∽☂ ∽

"𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐎𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐑 𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑."

∽☂ ∽

"𝐈 𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐂𝐀𝐍'𝐓 believe all of this shit that went down." Y/n nervously chuckled looking up from the bodies. "Where were you this entire time though?"

"Oh," Klaus laughed to himself. "I was with dear-old Dad asking him if he killed our mothers. Turns out, he didn't which is weird as hell."

Y/n squinted her eyes at that. "Wait, he didn't? Then who did it?"

"I don't know, but all I do know is that he is a changed man!" Klaus put his hands up in the air and walked over to the bar. "I'm telling ya, he is now a sad, old grampa. The Sparrows took everything away from him."

As Klaus poured himself a drink, Y/n slowly walked over to him. "I knew that one day, Dad was going to end up like the senior he should be." She stood right next to him on his left and put her hands on the counter. "Too bad it took him three timelines to do so though."

"Yeah," Klaus chuckled playing around with his drink. "That dude is unbreakable, it's about time he was retired."

A small silence set in. "I have to go and get the briefcase back." Y/n spoke up, getting Klaus's attention. "It's our only way out."

"You're gonna go back to their home?" Klaus asked in disbelief. "Y/n, they just lost their two siblings because of us. I don't think you'll get a warm welcome from them."

Y/n sighed and took a few steps away from the bar. "Well, it's better than nothing."

∽☂ ∽

𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐁𝐄𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐅𝐔𝐋 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍, Y/n knocked on their door to get their official sign that she could come in. But when she heard nothing from them, she quietly opened the doors and walked inside by herself.

It was dead silent in there. It also seemed as if no one was even home. After she looked around herself and saw absolutely no one, the urge to go and see Dad was stronger than ever. Especially after Klaus's story. That's why it ruled over her.

"Dad?" She quietly whispered when she saw her father sitting at his desk and working.

Reginald lifted his head up from his work and saw her. "I'm sorry, but you must have mistaken me for someone else." He said in a soft and kind voice, something she had never heard from him. "But maybe I can help you with something?"

Standing there like she was frozen, Y/n couldn't take another step for a time there. "What's wrong with you?"

Reginald furrowed his eyebrows at that and stood up from his desk. "Nothing's wrong with me, dear." He began slowly walking over to her. "Are you feeling all right though?"

When he took a sudden step forward, Y/n backed away and stood at the threshold of the door. "No!" She said it in a much louder tone than she expected to. "I...why are you..."

"Please, come here." Reginald walked over to her and lent his arm out. "You don't look too well, take a seat." Y/n looked at his hand and very reluctantly took it. He slowly led her towards his couch and let her sit. "There, please, I'll go get you some water."

Reginald came back with a small glass of water for her a few moments later but Y/n just stared at it in confusion. "I promise you, my water system is public. It's clean tap water." He joked with a smile.

A smile. A smile? When did Reginald even smile? "Thank you." Y/n hesitantly took it from his hands and drank a few sips as he sat down next to her.

"Now tell me, what brought you here?" He asked her, keeping himself a few inches away from her. "I think I saw you before here, am I correct? With your siblings?"

Y/n looked up at him and nodded. "Yes, I was here before."

Reginald smiled at that. "Oh, great. My memory hasn't been the best lately, luckily, I remembered you. I believe, your brother was here with me."

"Klaus?" She asked squinting her eyes.

"Yes, him." Reginald nodded. "I must say, he has a very interesting personality, but a kind motive."

Y/n smiled at that comment. "Yeah, he sure does."

It seemed as if Reginald was enjoying this conversation with her. "And what about you?"

The girl looked up at him and nervously chuckled. "What about me?"

"Well, who are you? Do you mind giving me an introduction?" He suggested.

Y/n's smile faded a bit. "Oh." She tried thinking of something to say. "Well, just like my brother, I'm part of the Academy, your original family. I'm Y/n, Number Eight. And you're my father."

"Oh," Reginald chuckled at that. "If I got a nickel every time one of you kids said that to me. I'm sorry, but that's hard to believe."

"I know." The girl nodded. "It's a bit hard for me to believe that you're so...different."

"Different? How's that?"

