𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠...
As soon as Five and I put our clothes back on, we started to make our way toward a shower. I used my hair to cover my neck. Hopefully, it will work. On our way, we ran into Allison, who looked unusually happy. "Morning. Dad is calling a meeting today at noon." She informed us with a smile.
I glanced at Five and answered for the both of us, "Uh. We will think about it." Allison nodded at the both of us before continuing down the hall. Five told me he would meet up with me later and had business to attend to. I just accepted it and went to shower.
When noon hit, I was already down in the lobby with everyone else. We were waiting for Dad and Five. It didn't take them long to arrive, they both came in from outside.
As soon as they walked in, everyone started cheering for Five and his apparently awesome speech.
A speech which I have no recollection of.
"That speech last night!"
"Brought me to tears, you big softy."
"I especially liked when you referred to us as a family bound by destiny and love."
"Yes. That was great."
Five walked over to where I was sitting and sat down next to me. "Okay. Enough. It was the booze talking. In the light of day, you're all still deplorable. Except you, (Y/N)." He put his arm around my shoulder and kissed me on the cheek.
Dad had to ruin the cute moment when he said, "And your day's about to get worse. The Norse had seven sleepers. The Blackfoot, seven stars. As a boy, I heard the legend of the seven bells."
"Yeah, like in the 1800's." I said, under my breath. Five shoved me a little with a smile.
Dad continued on with his boring story, "All these stories are the same. The village is under threat by flood, by fire, by a night that never ends. A shaman brings his disciples to a sacred cave. He tells them if they can ring the seven magic bells, the village will be saved, and all will be restored just as it was."
God. This is so boring.
"Reggie? What the hell does this have to do with us?" Lila raised her hand and asked Dad.
"None of you can deny what's going on around us. All of existence will be gone by the end of the day, but whoever or whatever wove together space and time, left a way to put things back together if the universe ever faced total annihilation. There is a portal in the universe. I built this hotel around it, and on the other side is the answer."
Luther looked around and spoke for most of us, "And we're supposed to, what? Just stroll in there, ring some bells, and fix this shit?"
Dad held his book close to his body and continued to explain, "Sarcasm aside, you are mostly right. Except for the guardian."
Uh, what?
"That's totally not scary." I said sarcastically.
"What kind of guardian?" Viktor had his hands intertwined with one another and asked Dad to elaborate. Diego brought up his injured hand with two missing fingers and said, "Kind of guardian that does this. He had a sword."
"See? Yeah. This is where you lose me." Luther said with annoyance in his voice.
Lila deadpanned, "This is where he loses you? I checked out at the sacred cave."
"I stopped listening at all the seven shit." I added.
Viktor continued the main topic, "Why would the builders of this back door need to have a guardian?"
Sloane cutely raised her hand with a smile. "Ah! To protect it from people who want to use it for nefarious means."
"Correct, Sloane." Dad nodded his head in her direction.
"So it's gonna take all of us to defeat the thing protecting the bells." Allison said, making Five turn his head to her. "You're actually buying his crap?"
Allison scoffed at Five and shot back in annoyance, "How is a guardian and bells any crazier than time-traveling briefcases and assassins with cartoon masks?"
"Actually, she's got you there." Luther agreed with his sister.
"Well, if anything it sounds cooler but--" I assured Five but Ben cut me off by standing next to Dad. "I'm in." He looked at me to try and signal me to follow his lead.
No way in hell.
I shook my head lightly at him with wide eyes.
Diego got up as well and joined my brother. "Me too. But I think some of us should stay back. Like Lila." This made Lila get up as well to defend herself. "Uh, or you can stay and I can go."
"No. This is much bigger than all of us. Nobody can stay back." Allison announced to everyone. Jeez, why is she pushing this so hard? She's starting to act like Benny. "You, my children, are all that stands between us and oblivion. Are we ready to go?" Dad tried to get us to all get up now.
I looked at Five before telling Dad, "I'm going to need a second on this."
Viktor nodded his head in agreement with me. "I say we vote."
"This isn't a democracy. Dad's calling the shots." Ben told Viktor seriously.
Five leaned forward and said, "I'm with Viktor. We vote."
"The world is ending and you want to count hands?" Dad said angrily.
"You're asking us to risk our lives. I think it's only fair you give us time to discuss it. Privately." Luther suggested to Dad but he only replied with a scoff as he walked away from us in disappointment.
I stood up with Five and said, "Let's meet back here in an hour." Everyone just agreed with me. It seems not all of us see eye to eye on this.
⋘ 𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡...⋙
A little over an hour later, we all met back up again. Of course, I was standing next to Five by one of the pillars in the lobby.
