Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

PROLOGUE: TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES

*****

When it comes to speaking the truth, it can come with consequences, but whether those consequences are good or bad, that can depend on what truths are being told, and why those truths are being told, along with who is learning the truth.

But what do you do when someone refuses to tell the truth about something that could affect the fate of the world? And what kind of consequences would that person face for not telling the truth at the time?

Both Darius Hawkins and Reginald Hargreeves have been keeping secrets from their children, and the time is coming when they will have to face the consequences of keeping these secrets, especially the secrets being kept from Mystic, Delta, Cyrille, Andrea, and Vanya.

And when they learn the truth, it’s likely that these consequences will have a serious impact on the world itself.

*****

June 8^th, 1993.

Darius stood in his study, listening to most of the children playing outside as part of celebrating their developing powers, unaware that something had just happened with two of their sisters, and he was going to make sure that they never found out.

He’d been reluctant to let Flora take Mystic and Delta to the park, given that they hadn’t, at that time, revealed their abilities like the rest of their siblings, and yet she insisted that since it was a nice day, that they should spend some time away from their siblings.

Darius had reluctantly agreed, but he also had Lennox followed them just to be sure that they would be safe, and he was glad that he’d made that choice.

*****

Flora walks over to a nice spot under a tree with little Mystic and Delta, and they giggle and chase each other as she unfolds and sets down a picnic blanket and the picnic basket next to it. She smiles at the two girls and call them over.

“Mystic, Delta, come and sit so you can eat.”

Still giggling, Mystic and Delta run over to sit with Flora, who gives them both their favorite sandwiches, and they happily eat them, enjoying them as they get to be outside without their siblings for once in their life.

Flora and the girls enjoy the picnic food, the fresh air, and the sunlight with the blue sky and puffy white clouds. She pulls out two bags that have a special food for the ducks, and she is about to give the bags to the girls so that they could feed the ducks-

-when a cluster of dark figures burst out of the forest and charge at them!

Flora gasps while Mystic and Delta both scream with fear, and that is when Lennox leaps out of a nearby tree, where he morphs into panther mode. With a snarl, he attacks the attackers, while Flora tries to get Mystic and Delta away, only to have more dark figures, some of them have on owl masks, come from the other direction.

One of them hits Flora in the head and she slumps to the ground with a dazed expression, and when two of the attackers grab Mystic and Delta, something unexpected happens.

Mystic screams, knocking away some of the attackers, and she shouts. “Once upon a time! A giant rises out of the trees and takes out the bad guys!”

There is a loud rumbling noise and soon enough, a giant did rise out of the trees, and it began smashing the attackers into pancakes.

Delta screams, starts to glow white, and she freezes all of the attackers, almost freezing Lennox in the process. And it isn’t long before all of the attackers are either dead, frozen, or have fled.

Delta and Mystic are still in panic mode when Lennox shifts to human form and sedates them, and then helps Flora up.

They know that they need to get the girls back to the house before anyone tries to figure out what they are doing, and after they make sure that the giant is gone, they gather up the girls, and they leave the park far behind.

*****

Darius turned to the desk and he updated the entry he put in the book earlier.

June 8th, 1993.

The children have started to exhibit powers, something that I suspected would be happening soon, and I am going to record and monitor their powers to see what they will be. I shouldn't have let Flora take Mystic and Delta to the park, they were almost taken by minions of the Cursed God and The Ancient Council. Only the presence of Lennox kept this from happening, that and I now know why Mystic and Delta are so special: Mystic has both the mythical Siren Song and the power bring to life whatever she imagines, and Delta has ice powers. If the Cursed God was to get his hands on Mystic, he would be able to use her to rewrite reality itself, and if The Ancient Council was to get Delta, they would use her powers to plunge the known universe into an endless winter. I cannot let this happen.

He sighed and shut the book, pondering how he can keep Mystic and Delta from suffering from the trauma that they experienced, and how he could do it without Flora stopping him. And that was when he got an idea.

*****

“No! I won’t let you do this to the girls!”

“Flora, please this is the best for-” Darius began, gesturing to the machine that he’d built that was connected to two glass cases that did resemble coffins, and had several soft blankets and pillows to make them as comfortable as possible.

“No it isn’t!” Flora screamed, standing between him and the stretchers that Delta and Mystic were lying on, asleep thank to the sedative that they had taken with the belief that they had been taking vitamin pills. “I won’t let you lock Mystic and Delta in those coffins! This isn’t the way to deal with trauma, you can’t just wipe it away!”

Darius stepped toward Flora with a pleading expression. “Please, Flora, my love, this is for the best,” he tried to explain. “They will be sleeping and have pleasant dreams. It’ll only be for two months, and both the trauma and the bad memories will be wiped away from their minds. Think about it…no more emotional and mental trauma, no more bad dreams about the incident.”

At first, it looked like Flora was going to cave – but she snatched up one of the hammers and used it to smash the coffins and the equipment before she was stopped by Maki and Lennox, and yet, the machine and coffins were ruined.

“There, now you won’t do anything to them,” she growled, “and to be extra sure, I will take all of the children with me. I won’t let you hurt them.”

Darius stared at the ruined machines and coffins, and he sighed. “Fine.” He then picked up two syringes and injected the sleeping girls. “There… Mystic will have no memory of the incident, and Delta will only have a vague memory.”

Flora wasn’t happy, but it was better then what he had intended to do, and she made sure to take the girls back to their rooms before they woke up in the lab.

*****

Meanwhile over at the Umbrella Academy, Reginald was standing in his study, staring out the window, and he was pondering what he was going to do with Number Seven, who Grace was calling Vanya. He’d been trying to train her to control her power, which was based on sound, and until yesterday, he thought he’d been making progress with her.

Reginald had been using glasses of water and a tuning fork to help her focus her power, and he thought that it was working…until yesterday when she made the glasses shatter, resulting in him getting a cut on his face and his monocle cracked.

‘Her power is too strong,’ he thought, turning to his desk and picked up the book that he wrote his notes in, ‘and I fear that it can’t be controlled. I must isolate her and come up with a means to stop her from using her power.’

He had no other choice, this was what was needed to be done to protect Number Seven from hurting herself and those around her.

*****

“Master Reginald, I have never questioned you about your methods,” Pogo said the next day after Vanya had been placed in a special vault, started giving her the pills to suppress her emotions, and Allison had used her rumor ability to tell Vanya that she was just ordinary, “but this is going too far! Vanya is just a child!”

“Number seven’s powers are too dangerous, Pogo,” Reginald reminded him. “This is the only way to keep her under control.”

Pogo shook his head angrily. “No, this is wrong,” he protested. “She needs love and support, not isolation, not believing that she’s not special, and not telling the other children to exclude her.”

Reginald fixed him with a stern look. “Pogo, I know what I am doing, and this is the right way to do it. Now I need to get to my work. You may go.” He sat down and worked on his book, and Pogo, after a few minutes, sighed and left.

The damage had been done.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER ONE: BONDING AND…STUFF

*****

Vanya’s POV:

When I left the theater, feeling like I was playing better then usual, and I was sharing this thought with Leonard when I heard someone call my name. I stopped and turned to see Allison coming over, and I was surprised to see her so soon after what happened at the house last night.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” I asked.

“Hey,” said Allison with a nervous smile, “I was looking for you, to make sure that you were ok after what happened last night, and that it wasn’t right of Diego to yell at you like that. What happened wasn’t your fault, and I should’ve done more to stand up for you.”

I smiled a little, touched by my sister’s words, and I believed that she was serious. “It was a crazy night and with what happened with mom…I understand where Diego was coming from,” I told her. “And you’ve done your best to be supportive, Allison.”

“I can do better,” Allison agreed, and I could tell that there was more she wanted to say, but I think she was holding back because of Leonard. “Do you wanna get a drink?”

“Sure,” I agreed and turned to Leonard. “I’ll, uh, I’ll call you later ok?”

Leonard nodded. “Sure, and I’ll see you at rehearsal tomorrow.” He waved bye and left.

I felt happy and turned to Allison. “Ok, now about that drink?” And we left together.

*****

Meanwhile, Hazel and Cha-Cha were at the doughnut diner, suffering from pounding headaches from the high that came from the chocolate, and having passed out in the car for a few hours after leaving the scene of their fire crime.

‘Stupid chocolate was dosed with something,’ Cha-Cha thought, frowning at her doughnut, which had sprinkles on it, and she was regretting letting Hazel order for her while she’d been in the restroom, splashing water on her face to help her focus and clear her head.

“I hate sprinkles,” she grumbled. “Maybe I just hate doughnuts.”

“Why are we here again?” Hazel asked when Agnes came over with the coffee pot.

“Refill?” she asked them both with a kind smile.

He smiled gratefully at her and held up his mug. “God, yes, please.” And watched as she filled it before walking away. “Thank you.”

Cha-Cha nodded to all the other people in the diner. “The world is ending. All this, all these… people, they'll be gone and they have… just… no idea. This is not about a broken contract!”

Hazel blinked and looked at his partner. “What?”