"Uh, well, uh..." It seemed as if the differences were obvious. "...for starters, you actually know how to communicate with me. Usually, you would ignore me or tell me to fuck off, just in your own language."

"Huh." Reginald looked away. "That's what I was like to you?"

"Yeah, just..." Y/n slowly looked up. "...way worse."

"Oh, well then, I must apologize." Reginald said the words Y/n never thought she'd hear. "I can see that you didn't deserve it."

"Thank you." Y/n softly said. "It means a lot to me."

A couple of smiles and nods were exchanged and their touching moment was interrupted by Ben coming inside their office like something was very important. "Dad, I can't do what you told me because the-Y/n?"

The girl turned around and saw him standing at the threshold. "Ben?" She stood up from the couch.

Ben looked at Reginald and back at her. "What are you doing here? Is there something wrong?"

She chose to ignore him and turned to Reginald. "I'm really sorry, but I have to go. Thank you for, uh, having me."

"Oh, no," Hargreeves also stood up. "The pleasure's been mine." He lent out his hand for her to shake it. Or so she thought. She gave him her right hand and he brought it closer, bending down, and placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles.

Reginald gently let her hand go and smiled while Y/n was left in shock. "I look forward to seeing you soon, Y/n."

Y/n's heart softened for a moment there as she smiled. She turned around and changed her look into a cold and serious one. The girl thought she would just walk past Ben like nothing, but as soon as she walked through the threshold, he took her hand and pulled away.

"What the hell, Ben?" She yelled and took her hand out of his grip.

"Listen," He came in closer. "Do you want to save the world or not?"

Y/n looked at him and went silent. "What kind of question is that? Of course, I do."

"Ok, great." Ben sighed and took her hand once again. He began taking her somewhere through the hallways until the two reached a small room with Fei inside. "Then we have a favor to ask you."

Y/n looked at Fei, standing there as gracious as ever, and shook her head. "Oh, hell no. I am not doing anything for you two assholes."

"All we ask," Fei began talking, catching her attention. "Is that you give our sibling's bodies back. We just want to give them the funeral and memorial they deserve. You would get it, don't you, Y/n? You lost Ben, your own lover."

That deal made Y/n stay back and listen. "We just want to see our siblings for the last time." Ben told her in a low voice. "Will you do that for us?"

The girl looked at the two. "Fine, but under one condition." She turned to them. "Your family stands down and we end this massacre before more people die. We don't need you for saving the world, you can continue living your pathetic everyday superhero lives. Deal?"

Ben and Fei looked at each other and nodded. "Deal."

∽☂ ∽

"𝐋𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑? 𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐆𝐎?" Y/n knocked on the brother's hotel room. "Are you in there? We need to talk." After hearing faint footsteps come up to the door, she backed away and the door opened. Only to reveal Luther and Sloane behind him on the couch instead of the brothers.

"Y/n, hi." Luther nervously smiled as if he was hiding something.

"What are you two doing here?" The girl looked behind him at Sloane. "Oh, actually. Spare me the details, I don't need to hear them." She walked past him and inside the room. "But I may have something that will help us put an end to this."

"What?" Luther closed the door and walked to her. "How?"

"I went and talked with your psychotic family," Y/n turned to Sloane. "And we made a deal."

"What deal?" Sloane quickly shot up from the couch. "Why were you with them?"

"Okay, calm down, Juliet." Y/n put her hand out. "If you want for your Romeo and his Montague family to live another day, then we have to give your sibling's bodies to them. Then they will stand down."

"Wait," Luther walked over to Sloane. "You sure that will work? Do we even trust them?"

"Luther, you're sleeping with one of them." Y/n pointed at him. "I guess you trust them just enough."

The couple exchanged some glances. "Fine."

"Great, gather everyone else in the pool table room." Y/n walked past him and over to the door. "Better sooner rather than later."

∽☂ ∽

"...𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌 to stand down." Sloane finished explaining to the rest.

"You wanna let her go after attacking us?" Diego turned to Luther. "Uh-huh."

"Me? I lost two of my siblings to you and your murder troll." Sloane kept herself on the verge of tears.

"Again, Harlan not with us." Luther reminded her.

