Word count: 3988

"𝐕𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐀," 𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐙𝐀𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐇 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐃 out. She closed her eyes in frustration as she let out a loud groan and scrunched a fistful of her dress. "Luther, that dumb son of a bitch, I told him to let her go."

"We have to go." Five immediately got up, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the door. "Now."

They quickly exited the attic, feeling the ground shake once more as another explosion went off. The walls and pillars were beginning to crumble, cracks edging along the stone as dust flew through the air.

"Elizabeth!" Diego's voice sounded as though he was yelling from across the floor—which he probably was. "Elizabeth!"

She pulled Five's hand in the direction of Diego's voice, the two of them sprinting across the floor to meet Diego and Klaus.

"Oh, Elizabeth," Diego breathed out, immediately embracing her tightly as he gave a small sigh of relief. "We have to—we have to find Mom."

She nodded quickly before turning to the other two and demanding, "Five, Klaus, get outside. We'll meet you there in a minute."

Five's expression immediately showed that he was against the idea as he shook his head and exclaimed, "What? No! I'm no—"

"Go, Five!"

Clenching his jaw, Five slapped Klaus's arm, and the two of them ran down the stairs. Elizabeth turned to Diego, nodding, and the two of them headed towards their mother's charging station. However, the chairs were empty.

"Mom!" Diego shouted just as another explosion went off, causing the ground to shake violently and more dust to float down. "Where is she?"

"Mom!" Elizabeth yelled as she and Diego ran through the halls, though they only heard the sound of falling debris and cracking stone in return.

"Mom!"

Another explosion sounded, and the ceiling above them began to collapse. The first chunk of the ceiling hit Diego, knocking him to the ground. 

Too late to move, Elizabeth was hit by another in the back of the head, immediately knocking her out.

She and Diego were then pulled out of the way just as the entire block of the ceiling collapsed onto where they had just been. 

Groaning, the two of them got up to see that Klaus had saved them, his eyes wide as he watched them clamber to their feet.

"I thought I told you to leave." Elizabeth groaned in pain as she brushed the dust off of her uniform.

"I didn't, and good thing too. Come on, come on." Klaus nodded quickly as they began to run down the hall again. "Let's go!"

They went into Five's room and jumped through the window, then quickly heading down the stairs of the fire escape. Elizabeth rubbed the back of her head as she did so; she now had the worst headache.

"You guys okay?" Klaus asked the two breathlessly once they had reached the ground. "You okay?"

"Hey, you just saved our lives, man." Diego grinned, pulling Klaus in for a tight hug.

"Shit." Elizabeth's eyes widened as she looked up towards the crumbling building in front of her. There, in the second-floor window, stood Grace, who was looking down at them with a teary smile. "Mom. Mom!"

The other two took notice of what she was yelling at and began shouting as well.

"Mom! Get out of there, now!"

"Mom, get out of there! Mom!"

Grace only gave a small wave, her eyes watering as she blew them a kiss of farewell.

"I'm coming after you!" Diego yelled as more debris began to rain down from the building.

"Diego, no!" Elizabeth cried out.

She pushed her hand out, creating a portal just in front of where Diego was running, and he ran through, arriving next to her once more. She and Klaus grabbed onto him and pulled him back as the building crumbled to nothing.

She gawked at the mayhem around her. The house that she had grown to love so dearly was now in ruins.

There were piles of rubble and stone, mixed together with broken doors, broken tables, shattered glass, and small fires that lit the area along with the Moon. Everything was destroyed.

Because of Vanya (and essentially, Luther).

"Mom!" Diego shouted, running up to a random pile and beginning to dig through in hopeful search. "Mom! Mom! Elizabeth, Klaus, come here. Help me search!"

"Diego." Tears in her eyes, Elizabeth leaned over and grabbed his arm, pulling him back. "Just stop it. Stop."

He looked back at her with shocked eyes, shaking his head as he tried to pull his arm back. "No, what—what are you—let me go. What are you doing?"