“Five, son of a b*tch,” Cha-Cha complained. “He's trying to change the timeline. So we're not only going to kill him. We're gonna end the world.”

Hazel sighed and drank some of his coffee, finishing his doughnut. “Come on, let's get back to what's his name.”

Cha-Cha nodded, finished her doughnut and coffee, and, after Hazel left a nice tip, headed out to return to the hotel and their prisoner.

*****

Matt’s POV:

I sat on one of the chairs in Roi’s office, listening as he explained to Luther, Diego, and Ben Hargreeves of what he’d seen in the future, and what had been discovered so far, along with the people in the owl masks.

I hadn’t thought it possible that we would ever be in the same room with any of the members of the Umbrella Academy, other then for Vanya, and so this was a first. And I did frown when Diego scoffed about someone being after Vanya, pointing out that she wasn’t special and was just ordinary, just like in her book.

This had lead to both Luther and Ben verbally cracking down on Diego about not being mean when it came to Vanya, and this had been a surprising twist since I’d rarely seen any of the Hargreeves be nice to Vanya in the past.

“Wait, wait, wait,” said Luther after Roi was done explaining, “so you’re saying that our sister, Vanya, she gets taken by some woman in a fancy hat with people in business suits, and she apparently has powers? Vanya doesn’t have powers, dad said so.”

“Clearly your dad lied,” said Jesse, from his seat on Roi’s desk. “Think about it. When did your dad start telling Vanya she wasn’t special, that she was just ordinary?”

The three Hargreeves brothers did think about it, clearly trying to recall when they first heard their father say that Vanya was ordinary and didn’t have any powers, wasn’t special. And after several hour-long minutes, it was Ben who spoke.

“I think it was when we were four years old,” he said, his forehead was furrowed. “There was a time when Vanya was isolated from the rest of us for a while, dad said that she was sick, and I think it was around that time when dad started telling her that she wasn’t special and was just ordinary. And I think, before that, he was doing some kind of training with Vanya that involved water glasses with water in them.”

“Yeah, and before that, we had nannies before we had mom,” Diego added. “Dad said that the nannies would leave because of Vanya’s refusal to eat oatmeal, and then he built mom, Grace, and Vanya started eating oatmeal after that. Maybe…the nannies weren’t leaving. Maybe Vanya was doing something, but what?”

Roi shrugged. “No idea, but what I told you about what I saw in the near future? The same future that Five ended up in? We have to keep that future from happening,” he reminded them. “And I think our best bet is by working together.”

Luther nodded. “Agreed.”

“Then we need to let Five know about this,” said Diego, “and also Allison and Vanya, they need to in on this, too. Yes, I’ve been a jerk to Vanya, but I don’t want her taken either.”

“What about Klaus?” Jesse asked. “Shouldn’t he know this as well?”

Ben sighed. “That’s another problem that we need help with,” he admitted and explained about the attack on their home and the kidnapping of Klaus. “They’re after Five, and I’m starting to think that they work for this woman who is going to, if we can’t prevent it, take Vanya.”

“Damn…” Roi muttered. “There’s more going on then I first thought. Everything that’s been happening since my trip to the future and Five’s return…it’s all connected.”

“Ok,” said Jesse, coming to a decision. “We all have siblings who need to be looped in, siblings to protect, and your brother to find. I think it’s time we start moving and get to work.”

I sent word to Justine to contact our siblings, with the exception of two certain siblings, for I was sure that they would try to mess this up and tattle us out on dad and Reginald Hargreeves, and I didn’t want them to know until we had a plan in place and Klaus had been rescued.

‘This is a day full of surprises,’ I thought as we headed out.

Little did I know just how much this could and, probably would, go wrong on us.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER TWO: KLAUS’ PLAN…AND A MESSAGE.

*****

Klaus’s POV:

I don’t know how long I was going to be stuck in that closet, or when my captors would be back, and so I used the time to get as much rest as I could while gagged and tied up. But rest wasn’t coming easy, for I could feeling them coming, and I could hear their voices start to whisper the way they would when I wasn’t drunk or using sleep meds at night.

And this meant that a certain memory was going to resurface as well, but for once, I wasn’t dreading the voices or that memory, instead, I was embracing them as I needed to be able to use my ability in order to either drive my captors to distraction, or frustrate them to the point that they would either finally let me go or try to kill me.

I’m hoping that certain siblings of my would save me first before they could kill me…I hope. And so I shut my eyes and I let them come, the voices came first.

“Klaus.”

“Klaus.”

“Klaus.”

“Klaus!”

“Klaus !”

I didn’t cry out, instead I let them surround me, I could hear them calling out my name in begging tones for me to help them, and if I was right about these incoming spirits, I would be able to help them if they were victims of my captors.

‘Come to me,’ I sent out mentally, reaching out to them, ‘come to me, tell me your stories, and if I can, I will help you. Come.’ And as I did this, the memory came back.

*****

“Dad, let me out!” Klaus cried out, banging on the door of the crypt that he was locked in, trying to get out of the place, for he could feel and hear the spirits coming for him by entering through the walls and the floor of the crypt. “Dad !”

*****

I knew it was only a short memory, but it was the start, and I knew the rest would come soon enough. And when the rest of the memory came, I would be ready, just as I would be ready to use the stories of the gathering spirits to give my captors, Hazel and Cha-Cha the hardest time possible, and, hopefully, I would be rescued.

I did hear the door open, and through the blinds on the closet door, I could see the housekeeper entering the room, and I was sorely tempted to call out to her, but I saw the headphones. I knew that there was no way that she would hear me, and so I conserved my strength instead for my plan.

*****

Detective Patch’s POV:

I was at Meritech with Detective Beaman, investigating the arson fire in the lab that’d destroyed the place, and I was also waiting for DeStorm to show up to help. I wasn’t sure why someone would blow up a lab that made fake eyes and limbs, but it was probably connected to the other incidents, and if this was true, then those involved were escalating for some reason.

“Patch.”

I turned and nodded to DeStorm as he duck under the yellow tape and approached me. “Hawkins, you got my message?”

He nodded. “Yeah, anything on why this place was hit?”

“Still waiting,” I replied. “What about you? What were you doing?”

DeStorm sighed and spoke quietly to me. “Following up on a lead. Whoever attacked the hospital went after my family last night, and I questioned one of them in the psych ward this morning.”

“Wait, those men who were picked up were at your family home?” I asked, also talking quietly, and I was shook. “Why didn’t you call for backup?” And then something occurred to me. “You said last night?”

He nodded. “Yeah, and I didn’t call it in when it occurred because we got it under controlled,” he responded. “Why are you looking odd?”

I sighed. “Diego was on my front porch this morning,” I explained. “And the two people in the masks from the shooting at the store? They attacked him and his family last night around the same time, and his mom…she didn’t make it.”

DeStorm was actually taken aback. “Damn…why were they attacking Diego and his family?”

“Diego suspects that they’re after his newly returned brother,” I informed my partner, “and one of them is female, according to him.” I would’ve said more, but Detective Beaman walked up, and I raised my voice. “Did you find anything?”

“Well, the fire inspector says that the speed of the blaze indicates that an accelerant was used,” Beaman reported and held up a baggie with a burnt piece of cloth in it, and it looked like it used to be a dark pink color. “Oh, and, uh… we… found this.”

“Oh,” I said and I exchanged a look with DeStorm before looking back at Beaman. “Get that over to the lab immediately.”

Beaman nodded and left.

“I’m going to take a look inside,” said DeStorm, and he headed into the building.

I nodded and that was when I noticed the brown van parked not too far away. I went over to it and saw that the windshield was covered in ash…that someone had written a message with, I’m guessing, their finger.

“‘Your brother says hi’,” I read and then I saw that there was something propped on the windshield, just below the message.

I pulled on a glove and picked up the item, which was a matchbox with the name of a motel on it, and I recalled that Diego had said that his brother had been missing since yesterday.

‘They must have Diego’s brother,’ I thought, and I decided to deal with this on my own, but I did make sure to have one of the cops let DeStorm know before I left.

For once I was going to take a page out of Diego’s playbook, and do this myself.

*****

DeStorm’s POV:

I came back outside after taking a look around the ruined lab and agreed that whoever had done it, had used something to make the fire spread fast, and I bet anything that it probably had been gasoline or something similar.

I was about to head back outside to talk more with Patch, but my phone started ringing and so I stepped to the side to answer it, for I recognized the number. “Hey, Nikita, what’s up?”

`“Hey, DeStorm,”` said Nikita’s voice, and for some reason, she was sounding a bit tense, `“have you talked with Roi about the end-of-the-world business that’s suppose to be happening in the near future? Or any of our siblings for that matter?”`

“No, I’ve had my hands full with all these damn incidents that are definitely connected,” I answered. “Why?”

Nikita muttered a strong curse. `“There’s definitely something going on that you and I aren’t being kept in the loop about,”` she grumbled. `“Because I just saw those still here at the house head out, and not one of them bothered to stop long enough to let me know what was going on.”`

“That is sus,” I agreed. “Listen, keep dad in the loop, you might get something out of him, and once I’m done here, you and I can work on finding our siblings in order to learn what they’re keeping from us about all of this. I want answers.”

