Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Willow trees hung over Five as he walked down the stone path, dipping in and out of the draping leafs shadows. The sound of gushing water was quickly being replaced by traffic and human life— life! 

It wasn't right, wasn't correct—Through the trees he could see the city scape stretched ahead— a looming H illuminated in red sat above him, glued to a sky scraper that exceeded the height of the buildings around it.

Five froze as he took in the new cityscape and his eyes narrowed— everything seemed… normal. 

Too normal for a universe newly reset. 

He eyed a bench then sat down before putting his head in his hands and rubbing his temple. ‘What now?’ The question seemed to be the only constant in Five's life at this point—God he was so tired. 

His regenerated body seemed to harness an average supply of physical energy—he didn't feel like he had fought the Guardians and powered a world resetting machine, however that didn't take away the mental fatigue. He'd gone almost a month without rest, without a moment to process— 

He began to stand up— he didn't have time on his side, it only made sense not to waste any.

Of course he wouldn't be able to simply seize after a universal reset.

Something was wrong. He could feel it in his bones.

He shouldn't have both of his arms. 

The city shouldn't be decked out in ‘Hargreeves Enterprise’ themed billboards, in fact, it shouldn't be standing at all. 

The world should've been destroyed and enveloped by what was once a tiny ball of lighting— yet it wasn't.

It shouldn't be possible, though he guessed time travel in itself was more than unusual, as were his siblings abilities— standing well beyond human comprehension, extraordinary—Normal never really had applied. 

‘Why would it now?’ He thought before looking around and taking note of the situation, ‘why does it now?’ 

He and his siblings were stripped of their powers, the world wasn't ending— sure their father, or at least the version of him in Oblivion, didn't seem human, and this was a reset world, but beyond that… 

Everything was the normalest Five had ever seen it, at least on the surface, and that was unusual in itself. 

There had to be something, some abnormal, something Five just wasn't seeing or that he'd missed. 

‘I need more information,’ he thought, eyeing a library, ‘maybe I can draw my siblings in with it since they'll likely be interested, get a family meeting going then fix this mess…’ He sighed crossing over.

It was a crap plan but the only one he could think to conjure. 

Chapter Text

According to the lady at the front desk, nowadays, books are deemed inconvient— there was something easier to use. Laptops there were called. Apparently it had been introduced by Hargreeves Enterprise years ago, some sort of advanced technology which was password protected. These ones were for public use, so Five was entrusted with the password— 9871. 

The device was rather flat folded, one half a keyboard and the other was a screen. More importantly, it had access to something called the Internet, which was like a digital version of a book of knowledge which was updated regularly— just what he needed.

Five walked over to the closest table— sterile white with light green chairs that were weirdly shaped and thick. He plopped himself down before opening the laptop. 

The screen was dark. 

He waited a few seconds. 

Still dark.

‘Okay… maybe there's a button I should press?’ He thought. At first he tried the letters, which for some reason weren't alphabetically ordered. Upon closer inspection, he found it was akin to a type writer. He went through each one to no avail.

“Why doesn't the O key stand for on? It makes no sense…” He muttered, “advanced technology my ass— turn on!” He exclaimed, clicking the O button multiple times. 

He then tried the other keys— arrows at the bottom right, symbols— “Fucking hell!” He exclaimed. Several sets of eyes set on him in seconds and the woman at the desk was looking at him like he was the devil incarnate— so he groaned and ignored them. He was never going to see any of these people again after all.

When the other buttons didn't work, he picked up the laptop and looked on the side. He pressed in a small black button and soon enough the laptop was wiring— almost like the sound a fan makes. 

Then, a circle began to spin on the screen. He flinched as the laptop made a funny sound before a bunch of writing appeared in the centre— it flashed by fast before being replaced with the word “Loading.” 

‘Finally…’ He thought, watching the screen adamantly. 

A minute later, there was no change. Two minutes went by, then three, then four— He'd been waiting there for five minutes, five minutes! 

He'd had enough, so he picked the laptop up and trudged to the front desk. 

“Excuse me,” he said, walking up to the front desk, “your laptop isn't loading.”

“You know how these things are darling,” he winced at the nickname, “they take a while.”

“A while's an understatement,” he snapped, “I have some urgent business to attend to.”

“Yeah sure,” the lady laughed, “also, just so you know, you have to pay a damage fee,” she pointed to a sign, “so I'd stop bashing the thing around if I were you.” She warned before disappearing into the back room.

He had half the mind to throw the thing out the damn window, but instead, he sat and he waited.

Eventually it loaded. 

He entered the password and it began to “log in” as it called (somehow that took longer than it did actually turning on) and he was free to roam as he pleased. 

The bar across the bottom had multiple circles— one was a rather colourful G symbol. He began to tap on the arrows to move his “cursor” around but that didn't work.

The only thing he hadn't really tried yet was the thing at the bottom of the keyboard— a pad-like thing, which he dragged his fingers across. As he did that, the mouse pad moved. Beneath it were too thin rectangular buttons which he took note off— when he moved the cursor to the G sign, he left it hanging for a second before pressing the left hand rectangular box thing— and before he knew it, there was something else on his screen, a smaller screen on top of the bigger screen.

The first thing he searched was his sister— Allison Hargreeves. She was still a movie star and still recently divorced, however, this time the custody battle for Claire had worked out and her and Patrick, her ex husband, had shared custody of Claire. Apparently she was re-married to a man called Raymond Chestnut— the same Raymond Chestnut who should be elderly by now was the same age he had been when Allison left the 60s. There was an address there, which he quickly scribbled down. He then looked through the many paparazzi articles, all of which included images from Allison taken recently, and on occasion he stumbled across an old one or two. ‘So a version of Allison existed here before she got added here from Oblivion… assuming that happened?—’

“You know you can make that full screen right?” A loud annoying yet familair voice asked from behind him. He flinched and turned around, only to meet eyes with Luther and Klaus. 

“You are aware this is a library right?” He hissed. 

Klaus rolled his eyes and took a seat on the table, while Luther took the green seat besides Five. “Are you researching too?” Luther asked.

“What does it look like—”

“These little things are cool right? You can play games on them!” Klaus exclaimed taking Fives laptop and erasing what he had searched—

“Get your own!” Five hissed dragging it back in front of him.

“Aw but I want to show you the wonders of snake!” Klaus said.

“Get your own—”

“We did but it ran out of power— battery, whatever.” Luther said, stealing Fives as Klaus had done and typing into the search bar.

“Hey—” Five tried to grab the laptop but Luther's spare hand batted him away as he finished typing out a name: Sloane Hargreeves.

An array of random girls popped up, alongside links to other websites— one called Instagram, another twitter from what Five could gather as Luther frantically searched through the results.

“Maybe she goes by a different name,” Klaus suggested, “search up Reginald Hargreeves, maybe she will come up since she's one of his kids.” He shrugged.

“That will be more useful than searching through these array of results,” Five reasoned, “and we need to find out what the old man is up to here.” And it was a higher priority than finding Sloane, but Five wouldn't dare say that out loud.

Luther signed and typed his name in, then hesitated — “What if she's not here?”

Five rolled his eyes. “We don't have any time to waste.” He grabbed the laptop, pressing the search button.

Chapter Text

He looked the same, at least on the surface. Cold blue eyes that stared into your soul, a tall lean figure, wrinkles edged into his white skin—

“Oh my god he has a wife…” Klaus muttered, pointing to the woman beside him— she was tall and blonde with pale skin and blue eyes. 

“Abigail Hargreeves…” Luther said pointing to some writing.

“Least of our concerns,” Five said, scrolling down “he has no kids.”

“He unadopted another set of children?!” Klaus yelled. 

Too loud. Everyone turned to them in an instant.

Five immediately turned to shush him, grabbing his sleeve. “Klaus if you dont shut your damn mouth—”

“You'll what? Blink me off a rooftop? Oh wait you can't.” Klaus replied.

Five scowled before shoving him to the side and turning back to the laptop. “Reginald Hargreeves, age 75, married to Abigail Hargreeves, founder of Hargreeves Enterprise…” Then there was a drop down list. Several businesses were listed, from ones surrounding advanced technology, to space exploration, farming, home design, there was even an education sector— “Christ hes been buzy…” Five muttered. 

"Evidently so…" Klaus said, "what about us though?"

Five hummed and looked at Klaus.

"I mean," Klaus continued, "if we magically popped into a timeline where we wouldn't exist… Wouldnt that cause another Blitz ball thing—"

"Kugelblitz," Five said, "…and yes it was—"

"If the universe was reset what if this timeline has different… rules?" Luther asked.

"That…" Five words trailed into nothingness.

'That wouldnt make sense… right?' He thought, 'then again, does anyone this…?'

"I mean there must've been a version of Reginald around before we popped in here, hes married, and from the snippet I saw about Allison, she has Claire and Ray." Luther reasoned.

Five nodded. "I think… Your right," Five said, "but what happened to them? Are they still wandering around, or… did we replace them?" He muttered, settling back into his seat and goggling a name that had beating around in his mind for a while now.

'Efa O'connor' an Irish woman— his mother.

He hesitated before searching in the name— the first thing that came up was the link to a butchers shop, and the next was an article on cryptic pregnancies.

"I guess our births were assumed to be cryptic pregnancies, at least in this context…" Before he knew it, his laptop was stolen by Klaus, who typed in the name 'Rachel Hershberger'. With shaky hands he pressed the search button.

They couldn't find much on her, but with her being Armish, that was no surprise.

"I think we've got the general jist of it," Luther said, "can we look up Sloane Hargreeves in the context off… Amnesiacs? Or… Or maybe missing people? Born to a cyptic pregnancy?"

"Big guy im sure shes here somewhere," Klaus clapped his brother on the back, "let me remind you, Allison didnt spawn with us, nor Reginald—"

Five slammed the laptop down at the sound of the two names. "—we need to talk to them," he said, "they're the only one with an inkling of an idea of how this all works. Here we can only find so much."

"I need to find my wife Five—"

"And this might be the best way to do that." He said, slip with Allison's address on it clutched in hand.

"No Reginald," Klaus reasoned, "he killed me and Luther— and now, we dont have the opportunity to come back…" The end part was quieter, like he hadnt fully processed it or didnt want to believe it.

Five bit down on his lip. "…no Reginald," he agreed, "not yet anyways." He said swooping up the laptop and heading towards the front desk.

Klaus muttered something beneath his breath. Out of the corner of his eye, Five saw him turn to Luther, who was looking like a lost puppy— "Fine, fine, ill agree with that." Klaus said, speeding up to catch up with Five.

Lilas hand squeezed ahold of Diego as they walked through the streets. The new timeline was something else. The City had a completely different design, and the most noticeable change were the array of build boards all to do with a certain Enterprise.

They didnt have time for sightseeing, they had a much important matter on their hands.

Lila shoved open the convenience store door and dragged Diego in, immediately wandering to the 'Feminine Products' asile— soon enough, her eyes landed on a pregnancy test.

She hesitated before Diego stepped forward, picking it up with shaky hands and passing it to her. He squeezed down on her hand. "It will be fine," he said, "im sure Oblivion changed nothing."

She laughed dryly, hand quivering. "You dont sound sure."

Diego said nothing, instead he carefully led her towards the bathroom. "Go piss on the stick— It'll be fine." He said.

She couldn't tell who he was trying to convince, himself or her.

Diego paced as he waited outside the bathroom— he knocked on the door again only to receive a, "Be patient, this takes time!" In response. He could feel his heart in his throat—

The door opened and Lila came out, holding the damn thing behind her back.

"So?" Diego asked, "wh—what does it say?"

She let out a bubbly laugh before thrusting it forward. "They're still alive!"

Diego grabbed ahold of the wall as his whole body collapsed in relief. He laughed alongside her before bringing her into his embrace— bringing them into his embrace— "Thank fuck, thank fuck…" He muttered swaying them back and forth as he grinned. He looked down at Lila, who let out anothed chuckle and gave him peck on the lip.

"Ultrasound— we'll have to get an ultrasound—" He said, smiling.

"—and attend all those baby classes—" She continued.

"—find out what cravings you have beyond sushi…" Diego led on.

Lila let out anothed laugh before cradling her belly. "Come up with baby names…" She smiled, voice soft.

There and then, if you had to ask Diego the one thing he was sure off? It would be that they were going to be just fine.

Chapter Text

There she was, her little girl— dressed in her leopard print pyjamas, smiling, speaking, living— Allison felt something inside her shatter as she let out a sob, her lips cracking into a smile as she embraced her daughter.

Behind her, Ray placed a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head to look at him, smiling softly and grabbing ahold of his hand. "Baby…" She said, feeling content with Claire tucked under one arm and Ray's fingers intertwined with her own.

"Mama why are you crying?" Claire asked, her small fingers caressing Allison's face.

"Nothing sweetheart, Mummy's just… really happy." She said smiling.

The hand on her shoulder squeezed down. "I think you and your… Mum need to talk." Ray said. Allison looked up at him— he looked astonished. His hand moved slowly to the top of her arm where the blooded bandage laid. She winced slightly.

Right she supposed she had alot to explain.

"Okay Papa," Claire said, "see you in the morning?" Claire asked.

Allison turned back to her daughter and placed a kiss on her forehead. "See you in the morning sweetie," she said, slowly getting up from the bed, "sleep well." She said.

Claire blowed her a kiss and she playfully caught it and put it to her heart, earning a giggle from her daughter.

"Babe what happened to your arm?" Ray asked immediately leading her down the sprial staircase— leading her like he knew this house inside out. 'He's already explored then.'

"I— Its not a bit deal— just cut it," she said walking into the kitchen and opening the top right drawer— the medicine drawer. She pulled out a bandage, and some disinfectant "there was a sharp piece of metal just sticking out— bad right?" She lied before settling down on a stall.

"Yeah… yeah real bad baby…" He muttered sitting down beside her with a raised brow, "where were you?"

She paused. "What… what do you mean?"

"I woke up in bed and you were just… gone."

She raised an eyebrow. When she had left the 60s, she gave Ray a note and that book he gave her— the one with the moon on it. It was there, placed on the table, he couldn't have missed it—

"I—" she stuttered, "did… Did you not find the note?"

"The note?"

"Yeah, the note."

"I checked the fridge there was no note…"

"The fridge?"

"Yeah," he said, "where we usually leave them."

That… wasnt something they did.

"Oh… I uhm…" She muttered, the bandages leaving her hand, "must've… forgotten…?"

"Babe are you sure your arms okay? Here let me—" He went to touch it and Allison couldn't help but flinch.

"Dont—" She said, "its… fine really," she rushed, "i know you dont like blood, ill do it in the bathroom." She stumbled.

This wasn't right.

"You sure?" He said with nothing but love and care in his voice— he was calm, too calm. The Ray she knew would be half in a panic attack by now, having been lifted from the 60s and plopped into a reset universe, in the future no less— that was the Ray she had prepared to see, the Ray she had an explanation for, dummed down to the basics so she wouldn't worry him—

"Im sure." She said, "its fine baby, go to bed, ill meet you there and… and explain in the morning?"

"Explain in the morning—" he faultered before taking a deep breath, "sure," he said, heading to the stairs, "shout if you need anything."

A smile stretched across her face— quivering at the edges, barely held together. "Sure, night babe."

"Feel better soon." Then, his footsteps faded into the distance and she allowed herself to drop to the floor, shaking as tears rushed down her face

It had gone wrong—again.

'Shit,' she thought, her mind flashing back to her siblings— to Luther who was gone and the rest who were on the edge of death— she lurched up, wound long forgotten, and rushed down the corridor on shaking feet. She looked for a book on the side of the counter near the house phone— her puone book. With her spare hand she went to grab the house phone— it wasnt there.

Neither was the damn phone book.

"Phone…" She muttered, patting down her pockets as if it would be in there— there was something in her pocket, the left one, that she pulled out. It was a square device with three buttons along the side. 'This must be the advanced technology bullshit the old man was on about.'

She took a breath. "Right…" She muttered, "no phone books here. Or old ones connected by a wire."

She had been briefed. The world she that she was in now was different— more advanced. Once she was in— via face ID— she looked through her contacts.

"RH," she muttered, "at least this worked.."

She immediately pressed the call button only for an automated voice to tell her the phone number she was calling didnt exist.

"Ironic," she muttered controlling her voice so those above her wouldnt hear, "fucking ironic—" she threw the phone again the wall before letting out a small groan, harshly remined of the wound on her arm. "Damn it!" She hissed,

Billboards advertising Hargreeves Enterprises illuminated the sky— his fathers empire. Now he wasnt trying to figure out their next steps, he had the time to look at the city. It was surely advanced. Most buildings were silver, tall and ever so shiny— modern yet all the same.

It was futuristic, advanced beyond even commission standards— he'd never seen a laptop in there.

The moon was still there, shining down. There were lots of streetlights— no alleyway was left unlit, they all kind of blended together after a while.

"We need a map," Klaus said, "this place is like a maze— and it all looks the same, well besides that sky scraper with the giant H styled logo— who wants to take bets on who owns that?"

"Dad," Luther said, "definitely Dad."

"—and our new mother," Klaus said, "Abigail, she had quite the fashion sense."

"What we need is a bus," Five said, "or some sort of transport to get to LA."

"Hollywood road trip!" Klaus yelled throwing his arms around Luther and Five, "how we getting there though?"

Five eyed a car park with a few cars left over. "Grand theft auto." He announced, going to pull at the threads of times— he found nothing.

Right.

No powers.

"Shit."

"Yeah without blinking grand theft auto isn't that straight forward…" Klaus said.

"Shut up im trying to think…" Five muttered.

Before he could do anything else Luther walked forwards towards the closest car— a red one, left in a somewhat secluded spot out of the way of windows. Without so much as speaking, he threw a fist into the window, smashing it.

Even without his super strength and ape-ness, Luther still had something to him— and as evident by the car alarms and busted up hand, he had kept his act first think later mentality.

Klaus and Five rushed to him, the forming checking on his hand while the former opened the door, moved into the drivers seat and began to hot wire.

"Klaus, work on that alarm!" He winced. There was no way his junkie of a brother wouldnt know how to disable one.

"Roger!" Klaus exclaimed. Five didnt bother watching what he was doing, instead he focused on turning on the car— which was achieved seconds later. Around the same time, the alarm died out and Klaus loaded himself into the front seat. "Drive Five, drive!" He exclaimed, bubbly with laughter. Luther was in the back, his hand wrapped in some fabric Klaus had torn off his shirt— good.

In an instant, the car took of down the street, leaving shattered glass in its wake. 

Chapter Text

"Ooooo whats this?" Klaus asked, touching something that appeared between the passenger and drivers seat— a screen of sorts with a map and a moving blue dot.

"More advanced tech…" Luther muttered sitting forward and touching the screen rather hesitantly. He pulled to the left, and with it the map moved.

"Hey theres a uhm… search button up here—" Klaus pressed on it and a keyboard appeared, alongside a "to" and "from" section.

"To and from?" Klaus muttered with a raised eyebrow.

"Maybe it's some sort of navigation system," Five said, eyes on the road, "you said there was some sort of map?"

"Yeah," Klaus said, "in the from area theres a currently location button…" he pushed it and it filled in automatically— "no way that can't be right."

Luther frowned as he read what it was automatically filled in as… "Hargreeves… City?" He asked.

There was silence then Five spoke. "Your kidding," he said pulling his eyes from the road, which widened as they set on the screen, "wow… thats…"

"Hes so full of himself!" Klaus exclaimed leaning back.