"Stop. Stop. She's gone. She's . . ." Elizabeth pulled him to his feet, placing both hands on his shoulders as she sniffled. "She's gone, okay? She's . . ."

"What do you wanna do?" Diego stared intently into her eyes, his voice low. "You wa-wa-wa-wanna . . . walk away from this?"

"No," she breathed out, shaking her head.

"What about Pogo?" he questioned.

"Just . . ." Elizabeth rested her forehead on Diego's shoulder, closing her eyes as tears began to stream out.

Suddenly, Luther and Allison arrived, Luther drawing everyone's attention to him as he answered Diego's question, "He didn't make it."

"What?" Klaus breathed out.

Luther sighed as he walked over towards them, "Vanya killed him."

Elizabeth's head snapped over to him, slowly shaking her head as she protested, "But Vanya wouldn't—"

"No, I saw it," Luther cut her off, his voice gruff before he sighed. "Just before we got out."

"Mom. Now Pogo," Diego exhaled, wrapping his arms around Elizabeth as she put her forehead back onto his shoulder.

Suddenly, the echo of footsteps came into the air as Five rushed over to them. He had a newspaper in his hand, it folded in half. 

He jumped down from a pile of rubble as he waved the newspaper at them and told them, "Guys. This is it. The apocalypse is still on. The world ends today."

"I thought you said it was over," Luther accused as he took a few steps towards him, his eyebrows furrowed.

"I was wrong, okay?" Five sighed as he lifted the newspaper for them to see. "This newspaper, I found it in the future the day I got stuck. The headline hasn't changed."

"No, that doesn't mean anything." Diego shook his head quickly as Elizabeth separated from him. " The time could've been altered since that newspaper came out this morning."

"You're not listening to me," Five said angrily. "When I found it, I assumed this place came down along with everything else. But here we are. The Moon's still shining, the Earth is in one piece, but not the Academy."

"I'm confused." Klaus stumbled towards Five and grabbed the newspaper, flipping through it as he walked back to his original spot.

"Then listen to me, you idiot!" Five exclaimed. "Vanya destroys the Academy before the apocalypse." He sighed before continuing, "I thought Harold Jenkins was the cause, but he was the fuse. Vanya is the bomb. Vanya causes the apocalypse."

"We have to find her," Luther breathed out.

Suddenly, bright lights flashed over them as the sound of helicopter blades whirring filled the air. The wail of police sirens grew louder and louder as they neared. Of course, a whole building had just exploded, it was bound to draw some attention.

Diego lifted his hand in front of his eyes to block the light as he looked up. "We gotta go, now."

"Regroup at the Super Star," Luther ordered as everyone began to run. "Go!"

"Or I could just—" Elizabeth was cut off as Five grabbed her hand and teleported the both of them to the bowling alley.

The two of them entered the building, immediately being encased in the cool blue glow of the room. It seemed as though the birthday party of a teenage boy was taking place on the left side of the alley, with balloons and friends crowding the area.

"Jesus," Elizabeth sighed as she rubbed her eyes. "Just when I thought things were getting better."

"I failed. All that goddamn work and for what?" Five muttered to himself, running a hand through his already messy hair.

"Five," she said softly, "you didn't fail."

"My duty was to stop the apocalypse. It still happened." Five looked up at her, his expression pained as he shook his head. "I failed."

"We're all still standing." Elizabeth leaned forward and kissed him gently, something she was very glad she could do now. "We still have a chance."

"Oh, hey, guys," Klaus panted, out of breath as he and Diego came into the foyer of the bowling alley.

Soon, Allison and Luther came in, and the group was whole again. They paid for a lane, and all sat down in a semi-circle as they began to plan.

"Look, I hate to be the one to say this," Luther said quietly, his right arm swung over the back of his chair as he traced circles on the seat with his other hand, "but everyone needs to prepare."

"For what?" Diego questioned.

"To do whatever it takes to stop Vanya."

Allison smacked Luther with the notepad that she was using to communicate, a look of disapproval on her face.

