Shadows & Mirrors // f.hargreeves fanfic

:::: Thirty-Three ::::

"Klaus! Klaus!" Nova exclaimed.

It was then that she noticed her friend stumbling through the chaos yelling about peace and love or something. She was still leaning against the bookcase that Five had left her. Klaus spotted Nova from across the room and attempted to make his way over to her but suddenly Manuela blocked his way.

"Who are you and why do you look like me?" Manuela asked staring down at the girl.

"I feel like we've already covered this. My name is Genova Perez. My friends and I got trapped in the past and accidentally changed history. Now you exist as an alternate version of me. But you know what really confuses me is that I'm not experiencing any effects of paranoid psychosis. Are you?" Nova asked and Manuela gave her a confused look.

"Paranoid what?" Manuela asked. "You're not making any sense."

"Paranoid psychosis it is like a disease you get when you exist too closely to another version of yourself. Tell me are you feeling fidgety, sweaty, or experiencing uncontrollable flatulence?" Nova asked as her eyes roamed over the woman looking for any differences there might be between them. That's when her eyes landed on the charm around Manuela's neck and her mood dropped considerably. "Where the hell did you get that?"

"Get what?" Manuela asked as Nova took a shaky step away from the wall but nearly stumbled.

Surprisingly the woman was quick to catch her helping her back on the wall. Nova couldn't help the confused look that crossed her face. Her eyes couldn't help but glance at the chaos still raging around them. Five was engaged in a fistfight with Ben while Diego jumped on top of Christopher the cube. She could hear the sounds of others engaged in combat but from her position, she couldn't see them.

"That necklace. Where did you get it?" Nova said urgently her eyes going back to the charm glistening around the woman's throat.

"Why's that any of your concern?" Manuela said protectively as her hand flew to her neck gripping the pendant tightly.

"Because I made it over forty years ago before I got marooned in time. Only one of them should exist in any timeline. How do you have one?" Nova asked her voice growing steadily more hostile. She pulled her own pendant out from under her shirt as proof.

"I don't know I've just always had it I guess," Manuela responded.

Before either of them could respond Klaus came crashing toward them. It seemed to Nova that Ben had had him in his tentacle grip before throwing him across the room. One of the tentacles came rushing towards them and Klaus rolled out of the way. Instead of wrapping around Klaus one of Ben's tentacles wrapped around Manuela's waist pulling her back towards her brother.

"Shit, Manu!" Ben exclaimed in surprise when his sister came crashing into him.

"Klaus!" Nova snapped in a whisper reaching down for her friend. The man grabbed her outstretched hand and scrambled to his feet. "That's our cue to get out of here!"

Quickly without drawing attention to the duo Nova pushed back against the wall hoping the secret passageway was still there. Thankfully this timeline was very similar to the one she grew up in and the two of them stumbled into the dimly lit hallways. Without wasting any time Klaus's arm wrapped securely around Nova and her arm was slung around his shoulders as he helped support her body weight.

"Where are we going anyways?" Klaus whispered trying to keep their position hidden from any Sparrows that may come their way.

"Well, I don't know about you but I think it's time we get some real answers," Nova whispered back.

Klaus seemed to understand exactly what she was talking about because he began to lead them in the direction of Sir Reginald Hargreeves's office. During the few years that Nova lived at the Umbrella Academy, she spent lots of time exploring the secret passageways with Ben, well her Ben not the alternate fighting the other Umbrellas in the parlor. It was slow going on Nova's injured ankle but in no time the duo stumbled into Hargreeves's office.