Five came to a stop at a red light— someone whose at the age of 13 physically should not be driving, however it was late at night and… he was achually decent. Regardless that was ghe least of his concerns right now— he needed more information.

Five gave Luther a slip of paper. "Allisons address." He said.

Luther nodded typing it in. "Thank god I have my body back else this wouldve been impossible to use.." He said looking at the letter size.

He sighed, double checking he had typed it in right before pressing the "plan journey" button. A loading screen filled the screen.

"How long do we think the drive will be?"

Luther hummed before minimising thr loading screen, allowing it to work in the background.

"That blue dot…" He pressed down on it, "okay so that's us… theres a magnifying glass icon and a plus and minus button…" when he pressed the plus button he zoomed out, more locations becoming available. He continued to do so until he could see the city they were in— Hargreeves City.

"I dont see LA on there…" Klaus muttered, "are we sure its not been renamed?"

Luther continued to zoom out.

"It was on the laptop, it exists." Five said.

"Well I can't find it—" Luther said before changing his stance, "nevermind!" He said pointing to the cities label.

Just as he found it, the loading side of things completed. The screen changed slightly presenting their "recommended route"— apparently it took traffic into account. "Neat…" Luther muttered.

"Looks like we'll be covering alot of ground…" Klaus said.

"I mean the more ground the better," Luther said, "we can search for Sloane, hit two birds with one stone y'know?"

"I appreciate the optimism Luther," Klaus said, "but I think approximately 41 hours worth is too much ground."

"Excuse me how much?" Five hissed, breaking harshly.

Luther brought his gaze to where Klaus was now pointing— "This thing has to be wrong." Luther muttered as Five… turned the car around?

"Wait, wait, are we giving up on our plan?" Klaus asked, "we're not returning the car right? I still haven't checked it for cash or any fancy new tech!"

"Im not going 41 hours away without everyone else," Five hissed, "1 or 2 maybe, but not 41."

"But your 41 hours away from Allison—"

"Yes, the movie star, who im sure has high end security," Five yelled, "better that than 41 hours away from our siblings who are wandering around Hargreeves City!"

"Wait so are we not keeping the car—" Klaus started.

"We're keeping the car." Five confirmed.

Klaus let out a victorious cry before opening the compartment infront of him and counting the cash.

"Wait so," Luther said, "how are we meant to get hold of Allison?"

"Im sure the tech part of Hargreeves Enterprises has created a way." Five sneered.

"Im gonna miss that twerp." Lila muttered as she walked down the street with Diego. The pregnancy test sat in her back pocket, a reminder of what was to come, memories of Stanley lingered in her mind— he may have been a little shit, but he was their little shit, their first child.

God she hated these mood swings and this entire situation— longing for one child while knowing the other was safe and sound was a nasty split of euphoria and dismay, which she found herself swinging between.

Now, the Stanley they knew was probably (and hopefully) back in his time with Trudy and they had no way of reaching them.

Diego shrugged. "At least hes back where he belongs… right?" Diego muttered. He didnt seem to happy about the situation. Before Lila could explain her theory, he continued "do you think, wherever he is, he remembers us?"

"…I dont know," she said, "resetting the universe… I didn't know that was possible till today… I dont know the implications it will have for Stanley. Though… I think its safe to assume the one we knew, or at least a version of him, is back in his timeline. Maybe theres a grown up version of him in this timeline, y'know, causing trouble."

"Maybe," Diego said, "or maybe hes here with us? Just spawned elsewhere."

Lila groaned. This was making her head hurt. "Maybe… I don't know, that would be one hell of an anomaly, especially since I dont think theres a way for him to get back…" She muttered, "I hate to say it but I could really use Fives expertise— he may have a better idea about all this than I."

Just as she said that, the blaring sound of a horn nearly blew her head off. She squeezed Diegos hand and twisted around spotting a red car with a cracked window heading towards them.

A hand waved out the window— she could make out Klaus' face in the passenger seat, Five in the drivers seat and a giant person between them in the back, who she could only assume was Luther.

Lila turned to Diego, who was scowling. "Yeah theres no escaping this babe…" Lila whispered.

"Time to deal with the family…" Diego muttered begrudgingly as the car pulled up beside them. Luther opened the back door and beckoned them in. The second it slammed shut the car took off again, not even giving them time to put their belts on.

"Grand theft auto?" Lila asked, "I like your style." She smirked, leaning over and ruffling Five on the head. He moved away with a scowl.

"Whats the last youve heard from Viktor and Ben?" Luther asked.

"Well Ben said something along the lines of Im out bitches! I dont know about tiny though," Lila commented, strapping herself into the middle seat, "we'll have to switch cars, driving around during the day with a smashed window will cause alarms. You really should've picked the lock."

"No shit," Five hissed, rolling his eyes, "you can thank Luther for that."

"So, whats your game plan?" Diego asked.

"Round everyone up then find a way to communicate with Allison that doesnt include a 40 odd hour drive." Five said.

"Allison?" Lila asked, "last I checked she was on our shit list."

"Yeah well she knows more about this place than I do." Five said, annoyed by that fact.

"I guess your right," Diego shrugged, "I will say this place doesnt seem to bad."

"Dont get attached, im sure an apocolypse or Kugelblitz will wipe it out soon enough." Klaus smirked.

"Dont even joke about that…" Five muttered, hands gripping tighter on the steering wheel.

"Oh yeah, a 13 year old at the wheel may semi-fly at night but in the day your switching out." Diego said.

"Can I drive?!" Klaus exclaimed.

"Nope, not again," Diego said, "i'll drive."

Asides from a disappointed groan from Klaus and eyeroll from Five, there were no arguments.

'Thank God, my head could do with a break.' Lila thought leaning back and screwing her eyes shut as Five filled them in on what he'd found out— something about them replacing their doppelgangers, the return of Allison's husband from the 60s, Reginald having a wife…

Her head was banging by the end of it.

"So this… laptop, told you all of that?" Diego asked.

Klaus hummed before leaning to the navigation thingy— "And this is a SatNav!" He then went into a rambly explanation about its features and how they discovered the cities name— Hargreeves City.

"Wow hes so full of himself…" Lila whispered.

"Only now figured that out?" Diego teased. Lila rolled her eyes and gave no response.

"What have you guys been up to?" Klaus asked.

Silence filled the car. Her and Diego shared a look. "Uh well…" Diego started his words trailing into nothingness as he cocked his head towards her, handing her the responsibility.

"We were… looking for the little twerp." She said. It was a half truth she guessed.

Diego frowned— clearly he'd been expecting something different to pop out her mouth.

"Ah, Stanley…" Klaus said, "would he be here?"

"Likely back in his own time," Five said, "may be an elderly version walking around. Though we won't know for sure until we talk to Allison— Rays here so maybe he is to. I would say to get your hopes up but…" He shrugged, "well I dont know shit so…"

Lila nodded and Diego grabbed at the wooden braclet on her wrist, absently twisting at the beads. Wordlessly, she took it off and carefully put it around his own wrists— meaning she could fidget with his fingers while he could fidget with the beads. The best of both worlds.

She sent him a smile which he returned, allowing her to do just that.

Chapter Text

Viktor had become used to not just to the echo but the feel of sound. It had been there his whole life, drowned out by pills most of the time but still there, present even when he thought he was ordinary— now there was nothing left, nothing lingering.

He was well and truly ordinary yet not normal, he would never be normal. His experiences were anything but. He wrung his hands out as he walked back down to the Hotel Obsidian Memorial.

Above him, all things Hargreeves hung upon the city buildings stretching as far as the eye could see. He had braved a walk through the maze of metallic buildings. It proved aimless, and after however long, he ventured into a corner shop where he got (…stole— but nobody seemed to care) a magazine whose cover held a familiar face— his sister. She had her daughter from an old 2019 under one arm and her husband from the 60s under the other.

It was now clenched in his hand as he walked upon the stone path. He needed his siblings and he needed them now.

The statue of their asshole father seemed like the spot they were most likely to reunite.

Something was wrong— horribly wrong. Viktor wasnt an expert on time travel but he knew very well without a doubt that Ray and Claire existing in the same timeline at the same time was a bright red flag.

There were bound to be more— and with it he expected an end of the world scenario would arise…

Again.

And whether direct or indirect, fare had a thing about making him the bomb and his siblings the detonator.

"Guys?" Viktor called pushing past a branch as he rushed into the centre of the park.

To his relief, a group of them were already there— Diego was walking around the mystical elevator they had walked out of, investigating it with Five in tow, Lila and Klaus were cracking jokes at the statue and Luther was off to the side looking for someone— likely Sloane.

Viktor waved the magazine. "Somethings wrong."

"We're a few steps ahead of you on that," Diego said, leaning against the elevator, "Luther come pry this open, will ya?!" He hissed.

Luther rolled his eyes. "I already told you— its stuck!"

"Well try again!"

Viktor sighed as Klaus walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder— "Dad has a wife and he unadopted us."

"Yeah," he said, rolling his eyes, "no surprise there—" he cut himself off and backtracked, repeating Klaus' sentance in his head before staggering backwards— "wait a wife?!"

"Abigail," Klaus said, "shes like… our Step Mum?"

"I… guess?" Viktor shrugged.

"Thats the least of our concerns—" Five started.

"What if shes an alien?" Luther blurted out, "or… whatever Dad is?"

Viktor grimaced remembering the green goop that followed Dads axe to the head— "Whatever he is, he isn't human—"Klaus started.

"—at least that version of him wasnt," Five said, "even then, she is the least of our concerns— we need to figure out what exactly," he gestured all around, "this monstrosity is and what it means for us."

"End of the world?" Viktor questioned, "I mean… I think I sense a pattern with all this and," he shifted uncomfortably, "it would likely be me— the cause—"

"Hey we dont know that," Lila said, "for all you know it could be anything— theres a million possibilities tiny!"

"Plus, you forgot a part of the pattern, the apococlypse isn't on until Five says its on!" Klaus said squeezing his shoulder.

Everyone turned to Five, who shrugged. "I haven't seen any world ending signs," he said, "until we have proof… let's not jump to conclusions." He said, though Viktor could tell by the way he was pacing and rubbing his fingers together, he thought the possibility was more than likely— almost certainty.

"Isn't this proof enough?" Viktor asked gesturing to the magazine.

"Its a reset universe," Five said, "the old rules may not apply— even then, when we came here we seemingly took the lives of our past doppelgangers," Viktor opened his mouth to ask one of the million questions circling in his mind but was cut of, "so we were meant to exist here… Same could go for Ray and Claire— everyone really. Thats my assumption at least, we need confirmation from Allison, so the plan is to find Ben and, if we can, Sloane, then either get a way to contact her or make the 41 hour drive to LA." He rambled.

"Thats… not a good plan…" Viktor muttered.

"Well," Five said, hand tucked in his pocket as he shrugged, "its the best I can offer."

Ben swung open the phone box before fumbling with a few quarters he had found and slitting them in. He then looked up the nearby billboard which was for "Hargreeves Enterprises Security Network" and typed in the number displayed at the bottom. He then pulled the phone to his ear and dialled.

"Hello this is Hargreeves Enterprises Security Network—"

"I'd like to speak with Reginald Hargreeves."

"—please press one if you have an inquiry about a purchase," Ben groaned, leaning again the rectangular wall and rubbing his face— "two if your calling about purchasing our services," he bashed against the wall, his patience thinning by the seconds, "three if your calling about a possible career, four if your—"

Suddenly the telephone boxs' door flung open and the phone was being knocked from his hand— "Benerino, hey! No time to be on the phone right now, we gotta go." Before he knew it he was being hurried out by Klaus of all people.

"Let go!" He struggled, wiggling out his grip. There was a beep from a nearby car— which was red with a smashed window. In it sat Diego in the drivers seat, Five in the front passenger and everyone else squeezed into the back seats— "Hell no."

"Hell yes!" Klaus grabbed his arm and dragged him. Bens frown deepened as he kicked Klaus' shins and broke away.

"Hell no, quit stalking me." He hissed walking away down the street, hands in his pockets.

"Ben!" Klaus whined, "Benerino!"

He continued walking— then someone else began to yell. "If you want answers," Five called, "get in."

He paused.

Fuck.

He did want answers.

He turned around and began to walk back. "If i regret this—"

Klaus let out a squeal of celebration before rushing forward and grabbing Ben. "You won't, you won't!"

Chapter Text

"We need a better car." Diego muttered as he slowed down. The sun was beginning to rise, over Hargreeves City, bouncing off the metalic buildings and overcoming the looming red light that watched the city.

People were becoming a regular sight— as were the weird looks. Diego pulled the car overfilled into a carpark and shut it off before gesturing to a van in the distance— its paint was flaky, but the windows were in tact, it seemed drivable and big enough.

"Okay ill go pick the lock," Diego said, "you guys start to take anything valuable—"

"Didn't have to ask me twice!" Klaus yelled lunging forward and reaching for the glove compartment.

Five sighed, leaning away from their brother and sharing a look with Diego. "Im coming with." He said, unzipping his seatbelt and opening the door, leaving no room for argument.

"Fine…" Diego muttered swinging open the door and leaving the majority of his hectic mess of a family to their own devices.

His eyes sweeped the street before he jogged accross, Five following closely behind. Then he pulled out some paper clips he had found in the car out of pure luck and began to work on the lock.

He slit it into the keyhole and began to slowly turn it around, waiting for the clicking sound— before much had happend Five nudged him out the way and around the other side of the van. "What gives?" Diego hissed. Five put a finger up to his lips and gestured for him to lower down.

Thats when he heard the sound of footsteps— it was just a normal person, making their way to wherever they were meant to be. Within seconds they were out of the way. Diego rolled his eyes and went to go back around the van only for Five to tug him back. Another person walked down the road— it was getting quite busy. Soon enough they two were out of sight.

"Better safe than sorry." Five said.

"Yeah." Diego nodded in agreement— the old man had a point. He walked around the other side of the van and began working at the lock again. After a few minutes of twisting and listening out for the click, which he was convinced was going to be drowned out in favor of Fives groans, he heard it and pulled the door open.

Five shoved passed and immediately began the hotwiring process. "Get the others." He said.

"Who put you in charge—"

"For the love of God just hurry." Five said grabbing the door and slamming it shut.

Diego rolled his eyes before crossing the street and waving everyone over. He was chucked some med kit, which apparently was found in the boot of the car, and Klaus came out, waving a few dollars around.

Diego pulled open the van door and gestured for everyone to get in. That they did, hurrying inside and filling up the van in no time. "Im driving." Diego said to Five who sighed.

"Whatever…" He muttered. Soon enough the hotwiring was done and Five was in the passenger seat. Diego slammed the door shut and tried to look as normal as possible while a pedestrian walked down the road.

"Seatbelts." He said. Multiple clicks followed, then he pulled off into the road.

"There's another satnav!!!" Klaus exclaimed leaning forward from where he was sat in the middle of the second row of seats. He began to fidget around with it and between him and Lila they were able to figure out how it worked while everyone else sorted through the stolen goods and kept watch for any cops.

"This is not what I signed up for." Ben said gesturing to the journey time.

"Yeah nobodies happy about it," Diego said, "but we doubt she will just pick up the phone to us— that is if we can find a direct line to a movie star like her."

"And we can cover more land," Luther said, "search for Sloane."

Ben groaned and rubbed at his head. "If shes going to be anywhere, surely she would be in Hargreeves City."

"If she were she wouldve found us by now." Luther argued.

"Shes my sister, I know her better, and her navigation skills are… not ones to be desired." Ben muttered.

"Well clearly you barely know her! Quit putting her down, her navigation skills are amazing," Luther rambled, "you know she began to plan routes for a trip around the world— routes around places you haven't even seen!" He continued.

Ben rolled his eyes and gave no response. Diego changed his focus to the road.

Then he heard a grumble from the back. "Hey uh guys?" Lila began, "I uh… kind of need to pee."

Oh right. She was peeing for two now.

"Ill pull over—" Diego started.

"Your kidding," Ben said, "we just started driving—"

"Yeah well I can't help that my bladders full!" Lila exclaimed.

"This is why we should have all gone go the toilet before committing grand theft auto," Five said, "its too close to where we stole the car to stop!"

"Ill pull round the back of the building," Diego said, "so we will be out of sight, then we can go find the closest bathroom, does that ease your paranoia old man?"

Five sighed. "You'll be quick?"

"Trust me I will." Lila said.

Since there were no more objections, Diego switched his indicator on. "Anyone else need to go?"

Klaus' hand shot up, then Viktors' did.

Diego sighed and stopped round the back of the building— some takeout place.

"Everyones going," Five said, "even me so we dont have stop again for a while. Now arguments. We will split into two groups, theres a shop accross the street so there should be something in there—"

"We're going to the bathroom not running a military operation!" Lila exclaimed darting out the car

Diego sighed, following after his girlfriend and walking aside her. "Babe, dont you think you ought to tell them?" He encouraged.

Lila frowned. "How stingy is Five with bathroom breaks?"

"I… dont achually know, but he won't be if he knows about the baby." Diego said. That last part he knew for sure. He locked eyes with Lila, who looked like she was going to give in… for a second at least. She then shook her head.

"It'll be fine Diego," she said, "theres alot to focus on at the minute."

"Your a priority," he said, "they're a priority," he pressed his hand against her stomach, "plus you'd be helping us all out you know how Five can get."

Lila smiled softly and chuckled before nodding. "Okay… okay yeah your right, fine… we can tell them, when we get back in the car?" She asked, her hand now in his.

"In the car." He said, pressing his lips against her forehead.

Klaus dashed past them and Viktor began walking on Diegos other side. "Fives right we should've pissed before stealing the car." He muttered as they all watched Klaus dash through the entrance of the convience store practically yelling about the toilet.

"Road trip time!" Klaus exclaimed as Diego peeled out from behind the building. Fives military plan of a toilet break was officially over.

Klaus' arm swung over her from where he was sat in the middle seat, and his other rest on Viktors shoulder. Lila let out a giggle, twisting to see Luther and Ben, who sat behind them— more solemn than anything.

"Oi, Ape and Squid!" She exclaimed, "we'll find her dont worry. She has a good head on her she'll survive."

Ben folded his arms and continued staring out the window. "Yeah im not worried." He muttered.

Meanwhile Luther gave her a soft smile. "Thanks Lila."

"No problemo." She said twisting forward and immediately catching Fives confused gaze.

"Thats… unlike you."

She shrugged. "I can be nice," she said, "just not to you." She said leaning forward to flicker him on the ear. He caught her hand and shoved it back at her, rolling his eyes before facing forward.

Diego gave her a look in the mirror followed by a knowing smirk. She rolled her eyes before shifting slightly, looking at the family before sighing.

"I… me and Diego achually have something we need to come clean about." She said.

Klaus sighed. "Alright who we burying— or burning dealers choice!" He exclaimed.

"Thats… not what we meant," Diego said, "its… achually something nicer than that." He said, eyes locking with Lilas. She smiled before nodding in agreement and rubbing her stomach tenderly.

"Out with it then." Luther said from the back, leaning forward, intrigued.

She eyed Diego, who nodded. She then looked back down at her stomach and then at the family. She then shifted slightly and grabbed something from her back pocket— the pregnancy test from the shitty convienece store.

Klaus was the first to see it and his lips instantly curled up in a smile. "Oh my!" He exclaimed before clapping rapidly.