Allison was the first one to break the silence. "I think you can all guess which way I'll be voting. We've all been through a lot. We've all lost people, some more than once." She looked at Five and me. His grip on my hand got tighter. His sister continued her speech, "But their deaths have to mean something. Which is why I will be voting to go with Dad."
Lila walked next to Allison and Dad. "Let's go save the bloody universe!" She yelled with her fist up in the air.
"Alright, well, since she said yes, I vote to stay. How's that for nice?" Diego countered. I guess him and Lila are arguing.
"Klaus?" Allison looked back at him and asked which side he was on. I thought it was pretty obvious with all of the advocating he's been doing for Dad. "I am with Father." Klaus said and Dad nodded at him in approval.
Allison looked at her side, "Okay, that's four to one. Viktor?" Viktor sighed, "Look, I wanna believe, okay? I really do. I just can't shake the feeling we don't know what we're getting ourselves into." Allison tried her best to convince him but he didn't budge. "I vote stay." Allison looked pissed.
"Luther?"
"Um. Sloane and I talked, and well, we're out. Look, we wanna spend whatever time we have left together, and not fighting some guy with a sword and bringing bells and stuff."
"Well, dead even. Four in, four out."
"That leaves you both, Number Five and Number Eight." Dad looked over in our direction.
Ugh. I hate the way he said that.
Five and I looked at each other, nodding his head at me before answering for the both of us, "I saw the future, and it told me to sit this one out. We vote stay. It's time we accept our fate."
Dad shook his head in disappointment as Allison stormed off. "You're all pathetic." I turned to hug Five and he wrapped his arms around me.
"Children, I can't say I'm happy with this. But I see now the blame falls on me. I failed you when you were young, and I have failed you now. And in doing so, I have doomed the entire universe. If anyone needs me, I'll be in the courtyard, awaiting the end." Dad told us, disappointed as he walked away.
"Was that a real apology?"
"The man's never apologized for anything in his life."
"I actually feel bad for him."
"Me too."
"Don't worry. It'll pass."
"So now what?" Sloane looked at Five and I.
"We wait for the end. See you around. It's been interesting." Five answered my sister, dragging me along with him up the stairs to probably go lie down in the room.
To my surprise, he actually took me to the kitchen and served himself a huge bowl of cereal. "I think I saw something last night. It was Dad making a deal with someone, I just can't remember who. Let's go retrace my steps." He grabbed the big metal bowl with one hand and grabbed my hand with his other.
We walked around for a little bit, sharing the cereal, until we ran into Viktor. "What are you guys doing?" He walked into Five feeding me with the spoon. I wiped my mouth before answering, "Eating cereal and retracing his steps."
"Why?" Viktor looked at us confused.
"The old man is hiding something." Five tried to walk away from Viktor but he kept talking. "Yeah, feels like there's a lot of that going around."
Hm.
"How do you mean?"
"Allison apologized to me."
Five walked back to where Viktor and I stood in the hallway and shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, and that's suspicious, how?"
"Last night she was ready to go ten rounds with me at the wedding, and this morning it's all family and Dad and love. I don't know. Something must have happened last night, but I don't know what." Viktor explained to us.
Five dropped his cereal dramatically in front of us. "Five? What's wrong?" I asked him with concern. His eyebrows furrow in realization. "It's Allison!" He told us.
"No!" We heard my sister, Sloane, scream from down the hall. Without hesitating, I ran to where I heard her scream. Viktor and Five followed closely. When I got into the Buffalo Suite, I saw Luther dead on the floor with my sister crying over him.
"Oh my god." I rush to my sister's side to comfort her. Five and Viktor looked at their dead brother's corpse in shock. "What happened?"
"He went to go get ice. I couldn't-- He didn't come back. I don't know." Sloane sobbed. I held onto her tight. I can't even imagine the pain she's feeling right now.
Dad ran into the room and gasped at the sight in front of him. "Children, what's going on? Oh God! Luther."
Ben shook his head, "If we attacked first, he would still be alive." He almost looked sad to see Luther dead. Sloane kept crying and looking at Luther's death wound.
The room started to shake and there were explosions happening outside. Ben ran to look down the hallway. "Guys? Hey, guys!" He said in a panic.
"What are we going to do with Luther?" Sloane asked us in a hurry. Five ran to grab me before answering my sister. "We're out of time! The Kugelblitz is here."
Dad ran to the passage entrance and opened the door. "Into the passage! It's the only way!"
Oh, I really don't want to die.
"We can't leave him," Sloane told me as she kissed Luther one last time. I looked at her in sorrow and pulled her up to her feet. I can't lose her too. She fought against me for a little bit but reluctantly let me push her into the passageway.
I turn back and yank Five into the passage with me. "This isn't over!" He yelled at Dad, before following me in.