`“You and me both, hon.”`

I clicked off my phone, pocketed it, and I headed outside – only to find that Patch was gone. “Where’s Detective Patch?”

One of the cops told me about the message on the van windshield, the packet of matches from a cheap motel, and when I was told that she was heading there to investigate on her own and without backup, I muttered a curse and ran for my car.

Dammit, Patch!

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER THREE: SIBLING BONDING, FLOWERS, AND DATE INTERRUPTED

*****

Diego’s POV:

After making arrangements to meet up with everyone at a place known by the Hawkins’ siblings, but not their dad, Maki, or even Lennox, I went with Luther to track down Five while Ben went to get Allison and Vanya, and the Hawkins split up to get their siblings, with the exception of DeStorm and Nikita, together at the meeting place.

I never thought that we would be teaming up with the kids of Darius Hawkins, but that was what was happening, and if this meant, not just saving the world, but also burying the hatchet between our two groups…I’ll be amazed and give up being sole in the fight against evil.

Of course, that was if things worked out with saving the world and keeping the three Hawkins siblings and Vanya from being taken by whoever was after them.

*****

Thanks to the book I found in the van, I knew that we had to go to the library to find Five, and so that was where Luther and I were heading. And as I drove us to the library, I could feel a familiar tension between Luther and myself, and I knew it existed because of the falling out that we had after Ben nearly got killed during that blotched mission.

‘Might as well get this out in the open,’ I thought, speaking when we reached a red light and had to wait for it to turn green. “You wanna know why I left?”

“What?” Luther asked, clearly wrong-footed. “What are you talking about?”

“Why I left the Academy,” I said, glancing at him.

Luther scoffed. “Yeah, 'cause you couldn't handle me being Number One.”

I sighed and shook my head, doing my level best not to lose my temper. “Yes and no,” I admitted. “You see, it was partly because of jealously of you being Number One and not me, but also because of fear, the fear that I felt when Ben almost died that day.”

“You were scared?” Luther asked, clearly surprised to hear me admit that.

I nodded. “Yeah, I was scared.” I sighed. “I was scared that we were going to lose Ben, I was scared that dad was going to keep sending us on these missions until one of us did die, and…and I couldn’t s- s- s-” I stopped and shut my eyes to visualize the word like mom advised me. “And I couldn’t stand the fact of seeing that happen. I got scared, and that’s why I had to get out and away from dad.”

I swallowed and drove when the light turned green, and I didn’t look at Luther, but I could feel him looking at me.

“Man…I never thought I would ever know why you left,” said Luther after a few minutes of silence passed. “I mean, I suspected, but to hear you say it…”

“Don’t let it get to your head, Luther,” I said, fighting back a smirk, “but it is true…even I get scared. I can’t always be strong and tough.”

Luther chuckled. “I won’t, and I have to admit…when Ben almost died on that mission, I got scared, too. I guess that’s why I went to the moon base for four years.”

I chuckled, pulling into the parking lot of the Argyle Public Library, having found a copy of Vanya’s book in the van, and it’d been stamped with the library’s logo. “So much for being the tough guys, huh?”

Luther chuckled again. “Yeah, we’re not that tough when it comes to fear.”

I grinned, parked the car, and we both got out, heading inside the library.

*****

We searched the library, floor by floor, and it was when both Luther and I were on the top floor that we found who we were looking for when we heard some women talking about a teenage boy doing something to the walls, and we followed their voices to one of the walls – and I have to admit, when I saw Five, I cracked up laughing.

“Where are his parents?”

“I'm gonna call security.”

“Wow, that was easy,” I joked, pointing at Five, who was slumped against the window, asleep with one arm wrapped around a female mannequin, with a number of empty bottles scattered about, and there were equations written in both a notebook and on the walls.

Luther was trying and failing not to laugh at the sight. “Is he, um…?”

“Drunk as a skunk,” I confirmed, grabbing the bottles and the book while Luther gathered up Five and the mannequin, which he hugged tightly.

*****

Allison’s POV:

I’m glad that I went out for drinks with Vanya, for we were bonding on a level that we haven’t reached since we were kids, and I did bring up the topic of finding Leonard in her apartment. I did believe Vanya when she said that she had asked him to go to her apartment to get spare strings for her violin when they had been on break, and yet, I couldn’t help but feel like there was something offish about Leonard, but I wasn’t about to say anything to Vanya until I did some research.

But I wasn’t about to do that tonight, and I admit that I was a bit tipsy and giggly when we entered Vanya’s apartment.

“Ah! I love your apartment,” I giggled.

Vanya also giggled. “I'm sure it's smaller than one of your closets, but…”

“No, really,” I insisted, dropping my bag on the couch. “I love it.”

Vanya grinned. “I'm just gonna go check on things, make sure everything's in the right place.” And she headed through the kitchen area, into her bedroom.

“Do you have sweatpants?” I asked, twirling a little, wanting to have a sleepover with Vanya. “We are going to need…sweatpants.” I saw a bowl of chocolate-covered raisins and I picked it up, eating some. “Chocolate-covered raisins.”

“Oh, my God.”

I stopped and turned to see that Vanya was coming out of her room with a vase of flowers, and she was smiling. “Wait, what are those?” I asked, putting down the bowl.

“They're from Leonard,” said Vanya, setting the vase on the table and read a note that was with it. “‘I like you, and I'm not sorry’’.”

That made no sense to me. “I don't get it.”

“It's an inside joke,” Vanya told me and she took out her phone to call Leonard.

My own cellphone rang and I dug it out of my bag, answering it when I saw that it was Luther. “Hey, Luther. Any luck with finding Five and Klaus?”

`“We found Five,”` Luther confirmed,`“but we don’t have Klaus yet. Allison, did you find Vanya?”`

“Yeah, she and I are in her apartment,” I replied, glancing at my sister, who was smiling and talking with Leonard, and it occurred to me that Vanya was showing more emotions then before. ‘I guess her not having those pills today are helping.’ “We just got back to her place.”

`“Good, there’s been some developments that you both need to know about,”` said Luther,`“Diego’s texting you the address. Bring Vanya with you to this location. We’re teaming up with the Hawkins.”`

I blinked, trying to process what I just heard. “Wait, what do you mean we’re teaming up with the Hawkins?”

`“I’ll explain when you get here, Allison.”`

“Right…see you soon.” I clicked off my phone, not sure of what was going on with Luther, and I turned to Vanya, who was finishing her own conversation with Leonard.

“Okay, bye.”

‘I don’t want to ruin the mood,’ I thought, ‘but this sounds serious.’ “Vanya, I just got a call from Luther. He wants you and I to meet him.” And my phone pinged, which meant that Diego had just texted me the address. “Diego will be there, but I won’t let him go after you this time.”

Vanya hesitated for a moment, but then she nodded. “Ok, just let me get my refill.” And she went to the fridge, where she took out the butter container and opened it – finding only butter inside it. “Oh…”

“You keep your pill refill there?” I asked, grabbing my bag.

“Normally, I do,” she admitted. “But I guess I didn’t pick up the refill after all.” She put it back in the fridge. “I can get the refill tomorrow and get back on track with my meds then.”

I nodded and we headed out to meet up with Luther, and find out what was going on.

*****

Leonard closed his phone and smirked at the pill bottle he was holding in his hand, which had Vanya’s name on it. He’d been worried that Allison had caught him in the act earlier, but it looked like he got away with stealing Vanya’s refill.

‘She won’t need these anymore,’ he thought, opening the bottle and dumped the contents into the sink, washing them away with hot water, ‘and now onto the next phase.’ And he went to grab his jacket.

*****

Mystic’s POV:

I was out on another date with Andrea, for I so didn’t want to go home and put up with dad right now, and that was why I was ignoring his phone calls, his text messages, and the beeping from the bracelet that meant he was wanting me to come home.

‘I’ll go home when I want to,’ I thought as Andrea got me my favorite dairy-free ice cream and we walked through the park to our favorite spot. ‘And right now, I want to be with Andrea.’

Of course that plan got derailed when Jesse pulled up in his jeep in the parking lot. “Mystic, wait up!”

I sighed and faced him. “Jesse, if dad sent you to bring me-”

“He didn’t,” Jesse interrupted. “There’s been a development that Roi wants you to know about, Mystic.”

“A development?” I repeated and glanced at Andrea. “Uh…”

“Your girlfriend can come with us,” Jesse added. “Far as I’m concern, she has a right to know what’s going on with the family.”

I glanced at Andrea again. “You want to come with?”

Andrea grinned at me. “I sure do, sweetie.”

I blushed, getting her and Jesse to giggle. “Shut up.”

Still giggling, we got into Jesse’s jeep and headed out.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER FOUR: KLAUS’S MEMORY AND PATCH HITS INTERFERENCE

*****

Klaus’ POV:

I was reliving the memory of being locked in a mausoleum by my dad when I was a kid in order to get my to overcome my fear of the dead.

