∽☂ ∽

"𝐈 𝐌𝐀𝐘 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔, 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐑𝐄 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈 𝐅𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐈𝐍 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇."

∽☂ ∽

"𝐒𝐎, 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐎𝐏𝐋𝐄 on the street just disappeared?" Allison asked with a bottle of vodka in her hand.

"Well, no, not all of them just...half of them." Luther answered her.

Allison looked over at Y/n, expecting something from her. "Well, Five said that animals were disappearing, so the disappearance of people is possible."

"Marcus was supposed to meet up with us earlier, but he never showed." Viktor told Luther as Allison sat next to him and Y/n.

"What, you think this grandfather thing ate Marcus?" Luther furrowed his eyebrows.

"It can't just be a coincidence, right?" Viktor turned to look at Y/n.

"I-I mean, it's likely." Y/n said. "But we can't be so sure about it. Sometimes, The Grandfather Paradox takes people by random, sometimes by order, it's not scientifically exactly known."

"Great." Allison sighed to herself. "Now those Sparrow psychopaths think we took their Number One. We're never getting the briefcase back."

Viktor took a second to think before standing up from the table. "Okay, what if..."what if we just told the truth? Marcus is gone, and maybe we're partially responsible."

"Yeah, that'll go well." Allison mocked his suggestion. "They'll throw us a party."

"I bet they throw fantastic parties." Luther chimed in with a smile.

"And executions." Y/n sarcastically added.

"Listen. Marcus was ready to give us back the briefcase." Viktor continued. "If the rest of his family are even half as open-minded-"

"Which definitely isn't the case." Y/n silently said.

"-then maybe we can come to some kind of an agreement," Viktor turned to her. "Get it back."

"Yeah, yeah, okay." Luther's eyes lit up as he stood up. "Well, if you guys are heading over there, I should probably come along. You know, uh, for protection."

Y/n snickered at that while Viktor gave a sympathetic look. "Yeah." Allison finished her drink and put it on the table. "Nice try, Stockholm." Luther scrunched up his nose in confusion as Allison walked past him. "Your ass is staying here."

"Wha-" Luther went speechless after such an order.

"She's right, Luther." Y/n agreed with her as she walked over to Viktor. "You're brainwashed enough."

"Who put you three in charge?" Luther pointed at them.

"Look, Allison..." Viktor lowered his voice and came in closer. "...she needs something to take her mind off Claire. So, we'll handle this, right, Y/n?"

The girl smiled at him and nodded. "Yeah, we'll look after her."

∽☂ ∽

"𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐑𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐓." Ben told the three with Fei along his side.

"Where's the rest of your pathetic family?" She questioned them.

"Aww." Allison tilted her head. "Is that the best you can do?"

"Last warning." She calmly told them.

"Yeah, you don't get to warn me about shit, Flock of She-Gulls." Allison pointed at her.

That made Ben laugh out loud before getting a death stare from Fei and clearing his throat. "Whatever."

Allison rolled her eyes at this and crossed her arms, turning away from them like a little kid as Viktor and Y/n continued talking to them.

"Where the fuck is Marcus?" He said with an intimidating look that didn't seem to affect anyone.

"Marcus is, uh...Marcus, uh..." Viktor struggled to speak. "Marcus is-"

"Safe." Allison finished for him. "For now. But that'll change real quick if you don't do exactly as we say."

Allison went the way neither Viktor nor Y/n expected or knew. This was so out of the plan that all the two could do was just stay silent and pray that she had something planned.

"See?" Fei turned to Ben. "I told you they have him."

"I warned Marcus, but no. He said we had to hear what you had to say." Ben put his hands together in front of him.

"Look, he wasn't wrong, okay?" Viktor shook his head. "We want to make things right with you-"

"By kidnapping our brother?" Ben raised his voice.

"No, that's-"

"Yes."

Once again, Allison went the opposite way. Viktor and Y/n turned to look at her. She gave them a cautious look to be careful.

"Look, there is a lot more important shit going on now." Y/n finally spoke up. "The world is screwed and we need to work together to save it." She saw that the Sparrows were listening in to her more than the other two, so she continued. "We caused a paradox and that paradox is swallowing things. People included-"

"Just give us the briefcase," Allison cut Y/n off. "And we'll give you Marcus."

