Chapter Thirty:

"No sign of Vanya."

They had been back at the Academy for over an hour, everyone had split up to search every end of the building. But everyone had come up short, and the missing sibling hadn't been found.

"She's not in any of the rooms." Klaus crossed his arms.

"She's not downstairs, either." Lotus chimed in, "Where do you think she went?"

Diego sighed, "Well, I'm out."

"Wait—"

He walked out into the foyer, everyone following him. "Wait, Wait— where are you going? Vanya's still out there and so are Hazel and Cha-Cha." Five huffed.

"I know." Diego nodded, "I'm gonna get my things and then I'm outta here. I've got some unfinished business with those fools."

And then the man was gone, leaving Five, Lotus and Klaus alone in the foyer. Five turned to Klaus and frowned, "Hey, did Dad say anything about the apocalypse when you spoke to him?" He sighed, "Any clues to how it happened?"

"No."

Lotus turned on her heel, "I'll go check on Allison."

She rushed up the stairs, slowing to a normal pace as she rounded the corner. She peeked into the room, seeing Luther sitting on a chair next to Allison. He was holding her hand, watching the women carefully. The floorboards creaked under Lotus' feet and Luther's head snapped up, he didn't looked relieved to see her.

"What are you doing here?"

Lotus took a step into the room, "Just wanted to see how she was doing."

The man sighed, looking back down at her. "She'll survive."

"How are you doing?"

"Fine."

"Luther—"

"What are you still doing here?"

Lotus frowned, "Why are you always so rude?"

He shook his head, clearly his plan was to ignore her now.

"I've been trying to be nice, but all you do is shove that away and act like you're the only one around." She chewed on her lip, thinking of what to say. "You aren't anymore. You are on earth, surrounded by people who want you around. Don't push them away."

He said nothing, and Lotus shook her head, "Well, I'm glad she'll be ok."

The girl turned and walked out, finding herself down the stairs. She turned, making her way to the foyer, rushing down stairs, when as soon as she crossed the entryway something smashed by her head. She yelped, jumping back.

"Figuratively, but that works too— Heyyyy, Lotus." Klaus grinned at her, "What's up?"

She shrugged, "Allison will be ok but Luther is still himself, so..."

Her gaze fell on Five who looked to be fuming, "Are you good?"

He huffed, storming out of the room. Lotus frowned, "What is with everyone today?"

Klaus shrugged, "Wanna go for a walk?"

"Uh. Ok?"

He walked over and slung an arm over her shoulder and lead her through the house and out a set of doors, they walked outside to an area she had never seen before. It seemed to be a courtyard, equipped with a broken statue and a small sign sticking from the ground a few feet away. Klaus led her to the broken statue first, and when she read the sign she frowned.

"Is that supposed to be Ben?" She asked, laying eyes on the decapitated figure. "Let the darkness within find peace in the light?"

Klaus sighed, "His power was the most out there out of all of us. He died on a mission. We couldn't save him, it was to late."

"What is all of your powers? I know Five's is time travel, and yours is talking to dead people."

"Allison can manipulate things with her voice, all she has to do is say 'I heard a rumour' and then whatever she wanted and they'd do it. She's gotten so many people to shoot themselves, it's unbelievable." He laughed, "Luther has super strength and Diego can just throw knives."

"Throw knives?"

"Yah but it goes whenever he wants them too. It's quite scary when he's mad at you."

Klaus then led her over to where a small sign stuck out from the ground, it read Reginald Hargreeves.

"You're Father is buried here?"

"No, no." He laughed, "You see that pile of dirt it's jammed into. That's him."

She cringed, "Why?"

"I'm surprised the wind hasn't blown most of him away—" he paused, "You know what, I've got to go." His arm left her shoulders and he was off, "Go kick some ass, Lotus!" He called as he left.

She made a weird face, "There is no ass to kick. Not right now, anyways."

She watched as his shoulders gave a shrug and he was gone, through a gate and onto the street. Lotus huffed, turning back around and pushing open the door that lead into the living room. She stopped in her tracks as her eyes landed on Five, he sat at the bar with Delores.

"Well, do you really think we did it?" He questioned, as a blender whirled to life. "That we stopped the apocalypse?"

The blender turned off and she watched as he poured a green liquid into a glass. There was music playing softly from somewhere, jazz filtering through its speakers.

"Well, I'm open to suggestions."

Lotus moved onwards, pulling herself up onto a bar stool next to him. He swivelled on his chair so he faced her, his knees resting against her right leg.

"Margarita?" He held up his glass.

"Never had one."

He cocked his head to the side, "You've never had a margarita?"

The girl shook her head, "I haven't had a lot of things."

Glasses clinked and she watched as he poured another glass, finishing it off with a tiny umbrella. Her eyes lit up at the sight of it, when he slid the glass at her she instantly grabbed the umbrella and twirled it. "I've always loved these things."

He watched her twirl the object, amusement dancing in his eyes. He seemed oddly relaxed, which made her a little worried.

"What?" He questioned.

She tossed the umbrella onto the counter and took a sip of the green liquid, smacking her lips. "You're relaxed. It's weird."

He shrugged, "We did it. We won."

She paused, pursing her lips. "Didn't it seem to easy?"

"The world is a cruel place. So is fate." Five sighed, "But as of right now it seems that it was easy, and we should be grateful."

