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❛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘ. ᴘᴀɴ ᴇғғᴇᴄᴛ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ᴡᴇ ɢᴏ sᴘᴇʟᴜɴᴋɪɴɢ
ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴏʙʟɪᴠɪᴏɴ꒱


❝ WE WAIT FOR THE END ❞

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When they entered the Hotel, the trio was greeted by cheers and whistles from the assembled family members. While they had spent most of the night. . . together, Five and Alexa had made a trip back downstairs for alcohol, where they'd proceeded to get very drunk. (This was why they'd been trying to remember what happened during the evening prior to their conversation with Reginald.)

"Here he is!" Luther exclaimed brightly as he clapped along with his siblings.

"That speech last night, wow!" Diego added.

"Brought me to tears, you big softy," Lila chimed in.

Viktor was the least mocking: "I especially liked it when you referred to us as a family bound by destiny and love."

The girl exchanged a look with her boyfriend, but where his was bordering on embarrassed, hers was full of amused affection. She leaned towards him to murmur: "too bad no one was recording it— that's something I would've liked to see."

She couldn't help the few chuckles that escaped past her lips as his ears burned red. He avoided everyone's eyes as he led her to take a seat on the chair. "Okay, enough. That was the booze talking. In the light of day you're all still deplorable." Already expecting protest from the blonde, he finished quietly: "you know that doesn't include you, Lexa."

Smiling in a self-satisfied way, she moved to stand behind the boy while he took a seat. Alexa rested her hands on his shoulders (the only form of PDA that would be acceptable with this particular audience) as their father spoke: "and your day's about to get worse. The Norse had eight sleepers. The Blackfoot, eight stars. As a boy, I heard the legend of the eight bells. All these stories are the same: the village is under threat by flood, by fire, by a night that never ends. A shaman brings his disciples to a sacred cave. He tells them if they can ring the eight magic bells, the village will be saved and all will be restored just as it was."

Lila raised her hand lazily from where her head was resting on Diego's lap. "Reggie? Can we get a little less Brothers Grimm and a little more 'what the hell does this have to do with us?'"

"There is a truth to these myths," he answered sternly. "None of you can deny what's going on around us. All of existence will be gone by the end of the day but whoever or whatever wove together space and time, they left a way to put things back together if the universe ever faced total annihilation. There is a portal in the universe. I built this hotel around it and on the other side is the answer."

Luther didn't seem to be convinced. "And. . . we're supposed to, what? Just stroll in there, ring some bells and fix this shit?"

"It can't be that easy," Alexa said, causing her brother to turn to her. "There's always a catch to these magical quests."

"That would be correct, Alexandra," Reginald agreed. "The obstacle in this case is called the guardian."

"What kind of guardian?" Viktor asked.

Diego lifted his injured hand. "Kinda guardian that does this. He has a sword."

"It is a force to be reckoned with."

"See? Yeah. This is where you lose me," Luther cut in.

Lila seemed surprised. "This is where he loses you? I checked out at the sacred cave."

"Why would the builders of this 'back door' need to have a guardian?"

Sloane perked up from where she'd been leaning against Deianira's arm. "Ah! To protect it from people who want to use it for nefarious means."

Reginald gave her an approving nod. "That is correct, Sloane."

As the Romani woman squeezed her wife's hand proudly, Allison spoke up: "so it's gonna take all of us to defeat the thing protecting the bells."

"You're actually buying his crap?" Five wondered with disbelief.

"How is a guardian and bells any crazier than time-travelling briefcases and assassins with cartoon masks?"

"Oh, I know this one!" Alexa answered with false cheer. "We've actually experienced one of those things while we have yet to encounter the other."

The boy twisted around to give her a surprised look. "No offence, Lexa, but I thought you of all people would go for this."

She made a face at him but didn't reply. Ben took the moment of silence to stand and move next to his father. "I'm in."

Diego stood next, causing Lila to fall harshly against the couch. "Me too. But I think some of us should stay back. Like Lila."

He glanced down at the British woman, who pushed up from the couch to join him. "Uh. . . or you can stay and I can go."

"No," Allison disagreed. "This is much bigger than all of us. Nobody can stay back."

