When you finally made it downstairs, you saw Vanya crashing into a table. Your eyes narrowed, and you looked around for her assailant, fuming.
Meanwhile
"Luther, we gotta go, come on!" Allison shouted as they raced down the hallway, grabbing his shoulder and tearing him away from the girl who controlled gravity.
"Where the hell is Eight?" Five gasped, glancing around desperately as the crow girl chased them. "Allison, I left her with you!"
"Shit, I don't know!" Allison replied. "I thought she was behind me."
"We have to go back," Five said. "I'm not leaving her."
"Me either," Diego replied, but they were cut off by crows chasing them into the next room and pecking at the door as Five flashed away.
"Shit, I hate that he can do that."
Your POV
You hid behind a pillar, watching hatefully as the Sparrow Academy surrounded Vanya. You needed to do something, but your power was running low. The man who controlled fire looked around suspiciously, as though he knew you were still there.
"Vanya, get out of there!" you heard Five shout.
Suddenly, the fire man stuck his hand out as though to attack her. Flames danced on his fingertips, racing toward Vanya, who lay defenseless on the floor...
Almost without realizing it, you darted forward, trapping him and his fire in a force field as Vanya's power began to glow from her chest. She didn't know you were there.
"Shit, shit, shit," you whispered. "Vanya, no-!"
But you were too late.
You went flying into the wall, your spine hitting the wood with a sickening crack. As you slid to the floor, your thigh scraped along a shard of glass from a lamp, and you sobbed breathlessly. Everything in you ached, from your head to your toes, and you didn't know how you would get up again.
But the fire man had been protected by your force field, unlike the rest of the weakened Sparrows. He stood over you as the leader spoke to Vanya, your ears ringing too fiercely to understand.
He said something you couldn't hear, your vision spinning, before scooping you up in his arms. You struggled, calling to your power, but it never came.
He dumped you just outside the front door, bleeding and bruised, avoiding his siblings. You were just glad he didn't kill you. Why didn't he kill you?!
Nothing made sense anymore.
You let yourself lay on the concrete, your cheek pressing into the cement, for only a minute or two. Then you forced your hands to the ground, shakily getting to your feet and leaning against the building. You slowly made your way alongside it until a frantic Five blinked in front of you.
Surprised and still paranoid that the fire man would return, you jerked back a step, nearly falling. Five, however, stepped forward and caught you, holding you to his chest.
"Shit, (Y/N)," he said, gently brushing aside the hair that was stuck to your face with blood. "I thought they had you. I'm sorry I left, I... I didn't know that you were still inside. What the hell happened?"
"I'm okay," you said after catching your breath. "What happened to your forehead?" You reached your hand up to brush your fingertips against the deep gash, eyes wide.
He looked away, seemingly embarrassed.
"I... nothing. You look like you walked through hell, (Y/N). Let's get you to the others." You leaned on him for support, limping toward where your siblings were searching for you and trying to ignore the pain in your shredded thigh. Five seemed tense, his eyes narrowed and jaw clenched, his anger at the Sparrows evident.
"Eight?" Diego asked when you approached, leaning over to inspect your injuries. "They did this? Oh, just wait. I'm going to-"
"It wasn't all their fault," you admitted, and when everyone looked at you oddly, you shook your head. "It doesn't matter. Where do we go from here? I just want to sleep."
"I've got you," Five said firmly, pressing his forehead to yours briefly as you continued walking.
You and your battered family staggered into a small park area, sitting heavily on the benches and tables.
"I'm just gonna sit. I'm just gonna sit, for a minute," Luther grunted.
"Well that didn't go well," Diego pointed out, and you rolled your eyes weakly.
"No, not our best work," Five said dryly, wrapping his arm around your shoulder at you sat next to each other.
"Oh, I'm cracking," Klaus groaned from where he lay on the table, his joints popping loudly.
"You all right?" Allison asked a stunned-looking Luther.
"I don't know yet," he replied, wide-eyed. "I've just never had my ass handed to me like that before. It's like..." He paused, holding his hands out as though gifting Allison an invisible object. "Here you go. It's your ass."
You blinked at him, unsure whether or not you were just delusional.
