CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR: THE KINDEST CUT 

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Light jazz music was playing in the background as Five lead his family minus, Stan, Diego and Klaus over to the bar.

You and Five was standing behind the counter in the bar while Five was giving them a glass short each.

Viktor, Lila and Luther was sitting by the front of the counter while Allison was standing by the counter.

"So this Kugelblitz, it's...?" Viktor asked "The end of everything" you said "Every rock, every star, every atom sucked into a radiant black hole" Five said "Randomly collapsing matter every moment in time across all existence till nothing's left" Lila said "It's like someone press the reset button" you said.

"Hate to say I told you so, but..." Five said as he picked up a bottle of whiskey "I know that it is your favorite phrase, Five" you said as Viktor and you took a sip of your glass while Five took a sip from the bottle.

"Typical" you mumbled as you glanced at Five drinking from the bottle.

Lila picked up her glass before she looked around to see if she could spot Diego but she couldn't see him and she put down her glass on the counter.

"You know, it's impressive. Whoever knocked off your mums, hated you all enough to end the entire univers" she said "We don't know that" Viktor said as he shook his head.

"It doesn't matter who created the thing. We just have to kick its ass" Allison said "Oh really? How?" Luther asked and Allison glanced at him "Are you and Diego gonna punch it in the Kugel?" he asked before he took a sip of his glass.

"Good one" you said before you and Luther highfive.

"Beside Allison, it's not that simple. A Kugelblitz is probably one of the worst anomalies there is. Takes more then a few punches for it do disappear. I don't even think the manual has something on this. Does it, Five?" you asked "Not that I know of" Five said.

"The best plan for you guys is to go back in time and eliminate the paradox" you said "And destroy whatever it was that took out our mothers and stop the Kugelblitz before it starts, but we can't do that" Five said "Briefcase is kaput" you said and Allison turned her head to Five "And why the hell can't you just jump us out of here?" she asked and he looked at her "Last time I tried that, we all got trapped in time. Do you really wanna risk that again?" he asked but Allison didn't answer.

Then Klaus came over to you "Gimme that" he said as he walked over to the bar and took the bottle from Five.

"What happened to you?" Five asked "Oh, just a speargun to the chest. No big deal" Klaus said while he waved with his hands before he looked at you "Y/n good to see you again. Welcome back" he said with a smile.

"What did we miss?" Diego asked them "The universe is ending, and we're all going to die" Lila said with a smile.

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Fei, Chris and Ben was in the basement with Grace as they were looking at Kugelblitz.

"Why have you brought me before my God?" Grace asked "Your right eye. Give it to me" Ben ordered "What are you doing?" Fei asked "If we wanna beat this thing, first we need to understand it" Ben answered.

Grace pulled out her right eye and stretched it towards the Kugelblitz "It's time to see what's on the other side" Ben said before he grabbed Grace's eyes and moved it closer to the Kugelblitz.

The sound of energy pulses was heard as the Kugelblitz suck the eye inside before the basement started shaking a bit.

"Woah!" Fei said "Fei, watch it! Grab her!" Ben said as Grace was about to be pull into the Kugelblitz as her eye that have being suck into the Kugelblitz was still connected to her head with a blue glowing wire.

The Kugelblitz then sent out another wave.

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A wave of energy ran through the hotel, shaking the light that was hanging from the ceiling and there was a muffled scream as the wave disintegrated the guest in the lobby.

As you all jolted to the side, Five spotted a ring up on your left ear and he smiled when he could see that it was the cane ring he gave you in the apocalypse. He decided not to asked about it. He was surprised that you haven't thrown it out after your divorce or after what have happen. But then it means that there is still hope.

"What the hell was that?" Diego asked "That was a Kugel wave. Oh, it's getting worse" Five said as the light started flickering on and off more.

"It's getting faster and probably taking more and more people with it for every wave" you said.

"How long do we have?" Luther asked Five "At this rate of escalation, if you factor in--" "How long, Five?" Luther asked "Four, maybe five days before the rest of existence is blitzed" Five replied before he sighed and Allison walked away.

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"Come on, Ben!" Fei shouted as the two was holding Grace from being suck into the Kugelblitz "I'm telling you, it won't work!" Fei shouted "Hold on, Fei!" Ben shouted.

