Word count: 2662

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓, 𝐆𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐆 lights of the Icarus Theatre lit the entire street, but there was no time to admire the fancy decor nor the advertisements of their sister as they rushed into the building and began sprinting up the stairs.

They made it to the floor that the orchestra was playing on, and Allison quickly stepped in front of Luther and held up her notepad. Written, was: I NEED TO GO ALONE.

"Wha . . ." Luther stared at her, and he quickly shook his head. "Allison, I can't let you do that, all right? She's beyond reasoning."

"You hear the music? It's started," Diego shouted at them, pointing towards the doors.

Allison pushed Luther, a pleading expression on her face.

"Do you honestly think she's gonna listen?" Luther questioned her incredulously, his eyebrows raised. "After everything that's happened?"

"Allison's right," Elizabeth cut in with an exasperated sigh. "You bozos won't be able to do shit."

Allison nodded furiously in agreement.

"Alli, I know you want to go alone, but I'm coming with you." Elizabeth grabbed her hand, not waiting for Luther's response as she guided her up the short set of stairs and through the entrance.

They entered the large concert hall, which was completely filled with people who were dressed quite fancily, making Elizabeth feel out of place in her measly school uniform.

The two girls walked down the aisle, their eyes on Vanya. 

She was sitting at the front, dressed in a black tuxedo and her eyes covered in black eyeshadow, concentrated as she played the violin. Elizabeth and Allison watched in awe, smiles drawing onto theirs faces.

Vanya looked up at them, her brown eyes now an unfamiliar, shocking blue. She caught sight of the girls and smiled as she saw the looks on their faces.

Everything was going well.

Just then, Luther ran onto the stage from the left as Diego ran in from the right.

Before they could get to her, Vanya stood and slashed her bow through the air, sending a white wave through the room.

The force threw the two boys into the crowd, and the audience began to scream, jumping onto their feet and beginning to run out of the concert hall as fast as they could.

Vanya watched as they left. Her skin was radiantly pale—almost glowing—as hatred grew in her eyes.

The musicians in the orchestra attempted to leave, but before they could fully get out of their seats, Vanya whipped around and slashed her bow, sending another wave that forced them to sit back down and continue playing.

Vanya rested her violin on her shoulder and began to play again, stepping to the front of the stage as she stared at the audience members that were still scrambling out.

Elizabeth grabbed Allison's arm and pulled her behind a row of chairs as Vanya sent another wave.

The other two boys stayed down behind the row of chairs across from them, their backs pressed against the velvet seats.

Elizabeth exchanged a look of exasperation with Allison before sending a light blast of energy towards either boy, causing them to jump in their spots.

Diego and Luther turned to them, seeing the deathly glare on both of the girls' faces.

"Yeah. We're fine, thanks for asking." Luther nodded, to which Allison responded with an even deathlier glare. "Look, I almost lost you once, all right? I wasn't about to lose you again."

"Well, so much for the element of surprise," Diego said loudly as he looked towards Luther. "What else you got?"

Allison quickly made the gesture of playing the violin with her hands.

"No shit, Allison," Diego scoffed as he rolled his eyes. "Tell us something we don't already know."

"She's talking about the violin, dumbass," Elizabeth clarified, receiving a nod of approval from Allison. "It's her lightning rod. If we can take it from her and stop her from playing, we might have a shot."

Suddenly, the blast of gunfire filled the room as the surviving men from the bowling alley entered.

The orchestra players instantly got out of their spots, tightly gripping their instruments in their hands as they rushed off the stage. This time, Vanya didn't stop them but continued playing solo.

"What the hell happened to Klaus? He's supposed to be on lookout," Diego shouted, now laying on the floor to avoid the bullets.

"Yeah, you surprised?" Luther scoffed.

All of a sudden, Five appeared, stumbling slightly as he walked down the aisle. "What's with all the lollygagging?"

"Five, get down!" Luther shouted.

Elizabeth reached out and grabbed Five's arm, pulling him down next to her just as the men began to shoot in his direction.

"Five, what the . . ." Luther stared at him, his eyes a little wide. "I thought you bailed on us!"

"I had an errand to run," Five explained briefly as he peeked over the side of the chairs. A nervous look grew in his eyes, not making anyone feel any better. "This is not good."

"You know these guys?" Elizabeth questioned as she ducked down.

He nodded gravely as he kept his gaze fixated on the attackers. "Yeah, I do."

"And?"

"Well" —his eyes widened as he looked to the left of the aisle, where more of the assailants appeared— "we're screwed."