"Okay. I think Luther's concussed," Allison concluded.
"Luther. How many fingers?" Klaus asked, holding up his hand.
"Oh my God," Luther said, pointing behind you. "Vanya!"
"Thank God you're alive," Vanya said as she walked over, and you felt bad for not thinking about her before. You were just so tired...
"Apparently, so is Ben," Klaus added.
"Yeah, and he's a complete dickhead," Allison said.
"They're all dickheads," Diego muttered.
"Dickheads who can fight."
"And dickheads who can control fire," you said after Luther, and he looked at you, alarmed.
"Okay, the next person to say 'dickhead' is getting a punch to the throat," Five said, annoyed.
"Dickhead."
"Dickhead."
"Dickhead."
"Dickhead."
"Dickhead," you said, yawning.
"I don't see you punching Eight in the throat," Klaus said teasingly as Five sighed. His expression turned surprised and he coughed while the others pretended not to hear.
"Hey, did Dad tell you why he was calling them his kids?" Diego asked Klaus, and the latter chuckled.
"He sure did! You ready? Dad was so repulsed by us back in Texas, that he adopted an entirely different group of children just so that he didn't have to raise us."
You snorted, shaking your head.
"Of course he did," you said.
"That's just peak Dad," Diego agreed.
"Isn't it?" Luther asked.
"So he just didn't want us anymore?" Vanya questioned from her bench.
"Did he ever?" Allison fired back, frowning.
"See? I told you we shouldn't have asked him for help in '63," Luther said, throwing his arm out at his side.
"I think you're all missing the big picture here," Five began, and you nodded,
"Five's right. If Dad didn't adopt us as kids, he changed the timeline."
"Who know what else is different now," Five said.
"Shouldn't you know?" Allison asked.
"Sorry, Allison, but it might take me more than 20 minutes and a traumatic brain injury to figure this all out," he said, gesturing to the gash on his forehead. "Is that okay with you?"
"No, actually, it's not," she said, no you raised your eyebrows.
"Guys, look, it's fine," Vanya said in an attempt to diffuse the situation. "We still have the commission's briefcase, so worst case we can just... go back in time and fix it."
"Great," Klaus said, snapping his fingers.
"Okay," Five said, standing up slowly as you rested your elbows on the picnic table behind you. "There are two problems with that statement. First off-"
"Here we go," Klaus said, and you almost grinned.
"Time travel is a complicated thing, people."
"Yeah, we get it," Diego said loudly. "Your job is so hard. Just... what?"
"And secondly," Five continued, ignoring him. "I... no longer have the briefcase."
You lifted your head up, alarmed.
"Five," Allison said slowly, standing up. "Where the hell is the briefcase?"
Five worked his jaw awkwardly, not responding, while you scoffed.
"You actually lost it," you mumbled, shaking your head. "We are a wreck today, weren't we?"
"Hey, we just saved the world," Klaus argued.
"Yeah, 56 years ago," you said.
...
20 minutes later, you were all walking along the sidewalk, feeling slightly rejuvenated after resting on the benches and arguing futilely.
"What are we doing?" Allison asked, not even trying to conceal her frustration.
"Ruminating," Five replied calmly.
"Why is everyone staring at us?" Klaus whined, slinging an arm around your shoulder as you tried not to put pressure on your leg.
"Because we look like the damn Village People just lost a fight," Diego spit, and you nodded, looking down at yourself. Your pants were torn and bloody from the top of your thigh to the side of your knee, and your shirt was ripped and covered in dust and dirt. Your nose, like Allison's, was crusted with blood, and your cheekbone throbbed with the beginning of a painful bruise. The bottoms of your tennis shoes had melted and dried again, sticking to your socks. Not to mention, the most painful injury of them all - the burn on your arm.
Fire was unlike by other weapon. Whereas a scrape or slash healed slowly over time, the pain dulling as it faded, a burn reminded you daily of exactly how it had felt to be scorched with flame. The heat of the fire didn't seem to fade until the injury itself disappeared.
Diego had snatched Klaus' cowboy hat, and Klaus fought him weakly.
"Gimme that. Ow!"