*****

Klaus is curled up on the floor of the mausoleum, trying and failing to block out the voices of the dead, and he is wishing that he could leave. He did start when he hears the door open, and he sits up as his father appears in the doorway.

“Welcome back to the land of the living, Number Four,” said Reginald.

“ Can I go now?” Klaus asks desperately, having been in there for hours.

“ Have you overcome your fear of the dead?” Reginald asks and frowns when Klaus slowly shakes his head. “You must become the master of your own life, Number Four. Or it will become the master of you.”

Klaus is near tears. “ Please, I wanna go home.”

“ Three more hours.” Reginald starts shutting the door.

“ No!” Klaus screams and tries to get the door before it shuts, but he’s too late, and he bangs on it instead. “Don't leave me !”

*****

I opened my eyes when I hear the door unlocking to the motel room, which meant that my kidnappers were back, and I was ready to go through with my plan.

‘I’m going to make them regret kidnapping me,’ I thought, waiting for them to enter and get me out of this closet.

Yeah, I was going to mess with their heads big time.

*****

Cha-Cha entered the room first and frowned when she saw that things had been tided up, the beds were made, and the “Do Not Disturb” sign was lying on the table.

“You idiot!” she snapped, whirling around to face Hazel as he entered and shut the door.

“What?” he asked.

Cha-Cha gestured around the motel room. “You didn't put the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door!”

“I did!” Hazel insisted. “I know I…” he trailed off when he saw that the sign was on the table. “Sh*t!” He rushed over to the closet and yanked aside the door, finding Klaus still tied up in the chair, the duck tape was still covering his mouth, and he sighed with relief. “Oh, my God, he's still here.” He pulled the chair and Klaus out of the closet and their prisoner mumbled something through the duck tape.

“What's he saying?” Cha-Cha questioned and she yanked the tape off his mouth.

“Oh!” Klaus gasped, wincing in pain from the duck tape being ripped off.

“What are you sayin'?” Cha-Cha asked him.

Klaus let out a weak chuckle. “You guys are scarier without the masks.”

Hazel rolled his eyes. “That's no way to say hello to your old friends, is it?”

‘Old friends? Yeah right,’ Klaus thought. “Can't we call it a night?” he asked, pretending to be weak and useless. “I already gave you what you wanted. Just, please… please let me go. Please.”

“Well, technically, we want your brother,” Cha-Cha reminded him. “Is your brother here now?”

“Uh, he…” Klaus began, not really sure of which brother they were talking about since he had four. “You're gonna have to be a little more specific on that.” He winced when Hazel slapped his ear. “Ow! I told you already. He's not coming. No one will.”

“Well, Number Five knows now,” Cha-Cha informed him. “We left him a message. And when he comes for you, we'll be ready.” And both she and Hazel walked into the other room to get their guns ready.

‘They want Five?’ Klaus thought, not having expected this, but then again, it made more sense of why they had attacked his family. ‘Well, then I’ll just have to make sure that they won’t be ready if and when he shows up.’

He was going to go through with his plan.

*****

Detective Patch’s POV:

I drove to the motel that the matchbox had come from and I parked in the parking lot. I saw that I’d missed a call from DeStorm, but I didn’t have time to call him back, and yet I would should I fail to get in touch with Diego.

‘Normally I wouldn’t call on him,’ I thought, getting out of my car and locked it. ‘But this time, I will.’

*****

I approached the front desk of the motel, finding that the manger was watching a TV behind the desk, and when I tried to get his attention, he ignored me. I sighed and I dinged the bell, and this got his attention away from the TV.

“I have reason to believe two wanted criminals are in this motel,” I told him, showing him my badge and ID card so that he would know that I was legit as a detective.

“Just two?” the manager asked, clearly sounding skeptical.

I fought back a sigh, having dealt with this kind of person before. “I'm gonna need to take a look around.”

“Mm…” The manager shook his head. “This is a pay-by-the-hour kind of place. My customers, they don't get four-star digs, but…they do get complete privacy, from me…and from the man.” He smirked at me. “Hm. Pardon me. Wo-man.”

I frowned at him. “That’s bullsh*t.”

“They're your rules, not mine,” he retorted. “-Think I ain't read the Constitution?”

“I don't think you can read,” I snapped, getting annoyed and angry that this jerk was interfering with my investigation.

The manager snorted and turned away. “Come back with a warrant.”

I frowned, but I did see the book that the customers signed and I took a peek, memorizing the room number next to the names Hazel and Cha-Cha, and then I stepped away, taking out my phone to make a phone call that I never thought I would ever make.

I was calling Diego – and I ended up getting his voicemail.

‘Ok, I can leave a message,’ I thought, ‘and hopefully he’ll check his phone sooner rather then later or never.’ And when I heard the beep, I left a message for Diego to hear. “Diego, it’s me. It’s Detective P- Eudora. Anyways, I think I know where your missing brother is being held, and I need you to meet me at 4535 Calhoun as soon as you can. And I, uh… I could use some backup. Please, get here as soon as you can.”

I clicked my phone shut, and I waited.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER FIVE: KLAUS TALKS TO SPIRITS…AND A POSSIBLE TEAM UP? PART ONE

*****

Klaus’ POV:

I waited until until the kidnappers were distracted and I turned my attention to the old Russian woman, who was staring at the two in the other room. I was about to do something that I hadn’t done in a long time, I was going to talk to the ghosts and not ignore them anymore, or try to block them out.

‘And I’m doing this on my terms…not dad’s terms,’ I thought, mentally preparing myself for what I was about to do, and I hoped that this wouldn’t blow up in my face.

“Hi, uh…What's your name?” I asked her.

The old woman looked at me, and she looked a bit surprised that I was actually talking to her, but she did answer. “Zoya Popova.”

I smiled at her. ‘Oh! That's a lovely name,” I complimented. “And can you tell me what happened?”

Of course before I could listen to Zoya…this happened.

“What happened is if you don't shut up,” Cha-Cha growled at me, “I'mma cut your tongue out with a grapefruit spoon.”

I blanched, but Zoya began talking in Russian, which I knew thanks to dad, and I listened to her. And what I was hearing, I figured that this would give me an edge over my captors, and so I began exploiting it.

“Zoya Popova,” I said, earning two surprised and confused looks.

“What did he say?” Hazel asked.

“Zoya Popova?” I repeated and described her to them as I listened to her rant. “Old Russian broad, short, with a limp.” I chuckled. “Oh, she's reallypissed at you guys.” And I mentally grinned when they exchanged uneasy looks, for clearly they remember poor Zoya.

I was going to have a lot of fun messing with these two…at least until I was rescued. But I had my doubts about that happening any time soon.

*****

Diego parked his car outside what looked like to be an average warehouse, and was helping Luther get Five, plus his mannequin, out of the back when other cars pulled up with most of the Hawkins’, along with Ben, Allison, Vanya, and Andrea Russett all arrived.

“Is everyone here?” Roi asked, and after getting confirmations, he turned to Justine. “Ok, let’s get everyone inside and caught up.”

Justine nodded and started going through her bag while Diego, after taking a deep breath, approached Vanya, who was looking a bit on edge, and he wasn’t surprised, given how he treated her last night.

“Vanya,” Diego said, swallowing a little since this wasn’t easy for him, “about what I said last night. I’m…I…I’m sorry, I was wrong and I shouldn’t have said those things to you. It was just a book, and I let it get to me since it had some harsh truths that I hadn’t wanted to think about, and seeing it there in black and white…”

Vanya smiled a little and hugged him, surprising him. “I understand, Diego, and I accept your apology.”

Diego went stiff for a full second, but then he returned the hug, and he felt a weigh left off his shoulders. ‘I should’ve done this a long time ago.’

“What happened to him?” Allison asked Luther, gesturing to Five.

“We found him drunk in the public library,” Luther informed her as Five groaned, and cracked his eyes open. “Five, I swear if you vomit on me…”

Five, however, chuckled, and it was clear that he wasn’t all there just yet. “You know what's funny?” he asked before laughing again and groaning a little. “Aah! I'm going through puberty. Huh. Twice. And I… I drank that whole bottle, didn't I? That's what you do when the world you love goes bye-bye. Poof, it's gone.”

“What is he talking about?” Allison asked.

Luther sighed. “Long story, which will be explained in a bit.”

Justine came over to them and gave each of them a metal wristband, putting one each on Luther’s right wrist and Five’s right wrist. “You guys will need to keep these on in order to get inside,” she told them, also giving one to Andrea R. “I designed the security system to only accept those who have these wristbands on, and I already programmed them into the system so that you guys will be recognized.”

Once everyone was ready, Justine went to the side door, opened what looked like a standard lockbox, and there were surprised gasps when it was revealed to be holding some rather complexed tech. She typed in a series of commands and shut the box, and the door opened so that she could enter with a beam of bluish light scanning her wristband in the process with it turning green in confirmation.

One by one, each of them walked through the doorway, the scan on each of their wristbands being confirmed, and once the last person was inside, the door shut and locked itself.