"What briefcase?" Fei questioned her.

Allison turned around to look at her. "The one we left in your house."

An obvious confusion was visible on Fei's face, but Ben took the opportunity and answered it for her. "Deal." Even if they had no idea what the briefcase was. "The briefcase for our brother."

Allison looked at the two, not expecting such a peaceful agreement. "Great. Hotel Obsidian, four o'clock sharp. Or we'll send him back in pieces."

"Okay," But Ben wasn't over with this. "But we need one of you to come with us too, you know, inspect it. You don't want it coming back cracked, don't you?" The three siblings understood he was right. "So, how about you come with us?"

He looked over at Y/n, making her shake her head and scoff. "Why me?"

"Yeah," Viktor came in front of her. "I'll come with you, I know how to-"

"No," Ben sternly cut him off. "We need you. You seem like the smart one of the group, you know your way around this."

Allison and Viktor looked at each other, giving some concerned looks.

"We promise you, we'll bring her back to you safe and sound." Fei assured them. "Just like you will with our brother."

Still not being able to fully trust them, Y/n was hesitant to come with them. But getting the briefcase back was now her priority, so she didn't have a choice. "Fine. Deal."

∽☂ ∽

"𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄, make yourself at home." Ben smiled at her as Y/n took her coat off, throwing it on the sofa in the living room.

The girl looked around the living room once again, trying to look for the briefcase and maybe get out of here even now with no luck.

"Would you like anything?" Fei asked her as she came over closer to Y/n. "Maybe something to drink?"

"No, thank you." Y/n almost cut her off, walking past her. "I'm good."

"Please, come here." Ben sat down on the sofa, putting his hands behind him on the pillows, and gave the sign to Y/n to join him. "This is your home after all."

"What did you do to Luther?" Y/n immediately asked him, walking around the couch and sitting in front of him.

"Don't worry," Fei chuckled, sitting down next to Ben. "We didn't hurt him. We were just worried for our brother and we thought he might have something."

Y/n carefully followed Fei's steps. "Where's the briefcase? You wanted for me to check it or something?"

"Oh, moving so fast?" Ben mocked her. "What's the rush? How about we have a couple of drinks and you tell me a little more about this paradox and why should we help you?"

This seemed like an opportunity too good to be true, but it was better than nothing, so Y/n agreed to it and sat down. "Fine."

"Fei, will you bring some drinks here for Y/n and me?" Ben asked her with a pleased look on his face.

She took the order and stood up, making her way to the bar and leaving the two to themselves.

"So, Y/n..." Ben came in closer. "...as far as I understand, we have to help you save the world," He looked deep into her eyes as if he was trying to hypnotize her. "Correct?"

Y/n kept herself calm as she leaned against the pillows of the couch. "Yes. But, luckily, my family has done this already. You're just going to be a couple of..." She looked at him and mockingly smiled. "...extras."

"Oh, really?" Ben scoffed. "Then why do you need us?"

Y/n looked at him for a second and tilted her head. "Having a couple of idiots by hand never hurt anyone. Who knows? Maybe we'll need a sacrificial goat, your family is a great candidate."

That left Ben a bit speechless for a moment there. Maybe his plan was about to be ruined. He expected Y/n to be a gullible, naive woman. Too bad, that might be harder.

At the same time, Fei came back with two glasses of wine and placed them on the table in front of them. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Y/n."

The girl looked up at her and nodded. "You too." Before Fei left them alone.

Ben picked up the glasses and attempted to give one to Y/n, but she shook her head. "Hard pass."

"It's non-alcoholic." Ben smiled, making her freeze for a moment. "I knew a person like you wouldn't drink in the middle of the day."

Even if this was a new Ben, a very small part of him still flashed out. Y/n was hesitant to take the glass, but because she knew that she had to go along with the narrative to see the briefcase, she hesitantly took the glass from his hand.

She took a very small and quick sip to make sure that he wasn't lying and, thankfully, it was true. A real non-alcoholic red wine.

"You seem like a responsible and open person, Y/n." Ben told her in a very low voice. "But take that as a compliment, please."

"No worries." The girl sarcastically replied. "Not offended at all."