Suddenly, Klaus burst in from one of the entrances, hysterically shouting at them, "Guys, it's Cha-Cha! It's Cha-Cha, she—"

"Klaus! Get down!" Luther shouted in a panic. "Get down!"

Klaus dropped to the ground just as bullets began to rain down towards him.

Five looked back at the aisle and then teleported onto the nearest man's shoulders, forcing him to turn around and shoot towards his own people before he himself fell to the ground after being shot by another.

Klaus stood up, his fists glowing bright blue as his face reddened. He let out a shout just as another glowing blue figure appeared in front of him. 

The ghost lifted his shirt up, and four, long tentacles burst out of his stomach. They picked up the men, tossing them and snapping them in half as if they were made out of plastic.

Elizabeth, Five, Allison, and Luther stood up, too busy staring at the sight to notice that Diego had disappeared somewhere.

"Oh my God." Luther's eyes were wide in disbelief as he stared at the ghostly figure. "It's him. Ben."

Soon enough, all of the attackers were dead, their remains scattered across the floor of the concert hall. Ben faded away, and Klaus grinned as he looked towards their astonished expressions.

"Now who's the lookout?"

The screech of the violin reminded everyone that Vanya was still playing, and her core was growing whiter and whiter as soundwaves radiated off of her body.

The group huddled at the back, scared out of their minds as they kept glancing back at the glowing Vanya. Diego joined them, looking more beat up than the last time Elizabeth had seen him.

"Oh, welcome back," Luther said sarcastically. "Where were you?"

"Honouring a memory," Diego stated with no further explanation as he leaned his hands onto his knees. "So, how do you wanna end this thing?"

"We surround her. All right?" Luther shouted as the violin grew louder. "We come at her from all angles."

"So it's a suicide mission," Klaus breathed out.

"Yeah, but one of us could get through." Five sighed with a nod, "It's the only chance we've got."

"Are we all in?" Luther questioned, receiving nods from everyone except for Elizabeth and Allison.

"Absolutely not." Elizabeth shook her head in refusal, folding her arms.

"Wha—Elizabeth, come on!" Luther groaned.

"Let me tell you, first of all, this is the dumbest idea you've had so far—and you've had many." Elizabeth straightened up and raised her eyebrows as she jabbed a finger in his direction. "Second, there is a seven percent chance that this is gonna work. Not promising in the least."

"Seven is better than zero," Diego huffed, only to receive an eye roll from the girl.

Luther shook his head, deciding to ignore her opinion and looked towards the other girl. "Allison?"

She shook her head furiously, but Luther disregarded that as well as he commanded Diego, "Stage left." He pointed to himself. "Stage right." He then gestured to Five and Klaus. "You guys take the front."

"Luther!" Elizabeth exclaimed as the others sprinted to their place. "You're not going to listen to literally the smartest person in the world?!"

"I'm sorry. There's no time. If she finishes this concert, the world goes up in flames." Luther shook his head before running into his position.

Elizabeth and Allison looked towards each other, both of their expressions portraying heartbreak.

The ceiling was beginning to crumble as Vanya's suit and violin mysteriously changed to white. She was glowing brighter than ever now, and it was clear that Luther was right—once she was done, so was the world.

After a few moments, the boys were all set in place.

"Now!" Luther roared, and the four boys sprinted towards Vanya.

Before they could get to her, she slashed her bow once more, and a burst of white flowed from it. Then, all four boys were levitating in the air, attached by their own string of white to Vanya's bow. It seemed as though Vanya was sucking the essence out of them, her hair flowing backward as the white beams rushed into her centre.

Allison put her hand on Elizabeth's shoulder and cast her a look that conveyed exactly what she felt.

Elizabeth knew what she had to do.

She gave a small nod, her eyes beginning to fill with tears. With a deep breath, she quietly stepped up onto the stage, Allison following closely behind. She set herself behind Vanya, her hand trembling as it lifted, her palm facing the back of her head.

Her eyes began to glow gold as energy swirled around her hand, preparing for its attack. She stood there for a few moments, and the two girls watched as the boys decayed right in front of their eyes.

She couldn't do it. There had to be another way.

Her mind raced, trying to think of something else that could save the world. Everything she had done has come down to this moment, and she didn't want to use it by murdering someone she loved dearly.

She came up with a plan.

After a few moments, Elizabeth moved her hand so that it was just next to Vanya's ear, and she fired. The golden energy shot up and hit the ceiling, resulting in a large crack in the wooden structure.