The sound of circuits was warbling as Grace's eye was blinking and both Fei and Ben was panting as the wire was cut of to the eye causing the wire to fell out of the Kugelblitz and Ben and Fei let go of Grace.

"God has a million eyes, each falling into themselves" Grace said "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Ben asked and Chris said something causing them to look at him "Oh, black holes? Really? Am I just surrounded by morons?" Ben asked "Maybe he's right. What if what Grace is describing is a black hole collapsing in on itself?" Fei said and Ben rolled his eyes "Oh, whatever" he said and the sound of energy pulsing was heard "God is angry with us" Grace said "We are wasting precious time. This is bigger than just us. We need help" Fei said "Harlan first, then we can kill whatever the hell this is" Ben said.

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"We should give them Harlan" Luther said "Luther" Viktor said.

"What about Harlan?" Diego asked "The Sparrows said if we turned him over, we could end the fighting, and then work together to save the world. But if we didn't--" Luther said.

"That's what they are telling you?" you raise a brow.

"It doesn't matter. We tried to make peace with them, but Y/n keeps defending them and playing both sides. I mean what are you hoping for" Viktor looked at you "I'm hoping that we can figure out some agreement, but your little time bomb kid had been making it incredibly difficult to play this side" you said "It's like we can't trust you anymore, I mean you can be plotting all of our death right now" Viktor said which made you and Five to look at him.

"Who says I'm not?" you raise a brow.

"My point is---" "Yeah, what is your point?" you snappe at him.

"But we tried to make peace. Okay, and then the step-siblings from hell-- " "Watch it" you snapped at Viktor causing him to look at you.

"As I was saying, they attacked, kidnapped you, and they tried to kill us. I mean, come on. We can't trust them. Working together would be like trying to defuse a bomb by pouring gas on it. It's only gonna make things burn down faster. Therefore we can't work together with them" Viktor said.

"Well, people can be stronger together. I think it could work, I mean I can talk with them. But I don't think they will agree unless you give that man who killed Jayme and Alphonso which I think is fair. You guys should be lucky that they don't want you dead" you said "Do you want to kill us?" Luther asked "Maybe, maybe not" you smiled fakely at Luther who gulp in fear.

"But don't we need the big bad glow-y thing in their basement?" Klaus asked and you all looked at him and while holding a shot glass in my hand, Five slowly turned his body sideways to face his brother "Klaus, do you know where the Kugelblitz is?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah. I saw it. When I went to visit Dad. It's in the old storage room where Mom used to keep all her luggage" Klaus said "Why didn't you tell anyone?" Five asked "I did. I told you" Klaus said as he pointed at Diego "You say stupid shit all the time!" Diego said.

Five looked at you who seems relaxed, nothing of this was new to you. Perhaps Viktor was right about being unable to relay on your loyalty, but Five didn't want him to be. He was slowly patching things up between the two of you. Your relationship was slowly getting better. Going back to how things had been for the last almost a decade wasn't something Five wanted in the remaining few days had left together.

If they didn't fix this, then Five would rather spend his last days having some loving moments with you than you angry at him or being alone.

There was a time where you promised each other that you would go down together, no matter what, and he hops that promise still stand.

"Y/n" you looked at Five "Did you knew that the Kugelblitz was in the basement?" he asked and you nodded "I saw it the other day. I was hoping that you would do your Sherlock shit" you said "And you didn't tell me?" he asked "I actually didn't think that it was a Kugelblitz" you said.

"Of course. It appeared in the same place we did" Five said. "...Important stupid shit" Diego said to Klaus "That's not your fault. I'm inside your brain, pulling levers and stuff? Serious..." Klaus said.

Viktor got up from the bar before he walked away and Luther followed after him.

"Hey" he said and Viktor stopped before he turned around to look at Luther "Why are you protecting this guy, huh? It's like Peabody all over again" Luther said "Harlan is nothing like Leonard" Viktor said "Well, he's clearly got some kinda hold over you. Stop covering for him" Luther said.

"Covering what?" Five asked as you, him and the rest came walking over to them "What's going on?" Five asked as he put his hands in his pockets.

