Uncle Diego's place was not what Theodore had been expecting, and yet at the same time it fitted him perfectly. As it turned out, Uncle Diego lived in the boiler /storage room of the local boxing gym that he sometimes fought in; the owner—Al—had apparently rented him the place free of cash, in exchange for Uncle Diego's services. It would depend on the day, but typically he was found in the boxing ring either fighting or wiping it down.

Inside the boiler room, Theodore was met with low-hanging lights and exposed brick walls. A full length mirror taken from the academy was placed at the bottom of the stairs and a crocheted image of a domino mask, pair of knives and his name was framed and hanging on the wall. The dust collecting around it suggested the item was one of his uncle's prized possessions as it was one of the few clean items in the room.

A single twin bed (the one in which he now lay on, his head propped up by a couple of moth-bitten pillows) sat tucked away in the back of the room, out of sight. From his vantage point, Theodore could spot several old boxing posters littered about the place with his Uncle's face plastered across them and an old handheld radio that sat on the work bench off to the side. The only mention of family-related items he had spotted upon arrival, was the stack of old gossip magazines sitting beneath some newspapers, and a selection of Umbrella Academy figurines lining one of the windowsills. The remaining junk cluttered in the room belonged to Al. It was like the Bat cave on a budget.

It wasn't long after Uncle Diego had guided him over to the bed with stilted instructions to rest, that the vigilante-wannabe had disappeared back out the door, muttering something about Uncle Five and masked intruders. Theodore probably should've cared more, but exhaustion from the day's events pulled at his lids and he just enough energy to toe off his smoked shoes & chuck his blazer towards the end of the bed. He was asleep before his head even hit the pillows.

It was dark outside when Theodore woke briefly to the sound of heavy footsteps thundering down the short flight of stairs and another weight being added to the bed beside him. Blearily peeling his tired eyes open, he was met with the sight Uncle Five's back and Uncles Luther & Diego standing over them. Theodore scrunched up his nose in disgust at the scent of alcohol and vomit that emanated from Uncle Five, but he was glad for the extra warmth.

"Funny, if I didn't know he was such a prick, I'd say he looks almost adorable in his sleep" Uncle Diego commented.

"Don't worry, he'll sober up eventually and be back to his normal unpleasant self" Uncle Luther replied.

"You alright there, Theo?" Uncle Diego nodded to him when he saw the teen's reaction to the smell of his newest bedmate.

" 'M hvilad, forvodor" Theodore grumbled, the Loric words easily falling from his lips as he flopped back against the pillows and pulled the scratchy blankets back over his head as he went back to sleep, ignorant of the confused looks both uncles sported at his response.

28 March 2019

Luther had stepped out for only a moment to use the gym's bathroom in the early hours of the morning, sometime after Diego had left to retrieve Klaus. So when he returned he was greeted to a sight that made him pause for a moment as he took it in; before he fished around in one of his pockets looking for his phone to take a photo. In the brief window that he'd been gone, Five must've awoken as the glass of water and aspirin that had been placed on the bedside table were gone and he had returned to the bed with his mannequin in tow. In turn, while Five clung to the half-dressed mannequin, Theodore had wrapped himself around Five's small frame and was cuddling him like he was a teddy bear as he snored like a chainsaw. It was all very cute and perfect blackmail material.

CLICK! FLASH!

"Shit—no wait—!" Luther cursed when he realised he'd left the flash on, but it was too late. Five was awake again, this time looking for all the world like the teenager he appeared to be. Narrowed eyes turned to his deer-caught-in-the-headlights form with phone still in hand.

"What?" Five grumbled, as he tried to sit up; though it was a little difficult with another one and half people sharing the twin bed. Eventually, he opted for placing his mannequin on the floor by the bed and forcefully pried Theodore's arms off of his waist. Luther was afraid that the action would wake the ash-covered teen, but all he did was grunt and roll to face the wall as Five swung his feet over the edge of the bed.

"Nothing" Luther rushed out as he stuffed his phone back in his pocket.

"Did—did you just take a photo?" Five squinted at him.

"No—no, I was just…looking for a signal" Luther excused, internally wincing at how bad the excuse was. Five either bought it or brushed it off as he placed his (undoubtedly) aching head in his hands—he did drink an entire bottle of vodka in one sitting.

The sound of Theodore grumbling in his sleep as he tossed over again seemed to knock Five out of his reverie and he turned to Luther who had taken the taken the time to pull up a stool he was sure would give out under his weight. A million and one questions burned on Luther's tongue; questions about what happened to Five, what was this mission he was so dead set on completing, who the masked intruders—Hazel & Cha-Cha—really were, what they wanted with their family and so on. But as he sat there watching his little brother polish the glass eye he had plucked from his pocket like an addict needing his fix, Luther found himself pausing.

