Prom Night, 2006
Ben sighed as he watched his brothers, Luther and Diego, fighting about something that had no real meaning. "Can they go at least one night without trying to rip each other's throats out?" Ben asked, crossing his arms as Pandora leaned her back against a wall.
"It's Luther and Diego, what did you expect? They can't even stop, not for prom night and not for anything else. Quite frankly I think your dad made Diego number two because he knew there was going to be tension between them," Pandora replied.
"Well, I don't know about that," Ben said as Allison intervened between Luther and Diego.
"I heard a rumor...."
"God, I hate it when she uses her powers," Pandora subtly shook her head, murmuring, "feel gross after just watching it happen."
The two sat there in silence, watching Luther and Diego become calm, their eyes quickly becoming cloudy as they walk away from one another. Allison stood there for a moment watching them before a boy came up and offered his hand to her, not much else seemed to be intriguing. "Do you want to get out of here?" Ben asked, "Marin and Vanya left 45 minutes ago."
"After what just happened? Yeah I will," Pandora said, pushing herself off the wall, "Let's go before anything else disastrous happens."
Pandora walked the edge of the room, Ben following right behind her as they slipped out through the front door. The cool night air hit then instantly, cooling them down in just a matter of seconds. "Where do you think Marin and Vanya went?" Pandora questioned as they traveled down the side streets, one of her hands engulfed in Ben's and the other holding up her dress to keep it from touching the grimy streets. The sidewalk glistened from the lamp posts above, a blanket of dark blue coating the sky as the moon shone down on them. People passed by them, often paying them no attention as they walked.
"Have we ever figured that out?" Ben asked back.
"True, I guess we've never really had to keep a tab on them," Pandora said, "I would almost say they're lucky."
"Why say that?"
"Because they don't have to deal with any of this Academy bullshit. I mean like, Marin and I aren't technically twins, I'm just her slightly younger sister, and somehow I got powers. This is the only night that we get to be teenagers cause your dad is using us as his own personal police force... I mean like, does your father even think of anything else besides our powers and how we can improve and better use them kind of bullshit?"
"I don't think Dad even views us as kids," Ben commented, pressing the walk button on the traffic light pole. The two stood next to each other and watched all the cars passing by, the headlights further illuminating their figures. Pandora rubbed Ben's thumb with her own, getting more nervous by the second while she contemplated asking her next question.
"Ben," Pandora started, her eyes still fixated on the moving cars, "Once we're eighteen, do you want to drop this superhero bullshit and just... get out of here?"
They both turned to look at one another at the same time, the answer written across their expressions, "You don't have to ask that Pandora, you already know the answer," Ben said "Of course I will."
...
Present
"Oh Panndoraaa!" Klaus called in a sing songy tone, followed by what sounded like a cowbell ringing loudly in the living room. Pandora sucked in a deep breath and rubbed her eyes, the feeling of stained tears on her cheeks and chin. "It's morning! No need to go back to your apartment, though I already broke in and got you your clothes. I locked the door behind me don't worry."
"Wait wh-" Pandora was cut off by clothes falling on her face, it was a yellow sweater and the blue stone washed jeans Klaus had helped her pick out a few years ago when Pandora was trying to distract Klaus from delving back into his drug habits.
It worked for about 5 hours.
Klaus left the room, but not before reminding Pandora that they're going to have a family meeting in the kitchen in 10 minutes. Pandora took the once folded clothes and set them down on the floor, sitting up on the couch. She yawned slightly before shaking herself awake and walking to the bathroom to make herself somewhat presentable, but the only thing she could really do was smooth out her hair a bit and rub the sleep out of her eyes.
When she exited the bathroom, her clothes from the other night stuffed into a bag she had found under the bathroom sink in her hand, she saw Klaus pass looking very giddy as he headed down to the kitchen. Pandora peered at him with a watchful eye, unsure of how quickly his mood had changed from the night before. Memories of his incident came flooding back in bits and pieces.
"Wake up Klaus goddamnit," She repeated the same process. "Wake up!" Tears pooled into her eyes, "NO, no no, don't you dare give up on me, I have a chance to save you!"
Pandora closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself before she left to meet the others.
Five was already in the kitchen with Klaus, wearing blue silk pajamas instead of the school boy esque uniform. The table mats were on the table, set up for four other people besides the three in the kitchen. Klaus was boiling water on the stove while Five was staring at the kettle with a glare that seemed to pierce right through anything that it landed on, Pandora steered away from starting a conversation with him for now.