"You know what? I need to go find Clare," Allison decided, and you limped forward, taking her hand in yours.
"We need you here," you said, looking up at her with pleading eyes. She started to shake her head, but you spoke again, this time quieter. "I need you here, Allison. You're my sister. You're the rock of this family."
She took a deep breath, eyes on you.
"Fine. But, honestly, what are we doing? We can't stand here bleeding out in this park."
"I don't know, but we better gear up fast before they come for round two," Diego said, and you rolled your eyes.
"Why would they? Vanya practically crushed them."
Your sister shot you an odd look.
"How did you-"
"Because I would," Diego interrupted, and you felt surprisingly grateful. You didn't want Vanya to know that she had hurt you - again. This time, however, it had been fully unintentional.
"I mean, we did break into their house-" Klaus began.
"Our house," Allison corrected self-righteously.
"Bust up all their nice antiques and shit."
"Yeah, I don't think the crime-fighting... super nerds are gonna let that go."
"Nice one, Luther," you muttered, and he smiled widely at you like he thought you were being serious.
"Let's just think of some place off the radar where we can lie low and not draw attention," Five suggested, and you nodded.
"What kind of weird-ass place are we not gonna draw attention?"
Everyone turned to look at Klaus after Diego's question, and upheld stopped spinning, looking at you with confusion. After a moment, his face lit up.
"Follow me!"
20 minutes of painful walking later, you arrived at a tall old building with jazzy music playing at the entrance.
"The Hotel Obsidian," you read as the seven of you approached it. "Sounds fancy. Honestly, I would sleep in a cellar right now."
You all began shoving into the revolving doors, grunting as everyone tried to fit in the same one for no reason.
"Oh. Okay. Honestly?" Allison said in disbelief as you shoved Diego into the door, laughing when his nose pressed against the glass and he pushed you back. "We don't all need to be squeezed..."
Luther muttered something angrily as Five spoke loudly.
"There were two entrances, by the way."
Diego straightened his shirt, glaring down at you as you walked forward with a smile. Light filtered through the tall upper windows, revealing dust and high, majestic chandeliers. People in odd outfits and costumes chatted nearby, some turning to stare at your group.
"Oh, Hotel Obsidian," Klaus mused. "I've missed you, you slutty old dame. Absorb her. Absorb her into your bosom.You know, 'cause back in her heyday, she played host to world leaders. Roosevelt, Gandhi, Stalin, Gorbachev, Castro, King Olaf of Norway, one of the Kim Jongs, Tito, Dalai Lama, Elvis, and not one, but two Kardashians, allegedly."
Five pulled you to his side, arm around your waist, as more people openly watched you. A moment later, the sound of a phone ringing caught your attention, and you turned to see Allison walking toward the noise.
"Wouldn't that... where you going?"
"I gotta make a call."
Hopefully she reaches Clare, you thought. I know how much she cares about her daughter.
"Nowadays, she's just a flophouse, a party house for those of us not looking to be judged by society's rules and norms."
"You mean, a... place to hide?" Luther asked dubiously, and Klaus grinned, throwing his arms out at his sides.
"Exactly. It's perfect! And the best part of it is, she's gonna look after us, no questions asked. Never ever. Right?" You and Five glanced over at a couple who were peering at you through thin sunglasses and whispering to each other. "Come on."
"I love this place," you whispered to Five as Klaus led you to the front desk. He cast you an odd look, a smile slowly forming on his face.
"Of course you do."
Klaus rang the bell on the desk loudly, gasping happily when an older man approached.
"Chet! Mon frère! It's so great to see you. I'd like my usual suite, por favor."
"I've never seen you before," the man replied, smoothing his dapper suit.
"See?" Klaus asked, looking over at you confidently and tapping your nose. "Told you. Discreet."
"Please stop scaring my dog," Chet said forcefully, and Diego and Luther quickly stepped back from where they had been petting him, surprised. You laughed behind your hand, and Five shook his head, still smiling faintly.
"We need some rooms, please," Vanya said tentatively.
"Super! And how will we be paying today?" He asked, pulling out a sign that read 'cash up front'.
You and your siblings looked at each other awkwardly.
"Uh..."
"Oh."