"What—" Luther leant forward a bit further then froze, "no way…" His eyes darted from Lila to Diego.

"Im pregnant." She announced, pulling out the test so it was in full view for everyone to see. The cheer brought out a cheer from Klaus and before she knew it, he was hugging her— "Aw that's amazing!!!"

"Congrats!" Luther said from behind them. Ben remained silent.

Viktor leant over Klaus, eyeing the test. "Wow thats… Amazing!" She exclaimed eyes rushing to Lila, "wow your going to be a Mum," then they shot to Diego, widening, "your gonna be a Dad dude!"

"Your gonna be an Uncle." Diego smirked.

Before she knew it the test was being pulled from her hand by a frantic Five— "How long?" He asked studying the test, "have you done a second one? It could be wrong."

"I have done several believe me." Lila said.

"How. Long?" Five hissed.

She traded a look at Diego before glancing at the ground. "…a couple months or so?" Lila confessed.

"A couple months?!" Five exclaimed, "you knew this? Going into Oblivion you knew about this?" He yelled eyes now whipping from Lila to Diego.

"We did," Diego said, "both of us, we knew."

"You— you idiots!" Five yelled, arms waving around in a dramatic manner, "you absolute imbeciles—"

"Aw the old man cares!" Klaus exclaimed.

Five rolled his eyes before turning back to Diego. "I just thought you guys would have the sense to say something."

"Five we thought the world was ending," Lila said, "knowing I had my child in my stomach and that they were destined to die without popping out—"

"—It was… hard," Diego said, "I guess… thats why we didnt say anything. We didnt want you guys dealing with more than you had to."

Lila nodded in response before taking a breath. "But good news! The world hasn't ended so we are in desperate need of baby name ideas!" She exclaimed.

That seemed to make everyone perk up.

Chapter Text

"Isn't this nice," Klaus said, "just us, the open road, the beautiful sunrise—" The car swerved as Diego let out a string of curses, hand shoving the horn down, "—and our brothers amazingly brilliant driving skills!" He said with some bite to his words and sarcasm hissing through his tone.

"This asshole won't let me merge!" Diego yelled. Before anything else could be said, Five was leaning over Diego and letting his window down, patience long lost.

"Five dont—" Luther called but it was too late. Five flipped him the bird, the grabbed the steering wheel.

"Let us merge you ass—" Five started. Diego shoved him away and rolled up the window, the series of cusses and yells from the drivers in the other lane.

"I dont think i can survive another 39 hours of this!" Klaus yelled flopping back dramatically before turning around, "how the hell is he sleeping through this?!" He exclaimed gesturing to Ben, who cracked one eyes open.

"Im trying to but its impossible!" Ben exclaimed.

"You know what thats it," Five hissed from the front seat, "im driving! You clearly dont have what it takes. The road is like a battle field— like i've said you need to push your way in!"

"So you've said," Diego yelled, "we are not swapping! And quit it with your useless advice— we'll crash!"

"Maybe I should take over—" Klaus started.

There was a chorus of "no's".

"How about we stop off somewhere," Viktor said, "take a break, and since everyones going to work right now maybe we should let rush hour pass…"

"Yeah maybe we'll be able to search for Sloane!" Luther exclaimed enthusiastically leaning forward.

"There's a service station up ahead," Viktor said, "and we have cash—"

"And a stolen car!" Five exclaimed, "stopping is how you get caught! Rush hour wont be over for a few hours!"

"We won't be there for long then," Viktor reasoned, "we won't wait for rush hour but we will eat which I think we all need."

"Maybe we could switch out cars," Klaus exclaimed, "steel another, get some more cash from it— have you seen those electric cars? I saw a poster up about them earlier— im sure someone at a service station will have one we can nick, alongside keys."

"We should switch cars at some point," Lila said, "but not now, and certainly not at somewhere as buzy as a service station."

"But—" Klaus started.

"No buts," Five said, "I agree with Lila and… I guess with Viktor, we all need food."

"Hell yes im starving!" Lila exclaimed, "may I remind you im eating for two."

"Im not sitting with you," Ben said, "that would just be embarrassing."

"Ill drag you!" Klaus exclaimed reaching out.

Ben flinched away. "Hell no, keep your freezing hands away from me!" He exclaimed, "its freezing in here I dont get why we have the window open—"

"I like the breeze," argued Luther, "it gets warm back here!"

"It doesn't—" Ben said leaning over him to try and close the back window, "Its fucking freezing—"

"Its fine quit overreacting." Luther said lightly shoving him back.

Viktor groaned. "Quit arguing guys…" He muttered as Diego pulled into a car park—

"Out of sight!" Five exclaimed, "behind the building, not in the fucking parking lot!"

"Chill, I need to go through to get behind the building—" Diego said, following the road markings, stuck in the line of traffic of people trying to find spaces.

"Go through the spare spaces!" Five exclaimed pointing around, "its faster—"

"People are trying to get into them Five." Diego hissed.

"Waffle House!" Klaus exclaimed like an excited child. He grabbed Viktors shoulder and turned him so he was facing it, "can we go in there!?"

Viktors lips quirked up into a smile. "Sure Klaus—"

"Hell yes, I haven't had waffles in ages!"

"Hang on," Five said, "that Hargreeves owned." He said before turning around.

Viktor looked with him. To his dismay everything was owned by their father.

"Even the coffee shop— asshole!" Five exclaimed.

"I guess we have no choice…" Lila muttered.

"We really dont do we." Diego said pulling around the back of Waffle House and parking up.

"Thank god this place still exists!" Klaus exclaimed unclipping his belt and shoving his way through the car door.

"Wait for—" Viktor started but Klaus was already gone, leaving promises of finding them a booth. He sighed before turning around and helping Ben and Luther out the back.

"Thirty minutes," Five said, "thats it, and bathroom breaks before leaving."

"Fourty," Lila said, "these places take ages to serve—"

"Fine whatever Fourty," he said, "and no splitting up." He continued slightly louder going down the side of the building rushing after Klaus, who had stopped in his place.

"Awe." Klaus said slumping slightly as Five caught up with him. Viktor let out a small laugh before turning to Diego, who was smiling.

"So," Viktor said, nudging him, "your going to be a father."

Diegos smile widened as he eyed Lila, who was walking infront of them with Luther. "Yeah, yeah I am," he said, "I dont think its fully sunk in y'know?"

Viktor nodded. "Im sure its alot especially with everything going on."

"Yeah," Diego said, "me and Lila… We werent sure if well…" his eyes glanced at the ground as he took a deep breath, "if the baby had been affected by… Oblivion."

Viktor nodded, lips quirking down into a frown. "Well Lila had a pregnancy test," he said, "and that was positive…"

"Yeah but…" Diego started before hesitating, "…what if its different on the scans?"

"Then…" Viktor started before hesitating. Nothing came out, he didnt know what to say. Truth be told, Oblivion might have affected their child, "we'll figure it out okay? Im sure Allison will know."

"Yeah," Diego said, "yeah she should do." He said holding open the door for Viktor and gesturing for him to walk through. Viktor smiled and did just that before pointing out Klaus and Five. The former was waving enthusiastically while the latter was sat down, seemingly in deep though.

Lila and Luther joined them and Diego and Viktor trailed behind them. Diego seemed like he was casing the place, looking at every intch of the golden walls and the "Hargreeves Enterprises" sign aswell as giving the stink eye to a few waitresses and waiters— Viktor guessed after years of crime fighting the paranoid and suspicious instincts stuck with him.

"So," Diego said, settling down infront of Five. Lila slid next to him and Viktor joined them, "what are we thinking?" He asked before leaning in, "do you think the Commission exist here?"

Five visibly flinched. He traded a look with Lila who was stiff in her seat. "I… Dont know," Five said, "but I highly doubt it."

"Arent you meant to be the resident expert?" Diego teased.

"I guess I am yeah," he said. Viktor noticed his eyes grew distance for a second, but soon enough he was snapped back, "but, y'know, reset universe and all… I dont know the protocols for that…" Something seemed to be left unsaid.

"So," Klaus said, "can we order?" He asked gesturing to these electronic things on the side— giant screens with "Waffle House" printed on them, then in smaller writing, the reminder of "Hargreeves Enterprises" lay bellow it. The screen seemed to flick from slide to slide, showing a selection of food. There was a button at the bottom saying "order now", "I think we can use those!" Klaus exclaimed grabbing Bens arm, who had been standing apart from the group, arms crossed.

"Ive got some money," Diego said, "I think it goes in there…" He gestured to the slits ok the machine before rising, "what do you want?"

They all gave him their orders, not even trying to argue with Five about the black coffee in his own.

Luther announced he was going to go around to explore and look for Sloane and Viktor raised his hand to go with him.

Diego then headed over to Ben and began to order, meanwhile Viktor and Luther headed out with promises to be back in ten minuites to check in.

The more they searched the more dishearted Luther got— they found nothing, no lead, no sighting, nothing.

Viktor didnt know what to say as they headed back to the Waffle House, didn't know if there was anything he could say— but he still tried. "Tell me about her."

"Hm?" Luther asked, snapped from his grief.

"Sloane," Viktor said, "I didnt get to know her much but… She seemed amazing."

Luther smiled slightly. "Yeah, she was," he said, "I know we only knew eachother for a wek but it felt like we had known eachother for eternity… we… fit together? Like… a two half's of a hole…"

"Soulmates…" Viktor suggested.

Luthers smile turned soft. "Yeah, soulmates. Being with her made everything feel so… bright and… and colourful! I don't know how else to word it…"

"Thats what being in loves like," Viktor said, identifying the feeling, "I felt like that with Sissy it was amazing…" He reminiced.

"Yeah," Luther agreed, "it feels so… warm. She indulged my rants about food and cooking, she even joined in, you know we made that wedding cake together and both got covered in flour," he said laughing, "and… wow the way she talks about travelling, about exotic places I hadnt even talked about…" his eyes were wide and his smile was huge, stretching across his face, "she was so passionate about it all…"

Viktor smiled. "She sounds amazing," he said, "I cant wait to get to know her when we find her."

"You guys are going to get along brilliantly," Luther smiled, opening the Waffle House door, "And… thanks… talking about her helped." He said softly.

"Anytime." Viktor said patting his arm before he led him to the family.

"Any luck?" Lila asked.

"Nope," Luther said, "but shes out there, I know it." He said settling down and tucking into his food.

"Im sure she is big guy." Klaus said patting Luthers arm.

Chapter Text

Allison started the day off with pancakes— not the big fluffy ones that both Ray and Claire collectively hated but the thin ones.

"Mama?" Claire asked walking down the corridor still in her PJs and rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"Hey darling guess what im making?" She exclaimed pulling the pan off the stove and flipping the pancake enthusiastically.

Claires face immediately lit up and she let out a gleeful scream before running to the cupboard and getting out what Allison was positive was her favorite topping, golden syrup.

"Would you get some blueberries out aswell? And lemon, some sugar…" Rays favourite.

"Sure Mama!" She exclaimed, the bottle of syrup beside Allison— she did a double take.

"Chocolate spread?" Allison asked, "darling do we not have golden syrup? I thought it was your favourite…"

Claire cocked her head to the side. "No? Chocolate spread is my favourite, blueberries aswell!!!" She exclaimed, holding the tub before placing it down on the table and searching for the sugar.

The blueberries checked out but… "What happened to golden syrup sweetie?" Allison asked.

Claire used to love the stuff—

"Too sweet and sticky, it gets everywhere." She reasoned, pulling the sugar out, alongside a spoon and a knife to spread the chocolate.

"Oh… okay…" Allison muttered turning away from Claire, "sorry Mama must've forgotten."

"Thats okay," Claire said, "everyone forgets things sometimes!" She exclaimed skipping over to grab the lemon.

Allison gave Claire a tight smile before turning away and allowing it to faulter— she then turned her focus back to the pancake. 'Its one change,' she thought, 'shes fine, its not the end of the world…'

"Dad!" Claire exclaimed rushing off to hug Ray, who was dressed in casual wear. Allison had peaked at the callender earlier and found out he had booked today off from his job— he was a director in this universe, something he always wanted to be. She was also off and it wasn't a school day so there was no rush.

"Hey Claire Bear," he said returning the hug, "whats your Mum cooking?"

"Pancakes," she said, "the sugar, lemon, chocolate spread and blueberries are on the table, courtesy of Claire." Ray ruffled the girls hair and she let out a giggle. Allison couldnt help but let out a sigh of relief when Ray didnt onject to the lemon, blueberries and sugar. Instead he walked over to Allison and wrapped one arm around her before kissing her on the cheek. She allowed herself to laugh and look up at him.

"Arm okay?" He whispered in her ear, face nestled into her shoulder.

"Yep," she said, "all good!"

Before she knew it a tiny body was rushing into theirs. Claire hugged them both, and Ray placed an arm around her, their daughter. Allison let out another laugh and blinked away the tears of happiness that threatened to fall. She rubbed Claires back and laid a kiss on Rays forehead before pulling away.

"Do you think you guys could deal with cutlery?" She asked.

Ray nodded, saluting Allison. "On it babe." Claire rushed beside him as they got to work.

Allison smiled before dishing out the first pancake— "Youngest first!" She exclaimed.

"Thats me!" Claire giggled. Ray playfully ruffled her hair before she took off towards Allison. "Thankyou Mama!" She exclaimed grabbing the plate and rushing to the table with it.

Allison smiled before poaring more pancake batter in. While she cooked, Ray and Claire playfully argued in the background, Ray jokingly stealing blueberries from Claires plate when she wasnt looking and Claire laughing, sneakily trying to catch him in the act— this truly was domestic bliss, this was what she fought for.

Reginald sat down at the table beside his wife. The view was everything he had ever wanted: miles of land marked with his name. Nature and human architecture were starting to come together as one in this timeline, progress was being made. Technology was more advanced now— it made things way easier, and had unlocked so many new opportunities.

More importantly, she was there, his love, Abigail. She looked over Hargreeves City with such intrege and passion. Her blonde curls ran down her back, almost mixing with her pure white gown. She turned to him, her glorious blue eyes locking with his. She took her hand in his own and squeezed. "Well done."

He nodded before turning back to the city, their city. He was mourning his home planet of course, he had been for years… but they were safer here, on Earth with Oblivion in reach, a simple safety precaution should things go down hill with Abigails health again.

After a couple hundred years he expected he would introduce Earth to Talaria and merge the two societies, but right now that would be the wrong move to take.

Earth wasnt ready for such change, not yet.

Claire had taken her crayons into her pillow fort and had began to draw while Allison was curled up in Rays arms, watching the crackle of the fire. She could see her daughter beneath the quilt, focused and smiling. The silence between her and Ray was comfortable, soothing even. It had been a long day full of board games, take out, and pillow forts.

"This has been an amazing day," Ray said pressing a kiss into her curls, "we ought to do this more often."

She nodded in agreement. "I mean we have the money to take more days off…" She smirked. Ray let out a soft laugh.

"Then lets do it babe," he said, "im sure Claire could afford to miss a couple days off school to go on a vacation of sorts."

Allison perked up, and Claire pocked her head out of the fort. "Vacation?!" She exclaimed eyes wide with joy. Allison let out a laugh before kissing Ray on the cheek.

"Thats an amazing idea!" She exclaimed, immediately going into planning mode, "it'll have to be somewhere hot—"

"And with a swimming pool!" Claire exclaimed bouncing up, "and a beach! We can make all the sandcastles we want!"

"Of course sweetie," Ray laughed, "we should make a list of all the things we want—"

"Yes, yes!" Claire exclaimed with glee, "I can finish this then we can use my crayons!" She said grabbing the red and enthusiastically continuing her drawing.

Allison leant over slightly, interest peaked. "What are you making sweetie?" She asked.

"Try and guess Mama!" Claire exclaimed glancing her way before continuing to colour.

"Hmmm…" Allison said. The further she leaned the more of the drawing could could make out— she seemed to using the red for sonething tentical related.

"Is it… water related?"

Claire frowned pausing for a second. "Kinda? Part of it is I guess?"

"Okay…" Allison continued, "is it an animal?"

She seemed to have to think for this one. "…part of it is?"

"Part of it?" Ray asked.

"Its more… supernatural."

"A mystical creature? So like a unicorn or… A kraken?" Ray asked.

Allison pretend to be unaffected at the word Kraken, vaguely reminded of Diego announcing his hero name with such confidence and glee—

Claire giggled at the word Kraken. "Yes— thats part of it!" She said before jumping up and thrusting the paper into Rays hands.

He smiled, looking over it before letting out a cooing noise and showing it to Allison— "Its you and your siblings babe!" He exclaimed.

Allison raised any eyebrow as she looked over the picture— she froze when she saw tenticals coming from Ben's stomach and an array of Umbrella themed uniforms.

"Its you guys as teenage superheroes! You even have cool names!" Claire said jumping onto the couch, "thats you, The Rumor," she pointed to the girl third in line with curled hair, "theres Space Boy," she giggled gesturing to the tall boy at the end, Luther, "The Kraken," Diego, "The Seance," Klaus, "The Boy— I know hes younger than you guys but I wanted to do you all as teenagers, art doesnt have to be accurate," she said gesturing to the shortest of them all, Five, "theres The Horror," Ben, "and I still dont know what to do for Uncle Viktor— you see I had a dream last night of you all as superheroes and he wasnt there— you called yourselves The Umbrella Academy, which is a weird name but I guess it makes the Umbrellas on your uniforms make more sense, and Umbrellas protect people from rain—" She rambled, "I told you who you and Uncle Five are and you know Uncle Viktor isnt there— can you guess everyone else?"

Allison's breath hitched because she could, and how accurate Claires drawing was had nothing to do with it. She nodded absently before pointing to everyone, going in order from one to five. "Thats Luther," she said, "Diego," her finger moved accross the line, "Klaus," Claire nodded enthusiastically, "and… Ben." She said voice shaking.

"Yay!" Claire clapped, "I cant believe they are accurate! Dreams can be so weird!" She giggled, "I mean you had super powers— you all did, besides Uncle Viktor for some reason, he didnt go on missions with you guys, you said it was because he was ordinary—"

Allison heaved in a breath. "Darling can you tell me all of this later?" Allison interrupted, hiding her tremoring hand, "its… time for bed."

"Aw," she cried, "already?"

"Its… been a long day…" Allison said. She could feel Rays eyes on her—

"How about some cookies and milk? Ill make it for you?" Ray suggested with enthusiasm she could tell was fake.

"Sure!" Claire exclaimed perking up and rushing towards the kitchen. Ray stood up and watched her go before turning to Allison.

"Are you… okay?" He asked hesitantly.

"Yeah," she said, "im fine… just tired."

"Okay," he said lowering down and kissing her on the temple, "Ill deal with Claire, why dont you get some shut eye."

She nodded before standing up. "Thanks babe." She said kissing his temple.

"Anything for you," he said, "ill be up within the hour."

She nodded as he headed towards the kitchen. When he was out of sight, she looked down at the picture again, allowing herself to loose balance, giving into her trembling legs.

This wasnt right.

Sure, her siblings were still her siblings in this universe, they were still Claires Uncles, but they werent the Umbrella Academy.

Claire wasnt meant to even know let alone dream about that.

She buried her head in her hands before pulling out her phone and violently tappping her password into the screen. Switching to her contacts she tried "RH" again— maybe there had been a change of sorts, she didnt know how this advanced technology worked of by heart.