*****

Klaus’ POV:

“She chopped my hands off and let me bleed to death in the bathtub.”

“ He took me to a temple, slashed my throat, watched me bleed out.”

“ She crept into my room, put a pillow over my face, and told me not to bother praying.”

“ They attached jumper cables to my nipples and shocked me for hours.”

“ He pretended to have car trouble, and when I stopped to help, he ran me over. Uh… forward, reverse. Then he saw my wife waiting for me in the car. She ran .”

I listened to their stories, of how the man, Hazel, and the woman, Cha-Cha, had killed each of them, and the poor guy with the jumper cables, he was just their most recent victim, which meant that he had died two nights ago.

The other ghosts, I learned, had been killed in various time periods, and I figured that my captors had a means of time travel. And while I listened and questioned each ghost about how they had been tortured and/or killed by my captors, I was also listening to them, and I could tell that they were confused and worried about what I knew concerning Zoya Popova, who was looking happier now that I’d listened to her story.

“How could he possibly know about Zoya Popova?” Cha-Cha wondered, pacing back and forth, shocked and confused about how their prisoner could even know that name, the name of the Russian woman that she and Hazel had taken out back in the early 1950s as one of their assignments.

“Maybe he guessed, I don't know,” Hazel suggested, trying to be calm, but he was clearly shaken.

“Who cares?” Cha-Cha finally said, getting out of that particular mind state. “She's dead.” She then turned to Hazel. “You need to focus,” she reminded him. “That little psycho could show up any minute. Or do you wanna be docked pay again, go back and tell 'em we couldn't hack it, face those consequences? Pull it together, now!”

Hazel started and nodded, doing his best to do so.

I chose that moment to speak, and to see if I could rattle them both again.

“Swiss Alps, huh?” I asked one of the male ghosts and he confirmed, and I looked over at my captors, who were eying me warily. ‘Good…I got them on edge.’ “Which one are you? Cha-Cha or Hazel?” I asked the male, even though I’d figured out his name earlier, but I didn’t want to reveal that particular card just yet.

“Hazel,” Hazel replied.

“Jan Mueller. Remember him?” I asked and he nodded, while I grinned. “Swiss Alps. Him and his wife were coming back from a ski trip.”

“I remember,” said Hazel.

“Forward. Reverse!” I exclaimed, making them both jump. “Yeah, that's it! Yeah! And his wife…escaped down an alleyway. He says to say thank you.”

“What's he talking about?” Cha-Cha asked, frowning.

Hazel shrugged, but he knew what I was talking about. “I don't know.”

“He was so grateful to you,” I continued, and from the way that Cha-Cha was frowning, she didn’t like what she was hearing. ‘Hehe, they’re going to get into an argument!’ “Hazel, for having spared his wife.” I looked at her with a grin. “You know, there may be hope for him yet. Don't you think?”

Cha-Cha, however, turned to Hazel, and she was pissed. “Bathroom, now!”

I watched them go into the bathroom, and I kept grinning. I had them wired up, and I had a strong feeling that a rift was going to form between them since it was clear that Hazel hadn’t suppose to let the victim’s wife live.

I couldn’t wait to do more mind games on them!

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER SIX: KLAUS TALKS TO SPIRITS…AND A POSSIBLE TEAM UP? PART TWO

*****

Luther’s POV:

I carried Five inside and my jaw dropped, for this wasn’t just a warehouse…it was far more then just that. I could see that the place had been refitted to have all kinds of stuff, and that included tech that I hadn’t ever seen before.

“What…how…?” I asked, unsure of how this was possible. “What is this place?”

“It’s our home away from home,” Justine told me. “We each worked on this place as somewhere to go in order to get away from our dad…life with him hasn’t been easy.”

I nodded, having a feeling that their childhood had just been as rough as ours…not all of the training under our father had been fun.

“Uh, anywhere I can put Five?” I asked.

Justine nodded and lead me over to one of the areas that had couches, and I put Five on the couch with his mannequin, covering them both with a blanket. “I’ll get him something to get him alert at least…he’s not going to want to miss out on this.”

I nodded and looked around once again in awe of the place while she walked away. ‘Damn…we could’ve used a place like this when we were kids,’ I thought, still impressed that they had this kind of setup for themselves.

I looked back at Five and I sat on the couch to wait.

*****

Cha-Cha entered the bathroom behind Hazel and shut the door before facing him. “Sit.”

Hazel sat down on the toilet, after closing the seat.

“You told me you shotthe wife in the alley,” she said, her angry was starting to grow inside her. “And now I'm hearing that you spared her?”

Hazel scoffed. “Come on. Don't be ridiculous. You think I'd do something like that?” He then sighed when his partner glared at him. “I just…I was bored. I thought I'd give her a head start, make it more exciting.”

“Exciting?” Cha-Cha repeated, skeptical, and then something occurred to her, a previous case that she and Hazel had worked on. “Wait, so…the kid in Tokyo, did he really get lost?” She then groaned and looked ready to pull her hair out in frustration. “Aw, Jesus, Hazel!”

Just then they heard Klaus call out from the bedroom area. “Jan says you're a real mensch, Hazel. He said you were such a great…”

*****

After sobering up Five, which had been an entertaining event in of itself, they all gathered in a sitting area that had chairs set up in a circle around an odd-looking projector that Justine was setting up, and Andrea R. was sitting next to Mystic.

“Damn…you all did this place together?” she asked her girlfriend, and she nodded.

“Yeah…not that I really have spent much time here myself,” Mystic admitted. “I mean…not as often as say, Justine, Teala, or Safiya. I tend to prefer going to other places…alone most of the time.”

Andrea R. smiled and rested her head on her girlfriend’s shoulder. “Well, you aren’t going to spend that much time alone anymore if I have anything to do with it.”

Mystic blushed and tried to duck her head – but that was when the projector powered up. “Oh!”

Andrea R. sat up and straightened in her seat. “Could’ve used a joint though…” And Mystic giggled.

“Ok, so this is rather unusual for all of us,” Roi began, taking the lead. “And we have a lot to cover…so I will just be getting to the point. On the day that Five returned, I traveled into the future, and…well, I saw this.” And he pushed a button on a remote.

A beam of light shot out of the projector and soon everyone was watching the footage that’d been recorded by the cameras in Roi’s outfit, from his arrival, getting out of the crater, finding the bodies of most of his family, the various kidnapping, and trying to call out to Five before being pulled back into the present when the timer ran out.

Silence filled the room as they all processed what they’d seen, and then it was Vanya who broke the silence after several minutes had passed.

“Wait…so I’m going to be grabbed…?” she asked, trying to speak and struggling. “Why? And why was I wearing white?”

“Vanya…this isn’t going to be easy for you to hear,” said Diego, taking her hand into his, “but we think it’s because you do have a power…one that could be hidden from you this whole time.”

Five, however, chose that moment to start laughing, despite his head pounding from the hangover that he was now suffering from, despite the special drink given to him to sober him up. “Oh this is rich! Not only is the world screwed, but Vanya really does have a power! Hahahahahaha!”

“What…that can’t be true,” Vanya protested, pulling away her hand and standing up. “If that’s true…but then why…why is that strange woman after me?”

“Vanya,” said Mystic, standing up. “Take it easy…breath…we can figure this out.”

Vanya was breathing hard, but she did try to calm down, and she sat back down. “Ok…ok…” And she let Diego take her hand again.

“That’s one of many things we’re all going to figure out together,” Roi said. “I’m not sure about the woman, but thanks to research, I have a pretty good idea about the guy with the tentacles, and the ones wearing owl masks.”

He and Justine shared with the group what they had found out, additional information provided by their siblings, and more footage was shown by way of the projector.

Five was silent for most of this…and then he finally did speak. “Ok…so maybe the world isn’t screwed.”

“Not yet,” Matt agreed. “And is there anything that you can tell us, Five? What you found when you were stuck in the future? And when you were when you came back?”

Five hesitated and then he finally shared with them everything, including stuff that he hadn’t shared before, and that included the job he used to have.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER SEVEN: FIVE’S STORY

*****

Five spends those years in the dead world gathering supplies, traveling through the ruins of New York with Delores by different means, and doing research to find a way back home to his family in order to save the world and keep them all from dying. And as the years goes by, he gets older and older, and more desperate.

He finally finds a semi-decent place to hold up and sets it up for them both. He writes equations on the walls, does more scavenging, and then one day, it all changes.

*****

Five sits on a crate with a wine bottle by him and Delores is on a chair with a drink in her one hand, and he’s chuckling. “Do you remember that, uh, little mansion just outside the city limits? Where we…”

He chuckles, imagining what Delores is saying as a means of staying, somewhat, sane.

“Yeah. Yeah, well, it turns out the wine cellar was untouched,” he tells her. “Picked up a few cases of your favorite Bordeaux.”

Five picks up the bottle and chugs from it a little before setting it back down with a sigh. “Hm. Ah, that's an exaggeration. I don't drink too much. You know, I work hard all day. I… Why would you even say that?”

