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❛ ᴡᴀsᴛᴇʟᴀɴᴅs ᴏғ ᴛɪᴍᴇ​​​​​​​​​​. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚   ▎❛ 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄 ❜   ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ʜᴇʏ, ᴏɴᴇ ǫᴜᴇsᴛɪᴏɴ:
ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴇʟʟ? ꒱


❝ YOU'RE NOT TOO GREAT
TO BE AROUND, EITHER ❞

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"I don't get it. Did I miss it? How'd you win again?" Luther complained.

The trio was now sitting at a high-top, four-seater table in the bar. Diego kept a close eye on the teen across from him to prevent her from getting another drink. To keep her occupied, he'd proposed a game of scrabble. Unfortunately for the two male Hargreeves, Dolores was smarter than both of them combined in the language (read: any) department. At least her fourth win in a row was making her feel slightly better about herself.

She patted Luther on the arm. "Well, an important part of this game is that you need to have an IQ of more than ten and I think even that's being generous."

The larger man frowned. "What's an IQ?"

The brunette just sighed with exasperation as Viktor and Allison came down the stairs to join them. Diego settled back against his chair and crossed his arms. "Oh, look at those two jabronis getting along and being all sibly."

"See, this is why you lost," Dolores pointed out. "Sibly isn't a word."

"So?"

The dark-haired man leaned forward to flick the teen lightly on the forehead in reproach for her jab before he answered: "so that never goes well for us."

Viktor took the unoccupied chair while Allison leaned against it. "Hey."

"So, what's the plan? What do we do when the Sparrows get here?"

Allison shrugged. "Just follow our lead."

Diego protested her direction immediately. "Uh-uh. Nice try. We don't take orders from you."

Luther chimed in with his own agreement before his eyes suddenly widened. "Oh, shit. They're early."

The group turned to face the doors and saw that he was right. Voices rose in excitement at the sight of the famous superheroes. The Hargreeves quickly got up from their table and went to greet the opposing academy. In cinematic display, they fanned out with each member facing the other. Christopher floated menacingly near Ben's head and Dolores noted that her counterpart— their 'manager'— was absent. Unaware of what was about to ensue, enthusiastic fans took photos of the rare opportunity.

In an effort to prevent catastrophic destruction, Viktor took the diplomatic route: "well, thanks for coming."

"Oh, yeah. Super glad to be here."

Dolores' gaze flicked uneasily to the Sparrow who had spoken. The image of her parents was fresh in her mind and while a part of her was tempted to go into that hallucination-state again, she knew it wasn't good to dwell on impossible things. She didn't think that a second trip would be the best idea with how she reacted to the first one. But still— what if that was the only time she'd ever get to see her parents again?

"Where are the rest of you?" Ben asked.

"Are you taking attendance? They'll be here."

The brunette snorted. "Not likely. First Five walks out on me and then his family. If you haven't noticed there's a bit of a trend forming here."

The second Sparrow glanced over at her as she spoke but didn't deign her an answer. While he and the Sparrow's Dolores weren't close, it was unsettling to see an exact replica standing with their enemies. She seemed to be a lot lamer too, with how she couldn't seem to get over herself. Their Dolores' interest revolved solely around the Academy which made her Dolores-number-one, in his opinion.

Allison ignored the girl's comment. "Where's the briefcase?"

"Where's our brother?" he volleyed back. He easily dismissed his thoughts about the 'Doloreses;' they weren't important, anyway— neither of them had powers.

The other Hargreeves gave him a thin-lipped smile. "Maybe we should try this again before I lose my temper."

Viktor tried to intervene in a whisper. "Allison—"

"I got this," she responded easily.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the siblings, Sloane was trying to send a quiet message: "Run!"

Luther— who had just lost four games of Scrabble— frowned with confusion. "Bun?" She shook her head in response.

"Hand over the briefcase or no deal," Allison addressed the Sparrows' assumed leader.

He gave her a sarcastic smirk. "Yeah, tiny problem. Deal's off."

"Run!" Sloane repeated in a louder voice.

The man's eyes widened. "Oh! Run!"

Stanly came sprinting down the hall with one of their homemade bombs in his hand. "Molotov this, bitches!"