"I . . ." Luther sighed as he turned to look at her. "We may not have a choice, Allison."

"Bullshit," Elizabeth stated as she folded her arms. "There's always choices."

Five turned to her, an incredulous look on his face. "Yeah, like what?"

"Like . . ." She frowned as Klaus ruffled the newspaper he still had open from next to her. "I don't know."

"Look, whatever we decide, we need to find Vanya." Luther stood up, his gaze shifting from person to person. "And fast, okay? She could be anywhere."

"Or . . . here." Klaus's eyes looked up from the newspaper as he shook it slightly. He got off of his seat and kneeled on the ground, holding the newspaper out for all of them to see. "Look at this."

In the middle of an article about protecting nature was a large, rectangular advertisement for the St. Pluvium Chamber Orchestra. It featured a photo of a smiling Vanya who was holding her violin at the bottom right of the navy ad, announcing her as the new first chair. 

At the top, it told them where the orchestra was meant to play: the Icarus Theatre.

"That's right." Diego nodded, a look of realization dawning on his face. "Her concert is tonight."

"Hello." The voice of a young woman who worked there—Midge, according to her name tag—interrupted them, causing them to look away from the newspaper and turn to her. "I hate to intrude, but my manager says if you're not gonna bowl, you gotta leave."

Behind her at the counter, the manager—a pudgy man who looked to be in his late forties—thumped down a pair of bowling shoes onto the counter as he watched them with narrowed eyes.

Diego sighed as he turned to the group. "Whose turn is it?"

"Oh, for . . ." Luther muttered to himself in exasperation before picking up a bright pink bowling ball and tossing it to the side while staring at the manager. The ball crossed a few lanes over, making loud pounding noises as it bounced to the pins and knocked all of them down.

Allison quickly jotted something down on her notebook with the Sharpie she had in her other hand. She held it up to Luther once she was done, tapping on it with the end of the marker. Her writing read: SHE'S OUR SISTER.

"We're the only ones capable of stopping this," Luther told her, causing her arm to drop down to her side. "We have a responsibility to Dad."

"To Dad?" Diego echoed incredulously as he turned to face Luther. 'No, I've heard enough about—"

"He sacrificed everything to bring us back together," Luther pointed out. 

"I'm with Luther on this one." Five looked between either man as he leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. "We can't give her a chance to fight back. There are billions of lives at stake. We're past trying to save just one."

"Hey, you know, guys, uh . . . maybe I could help," Klaus suddenly piped up, swivelling his head to look at each person.

Luther shook his head, scoffing, "Now is not the time."

Diego raised a hand, staring angrily at Luther. "No, let him finish." In response to the look of surprise Luther gave, Diego reasoned, "He saved my and Elizabeth's life today."

Flabbergasted upon hearing this, Luther turned to Klaus and questioned, "Is that true?"

Klaus stood up, nodding slowly. "Yeah, yeah, I did . . . take credit for it. In fact, the real hero" —he paused for a moment, looking around at the group— "was Ben."

Everyone immediately gave their own sign of skepticism, whether it was a roll of the eyes, an exasperated sigh, or folded arms. It seemed like no one believed him, but he continued to insist.

"Today . . . Listen," Klaus said earnestly. "Today, he punched me in the face," he elaborated as he walked up next to Diego, wringing his hands. "And earlier at the house, he was the one who saved Diego and Elizabeth's life, not me."

Luther shook his head, an exasperated expression on his face as he muttered, "You are unbelievable, Klaus."

"You want proof, is that it? All right. I . . . I'll give you proof." Klaus nodded quickly as he picked up a pink bowling ball. He spun it around in his hands a few times before preparing to launch it. "All right, it's showtime, baby. Catch!"

Klaus threw the ball into the air, Five ducking as it flew just where his head had been moments before. The group all watched as the ball slammed against the ground, bouncing a few times before stopping as it hit a counter.

His hands still raised in the air, Klaus stared at the spot the bowling ball had hit before slowly grabbing the hair at the back of his head.

