Word count: 3589

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆, Elizabeth and Five had entered the living room to be met with surprise.

Luther was there, his face still scratched up, and wearing a bathrobe that Elizabeth could swear belonged to Elliott. He had apologized for his brash words to them from the night they had sought him out and then promised them that he was going to help them.

From there, they decided upon having their breakfast as they talked things out. Luther was preparing some scrambled eggs for himself—with about twenty eggs being used—and Five poured himself a mug of Elliott's coffee.

As Luther tended to his overflowing pot of eggs, Diego was in the middle of a mental breakdown.

"No, no, no, I don't understand." He shook his head as he paced around the kitchen. "They keep following me."

"Wait, who?" Luther questioned.

Diego stopped his pacing. "Those Dutch sociopaths."

"They're Swedish, you idiot." Elizabeth rolled her eyes, folding her arms as she sat down at the small table.

"Hired guns paid to eradicate us before we do any more damage to this timeline," Five added as he leaned against the frame of the entrance, his mug of coffee clutched in one hand.

"Yeah, but why now? I mean, I'm" —Diego leaned towards Five, snapping a few times— "fine for a month until you showed up."

"Yeah, I was here for a year and no one messed with me." Luther stopped prodding his scrambled eggs and turned to stare at Five, his eyebrows raised.

Elizabeth gave a small lift of her shoulders. "Same here."

"Even if it was my fault, which it isn't" —Five raised his eyebrows at them— "we only have six days before the end of the world, and the closest anyone's gotten to Dad was that driveway at the consulate."

"Well . . ." Luther sighed as he looked up, a distressed expression crossing his face. He slowly looked towards them, his eyebrows scrunched together. "That's not exactly true."

Instantly, Five straightened up, his face becoming baffled. He took a few steps, stopping next to Diego as he inquired, "What do you mean?"

Luther quirked an eyebrow. "I saw him."

Bringing a plate of his scrambled eggs with him, Luther and the rest of the group sat around the table. He then launched into an explanation as he started eating.

He told them that after grovelling about the deaths he had assumed for his siblings, he had taken a bus with some money that he had managed to scrape together. From there, he went all the way back to the Academy—or at least the building that would later become the Academy—with the plan to tell Reginald 'This is gonna sound crazy, but Reginald Hargreeves . . . I am your son.'

And apparently, that hadn't gone well. Luther had gone into the Academy, which had been in the process of a dinner party. Once he confronted Reginald—who had been speaking about time travel, an addition to the story that piqued Five's interest—and told him the twelve words that he had practiced so much, it all went downhill from there.

Reginald told him that, not only did he have a deep dislike for children and therefore didn't want any, but if he did, they certainly would not look like Luther, considering that he hadn't washed for days and seeing his overly large figure. And with that, Luther had left.

"That's pathetic," Diego remarked as Luther's story came to its end, leaning back against his chair as he looked at the man.

"Yeah, well" —Luther shoved another forkful of scrambled eggs into his mouth—
"at least he didn't shank my ass."

Diego shook his head. "No, bro, he shanked your heart."

Elliott then walked in, freezing as he just passed the frame of the entrance. His fingers nervously tapped the sides of his legs as he stared at Luther, his eyes narrowed. "Is that my bathrobe?"

Luther's chewing stopped as he slowly turned his head to face Elliott. "No."

"Look, who cares what he shanked?" Five cut in. "He knows something about time travel."

"Um . . . Wait." Elliott tentatively raised his hand to get their attention before putting his hands on his hips. "Why don't you just do your thing and, uh, time-travel us out?"

"Anyone care to explain?" Five sighed as he got up and crossed over to the other side of the kitchen.

"First time he tried," Luther said between chews, "he got lost in the apocalypse."

"Second time, he ended up without hair on his balls," Diego added.

"Last time I tried, I scattered my family across three years in Dallas, Texas, possibly triggering a doomsday." Five turned around to face the man after he had finished pouring himself a new cup of coffee. He gave him a miffed smile as he questioned, "Any more questions, Elliott?"

"Uh" —Elliott blinked nervously— "no."

"You're missing the big picture." Diego shook his head as he turned to face Luther. "Dad is the ringleader of a sinister cabal that's planning to kill the president."

Luther's eyebrows raised as his full mouth repeated, "A cabal?"

"Ignore him." Elizabeth reached over and slapped Diego's arm, receiving a glare from him in return. "Look, the way I see it, we only have one option."

"Oh, yeah?" Luther questioned as he continued eating his eggs. "And what's that?"

She sighed as she folded her arms and leaned back in her chair. "It's time to get the Umbrella Academy back together."