Diego whirled around to stop him. "Stanly! Not now!"

The boy dropped the lit bottle in shock. Flames erupted from the top and licked up the nearby banner to scorch the cloth, causing a smoke alarm to blare in response which only added to the chaos.

"Oh shit."

Hotel guests began to panic at the sight of the flames and fled the area. Unbelievably, some still lingered to document what was going on. The Hargreeves remained unphased by the fire as their biggest threat remained in front of them. Ben ordered his siblings: "power up."

He raised a hand and Christopher began to spin with red light. Fei released her birds into the air while Jayme readied her saliva and Alphonso cracked his joints. The only one who seemed to be reluctant to fight was Sloane, who was looking at the two families of siblings with wide eyes.

Diego grasped his son's arm and yanked him away from the oncoming fight. "Go!"

"Now, Chris!"

The cube whirred even faster and a high-pitched whine emitted from the spinning object. A burst of invisible energy was quickly followed by five separate red tentacles as they shot out towards the unsuspecting siblings.

The second the energy touched her head, Dolores sank to her knees. It felt as if a mountain— no, a thousand mountains— were pressing down on her mind all at once. Unbearable pain worse than any headache she'd ever had seared through her skull in an intense wave. Faintly, she could hear the other Hargreeves groaning in agony and she was certain that she was, too. It was so severe that she couldn't even tell if sound was coming out of her mouth.

Her body shuddered from the force of Christopher's attack; the only thing that she could do was curl up in a fetal position with her hands clutched to her head. Her mind was entirely blank as she  mentally begged please, let this end. Her carefully-constructed imaginary box that held all the trauma she'd compartmentalized threatened to burst from where she'd buried it six feet underground.

She didn't hear Allison's attempt to Rumor the Sparrows in an attempt to save her siblings and she certainly didn't hear Ben's order to kill them. All she knew was that suddenly— miraculously, wonderfully— the pressure vanished altogether.

✧✧✧

Dolores couldn't seem to stop crying. The world was a blurry haze after the Sparrows' attack. The Hargreeves' reactions to their savior and Sloane's flight went unnoticed as the brunette stayed in her curled-up position. Now that the pain had been alleviated from her head, her arms wrapped around her knees, which were brought up to her chest.

Her sobs sent shivers through her body as she remained inconsolable. Everything that she'd survived— the apocalypses, Vietnam, Paradox Psychosis, even killing the employee at the Lonely Lodger Inn— was at the forefront of her mind after she'd so carefully locked it away. She'd done her best to pack up and move on after each trial, usually because Five had regretfully asked her to. They couldn't seem to stop the onslaught of events that they faced, leaving her to pick up the pieces without having the time to put the plate back together.

She didn't even feel the gentle hand that came to rest on her shoulder and barely registered the words of comfort that were given to her: "hey. Hey, hey, hey, Jellybean. Let's sit you up, alright?" The same person who'd spoken helped her shift upright and he offered his hand as a support.

Dolores made an effort to blink through her tears to see the face that belonged to the voice. "Klaus?" she wondered weakly.

"The one out of probably nine-hundred ninety," he joked. His tone became slightly more serious as he added: "breathe, Beanie. That's it. Easy does it."

The brunette struggled to become calmer but her attempts were made easier by the fourth Hargreeves' encouragement. As she let out yet another shuddering breath, she asked, "wha-where is everyone?"

"Well, your knight-in-shining-armor turned out to be that old grandpa that Viktor saved back in '63— he wasn't a grandpa then, obviously. And Luther saved his lovely Sparrow but she wasn't too pleased with us so she ran off. You know how us Hargreeves are— we can never stay in one place for long."

She shakily wiped her eyes in an effort to get his face into focus. With a painful amount of hope in her voice, she asked her final question: "Five?" Even just saying his name brought her enough comfort to take her first deep breath.

Klaus' expression softened with regret. "No dice, Jellybean. I'm sorry."

While she would never admit it, his answer made a few tears spill out that were unrelated to what had just happened. She quickly brushed her hand against her cheek.

"Never mind," Dolores said with a valiant attempt to keep her voice even. It shook at the end of her statement and gave her away. The hand on her back turned into an arm curled around her shoulders.

