Upright
Somebody has won, and it doesn't look much like winning. The Five is the argument taken all the way to its end: the point proved, the relationship damaged in the proving. It asks what the victory actually bought.
Reversed
Reversed, amends are often being made — or a defeat is still being relitigated in your head months after everyone else moved on.
If this is your card this month
Which fight would cost you less to lose?
A card is a prompt rather than a forecast. It doesn't know what will happen, and the useful part is what you do with the question it hands you. We make that case at more length in not a prediction, a mirror.