With shaky hands she brought the phone up to her ear only to receive the same answer as last night. "Asshole…" She muttered hanging up on him before pulling at her hair anxiously.

'God what a mess.'

They had opted to drive through the night. Diego swapped out with Luther and him and Lila took the back of the van for the night while Ben switched to the front seat and Viktor, Five and Klaus sat in the middle seats.

"How long?" Five whispered leaning forward to get a good look at the navigation system. He felt too restless to try and sleep.

"Approximately 20 hours." Luther said.

Five hummed. "Thats not horrible." He muttered, shifting for a second so he wouldnt knock Klaus, who was sleeping beside him, curled up against the window. Viktor was the same, sat on his other side.

Ben was slumped in the front, also asleep, and Diego and Lila used eachother as human pillows in the back.

All things considered, it was… Peaceful, having majority of his family around him, safe and not getting into trouble.

"So we should get there… what late tommarow?"

"Today," Five corrected, it was long past 12, " but probably yeah." Five said, "if you get tired I can always switch. Its night so I doubt anyone will see me."

Luther frowned. "A growing boy needs his rest," he said, "plus, you'll have to get past those two." He said gesturing to Klaus and Viktor.

Five sighed. He certainly didnt want Klaus yapping in his ear again. "Fine." He said to Luther before turning to watch out the window absently following the odd car as it whizzed past, and as the landscape changed.

"Five?" Luther asked seemingly hesitant, "with your knowledge… and I know its not much when it comes to resets but…" he sighed, "whats the possibility that Sloane…"

Five frowned. "Isn't here?"

Luther nodded.

"Well," Five started, "its…" He trailed off wondering how to explain this all to his brother. Luther wasnt like Five, he made attachments easily, he was sensitive— fragile, "the reset was… half assed," Five said, "Reginald got killed before he set everything in stone then Allison pushed the button before we could configure anything… so her being out there? Its… not something I can be certain about."

Luther deflated, his eyes wide. He took a hand off the steering wheel and rubbed at them. Then, voice shaky and hesitant, he talked. "So what your saying is… you dont think she survived?" He asked before letting out a small sob.

Five backtracked. "I… I didnt say that," he said, "I just… I dont know Luther," he said taking a breath, "we're all here, so theres no reason why shouldn't be… shes probably just spawned elsewhere, maybe with Allison, maybe with Reginald, and if thats the case I cant imagine she would stay long."

"So theres a good chance shes hear?"

Five took a breath. "There is." He said. He knew that's what Luther wanted to here, he knew thats what would keep his hope up, and hope was everything, he knew that too well.

"Okay," he said, wiping stray tears, "thanks Five."

He gave no response.

After a few minutes of staring, Luther spoke again. "Him becoming a Dad," he said. Five looked up to see Luther look at Diego through the mirror fondly, "I never thought i'd see the day."

Five looked over his shoulder, eying Diego and Lila. Lila had her head laid on Diegos shoulder meanwhile Diegos was on her head. Their breathing was in sync and their hands were interlocked— "Yeah," Five said, watching the slow rise and fall of their chests, "neither did I."

"What do you think they'll call them?"

"Grace," Five said instantly, "maybe Gracie, that is if its a girl…"

"After Mum?" Luther asked, eyes still on Diego and Lila in the mirror. Five out see out of the side of his own vision that he turned his head to check on the road regularly enough.

Five shrugged. "He always was a Mamas boy."

Luther let out a chuckle. "Yeah I guess," he said, "what about if its a boy?"

Five frowned, eyes glancing towards Lila. "…Ronnie." He said hesitantly.

Ronnie Gill, the name of the man he killed.

He could see it now, a little boy running around, presenting echos of the dead not only in his name but his features— perhaps his grandfather's wide smile, his grandmother's face.

It would be nice to put a new face to a name with such tragedy glued to it.

"Ronnie?" Luther laughed, "its sweet… but thats so random." Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Luthers gaze flicker to him. He turned around meeting his eyes.

"I guess," he shrugged, "eyes on the road."

"Oh— right." Luther said gaze flickering.

"I can take over, or someone else can, its no problem."

Luther sighed.

"Not Klaus." Luther said, pulling over.

"Of course im not dumb." He said turning to Viktor and nudging him.

'Not Klaus, never Klaus.'

Chapter Text

"We're making good time!" Klaus announced, "traffic has gotten better, our journey time as officially gone down due to a better route becoming more available, we should be at Allison's by sunset!" He yelled fist pumping into the air.

They had just finished having lunch at some weird deli that sold food that was at least consumable and were now on the road. "Five hours left baby!" Klaus exclaimed.

Viktor felt his stomach turn as he curled in on himself on the seat. He didnt know what to think— last he'd seen Allison she had told him to trust her, which… He did. Now he wasnt quite sure if he had made the right choice.

"What if… we dont like what we find?" Viktor asked.

"Then we fix it." Five said, answer simple, logical—

"What if we cant?" Viktor questioned, "we dont have our powers or know where they are, we dont know whether The Commission exists!" He exclaimed.

"Maybe," Klaus suggested, "now supernatural powers means no end of the world?" He shrugged.

The van went silent because it made sense—

"Nuclear warfare," Five argued, "there more advanced technology, so there may be more weapons— the reason isn't always supernatural."

"But it always seems to be connected to me and the supernatural." Viktor muttered.

"You feel like your gonna go boom again?" Lila asked.

"No, I dont think I can, but—"

"Then no problems on that front!" Klaus exclaimed hands stretching behind his head as he put his feet up on the dash board.

"I don't think you should've trusted her," Luther said, "Sloanes not here, theres clearly something wrong, Dad has way to much power…"

Viktor frowned, guilt eating at him from the inside out. "Im… sorry—"

"Im not saying its your fault," Luther said, "you didnt know this would happen."

"I… yeah I didnt. Which is why I…" he rubbed his temple, "God, I should've blasted her when I got the chance so we could check everything over—"

"Would we have even knew what it meant?" Diego asked, "all that alien mumbojumbo—"

"Im sure Five wouldve figured it out!" Lila exclaimed playfully punching him.

"You didn't do it, you trusted her and…" Five hesitated, "well I hate to say I told you so but," he gestured to everything around them, "maybe it wasnt the right choice. This is the outcome. You cant go back and change it now, that much is clear," he said staring down at his hands before meeting Viktors eyes, "so dont dwell on what you could've or should've done. That choice is set in stone now, all you can do is make better ones in the future."

Diego whistled, smirking at Five. "Thats quite the advice!" He exclaimed.

"Wow," Lila teased, "the old man is really shining through, such wisdom!" She clapped.

"Yeah, yeah…" Five muttered before going back to looking out the window.

"Thanks Five." Viktor said, smiling.

Five hummed in recognisition and Viktor took what he could get.

The can stayed silent for a second, then Luther spoke. "What if Allison still has her powers?"

The silence grew tense.

"Oh fu—" Klaus started getting cut off by Lila, who leant forward and covered his mouth.

"Little ears!" She gestured to her stomach.

Klaus rolled his eyes. "With how you and Diego are, I wouldnt be surprised if their first words are—" Lilas hand slapped over his face again then she turned back to look at Luther.

"But yeah that wouldnt be ideal." She agreed.

"I doubt she has," Five said, "I mean based off the birth reports I saw and all the media on her, theres nothing that hints towards her having a power. If she replaced her doppelganger, which we can assume she has, she too would be powerless." He shrugged.

"Yeah what he said." Diego said, taking his eyes of the road and nodding at Five.

Allison sighed, searching through her desk for anything even vaguely connected to her old life, the life the she wanted so desperatly to leave behind. 'Claires dream had to have been prompted from something, thats how dreams work!' Something must've washed up in this universe, something, anything—

She pulled open one of her drawers, revealing signed contracts for movie deals, interview schedules, which she flipped through finding nothing out of the ordinary. She got to the final series of papers in the box, it looked like a manuscript of sorts, maybe some lines she had to memorise? She picked it up and read the title— then instantly froze.

Extra Ordinary

Viktor Hargreeves

With shaky hesitant hands, Allison flipped to the first page. She expected to know the lines off by heart— but she didn't.

Hi. Im Viktor Hargreeves.

Dont recognise the name?

Well, you may know my sister, Allison Hargreeves?

That famous actor who starred in films like "Love on Loan"? She worked her way to fame from a tiny orphanage on the outskirts of Hargreeves City? Ring any bells? Yeah, her.

I'm her brother, not by relation but rather something stronger than blood— well at least I considered it to be.

Quick family run down: We have 5 other siblings and they are— from eldest to yougest— Klaus, Luther, Diego, Ben and Quinn (or Five as we call him.)

All of us were born from cryptic pregnancies, ones that Reginald Hargreeves, yes the essentric billionaire and owner of Hargreeves Enterprises, thought were all somehow… connected. Not by biological relation or blood, but by something that was "beyond human comprehension", something truly "extraordinary."

Bet you didn't know that huh?

Suddenly there was a soft knock on the office door, then it slowly opened. "Babe, the buzzer at the gate just went off," Ray said, "could you go down and check who it is on the security camera while I finish getting Claire to bed? If they aren't just our regular fan club, your welcome to invite them in."

Allison put on her best smile and tucked the manuscript out of sight. "Of course babe." She said, kissing him and she walked by him.

The walk to the security room felt longer than usual but she got there. 'Its going to be them isn't it?' She thought with a sigh. She already knew what to expect when she checked the camera… and she was right.

Horded by the gate were her siblings. Klaus was buzzing the buzzer over and over again, while Five paced behind him, impatient. Diego and Lila stood hand in hand, the former staring at the security camera, while Luther looked worried and Ben just looked annoyed.

She sighed before preparing the microphone and speaking into it. She watched as her siblings quirked up as the phone like line between the opened and she spoke. "Ill be down to buzz you in in second."

Five shoved passed Klaus and pressed down on the microphone button. "This is urgent Allison." He hissed.

She shut down the communication line right before Klaus could start to ramble and sighed, closing the computer and rubbing her temple.

What a family reunion this was going to be.

Chapter Text

"Yay family reunion time!" Klaus exclaimed, clapping as Five bashed his hand against the button for the phone thing Allison had just talked to them through.

"Allison for the love of God you better be coming to let us in or else I'll break in—" Five hissed as if their dear sister could hear them, which Klaus doubted she could… or maybe she was just watching them suffer in the cold.

"How you cant blink anymore?" Luther asked.

"No," Five said before eying the fence, "but I can climb." He said, grabbing hold of the metal sides.

"Thats a terrible idea—" Lila started.

"Yeah." Viktor agreed. He looked like he was going to continue however Lila continued off the tail end of her sentance.

"—do it." She challenged, smirking.

"Lila!" Viktor exclaimed disapprovingly. Klaus slapped a hand over his mouth, eyes wide as he let out a laugh.

"Shut up, I wanna see this." He exclaimed.

Wordlessly, Five hoisted himself up—

Just as he was about to start scaling the fense, footsteps began to sound out in the distance as Allison came into view, dressed in a thick fur lined coat.

Everyone fell silent as she put the key in on the other side and turned it. Soon enough the gate was sliding open mechanically, yet nobody crossed the threshold.

The first brave soul to break the silence was Luther. "Is Sloane with you?" He asked, walking through the gate and looking around. Everyone else slowly followed as Allison turned the key back around and the gate intched slide shut.

Allison frowned. "…is she not with you guys?"

"Nope," Ben said, "neither are our damn powers, care to explain?!"

"They powered the reset," she said, leading them down the pathway, "now your turn—"

"This isn't 20 questions," Five said jogging to catch up with her as everyone followed the stone path, "Allison what the hell is this?"

"Well it's not the end of the world I can tell you that certain," she laughed, "this Five is what a reset universe looks like— one made to fit mine and Dads desires. Did The Commission not teach you about all this?" She teased.

"This is outside of the realm of what should be possible." Five hissed.

"Yeah well so was mind control and timetravel." Allison reasoned with a shrug of the shoulders. She opened her front door and Klaus felt the hot air hit him instantly.

"Thank God for heating." He muttered.

"Thank Dads new tech," she said, "its so much better than it was trust me."

Klaus twirled around slowly as he admired Allisons circular foyer

It was huge— even the word huge felt like an understatment.

She had a stained glass window which moonlight shone through, casting beams amongst the shadows on the floor and a tall ceiling.

Allison flicked on the lights exposing the beige walls rimmed in brown. The floor was a slightly darker brown, and the circle mat in the centre was velvet red with a table flower filled vase sat upon it.

"Fill us in," Lila said, "you made a deal with the devil… For what exactly?"

"Ray and Claire, my family—" Allison started.

"But no Sloane huh?" Muttered Luther.

Allison's eyebrows furrowed. "Shes meant to be here— shes your wife I wouldnt leave her out. She family now, Dad understood that much, so… I dont know why shes not here."

Luther sighed, not answering nor looking Allison in the eye.

"What about Ben?" Klaus couldnt help but ask, "our Ben." He added for confirmation.

"What about our Ben?" Allison asked, "if memory serves me right hes dead."

"But so was Ray yet that didnt stop you." Klaus couldnt help but hiss.

"Thats… different!" Allison yelled before calming her voice down, "look, to Ray, he hasn't been dead— same with Claire."

"What… do you mean?" Luther asked, eyebrow quirked upwards.

"They have new memories, better memories, better lifes," she continued, "in this universe I achually have custody over my daughter and my husband has his dream job."

"Yeah and all it took to get to that universe were the deaths of your brothers!" Viktor yelled standing infront of Klaus and Luther.

"That wasnt part of the deal!" Allison hissed, "and they're not dead, they're right here!"

"Allison sweetie?" A voice echoed, "whose screaming?" Footsteps hurried down the upstairs corridor then a familar face popped up at the top of the stairs and looked over everyone, "oh," Ray said, "good its just you guys'— what now? Klaus being a drama queen?" He asked with a smirk.

"Ray," Allison said, voice suddenly calm and collected, "my siblings came to uh… surprise us."

Out of the corner of his eyes, Klaus could see Luther give Ray and small, hesitant and all in all awkward wave while Five stuffed his hands into his pockets looking well and truly pissed.

"Lilas pregnant." Diego announced, hesitant and with slightly bite in his voice.

Klaus watched as Allison went stiff.

"Oh my gosh!" Ray rushed down the stairs, oblivious to the tension, "congrats! Do we know if its a boy or a girl yet."

"Yeah…" Allison muttered, breaking out of her shock, "thats amazing!" She continued, seemingly more upbeat with a smile that barely wavered.

Even without the rumours she was a good actor.

"I'll get drinks, we should celebrate!" Ray exclaimed before rushing off into the kitchen.

Klaus hesitantly followed, walking through the biege arch. He'd forgotten how rich Allison was. The kitchen was modern, with a colour scheme of brown and white. Allison sat on one of the fancy stalls and patted and, as Ray was getting glasses from a cupboard, she shot her family a gaze that just read "tell him anything and your done for."

"What does everyone want?"

Everyone hesitantly gave in their drinks orders. Klaus settled for an orange juice mixed with lemonade, a drink he'd recently become obsessed with.

Ray gave a laugh at Fives order, a black coffee, and ended up giving him the same as Klaus, which made him scowl.

"Its not that bad," Ray said, "Claires obsessed with it at the moment."

The tension returned.

"Is she now?" Klaus exclaimed. He didnt particular want to witness or be apart another screaming match right now.

"In fact," Ray said, "I could go and get her! Im sure she would love to see you guys. That would be fine, right Allison?"

"Yes," Allison said, "but not for long. Im sure shes tired after the last couple days we had, I am aswell." She said with a small laugh.

"Yeah," Ray reminiced, "we've been booking a holiday achually! Maybe you guys could come along!"

The tension had returned again.

"Oh I'm sure theyd love to!" Allison exclaimed, "ill load up the booking details!" She exclaimed pulling out a rectangular hand held device. Ray gave Allison a kiss on the temple before rushing away to go and wake Claire.

"Tell me," Five said, "what exactly was the happy family up to for the past couple days while we've been on a shitty two day cross country road trip to try and figure out just what the hell is going on?!"

"Day one consisted of pillow forts, pancakes, and games, while day two was mainly booking the holiday," Allison said, "and for me its been about settling in, seeing and spending time with my family after everything! Not chasing non existant problems and acting like its the end of the world! Everything's fine I fixed things, no thanks to you!"

"Fine?!" Diego yelled, stepping forward, "Luthers lost his wife, our brothers died, our powers are gone and I don't even know if my baby is alive!"

"Sloanes out there somewhere," Allison said, "theres no proof that she isn't," she continued, "Luther and Klaus are alive and who cares about our powers!?" She then turned to Lila, "Has Lila peed on the damn stick?"

"Yes—" Lila started.

"Did the test show up positive?" Allison asked.

"Yes but—" Diego continued getting cut off.

"Then your baby is fine. We have a new member to this hell of a family!" Allison exclaimed, "the world's not ending, we should be celebrating!"

"We haven't had a scan Allison, how do we know that for sure?!" Diego yelled.

"Pregnancy is a wild trip," Allison reasoned, "im sorry you never quite know, and I cant flick a magic wand and change that. Now its perfectly normal to be nervous but dont take it out on me."

"If your shitty reset is the reason my child is dead, I swear to God Allison—" Lila started.

"It isnt," Allison hissed, "your kid is perfectly fine I can assure you that."

"I swear if your wrong—" Diego started.

"Im not," Allison said placing a hand on Diegos shoulder, and squeezing down, "your kid is fine Diego take a breath."

There was silence as Allison and Diego stared at one another, then suddenly tiny footsteps rushed down the hallway, and before he knew it a tiny body was colliding into him. "Uncle Klaus!"

Klaus looked down to see Claire— she small wearing pink pyjamas, long dark hair, and a smile that made the room light up. She was ever so joyous and sweet—"Why arent you the spitting imagine of your mother…" Klaus muttered— he could see Allison in Claires eyes, her grin, and the way she squealed at the compliment before hugging Klaus tighter.

"People tell me that all the time." She exclaimed with a giggle.

"Now Claire, your Uncle Diego and Auntie Lila have some exciting news!" Ray exclaimed gesturing to the pair.

"What is it— are you going on holiday too!?" Claire asked, rushing up to the duo with a spring in her step.

Diego didnt know what to say. Lila squeezed down on his hand and took the lead with a tight yet otherwise soft smile. "Your going to have a baby cousin." She announced.

Claire gasped then squealed before hugging Diego and Lila. "Oh my gosh really?!"

"…really." Diego said hesitantly returning the hug as she looked up at him, brown eyes full of wonder.

"Will it be a girl or a boy?" She asked.

"We dont know quite yet sweetie?" Allison giggled, running a hand through her messy curls, "but isnt that exciting?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Claire exclaimed jumping up and down with way to much energy for this late at night. She then took a look at the drinks before landing on Klaus and Fives' lemonade and orange juice.

"Can I have some to?" She asked turning to her mother.

"Sweetie you've already done your teeth," she said, "plus its way past your bed time."

"Uncle Five gets some and he has a bedtime," she exclaimed turning to Diego and Lila for some reason while Five spluttered in surprise, "right? You said he had to go to bed at half ten, two whole hours after my usual one?"

Depsite never having said such a thing in his life, Diego nodded along with a slight smirk. "Yep," he said, looking at Five, "half ten."

"Its past half ten!" Claire argued gesturing to the clock.