"Is there any way to silence that voice in your head that screams out to be the center of attention?" Luther asked angrily.

Klaus turned to him, leaning forward as he hissed, "You know, I liked you a lot better before you got laid."

Luther's eyes grew wide as soon as the words left Klaus's mouth. Allison furrowed her eyebrows, her eyes just as wide as Klaus began to try and make up for it.

"Which was a complete . . . It . . . it wasn't his fault, 'cause he was ridiculously high, right? And . . . and the girl, she thought he was a furry—"

Luther shut his eyes, curtly saying, "Stop!"

"Okay." Klaus nodded quickly, itching the side of his head with one hand as he looked to Diego, who seemed slightly amused by the situation.

Nervously, Luther's head slowly turned to face Allison. An irritated smile had reached her face as she snatched her notepad from the table it had been resting on and headed towards the exit.

"Allison, wait," Luther called as he began to hurriedly follow her, panic evident in his voice.

"Excuse me! Excuse me!" 

A stout woman with red hair and blue-rimmed glasses approached them, her arm wrapped around a boy with similar glasses and a blue gift bow attached to his orange-striped shirt. He had a lime green bowling ball in his hands, and he nervously glanced at Five as his mother continued:

"It's my son Kenny's birthday today, and . . . uh . . . wouldn't your kids be happier playing with kids their own age?" A warm smile broke out on her face as she looked towards Elizabeth and Five. "Assuming it's okay with your two dads. "

Klaus and Diego stared at her with wide eyes as she gestured towards the two of them.

"I would rather chew off my own foot," Five responded venomously, his expression souring.

The smile on the woman's face faded as she straightened up. She pulled her son back towards the party, casting a terrified look towards Five. "Let's go, Kenny."

All of a sudden, the faint noise of a whoosh and a clunk sounded. Five looked over to the right with furrowed eyebrows and quickly got up, ignoring Elizabeth as she questioned what he was doing.

"If I was going to date a man, you'd be the last man I would date." Diego scrunched his face in disgust as he looked towards Klaus, who had gotten up and started to pace around.

Klaus scoffed, "You'd be lucky to get me."

Elizabeth walked over to Five, who had gone over to the next lane. He was standing at the ball return machine, his back facing her as he held something in his hand. 

She peered over his shoulder to see that he was holding a gold canister, with a small, oval window that showed that there was a fortune cookie inside.

"Who's sending you fortune cookies?"

"Hm?" Five whipped around, holding the can behind his back as he gave her an adorable smile that revealed his dimples. "No one."

"No one sent you that fortune cookie?" she questioned dubiously with raised eyebrows. "It just appeared?"

"Fortune cookie? I . . . Psh" —he shrugged— "I don't know what you're talking about."

She rolled her eyes. "Five, what is it?"

"It's nothing, don't worry about it, beautiful." He leaned over and kissed her, keeping his hands firmly behind him. "Why don't you go back to Diego and Klaus while I stay here and . . . um, return some bowling balls?"

Elizabeth scoffed as she shook her head, "Do you think I'm stupid? There's a one hundred percent chance that you're lying. And a million percent chance that I'll kick your ass if you don't tell me."

"Those are pretty high," Five mumbled.

"Damn right they are," she jeered as she folded her arms. "What. Is. That. Fortune. Cookie?"

He sighed, finally giving in, "It's . . . from the Handler." 

He pulled the canister towards them, popping it open and dropping the cookie into his hands. He tossed the metal canister onto the ball return machine and broke the cookie into two, revealing the slip of paper that was meant to have his fortune.

The actual fortune read: TIME MARCHES ON . . . OR DOES IT?

And below, in blue pen, was written: Rain Quail, Rm 12

As soon as Five had processed the message, he looked up at her. "I've got to go."

"Well, then I'll come with you," she insisted, nodding.

"No. The group needs to keep someone with a brain around, and you and I are the only available candidates," he said firmly as he shook his head. He sighed before kissing her once again. "I'll be back soon."