He starts when he hears rubble fall outside, grabs his modified rifle, and aims it outside. ‘Is someone out there? After all this time?’ And he is surprise to see a woman with blonde hair, wearing a dark outfit, sunglasses, and has a briefcase in one hand. And his confusion, she actually waves at him.

“Who the hell are you?” Five demands, keeping the rifle trained on the new arrival.

“I'm here to help,” the woman answers, and she smiles.

Five hesitates, but he doesn’t lower the rifle. “Tell me why I shouldn't put a bullet through your head right now!”

“Because...if you did,” said the woman, still smiling, “you wouldn't hear the offer I'm about to make you. Which would be rather tragic, given your…” she gestures to the area “current circumstances.”

Five lowers his rifle and nods at her to enter. She enters and they both sit on the crates, but she does dust hers off first.

“I work for an organization called the Commission,” she explains, lifts up the veil on her hat. “We are tasked with the preservation of the time continuum through manipulation and removals.”

Five shakes his head, for this is confusing for him. “I don't understand."

The woman smiles and takes out a case that she extracts a cig from, and lights it. “Sometimes, people...make choices that alter time,” she adds. “Free will, don't get me started. When that happens, we dispatch one of our agents to…eliminate the threat.” She chuckles when Five tenses. “No, no, no, no. You misunderstand me. You're not a target. You're a recruit. I've come to offer you a job, Number Five. We've had our eye on you for quite some time. And we think you have a lot of potential. Your survival skills have made you quite a celebrity back at headquarters. That and your ability to jump through time.”

Five blinks. “You saying that I… I could actually leave here?” He stutters. “Go… Go back?”

She nods. “In return for five years of service. Once your contract is done, you can retire to the time and place of your choosing with a pension plan to boot.”

“If you can alter time,” Five says thoughtfully, “why not just stop all of this from ever happening?” And he gestures to everything around them.

The woman, the Handler, shakes her head. “That's quite impossible, I'm afraid. You see… all of this, it was supposed to happen.”

“That's insane,” Five protests. “The end of everything?”

“Not everything,” The Handler corrects him. “Just the end of…something. So…do we have an agreement?” She stands and holds out her hand to him.

Five hesitates, but he does stand up, and he shakes her hand, seals the deal.

*****

Five scoffed, but he did tell them more. “They turned me into the perfect instrument for rehabilitation of the time continuum. Or "corrections," as they called them. I wasn't the only one. There are others like me. Beings out of time, fractured, extracted from the lives that they knew. I don't know how they got there. But I do know that none of them were as good as me.”

*****

Five, even older now, arrives in the year 1963, gets a drink at a local bar, and then gets into position behind a fence not far from a road that has people lining it, and he listens to a nearby radio broadcast.

`“…Dallas Love Field, the Dallas-Fort Worth area broadcasters bring you a special description of the arrival of President John F. Kennedy. And the crowd yells, and the president of the United States…”`

`“…to get another view of the president as he and his First Lady depart Love Field.”`

`“The presidential car moving out. The president and First Lady… head out for downtown Dallas, where thousands should already be on the street right now…”`

“They didn't realize it, but I was biding my time, trying to figure out the right equation so I could get back. If I could just get back, I knew I could stop the apocalypse. Save the world.”

Five puts his rifle down, leans it against the fence, takes out a small book and opens it to the page with a pen in it, and he looks over the calculations as the radio continues to broadcast about the president’s visit to Dallas, TX on November 22nd , 1963.

`“Dallas police out here in force today, doing a beautiful job of handling the crowd along with a contingent of Texas Rangers.”`

“So I broke my contract.”

Five shuts the book, pockets it, and he concentrates on his powers. He vibrates, drowns out the radio, and soon enough, there is a whooshing sound as the portal forms.

`“…all the way down…it'll turn on Houston Street…and go past…”`

Five peers into the portal and he can see the house, the backyard, and his siblings. He can hear them talk and chuckles when Klaus runs out, tries to put it out with the fire extinguisher, and tosses it through.

`“…no coincidence that remarkable security measures are in effect, checking the routes of travel of the people with the president. Everything and anything involving…”`

He is now sure that this will work, and he starts pushing his way through the portal, screams since it is painful.

`“…has been checked, rechecked, and then checked again.”`

Five keeps pushing through, he can hear his siblings shouting and reacting, and he can also hear the radio as he keeps going through the portal, becoming younger in the process.

`“…without exhaustive security investigation. The presidential suite has been examined, and…”`

Five yells.

`“…until the president's security and safety are confirmed…”`

Five hears a gunshot as he keeps pushing through, and he can hear people screaming in the background.

`“The shot appears to have come from a grassy knoll…”`

There is a second gunshot.

`“…near the street where the motorcade was moving.”`

“They shot the president!”

`“He is dead. The president is dead.”`

*****

“…and now you know what I know,” Five concluded.

“So… you were a hit man?” Liza asked.

Five nodded. “Yes.”

“Uh... I mean, you had a code, right?” Delta asked. “You didn't kill just anybody.”

Five shook his head. “No code. We took out anyone who messed with the timeline.”

“What about innocent people?” Jesse asked.

Five shrugged. “It was the only way I could get back here.”

“But that's murder,” Luther pointed out, frowning.

“Jesus, Luther, grow up,” Five snapped. “We're not kids anymore. There's no such thing as good guys or bad guys. There's just people, goin' about their lives. But when the world ends, all those people die, including our families.” He sighed. “Time changes everything.”

“Then we need to change what you and Roi saw in the future,” said Andrea R. “I know that I don’t have powers…and I’m new to all of this. But if there is a way to change the future, then we need to get on it, and not debate it. How many days do we have left?”

“Four days,” Roi answered. “We got four days to prevent the world from ending.”

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER EIGHT: MEETING CUT SHORT

*****

“I have one question for Five to answer first,” said Diego. “Five, when you broke your contract, does that mean that who you used to work for are sending people after you? Because there was that shooting at the diner, at the store, and the attack on our house.”

“Wait, the house was attacked?” Five asked, for this was the first he was hearing of this.

“Yes, the house got attacked by two people in masks,” Allison confirmed. “They took Klaus…and mom got killed. Last I heard, dad and Pogo were repairing her…but the attackers…they were wanting you.”

Five sighed and slumped against the couch. “It’ll probably have been Hazel and Cha-Cha. They’re both skilled…but not like me.”

“Skilled or not, they have Klaus,” Diego pointed out, “they shot up the house, and they’re after you, Five. So how do we stop them and get our brother back?”

*****

Detective Patch was waiting by her car, and when she didn’t get a call back from Diego, she decided to go in on her own. “Screw it.”

She got out her gun, noted that DeStorm had been trying to reach her, but she ignored his calls, and she headed to the stairs to the second floor of the motel. She was going to do this herself.

*****

DeStorm’s POV:

I muttered a curse when Patch didn’t pick up when I called her cellphone, and I was halfway to the motel to stop her from doing something reallystupid.

‘Dammit, Patch,’ I thought, trying to text her next, ‘don’t pull a Diego Hargreeves on me like this!’ And when I didn’t get a response to her text, I muttered another curse. “Dammit, Patch…”

I almost dropped my phone when it rang, and I sighed when I saw that it was Nikita and not Patch, but I answered since she probably had news of where our siblings were off without telling either of us. “Nikita, any word?”

`“I tracked them to the hangout,”` Nikita reported. `“And for some reasons, all but one of the Hargreeves siblings are with them, too.”`

“You sure about that?” I asked, frowning.

`“Yeah, I’m sure, for I recognized each of them.”`

I wasn’t sure of what our siblings were up to, but I figured that it was high time to let dad know…and while it did mean we would lose the hangout, there were other hangouts that we could spend time at while avoiding dad when he went on one of his rants.

“Nikita, send word to dad about what’s going on…it’s time to put our siblings in their place.”

`“And here I thought you would neverget the chance to ask me to do that.”`

I grinned. “Well, I say it’s time, Nikita.”

`“Oh yes!”`

I ended the call and focused on driving to the motel, feeling smug.

*****

Nikita’s POV:

I ended my call with DeStorm, pocketed my phone, and then I sent a coded message through the wristbands that dad had us all wear to alert us to missions. But in this case, to alert him to what was going on, and I’d been looking forward to doing this ever since the others tried to keep DeStorm and I out of the loop.

‘This is going to be sweet,’ I thought, inputing the message, which I encrypted so that no one would be able to read it except for dad, and I sent it. ‘Those b*tches are going to regret doing this to me and DeStorm.’

I was so looking forward to the results when dad caught our siblings and the Hargreeves siblings together.

*****

Darius was in his study, writing in his book when the system beeped, and he saw that he had a message…an encrypted message.

Curious, he put down the pen and ran a program to decrypt the message, and when he saw what it was saying, plus the location and address, he became grim. “Dammit…”

Darius sent word to Lennox and Maki, and he grabbed a certain device before leaving the study. ‘Time to teach my children a lesson.’

He was determined.

