase into Five's arms before pushing him into Lotus. "Run."

Just as the man opened fire, Five grabbed her hand with his empty one and they fell back into the blue light. They reappeared only across the street, behind a bright blue car. She didn't know if that was intended or Five had lost way to many brain cells from the constant travelling.

The briefcase in his hands smouldered, holes peppering the one side of it. "How many times have I said bulletproof cases!" He dropped it, turning and peaking over the hood. More gunfire sounded and Lotus yelped, grabbing ahold him.

"Go!" She told him, panic raising. She could hear the bullets ping against the car, a window shattered. "Five! Go!"

Blue engulfed them and they vanished, collapsing on the roof of the building the car was parked in front of. Lotus opened her mouth to say something but Five's hands clasped over it, pulling her down onto her back so she remained out of sight.

"This isn't good." She whispered, glancing at him. Which of course he already knew, but it felt nice to remind him. A few minutes passed and he slowly pulled himself up, Lotus following his actions.

He grabbed ahold of her hand again and pulled her along, both vanished yet again. This time she didn't fall when they landed, instead they both continued walking as if they didn't just jump through time.

"I'm getting the hang of this." Lotus mumbled proudly before glancing around, they were walking down the alleyway they first arrived in ten days earlier. She frowned, about to voice her worries with what Hazel had said as he dragged her forward in a run. "What are you—"

"Stay quiet, I think someone's watching us."

Lotus's eyes widened as he stopped in front of a closed grey metal door, a logo stretched across it but before she got a chance to read it they appeared inside on the stairwell. She stumbled up the steps, her gaze on the ground as they came to the first landing. "You're still your bowling shoes." She said.

He turned and gave her a look of annoyance, "And you're still in a blood soaked dress."

Five knocked on the first door with his other hand, peering in through the covered window. It opened seconds later, "What do you want?" A man peered out, the same paranoid look in his eyes as she saw in Five's.

"Hi, I'm selling encyclopedia's for my youth group. I was curious if—" The door slammed in his face, and Lotus couldn't help but snort.

"I would've done the same thing." She told him.

He huffed, heading for the door— and then they were in. It was weird, now Lotus couldn't even tell when they were jumping. The man gasped, leaning against a cabinet and pulling out a key. He pointed it at them, Five finally let go of her hand and fixed his blazer.

"How— how did you do that?"

"Don't really have time to explain." He stepped forward.

"You from the pentagon? Huh!"

"Definitely not."

The man kept droning on, "CIA? FBI. KGB?"

"Not even close, dude." Lotus shook her head. The mans eyes narrowed on her, confused laced within them. Five took another step, pointing at something deeper in the kitchen. "Is that fresh?"

He vanished, reappearing in his static blue haze as he grabbed a pot of coffee and poured it into a mug. The man yelped again, coming as a close to Five as he saw safe. He pressed his back against a doorway, staring with wide eyes. Five wandered deeper into the house, stopping between furniture in the living room. "Is this Colombian?"

"It's my own blend."

Lotus snorted, slipping past the man and to Five. If he had an escape plan, she better be involved. His eyes narrowed to the far wall, she matched his gaze and nodded slowly.

Newspapers were taped up, all different headlines marking strange occurrences and some conspiracy theories. One read Strange light may be space visitors, she looked back to the man with a raised brow.

"You ever heard of Area 51?" Five began to wander, "Roswell?"

The man scoffed, which turned into a panicked laughed as he tossed the key down. "Hot damn! See, I knew we weren't the only ones!"

His eyes seemed to be even more wide, Lotus stepped back as he nodded wildly. "See, Eleanor always thought my head wasn't screwed on tight, yeah, but it's all true, right? UFO's, crop circles?"

Five started towards the man, an unruly glint in his eyes. He waved his mug around, "Well, the truth is out there."

"No, no, no, no the truth is... the truth is right here in front of us." He approached Five this time, causing him to stop. Lotus watched, an alarm going off in her head. This guy didn't seem dangerous, but crazy on the other hand—

"Tell me— why is it always an anal probe."

Lotus's eyes widened, laugher raising in her chest. The look Five gave the man was even hilarious. He thought Five was an alien? That maybe she was one as well— this day was certainly one of the weirdest ones she's had.

"Any closer and I'll melt your brain." Five nodded.

The man gasped, apologizing as he backed up. Lotus shared a look with Five, his eyes seemed to tell her he had a plan, that she needed to go along with him.

"All those contraptions on the roof, you built them, right?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah, I sure did."

Five walked by Lotus and motioned her to follow, she rolled her eyes but did anyways.

"I've been tracking anomalies in this atmosphere. Just waiting—"

"Waiting for what?" Lotus couldn't help but say, considering this man was in fact most likely crazy, and whoever Eleanor was, was right.

"For you." He told them, "For all of you."

Lotus blinked slowly, for all of you. Did that mean everyone else was here, alive and well?

The man began his story, explaining that he witnessed blue energy emit from that same alleyway they appeared in, all with someone appearing and calling for someone else. All looking strange, sticking out like a sore thumb.

"Did you get a good look at any of them?" Five questioned.

"Yeah, the first one and t-the big sensitive one."

"Luther." Lotus whispered, eyes wandering down to the stains on her dress. She shook her head, glancing to Five and back to the strange man across from them.

"Sensitive one?" Five's brows furrowed.

The man nodded, "Yeah, he kept coming back to the alley, sat around for hours calling a woman's name... uh, Allison!"

"Yah, he wasn't the only one. Others came too, over the years, looking for each other."

Lotus finally turned to see what Five was studying, it was very blurry photos of all of them in that alleyway. She could make out Klaus and Luther, and Diego and Allison and Vanya. They were all alive! Lotus couldn't help but smile.

"So my family's alive." Five muttered, shaking his head. "Shit, I think I stranded them here."

Lotus pursed her lips, "How are we supposed to find them?"

Five said nothing, only turned around and charged at the man. "Now listen to me—" he jumped, appearing at the mans feet, sending him sprawling to the floor.

"Elliott! Elliott! My name's Elliott!"

"I don't care!" Five huffed, "Whatever, ok! I have ten days to find them and save the world! Now I need your help to do that."

Elliott looked taken aback, but his eyes shone with curiosity. He pulled himself to his feet, this was just the thing he had been looking for, "I-I always thought this mugshot looked like arrival number four." He stammered, digging in a desk drawer he was leaned up against. Lotus walked over, pulling Five back a bit. Elliott pulled out a piece of old newspaper, showing it to them. A picture of a man was on the cover, short dark cropped hair and his infamous black turtleneck peaked through.

"Diego." Five mumbled.

"So, that's helpful?"

"You have no idea." He said, taking and folding the paper, shoving it into his pocket. He grabbed ahold of her hand for the hundredth time and dragged her towards the front door, "Come on, we need to go."