"Hell, yeah." Diego's eyes lit up as he stared ahead of him, a small grin on his face. "Family meeting."

"Okay then" —Luther made a small pout as he lifted his fork to his mouth— "can one of you get Allison, please?"

"You two still a thing?" Diego questioned.

Luther gave a small shrug as he chewed, his expression becoming pained.

Diego leaned forward, a smirk growing on his face as he raised his eyebrows. "Do we need to talk?"

"No" —Luther turned to face him— "she's married."

Elizabeth, who had just leaned next to Five against the counter, questioned in disbelief, "Alli got married?"

"Yeah," Luther muttered.

"Oh, that's so amazing!" she squealed, clapping her hands together in excitement. "I'm so happy for her, I'm glad that she—"

Five elbowed her as he cleared his throat, his raised eyebrows telling her to shut up.

"I mean . . . that's horrible, man." Elizabeth nodded slowly as she folded her arms. "Totally not super awesome."

"Smooth," Five murmured to her.

Diego gave a small nod as his eyes turned to Luther. "Dude, that's rough."

"I can handle it," Luther chuckled, giving them a phoney smile as he shoved some more eggs into his mouth. His expression turned distressed as he chewed, so clearly, he could not handle it.

"We'll get her." Elizabeth nudged Five's side as she walked over towards the entrance. She looked at Luther, her eyebrows raised as she queried, "Can you get Vanya without, uh, squeezing her to death?"

Luther gave her a glare. "I'll try."

She kissed the top of Diego's head before muttering to him, "Don't let Luther do anything stupid. You don't do anything stupid. Make sure that Elliott doesn't make tuna mold for everyone, we'll die of food poisoning."

"Got it, little sis." He looked up at her with a grin, which only grew larger as she smacked his shoulder.

"C'mon," Five muttered as he grabbed Elizabeth's hand before teleporting them away.

They arrived in a nice, suburban neighbourhood, whose houses were painted pastel colours, and whose greenery was vivid.

They went up to the house near the end of the street, and Five knocked on the door. As soon as it swung open, Elizabeth's heart swelled with joy as she saw the woman clutching the handle.

Allison looked a little different than the last time Elizabeth had seen her. Her hair was now fully black and straightened with bangs. She was wearing a pink, plaid dress that fit very much in the '60s, whose sleeves were rolled up. The bandage that had been taped against her throat was now gone, and Elizabeth hoped that meant that the woman could talk again. And she could.

"Ellie?" Allison stared at her, her eyes wide. Immediately, she pulled her in for a tight hug and planted a kiss on top of Elizabeth's head.

"Yeah," Five scoffed loudly, "so wonderful to see you, too."

"Oh, come here, you." Allison grinned as she released Elizabeth and embraced Five, ruffling his hair before giving him a kiss as well.

"No, that's not— I didn't—" Five grumbled, giving her a reluctant pat on the back.

"What's all the commotion?"

Klaus appeared at the door, his eyebrows raising as he gasped, "Queen Elizabeth!"

"Why does no one ever acknowledge me?" Five questioned incredulously as Klaus gave Elizabeth a tight hug.

"Because—and know that I say this with the utmost love—no one likes you," Elizabeth told him as she hugged Klaus.

Both Allison and Klaus smelled suspiciously like alcohol, and the scent was confirmed as they walked into Allison's kitchen, where two margaritas sat on the counter, half-finished.

"Oh, Klaus," Elizabeth sighed as she turned to him, "what happened to staying sober?"

"Sobriety is" —he blew a raspberry— "overrated."

"Mhm." Elizabeth then turned to Allison and smiled. "So . . . I heard that you're married?"

A grin grew on her face as she coyly said, "Perhaps."

She then showed off her left hand, whose fourth finger bore a wedding ring, the square diamond glittering in the light.

"Oh my God!" Elizabeth gasped in delight before enveloping Allison in another hug. "That's amazing! Who?"

"A sweet, sweet man named Raymond Chestnut." Allison's smile soon faded. "But . . ."

Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows. "But what?" 

"Their marriage is goin' to shit," Klaus answered for her with a shrug. 

"Klaus!" Allison exclaimed as she smacked him in the arm.

"Sorry, sorry." Klaus raised his hands in defence before leaning forward and whispering, "But it's not going well."

"Listen, there was—there was a protest that we staged, and it went down badly," Allison's voice cracked, her joyous demeanour now disappeared. "There was a cop who was beating the hell out of him, and I thought he was going to die, so I—I rumoured him. And Ray, he—he saw, and now he thinks I'm some kind of spy or something."

"Oh, Alli . . ." Elizabeth frowned before hugging her again.