"Fine, fine," Allison said, "just this once, okay?" She jumped up and began to pour Claire a small glass to which the girl let out a victorious squeal and scrambled to sit beside Five.

"Hows work going Uncle Ben?" She asked, cocking her head over her shoulder.

Diego was prepared for a lot of yelling due to the title but instead there was silence followed by Ben speaking. "Its… uh… good?"

Claires brows furrowed slightly as if he had said something wrong, but before she commented, Allison passed her the drink, distracting her.

"Well besides the new pregnancy," Ray said, "whats been going on with you guys?"

Allison gave them the glare again. They were really being forced into playing happy family huh?

Chapter Text

"Whats been going on with us?!" Klaus exclaimed giving a clearly nervous chuckle. Allison elbowed him and his laughs shot up and down in tone as he disguised the sudden flare in pain, "well Ray, y'know… just life, uh… work, bills, and partying of course!" He won a giggle with Claire as he said that and a smile from Ray.

"Been anywhere nice?" Ray asked.

"There was a Waffle House on the way here achually," Luther perked up, "it was pretty decent."

"Was it the same one I recommended you stop at last time you came here?" Ray asked.

Luther faultered. "I uh," Allison sent him a glare, "think so? It was super good right guys?" He asked looking around.

Everyone gave various responses of agreement.

"Anyway, im exhausted after that drive," Klaus said yawning in a dramatic manner as he grabbed Fives arm, who was staring daggers at Allison. When Ray wasnt looking she returned the gesture.

Luther began to shepherd Lila, Ben and Diego towards the stairs while Viktor followed along looking between everyone, clearly unsure of what to do. "Yeah," Luther said, "Allison, guest rooms?" He rushed, eyes flickering from the siblings, plus Ben and Lila, to Ray and Claire nervously before returning his eyes back to her. There was some harshness about his gaze but it was almost invisible.

Five, on the other hand, looked like he was about to snap.

She gave him a disapproving look. 'God, please, not infront of Claire and Ray.'

"Yes of course—" Allison started standing up.

"Aw already?" Claire moaned.

"We can talk more in the morning," Klaus said, "its been a super long drive, and it sounds like its been a long couple days for you." He booped her on the nose and Allison swung an arm around her daughter and lifted her into her arms.

"Ill tell you a story?" Ray offered gaining a nod from Claire as everyone began to walk up towards the stairs.

"Ill say goodnight to you but ill have to be quick so I can get everyone else settled okay darling?" Allison said giving Claire a kiss on the head. Her daughter nodded and she gestured at her siblings to wait in the corridor while she said goodnight to Claire.

Ray followed them and Allison lowered Claire into bed before tucking her in, giving her a hug and kiss, and wishing her sweet dreams. She placed her hand on Rays shoulder and passed him a book from the shelf, gesturing to the page she had finished off with Claire the ther night.

He gave her a thankful nod, leaving her to her siblings. She shut the door and took a deep breath before turning to them— she could feel everyone's gazes on her.

"So that was weird, right?" Claire asked as soon as Allison shut the door.

'So she noticed aswell.' Ray thought with a frown.

"Sure its nothing to worry about darling," Ray said opening the book, "now—"

"I mean since when does Uncle Ben like his job?!" Claire rambled, "didnt he call the people he worked with 'stuck up assholes' just last week?" Ray didnt even have time to point out the language, "and why did Uncle Five keep staring at Mum like that? Uncle Klaus barely said a word, and he usually goes into more depth when talking about his life, I mean, he always has interesting thing happening! And Aunt Sloane wasnt there! I mean I know she travels alot but usually she does it with Uncle Luther unless its work related, and she tells me every single time, and she sends regular updates, and a postcard!" Claire opened the drawer beside her bed and gestured to her collection of cards from around the world sent by her Aunt and Uncle across the years.

Ray shut the book and placed it back on the shelf. Claire seemed to be a mixture of worried and interested, almost in a gossiping sort of sense— it reminded him of Allison and her work gossip.

"I mean," Ray started, "I wouldn't say they were acting normal by any means— but, sweetie, thats nothing that you have to worry about, okay?" He reassured, "though… I'll admit the new dynamics are interesting... and the news… wow what a plot twist." He added, hoping to turn the conversation.

"Yeah," Claire continued, "and I cant believe Diego and Lila are having a kid! Thats super exciting!"

Ray laughed. "It is indeed sweetie," he said, "you still want that story?" He asked gesturing to the book.

"Yes please!" She exclaimed tucking herself in.

He smiled. 'Crisis averted.' A small win.

"If you want to change your welcome to use mine and Rays clothes— I dont know if there will be anything for Five though." She winced.

"Yes a change of clothes would be amazing—" Klaus started.

"Thats the least of our concerns," Five butted in, "Allison what the hell is going on?"

"How about we talk in the morning?" Klaus suggested, hand on Fives shoulder, "im grouchy, your grouchy, we're all grouchy after battling with LAs traffic! A good night's sleep should fix that—"

"Hell no im not waiting any longer," Five shrugged Klaus' hand from his shoulder, "you have alot of explaining to do." He said pointing at Allison accusingly.

"I saved our lives!" She exclaimed.

"You reset the damn universe— with Reginald no less!" Five yelled.

"Da-da-da-da-da," Klaus exclaimed getting in the middle of them and waving his hands, "the world's not ending, this can wait." He said turning to Five and pushing him towards a guest bedroom, "bite eachothers heads off in the morning."

Allison sighed. "Five and Klaus can share that room," she gestured towards the guest bedroom Klaus was already pulling Five towards, "Diego and Lila can go next door, Luther, Viktor and Ben… you guys can fight amongst yourselves for the final double or only single." She said pointing towards all the rooms.

"Dibs on single!" Ben exclaimed leaving no room for argument.

Luther shrugged and turned to Viktor who gave him a slight smile. "You and me big guy?" Viktor asked.

Luther nodded.

"And, incase I haven't made it clear enough, none of what happened gets to Claire or Ray, understand?" Allison hissed.

Klaus could see why. It was about the only choice Allison had made within the last couple of days that achually made sense to him— no need to put their heads through a spin at least not yet.

"Ray has a right to know—" Diego started.

"—and thats an issue to tackle in the morning." Klaus exclaimed pulling Five into their shared room and shutting the door.

"Klaus let me go—" Five started, however Klaus dragged him towards a bed.

"Brother mine, for the love of God, please just get some rest," Klaus said, "a clear mind would do you some good." That, and Klaus didnt want anymore arguing.

Five stopped for a second then looked down at the bed, then Klaus, then the door. For a second he thought Five would make a run for it, but instead he sighed, shoulders sagging. "Fine."

"…fine?" Klaus asked.

"Yes, fine."

Klaus hesitated before wandering to the door. "Im gonna get those clothes you stay put—"

"Im not a dog—"

"No, but you sure are as rabid as one." Klaus said edging towards the door and swinging it open. As he shut it, he brought too fingers to his eyes then pointed at Fives, who rolled them in response.

Klaus shut the door with a sigh. He rested his head up against the wall— it was absolutely banging. 'What a mess.' He thought.

"Klaus?" Allison asked, still lingering in the corridor. He turned around and shot her a smile.

"PJs?" He questioned.

"Oh— yes, Lila requested some too," Allison nodded, "any preference or…?" She asked.

"Can I pick? I have a particular fashion sense." Klaus asked skipping alongside Allison.

"Sure." She said.

On the walk to Allison and Ray's room they fell silent. Klaus tried not to show her resentment for Allison— it was late and they were all exhausted, it was the last thing she needed, but he couldn't stop the nagging voice in his head—

'Why did she get Claire and Ray while Im was still left without Dave and Ben? Did she not think of them? Or Viktors ex lover? Or maybe giving Five his elder body back— if the reset manipulated memories, it could surely manipulate physical states, in fact, it did, Diego has his finger back, Five has his arm, Luther and I, against all odds, are alive!' His thoughts marched on in a simular pattern until they got particularly harsh, 'shes so selfish—' He forced them to a hault, wincing slightly.

He didnt want to think those things, not about his sister, not about anyone.

"So," Allison threw open her walk in closet, "take your pick." Klaus busied himself in searching through her clothes, keeping his mouth screwed shut.

"Think these would suit Lila?" Allison asked holding up a matching set of black PJs with small flowers printed on them.

Klaus nodded before going back to his search. He eventually landed on some really soft midnight blue ones with a white star and moon design on the front— he even snatched Five a small dark red hoodie.

"Good choice." Allison complemented.

'How can she act like everything's normal?' He thought, resisting the urge to scowl. Instead he gave her a tight smile.

"Thanks," he said heading out of her walk in closet, "I think i can find my own way back— I'll give those to Lila?" He held his hand out.

"Oh uh sure," she said, passing them over, "night!"

"Yeah, night." He said walking out and shutting the door behind him.

Frowning he continued through the house until he reached the guest area. He gave Lila and Diegos room a knock and waited a second before opening the door. Lila and Diego were squished on one of the two tiny beds, snuggled in eachothers hold.

"PJ delivery service!" He exclaimed.

"Oh— thanks Klaus could you place the on the side?" Lila asked gesturing to the small desk.

He nodded placing them down. "Night guys— see you tommarow for another shit show!" He exclaimed as he exited the room and entered the one next door— his and Fives.

Five was curled up on the bed and sat up, staring outside the window. He turned to Klaus when he entered and recieved the hoodie, which Klaus threw him, in his face.

"Hey— what—"

"Its comfier than the top half of that suit—now dont look!" Klaus exclaimed, pulling open the wardrobe and using the door as a physical barrier between him and Five while he changed— and God were the PJs soft.

When Klaus came out, Five had the hoodie on. "Shut up." He said.

Klaus raised an eyebrow. "I didnt say anything—"

"You were going to."

Klaus rolled his eyes and flopped onto the bed. "Eh," he said, "I mean I guess I told you so—"

Five groaned and Klaus shut his mouth. The room fell silent.

"This is a mess," Klaus started, staring at the ceiling, "but… Maybe its not all doom and gloom? I mean we have our niece and brother in law back, the world isnt ending—" He was lying through his teeth; this was horrible, and they were really counting their losses here.

"That we know of." Five jumped in, turning over. Klaus flopped onto his side and met Fives eyes.

"We would usually know by now though."

Five shrugged. "These arent the usual times."

"Yeah but like are they ever though?" More silence.

"The reset was half-arsed," Five said ignoring the question, "Reginald died while doing whatever he was doing— I doubt things are as good as they seem."

"Yeah," Klaus couldn't help but say, "yeah… I agree, fuck why cant things ever go right?!" He asked, words spewing out alongside a manic laugh, "its like tragedy runs in our blood! Im so done with it!"

"I guess tragedy just runs in the family." Five said, lips quirking up into a slight smile as he let out a small laugh.

"Yeah," Klaus said with bubbling laugher, "yeah I guess it does, it really does," first a brother goes missing, then a brother dies, then a lover dies, then you die at the hands of your father— multiple times no less!!! And thats only a small amount of what Klaus' so called life was like, "one more tragic event and— I swear— Im achually going to flip!" He exclaimed preforming his usual dramatics before letting out yawn, "anyways, nighty night brother of mine." He said leaning over and flipping the light off.

There was silence then a small "Night Klaus." In response.

Allison crept up the stairs, her daughter following behind. Their hands were full of pots and pans— it had been Claires idea to wake up her Uncles up in such a manner while Ray was preparing breakfast, a platter of summer fruits.

With all her family beneath one roof, Allison has never felt this euphoric. They were all well and alive, the world wasn't ending— this was their chance to start over fresh!

They got to the guest hall and Allison held up her hand, fingers decending in a count down. "Three… two… one—" She whispered. The second her final finger went down Claire rushed forward, pots and pans bashing against eachother in a cacophony of noise and Allisok joined her, laughing as Claire pounded on the first door.

"Wake up, wake up, wake up!" Claire exclaimed rushing into the first room— Klaus and Fives guest room.

Five was sat up in bed, hair messed up beyond belief, meanwhile Klaus was burried beneath the covers, muttering sonething in annoyance. Claire giggled and shot Five a smile before rushing to Klaus and jumping on him.

Meanwhile, next door, Diego popped his head out, already wide awake, he had clearly been up for a while. Lila, slightly groggy, followed behind him. "To what do we owe the complete and utter pleasure?" Lila asked.

At the sound of her voice Claire turned around and rushed out Five and Klaus' room, immediately enveloping Lila and Diego in a hug. When met with their niece, their faces shifted into something softer, still annoyed, yet understanding as they admired Claires child like nature.

Claire immediately bounced around the corner to Viktor and Luthers room. Before she could walk in, the door swung open and Luther almost walked into the small child before stopping and looking down upon her. He seemed frozen for a second, but once Claires arms wrapped around his figure, he was moving, his hand wrapping around her.

"Oh, hey Claire," he said, sleep within his voice, "was that you making all that noise…?"

"Yep!" The girl exclaimed before looking around her Uncle and rushing further into the room, leaving with Viktors hand in hers.

Allison smiled at the sight as Ben stomped down the corridor, an assault of cusses likely on the tip of tongue, which were stopped by Claire. "Uncle Ben, Uncle Ben!" She yelled, hugging him before looking around, as if taking count of everyone.

"Uncle Five, Uncle Klaus!" She exclaimed marching back into the duos room.

"Let me sleep~" Klaus groaned as everyone crowded by the door, watching Claire jump onto his bed and wack the pots and pans together. He groaned before giving in with a hurried, "Im up, im up…" Klaus muttered.

Five was already stood up, practically swimming in a famliar hoodie— "Is that mine?" Allison questioned, lips quirking into a smile.

Five groaned and didnt answer her question while Klaus perked up. "Oh yeah I stole it from your room for him— hope you dont mind."

"Not at all." She snickered.

"We're having fruit for breakfast!" Claire exclaimed.

"Is there pineapple?" Klaus asked. Lila also perked up at those words.

"Yep!"

Klaus and Lila let out a collective cheer before rushing down stairs and Claire followed. Allison let out a laugh looking around at everyone else, who was still silent. She frowned before crossing her arms. "Come on be more upbeat— for Claire and Ray?" She asked, "and maybe you may achually enjoy yourselves while we are at it— this world isnt that bad!"

Diego grumbled something before averting his gaze while Five sighed. Viktor wordlessly kicked his feet against the floor while Ben scowled.

"I guess I am starving…" Luther muttered. The rest collectively gave him a glare, "what?" He questioned.

Allison smiled, clapping him on the shoulder. "We have melon, strawberries, grapes and pineapple of course," she laughed leading everyone to the stairs— "and thats not all." She said with a smile.

Chapter Text

For a second Stan felt like he was in agony, like he was being torn apart from the inside out, then, he felt nothing, followed by a sudden overwhelming sense of everything. 

Beneath him was hard marble floor, smooth and polished. Stan edged his eyes open, blinking, overwhelmed by the sudden changes. It wasnt every day that you felt like you were torn apart then instantly rebuilt afterall.

"Holy shit…" Stan muttered, standing up from the checkered floor and turning around as he admired the massive foyer. 

Seriously, it was huge, like nothing he had ever seen before. In the centre was a wooden table, probably made from something fancy like mahogany. It was polished beyond belief and upon the top sat a golden bell, in the dead centre.

Two sets of stairs led up to a balcony. Rustic gold pillars held up the building, and a chandelier hung from the ceiling. The light was on, spreading a warm yellow throughout the room.

"Diego?" He called, voice echoing, "Lila? Uncle Klaus—"

Suddenly, there were rushed footsteps from the room next door to him. Rushing through the arch was a woman, tall with curled light brown, almost blonde, hair. Her blue eyes scanned Stanley as she stopped in her tracks. 

Stanley raised an eyebrow, trying to work out why she looked so familiar, then it clicked. He stepped back, immediately wary. "Y—your the one with the gravity powers… right?" He asked. Last he saw her, she had been with a couple, ready to attack—

Her features softened for some reason, yet it didnt stop the raging fear brewing within Stanley. "Im Sloane." She said. She took a step forward and Stan instantly stepped back.

"Where—where's Lila and Diego?!" He yelled some bite to his voice— clearly not enough because she stepped forward another step.

"You're their kid right?" She asked.

"What—what's it to you?!”

She stopped before slowly rasing her hand and gesturing to the ring on her finger. "You see that?"

"Its a ring yeah—"

"Its the ring your Uncle Luther gave me," she said, "made by his own hand— with moon rock. Creative, right?" She questioned and… she was right, it was pretty neat.

"Yeah…" He muttered.

"If your Uncle Luther trusted me," she continued, taking a step forward, "don't you think you can to."

His tense shoulders sunk as he sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I suppose… you have a point."

She smiled before looking around. 

“Do you… know where we are?” He asked.

She sighed before laying her eyes on the bell. “I… have an idea,” she said, “this… place seems to have the same layout of my home. Like Oblivion had the same layout—”

“Oblivion?” He asked, cutting in, “like the Hotel?”

She frowned. “Something like that…”

“Im gonna need more context,” he said eyes flickering to the bell, “hey maybe if we ring it—” He began to walk over only to get tugged back.

“Dont.” She said voice firm and strict.

“Why?” He whined.

“Last time I rang a bell, I had to fight for my life—” She started before sighing. Stan raised an eyebrow and folded his arms.

“Yeah, I'm definitely gonna need some context.”

Explaining took a while, Stanley was a very curious and chatty kid, he just wouldn't stop asking questions. It was sweet but annoying— she kept losing her place in the story and having to backtrack to re-explain things because this kid also didn't seem to have the best memory. 

“So Oblivion was like the Hotel Oblivion, just… supernatural?” 

“Yes.”

“And you think this,” he gestured around, “is a Oblivion but instead of it replicating the Hotel, it replicates… The Sparrow Academy?”

She nodded.

“And,” he turned from where they were sat on the stairs, “your theory is right the doors won't work?”

“If I'm right,” she said, “the way out won't be through the doors.” If she was right they were trapped in Oblivion 2.0.

Stanley stood up and walked towards the doors looking them up and down. “Wanna bet?”

She smirked. “Okay then, try them.” She challenged.

Stanley walked through the door. It shut behind him then mere seconds later, he was walking back in. His face lit up— “Woah, that's trippy!” Then before she knew it he was in and out again and again, like a kid who had just found some new toy to play with. 

“Trippys one word for it.” She said, smirking at his childish wonder. She had almost forgotten how regular kids acted. 

“And you said this place is like a maze?” He asked launching through the door. 

“Yep,” she said, “the corridors switch up.”

“Woah amazing!” He exclaimed, “It's like the supernatural version of a fun house.”

“Yeah,” she said, “a fun house that can reset the universe.”

He paused, eyes blown wide. “It can reset the universe?!” He exclaimed, “how?!”

“I… don't know,” she said, “but my Dad did it— in the Hotel version of this place.”

“The old guy with the mustache and creepy monocle?” He asked. 

She let out a small laugh, nodding. “Yes, yes him.”

“What happened after?”

She frowned. “Your Aunt pushed the button,” she said, “...and that's the last thing I can remember.”

He frowned. “Wow…”

“Yeah,” she muttered, “not ideal.”

Then, the sound of footsteps rang out— from the balcony. Instantly, Stanley froze and, on instinct, Sloane stood up and twisted around, already backing towards Stan. “Whose there?” She asked.

Two shadows loomed above them, one female, one male, both young. They had their fingers intertwined and, seconds after her call, they stepped forward, leaning over the balcony.