"He didn't mean to hurt anyone" Viktor said to Luther "Really? You mean, when he did this?" Luther said as he pointed at the cut on Viktor's cheek.

"Ow" Stan said "Wait, Harlan did that?" Five asked "That's it, I'm gonna end him" Diego said.

"He didn't mean to" Viktor said "Do you want to tell that to Y/n's face? She is grieving, you know? Her and the rest of the Sparrows" Luther said.

"No offense but I don't really care about Y/n and the Sparrows and them grieving the loss of the two assholes who tried to kill us all" Viktor said and you scoff.

"Try to be in our shoes, I think each of you would have reacted the same if you were the one that lost two members of the family" you hissed.

"Look, I know how it looks, but Harlan didn't ask for this. If we hadn't gone back to 1963, if I hadn't have saved him--" "He killed Jayme and Alphonso, not you. He's the reason we're in this mess, and he's our only way out of it" Luther said, cutting Viktor off.

"Woah, hold on, hold on" you said as you lifted your finger and they looked at you "So you guys are saying that the old guy that killed Jayme and Alphonso is right here in this hotel and you guys didn't bother telling me" you said "If we told you, you would kill him" Viktor said "Yeah, I will kill him, but is only fair that the others and I take care of this together" you said and Viktor looked at you "He didn't mean to hurt anyone" Viktor said "Have you seeing what he have done and who he took from me. I should do worse to him" you hissed.

"Luther and Y/n is right. If we're gonna have an iota of a chance of getting out of this alive, we need to acces to the Kugelblitz" Five said "There's only four of them left. We can just overpower them" Viktor said

"And what, risk losing some of us in the process, have you forgotten that they have Y/n's loyalty, she is on their side" Five said "So?" Viktor asked "So, she is a highly skilled assassin, more deadly than me, plus she have powers" Five said "He is right. I will be on their side" you said.

"Harlan is insignificant" Five said "You told me once that no one is insignificant" Viktor said to him and he looked away.

"It's billions of lives at state. That old guy is just one. It's only fair" he said "They'll kill him" Viktor said "Of course we will. I'm a serial killer after all" you said.

"Uh, so? We are talking about one person versus saving billions of lives here. I mean, is this really a debate for you people?" Lila asked.

"Hey, Little Britain? You don't get a vote" Viktor said to her before looking at you "And neither do you, Y/n" he said "You just be lucky that I have not killed that old guy already and I'm very close going up there and either kill him or hand him over to Ben and the others so we can kill him together and I don't think any of you would be able to stop me" you hissed.

"Lila and Y/n lives in this universe too. Beside, Y/n is family and Lila is family now. Kinda, sort of" Klaus said "Thanks, kitten" Lila said.

"Killing billions to save one or kill one to save billions?" Five asked and the others look at him "It shouldn't even be a discussion. Maybe giving the Sparrows what they want can save us from complete oblivion" he said.

"Beside Harlan would be dead anyway if you don't do this" you said.

"I don't give a shit about the Sparrows, but I'm not gonna let scary-ass Grandpa finish you off" Diego said "Five days ago, he was just a little kid. And what? Now I'm supposed to just decide whether he lives or dies" Viktor said.

"For you it has being five days, but it's been years for him, Viktor. He isn't a kid anymore" Five said and Viktor looked at him.

"Viktor, we're down to ethical triage here, all right? We can't save everyone. But we can save a minority of. The kindest cut wins" Five said.

Luther then took a step closer to Viktor "You always wanted to be on the team" he said and Viktor looked at him "This is what it is. Saving the world means making the hard calls" Luther said.

"Shut up Luther, the only hard call you made was when you went to the Sparrows to do Sloane" you said causing Five and Diego to let out a small chuckled while Luther glanced at you "I'm just saying" you said.

"I hate this" Viktor said "Yeah, I know" Luther said and Viktor looked at him "I'll go get him" Luther said before he was about to walk upstairs but then Viktor stopped him "Wait, no. Let me do this. He trusts me. I can convince him to come quietly" Viktor said before he walked upstairs.

Five then looked at you "Come with me" he grabbed your hand before dragging you over to the couch by the bar.

A/N: In the next chapter Y/n and Five will share a moment.

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