The big hulking mass that is Luther Hargreeves entered the room, however, it was clear to everyone he was very hungover. His normal confident, straight and rigid stance had turned into a slouched one, a hoodie he didn't normally have on dawning his torso, casting a dark shadow across his worn and conflicted face. He refused to make eye contact with anyone when he walked in the room, his eyes and gaze painted in guilt as he sat down and rested his head in his hands. He grabbed one of the ceramic mugs Klaus had put down to check if anything was in there but low and behold, it was empty.
"Where is everyone else?" Pandora questioned, she had forgotten how uncomfortable the chairs were in the kitchen.
"Well, you see, I don't know.' Klaus turned off the stove and walked over to Luther with a spring in his step and a pot of coffee, filling the mug up. "Here we go. This'll fix ya," Klaus said with genuine concern for his brother, moving to fill up Pandora's cup, she hummed in appreciation. Impatient, Five took Luther's cup from his hands and eagerly took a swig. This proved to be the wrong move with the sudden look of disgust plaguing his face, "Jesus, who do I have to kill to get a decent cup of coffee."
"Can we get started please?" Luther asked gazing down at the blank mat that sat in front of him. A small cup of coffee slid into his view, causing him to look up.
Pandora's hands retracted back into her lap as she met Luther's gaze. "You can have it, you need to this more than I do," Pandora said generously, followed by a small yawn and smile before returning her attention to Klaus.
Luther looked at the cup and pursed his lips, "Thank you, Pandora," he responded, sipping lightly on the black coffee.
"Anyone seen any of the others? Diego? Allison? No?" Klaus asked without giving anyone any time to respond. "Alright then this is the closest thing to a quorum," Klaus proceeded to grab a metal spatula on the table, causing Luther to wince, "... that we're gonna get. Now, listen up. There's no easy way to say this, so I'm just gonna spit it out." He took in a deep breath and said a small, "Yeah," as if he was responding to someone. Pandora glanced to the empty seat next to her, wondering if Ben had told him something.
Silence filled the room before the three eventually had to check if Klaus was still with them. Luther urging, "Klaus," seemed to snap him back to reality.
"I conjured dad last night." Once again silence filled the room as Luther, Five, and Pandora glanced at each other in confusion and intrigue.
"I thought you said you haven't been able to conjure anyone in years," Luther asked.
"Well I mean, he was high... Like a good chunk of the time," Pandora answered, Luther's brow was still quirked.
"Hey!" Klaus said with a faint trace of betrayal in his voice. Pandora shrugged and played with the end of the frying table mat before her. "I- I'm sober now, ta-da! I got clean yesterday, to talk to someone... special and then ended up having this... conversation with dear old Daddy himself."
"C'mon klaus I can't lose you too!" The compressions are replaced with Pandora's fist slamming on Klaus's chest, tears streaming down her face. "Wake! UP!"
Pandora sighed and squeezed her eyes shut then opened them yet again, rubbing her slightly sore fist. She notices that there was freckles of blue and purple on the sides. Five gave up the spot where the aspirin was kept to Luther.
"Hey, hey, this is serious guys. This really happened, I swear," Klaus urged.
Five finally decided to speak up, "Okay, fine, I'll play, what did the old man have to say?" He gave a closed off smile as he finished his question.
"Well, he gave me to usual lecture about my appearance and my failures in life, yada yada yada. No surprise there. Even the afterlife couldn't soften a hardass like Dad, right? But he did mention something about this murder, or lack thereof, " Both Luther and five perked up at the mention of the possible solution to the mystery of the murder. "Because... he killed himself," Klaus explained, coming to a solemn whisper at the end.
"Well, Shit," Pandora whispered, breaking the awkward tension in the room.
Luther rolled his eyes and warned, "I don't have time for your games, Klaus."
Exasperated, Luther stood up from his seat but Klaus was able to stop him from moving any further, "No, no, I'm telling you the truth, Luther. I'm telling you the truth."
"Why'd he do it then?" Five asked for the first time without an ounce of sarcasm.
"He said it was the only way to get us all home again," Klaus explained further.
"No, dad wouldn't just kill himself," Luther said.
Pandora shrugged, backing Klaus by mentioning, "You did say he was depressed Luther, that's... it isn't out of pla-,"
"No. There weren't any signs. Suicidal people exhibit certain tendencies, strange behaviors."
"Like, sending someone to the moon for no reason?" Klaus asked, furthering his point.