She faltered as a younger version of her brother stared her in the face. 

“...Ben?” She asked, “do… do you recognise me? It's… It's me, Sloane.” He looked softer than before— less mean, more caring. He was dressed in a leather jacket which covered a black hoodie and was followed by dark trousers. 

Ben paused and looked her up and down. “No…? I don't recognise you,” he said, “how… do you know my name? Are you a fan?”

“No— no I'm not a fan of The Sparrow Academy—”

“The Sparrow Academy?” Ben questioned frown deepening.

She paused before unrolling her sleeve and holding up her tattoo. “Yeah… you know, The Sparrow Academy?”

He cocked his head to the side before unrolling his own sleeve. Where a sparrow should've been sitting, there was an umbrella instead. “I seriously dont know what you mean, im from The Umbrella Academy.”

Beside him was a girl, who had braided dark brown hair and was dressed in a white gown. She looked around his age— 17 if Sloane was correct— and had tears in her eyes and seemed completely and utterly terrified— she seemed vaguely familiar. “Are we… really dead?”

“No— no Jennifer,” Ben said voice unusually soft, “there… there's no way…” 

“How long have you been here for?” Sloane asked.

“A couple hours—” The girl, Jennifer, started, “the last thing we remember was— was pain, a lot of pain—” she dissolved into sobs before she could say anymore.

“Hey I remember that too,” Stanley said, “its was like I was being torn apart from the inside— then like I was being rebuilt.”

Ben stiffened at that. 

“Mine was more… stabbing…” Jennifer said, “I… don't know what caused it… the clearest memory I have is… waking up that morning, everything else is so blurry.”

Ben nodded in agreement. “Is… it the same for you two?”

Sloane shook her head while Stan let out a “Nope.”

“Why… don't you two come down here?” Sloane asked, “we can… share information.”

Ben and Jennifer seemed to share a look, then the girl spoke, leading Ben down. “Four minds are better than two.” She shrugged, wiping the tears from her face as she led Ben down the stairs. Ben then tugged her back, frown deeply edged into his face.

“How do I know your not the reason we're here?” He asked, “how can I know I can trust you?” 

Sloane knew the Umbrellas childhood was far from easy. She supposed growing up in a home where the main parental figure was as stone cold as their Reginald seemed would cause some natural distrust to fester. Unaffected, Sloane took a second before speaking.

“If I wanted to hurt you, I would've done so already.” She said, hoping the logic would help.

Ben frowned, backing away. “That sounds like what someone would say when they're waiting for the right opportunity to fuck someone over.” Ben remarked, eyes wider.

He then made the same position her Ben made when preparing to unleash The Horror— exposing his stomach, hands positioned to the side. Sloane expected the rush to be instant but it wasn't. 

He lightly pushed Jennifer back before hesitating and looking at Sloane then Stanley… and then Jennifer again.

He seemed to meet his conclusion to whatever train of thoughts he was having to make him so hesitant— her Ben never hesitated (she wondered what made this one so hesitant).

Tentacles ripped through the black shirt and raced forward.

Sloane slammed up her hand, tried to hold them back like she did the axe in Hotel Oblivion but when she reached for her powers, nothing happened. 

“Wait—” Stan exclaimed. Sloane rushed back and grabbed his arm, shoving them both behind a pillar, standing back to back on instinct.

“Your siblings,” Sloane yelled, “I know your siblings. Luther— he's… my husband! He had a fascination with the moon and… and space at your age. Im… im from the future… in a way— from their future.” 

There was a pause. Sloane could see the tentacles, curling around the post— then they were tugged back. She poked around to see Ben standing there, hands in his pockets. “The future?” He asked, “as in… there's some sort of time travel involved…?”

“Something like that,” she said, slowly grabbing Stanley's wrist and pulling him out from behind the pillar, “we can tell you if you want?” She suggested.

“How do I know it's the truth?” He asked.

She shrugged. “I swear it is the truth, but I can't make you believe me,” she said, “only you can do that so I guess it's up to you whether you do or not.”

Ben looked at Jennifer who nodded, pulling him forward and taking the lead. “So, what happened?” The girl asked, sitting on the middle step. Ben lowered down beside her just as curious.

“Well…” she started, “ever heard of The Grandfather Paradox?”

Chapter Text

Claire sat down beside Five. Why she chose him of all people he did not know. She picked a blueberry from the platter and practically threw it into her mouth before reaching for a piece of kiwi fruit.

Meanwhile, Five eyed the dragon fruit before looking around at everyone. Luther was trying a mixture of fruit, ranting to Ray about how good they tasted and looked— Five had to admit he too was impressed in how Ray arranged the fruit platter, it was definitely extravagant, maybe even over the top. Meanwhile Allison chatted to Lila and Diego, gushing about their pregnancy. The couple seemed uncomfortable but played along, nervously looking at Ray and Claire the entire time.

Klaus was unusually silent while Ben seemed to be grumbling to himself about whatever was missing him off now and Viktor was eying Allison, looking like he wanted to yell and scream at her.

All in all, the joy that everyone seemed to be trying to portray was washed over by tenseness that Five doubted Ray and Claire were missing. 

“So…” Ray started, “Five, how's… school?” Ray asked. 

Beside him, Claire took interest as well. “Yeah you're in big school right? Didn't you just have that big maths test?”

Five frowned and glanced at Allison, confused. She simply nodded enthusiastically, yet beyond the disguise he could tell she had no idea what Claire and Ray were on about, despite acting like she was in the loop. “Bet you aced it didn't ya?"

“Yeah, aced it.” He said before taking another piece of fruit. 

“No surprises there,” Ray mused, “academia has always been your thing— I remember I was more into English, History, and obviously Drama when I was your age— essay or art based subjects,” he said, “I couldn't stand Science and Maths.”

“I guess I'm good at Drama,” he said, locking eyes with Allison, “acting has always come easy to me.” 

Allison's smile sunk into a scowl— that was until Ray and Claire's eyes went anywhere near it. “Really Five? That's cool… maybe I could take you to a movie set some day?” She asked in a horribly sweet tone that made him want to rip his ears off— she was speaking to him as if he were a kid, as if everything was normal.

He hummed before turning back to the fruit. “That would be nice,” he said, “what's the next movie that you're working on?” He asked. 

“I…” she seemed nervous now, “...don't know, its a hard name to forget—”

“Didn't you get contacted for the Love On Loan sequel?" Ray asked and Claire nodded alongside him, both confused, “and, since it's been publicly announced we can talk about it.”

The silence was broken by Lila. “Oh wow…” Lila said, clapping in a way that seemed sarcastic. 

“Yeah, its… an amazing opportunity!” Allison exclaimed, trying to keep up the illusion, “so… unbelievable I almost forgot! I really didn't think it would get a sequel.”

“A set tour would be amazing, if you can get one.” Five said. 

Claire chimed in. “That would be cool, could I come too?”

“Maybe yeah,” she said, "I'll see if I can swing it!” He doubted she could, not without rumouring someone.

“Im going go get my pens!” Claire exclaimed rushing off. 

Silence sat within the room, suffocating and tense. The TV ran in the background and Five switched his attention to it. They were saying something about slowly rising crime rates and a recent vandalism that had happened overnight— a picture flashed onto the screen: it was a building, proclaimed to be Hargreeves Tower. 

The name checked out given the giant H. The red spray paint was splattered almost like blood. ‘LIAR’ all in capitals sat upon the sky scraper. 

Klaus spat out his drink as Diego hid a giggle behind his hand. Allison swatted him and gestured to where Claire had run off to. Meanwhile Luther tensed ever so slightly at the name before quirking a smile himself. Ben grumbled something, a shocked look on his face as he eyed Diego, seemingly annoyed as he kicked him beneath the table— that only caused him to laugh louder. Lila smirked, arms crossed as she laid back in her seat, seemingly relaxed by the news. Five couldn't fight a smirk of his own.

Then, Ray spoke. “Who'd he piss off this time?” He remarked. 

Allison looked shocked. Diego's laughs loudened. “I know right! What an ass!”

“The amount of small businesses under threat right now is insane— basically everything is under his name,” Ray said, “Hargreeves Enterprises is set for world domination I swear, it's already worked its way across most of the world— world leaders seem to bend to his will.”

“Its his world we're just living in it.” Diego remarked.

“Thats how it'll turn out with the rate this is going.” Ray said, half joking, half serious.

“Ew,” Klaus exclaimed, “a world run by him? There's no way—” He seemed to stop himself as the news continued on, saying something about a speech from him. 

Suddenly, another screen took over— Reginald's face was at the forefront, his wife lingering in the background. Then, he began to speak.

Reginald's doppelganger had accomplished many wonderful things— Hargreeves City, the success of Hargreeves Enterprises, and the unwavering trust of world leaders all over. But, when Reginald woke up to vandalism sprayed upon his home, he realised he had not achieved complete and utter control.

He was able to suppress the news for a while— vandalism was a sign of rebellion, signs of rebellion caused hope. There had already been too much of that in the media. 

He had a conference in the early morning after he spawned— one he was able to put a surprise announcement within the officials worldwide.

Days later, the first couple designs were complete and ready for shipment, now all there was to do was to announce them to the public.

After all, to merge two societies, domination over both should first be achieved. He already had Talaria underneath his tenticals— now all he needed was Earth, and he was already half way there. 

All he needed was a push, and it turned out fear could do remarkable things when it came to the manipulation of the human species.

“Our world has changed,”  he announced into the microphone, “as you have undoubtedly noticed, crime rates have risen substantially throughout the years and your so-called leaders have been unable to manage the situation, which is why, from today, I'm introducing a new sector of Hargreeves Security into the public eye, approved and to be used by all world leaders worldwide” in the other timelines he'd crafted a robot capable of near immortality, programmed to fight and bend in ways humans could never. A security drone rushed overhead, whizzing over the reporters heads and to Reginald's side. At the same time, a human sized metal robot paraded through the crowd. “The Har-Bots sector.” He announced.

“Seems like that world is one step closer to happening.” Klaus remarked, rubbing his temple and breaking the room's silence. 

Allison looked at the TV, stunned.

‘So she didn't know about this?’ Five thought, ‘or is all just an act.’ What scared him most is that he didn't know. 

Lila's hand absently rubbed her stomach and Diego glanced down at it, following and cupping behind her hands. Five watched as they locked eyes— he'd never seen Diego so scared and lovestruck all at once. 

“It'll be fine,” Allison said, "there's no way in hell that it'll stay in effect, I mean, look at it, it's ridiculous!” She laughed before turning off the TV, turning a blind eye. When Ray began to speak and everyone's eyes were taken off her, Five saw her confident persona deflate for a split second— she too seemed terrified.

“Its ridiculous,” Ray agreed, “but so is all the shit that man's done, and it's all stayed in effect,” he continued, “a resistance of sorts is needed.”

Allison stuttered. Five could tell she didn't exactly disagree— rebellion and resistance seemed to be edged into her blood, her battle within The Civil Rights movement in the 60s proved that much. She was a natural fighter, and he could tell Ray was as well.

Before anything else could be said, Claire skipped into the room and the conversation shut down. His niece sat down next to him and pulled a piece of paper up and showed it to the table. Five watched his siblings' reactions— confused, stunned, and, in Allison's case, terrified. The picture made its way around to him and he raised an eyebrow, eyes narrowing as he made sense of the drawing, the six Umbrellas printed onto what seemed like school uniform, the domino masks—

“Who… are they Claire?” Diego asked. 

“The Umbrella Academy— you guys as a superhero team!” She exclaimed twisting to Viktor, “I didn't see a superhero version of you but I have ideas—” then to Lila, “your not there, yet at least im sure you would join in the future, you weren't raised with them and this is when they were kids, same with Auntie Sloane,” Luther took a sharp intake of air at the name, then Claire twisted to Five, “and I know it's not age accurate for you, but this is how it all appeared— in the dream I had!” 

“The dream you had?” Five asked, eyeing Allison, then Claire, “can you tell us more?” 

“Yes— I'll start with you! You're called “The Boy” and you can teleport— possibly time travel as well! Your powers were,” she picked up a blue crayon, “this shade of blue,” she continued, “in the dream Mama— she's The Rumor and can mind control people by the way— showed me videos of your powers, you disappeared and reappeared, it was so awesome,” she continued, “Uncle Diego can throw knives super well, the bend and zip through the air— I think he would be good at basketball! He can also deflect bullets! It's like telekinesis in a way,” she continued, “Uncle Ben has these tentacles from an Eldritch Horror—”

“Okay Claire,” Allison said, now pale, “I think that's enough— maybe save the rest for later, y'know, suspense and all…”

“Yeah! I need to finish some more designs,” She said kicking her feet back and forth, “im gonna get some fineliner and start outlining!” She exclaimed before running off again.

“It's strange,” Five started, “that she's having dreams of us as superheroes, huh Allison?” His glare hit her eyes, unwavering and stagnant.

“Yeah,” Allison said, “I guess it is, but dreams are weird like that sometimes huh?”

“Your telling me,” Ray chimed in, “I had a dream about the 60s last night—”

Five raised an eyebrow. “Huh… that's strange.” 

Allison laughed nervously. “Yeah, yeah, I guess,” she said, “I had a dream that I was riding on a cloud last night, and the night before I was surfing a wave full of pink water!” She exclaimed. 

“I had a dream that I was jumping on sand the other night,” Ray exclaimed, “but it was like… a bouncy castle? And at the same time it felt and tasted like cotton candy.” He laughed before gesturing to the platter of fruit, which was near enough finished, “everyone done?” He asked and everyone nodded.

He then took the platter away and disappeared into the kitchen.

“Where the hell is she?” Luther yelled standing up, “where the hell is my wife Allison—”

“I—I don't know—”

“She exists in this universe, your daughter has met her, you have to know!” He exclaimed. 

“Well…” She bit down on her lip eyes flickering with a realisation— “there might be a way— I have some documents I asked Reginald to spawn into a safe, stuff that belonged to your doppels, ID… deeds to possible houses you may be living in—”

“Well come on then,” Luther hurried, “that could be the key to telling us where Sloane is and you've kept it to yourself this entire time?!” He exclaimed, hurrying out the room after Allison. Everyone else followed suit.

“Im sorry, I was tired— I can't be expected to remember everything, this whole thing was very complex, I had just gotten my family back—”

“Yeah yeah,” Luther hissed, “continue making damn excuses.”

“The dreams Allison—” Five cut in, pushing past Luther as they climbed up the stairs, “they— they could be memories coming in.”

“Its not an issue, dreams are… strange, it's… a coincidence—” Allison started as she got to the top of the stairs and turned towards the office. 

“What happens when Claire dreams of the moon slamming into Earth? Or Ray dreams of being introduced to our hellish family in the 60s?” Five hissed, “this isn't something you can just ignore! What happens if dreams become more like memories!?” 

“I can and I will! It's not an issue, that won't happen!” Allison exclaimed, throwing the door open and turning to a cabinet. She opened it and typed in the code to the safe.

“Our birthday?” Diego exclaimed, “thats such a bad code—”

“Shut up.” She hissed before swinging open the safe. Luther shoved past her and grabbed the documents shuffling through them, then pausing.

“A marriage certificate—” He exclaimed, then flicked to the next one, “and passports…” He said before passing the leftover documents to the nearest sibling— Diego. His eyes never once left the two documents in hand.

Diego laid them out on the table, reading the names and sorting them into piles. 

He paused on one of the drivers licenses and turned to Allison. “Seriously? You gave Klaus one—”

“Hell yes!” Klaus exclaimed, taking it from Diego, “and it doesn't say Number Four Hargreeves— bonus!”

“Oh my… Diego did you read this before slapping it down?” Lila asked, picking up a document.

“Just saw our names— figured I would read it later,” he said while placing a passport onto Viktor's pile, “why?”

“It's an adoption paper!” Lila exclaimed. 

“What now?” Diego hissed, leaning over, passport half open in his hand.

“For Quinn Efa Hargreeves-Gill…”

“Efa?” Five blurted out, "that's my mothers name— the biological one.”

Lila hummed before taking the passport from Diego's hand and freezing— laughing and shoving it in Five's face. There he was, or rather, someone with his face with the legal name of Quinn— “Hell no.” He scowled reading through the information. His birth year had changed to 2006— “Allison!” He scowled, looking between the adoption paper, passport and his sister, “are you kidding me right now?!”

Lila's cackles continued as Diego put the pieces together. “Oh shit.” He looked between Five and the adoption paper, “Wait, I'm your legal guardian?”  His surprise turned into amusement, “now that whole bed time thing makes more sense.”

“That… wasn't me…” Allison muttered crossing her arms, “but I have to admit…” Her lips quirked into a smirk and Fives frown deepened.

“Don't.” He warned.

“I haven't even said anything.” She said arms up, fake innocence painted over her face but her smile said it all.

“Dont entertain me with sibling banter after everything, quit acting like you didn't betray us.” Five hissed. Her smirk sunk.

“Well im sorry im just trying to make the best out of the situation,” Allison hissed, “the world's in one piece Five that's thanks to me—”

“Yes, you keep on saying it!” Five yelled, “you're like a damn cassette tape stuck on repeat— you're not taking the narrative any further. The dreams Allison— what if Claire and Ray aren't the only ones having them? And what happens if people find out they aren't just dreams? What happens when Reginald topples this society? I mean he's already been able to craft the world to his desire so in that respect he's pretty much already won!”

“Your overreacting, that won't happen.” Allison hissed.

“And you know this how?” He asked, “did you even ask what Reginald wanted out of the reset? What he would be gaining because trust me Allison its likely more than we can see at the minuite—”

“What… you think he coded into the universe that the world will end?"

“No,” Five hissed, “I think he coded in something worse than that: power, control, influence that we can already see he has! And it's only going to grow and grow until he has us all under his grubby fingers,” he yelled pacing around Allison and itching his head, “I can't reverse this, Allison. Why? Because he took away our damn powers: we are completely and utterly defenseless.”

“Maybe that's for the best,” Allison said, “maybe it's a sign that this isn't our fight and we should stay the hell out of it— he gets what he wants, we get what we want, win win.”

“Win win?!— Do you hear yourself?!” He yelled, flaring his arms out, “win win my ass, we've lost here Allison, you're just too delusional to see it—”

“Quit being so pessimistic.” Allison scowled.

“Im being realistic!” Five yelled, “this reset was half-arsed at best, you killed him half way through, there's probably a million things the old man didn't add—” 

“Isn't that a good thing? That he didn't have enough time to add everything” Allison exclaimed, “that way he didn't get all of what he wanted—”

“If he didn't get what he wanted he would be coming after us to get whatever he's after via another reset,” Five hissed, “he would've made himself known by now so clearly he got what he wanted!” He yelled, “he likely prioritised his wants and needs before moving to other things, which is why Claire, Ray and possibly others are having those ‘dreams’ and who knows what else! He doesn't care about you or I or the world, he only cares for himself,” he said before walking forward, his eyes colliding with Allison's— “we aren't safe here, and we never will be thanks to you.” He spat.

Allison's eyes widened slightly. “We are safe,” Her voice wobbled with the final word, “we're not dead, the world isn't ending— Dad isn't after us—"

“Did you not listen to a damn word I said!?” He screamed.

“Did you not hear any of mine?!” Allison yelled back, closing the gap between them. 

“Guys can we just—” Viktor started walking in between them. He had the nerve to place a hand on Fives shoulder, which he immediately shoved off.