"Okay, enough hugs," Five interrupted as he checked his watch. "We can talk later. We have to get back."

"Get back?" Klaus echoed. "Where?"

"Family meeting," Five answered.

"With—with everyone?" Allison questioned, now distracted from her love peril.

"Yeah." Elizabeth smiled. "We're all together again."

—✩—

The four of them entered through the front of Elliott's home, Allison and Klaus immediately wandering through the many televisions that were set up.

"Is anyone here?" Allison called. "Hello?"

"Le petit mort, le petit mort," Klaus mused.

"What?" she questioned, turning towards him with furrowed eyebrows. "You don't speak French."

"It's 'the little death,'" he explained to her as he passed another set of televisions. His eyes widened as he leaned forward and peered at it. "Oh, wow. Look at this old stuff."

Just then, Diego, Vanya, Luther, and Elliott approached the railing of the second floor just above them, looking down at them and causing them to slow their pace.

"Oh, wow," Klaus remarked as he took off his sunglasses and stared at the other siblings. "I know this is impossible, but . . . did we all get sexier?"

Allison gazed up at them, her mouth formed into a small 'o.' She swallowed before breathing out, "Vanya."

A grin grew on the girl's face, "I can't believe I have a sister."

She headed down one side of the staircase as Diego and Luther came down the other, and she gave Allison a smile as she stood in front of her and rocked on her toes.

Allison smiled. "I missed you."

Vanya then engulfed her in a tight hug, the embrace reciprocated as Allison held her tightly, the smile on her face growing.

Klaus turned to Diego and tried to hug him as well, but Diego reached an arm out and placed his hand on the side of Klaus' neck to stop him. 

"Oh," Diego commented lowly, "you are drunk."

"Yeah." Klaus nodded as Diego released his hand before quickly shaking his head to retract the statement. "No, just a little . . . just a few . . ." He trailed off as he turned to see the embrace that the two girls were having, and he began to walk towards them, his arms wide open. "Oh, that's so sweet."

"No," Allison murmured as Klaus joined the hug, causing Vanya to let out a small giggle. "Jesus."

"Klaus," Five called, his hands slipped into his pockets. "Is Ben here?"

"Oh, uh . . . no." Klaus gave them a small frown as he straightened up and put his hands on his hips. "No, unfortunately, ghosts can't time travel."

"All right, then." Five began to walk up the stairs as he declared, "Let's get down to business."

They all took their seats as they made it to the landing of the second floor while Klaus went to get himself a drink. Elizabeth sat down in the chair that Diego was leaning on from behind, and she watched as Five sighed and put his hands into his pockets once again.

"All right. First off, I wanna say I'm sorry. I know I really screwed the pooch on this whole going-back-in-time-and-getting-stuck thing. But the real kick in the pants here is we brought the end of the world back here with us."

"Oh, my God, again?" Klaus questioned as he turned around to face them, only to receive incredulous looks from the others—of course, everyone already knew about this except for him. "All of you knew? Why am I always the last one to find out about the end of the—oh, my God. My cult is gonna be so pissed. Five! I told them we had until 2019."

"We have until Monday," Five replied curtly. "We have six days."

Klaus raised his red drink to his lips. "Is it Vanya?"

"Klaus," Elizabeth said disapprovingly, folding her arms.

"What? It's usually Vanya."

Vanya ignored the man's remark as she leaned forward. "Do you have any leads, Five?"

Diego picked up the folder that contained the photo of Reginald at the grassy knoll and handed it over to Five with a small grimace.

The boy took it from him as he nodded and delivered it to Allison. "Yeah, we have one."

Tentatively, Allison took it from him and opened it to reveal the photo that they had printed out, her eyes widening as they registered the man. "Holy shit, is that Dad?"

"Yeah," Diego confirmed.

Klaus came around to the back of the couch, peering over her shoulder as Vanya shifted over in her spot and leaned towards the photo.

Vanya gently pressed against the side of the folder so that the photo was more viewable to her. "That's him?"

"And he's standing on the grassy knoll," Diego added.

"Elizabeth, Diego, and I have been trying to talk to Dad about what exactly this means," Five exhaled. "So far, we've got nothing."

"Not nothing," Diego cut in. "He's planning to kill Kennedy."

"Maybe." Elizabeth raised a finger before using the same hand to slap Diego's arm, receiving rolled eyes. She ignored it and continued, "But we don't know who or what sets the apocalypse in motion. Could be Kennedy, could be something entirely independent. But if we know something changes the timeline, we have to make it right again."

"Yeah, but how are we supposed to fix it if we don't know what's broken?" Allison questioned incredulously.

