~
Allison dusted her dress as soon as she got out of the cab. She stares at the large building that stood before her. Random thoughts ran through her mind as she walks up to the large door, and cautiously pressed the doorbell beside it. When no one had answered, she took it upon herself to walk towards the back in hopes of finding someone.
She squinted her eyes when she sees a figure, floating in the pool. When she realizes the familiar face of the person, her eyes widen and a grin crept up her lips. "Klaus?" She announces, the joy she felt had bubbled inside her. "Oh my god--Klaus!"
Allison ran up to her brother in the pool after taking off her heels, not caring if her dress gets wet. Klaus scoffs in amusement as he fell from his floatie to also ran up to his sister. "Allison!" He exclaims, and they both shared a warm (or cold, because of the pool) embrace.
"Oh my god. It's been so long!"
"I thought you were--dead!"
Allison gives him a sad smile, making him shake his head. "I thought I was the only one left." Klaus added and Allison nodded in agreement. "I-I know. Me too."
Klaus ushers her to the edge of the pool. "Hey, sit down. Sit down." He gently pushes her, and as soon as Allison had taken her seat, Klaus laid back on his floatie.
"So, you want to catch me up on how you ended up in a place like this?" Allison gives him a smug look, earning a chuckle from him. Klaus stretched his arms, "Oh, you know... Dicks, drugs, debutantes. My holy trinity. But, yeah, it's been a wild run."
"Klaus, you started a cult," Allison points out, and Klaus exaggeratedly sighs. Klaus clasped his hands together, "Well, 'Cult' is a very negative word, Allison. We prefer to call it, 'an alternative spiritual community'."
Allison hums in response and shakes her head. "Hmm, nope. You definitely started a cult."
Even if Klaus was wearing shades, Allison could still see him rolling his eyes at her. "Alright, alright, alright. What about you? What have you been up to?" Klaus asks.
"Uh, well, I'm living in South Dallas, working as a civil rights organizer."
"Wow."
"With my husband."
Klaus gasped, "You're married? Who's this lunatic?"
Allison laughs loudly, "His name is Raymond Chestnut. Ray."
"Wait, is he locked up right now?"
"Yeah, how did you know about that?"
"Yeah, yeah. We did time together. Wow, small world."
Allison sadly smiles at him, sighing. "We organized a really big sit-in at a lunch counter today. And then Ray got arrested on some bullshit charge, and... I can't get him out."
"Hello? Why didn't you just rumor him out?" Klaus asks in a matter-of-fact kind of tone. Allison shakes her head at him. "I haven't used my powers since... You know, the thing with Vanya. I couldn't speak for a year." She tells him.
Klaus gives her a reassuring smile, "Oh, I'm so sorry, Allison."
"No, it's okay. I actually really like who I am without it. Everything I have, I've earned, and it feels really good. You know?"
(cont.)
A police officer on duty behind a desk rubs his hands together after opening his lunch. He was caught off guard when the lights in the precinct started flickering, and he looked over his sandwich. Sudden holes started appearing on his sandwich, and the officer backed away in fright when it started to float mid-air. "W-what in tarnation..."
He jolted back when his sandwich flew across the room. His hands were starting to shake when he hears the typewriter near him. With wide eyes and shaky breath, he waits for whatever the typewriter would give him.
The officer looks over the writings. On the paper, it reads:
"FREE
CHESTNUT
OR...
DIE."
With a terrified look, the officer looks around and immediately prepares his papers.
(cont.)
"Don't gloat," Klaus grumbles as Ben gives him his signature cute smile. He held up to fingers, blowing on it as if it were a gun. Klaus rolls his eyes at him, "Yeah, yeah, whatever."
"You? You got me out?"
Klaus turned to face the owner of the voice. It was Raymond Chestnut. Which he now learned, was Allison's 1963's husband. Raymond gives him a surprised look as Klaus smiles at him in return.
"I told you I had friends in high places."
Raymond rubs his free cuffed wrists, "I-I... I don't know what to say."
Klaus waves a hand to him, pulling himself off the chair he was sitting on. "Don't say anything." Klaus tells him before walking over to him with open arms, "Anything for family, brother."
"Oh--woah, okay. We are all brothers beneath the skin," Raymond said when Klaus gives him a big hug, patting him on the back. Klaus pulls away from him, taking off his shades. "No, no. Literally. You're my brother-in-law." He tells him, shaking his head.
Raymond stares at him in confusion. "What?"
"Yeah, man!" Klaus chuckles, patting him on the shoulder, "Family barbecues are about to get real weird. And to think my own brother and sister are married so young... Anyway, later."
~
Five and Vanya wait for the waitress to fill their cups. As soon as Five's cup starts filling with coffee, Five motions her to stop. "Leave the pot, dear," He tells the waitress, who gives him an odd look but left the pot anyway.
"Lippy, little shit." The waitress grumbles under her breath as she walks away from the two.
Vanya looks over to Five, "So... Are you gonna tell me what the hell is going on?"