"Do you think you can stand?"

✧✧✧

Sometime later, Dolores finally felt as if she could speak at least a couple of sentences without bursting into tears. She'd gone with Klaus to one of the hotel's boutiques where he'd made her wait outside the changing room while he'd gotten another outfit. Even though she'd insisted (in a wobbly voice) that she was fine, he refused to leave her on her own. Instead, he'd insisted that he needed someone to judge his fashion sense. Now, they made their way back to down to the lobby, though she kept her gaze noticeably averted from where the fight had just occurred.

"Yeah, and you're just mad that you got your ass kicked by a floating cube!" Stanly exclaimed over Diego's commanding tone. Klaus let out a laugh at his statement as they approached the pair.

Diego first addressed his son: "that's it, you're grounded." Then he turned to his brother: "why are you laughing? I mean, you were conveniently absent when all this shit went down. Even Dolores was here!" His gaze fell on the brunette who stood quietly next to the long-haired man. He gave her a concerned look. "Lola? How are you holding up?"

The use of what she called her "old name" made her glance up with surprise. It had been years since anyone had called her that and its use was unexpectedly reassuring. It reminded her of past days and simpler times. "I'm alright."

Neither of the Hargreeves brothers looked convinced at her brave reply. The hotel's employee, Chet, approached the group and held up a list and a ring of keys. "As requested."

"What the hell is this?" Stan demanded.

"Your punishment. And when you're done here, you're gonna clean every room on Chet's list to pay for this shit, okay?"

The boy roughly grabbed the paper from him with a scowl. Klaus had drifted over to the cart and had begun to examine one of the hotel's fluffy white towels. Diego put a hand on his brother's shoulder and his other one on Dolores'. "And your aunt and uncle are gonna watch over you."

The two males immediately complained while Dolores just sighed. "Great. You again?"

Stan gave her a displeased look. "You're not too great to be around, either."

"Why can't you do it?" Klaus whined.

"Because I have to babysit Luther incase Allison pops off again, okay?" He leaned closer to his brother to add in a quiet voice: "and Lola shouldn't be alone right now. She was almost drunk when I caught her the first time." More loudly, he finished: "you three have tons in common. I mean, Lola's already spent a ton of time with Stan. She can help you find common ground."

"I wouldn't call it a ton of time. More like too much time."

Diego let her comment slide due to the events that had just happened. Instead, he gave her a pleading look. "Here, why don't I make it worth your while? In my next break, I'll start teaching you how to throw my knives."

She considered his proposal for a second before she nodded. "Yeah, alright."

✧✧✧

While she hadn't initially been up for it, Dolores was glad that Klaus had been able to convince her to ride the cleaning cart with Stanly. The boy lay on top of the supplies while she hung on to the front. Klaus occasionally bumped into her as he ran but the sudden burst of exhilaration was worth it. The wind blew her short hair back from her face and chased away the cloud of gloom that lingered ever since the Sparrow's attack. Stan let out a whoop of laughter as he encouraged his uncle to push the cart faster. Even Dolores couldn't help but let out a few amused giggles as they raced along.

They came to a stop outside of the last room on Chet's list. As Stan climbed off, Klaus caught his breath. "Squirt, make with a key on this one. Chop-chop."

"Let me check." An ionized copper plate on the door labeled it the White Buffalo Suite. "Nope. This room isn't on the list and I'm definitely not gonna clean a room that's not even on the list."

Klaus barely paid his protest any mind as he studied the entrance. "White Buffalo."

"I could pick the lock but Diego took my switchblade."

Dolores removed the bobby pin from her hair that held back her floppy bangs. They fell into her eyes as she held out the hairpiece. "How about this?"

Stan's eyes lit up and he jumped off the cart to take it from her. "Now you're a cool aunt!"

Her lips quirked up with amusement that he was easily pleased by such a simple gesture. Klaus stepped aside to let the boy work on the lock. The older man kept a watch out for any unwanted audience that they might have but luckily the hallway stayed empty. 

The lock clicked moments later and the boy opened the door. "Voila."

