Chapter Thirty Six: The End

By the time they reached the correct theatre, after being lead to the wrong one by Klaus, the concert had already begun.

Allison had made no hesitation as she made a beeline for the front doors, but Luther grabbed ahold of her hand and pulled her to a stop.

"Wha- Allison, I cant let you do that, alright? She's beyond reasoning."

"You hear the music?" Klaus looked to the building, "It's already started."

Luther glanced back down at Allison who had tears in her eyes, "Do you honestly think she's going to listen? After everything that happened?"

"We don't have time for this." Diego snapped.

Luther huffed, "ok." And with that, Allison rushed into the building. Lotus watched until she could longer see the other women before turning in Luther, "You're using her as a distraction, aren't you?"

He shrugged, "Our best change is to incapacitate Vanya. She'll thank me later."

Klaus bounced on the heels of his feet, "So what's the plan?"

"Uh." Diego mumbled, "You wait outside."

"What?"

"Yeah, you're the lookout."

"The lookout?"

They all marched towards the building, leaving Klaus and Lotus outside. They all slipped in expect for Diego who turned around at the door, "Are you not coming?"

Lotus pointed at herself, "Me?"

"No shit." Diego shook his head, holding the door open. "We need you, Lotus."

"What about Klaus?"

"Yah, what about me?"

Diego shook his head, "We're running out of time."

She sighed but nodded, running towards and past Diego into the building. She followed him up the stairs until he put a hand in front of her, causing her to stop.

"We're gonna go backstage and try to handle her, ok." He said, "You go down the middle and try to shift into her, maybe distract her more."

"So I just need to distract her when things go wrong?"

"What makes you think anything's gonna go wrong?"

She rolled her eyes and pushed past him, taking the stairs two at time. The music was pouring from underneath the heavy doors, the violin music more powerful than it was before. It was almost memorizing, hearing the sounds of the strings come together with such power. Lotus glanced back, waiting for Diego to disappear down another hallway. When he was gone, she slipped through the double doors and ducked behind the last row of seats.

Vanya stood on stage, her hair was down over one shoulder while her violin sat on the other. The instrument was stark white, sitting on her matching suit. The thing that struck Lotus though was not her suit or white violin, nor was it the fact that the women seemed to glow as the music poured from her, but her eyes that shone an unnatural blue.

"The violin." Lotus mumbled sneaking her way three rows closer, the audience in a trance as they watched the women play her heart out. The pieces clicked together in her head, everything Five or his siblings had ever said about their sister. Vanya was in fact the bomb, but her violin was the lighter.

Allison stood next to the front row, watching her sister give the performance of a lifetime. Vanya stood up, walking to the centre of the stage, catching her sister's attention with a small smile growing on her face. Just then, from all sides of the stage came Luther and Diego came flying at her.

"No!" Lotus launched herself at them, but Vanya threw out an arm and a wave of power surged outwards, throwing everyone back. The audience went up in screams, people were trying to get out, running for the exits but Vanya wasn't done.

Lotus landed on the ground, hitting her head off the metal of a chair. She sat up, seeing Vanya throw out another hand and the audience were all forced to sit down, to finish watching what they paid to see.

Diego and Luther were only one row in front of her while Allison came up behind, "She's stronger than before." Luther shouted.

"Well we have you to thank for that!" Lotus raged back, "If you just didn't lock your damn sister in a fucking cage!"

Diego bit his lip, "Well, so much for the element of surprise."

"What else you got?"

Allison peeked up and pointed at Vanya, but Diego only shook his head. "No shit, Allison."

"She means the violin!" Lotus shouted, "It's her lightening rod. If we take it away from her and stop her from playing, we might have a shot."

The doors burst open and gunfire filled the theatre, now nothing stopped the audience from getting up and running to safety. The gunman paid them no attention, and eventually the theatre was empty of civilians.

"What the hell happened to Klaus?" Diego yelled diving into another row, "He was supposed to be the lookout!"

"Yeah, are you surprised?" Luther said from behind him.

A flash of blue light caught Lotus' attention, she turned to see Five appear in the middle of the isle, ducking as he rushed towards everyone.

"What's with the lallygagging?" He yelled shoving Lotus into Allison as he took up a spot in front of them. He inched his head upwards but Lotus grabbed ahold of his shoulders and threw him down. "Five, get down!"