Five nods, sighing. He glances to his sister, "When you were a baby, you were bought by an eccentric billionaire. He raised you in an elite academy with seven other siblings with extraordinary powers. But in the year 2019, in order to avoid the apocalypse, we jumped into a vortex and ended up being scattered throughout the timeline in Dallas, Texas."
As soon as he finishes his story, Vanya gives him an agitated look.
"Any questions?"
"I-I... I don't get it..."
"Yeah, well..." Five starts, grabbing his cup, "It's too bad my wife isn't here to clear things up. She always tells me I'm a bad storyteller. If she were here, you'd understand everything."
Vanya's eyebrows furrowed, her head beginning to spin. Wild thoughts ran through her mind as she was confused as ever. 'What did he mean by, 'I was bought'? Powers? Vortex? An apocalypse? And wait... he has a wife?' She thought to herself. She didn't know where to start. She has so many questions, so many options.
"Y-you're... You have a wife? Do I know her? What--what's her name?" Vanya asked with wide yet worried eyes. Five took a sip from his cup, nodding. He clears his throat, "Yes, and yes. You know her. Her name is Nine, and she's your sister. She has powers just like you, and incredibly powerful too. We got married when we went into the future. It's a long story."
"Well, where is she? Why isn't she here with you?" Vanya asks once more, wanting to find out more about this young boy sitting beside her. She has so many questions.
Vanya notices the sudden change from Five's expression. He now looked worried, but simply brushed it off, not realizing that Vanya had noticed it. Five sighs, "She's missing, just like the rest of our siblings. Well, I did find Luther, but I couldn't change his mind to come with me. And I also found Diego. All we need to find is Klaus, Allison, and well..."
"Nine..." Vanya nods at him. Despite the confusion still not leaving, she tried to understand his every word. Five gives her a small smile in return. "Any more questions?"
She shakes her head, parting her lips. "Okay, um... What did you mean by the apocalypse?"
Five sighs once more, "I mean the end of the world as we know it."
"Yeah, but how?"
"You really don't remember anything?" Five asks her, earning a sad look from his sister. Vanya pressed her lips into a thin line, "No. Nothing before a month ago."
"Then, what do you remember?"
"I landed in, like, a... back alley. Got hit by a car. My head was ringing like crazy, and I had no idea how I got there, where I came from." Vanya tells him, "What causes the apocalypse?"
Five paused for a moment, debating whether to tell her the truth on how she's the one who caused the apocalypse or tell her another side of it. Now he's really regretting not looking for his wife the first chance he got. Five carefully chooses his answer, "Asteroid impact. The big kaboom ends everything. Just like the one that got the dinosaurs, except way worse."
Five grasped the cup in his hands, "Bad news is, it followed us here."
"What do you mean, 'followed us'?"
"Eight days from now, the world ends in a nuclear doomsday. It's a different disease, but... same result."
Vanya scoffs lightly, "That can't be right."
"I saw it. With my own eyes," Five sighs, "You were there. We all were. Except..."
Vanya takes in the information he had given her until a realization struck her. "Shit. I have to make a phone call--" She suddenly announces and quickly left her seat to head to the telephone.
Vanya dials the home number to call one specific household. She waits for someone to pick up after the first few rings. Vanya sighs in relief when someone had picked up from the other line. "Hello?" The other end greets her with a frantic tone.
"Sissy?" Vanya announced.
"Vanya? Where are you?"
"I'm so sorry I took the station wagon." Vanya apologizes, frowning to herself. On the other line, Sissy lets out an exasperated sigh.
"I don't care about the damn car. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"What the hell happened?"
"I found my younger brother," Vanya tells the woman.
"What? How?"
Vanya shakes her head, "It's a long story. Is Harlan okay?"
"N-no, no. He's not okay. The record player broke, and he just... Just--when the hell are you going back?"
"As soon as I can. I promise." Vanya reassuringly tells her, sighing.
"I'm glad you found your family, and I--"
Vanya's eyes widen in disbelief when Five walked up to her and pressed the end receiver of the telephone. Vanya glares at him, "What the hell?!"
"We don't have time for this."
"That's my friend you just hung up on!"
Five grabs her by her shoulders, "Listen to me! Those people from the field are coming after us. They are never going to stop. Do you understand me?" He tells her, his voice now getting softer as to not scare her any longer. Five's expression softens when Vanya stares at him with a terrified look. He continues on with his words, "We need to stick together, find the others, and figure out how to stop doomsday. Whoever this person is, they can't be more important than the end of the world. We need to go."
Vanya nods at him, putting the phone handset back on the switch before finally following her brother out of the restaurant booth. As crazy as everything sounds to her at that moment, she needed to believe him in order to find more answers as to who she is, who her siblings are, and what had really happened before they got stuck. She needed answers.
And she's going to get it soon.
~
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll make sure to keep up and try to finish this book by January of 2020. I'll find some time to do it with our second semester coming up. So, yeah, typical greetings and information. I hope you all stay tuned for the next one.
Happy New Year, everyone!