Just as she had hoped, the white light immediately faded, and the four boys dropped to the ground. Vanya's body arched backward, then emitting a bright, white beam. It shot through the circle of glass that decorated the middle of the ceiling, shattering it.

After a few moments, the light disappeared and Vanya began to fall backward. Allison stepped in front of Elizabeth and caught the descending girl before she could hit the ground, landing on her bottom from the impact.

Elizabeth kneeled down on the other side of Vanya, worriedly peering at her, whose skin colour was slowly returning back to normal. "Is she alive?"

Allison pressed her fingers against the girl's throat, checking for a pulse as the other boys scrambled around her. A look of relief came over her face as she nodded quickly.

"She is? Yeah?" Luther nodded.

"Oh, thank God," Klaus breathed out, leaning his cheek against his hand as he gazed down at the unconscious girl.

"We did it." Luther looked around at them, his eyes wide. "We saved the world."

Klaus nodded as he turned to face the hole in the ceiling, but then froze. He clambered to his feet in a panic and took a step forward. "Uh . . . Guys? You see that big Moon rock coming towards us?"

The group looked to where he was pointing, their eyes widening as they saw a large, fiery red chunk of the Moon hurtling towards them.

Elizabeth clasped onto Five's arm in fright, unable to take her eyes off of the travelling death sentence.

Diego and Luther got to their feet, terrified expressions displayed on their faces. Luther breathed out, "That's not good."

Elizabeth put her head in her hands, her mind racing as she tried to come up with a solution. Come on, brain, she told herself, be useful for once!

Suddenly, an idea struck her. She wasn't entirely sure if it was possible, but anything was better than nothing at this point, right? 

She stood up, drawing everyone's attention to her as she said, "This doesn't have to be the end."

"What?" Five furrowed his eyebrows as he looked towards her and questioned, "What are you saying, Elle?"

"I have an idea," she started, looking around at them. "But you'll have to trust me on this. You especially, Five."

"What's your idea?" Diego questioned nervously.

"We use Five's ability to time travel. But this time" —she turned to face Five, whose eyes were wide— "you take us with you."

"Can I do that?" Five asked doubtfully.

"I don't know," she sighed as she shook her head. "But I think that if you can teleport people other places, same goes for time travel."

"Okay." Five closed his eyes as he processed the information, slowly nodding. "Okay, yeah."

"Why can't we use your portal to time-travel?" Klaus questioned, his nose wrinkling.

"Because my portals are made of my energy, and it was hard enough for me to keep it going for myself. If we got trapped, I don't know how long I could last holding seven people in there—and I don't even know if you guys could survive in there," she sighed. "We're better off going with Five."

Luther stared at her. "Can you calculate—"

"Sixteen percent that it'll work in our favour. Thirty-eight percent that it doesn't work and we die. Forty-six percent is unknown."

"Sixteen percent?" Diego repeated with a frown.

Elizabeth looked towards him, raising her eyebrows. "Sixteen is better than zero."

Diego thought for a moment before he nodded and looked towards the others. "What's the worst that can happen?

"You're lookin' at it," Five sighed. "A thirty-six-year-old man inside a teenager's body, so there's that."

"Oh, what the hell?" Diego nodded. "I'm in."

"Yeah, whatever," Klaus agreed with a shrug. "I'm in."

"Me too. Allison?" Luther looked towards Allison, who then nodded. He turned to Klaus and raised his eyebrows as he asked, "What about Ben?"

Klaus turned around for a moment before turning back and nodding, a grin on his face. "Great, yeah, he's in."

"Okay, great." Five nodded. "Luther, grab Vanya."

Luther picked her up, out of Allison's arms. He paused as he stood, his eyebrows furrowed. "Wait, should we be taking her? I mean, if she's the cause of the apocalypse. Isn't that like taking the bomb with us?"

"The apocalypse will always happen." Elizabeth shook her head, her lips forming into a frown. "And Vanya will always be the cause unless we take her with us and fix her."

Luther then nodded gravely.

The seven of them formed a small circle, holding each other's hands as Five looked up towards the ceiling. Clutching tightly onto Five and Diego's hands, Elizabeth sent a small prayer to the Big Man up there.

Five shut his eyes in concentration, and the sound of electricity crackling echoed around the concert hall. 

The same blue vortex that had dropped Five off a little more than a week ago came overhead, growing bigger and bigger. The wind created whipped the girls' hair backward and tested the group's strength as they tried their best to keep their hands together.

"It's working!" Luther shouted as the vortex lowered itself towards them.

"Hold on!" Five shouted as the blue overtook their surroundings. "It's gonna get messy!"