He ducked, glancing back at her. "I thought you bailed on us." She told him, glaring.

"I had an errand to run."

She rolled her eyes, flinching as a bullet lodged itself into the chair next to her head. "Well, this isn't good."

Five look another quick look around, his eyes widened for a second.

"You know these guys?" Diego yelled.

"Yeah, I do."

"And?" Lotus whispered.

"We're screwed."

Lotus frowned, glancing backwards to see Allison still watching her sister.

"Guys! It's Cha-Cha!"

Everyone whirled around to see Klaus standing in front of the second set of doors, he was pointing behind the stage which was just visible with the curtain pulled back an inch. "It's Cha-Cha!"

Diego stood up, throwing himself to where the women was grabbing at things but Lotus wasn't paying any attention.

"Klaus, get down!" Lotus shrieked, watching as he ran frantically to avoid getting shot. "Get down!"

Klaus fell into an isle, his hands shaking, his face turning red. Nobody was prepared for what happened next. His hands glowed as he threw them apart, a boy with a blue hue appeared and ripped open his chest, tentacles pouring from it. They wrapped around each masked man, either taking them out or dangling them in the air. Everyone stood up, watching intensely.

"Oh my god." Luther mumbled, "It's Ben."

Diego came out of nowhere, seemingly finished his business quickly.

"Welcome back." Someone yelled, but he replied with, "How do you want to end this?"

"We surround her. Come at her from all angles." Five yelled.

"So it's a suicide mission?" Diego yelled back.

Five turned and grabbed ahold of her shoulders, "Lotus. Listen to me."

She sucked in a breath, meeting his intense gaze. "You need to shift into her. You can manipulate her power when you're her, ok?"

She shook her head, "It doesn't work like that, Five. I can only look like the person—"

"No! Trust me. You can end this, once and for all." His eyes looked haunted, but the blue shown brightly with as much hope as he could muster. "Do you trust me?"

Lotus took a shaky breath, nodding. His hands fell from her shoulders but she grabbed ahold of one of his hands and held it tightly. He looked taken a back but she closed her eyes and maintained her grip nevertheless. She felt the transformation take over her, and soon enough Five gave her a wicked grin. If he was right, then she should be able to manipulate his own power and be able to time travel.

Next thing she new everyone had jumped up, all running down towards Vanya who still stood at the front playing with no hesitation. Diego and Luther came from the left and right sides of the stage, though she had no idea how they got there that quickly. Allison, Five and Klaus came charging from the front ends.

Lotus closed her eyes, having no idea how to get Five's power to work. The song was almost over, which meant they hardly had any time left. She pictured the space behind the women, wishing and praying that she would appear right there. Seconds passed and nothing happened, but time seemed to be moving so slow. Her ears popped as the ground disappeared underneath her, Lotus had no time to think as her feet landed on the wooden floor of the stage right where she needed to be. The girl had no time to get excited over the thing she had just been able to accomplish, of something that had been within her reach but she never attempt to grab.

Time hadn't returned to normal, and she could see Vanya's family charge at her from the stage. Everyone looked so vulnerable, even Five looked scared. Lotus couldn't waste anymore time, she placed a firm hand on the women's shoulders, causing her to pause for a moments time. Lotus felt the transformation more strongly this time, she could feel Vanya's power flow threw her, causing her to fall onto her knees. Lotus let out a scream, causing Vanya to drop the violin, collapsing onto the ground, just as a surge of power burst out of the women, throwing everyone backwards.

Lotus felt her body land on the ground, she blinked hazily, the breath knocked out from her lungs. Suddenly the world felt so bright, and so loud as footsteps rushed towards her. Lotus was still on the ground, staring up at the hole in the ceiling. When had that happened?

"Lotus." Five was by her side, "You did it."

She felt the mask of Vanya slip away, returning to her normal self, at one time a self that she hated. "You were right." She told him, "I can use their powers."

"I'm always right."

She tried to laugh but her throat burned, she pulled herself up into a sitting position.

"Is she alive?" Lotus asked looking at Vanya.l up on the stage. The rest of his siblings had managed to get themselves up with the women and Vanya was in in Allison's lap.