Ben took a step further in the conversation. "So, what does this "End of the world" mean to us?"

"Well, if you don't want to be wiped off this planet just like the rest of eight billion people, then it means something to you." Y/n continued with the sarcasm. "And I think you have some interest in that. You want to save someone else, get that fame and praise," Her voice was becoming more lower. "Don't you, Ben? You love all of that attention, don't you?"

The annoyance was visible on Ben's face as he listened to her. But he wasn't ready to go down just yet. "Tell me, Y/n, what did you love about me?"

That affected Y/n's confidence, that's why her confusion became visible as well. "What do you mean?"

"You don't have to be a detective to see that you had something with me before." Ben explained to her. "I don't find that bad, I just want to know more about what we possibly did."

He wasn't lying. They had something between them.

Y/n could feel that force in her neck, not letting her speak. "We didn't do anything. And it meant nothing."

"You wouldn't be saying that if it really were nothing." Ben made a valid point.

Y/n could see that she was stuck in a corner with him. That's why she gave up on hiding it and simply blurted it out to him. "You were my first love. You were the first man I loved and because I didn't know you loved me back, so I chose Five because he did." She said that as fast as she could with eye contact that wasn't broken by her or Ben.

Ben chose to hide that satisfaction and instead, act as if he didn't expect that. "You loved me?" He asked her in a soft and low voice.

"Notice how there is a past tense in the word "loved"." Y/n came in closer. "That was decades ago."

"I see that." Ben came in closer as well. "But you can see yourself, that nothing has changed." It was as if Ben's soft voice was keeping Y/n from pulling away. "I can see why I loved you too, Y/n. I wish this was better."

In an instant, Ben put his lips against Y/n's only to get pushed away by Y/n and get slapped right in the face almost in a split second. He groaned in pain as he touched with his finger his bleeding mouth.

As Ben winced in pain, Y/n came in closer and whispered. "I may have loved you, but you're not the same man that I fell in love with."

∽☂ ∽

𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐄𝐃 through the streets once again, Y/n was mad at herself as ever. She let Ben kiss her and believe his stupid lie - absolutely pathetic. But as she made her way over to the hotel, she noticed Stanley standing on the corner and eating doughnuts.

"Stanley?" She walked over to him. "What are you doing here? Where's Diego?" She looked around him.

"He told me to stay away from the hotel because your enemies were about to attack or something." The little boy explained to him.

Y/n sighed to herself at that. "Diego, you son of a bitch." His parenting skills continued to let her down. "Come on, let's get you back." She told him and the two began walking.

"So, you're my mom's and dad's sister?" Stanley asked her out of nowhere.

Y/n shook her head and smiled. "Not really. I'm your mom's biological sister and your dad's adoptive one."

Stanley squinted his eyes and looked away. "I'm confused."

"Me too, buddy." The girl chuckled. "But I just learned to roll with it a long time ago."

A small silence set in between them until Stanely broke it. "Is there something wrong with the world?"

Y/n turned her head and looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"No, it's just that I heard that the world needs saving or something." He explained to her.

The girl took a second to think about it. "I mean, my family and I saved the world before, I bet this won't be a challenge to us."

"How did you do it?" Stanley kept going on with the questions. It was obvious that Diego never bothered to have a normal conversation with him.

"In ways even I don't understand." She smiled. "You don't need to know or understand these types of complicated things, trust me. Just be a kid."

"Uh-huh, yeah." Stanley rolled his eyes. "It's so easy for me to be a kid while having such parents."

Y/n knew he wasn't wrong there. "Be lucky you even have human parents. My mom was a robot."

"What?" Stanley scrunched up his nose in confusion.

Y/n shook her head at that. "Don't question it."

Finally, the two reached the hotel and walked together through the revolving doors. "Go do something and stay out of Diego's way, okay? I'm saying that with advice."

Stanley nodded to her and walked away and towards the elevator just as Y/n noticed Diego, Luther, Viktor, and Allison, sitting together at the table and playing board games.

As Y/n was approaching them, Diego noticed her. "And where have you been?" Soon, the other three turned their heads at her.

"Uh, nothing, you know just babysitting your kid, you incompetent father." Y/n sarcastically replied, crossing her hands on her chest. "Way to go, letting your kid wander around the city."