"You, my children, are all that stands between us and oblivion," Reginald said. "Are we ready to go?"

"Well I say we vote," Viktor offered.

"This isn't a democracy. Dad's calling the shots," Ben countered.

"I'm with Viktor," Five stated. "We vote."

"The world is ending and you want to count hands?"

"You're asking us to risk our lives," Luther countered his father's question. "I think it's only fair that you give us some time to discuss it. Privately." Reginald scoffed with disbelief as he turned away from the group. Luther continued, unphased: "why don't we meet back here in an hour?"

They all assented with varying degrees of acceptance before they broke up. As the two teens left their siblings, Alexa gave the boy an uncertain look. "Um. . . do you want to. . . think about this by yourself?"

He frowned at her hesitancy. "Why? Do. . . you want to have some time alone?"

"No!" She shook her head. Alexa felt her face warm from her quick answer. "Um. . . it just seems like a big decision that. . . maybe would be easier to think about alone."

Five's expression softened and he reached down to squeeze her hand fondly. "Lexa, we're a team now, remember? Where you go, I go— and vice versa. So. . . what were you thinking?"

The blonde squeezed his hand in return. "I'd, um, like to talk to our siblings about what their thoughts are before I make my own."

He nodded approvingly. "That's not a bad idea. Let's go."

☂︎ ☂︎ ☂︎

They found Luther sitting alone in one of the hotel rooms, sitting on the bed as he stared out the window. The boy led the way into the room and greeted their brother: "hey."

"Hey, how long do we have left?"

"A couple hours. Could be more, could be less."

Alexa studied the larger man for a moment before she asked hesitantly: "so. . . which way are you voting?"

"I was thinking about raiding the wine cellar for an end-of-the-world party," he answered heavily. "You're more than welcome to join me."

Five glanced at the girl next to him. "I think we're still on the fence about that one. We saw something last night that we weren't supposed to see."

"Diego and Lila," Luther agreed knowingly. "Yeah. They do it on the stairs sometimes."

The blonde raised an eyebrow at that. While the thought of her brother having. . . affairs was absolutely disgusting, the location piqued her interest. Maybe if they had enough time, she and Five could. . .

"No, we saw dad," the boy corrected him. "He was in his room with someone, making some kind of deal. Before you ask, we don't what the deal was or who it was with. Everything is a blur."

"It wasn't me," their brother said. "And I think we can rule out Sloane and Deianira— they were probably as busy as Diego and Lila last night."

"Yeah, I get it, Luther. Thank you. Everyone was boning everyone last night."

Luther's eyes widened. "Wait, Ben hooked up with someone?" He paused to take in his sister's rather. . . pink face. "Did you two. . .?"

Alexa smiled bashfully while Five scoffed. "That's what you're most concerned about?"

"Wait— that's all of us! There's no more virgins left in the family!" Luther held up his hand to high-five the couple. While his brother ignored the gesture, the blonde tapped his palm lightly with her fingers in an embarrassed sort of way.

"Focus, please," the boy pleaded. "That story about the bells? There's something dad's not telling us. Think about it. When has the old man ever been straight with us?"

Luther shrugged. "I dunno. He was pretty ruthless in our performance reviews."

"He always gave me five stars."

"Really?" the girl asked with surprise. "I never got more than two!"

"Look, I'm old enough to trust my instinct and it's telling me this is a trap. Food for thought."

☂︎ ☂︎ ☂︎

The Hargreeves gathered in the lobby at the appointed hour, though this time they sat assembled around the stairs. Allison chose to remain standing as she faced the rest of her siblings. "I think you all can guess which way I'll be voting. We've all been through a lot. We've all lost people but their deaths have to mean something. Which is why I'll be voting to go with dad."

Lila came down the stairs and paused in front of Diego. "What she said. Let's go save the bloody universe!"

"Alright," the second Hargreeves began, "well, since she said yes, I vote stay." The British woman scoffed. "How's that for nice?"

"You're not being serious."

"It's his vote, Lila," Allison reminded her. "Klaus?"

"I am with father."

"Okay, that's four to one. Viktor?"

The short-haired man sighed. "Look, I wanna believe, okay? I really do. I just can't shake the feeling we don't know what we're getting ourselves into."