*****

Meanwhile at the motel, Cha-Cha left the bathroom long enough to put duct tape over Klaus’ mouth, and then she went back into the bathroom to confront Hazel about what was going on with him.

“What the hell is goin' on with you lately?” she demanded. “You're just not… Especially on this job. You're distracted! I thought we were in this together. For the long haul.”

Hazel opened his mouth and sighed. “We are. I’m sorry.”

*****

Five considered Diego’s question and was about to answer – when a red light started flashing as alarms went off. “What the f*ck?!”

Justine checked a monitor and she paled. “Sh*t…it’s dad!”

“Dad? I thought he didn’t know about this place,” said Mystic, feeling a panic attack coming on. “We all made sure…we all promised…right?”

“Let’s worry about that later,” Delta insisted. “Justine…do we have time to get out of here?”

Justine checked. “Yes, we do. But we have to go now!”

They all exited, the Hawkins’ leading the way…and so when Darius managed to get inside with Lennox and Maki, they were long gone.

Darius scowled and turned to Lennox and Maki. “Find them…now.”

Lennox and Maki both nodded and headed back out.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER NINE: VANYA RUNS AWAY AND HELP IS NEEDED

*****

Vanya’s POV:

My mind was in a whirl as I followed the Hawkins’ siblings and my own siblings through what had once been part of the sewer system before it’d been rerouted by the city, but I was glad that it was dry and it had clearly been fixed up and re-enforced by my friends.

‘Are they right?’ I wondered, trying to process everything. ‘Do I really have powers? If so…then why haven’t I used them? Did dad do something? Why can’t I use my powers?’

These thoughts kept boiling through my mind, I almost lost track of the others, but Allison grabbed my hand, and I followed them through the escape route and up a ladder.

*****

When we got above ground, I pulled away from Allison and looked around, my mind was spinning.

I saw that we were out of the range of the warehouse, and I realized that I’d left my violin in Allison’s car. “I…I need to go back. My violin…I need it…”

“We can go back once the coast is clear, Vanya,” Allison promised. “I know it’s important to you, and we’ll get it back.”

I wanted to believe that, but my mind was still spinning and…I remembered something…something about me standing in front of a table with glasses filled with water on them, and dad with his book and a tuning fork.

“Sound…” I mumbled, “vibrations…”

“Vanya?” Mystic asked and I snapped back to reality.

I had a clue…not much…but I had an idea about my powers. “Sound and vibrations…I think they have something to do with my powers…I need to go.”

“No, we need to make a plan of how to deal with the attackers from last night,” Diego corrected. “And get Klaus back, and then we can figure out how to wake up your powers, Vanya. Together, as a family.”

“As a family?” I repeated, recalling how I had been treated, and while Diego had apologized…I needed time to process. “Yeah, for the first time in years, we can…but I need to get my violin, and I needtime to think things over.”

I started walking away, my heart was pounding, that memory of dad and the water glasses was replaying in my mind, and nearby…there was a constant drip of water from a nearby drainage pipe.

Five, however, portal so that he was in front of me. “Vanya, I know that this is a lot to take in…but we need to do this together. Please?”

I didn’t respond, that memory was replaying a part where dad tapped one of the glasses with the tuning fork to make it ring while telling me to focus on the ringing noise, and concentrate. I focused on the dripping water and, after a bit, it was soon all that I could hear, I was tuning out everyone else.

“Vanya? You ok?” Delta asked. “Vanya?”

Mystic stepped closer to me, concern on her face. “Vanya, what’s wrong?” And she reached out to touch my shoulder – and that was when I reacted.

“NO!” I shouted, something burst out of me – and I was soon running down an alleyway to the street.

*****

Diego’s POV:

One minute we all were standing – and the next thing I knew, I was sprawled on the pavement with everyone else, and Vanya was running out of sight. I wasn’t entirely sure what that was, but I suspected that Vanya’s power, whatever it was, it just pancaked us big time.

“Ow…” I groaned, gingerly getting up. “That…what was that?”

No one knew how to answer that question, not that I blamed them, and when Jesse got up, he nyoomed off after Vanya. And it wasn’t long before he was back, and he was shaking his head.

“She’s already gone…took off in a cab.”

Roi sighed. “Great…this just got complicated. Dad is onto us, Vanya has rabbited, and we still don’t know where Klaus is being he-”

My phone beeped just then, and I checked, finding that there was a voicemail. “Hold on, let me check this.” I listened to the message, found that it was from Patch, and my heart dropped. “Oh gosh…Eudora …”

“Are you talking about DeStorm’s partner?” Andrea Hawkins asked.

“Yeah, she knows where the attackers, Hazel and Cha-Cha are,” I reported, listening to the message again, “and that they have Klaus. She’s at the motel and needs me as backup. I missed her phone call…dammit!”

Justine, who’d been doing something with her wrist-computer, looked up and was embarrassed. “Sorry, the hangout it has…well had a system set up to block phone calls,” she admitted. “Couldn’t risk dad tracking us when we didn’t want to be at home.”

I should’ve been angry, but it made sense, given that it was looking like Darius Hawkins had basically been doing to them what he’d done to my own siblings and I over the years. “No, it’s understandable, and I now have an address…just no transportation.”

“Give me the address, and we can help with that,” Justine requested. “From this point on, we’re all together as a big team.”

I provided the address from the voicemail, Justine used it to create a holo-map with a route that both Jesse and Roi memorized, and soon they and I were nyooming away to help Patch deal with the bad guys and get Klaus back.

*****

Vanya’s POV:

I sat in the taxi, trying to catch my breath while I was driven back to the warehouse so that I could retrieve my violin. I wasn’t entirely sure of what I did back there…but clearly I did have some kind of ability that involved sounds and vibrations, and I hoped that I didn’t harm anyone when I lost control.

‘I’ll apologize later,’ I thought, paying the driver when we reached the warehouse, and I headed for the cars, not seeing any sign of anyone.

I reached Allison’s car, found that it was locked, and, while making a mental note for pay for a new window for her car, picked up a rock that I used to smash the passenger-side window open. I dropped the rock, reached in to retrieve my violin case, and I ran off to find another taxi so that I could go home.

I had a lot to think about.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER TEN: A HEAVY PRICE IS PAID

*****

Meanwhile, Detective Patch made her way up the stairs and along the second floor of the motel toward the motel room that was being used by two people named Hazel and Cha-Cha, and she had her gun at the ready.

*****

DeStorm pulled into the parking lot of the motel, got out of his car, and ran into the lobby to question the manger of whether he’d seen Patch. “Excuse me, did a female detective come through here?”

The manager rolled his eyes and pointed toward the stairs. “That way.”

“Thanks.” He dashed out and toward the stairs.

*****

Klaus couldn’t hear what was going on in the bathroom with his captors, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t try to get himself free and out of there before Five showed up.

He’d seen the screw on the table, which the housekeeper had put there after finding it on the floor earlier, and he was working on moving the chair over to the table.

‘I can do this,’ Klaus thought, making some progress, ‘I can do this!’ And, after almost falling over once or twice, he made it to the table and tried to get his hand, despite the wrist being taped to the arm of the chair, close enough to grab the screw.

He got distracted when he saw a shadow moving across the window and, out of pure desperation by this point, he began banging his head on the table in order to get the attention of whoever was out there, and by this point, he didn’t care if he was heard by his captors or bashed his own head in either.

*****

Patch heard pounding coming from the room she was approaching, she waved over the housekeeper, show her her badge, and got her to unlock the door of the motel room.

Once the door was unlocked, Patch waved the housekeeper away, quietly opened the door, and stepped inside, finding Klaus.

“Are you Diego's brother?” she asked softly, pulling the duct tape off of his mouth.

Klaus winced and nodded. “Yeah.”

“I'm Detective Patch,” said Patch, getting out her pocketknife and used it to free him from the chair. “Get out of here, I’ll deal with them.”

Klaus nodded – and dived for the floor when Hazel suddenly appeared from the bathroom with his gun.

“Police!” Patch shouted, pointing her gun at him. “Drop the gun, or you're going down!”

“I'm coming out,” said Hazel calmly, setting the gun down and raised his hands. “Don't shoot.”

Klaus took advantage of this by crawling over to the vent, removed the remaining screws, and he climbed in, taking the briefcase with him. ‘Bet there’s something valuable in here!’

Patch kept her gun trained on Hazel. “Hands behind your head, a**hole.”

“Okay,” Hazel said, putting his hands behind his head. “Just don't shoot.”

Patch kept her gun trained on the big man while she reached for her handcuffs, heard the door smash open – and she turned around, just in time to be shot three times in the chest by Cha-Cha. She dropped to the floor, shocked and confused of how this could happen, and couldn’t understand how this woman had managed to get the drop on her.

*****

Cha-Cha stepped over the dying detective and spotted the open vent. “Hazel.”

“Couldn't have gone far,” Hazel said, joining his partner after retrieving his gun from the floor.

“That's not the only problem,” Cha-Cha pointed out, nodding to the vent.

Hazel realized what she meant and hurried over, peering inside. “The briefcase.” And he cursed when he couldn’t see it. “Sh*t!”