"How would you know if there were signs Luther? You were on a different planet for years," Pandora spoke.
Luther clenched his jaw and shifted uncomfortably, "I swear to God, Klaus, if you're lying..."
"I'm not, I'm not," Klaus spoke truthfully.
A new voice piped up in the conversation, "Master Klaus is correct," they said. Everyone's head turned to see Pogo walking in, the tapping of his cane against the wooden floor coming to a halt. "Regretfully... I helped Master Hargreeves enact his plan."
"What?" Luther said, sounding more like a statement rather than a question, it was obvious that this news deeply affected him.
"So did Grace, it was a difficult choice for both of us, more difficult than you could ever know," Pogo said sighing once more, "Prior to your father's death, Graces programming was adjusted so that she was incapable of administering first aid on that fateful night."
"Sick bastard," Five commented, his stature and body language different from the rest. He didn't appear to be in shock, more so disappointed and disgusted.
"So the security tape we saw..." Luther trailed off.
"It was meant to further the murder mystery," Pogo answered.
Luther sighed heavily and squeezed his eyes shut, his body was obviously struggling with filtering out the drugs and alcohol he had consumed last night and hearing the big reveal about his Father's death obviously wasn't helping.
"Your father hoped that being back here, solving it together, Would reignite your desire to be a team again." Pogo continued. Klaus slightly resting his full body weight on the table and looks down, disappointed and upset.
"And to what end?" Five questioned.
"To save the world, of course."
Klaus let out several nervous laughs, unsure of what to do, "All right."
"First the moon mission and now this," Luther turned towards Pogo, "You watched me search for answers and said nothing," Pogo cast his eyes towards the ground. Pandora had never actually seen Pogo cry, she never knew he was capable of it, but she could wear there were tears lining his eyes as he looked back up at Luther. "Anything else you want to share, Pogo? Any other damn secrets?"
"Luther..." Pandora started.
"Hey, calm down, Luther," Klaus said.
"No I won't calm down, we've been lied to by the one person in this family we all trusted." Luther stabbed.
"It was your father's dying wish, Master Luther, I... I had no choice," Pogo defended himself.
Luther walked up to Pogo, towering him, "There's always, a choice," Luther then proceeded to walk out of the room.
Pogo glanced at the remaining people in the kitchen before he himself left the room.
Five sat at the table, gripping his hair several times "I gotta think," Five mumbled, then disappeared in a wave of blue light.
Pandora sat, crossing her arms across her chest, staring at the coffee mugs that sat on the table top. "Well," She started, then looked up at Klaus. "What now?
...
"No Klaus you're doing it all incorrectly, and quite frankly, you're making it harder for yourself. Where did you even get these needles and yarn anyways?" Pandora asked him as she took the ball of yarn and knitting needles from him.
"In Ben's room, I think you lost them there," Klaus said, then sat up from the position he was in earlier. "Knitting is hard, I don't know how you do it for fun," he complained.
After the disaster at breakfast, everyone went their separate ways, needing their own space to think. Pandora landed in Klaus's room not long after the eventful morning, having nothing really to do in the first place.
"Knitting isn't that hard, you just follow a pattern and you need to know when to start. You're just being unreachable," Pandora said, "Here. First you make a slip knot for the first cast. Then you hold the slip knot and your needle in your right hand," She continued to explain, demonstrating to Klaus as she went. "Now, you have your first row. You try." She handed the needles to Klaus, stumbling his way through the first series of stitches.
After a few moments of silence passed, Klaus concentrating on the stitches "I think I finally get it now, Pandora."
"Almost, they're a little tight, you won't want them too tight because that will keep you from advancing to the next row. You're doing very well on the stitches-"
"No, on losing someone that was close to you," Klaus corrected, going a little silent as he finished his statement, "I never really got it, when Ben died, why it was so hard on you when he was gone. But I get it now."
"Oh," Pandora responded softly.
"The night I disappeared, I was transported I guess, back to Vietnam. I didn't mind the scenery cause Dave was there. God, I have never met anyone who meant so much to me, he was so beautiful, and then the war took him from me." A few more moments of silence passed as Pandora reached over and grabbed his hand.
"Dave was the one you tried to summon instead of your dad, huh?" Pandora asked, Klaus nodded in response.
A series of knocks on Klaus's door made them jump, pandora letting go of Klaus's hand as Five walked into the room. "Hey. Get up. We're going," He said, half informing have commanding.
"Where?" Klaus asked.
"To save the World," He jammed his hands into his pockets.