"I think so."

"We did it." Luther yelled, "We actually saved the world!"

Everyone shared subtle smiles as Klaus nodded, moving his gaze to the ceiling.

"Uh, guys." He said, "You see that big moon rock coming towards us?"

"That's not good."

"How ironic." Lotus mumbled, allowing Five to help her up. They slowly made their way to everyone else. "Looks like the moon has some words to share with you Luther, after all the ones you said of it."

The big man frowned, "So much for saving the world."

Klaus nodded, "If only Sir Reginald Hargreeves could see us now, huh? The Umbrella Academy. And Lotus."

She snorted, "And me."

"At least we're together at the end." Diego sighed, "A family."

Five pulled her close, "This doesn't have to end."

Lotus looked over at him, "What? What are you saying, Five?"

"I think I have a way out of here." He told them, "You just have to trust me."

"Yeah, I don't think so." Luther shook his head.

"Well, then, we might as well accept our fate then, because in less than a minute we're all gonna be vaporized."

"What's your idea then?"

"We use my ability to time travel." He explained, "But this time I'll take you with me."

"I can help." Lotus agreed but he shook his head. "You could get stuck looking like me forever, I don't think you want that."

"How do you know?"

"I just do." He said, "I've never tried to travel with more than me and someone else but we might as well try."

"Yah." Luther nodded, "What's the worst that could happen?"

Five pursed his lips, "You're looking at it. A 58 year old in a teenagers body. So, there's that."

"Oh, what the hell. I'm in." Luther said.

"Yeah, whatever." Diego added, followed by the agreement from Klaus and Allison, along with Ben.

"Someone grab Vanya." Lotus chimed in.

"Wait." Klaus stopped, "Should we be taking her? I mean, if she's the cause of the apocalypse, isn't that like taking a ticking time bomb with us?"

"The apocalypse will always happen and Vanya will always be the cause, unless we take her with us and fix her."

The ground shook and Lotus lost her footing, as everyone grabbed hands she tumbled off the edge of the stage with a yelp.

Luther picked up Vanya in his arms, joining everyone gathering in a circle, holding onto each other's hands. Five closed his eyes, soon his arms began shaking. Nothing was happening and they had mere minutes left. The wind picked up, and when Lotus got back onto her feet she had to hold onto a near by chair to remain steady.

"Lotus!" Five's voice shouted, his eyes landing on her amongst the seating. "What are you doing?"

She frowned, accepting the fact that she couldn't go with them. Five wasn't strong enough, and she wanted to make sure that he got himself and his family to safely. She didn't matter, not really. "You can't travel with that many people, it's not guaranteed."

"You're coming with us."

"If you all die and it's my fault—"

"Get in the circle, Lotus!" He yelled, more wind whipping around him, threatening to drown out his words.

She felt tears well in her eyes as she looked from each member of his family, even Klaus looked back at her and shook his head. She couldn't risk them all dying, she couldn't risk they're second chance at saving the world.

"You won't remember me anyways."

"Yes I will." Five shouted, "Come take my hand. We can do this."

"You know that dump on fifth?" She called out, "That's where I live. Come and find me."

"Lotus-" His voice cracked, was that tears she saw in his eyes? Was this a new version of Five she was seeing, one that was so vulnerable. "Stop trying to play the hero. Please, you need to come."

"But what if—"

"Who cares." Luther's voice called out, "Were not leaving without you, kid."

Lotus stared at him, watching as he managed to motion her forward. She turned to Five again, "Please."

She pursed her lips, collecting her wits and nodding, throwing herself onto the stage. Klaus broke off and helped her up, shoving her next to Five in the circle. Five gave her a struggled smile before closing his eyes again, "You're not getting away from me that easily, Lotus."

The ground beneath them shook harder, and her hand slipped into his. "Hold on!" He yelled as a blue haze filled around them. His eyes flew open as the wind grew stronger, whipping his hair around. "Ah!" He called out, "It's working!"

The ground beneath them jerked and his grip on Lotus' hand tightened.

"Hold on!" He screamed, "It's gonna get messy!"

The world beneath them crumbled, and they all fell into darkness. The last thing she saw was a rush of fire disappear above them as they fell, and the screams of her new friends as they descended into darkness.