Lotus fell quiet, taking a long sip of her margarita. It was quite good. Five leaned his head on a hand as he stared at her from the counter, "What are you going to do now?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you going to stay here or go somewhere else?"

She tapped her glass with her index finger, "I have no where else to go."

And that was the sad truth. Lotus actually had nowhere to go, and quite frankly she didn't really want to leave. She had a place to sleep here, and food to eat, and company constantly around her. She finally felt as if she was fitting in here, and if they truly saved the world, would they even let her stay?

"I'm sure everyone else will leave. None of them ever truly liked living here. But Dad's gone, and so is everything he'd ever done." Five paused, eyes wandering her face. "Why don't you stay here? With me?"

She looked at him, blinking slowly. "What?"

"We look like teenagers, Lotus. There's nowhere for us to really go. So why don't we just stay here, together?"

"I, um—" She began, but was cut off as a knock echoed throughout the first floor. Five huffed, slipping off his chair. "Eh, I'll get it." He said disappearing around the corner.

She heard the door creak open, followed by Five's muffled voice, followed by another male one. She grabbed her glass and turned on her stool so she faced the rest of the room, her back leaning up against the bar. She saw paper straws from the corner of her eye and she snatched one up, sticking it into her drink. Footsteps sounded near as Five reappeared around the corner, an unexpected guest behind him. Lotus' lips formed a line as her eyes set on one of the agents that had been attacking them over the course of these few days.

"What is he doing here?" Lotus was trying to remain calm, "And why is he pointing a gun at you?"

"Are you here to kill me?" Five asked, retaking his seat on the bar stool, not seeming fazed. Hazel looked at the weapon in his hand, "Oh! Shit. Sorry, old habits." He shrugged dropping his hand to his side.

"Well, I can understand why you might feel that way, you know, considering you attacked our house. Tried to kill my family, you shot Lotus and kidnapped my brother."

Lotus frowned, "They're the ones that kidnapped Klaus?"

"Who did you think it was?"

Hazel shook his head, ignoring them both. "Well, there's not much I can do about the past. Besides, I'm not the only killer in the room. You've got your own bloody history, pal." The man plopped himself down next to Lotus, "Speaking of which, that job you did in Calhoun, that shit's legendary. Can't believe I'm actually sittin' here talkin' to you."

Five leaned an elbow on the counter, "After all Hazel, why are you here?"

"Well, you know—"

Something crashed and they all turned to see Diego in the doorframe, his eyes landed on Hazel and they blazed with anger. Hazel stood up, readying himself for an attack. Apparently they recognized each other, and it hadn't ended well last time.

Lotus huffed, whacking her leg out so it connected with the back of the big guy's knee. The man went stumbling forward, just in time for Diego to wrap his own leg around the large man and sent him tumbling onto the ground.

"Diego, Stop!" Five shouted, but Diego just waited for Hazel to stand up before attacking again. He pulled a knife from a pocket and waved it in front of him, Lotus leaned back and watched, taking a long sip from her drink. "You know, before you kill him, you might want to hear what he has to say."

Diego snarled, dodging a punch. "I'm gonna kill you for what you did to Patch!"

"Or don't." Five sighed turning to Lotus, "Did you really have to shove him in there?"

She glared, "Yes. He's been following you, shot me, kidnapped Klaus and killed Diego's friend. You're lucky Diego's taking care of him or I would—"

"You would do what? You don't seem like the violence type."

Hazel pulled himself up, distancing himself from Diego. He turned to Five, "Are you gonna—" Diego sprang at him, getting close enough to bite the other man.

Five slid from his chair, "I draw the line at biting." He grabbed an empty glass from the counter and marched up to them, smashing it against his brothers head.

"Five!" She shrieked rushing forward, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

The boy stood in front of Hazel, staring up at him. "Hazel, whatever you came here to say, I suggest you make it quick, before he comes around. Or before Lotus shoots you."

He glanced at Lotus and she smiled at him, giving him a little wave of her hand.

Hazel sighed, "I left my partner, quit the Commission, came to volunteer."

"For what?" Lotus asked, interest peeking.

"To help stop the apocalypse."

Lotus laughed, "You're about a day late, bud."

"The mark is dead." Five added, "Found him this morning. The last known unknown left in the equation."

"Oh. Alright." Hazel took a deep breath, followed by a quiet laugh. She could tell he couldn't believe it, she couldn't really either. "So what now?"

"To be honest, I don't know. I've been chasing this thing for so long, I never really thought of the day after. What about you?"

"I'm done with this madness. Time to start over, and you should to."

"That's easier said then done."

"It doesn't have to be hard, I mean, think about it, if you never time travelled or met the Handler, where would you be now?"

Five chuckled, "I guess I would've grown up to be an emotionally stunted man-child like everybody else around here."

Lotus snorted, "You still did."

He sent a glare her way before focusing back on Hazel who had a small smile on his face. "Well there you go."

Lotus pursed her lips, slowly making her way out of the room. Feeling that she wasn't really needed anymore.

"Now you can grow up." Hazel's voice floated. Lotus was already out of the living room, she hadn't seen Five stare after her as Hazel's statement hung in the air, or the genuine smile that crossed Five's face. Nor did she hear his response, "Maybe I don't want to grow up. Not right now at least. Not all alone, not again."