Word count: 2497

"𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐃𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔 mean 'Vanya started the apocalypse'?" Valerie questioned incredulously, flinching as yet another explosion rang through the air. "How?"

"She—dammit—I overheard Pogo talking to Luther before. Vanya has powers, Dad just hid them from everyone," Five groaned as he grabbed Valerie's hand, pulling her along as he got to his feet.

Valerie shook her head, still spluttering, "But why would she—"

"We have to go. Now," Five said hurriedly, glancing around them to make sure that they were still alone. "Run us there."

With a nod, Valerie grabbed onto Five's shoulders and ran them both to the Academy. 

Or, at least, to what remained of the Academy.

Valerie let out a gasp of shock once she saw the wreckage in front of her, her hand slapping against her mouth as her eyes widened. 

What had once been a tall, grand building was now rubble and dust, with small fires illuminating the area. Only a fourth of the walls remained standing, jagged edges lining them. Broken doors and tables were scattered among the blankets and ripped papers, and a bathtub (which somehow was still fully intact) sat on top of a mountain of debris.

Her eyes widened further when they came across a sight that horrified her. Her once beautiful and elegant piano was now a grimy mess, with missing keys and overly chipped edges. 

She slowly walked over, tentatively placing her fingers over the rough and dirty keys. She swallowed back her tears. 

"Vanya did this?"

Five, however, had not been paying any attention to her as he grabbed a tattered newspaper from a newspaper box. His eyes quickly scanned over the headline, and he let out a loud groan as he did.

"What's wrong?" Valerie questioned, her eyes drifting over to him while her fingers continued to touch the keys with grief.

"We have to find the others." He grabbed her hand with his right hand, holding the newspaper with the other, and dragged her along the piles of stone and ash that were sprawled over every inch of the visible ground.

It didn't take long for them to find the others, and Valerie felt a wave of relief wash over her as she saw that they seemed to be (mostly) fine.

Diego, who had a line of dried blood coming down his forehead, was sitting on a small pile of wreckage, a solemn look over his face as he stared at the ground. 

The other three were huddled around him, looks of concern on their faces, and the grim expressions didn't make Valerie feel all that better. 

"Guys. This is it." Five let go of her hand as he climbed over a few mountains of rocks to reach the others. "The apocalypse is still on. The world ends today."

"I thought you said it was over," Luther accused as he stepped forward.

"I was wrong, okay?" Five grasped the folded newspaper with both hands as he showed it to the others. "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 in refusal, his watery eyes worrying Valerie as he looked up towards them. "The time could've been altered since that newspaper came out this morning."

"You're not listening to me!" Five seethed as he stared at Diego, shaking his head furiously. "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."

Klaus snatched the newspaper from Five and ruffled it open as he walked back to his original spot. 

"I'm confused," he moaned, his face scrunching up.

"Then listen to me, you idiot!" Five exclaimed angrily. "Vanya destroys the Academy before the apocalypse." He sighed, "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, staring straight ahead of him.

Suddenly, their attention turned upwards as the whir of helicopter blades and the scream of sirens filled the air, obviously heading towards them and the ruins they stood in. Lights began to shine onto them from above, immediately blinding them as they looked around in a panic.

"We gotta go, now," Diego warned as he got up from his spot, a hand raised in front of his eyes to block out the bright light.

"Regroup at the Super Star," Luther ordered. "Go!"

There was no way that they were going to be able to run fast enough before a police officer or someone would catch them, so Valerie thanked any god that was listening that she ate plenty of food that day before doing what she planned to do.

Valerie grabbed the collars of Klaus and Diego before speeding over to the familiar building of the nearest bowling alley, before going back and doing the same with Allison and Luther. 

Five, who had spatial-jumped himself there, was waiting with a nauseous Klaus and Diego at the entrance when they arrived.

After paying for a game that they didn't plan on playing, the group sat in a semi-circle on the plastic chairs, beginning to discuss what to do. Luckily, it was a bit difficult for anyone to overhear them, as it seemed that a birthday party for a teenage boy was raging on a few lanes next to them.