"Well, he's not not with us." Diego corrected him.

"He was just trying to protect me." Viktor spoke up.

"This only works if I can convince my family he isn't a part of your team, right Y/n?" Sloane turned to her.

"Woah, why are you looking at her?" Diego stood up with a much more strict tone.

"Because I went to talk with the Sparrows." Y/n told him as she stood next to him. "And they said that they just wanted the bodies."

"Yeah, well, knowing my family, that's not going to be enough." Sloane broke it to her.

"Knowing my family, yours is just a bunch an off-brand version of us." Y/n shot at her.

"Harlan saved our asses." Diego broke the tension between the two. "He can stay here as long as he wants. You know what, Luther?" He walked a bit forward. "He can take your bed. Since you're sleeping with the enemy."

"Watch it." Luther came closer to him as well.

"Guys, come on." Viktor ran over to them, ready to separate the two if needed. "Having an ally on the inside could help us right now." He agreed in a low voice.

"Right?" Luther nodded.

"Yeah, but how do we know we can trust Gravity Barbie?" Allison joined in.

Luther sighed at that. "I trust her."

"Yeah, that's not the best example." Y/n sarcastically chuckled, walking over to their small circle.

"Yeah, you trusted emails from a Nigerian prince." Diego added.

"Tunde was not a prince," Luther was quick to correct. "he was a king, and he was unjustly deposed."

"Okay!" Sloane had enough and walked over to them. "So rumor me again. Go on, not hiding anything. Whatever it takes."

But Allison had zero interest in her. "Do whatever you wanna do, Luther. That's on you. I've got bigger shit to deal with."

She quickly walked away from them, but not without Diego behind her. "Allison. Wait up." Leaving Luther, Sloane, Viktor, and Y/n to themselves.

"Okay, I do not care what you guys do," Y/n finally spoke up. "But I won't be a part of it."

"What do you mean?" Luther quickly came over to her. "You were the one that got us this deal, you have to go with us."

"No, I had enough of the Sparrows." She pointed at Sloane. "Viktor, will you cover for me?"

"Sure." He kindly replied.

Y/n nodded in response before walking off. "Stay safe."

∽☂ ∽

𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓. Something so unlikely and rare, it felt unnatural to Y/n. All of the guests of the hotel, and all of the workers were gone, not a single soul could be seen. The hotel was wiped-clean.

But nevertheless, she still walked back to her hotel room where she was all alone. She walked over to the bathroom and went up to the sink, letting her hands underwater and putting her wet palms on her cheeks.

When she opened her eyes, her reflection wasn't the only thing she saw in the mirror - her eyes also spotted the pregnancy test box sticking out from the trashcan. The girl turned around in horror, hoping no one saw it, and stuffed it back into the bin.

She sat on the cold bathroom floor, staring at the box. The scene from the last time she was in here came up in her mind as she remembered her state then.

When she looked back at her past self, all she could see were her painful cries and pathetic sobs. She would rather die than have to live through that moment again.

But after thinking about it for a few minutes, she hesitantly stood up from the floor, took her coat, walked out of the hotel, and made her way to the pharmacy where she was last.

It had been more than 48 hours - a perfect time to take another pregnancy test after the last one. Recalling the books she read, if the pregnancy test showed a negative result, it could really mean that she wasn't pregnant or that she was very early in her pregnancy.

Knowing Y/n's stubborn personality and the motive she had in her mind, she was going for that second scenario.

Who knows? Maybe the result would be different this time because this time, the answer is going to be entirely clear.

After sneaking another test into her clothes, she walked back to the hotel and to her room, praying that no one was there. Luckily, that was the case. Guess Allison was really busy with something because she hadn't come home yet.

Walking back to the bathroom, she could feel her body starting to tremble. Knowing how the last time ended, she didn't want to relive that same pain.

She locked the door walked back inside, repeating the same moves as last time, and put the box on the sink counter, staring at it without a clue.

Do I want to go down this path again? What if the test is negative? But she was smart enough to understand that she had to do this if she wanted to get the full answers. Whether they were going to be the same or not, this was going to close this case once and for all.

∽☂ ∽