“Oh like you're much better than her— you trusted her! You let her press the button!” Five screamed, “you didn't listen to me, none of you ever do!”

“I didn't think this would happen Five—” Viktor said, voice quivering. 

“I warned you!” He yelled, “the decisions you make impact the entire world,” he scowled, quoting words already spoken, warnings that went unheard, “so no matter how benevolent they may seem you don't get to make them alone! I warned you Viktor! You chose to let her press the damn button despite everyone telling you it was a shitty idea!”

“Five— I thought it was the right choice!” Viktor yelled, “I wanted to trust my sister!”

“Well it was the wrong choice,” Five said, voice low and stone cold. He twisted to look at Allison, words prepared from the conversation he had with Viktor all those nights ago, a conversation he should've had with Allison instead, “you know what they call a superhero who works alone Allison? Who doesn't listen to anyone? A villain.”

Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Viktor flinch at the words. 

Allison scoffed. “I am not—”

“—a villain, Five?” He finished for her, eyebrows raised. He scoffed, looking from Viktor back to Allison.

Ironic. 

It had been the exact response Viktor had given. 

Allison's scowl deepened. 

This time, he skipped the pleasantries, the promises of being there if she needed. Instead he took a few more steps towards her. “No more going rogue. Lie to us again,” he said, bite in his words, “and I'll kill you myself.” 

Allison's eyes widened as she stepped back in a flitch, movements cautious yet wild and frantic all at once. With that, Five shoved past her and walked out the door.

Chapter Text

After the Five fiasco the room went silent— that was until Luther began to speak. “I uh…” everyone immediately looked at him expecting another row, “its good news,” he specified, pulling something from his and Sloane's shared lump of documents. It was a key to a house, “found some documents for a home Sloane and I have here, and a car aswell…” He said smiling like the love sick idiot he is. Allison invited him to use the computer to research the place a bit while everyone else looked through their own documents.

Soon after, Diego and Lila found out that they too had a family home, Klaus found the keys to a small apartment and so did Viktor and Ben. They dug up credit cards, a list of codes, logins— there was a lot there to get them started in this new world, even information about their jobs.

Lila picked out her one, shuddering at the name. “Gills Gardens,” she announced, “owned by Ronnie and Anita Gill.” Her lips turned into a smile as her eyes began to water.

“Who…?” Luther asked, having just logged onto the computer.

“My parents.” Lila smiled, gripping Diego's hand.

Her partner squeezed back and smiled. “Thats amazing.” Diego said, placing a small kiss in her hair. She wiped her tears of happiness and leant into his embrace before popping her head out and giving the family a winning smile, which they all returned. 

“Finally,” Klaus said, “some good fucking news.”

“Here's some more,” Luther added, "I've started looking up addresses and so far we're all on the outskirts of Hargreeves City. The furthest away from the majority of us so far is Viktor, who's like an hour or two away but aside from that I think we all stuck together.” He said as he showed them all Google maps, pointing to already known locations and answering questions.

There was so much to research that Allison allowed Lila and Diego to have her laptop. The first thing Lila looked at was Gills Gardens, her family business. The images consisted of a building covered to the brim in all things wild life. Outside of it were her parents, hand in hand, alive. Her mother was small with a round face and long brown hair which was eternally thick, like Lilas. Meanwhile her father had her soft brown eyes. She saw herself in the way her mothers face was alight with excitement and the way her fathers lips flicked into a smile. 

They looked so happy, absolutely full of joy with their little garden centre on the corner of a small street in some homely town— it looked perfect.

Diego leant forward. “Oh yeah, I can see the resemblance, they look just like you,” he complimented, “just less chaotic.” He teased.

Playfully, she kicked him in the shins and rolled her eyes before looking back at the screen. She then opened a new tab and looked up her, Diego's and, she guessed, Five home. From the view of Google maps it looked perfectly normal and ordinary. It had some nice flowers outside and vines crawling up the walls. From what she could tell through the windows, it was… homely. “We're on the outskirts of the city too.”

“Where abouts?” Luther asked.

Diego relayed the address and then Luther typed it in and shot them a smile— “Half hour away from myself and Sloane,” he said, “and Gill Garden is like… twenty minutes from yours?”

“Perfect.” Lila smiled

“We all, asides from Viktor, seem to be in a place called Nelsonville… from what I can see it's very Anti-Hargreeves…” He said. 

“Even more amazing.” Diego smirked, arms crossed. 

“Ill get you flights there," Allison said. Everyone's eyes rushed to her and she seemed to falter under the pressure, “...assuming going there's your next step?”

Lila looked around and everyone seemed to be in agreement that it was the next best option. 

“Okay then,” Allison said, gesturing for Luther to let her use the computer and he moved aside, “I’ll start on that.”

Viktor frowned from where he was and eyed his sister. Lila could sense he was about to say something and her senses were never off.

“Allison,” Viktor spoke, “if you think booking us flights is good enough to get you back on our good side, then you're delusional,” he said, voice cold, “I think I speak for everyone when I say we will never forget what you did.”

“I—” Allison wasn't given a chance to respond before Viktor turned to the group. 

“We need to ditch that car we stole somewhere,” he said, “I know its broad day light but I bet those Har-Bots are going to be dispatched here soon so we better get it over with before hand.”

Klaus poked up a finger and grabbed his drivers license from the table. “I'll help!” He exclaimed and grabbed Viktor's arm, leading him out the room.

Ben lingered for a second before following behind. “You two will fuck it up and get caught.” He exclaimed before begrudgingly following.

Lila let out a cackle. “Quite the trip they'll make huh?” She said to Diego who allowed the wisp of a smile to pull at his lips before his expression changed to something that read ‘oh shit.’ He grabbed Klaus’ phone alongside his own before speaking.

“Wait, I'm coming too!” He exclaimed, giving Lila a small kiss on the cheek before rushing after the trio. 

Lila sighed before glancing at Luther and Allison. “And then there were three.” 

Five sighed as he fell down onto the couch nearby the front door. He rubbed his temple as the cushion dipped— beside him was Ray, who seemed concerned. “You okay?” He asked, “everyone just disappeared from the room—”

“Oh I'm swell.” He hissed arms crossed.

“Did… something happen?” Ray pushed.

“Oh just our usual family drama.” Five said with a tight smile.

“Well if you ever need to talk things out,” Ray placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed down. Five barely resisted the urge to flitch away, "I'm always here.” He said, smile ever so soft and kindhearted. 

‘He's too good for Allison.’ Five thoughts, lips sinking into a frown. There had been days where Allison had been similar but that was before time travel had tainted her heart forever. The Allison he had seen a month ago in their 2019 was different from the one he was faced now, and ever so different from the one had seen in his youth. 

“Yeah, thanks.” Five said, leaning away as footsteps rushed down the stairs.

“Im driving!” Klaus exclaimed.

“You'll crash!” Ben hissed, annoyed as always.

“I have a licence!” He yelled back, “I won't crash!”

Five stood up, hands tucked in pockets. “Where are you idiots off now?” He asked eyeing Viktor and Diego who were following behind.

“To dump the car,” Diego saw Ray and continued, “the rental car. There's a uh… sister company nearby that will accept it,” he then twisted to Ray, “dude reckon we can borrow one of your cars just to get us back from the rental place?”

Five frowned looking at the group. “Im coming,” he decided, them dumping a stolen car alone would go tragically wrong, “we'll split into two groups—”

“Its not a military mission,” Diego joked hand on Fives shoulder as he pushed him towards the door, “Ray, you think we could get that car?” He asked.

Ray smiled and chucked him the keys. Klaus jumped in front of Diego and caught them as Ray spoke. "Just don't wreck it.”

“I won't Raymundo, you're the best brother in law ever thanks!” He exclaimed in a rush, dashing out the front door.

“And the spare gate key,” Ray said, throwing it to Diego, “should get you in and out.”

Diego rolled his eyes and gave Ray a nod before herding Five and the others out the door. “Viktor keep Klaus in line, tell him there's a place I saw up in some backlanes on the way here,” Diego said, “tell him to wait, what, a quarter of a mile south of there? Tell him to me on his phone if there's any issues.” 

Viktor nodded and rushed in Klaus’ direction. 

“You guys found... phones in there?” Five asked. Diego pulled one out his pocket and showed Five. 

“They're all facial ID,” he said pointing the phone at his face and unlocking it, “cool right?” 

Five hummed as they walked towards the gate. Diego jogged forward and twisted the key in and a few seconds later the gate was opening. The sound of an engine revving caused them all to flitch to the side as a car came hurtling forward. ‘Klaus.’ Five thought as he watched it dash past, a cackle being carried through the open window and echoing through the wind.

“Christ…” Diego muttered, rubbing his temple as he shut the gate, everyone having walked through. 

“Not my brother, not my responsibility.” Ben muttered, rubbing his temple. 

Five sat in the front passenger seat, eyes darting around as Diego turned into the country lane.

“Here?” Ben asked.

“Not here here,” Diego said, "there's a field around an hour away.”

“Two hours away from Allisons…” Five muttered, “seems reasonable.”

Ben who was sitting in the middle passenger seat leant back and texted Klaus’ relaying the exact location and instructions.

“So,” Diego started turning to Five, “ever been on a plane before?”

Five frowned, eyes trained on something in the distance. “...why?” He asked, raising an eyebrow and turning to focus on Diego.

“Allisons booking us flights,” he said, “we're going to see what our doppels have been up to, seems like the logical next move right?”

Five shrugged. “I guess…” He said, “find out much from the documents?”

“Well,” Diego said, taking a breath. He guessed now was a good time to drop the bomb, “Ronnie and Anita Gill, Lila's parents, are still alive.”

Something in Five's expression faltered. “That means no Commission.”

“Bingo,” Diego said, “there was proof that Luther and Sloane were together in this universe. They owned a house together, so we're gonna check there for her.”

Five hummed as Diego continued. “There's a family home that you, Lila and I have,” he said, “and places for everyone else. We're all pretty near to each other, aside from Viktor whose like an hour or two away.”

“Good,” Five said, “we can check out everything relatively quickly then.” He leant back and folded his arms, going back to absently looking out the window.

“Your brother is a terrible speller,” Ben grimaced, reading the texts, “hes already got a bunch of Internet slang that he's using.”

“Klaus is texting while driving?” Diego asked.

“Viktor took over,” Ben said, putting the phone on mute and shutting it off, “at least I hope. Like I said, not my brother—”

“—not your problem, yeah I know.” Diego muttered.

“There's some spare cash in here,” Five said, “enough to get a meal on the way back.”

“Why would we need a meal to come back with?” Ben asked before groaning and texting on the phone yet again, “your damn brother won't stop texting!”

“To explain why we took so long,” Five said, “they don't know we're dumping a stolen car afterall, and while you're at it could you ask Viktor and Klaus what they think we should take back?”

Ben groaned before shoving the phone up to Five. “Here you text, your brother, your problem.” He said before sitting back and crossing his arms.

“Im on look out duty,” Five said, shoving it back to Ben, “you send updates!”

Diego sighed. “Im not going to have to deal with you two bickering for the entire drive right?”

“Well if someone doesn't stop complaining—” Five started. 

“If someone would just deal with his own brother!” 

“Y'know he's technically your brother—”

“In your timeline? Perhaps—” 

“—in law!” 

“Yeah, in law, he's your brother in the literal sense!” 

“Okay this'll be brilliant parenting practice.” Diego muttered.

Five heard him. “We're not kids—” That he and Ben could agree on. 

“Well you're damn well acting like it!” Diego exclaimed, “quit complaining and just stick to your role else I will stop this car and we will be stuck with each other longer than necessary."

That shut them up.

“Okay Klaus,” Viktor said, there had been one tight corner too many, “can I drive?”

“I mean— sure!” He said pulling over without so much as indicating.

Viktor let out a sigh of relief when Klaus stopped the car and stepped out of the seat. On the way around, he gestured for Viktor to throw him the phone. Waiting until he got a bit close, Viktor passed it to him. “You're no fun.” Klaus moaned. 

“Yeah, and neither is a smashed phone.”

Klaus rolled his eyes and took a seat in the passenger's seat. As Viktor adjusted the drivers, Klaus began to text Ben, relaying information to Viktor.

“Wow— Ben's such a sour puss!” Klaus exclaimed as Viktor started the car.

“Yeah, this version of him is like that.” Viktor pointed out.

"Yeah…” Klaus said, frowning, “our Ben was so much more joyful, annoying sure, but not so much of an ass.”

Viktor hummed, eyes trained on the road. “I…” he started before biting down on his lip and glancing at Klaus.

The loss of Ben, their Ben, seemed like a fresh wound for Klaus. “I…I'm sorry you couldn't say goodbye.” He said gripping down on the wheel. 

Part of Viktor thought it should've been Klaus who gave him the final hug, who held on until every essence of him as he disintegrated. Klaus deserved that, more than Viktor, more than anyone.

But, for that to have happened, he would've had to have taken Viktor's place entirely— and that meant being questioned, drugged and stuck in his own mind, which Viktor could imagine wasn't a pretty place.

Klaus flinched at the words before sighing and leaning back. Viktor didn't have the heart to scold him as he put his feet up on the dash board. “Its not your fault it played out that way,” he said, “Ben made the honourable choice to sacrifice himself, to save you. It's not something you or I had a choice in… im just glad he had someone with him in his final moments…” He said before taking a shaky breath, “besides he's probably… watching from the Heavens… or from Hell, if it exists. He's still here, in spirit, in our hearts…” Klaus said, a tight smile pulling at his lips as he placed his hands over his heart.

“Can they do that?” Viktor asked, “watch us from the afterlife?”

Klaus hummed. “I died and met my Mum, apparently she watched all my deaths.”

“Does that mean… Sissy and Harlan…?” Viktor's words trailed off. 

Klaus frowned. “Perhaps,” he shrugged, “though I'm not exactly an expert on the dead anymore and the universe reset, so we'll never know for sure.”

Viktor nodded. “I… I don't know if I'd want to know, weirdly enough.”

Klaus hummed. “I get that," he said, “I… don't think I would either.”

‘Right…’ Viktor thought, ‘Dave.’ Klaus had spoke of him in the 60s. 

“What… was he like?” Viktor asked.

“Who, Ben?”

“No, Dave,” Viktor said, “though… while we're on the subject,” he paused for a second, “did Ben change much? After his death?”

“Still as bitter as he was in life,” Klaus said, “always bugging me about making the right choices…” He sighed.

“With me…” he recalled within his drugged haze, within his mind— “he was… soft, just as kind as he was in our childhood.” 

“Yeah he always had a soft spot for you,” Klaus smiled, “he was a harsh snarky bastard with me but… he cared, tough love and all. I think… I needed that kind of…presence you know?”

Viktor hummed. “...and Dave? What was he like?”

Klaus’ smile widened slightly. “Kind, ever so kind and… and soft, and caring, even war didn't taint him as much as the average soul. Despite it all… he was so loving. He wasn't made for constant gunfire,” he said before chuckling, “and he was funny, never failed to light up a room y'know? He just made everything better.”

“Yeah,” Viktor said, “Sissy was like that— she always knew the right thing to say… she was a brilliant mother, a brilliant woman… she helped me become more… true to myself.”

Klaus smiled. “Sounds like you two would make quite the pair.”

“Yeah,” Viktor reminisced, “we did…” he said wiping a stray tear from his eyes.

“I'm glad she was there for you when we couldn't be. She certainly has my approval.” Klaus said. 

Viktor smiled. “Im glad Dave was there for you when we couldn't be as well. I wish I could've… known him.”

“Oh, you guys would get along like a house on fire,” Klaus exclaimed, eyes watery, “best friends, instantly.”

Viktor laughed. “Y'know Sissy liked knitting— You did too, right?”

Klaus nodded. “One of my many hobbies!” 

“She always wanted a sewing partner— I tried but I couldn't get the hang of it…” Viktor laughed as the memory of his fingers messily intertwined with knotted thread— then Sissy rested her hands above his, guiding him through the motions as she sang a rhyme her mother had taught her. 

“Well I would've been the perfect brother in law for her.” Klaus said.

“Yeah, you would’ve…” Viktor smiled. 

Chapter Text

“Wait, you're leaving?” Claire exclaimed tugging on Luther's arms as Allison opened the attic.

“Sorry we need to uh… go check on your Aunt Sloane but we all still have the day together!”

“Is something wrong with her? Is that why she isn't here?”

Allison was about to chime in when she heard Luther begin to speak. “No, no, your Aunt Sloane is fine and… in fact I'm sure she would love to visit you soon!” Luther somehow managed to exclaim all this in an excited yet soft voice, just what Claire needed.

Allison turned around to see his knelt in front of Claire with a hand on his shoulder. Behind Claire, Lila ruffled her hair. “Yeah she's absolutely fine, me and Diego will likely be having a gender reveal party so I can imagine you'll see her there.” 

Claire's eyes lit up. “That's where there's either blue or pink, right? Blue for boy, pink for girl! I hope it's a girl but I would be happy with either.”

Lila smiled as softly as an ex assassin could. “Me to squirt.” She said, playfully ruffling her curls again.

The downstairs front door opened, and with it came bickering.

“—my spelling is beautiful, thank you very much!” Klaus exclaimed. 

“Klaus, it's atrocious.” Ben hissed back. 

Then, Diego's voice rushed up the stairs. “We settled on pizza!”

Allison managed to open the attic before climbing down and looking over the bannister. She said as Claire ran past her and down stairs. 

She ran to Ben first and hugged him. The man paused then hesitantly brought his hand to her back. Klaus gave him a teasing look, and he rolled his eyes.

“What pizza did you get?” Claire asked, pulling away.

“Peperoni, cheese, ham, pineapple—” Ben began to list.

“—I voted against pineapple by the way thats disgusting—”

Ben nudged Klaus before continuing his list. “—meat feat and stuffed crust.”

“So much!” Claire exclaimed before jumping towards Diego and Five, who were carrying the pizzas in, “can I help?” She asked, eyeing Five's tall stack. Five sighed and bent down, allowing her to take one off the top.

Soon enough they were all around the table stuffing their faces with pizza.

“Can I have the garlic sauce?” Claire exclaimed. Lila nudged it towards the girl, only after putting a heavy amount of her own plate. 

“Cravings?” Allison asked.

Lila rolled her eyes but nodded. “Annoying but can't ignore what the body wants.”

“I remember I really craved pineapple juice when I was pregnant, we had cartons full at home.”

“...for some reason I really crave sushi,” she said, nose wrinkling up, “I hated it before but now I can't get enough of it.”

Claire leant forward towards Diego. “Are you guys going to invite Aunt Sloane to your gender reveal party?”

Diego looked towards Lila and Luther, then his face softened. “Of course, you, Ray, and…” he hesitated, “your mum too.”

Allison gave Diego a thankful smile as Claire let out a whoop of excitement, then spoke. “I was wondering…” She started.

Allison flipped through the last pages of the manuscript before placing it on her desk with a thump. She looked through the crack of her office door, to where Viktor and Five were sorting through suitcases in the other room and double checking they had everything they needed. Caire had joined them, sitting on top of the cases to make it easier for them to shut them. 

This manuscript could be the greatest weapon against the Reginald empire— it could turn the numbers against him, take away his power and influence. His alien and inhumane nature could be enough to turn the tides. 

The key word there was could.

Allison didn't know enough about how this world operates to consider it a guarantee— and with what she did know, she doubted it would be. Afterall, the Reginald of her world had been able to raise child soldiers with no whiplash, who knew what the Reginald of this world could get away with, and how he'd go about doing that. 