"Come on. Do the math," Diego replied. "We know Dad's having shady-ass meetings with some shady-ass people. We know he's on the grassy knoll in three days to kill the president. So I think we all know what we have to do."

He straightened up, then taking a few steps towards Five as the two of them spoke simultaneously.

"Find Dad."

"Kill Dad."

Elizabeth groaned, "Diego, no."

"None of us are supposed to be here, right? I mean, what if it's us?" Vanya pointed out, her forehead creasing as she looked around at the group. "Has anyone here done anything to screw up the timeline?"

There was a brief moment of silence as everyone glanced around at each other, the only sound being the pouring of liquid as Allison got herself a drink.

Then, Luther accused, "Diego's been stalking Lee Harvey Oswald."

"And you're working for Jack Ruby," Diego immediately rebutted loudly, jabbing a blaming finger toward him.

"Allison has been very involved in local politics," Klaus drawled, spread across one of the couches as he looked over towards her.

"Okay, you started a cult," she responded with a humourless smile.

"I'm—I'm just a—a nanny on a farm." Vanya shook her head. "I don't have anything to do with all of that."

"Yeah, same here." Elizabeth nodded with a small lift of her shoulders. "I've just been . . . living here and looking for you guys. I don't think I've done anything to change the timeline."

Allison shrugged. "Well, maybe you guys have, we just don't know it yet."

Their attention was drawn to Diego as he gave a loud whistle. "Listen to yourselves. Everything in our new lives is connected to Kennedy. That can't be a coincidence. Luther works for Ruby, Allison is protesting the government, Dad is on the grassy knoll, Klaus is . . ." he trailed off for a moment as he furrowed his eyebrows before continuing, "doing something weird and pervy but probably related. See, clearly, we were all sent back here for one special reason: saving John Fitzgerald Kennedy."

Immediately, the group broke out into an argument, each voice overlapping the next. Their words became louder with each passing second, and it was clear that the fury between the siblings was rising.

Elizabeth looked over to Five, whose eyes were drawn to the floor. Clearly, she was the one who had to break up the bitch fight before it got worse.

She stood up, folding her arms. "Hey, guys, stop. Stop!" She sighed, rubbing her eyes before shouting, "Shut up and listen to me!"

Almost immediately, their voices died down as they turned to look at her, their eyes slightly widened.

She shook her head before continuing, "Guys, we all die. Five was there. He saw it. Russian nukes vaporize the world with all of us in it, in a war that never happened until we brought it here. And Hazel gave his life to save us, so you guys need to stop arguing over something so ridiculous." She paused, taking the time to turn and glare at Diego. "I don't know if the things we've experienced here are all connected. I don't know if there's a reason for everything. But Dad will. We need to talk to him before everyone and everything we know is dead."

"Okay, I'm out," Luther gave a small exhale as he got up from his chair and began to walk towards the stairs.

"Luther," Elizabeth instantly called, raising a finger, "don't you dare move."

He hesitated for a moment before quickly shaking his head and scoffing, "No. I'm not going to be a part of this. It's time we all grew the hell up."

Ignoring all of the calls of his name and the pleas for him to remain, Luther continued walking towards the stairs, only to be joined by Diego.

"Save it, Diego."

Five turned around, an irritated look crossing his face before he teleported in front of Luther, stopping him before he could finish making his way down the stairs. He stared up at the man, his eyes hardening. "No one leaves until we figure this out."

Luther sighed for a moment before grasping a fistful of Five's shirt and tossing him over the stair railing.

Five gave a small shout but teleported before hitting the ground, leading no one to know where he had gone.

"Shit," Elizabeth muttered, watching as the other two men left the building. "Stupid . . ."

Klaus looked up at the remaining people, a goofy grin on his face. "You know, I could really go for some tacos right now." He looked towards Elizabeth, who was still staring towards the front to see if Five would reappear. "Queen Elizabeth? Tacos?"

Elizabeth turned around to face the other three, shaking her head. "We should wait for them."

"You know those guys," Klaus said as he waved a dismissive hand. "I mean, it could take forever for them to bro it out." He looked towards the other two women, his eyebrows raising. "Vanya, Allison, tacos?"

Vanya looked around at them nervously, her hands clasping together as she asked, "Is there any way that tacos are gonna cause the end of the world?"

Klaus scoffed as he stood up, "I mean, there's only one way to find out, right?"

"Sure is." Allison smiled as she grabbed her purse and got up.

Elizabeth shrugged as she stood up and motioned for Vanya to do the same. It wasn't like she had anything else to do, anyway.

Klaus cheered, "Let's go!"