"Look, I hate to be the one to say this, but everyone needs to prepare," Luther said in a low voice, his arm slung over the empty chair next to him.

"For what?" Diego asked sharply.

Luther looked up at him, a grave expression on his face as he answered, "To do whatever it takes to stop Vanya."

He let out a small grunt of pain as Allison, who was sitting next to him, whacked him across the chest with the neon yellow notepad that she was using the communicate with. "We may not have a choice, Allison."

"Bullshit," Diego scoffed. "There's always options."

"Yeah, like what?" Five questioned skeptically as Klaus opened the newspaper from before and looked through it.

"I don't know," Diego admitted bashfully, his eyes lowering to the ground.

"Look, whatever we decide, we need to find Vanya," Luther sighed as he stood up, spreading his arms. "And fast, okay? She could be anywhere."

"Or . . . here." Klaus looked up at everyone, slightly shaking the newspaper. He got off of his seat and knelt on the ground as he held the newspaper while everyone crowded around behind him to see. "Look at this."

There was a large, navy, rectangular ad that sat on the side of a random article about nature. It declared the performance of the St. Pluvium Chamber Orchestra, which was playing that night at the Icarus Theater, with the introduction of the new first chair, Vanya. A picture of her with her violin sat in the bottom right portion of the ad, smiling at them.

"That's right." Diego nodded in realization, the ad seeming to strike a memory in his mind. "Her concert is tonight."

"Hello," the chipper voice of a young woman who worked there interrupted them. "I hate to intrude, but my manager says if you're not gonna bowl, you gotta leave." She gave them a bright smile before turning and leaving.

The manager stared straight at them from a few feet away, slamming a pair of bowling shoes on the counter in front of him in a threatening fashion.

"Whose turn is it?" Diego asked irritably, turning to the group with lifted eyebrows.

"Oh, for . . ." Luther groaned before grabbing one of the pink bowling balls and throwing it over his shoulder while staring at the manager head-on. The bowling ball went two lanes over, bouncing until it somehow knocked over all the pins.

Allison scrawled onto her paper with the permanent marker in her hand before showing what was written to Luther: SHE'S OUR SISTER.

"We're the only ones capable of stopping this," Luther said sternly as he looked around. "We have a responsibility to Dad."

"To Dad?" Diego turned to face him, clearly outraged at the mention as he shook his head and scowled. "No, I've heard enough about—"

"He sacrificed everything to bring us back together," Luther cut him off, his eyebrows knitting tightly together.

"I'm with Luther on this one." Five nodded as he looked between the two, his lips formed into a little frown and his hands clasped together. "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."

Klaus, who seemed as though he had been debating something in his head this whole time, spoke up, "Hey, you know, guys, uh . . . maybe I could help."

Five rolled his eyes as Luther shook his head. "Now is not the time."

"No, let him finish." Diego held a hand out, receiving an incredulous look from Luther. He gave a small shrug as he told them, "He saved my life today."

Everyone's baffled stare was cast upon Klaus as he stood up. 

"Is that true?" Valerie questioned, her eyebrows scrunching together.

"Yeah, yeah, I did . . . take credit for it. In fact, the real hero . . . ," Klaus gave a moment for his usual dramatic flair before revealing: "was Ben."

Valerie was in disbelief at his words—and clearly, so were the others. Her face was a mixture of disappointment and incredulity, and it blended well with the ones around her. 

"Today . . . Listen," he insisted as he looked around at their looks of scepticism. "Today, he punched me in the face. And earlier at the house, he was the one who saved Diego's life, not me." He walked up to Diego, pointing towards him as he nodded.

Luther sighed. "You are unbelievable, Klaus."

"You want proof, is that it? All right. I . . . I'll give you proof." Klaus picked up another pink bowling ball, rubbing it with his hands in preparation as he stared straight ahead of him. "All right, it's showtime, baby. Catch!"