"Oh, is that all. Great," Klaus sighed, then got up from his bed.
"Will we need anything?" Pandora asked as she got up as well.
"Not that I am aware of," Five responded, "So, Pogo said Dad Killed himself to get us all back together, right?
"Yeah, so?" Pandora said.
"It got me thinking. I had to jump to the future to figure out when it happened, but Dad, he can't time travel. So how'd the crazy bastard actually know to kill himself a week before the end of the world?"
"Reginald has always somehow known about stuff that's going to happen. Like how did he know where to find all of you guys?" Pandora shook her head.
"Well, you know-" Klaus started as he pulled on some socks.
"Don't answer Klaus, that was purely rhetorical for your side," Five interrupted, "Truth is, our entire lives, he's been telling us we'd save the world from an impending apocalypse."
"Yeah, I always thought he said that to scare us into doing the dishes," Klaus said, pulling on shoes as well.
"Me too. But what if the old man really knew it was going to happen."
"Yeah, but knew how?" Pandora said.
"No idea," Five responded, "But the fact remains, his fakakta plan worked. We all came home, including Pandora. We're here, we might as well save the world."
"Oh yeah? What, like, the three of us?"
"Uh, well, ideally it would be Pandora and I between the three of us, but we gotta work with what we got," Five said as they all walked out of the room, pass diego as he ran into his own room, "Where have you been?"
"Jail," Diego said as he ran passed them, "Long story. Where's Luther?"
"We haven't seen him since breakfast, he's really upset," Pandora said.
"Yeah. Two days before the world ends and he picks a great time to drop off the grid. Shit," he started to strap on clothing that held extra knives, "Allison's in danger."
...
The boys had entered into the bar before Pandora, scanning the area for Luther. As Pandora passed through the door, her eye caught the missing sign of Helen Cho, wondering if she had seen her before they went into the establishment.
Luther was sitting all by himself at a table, it wasn't hard to spot him, seeing he was clearly the largest person in that bar.
"Trying a little hair of the dog are we? Hm?" Klaus asked.
"Leave me alone," Luther responded.
"Will you give us a minute?" Diego asked, then motioned Five, Pandora, and Klaus to step back.
"Okay. Come On. Maybe they'll brood each other to death," Klaus commented, taking several steps back but making no effort to sit down. Pandora sat on one of the tables, crossing her arms as she watched the scene carefully, knowing how some of these situations with Luther and Diego usually end.
"Look, dad was wrong to lie to you. To all of us," Diego started, but was quickly interrupted.
"Look, I did my time. All right? Four years up there, watching and waiting because he said the world needed me. Four years of nothing but soy paste and processed air because I was naive enough to believe that dads don't lie to their kids. But guess what? The jokes on me, I'm done. With all of it. With him. With you. With this family," Luther said, Diego looked back at the three, not knowing quite what to do. "You wanna save the world, you go right ahead."
Klaus looks at Five and taps his wrist, telling him they're pressed on time.
Luther continues, "I'm fine to sit here and finish my beer and get my... buzz on."
"Listen Luther," Pandora approached the table that he and Diego were sitting at, refraining herself from slamming the palms of her hands on the table. "I don't give a flying shit on how you feel. We died the first time around, did you forget that? Did you forget that the end of the world is coming in two days? Hell I'm not even apart of this family according to your terms but I'm still pulling up by my bootstrap and doing my job, you hear me? You can leave Diego, the boys and me, but Allison," Pandora grabs the hat she sat down on the table and puts it on, diego slipping on his gloves, "Well she deserves a lot better than this shitty motivation you have."
Luther's head perked up the mention of his sister's name, "Allison? What are you talkin' about?"
"Well, we got ahold of Harold Jenkins' police file. Turns out Vanya's boyfriend is a convicted murderer, who would've saw that one coming? A little hard to trust anyone who wears corduroy," Diego filled Luther in.
"Wait, so... where's Allison now?"
"She decided to go after Harold Jenkins... Alone."
Luther stares at Diego with anger and shock, "You should've led with that!" he shoved his chair to the side as he got up. "Jesus Christ!" Luther rushed towards the door. Everyone shot up and followed him, Luther accidentally breaking the glass in the door as they exited.
"Sorry! We'll pay the bill later!" Pandora called back into the bar as they left.
...
Prom Night, 2006
For as long as Pandora had lived in this house, her bedroom window has never been locked. Mainly for Ben, she had been keeping it open for him ever since they were kids, just in case they needed each other. Although, her mother is never surprised anymore when Ben comes down for breakfast every other morning.