They both ran out to find the briefcase and Klaus, leaving Patch behind.

*****

DeStorm’s POV:

I was halfway up the stairs when I heard shouting and gunshots, and I put on an extra burst of speed. I reached the second floor and hurtled myself toward the only open door – and found myself face-to-face with a tall white man and a smaller black woman, both were armed with guns.

“Police!” I shouted, aiming my gun at them. “Drop the guns!” And when neither of them moved, I narrowed my eyes and repeated the order. “I said drop the guns, you’re both under arrest!”

The man exchanged a look with the woman and they both started to put their guns down – when the woman suddenly took aim at me, and when I moved to avoid getting shot, the man tackled me to the ground!

I lost my gun and was briefly winded as this guy pinned me while the black woman ran, and when he lifted a hand that he was balling into a fist – I rammed my knee into his stomach, making him go ‘oof’ as I winded him.

I punched him in the face, and the guy dropped to the ground, out cold. I jumped up, kicked away his gun, handcuffed him so that his hands were behind his back, and I grabbed my gun as I ran for the room to check on Patch, for I was fearing the worst.

*****

I dashed inside and stopped when I saw my partner sprawled on the floor, the front of her shirt was stained with blood from three clear bullet holes, and I immediately dropped next to her to check for a pulse while getting out my radio.

“This is Detective Hawkins, I got an officer down!” I shouted, checking and finding a faint pulse in her neck, but I could tell that it wasn’t going to last long since she was barely breathing. “Patch, stay with me! I repeat, I have an officer down and need backup and medical aid. I’m at the following address…”

And when I gave the address and got confirmation, I put down my radio, grabbed a blanket off the nearest bed, and tried to apply pressure in order to stop the bleeding. “Patch, stay with me, sweetie. Hang on!”

I didn’t want to lose my partner, I didn’t!

*****

Jesse’s POV:

I nyoomed us to the motel and onto the second floor behind a corner, and I did this for two reason: to make sure that we wouldn’t be seen, and to give them both a chance to recover, especially Diego since this was his first time going that fast without a car.

“I’ll be right here,” I told them once they were recovered. “Go.”

Roi and Diego, who took a knife from his vest while putting a mask on his face, both nodded, and he put a hand on his shoulder before he portal them both to the room that the targets were going to be in so that they could back up Detective Patch before it was too late.

‘At least I hope we aren’t too late,’ I thought, and was startled when I heard a clanking noise behind me. I turned and saw a vent cover get hit by something several times before it fell off, and a dark briefcase was shoved out, followed by the figure of Klaus, who’d clearly been beaten up. “Klaus?”

Klaus started and looked up. “Oh, hey um…bye!” He snatched up the briefcase and ran for the stairs that lead to the back of the motel.

I rolled my eyes and nyoomed so that I blocked his way. “No way, I’m here to save you, pal. What about the kidnappers? And Detective Patch?”

Klaus stammered, his eyes wide – and the next thing I knew I was on the pavement, my head throbbing, and he was running down the stairs. He’d clocked me with the briefcase!

I got up and gave chase, I wasn’t about to let him get away.

*****

Roi’s POV:

I portal into the motel room with Diego – and we found DeStorm kneeling on the floor next to Patch, and it was clear right away that she was dead. “Sh*t…”

“Eudora!” Diego exclaimed, dropping next to them. “No…no…I was coming to…oh God…”

“Well, you failed, Hargreeves,” DeStorm spat and he was glaring at us both. “Patch’s dead because she decided to do what you would do, and you, Roi, this is on you as well.”

I wasn’t sure how this was on me, but I knew that Diego and I shouldn’t be there when the other cops arrived, and I could hear the sirens getting closer. “Diego, we need to go.”

“But…”

“Time to go,” I insisted, glancing at DeStorm, who is looking murderous. “Seriously, we need to go now.”

Diego finally nodded, got up, and I grabbed his arm as I portal away, hearing DeStorm vowing to make Diego pay.

This wasn’t good at all.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night, Our Eternity Together, or The Umbrella Academy. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER ELVEN: DISAPPEARING ACT

*****

Klaus’ POV:

I did wish I could’ve helped Detective Patch, for I recognized her as Diego’s ex-girlfriend, but I was in no shapeto be of any use, and I was certain that this briefcase had something valuable in it that I could sell…or even money I could spend.

I hadn’t expected to see one of the Hawkins’ when I got out of the vent, but there was the one named Jesse, and I hoped that I could get on the bus before he could catch up with me…and there he is!

I’d forgotten that this guy had super speed and so I tried to hit him with the briefcase again, hoping that I wasn’t damaging the contents – only to have him end up behind me, holding the briefcase in his hand. “Hey! That’s my!”

“Yo, I came here to rescue you, Hargreeves,” he snapped, nyooming out of range just enough when I lunged for the briefcase. “Roi and Diego are in the motel room with your kidnappers and-”

I tackled him, trying to get the briefcase from his grip – just as Diego appeared with the Hawkins’ boy named Roi. “Diego?!” And since I was surprised, it gave Jesse the chance to wriggle away with the briefcase. “You…how?!”

“That doesn’t matter,” Diego said, and my heart sank as I realized that he knew that his ex-girlfriend was dead. “Right now, we need get out of here before the cops arrive and DeStorm tries to get us all arrested for Eudora’s death.”

“Damn…” Jesse muttered. “Diego, I’m sorry.”

I glanced at the briefcase, saw that the combination was set to 1-9-6-8, and, figuring that this was the code for opening it, I lunged for the briefcase and pressed on the clasps-

*****

Roi’s POV:

I was nearly blinded when there was a brilliant flash of white light – and when I could see again, both Jesse and Klaus were gone, along with the briefcase. “What the-?”

“Sh*t!” Diego shouted and the sirens got closer. “Dammit, we gotta go!”

I nodded, still unsure of what happened to Jesse and Klaus, gripped Diego’s shoulder, and I portal us away to keep from getting caught.

*****

Justine’s POV:

I was busy uploading all of the data into the computers of the secondary hang-out when I received an alert that Roi was on his way with Diego – and with some bad news. I didn’t like the sound of this, and so I was ready to let them in when they got here.

And it wasn’t long before I got the signal and I let them into the hang-out, which was underground this time.

“Hey…where’s Jesse and Klaus?” I asked, and when I heard what happened, I was shocked and sadden. “Diego, I’m sorry…”

“I know…but those who killed her, they’re going to pay,” said Diego with a grim expression.

I wasn’t surprised to hear this, and I almost, not quite, felt sorry for Hazel and Cha-Cha for when he got his hands on them. “Still, that leaves the question of what happened to Jesse and Klaus.”

Five, who’d been listening, spoke up. “It was the briefcase.”

I looked at him questioningly. “The briefcase?”

“For someone who’s power involves tech, you are actually rather stu-” Five began.

Diego grabbed Five by the front of his shirt and jacket and pulled him close. “Don’t start that sh*t again! Eudora’s dead, and I saw Jesse and Klaus disappear in a flash of light,” he snarled. “So, I’m not in the best mood because of everything, so spill about the briefcase.”

I could tell that Diego’s outburst had spooked Five since he nodded, and Diego released him so that he could share what he knew.

“The briefcase,” Five explained, straightening his shirt and jacket, “is actually a means of time travel, which is what I used while with The Commission, and is what Hazel and Cha-Cha used in order to arrive in our time. I left my behind in 1963 when I opened the time portal, but now they’re stranded until Klaus and Jesse return from whenever they ended up.”

“You’re talking like they’re going to be back,” said Cyrille. “What if they can’t get back?”

“Jesse’s smart,” I pointed out, “and if I know what kind of signal that the briefcase gives off, I should be able to track it, and pinpoint their return. Five, am I right in thinking that when they get back, they’ll return to the same point that they first left?”

Five nodded. “Yes, they will. Might not be until tomorrow, but that’s just a guess on my part.”

“A guess is better then nothing,” I agreed. “Five, you and I can work on a way to track the briefcase since you know the tech.”

“Right.”

*****

Meanwhile, Helen Cho was leaving the store with a single bag of food that she needed, which had been failed to be delivered to her house, and she was humming some of the music for the upcoming concert and broadway production.

Had she been paying attention, she would’ve noticed a shadowy figure emerging from the shadows and moving toward her, their footsteps were silent.

But Helen wasn’t paying attention, for she was caught up in her own world, visualizing what the concert would be like, and her seating first chair once again. And playing the solo for both the concert and the production itself.

She reached her car and was getting out her keys – when the figure grabbed her from behind, pinning her arms so that she dropped her bag, her purse, and her keys, clamped a hand over her mouth when she tried to scream, and soon she was being dragged backwards, despite her muffled screams and struggles, into the shadows.

And silence fell soon after. She was gone.

To Be Continued…

*****

I have so many, so many regrets.

So many lies, so many broken ties.

I wish for my old life.

Wish I could fix my strike.

Cause no one truly escapes the night.

Oh, won't you help me escape the night.

Oh baby help me escape the night.

Escape the night.