Before Valerie even had the time to react at the flying bowling ball that was headed straight towards her, Five pulled her towards him. Her head banged against his chest, though she supposed that was much better than the hard shell of a bowling ball. 

Seeing that no one, including Ben, had caught it, the bowling ball fell to the ground, causing a couple of them to flinch.

"Klaus!" Five exclaimed angrily, his hands still clutched around her. "Are you trying to kill her?"

Valerie sighed as she brushed his hands off and straightened up. Now was not the time to throw random bowling balls around.

"Is there any way to silence that voice in your head that screams out to be the centre of attention?" Luther asked through gritted teeth, glaring daggers at Klaus's frustrated face.

"You know, I liked you a lot better before you got laid," Klaus immediately replied with a scowl.

Luther's eyes immediately widened; he obviously hadn't wanted that secret to be known to Allison, who then, anger flashing in her eyes, cast an incredulous look towards him.

Valerie elbowed Five as he let out a small snort of amusement. And when he shrugged in reply to that, she rolled her eyes.

Klaus soon realized his mistake and quickly tried to fix the situation. "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 . . ."

"Stop!" Luther closed his eyes, exasperation laced in his voice.

"Okay," Klaus conceded as he nodded meekly.

Luther hesitantly glanced over at Allison, who then grabbed her notebook and made her way towards the exit. The look of irritation on her face told them enough about how she felt about this. 

"Allison, wait," he groaned before he followed her out of the building, glancing back at the group.

Just then, the birthday teen and his mother approached. The mother had a jolly smile on her plump face as she spoke to Klaus and Diego, "Excuse me! Excuse me, it's my son Kenny's birthday today, and . . . Uh . . . wouldn't your son and his friend be happier playing with kids their own age?" She looked over to Five with kind eyes as she continued, "Assuming it's okay with your two dads."

Five stared at her for a moment before he spat out, "I would rather chew off my own foot."

"Five," Valerie groaned softly to him, elbowing him. "At least say it nicely."

The woman's expression was now frightened as she grabbed onto her son, dragging him back to their original lane as she hurriedly murmured, "Let's go, Kenny."

Valerie furrowed her eyebrows as Five looked over to the side and got up, rushing over to the ball return at the lane over.

"If I was going to date a man, you'd be the last man I would date." Diego crinkled his nose as he looked over at Klaus, shaking his head.

"You'd be lucky to get me," Klaus said airily, a slight shrug accompanying his words.

Ignoring the two's banter, Valerie got up from her spot and followed Five, who now seemed to be holding a small slip of paper in his hands. A gold canister-like object lay in the ball return, obviously being what had delivered the paper, opened.

"Hey, hey, hey, what is that?" Valerie peered over his shoulder but Five crumpled it up before she could read what had been written on it.

"Uh . . . Nothing." He gave her a small smile before hiding the hand with the paper behind him and holding up a fortune cookie towards her with the other hand. "Fortune cookie?"

She sighed and held her hand out towards him. "Give it." 

"Yep, here you go." Five put the fortune cookie in her hand, his dimples showing as he gave her a bright smile.

"Not this, you moron." Valerie tossed the cookie towards his head, where it bounced off and fragmented upon impact with the ground. "The paper. Give it to me."

His smile dropped. "No."

"Five."

He tried to remain firm for a moment as she glared at him before he finally gave in. "Goddammit," he muttered to himself before handing her the wrinkled piece of paper.

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

Below it, written in blue pen, was: Rain Quail, Rm 12.

Valerie looked up at Five, rumpling the paper in her hand as she told him, "I'm coming with you."

"No, you stay here with everyone and go to Vanya." Five immediately shook his head at her offer and took the paper from her hand. He leaned forward, pressing a kiss onto her cheek before nodding. "I'll meet you guys at the theatre."

"But Five—"

A flash of white light appeared as he disappeared, and she let out a long groan.

"Fuck you," she murmured to a Five that was no longer there.