He then turned and disappeared in a flash of white, leaving Elizabeth alone with the machine.

She sighed as she headed back towards Diego and Klaus, taking the chair that she had been in before. They looked up to her, and then behind them, obviously searching for Five.

"He's gone," Elizabeth exhaled as she leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. "Had to do something."

"God, that kid . . . ," Diego muttered to himself, shaking his head.

Just then, their attention turned towards the entrance as the door opened, and Allison and Luther appeared. 

The three of them stood up as Luther approached and questioned, "All right, where's Five?"

"He left," Diego answered.

"Oh, for the love of . . ." Luther rolled his eyes. "Where'd he go?"

"A place." Elizabeth shrugged. She didn't know if she was allowed to tell them, but just because she didn't want Five on her ass, she decided to stay quiet about it.

"Well, we're not waiting around for him. The concert starts in thirty minutes," Luther said, looking around the room.

Diego nodded. "All right, so what's the plan?"

Luther froze. His eyes drifted above Diego's head as he clearly tried to come up with something. "Well, I think that, uh . . ." He paused for a moment. "We go to the Icarus Theater."

"That's a location, not a plan," Diego pointed out as he shook his head.

Luther opened his mouth once more, but nothing came out this time. It was obvious that Luther didn't have the slightest clue as to what they needed to do.

"What? Is that all you got?" Diego raised his eyebrows tauntingly as he took a few steps toward Luther. "Look, you wanna be Number One, fine, but you're gonna have to get us on the same page, because right now, we're all over the place."

"You're right," Luther confessed as he gave a small nod. "We need a plan."

Their eyes were then drawn to the entrance as a group of people arrived. Only, this group wasn't exactly dressed like people.

They wore gas masks with bright, glowing red circles for eyes, the masks strapped over a red suit that covered the rest of their head. They bore thick, metallic armour, with intricate lining and design, that would definitely protect them rather well from any attacks. 

And in their gloved hands were thick guns, which then began to shoot bullets.

The people at Kenny's birthday party began to shriek in fright as they all scattered, running out of the bowling alley.

"Get down!" Luther shouted as the bullets flew through the air, shattering glass and penetrating drywall.

Diego grabbed Elizabeth and pulled her under one of the counters as the other three crouched behind another.

"Who the hell are these guys?" Diego shouted over the brutal sound of firing bullets.

"Maybe they're here for Kenny's birthday!" Klaus shouted sarcastically as he used his hands to cover his ears to protect them from the noise.

"No, I'm pretty sure they're here for us!" Luther yelled in response as various snacks flew through the sky.

Diego suddenly stood up, grabbing one of his knives and launching it towards one of the men who was standing at the working counter. It impaled him right where his heart would be, and he staggered backwards, falling onto a smaller desk that had some sort of control system on top of it.

The lights turned to a dark blue, bringing the visibility of the room down. Disco lights began to swirl from overhead, the brightly coloured dots jumping all over the floor.

Luther began to pick up the bowling balls, propelling them towards the men and knocking them down as if they were pins. 

Klaus picked up Kenny's birthday cake and threw it toward one of them as Diego threw knife after knife. 

Elizabeth peeked up from under the counter, pushing her hands towards every enemy she saw and blasting them with her energy, set to the most intense level possible.

After about half of them were knocked down, the group ducked down under the counters once again.

Klaus peered over the counter before shouting, "They're blocking the exit!"

"So, what's the plan now, Luther?" Diego yelled.

Allison pointed towards the lanes in front of them frantically, which Luther then took notice of and instructed, "The lanes! Let's go!"

Immediately, the five of them jumped to their feet and began to run down their own lane, their heads glancing over their shoulders as bullets edged the ground near their feet. They slid through the bowling pins, then arriving at the back, behind all of the pinsetters.

They all then ran towards the exit, huffing as they made it out to the street.

"Icarus Theatre, right?" Elizabeth nodded to herself quickly before pushing her hands out and creating a portal.

After looking back behind them one last time, the group jumped through the portal and landed in front of the theatre.