"No, but we know what we've got if we don't. We have to go into this together, Viktor. A family."

He seemed entirely fed up with his sister's argument. "You can't just keep throwing the word family around. It isn't enough. I vote stay."

"Luther?"

"Um. . . I'm out. Look, I wanna spend whatever time we have left together and not fighting some guy with a sword and ringing bells and stuff. So. . ." He shook his head.

"Deianira and Sloane?"

The brunette looked down at her wife, who was sitting comfortably between her legs. "While normally I'd be gung-ho to fight some bastard with a sword, Sloane and I talked and. . . well, she wants me to take a stab at nonviolence so we're out, too."

Ben scoffed at her reply. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen."

Deianira's expression remained unphased. "You know what they say. Happy wife, happy next two hours of our lives."

"Well, that's four who vote go and five for stay," Viktor observed.

"That leaves you two, Number Five and Alexandra," Reginald prompted them.

They glanced at each other before the boy began to speak: "I saw the future and it told me to sit this one out. I vote stay. It's time to accept our fate."

Alexa squeezed her boyfriend's hand. "I vote stay, too."

Allison glared furiously at her siblings. "You're all pathetic."

Ben turned to his father as she stalked away. "Why can't we go in there, just the four of us?"

"That would mean certain failure. There must be eight." He addressed the remaining group: "children, I can't say I'm happy with this but I see now that the blame falls on me. I failed you when you were young and I have failed you now. And in doing so, I have doomed the entire universe. If anyone needs me, I'll be in the courtyard. . . awaiting the end."

"It's like he expects us to be sorry for him or something," the blonde mumbled as their father departed.

"Idiots," Ben sneered as he left as well.

Viktor looked around at his siblings. "Was that a real apology?"

"The man's never apologized for anything in his life."

"I actually feel bad for him," Diego commented.

Alexa gave him a look of disbelief as he disagreed with her comment. At least Five was on her side. "Don't worry, it'll pass."

"So now what?" Sloane asked.

"We wait for the end. See you around. It's been interesting."

☂︎ ☂︎ ☂︎

When Viktor next encountered his siblings, he found them in a very. . . compromising position. Alexa's back was pressed against the wall while Five had his arms wrapped around her to hold her close. They were kissing rather intensely— certainly more graphically than Viktor had ever witnessed in their benign PDA. He cleared his throat awkwardly to get their attention. "Uh. . . hey guys."

Thankfully, they stopped kissing but the boy kept his embrace on the blonde, who smiled uncomfortably at him in return. "Um, hey. This. . . isn't what it looks like."

"It's for research," Five added helpfully. "We're retracing our steps."

"Why?"

"The old man is hiding something."

Their brother seemed to accept their explanation easily. "Yeah, feels like there's a lot of that going around."

The boy finally pulled away from his girlfriend to face the short-haired man. "How do you mean?"

"Allison apologized to me."

"What?" Alexa exclaimed. "She's never apologized to me. Why do you get the good-sister side of her and I don't?"

Five sent her a sympathetic look but neither of the men answered her question. "Okay. And that's suspicious, how?"

"Last night she was ready to go ten rounds with me at the wedding and this morning it's all family and dad and love. I don't know; something must have happened last night but I don't know what."

Five's eyes widened at the sudden recollection of the events he'd witnessed during his. . . passionate make-out session with his girlfriend. It seemed even that something as enjoyable as getting laid couldn't take his mind off the apocalypse (in a way, he reluctantly admitted that Lila had been right.) He'd been actively thinking about it even when most of his mind had been preoccupied with. . . another activity.

"It's Allison!" he announced loudly.

"What is?"

As soon as Viktor asked the question, Alexa's hair stood on end. It felt like she'd been rubbing her socks on the carpet only to then roll around in her bedsheets as static raced across her skin— and she'd only felt like this once before. Dread filled her stomach with a heavy, stone-like feeling as her vision blurred in front of her. "Oh god," she breathed out.

She didn't give the men a chance to ask her what was wrong; she took off running in the direction her tingles guided her. They only strengthened as she raced towards the White Buffalo Suite. She was vaguely aware of Five and Viktor shouting after her before they followed her path, but her attention was only on her destination. Her feet stumbled to a halt at the entrance of the luridly pink room.