Diego rolled his eyes at that comment as Allison came in closer. "Did the Sparrows do anything to you? Did you see the briefcase?"

The girl's smile dropped a bit as the others joined in. "Wait, you were with the Sparrows?" Luther asked.

"I-"

"Shit, they're here." Diego said, standing up from his seat.

The five siblings turned their looks to face the Sparrows walking into the hotel. They all looked to be ready for war with their uniforms and Christopher, floating behind them now in red color.

The Umbrella's walked over to them, standing right in front of them at a distance. For a second there, no one said a word.

"Well, thanks for coming." Viktor broke the silence.

"Oh, yeah, super glad to be here." Jayme sarcastically remarked.

Slowly but steadily, Y/n's look came to Ben's. But he wasn't looking at her, he was too focused on others and acting as their leader. "Where are the rest of you?"

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

"Where's the briefcase?" Allison asked.

"Where's our brother?" Ben answered her.

She smiled at him and tilted her head. "Maybe we should try this again before I lose my temper."

Viktor heard her. "Allison-"

"I got this." She cut him off. "Hand over the briefcase or no deal."

"Yeah, tiny problem." Ben smiled. "Deal's off."

"Run!" Sloane whispered for Luther for the second time.

"Oh, run!" Luther finally understood her, but not fast enough.

"Molotov this, bitches!" Stanley came running into the room with a molotov cocktail in flames in his hand.

"Stanley!" Diego stopped him. "Not now." But only for Stanley to accidentally drop the cocktail on the ground.

One of the two posters went up in flames, making the smoke alarm go off and guests go running out of there, screaming and shouting in fear.

The Umbrella's looked up at the hotel that was about to go up in flames as Ben ordered his family. "Power up."

With the flick of his fingers, Christopher began spinning around and Fei let her birds out. Jayme and Alphonso cracked their joints with the only one, Sloane, not doing anything.

Just as Diego took Stanley, about to run away with him to safety, Ben spoke up. "Now, Chris."

Diego threw Stanley over the counter as Christopher let out electricity surge tentacles, which traveled to the sibling's heads and made them fall to the ground, wailing and groaning in pain.

Allison was the only one who hadn't dropped to the ground fully yet. "I heard...I heard a rumor..." She tried using her powers before Christopher made her flop to the ground.

"That you're about to die?" Ben finished for her. "Kill 'em."

Jayme and Alphonso charged at them, about to finish them off, until a sudden heat energy wave traveled across the lobby, from one end to another, past the Umbrella's and to the Sparrows.

Ben and Fei were quick to fall to the ground, Sloane was barely saved by Luther throwing her to the ground but Jayme and Alphonso were burned alive in a matter of seconds. Their lifeless bodies fell to the ground as Christopher got slammed against a wall.

"Jayme!" Fei helplessly called for her. "Alphonso!"

Ben sat up on the ground and was quick to react. "Pull back!" Even though only Fei and Chris were the only ones to listen, making his order useless.

Luther looked around himself and saw that he had knocked Sloane out unconscious. "Sloane. Sloane, are you okay?" He gently shook her head as the rest of the alive Sparrows rushed out of the hotel.

As Diego quickly ran over to the others, Viktor stood up from the ground to see a man the others had no idea who he was, only he knew his identity exactly. "Oh my God. Harlan?" The man who had just saved their lives. "Is that you?"

The Umbrella's all stood up from the ground, looking at each other. Harlan walked past Viktor and saw the dismorphed bodies of Jayme and Alphonso.

Stanley jumped off the counter with a shaken face. "You! Upstairs! Now!" Diego walked over to him about to beat his ass only for the little boy to wrap his hands around his waist and bury his face into his chest.

After seeing such an event, even for him, it was too much. Diego softly patted his back before Stanley pulled away from him and abided his orders to leave with zero negotiation.

Allison, Viktor, Harlan, and Y/n were all still standing there in shock as Klaus walked into the hotel through the revolving doors. "Oh, man." He stopped at the bodies and looked at them. "Heavens to Betsy. What did you do? Did Viktor go full "Carrie" again?"

"We didn't do this." Allison told him and looked over at Harlan. Klaus's look also traveled to him.

"Harlan?" Viktor tried to approach him.