Dolores was surprised by how pink the room was. After all the green of the main part of the hotel she'd hardly been expecting such a color change. It was lavishly— but still tackily— decorated with white pelts for the rug and throw blanket. A white couch sat in the center of the room and the bedsheets were the same color. White bulls' heads hung on or leaned against the wall, giving proof of the name's origin. Chandeliers hung from the high ceiling and illuminated it better than any of their rooms were.

"Whoa," Stan exclaimed as they walked inside. "Looks like friggin' Indiana Jones in here! Whoa, a Pachinko!"

He ran up to the machine and began to play with it. His interest was taken up by the other exciting items in the room but Dolores' attention remained on the device. She wasn't very into arcade games but it was so out of place that it made her intrigued. At least, it did until Klaus called her attention. "Jellybean?"

She made her way over to him. "What's up?"

"You're smarter than most of us Hargreeves. What's the significance of a white buffalo?"

"It's sacred for some indigenous people," came her immediate answer. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, when I went to visit dad—"

"You went to visit ol' Reggie?"

"Yeah, to ask him about whether he killed our moms or not. He didn't, surprisingly. Anyway, there was a white buffalo in his office, too. D'you think he's got indigenous heritage?"

Dolores shook her head. "That's extremely unlikely. But is that where you were during. . . during. . ."

"Yep. I was having a nice little chat with our not-father. By the way, I think he got a new light fixture in the basement. It's round and orange, probably post-modern in décor."

The brunette gave him a faintly amused smile before she changed the subject. "Come look at this machine thingy. I'm pretty sure it's a game since Stan seemed to like it." She grasped his wrist and pulled him over to the Pachinko. "You were born in the 1900s. Do you know how to use it?"

Klaus looked comically offended. "The late 1900s, darling. 1989, to be specific—"

"I know," she cut him off lightly. "I was married to your brother, remember? It's funny 'cause you've got the same exact birthday as my dad and uncle except they were born completely naturally."

"Just making sure," he huffed. "What year were you born in order to make you think that '89 is old?"

"2004," she answered.

He gave her a wide-eyed look. "There were kids born after 1999? Really? That seems illegal. It has to be illegal. Can I see your birth certificate?"

She chuckled at his shock. "Klaus, there are kids born in 2014. It's not that weird."

"Uh, I beg to differ, Jellybean. I can't believe you're a— you're a— what are you?"

"Gen Z."

"Gen Z," he repeated, though his tone held so much faux-disgust that it made her laugh. He spoke the term as if it were an insult.

Dolores smirked. "You're one to talk, millennial."

Klaus gasped and raised his hand to his chest as if he'd been offended. "How dare you!"

"I'm just callin' it how it is, millennial."

Stanly had tuned out the older pairs' teasing conversation to feed his fascination with the new room. He picked up a spear gun and turned it over in his hands. "This is so cool." He held it up to eye level and made gunfire sounds as he pretended to shoot enemies.

The brunette paid him no mind as she studied the glowing console of the game. It had a circular, clock-like face with studs poking out of the back to control whatever fell from the top. A pattern of lines and boxes made up the main part of the design with some of the pegs forming bulls' horns.

"Hey. Come on, man. Chop-chop, Stan. Gotta see a man about a buffalo—"

Klaus and Dolores were apparently terrible babysitters because they hadn't stopped a twelve-year-old from messing around with a weapon that he didn't know how to use. As Stan turned to face his "relatives," his hand slipped and the trigger reacted with unfortunate responsiveness. The arrow in the gun shot out and towards the unsuspecting teen, who was still studying the machine. The fourth Hargreeves' eyes widened as they followed the arrow's path and he shoved the girl aside to step between her and her imminent death.

A/n: so. . . I gave into temptation and redid the aesthetics for the first two chapters. If you haven't checked them out yet, you definitely should!

I'm mostly saying this because I gave a little hint at what's happening next. You'll be happy to know that no matter what (dumb dumb) Netflix decides about TUA S4, I'll be doing my own version no matter what. I've got a framework of a plot waiting the in the wings but to pique your interest, I've leaned into the Stranger Things hype of Kate Bushes' song. The name for act v is Running Up That Hill ( A Deal With God.) Take from that what you will about how I plan to end this season. . .