She didn't even know what the alternate version of Viktor had intended for his memoir. Publication? Catharsis? Closure? Regardless, getting vengeance for people wiped from existence and sharing their story to the world didn't seem worthwhile to Allison, what would they gain? They were as good as dead. 

Apparently their doppels were raised together in some Hargreeves ran orphanage. According to Reginald they were 7 out of 43 all born on the same day connected by something. Something related to memories and alternate timelines. Apparently the doppels regained memories from the previous timeline, with each year that passed it was like they were living two lives, one here and one in a timeline with The Umbrella Academy. As the years passed they gained more of these memories. Reginald studied them like lab rats until he shut the experiment down for some reason, leaving them all to fend for themselves. That was the basic summary of it all, but there was so much more too it. It all sounded horrific and beyond confusing. (She vaguely wondered whether or not she would gain memories that weren't hers like Ray and Claire. She shoved that to the back of her mind. The doppels, the people who used to have their bodies, were long gone. She wouldn’t gain their memories… right?)

Anyway… In this instance, protecting Reginald could be, and was most likely, the equivalent of protecting her family. That trumped getting vengeance for those long gone, or fixing a society that likely would not touch them.

She didn't trust that her siblings would think the same way as her. With that in mind, she placed the manuscript into a drawer and turned the key alongside the photo she had found tucked inside, it was a polaroid of The Sparrow Academy.

A photo of all of them, together. Ben was in the centre of the polaroid, and Fei was beside him, arm wrapped around him, and on his other side was someone she did not recognise but , by deduction, she realised it was Christropher not as a cube but as a human. Marcus sat behind them, smiling, and Alphonso, Jayme and Sloane were off to the side, all wrapped in each other's embrace. They seemed to be in a cabin of sorts, decorating in fairy lights with pillows, a crackling fire in the background and blankets. 

On the back, there was scruffy handwriting she recognised to be Marcus’. The Sparrows, Reunited. 

She'd look for more in the morning but for now she'd focus on getting her siblings as far away from here as possible. 

“Checked the cases?” Allison asked, standing by the door with a raised eyebrow. Five stood up, hands on his hips as he sighed. 

“Yeah,” Viktor answered as he zipped it up, “uh, thanks for the spare clothes…” He said, voice quiet and awkward, withholding rage, Allison realised as he crouched down to Claire and gave his niece a high five, “and thank you for helping with the cases!” He exclaimed before ruffling Claire's hair. 

“No problem!” She exclaimed before running back to Allison and hugging her. Allison returned the gesture and smiled as she picked up her daughter, rubbing her back.

“Have you guys been busy?" She asked.

“I got to pick their airplane snacks!” Claire exclaimed, “I gave them the best stuff.”

“A lot of junk food.” Five said.

“There has to be junk food Uncle Five, we’ve been over this!” She laughed, “even Uncle Ben would agree!” She gestured to someone over Allison's shoulder. She turned around to see Ben, who was holding a collection of what seemed to be photos that Claire cooed at, “I recognise those!” She exclaimed, wiggling out of Allison's hold and running to Ben, who seemed to flinch.

Watching Ben and Claire was more entertaining than watching her with Five— he didn't seem to know what to do around her half the time. “Uh, agree with what?” He asked.

“Flights are so much better with lots of junk food!” She exclaimed.

“Yeah, sure,” he muttered. She pulled him into a hug and he awkwardly patted her on the head. She then looked up at him, “you wanna hear more about the Eldritch Horror from earlier?” She asked.

“Uh— maybe later,” he said, “the cabs here.”

Claire groaned. “You guys are leaving already?!” She exclaimed, "can't you stay just a little longer?”

“Sorry Claire,” Viktor said, walking past Allison without as much as a glance and ruffling the girl's hair, “but you'll get lots of gifts next time we visit, how does that sound?”

“You'll bring your violin?” Claire asked.

Viktor stiffened, his lips flicking down into a frown then up again into a tight smile. “Ill see what I can do.” He said, hugging the girl goodbye.

Ben entertained a half hug from Claire, who gave him a smile then bounced over to Five, hugging him as well. He stiffened then very carefully placed a hand on her back. 

Diego entered the corridor and grabbed the cases alongside Luther. Behind them, Lila and Klaus followed, eyes landing straight on their niece who dove into their awaiting arms. 

Ray watched from downstairs, holding the front door open.

“We're gonna miss you!” Klaus exclaimed, “but you'll be spoiled rotten next time.”

Claire smiled as Diego walked past and ruffled her hair. “Yeah, I'll personally see to that.” 

Claire giggled before rushing to Luther and hugging him, grabbing ahold of the end of the suitcase and doing her best to help him down the stairs. Luther still carried the majority of the weight but Claire grinned, thinking she was lugging a good amount of it herself. 

She guessed it was time to drop the bomb. “Well,” Allison said, looking at her siblings, “we'd better get going then.” 

“We?” Five asked.

“Yeah, Mummy's coming too! Surprise!” Claire exclaimed.

“But— Claire—” Klaus started.

“Claire goes to Patrick's tomorrow, I can handle her alone for one night,” Ray reasoned holding their daughter in his arms, “and we've already agreed—”

“—nightly calls and gifts,” Claire said, kissing Allison on the cheek, “those were the conditions, you gotta make sure she sticks to them.” She gestured to Klaus.

Klaus took a second, then saluted her. “Of course Claire-bear!” He exclaimed but Allison could tell by his strained smile he wasn't glad that she was coming along, which is why she had kept that little fact to herself until the last minute. Ray took her suitcase out the closet they had hid it in and wheeled it to her before giving her a kiss.

She enveloped her family in a hug and squeezed them. Part of her never wanted to let go and felt like curling into an anxious ball when faced with the very idea of separating herself from her— even if it was willingly. She had to though. After all, she didn't know if there was any more copies of that manuscript, or anything like it that could put them at risk if they fell into the wrong hands. 

So, with that in mind, she let them go. With quivering hands she walked to the cab, ignoring her siblings' annoyed stares. She loaded her suitcase into the boot and was subjected to the back seat, all alone. As the cab started up, she found herself looking out the back window, through a crack between the cases, as her family got further and further away. ‘It won't be for long.’ She thought, making the silent promise of her return as she wiped a tear from her eyes.

It was like Allison just booked the first motel she saw. It was far from the luxury Lila had imagined she would be able to get them with all her money— it consisted of two double beds, a pullout couch and a bunk bed all crammed into one room, and a single bathroom that was more like a closet. The colour scheme was made up of browns and blues and the fabric was uncomfortably fuzzy.

“Your sister really does hate us.” Lila said as she flopped into the bed she and Diego had claimed. Viktor and Klaus were on the one beside them, Ben had claimed the top bunk, Five had sat on the bottom bunk while Luther took the pullout. 

Allison, through a majority vote, had been subjected to the floor with a few spare blankets and pillows. “Im still here, you know!” She exclaimed. 

“Could be worse.” Five mused.

“Way worse.” Klaus added as he flopped down and hung his head over the side of the bed, watching through the crack between the bottom of the bed and floor as Diego pushed their suitcases beneath. 

“Yeah well we only need to stay here till 4:30 since our flight is at 7 and we need to be at the airport 2 hours before.” Diego said. He had gone into ‘airport dad mode’ as her and Klaus had dubbed it— it was funny to watch.

“We'd better get some sleep then.” Five said, getting close to the toilet door. Lila stood up and frowned.

“If you think you're showering first you've got another thing coming.” Luther said, catching onto the upcoming battle.

One shower, eight of them. It was bound to be a shit show.

Allison, seemingly already knowing there was no winning, pulled out some cigarettes and went to sit in the fire escape. 

“Woah im pregnant shouldn't I get dibs?” Lila asked.

“Im sweaty from carrying the cases!” Luther yelled.

“Well so am I!” Diego exclaimed, now stood up.

Then Ben jumped down from the top bunk and landed behind Five and right next to the bathroom door. Before anyone could say anything he ran in there. “My turn!” He exclaimed before slamming and locking it.

There was a collection and groans and annoyance that Lila very much shared, though she felt more focused on securing second place since first had been so unfairly stolen. “Dont use all the hot water up!” She exclaimed.

Chapter Text

Ben was in a body. He was seeing through his eyes, hearing everything around him, feeling of the thump of every step— the body belonged to a young body based on the voice that had barely passed puberty a familiar voice he was running through the halls of The Academy— except it wasn't his Academy, well, not exactly. As the boy rushed around a corner, the sight of white light filtering through a stain glass hit his eyes— he expected to see the usual design of a sparrow, but instead there was only an essence of the design. The pattern of a sparrow intertwined with an umbrella.

The boy stopped and that's when he felt it, a hand wrapped securely in his own. He wasn't alone.“What are we looking for?” The boy asked, looking back. 

Ben saw them— Sloane and a little boy (Stan?) at the back of the group, and a familiar girl by his side. 

“I mean— the entrance was behind a photo last time, so I doubt it would be the same this time, right?” Sloane muttered to herself, pacing.

“Could be,” the girl said, shrugging, “best to check, right?” 

His vision went up then down in a nod then the head spun around to the wall, taking a picture and checking behind— that's when Ben saw it, the Umbrella tattooed on his forearm—

Ben lurched up, feeling dizzy and muddled. He held his head in his hands and sighed. ‘What a weird dream…’ He thought before peering down towards the curtains. A small amount of sunlight filtered through it, and Ben frowned. ‘...a sunrise before 4:00?’ He thought, ‘it must be a timeline issue…?’

He climbed down the bunk bed, not quite caring if he disturbed anyone else as he stepped over Allison and headed to the window. He pulled back the curtains to see a small amount of the sun peaking over the horizon then sighed and picked up his phone on the side. He opened it to see the time staring him in the face— 5:45.

“Shit,” he hissed, turning his phone up and placing it on the desk, “guys we slept through our alarm!” He yelled.

A second later, Diego had sat up in bed, eyes wide. “Fuck.” He began to shake Lila, who sleepily muttered something about needing a few more minutes. 

Meanwhile, Five was sitting up in his bottom bunk, looking alert. Allison had also sat up— “Multiple alarms? Seriously? If your shitting me right now—”

“I wish I were,” he said, “think you could pull some strings to get us a new cab Mrs Movie Star? We missed the last one.” He hissed 

Viktor tossed over and groaned at the awakening, slowly processing the information— the second it all sunk in, his eyes widened and he fell out of bed, taking a clingy Klaus with him. 

Luther was also now sat up in bed— “What time is it?”

“5:45.” Ben announced, grabbing his clothes from the side.

“Our flight is at 7:00…” Viktor muttered, getting out of Klaus’ hold. 

“So much for being there 2 hours before.” Diego muttered

“Yeah no shit!” Ben exclaimed, stepping over Allison and darting into the bathroom.

“Hey— you're not getting the first turn again—” Luther's voice was soon muffled by a locked door.

As Ben tossed on his clothes he could hear an argument from outside. 

“You—you were meant to set back up alarms!” Viktor exclaimed. 

Klaus faltered. “No—I passed that job to Lila!” He claimed, hands up in innocence.

“I passed it to the twerp—” Lila replied. 

“—and I passed it to Luther.” Five said.

“I gave it to Diego!”

“No you didn't!"

“Yes I did!” 

“I would've remembered— and I thought we all collectively agreed on Klaus cause he needs to take more responsibility!” 

Ben wrestled the last of his clothes on before bursting out of the bathroom. “What does that matter?” He hissed, “we need to go—”

Klaus sprung up and rushed towards the bathroom, grabbing his clothes on the way. “My go, my go!” He exclaimed before dramatically slamming the door. 

“Allison, are you booking the cab?” Diego asked.

“Yes yes—” she said phone in hand, “I know a guy around the area—”

“Dont care,” Diego yelled, “let's go people!” He exclaimed, and with that everyone began rushing around.

As Klaus predicted, everything was a mess, which to be fair it usually was when it came to getting everyone in one place for a certain time so the others should’ve seen it coming. He was practically slammed into the cab by Diego, subjected to the back seat yet again. The entire ride was just a whirlwind of Diego rushing the driver around, and Lila somehow finding the time to argue with both Diego and Five. Luther somehow slept through most of it while Ben was complaining and telling everyone to shut up and Klaus’ felt exhausted the whole way there, Viktor had put himself into a bubble of his own checking the luggage again and again and again upon Diego's command— then they arrived and Diego was shoving the luggage towards the first person he saw, which of course by Klaus’ luck was him. Lila almost forgot the documents, which Viktor had handed to her for a double check at some point, they were only just able to secure them before rushing in. 

Armed with a backpack and two suitcases (for a family with barely anything to their name, they sure were able to pack a lot from Allison's house) he rushed behind his family through the airport which seemed futuristic already decked out with Reginald's new HarBots which caused alot of anger and paranoid amongst the group, but after a pep talk from Diego they were ready to continue. 

Luther and Ben had everything else and Five and Diego were ordering everyone around whilst arguing with each other. Viktor was in the middle of them trying to calm them down while relaying important information to the staff. Soon enough most of the baggage had been shipped off to the airplane and they were onto the final boss— airport security. 

Luther got through just fine, same with Lila— then Klaus was stopped for a surprise stop and search, as was Allison… and then Diego—then Ben and Five which is where their problems really started. The second Five spotted the Hargreeves Enterprise branded equipment he was fuming and Ben was just naturally angry as always. 

As a pair they were snarky with the staff, they seemingly ganged up on them and were throwing around some of the most creative insults Klaus had seen— and that really said something.

Then of course Five ended up kicking a HarBot. 

They almost got barred from their flight for uncooperativeness, almost thankfully being the key word. Their sister's fame saved them and she distracted the staff with an autograph and photo while Viktor and Diego whisked Ben and Five away.

Then came the running because of course their gate was the furthest away from the security area which was just a blur of shoving, screaming and sweat, a lot of sweat. Klaus collapsed in his seat with a sigh as the cabin crew finished their safety demonstration, which seemed to catch, or more like rob, Five's attention. 

“How long is this flight?” He said, claiming the middle seat. Diego sat on the outside of him, the aisle separating him and Lila, who sat next to Ben, annoying him— leaving Luther between Allison and Viktor in the row in front of them. Klaus grimaced. ‘Awkward…’ He thought before turning to Five.

“5 and a half hours,” he said leaning forward to the TV, “but we have a great set of movies to choose from— and snacks.”

“Five and a half hours in a death machine,” muttered Five, “okay cool.” He heard him say under his breath. 

‘Ah, he's a nervous flier.’ Klaus thought.

“Cinco, it's fine, I'm sure airplanes are alongside one of the things that are improved in this world— I mean, have you seen the space travel boards?! Seems to be alot going on there huh…” He reasoned. 

“I'm not worried.” 

“You seriously never went on one of these,” Lila chimed in, “not even when you were a part of The Commission?” 

“Nope, never,” he muttered, “I've seen them though.” He didn't elaborate. Based on the hazy far away look in his eyes, which he was doing a terrible job at hiding…

Klaus didn't want him to. So instead he kicked his shin and gestured to the tablet screens in front of them. “Let's try to get it in sync and watch a movie!”

Five leant forward and began fidgeting with his screen in the way you'd imagine an old man would. He clicked on a ‘flight tracker’ button and seemed immediately intrigued. “It tracks the airplane.” He said looking at all the functions— it had the height it was off the ground, its location, the amount of time left and a lot more things Klaus didn't understand.

“Boring,” he muttered, switching to the movie section, “what shall we—OH MY GOD ALLISONS IN THIS ONE!” He exclaimed— ‘Love on Loan’ was playing before his sister could lean forward and even try to swipe from his hand cheeks burning in embarrassment. Even Diego's head twitched over in interest before he went back to looking unbothered. Lila leant over Ben and tried to look at Klaus’ screen, ignoring Ben's annoyed protests. 

Viktor was nestled in own seat, looking out the window while staring daggers at Allison when she was looking away. Meanwhile Luther acted as an awkward blockage between the duo, silent and nervous— the tenseness had been passed over to him, Klaus could practically smell it from where he was sat.

The airplane lifted from the ground and Klaus got the awkward tummy feel— then reached for some hubba bubba gum, which was unicorn flavor according to Claire, when his ears began to ache. Apparently his niece was well versed in flights and said that chewing should help with the ear pain while ascending. It did, thank the Little-God-Girl.

“Squid.” Lila said, turning to Ben. 

No response. 

She poked him on the cheek and tried again. “Squidward.” She was about to kick his shins when he let out a groan.

“What now?” He asked.

“Can you pass me some of the sushi?”

“This sushi is mine—”

“You really gonna deny a pregnant lady food?” She asked, "I'm eating for two here.”

He sighed and thrusted the container over to her, averting his gaze. “Fine, whatever, just stop nagging me—”

“I could do with another lolly pop as well," she said, “and some pineapple juice—”

He shoved the items into her lap before sighing and lying his head back, eyes screwed shut. “What do you think of the new timeline?” She asked, shoving a piece of sushi into her mouth.

“Did nobody ever teach you not to talk with food in your mouth?” He asked.

“I'm hungry!” She exclaimed, “quit avoiding the question Squidward—”

“Quit asking me the question asshole.”

“Okay okay,” she said hands up in fake surrender, “but if you're asking me, the new technology is very cool— confusing but cool, I'm not a big fan of the bots like it just gives dystopia y'know? I don't trust it.” Lila ranted.

“I just…” Ben started, “I just don't know…” He muttered before taking a breath, “I don't know why he never told me.” He said in a whisper. 

Lila frowned. “Reginald?”

“Since Marcus…” His words trailed off, “since he, y'know, I was Number One, first in command, his right hand and he… kept so much from me,” he continued, “I just…”

“...thought he was different? Thought he cared for you more than he did…” Lila asked.

“Yeah— but there must've been a reason, right?” He asked, “I mean when we were there, in Oblivion, it felt like I was dying— he wouldn't put me in that much danger for nothing right? And I'm alive now, that must mean he cares, that he still needs me.”

“Then why hasn't he sought you out?” She asked.

He opened his mouth then shut it again.

“Why did he risk your life and not even let you have a say in it— sounds selfish to me,” Lila said, “true asshole behaviour.”

“It had to be for a good reason!” Ben exclaimed.

“Think what you like,” Lila shrugged, “ignore the facts right in front of you, I don't care but I'm telling you now that your delusional— Reginald Hargreeves is nothing more than a selfish old man.”

“You don't know shit.” Ben hissed.

Lila rolled her eyes and leant back. “Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night.”

“Oh shut up.” He hissed, rolling his eyes.

“Nah,” she shrugged with that signature smirk of hers, "I don't think I will.”

“Im doing you a favour,” she said, "I ain't your therapist, im not gonna ease you into this, I dont get paid enough to give you emotional support, so I won't sugar coat it, not when it's that obvious— he's a dick. You gotta find out one way or another else you'll drown.” She said, voice a ramble, “what he's doing right now is the start of a dystopian hellscape, it's going to affect you at some point or another— hell it already has, he reset the damn universe!”

He sighed, and reseted his head back, shutting his eyes with a groan. “Im going to sleep.”

"Good luck sleeping on a plane,” she said, “may as well accept fate right now, you're not getting a nap here.” 

He opted to ignore her and, despite her warning, he found his chatter very quickly faded into the background, merging with everything else then fading out completely as his world turned pitch black and he fell asleep.