Almost instantly, her mind took her back to Ben's death: the terrible amount of blood, the panicked screams that echoed in her ears— her own— the confused shouts that came from her siblings and Luther's voice above it all as he tried to remain calm and tell them what to do. Her entire body felt numb as she walked unsteadily to that same calm, responsible brother that had always looked out for them— except now he lay cold and still against the white carpet.

"No," she gasped. Her voice cracked with that one word. Alexa sank down next to her brother and pulled his large form into his lap, staining her hands red with his blood. Tears escaped her eyes and slipped down her cheeks as her vision flashed between Ben (Ben, I'm sorry. It's my fault. All mine.) and now Luther (Luther, I'm sorry. I've failed you again.)

"Oh my god, Luther," Viktor said, the first to come to his senses. Alexa could only continue to cry above her brother's motionless form as worst-case scenarios whirled around her mind with increasingly terrible outcomes.

But no matter what her thoughts told her, this time was different: just like her earlier conversation with Reginald, she wasn't alone. Five dropped down next to her to wrap his arms around her. She was hardly able to react to the gesture but she did lean against his chest as she struggled to get her breathing under control. Despite her efforts, her words still came out in a blubbering mess: "it's-it's g-gonna be li-like last time." She hiccupped, cutting herself off for a second. "Th-they're all g-gonna blame m-me. I. . . I can't—"

She couldn't even finish the thought: she couldn't go through the rest of her life alone if her siblings all decided to pretend like she didn't exist again. While he was shaken at the sight of what had happened to Luther, the boy's voice remained calm as he soothed the distraught girl. His hand ran steadily through her hair as he spoke quietly in her ear: "Lexa, it's not gonna be like that. I promise. It's not your fault; none of us could have seen this happening. And if anyone does blame you, they'll have me to answer to, okay? I'll make sure they understand. . ."

He continued to reassure her as the rest of the Hargreeves gathered in the White Buffalo Suite at the sound of the loud sobs that came from the blonde. Allison stared down at the girl with a look that could only be described as hatred. "What the hell did you do?"

"Whoa, Allison, it's not her fault!" Diego leapt to his sister's defense before the boy could.

"Oh, but it is," the brunette sneered. "She's the one who's supposed to sense these things and prevent them from happening. What good is she if she can only find out after the fact?" Allison scoffed, clearly disgusted, before she turned her back on the blonde. She went to sit against the wall as her anger turned into grief.

"It must've been him," Lila observed quietly. "The guardian."

Diego moved to crouch next to the girl to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder. He looked up at the British woman. "She's right. Whatever did this had a long, curved blade."

"How. . . how can you be sure?"

"I don't know much, but I know knives."

Reginald then made his appearance amongst the shocked siblings. "Children, what's going on?" He gasped theatrically. "Oh God! Luther."

"If we attacked first, he would still be alive," Ben remarked.

Deianira— whose arm was wrapped comfortingly around her wife's shoulders— eyed the large man's body. "So much for nonviolence, am I right?" When she only received grief-stricken looks, she sighed. "Wrong time, sorry."

The building began to shake around them, causing Viktor to fall against the chair he'd been sitting on. Ben stuck his head out of the room to look down the hallway only to see a mass of angry orange light heading their way. "G-guys? Hey, guys!"

"What are we gonna do with Luther?" Alexa asked, speaking for the first time since they'd found his body.

"We're out of time. The Kugelblitz is here," Five said. His arm remained around the girl but his tone had taken on an urgent note.

Diego grabbed the spear gun that had originally been Klaus' murder weapon to prepare for their inevitable fight. Reginald ran to the Pachinko machine. "Everyone into the passage! It's the only way!"

As the second Hargreeves attempted to follow the older man, Viktor grasped his arm. "You agreed to stay!"

"They killed Luther, alright?"

"Come on, children! Hurry!"

Five gently pulled the blonde away from their brother despite her protests. "We can't leave him!"

"We go now or we're gonna die!" Allison snapped at her.

The boy shot her an irritated look— he had it under control— but together, they managed to guide the upset girl into the passage. What they didn't notice was that it was Reginald— not Klaus— who followed them into Oblivion.