The 8th Sparrow

Ball of Twine

"Come on. We'll get a few road sodas for the journey." Klaus waves in a 'come here' motion.

"Sometimes, you gotta clear the head out."

"Guys, wait. Where are you going?" Viktor asked.

"Get the rats out of the maze, you know?" Klaus smiled.

"Come on." Five said, in a low voice.

Next thing I knew I was in the backseat of a car that someone had locked their keys in. We started driving and I got very sleepy. Car rides had always made me sleepy.

"Getting a little sleepy babe?" Klaus asked, not taking his eyes off of the road. 

"Yeah I guess.." I mumbled as I drifted off, tucking into my t-shirt. 

I slept for a while and woke up to see the sun almost at its highest point. I yawned and stretched and looked to my right, seeing Five starting at me. He then looked down at the map and continued marking it up. 

"This actually isn't so terrible." Five said, looking at me.

"See? Told you."

"Come to think of it, my whole life I've been under the gun. Missions for Dad, working for the Commission, trying to survive the apocalypse. I was always looking around every corner, just waiting for the other shoe to drop. It's nice to just breathe."

He worked for the Commission too!?

"Good for you, man. Retirement is suiting you."

"Yeah I'll say." I mumbled, looking over at Five.

"Oh! Uh... All right! So, I've circled all the roadside attractions along the way." He sat up as I leaned over to looked at the map, pushing my hair out of my way.

"I'm not sure we're gonna have time..." Klaus said, looking guilty.

"We have the Brownsville Big Nickel. Oh, Ricky's Bakery has award-winning pies." Five hummed.

"I love pies!" I exclaimed happily.

"If you just let me explain..." Klaus tried to but in.

"Or there's this Cow Henge." Five continued.

"Awww!" I smiled.

"That's it-- Don't-- Listen to me. Just shut up for two seconds, okay? Just two seconds? All right?" Klaus finally yelled.

"Okay, I'm all ears." Five threw his hands up.

"We are going to Pennsylvania to find my birth mother. Yay!" Klaus did a fake little cheer.

"Excuse me?" Five furrowed his brows.

"What!?" I exclaimed frustratedly. 

"I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry. I just needed somebody to come with me for emotional support."

"Oh, emotional support, like a Schnauzer?" Five said before he blinked us to the front seat. It felt different but I was snapped out of my thoughts when I realized I was on his lap.

"I knew you wouldn't come if I told you, so what was I supposed to do?" Klaus shrugged.

"You're goddamn right I wouldn't have come, Klaus. You know why? Because I am supposed to be retired!" Five threw his head back and groaned when I shifted my body, probably from annoyance. 

"I know!" Klaus yelped.

"This was supposed to be a carefree road trip." I growled.

"Well, it still can be, babes." Klaus said, trying to help.

"Ball of Twine?" Five said, looking at the sign. "Klaus, turn! Ball of Twine! Turn!" Five elbowed me, signaling for me to grab the wheel.

"What? Five! Five! Devon! No!" He yelled as I grabbed the steering wheel and turned us left as best as I could.

"It is one of the best ones! Come on!" Five yelled as I was only halfway on his lap.

"Five, we're gonna die! Whoo!" Klaus worriedly screamed.

"I don't care!" Five angrily yelled.

"Let go Devon!" Klaus screeched at me.

"You know what? No twine, no birth mother!" Five said, looking at Klaus and moving a strand of hair out of his face. That's when Klaus gave up due to the frustration and honking horns of other cars. 

I bounced back on Fives lap and he blinked us to the backseat once again. I sat back and sighed in relief that I would get some fun out of this trip. Five looked flustered as he crossed his left leg over his right and turned to look out of the window. 

The rest of the ride was silence until we got to the ball of twine. Thankfully it wasn't a super long wait. We got out and the sun was beaming in our faces. It wasn't as big as I'd thought but it was still pretty big.

"Yeah, you know. I don't know why, but I thought it'd be a lot bigger." Klaus said, practically reading my mind.

"Seems pretty big to me." Five added.

"Is that what you tell all of your girlfriends?" I smirk at him as he just ignored me and rolled his eyes. 

"Ehh. Here's the real question. How do you know your birth mother is in Pennsylvania?" Five asked after my statement.

"Well, because I was on the ass end of a two-week bender, and I can't tell you the exact date because we were boofing Xanax and the whole business, but Amy Winehouse was at the top of the charts. So that puts us somewhere, where? In the mid to late aughts? I helped myself into Dad's office, looking for the key to his safe 'cause he had Pogo lock up all the stealables. But instead, I found a treasure trove of our family history told in expired check stubs." Klaus shuddered. "I was too messed up to, uh, do anything about it, too scared to look her up. But always in the back of my mind, I wondered why she sold me off for three grand. I mean, come on, she couldn't have held out for five? Six?" Klaus rambled on and on.

"You see anything about my mother?" Five tilted his head.

"No. Sorry." Klaus disappointedly said.

"Why now?" I asked Klaus seriously.

"Well, duh. Dad disowns us. Grace isn't Grace. Ben's... gone. Now just felt like a good a time as any to find out who I could've been if I didn't grow up in this stupid family." 

"Well, can you really call what we had a family?" Five looked up at Klaus and then back down at me.

"No. It's more like a-- Institute for Snarky Delinquents." Klaus tensely laughed.

"And not a good one at that." Five mumbled as I smiled, thinking about my siblings, who probably forgot I existed. 

"But what is family? What is it? It's like some kind of giant... ball of twine that can never be untangled. A giant ball of obligation I've been pushing uphill my entire life. And the older you get, the bigger it gets. And the more you try and untangle it... You watch it roll down the hill..." Klaus blabbers.

"And what's the point?" We all say in unison.

"Hey, I'm glad you guys came along. You're a good brother. And a good best friend." He added, turning to me. "All right, all right. You say nice things about me now." He pointed to himself.

"Let's go find your stupid mother." Five said as he pat Klaus on the shoulder. We then started walking to the car.

"Love you too, tiny dancer!" Klaus did his little dance walk to the car after us.

(Man this was a long chapter! Sorry for taking so long! I got busy and unmotivated but someone asked for more so I attended! Love you guys!)