"God that window is starting to really become a tight squeeze," Pandora mumbled as she had stumbled into her bedroom from the window. "Add a dress to it and it's a fucking night mare. Here." She grabbed Ben's hand and helped pull him through the window, his landing a little more graceful than hers.
"Did you at least have fun? Other than, the last half of prom I mean," Pandora chuckled, walking towards her dresser as she unzipped the back of her dress.
"I did, actually. Robin put in a lot of work to make this happen." Ben replied, looking away from his girlfriend as though he'd never seen her bare back, "I-I'm just happy that I got to spend it with you."
"Yeah she... she really cares about you guys. It was nice to have a couple of hours where we were just teenagers," Pandora said, then pulled out a pair of pajamas for Ben out of her dresser and tossed them at him. "I feel like we had more fun by ourselves in the end, I don't really wanna know what's happening downstairs." She slipped the straps of her dress off her shoulders, letting it fall before changing into her own pair of pajamas.
"Robin probably has everything sorted out by now, she's good with handling Luther and Diego. But you know Reginald is probably setting up some nightmare training exercise 'cause he hated the idea of prom."
"It's probably better if we just had a mission tomorrow," Ben laughed, starting to change out of his suit and into the clothes Pandora provided for him, "So he has a reason to get mad at us if we mess up."
Pandora laughed lightly, pulling the Bobby pins out of her hair, moving towards Ben at the same time. After she pulled out two, she stopped. "Ben, can I ask you a question?"
"Of course you can."
"Do you like me?"
"Of course I do, you're my girlfriend."
"But do you like like me."
"All right, what are you trying to say?"
"Well I was just thinking about how we've been friends for like, ever and dating for a really long time. I know that we've had to keep this relationship really tight under wraps because of the academy, but you've never told me that you... loved me." Pandora finally said, sitting down on her bed, her legs criss cross, "I know actions speak louder than words, but I've never heard you say it out loud."
Ben paused for a moment, taken aback slightly about her comment. "Well I feel like I've tried my best to non verbally day it, but every time I do want to tell you, I guess it's never the right time. Like when there's photographers around us or when we're in events like this, I just felt like I would never have the time to say it so I try other ways to tell you besides verbally. With being in the academy I feel like there's always eyes on us, even when we're alone." Ben started, twisting the shirt Pandora had given him in his hands as he sat down right by her, the bed dipping a bit under their weight.
"Hey Ben?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you."
Ben smiled, "I love you too Pandora," He leaned over and kissed her repeatedly.
Pandora cupped his face, kissing him gently, "I love you so much it's not even funny. I love everything about you, even the parts of you that you don't love about yourself, I love you." She kisses him yet again.
"God I'm so glad I chose you out of all the people out there in the world. You make me so happy Pandora," His arms were now around her, their foreheads pressed against each other, "I promise you that there is nothing, not even death, that will pull us apart."
...
They spent what seemed like hours in the car, Five driving and Klaus in the passenger while Pandora, Diego, and Luther were shoved in the back seat. Pandora constantly found herself checking her watch every five minutes as Diego anxiously twirled a knife around in his fingers, Luther staring out the side window. The slow movement of music throughout the silent vehicle wasn't helping either.
"Hey. Can you go any faster?" Luther asked, leaning over the front seat, further shoving Pandora into Diego.
"Ask me again and I'll burn you with the cigarette lighter," Five responded, keeping his eyes on the road. Luther sighed, then sat back down in the seat again.
They eventually reached the cabin, it was quite homely and cute but they had no time to admire the scenery as they rushed up the stairs, Luther kicking down the front door as they went.
In the middle of the carpeted floor, was Allison. She was lying there, her eyes wide open, her hands and eyes twitching. There was a large gash across her throat, blood streaming down her neck, staining her white shirt. Her curly hair sticky with the fluid and the carpet a scarlet red instead of the eggshell around it.
Pandora gasped as she laid her eyes on her former team mate, tears pricking her eyes.
"Allison no!" Luther shouted, quickly kneeling down to her level and scooping er up barley, his one hand holding onto the back of her neck. "Allison! Oh my god Allison!" His other hand started to stroke her hair as tears ran down his face. He held her close to him as she sobbed, Pandora and Klaus putting their hands on his back, trying to hold back their own tears. "Please look at me, please.... Oh my god!" Klaus slumped on the couch, all of them not able to take their eyes on the sight before them.