In the end, he settled on the simplest question: "When's it s'posed to happen?" He asked quietly. "This…Apocalypse?"

"I can't give you the exact hour" Five sighed defeatedly, "But from what I could gather, we have four days left"

"Why didn't you say something sooner?!"

"It wouldn't have mattered"

"Of course it would! We could've banded together and helped you try to stop this thing!"

"For the record, you already tried"

"What d'ya mean?"

"…I found all of you" Five admitted, blinking repeatedly as he tried to clear his suddenly misty eyes. "Your bodies"

"We die?" Luther repeated flabbergasted as if the notion hadn't even occurred to him.

"Horribly" Five swallowed thickly as if the words had become stuck in his throat. In that moment, Luther finally understood why his brother had been so against their help. "You were together, trying to stop whomever it was that ends the world"

"Wait—How d'ya know that?" Luther queried, turning his far-off gaze from the floor to his brother.

"This was clutched in your dead hand when I found you" Five gestured with the glass eye, before softly chucking it to him. Luther turned over the brown eye, a little grossed out by the item in question. A few smudges of dried blood remained ingrained in the cracked glass despite Five's repetitive polishings, and a serial number on the back. "Must've ripped it outta their head before they went down" Five concluded as Luther inspected his second most prized possession (after Dolores, of course).

"Whose head?" Luther asked, running a hairy thumb across the cracked glass.

"Like I said; I don't know" Five shook his head.

"Well, there's a serial number on the back" Luther pointed out, trying to help. "Maybe—maybe you can try to—"

"—No that's a dead end" Five cut in, "It's just another hunk of glass"

As Luther handed the glass eye back to Five, the time-traveler turned to spare a glance over his shoulder at their nephew who appeared to mumbling gibberish in his sleep as he tossed and turned. "Why's Theodore here?" Five nodded to him.

"Diego said something about a work studies internship & a fire" Luther replied softly as he tried to sort through the information Five had just dumped on him.

"Meritech!" Five cursed.

"Yeah…" Luther drew out the word as he raised a brow in question at Five, "He said they couldn't get a hold of Vanya, so they called him"

"Vanya…?" Five's brows furrowed in puzzlement, "Why wouldn't she—?"

"—I dunno" Luther shrugged, turning his attention away from narrowed eyes and back to his large hands. "You'd have to ask Diego"

"Nn" Five grunted his acknowledgement, accompanied by a short nod.

SLAM!

"Piece of shit—!" Before the two could continue, the door behind them slammed open and Diego stormed inside with hellish wrath written on his features and furious tears gathering in his eyes. "Do you have any idea of what you just did?!" Diego demanded, charging towards Five.

"Mmf!" Luther stood and quickly intercepted his angry brother, trapping his arms by his sides and lifting him off the ground.

"Nn! Nope! Lemme—!" Diego struggled uselessly in Luther's strong grip as Five let the protective stance he'd startled into, go. "Get your ape hands offa me!"

"I can do this as long as it takes for you to calm down" Luther warned.

"…Tch" Diego fell limp, "Fine"

"Now" Luther set Diego back on his feet but remained stationed between the bed and Diego. "Wanna tell us what you're talking about?"

"Our brother's been pretty busy since he got back" Diego hissed, eyes trained on the time-traveler. "He was in the middle of that shoot-out at Griddy's and then at Gimble Brothers' after the guys in masks attacked the academy looking for him!"

"None of which is any of your concern" Five retorted, his tone completely blasé.

"It is now, they just killed my friend"

Luther turned to Five who remained seated on the bed, but his expression had fallen into the closest thing resembling remorse that he could ever remember him wearing. "Who are they Five?" Luther asked.

"…They work for my former employer" Five swallowed thickly as if admitting so would bring death raining down on them right there and then. "A woman called the Handler. She sent them to stop me and then as soon as Diego's…friend got in their way…well, fair game"

"And now, they're my fair game!" Diego hissed. "And I'm gonna see to it they pay!"

"That would be a mistake, Diego, they've killed people far more dangerous than you" Five warned as Diego spun on his and began to march out of the room once more.

"Yeah, we'll see about that" Diego called over his shoulder as he climbed the small flight of stairs, still fighting the tears in his eyes.

SLAM!

However, just as he was about to reach for the doorknob, the door swung shut and closed with another slam making the three conscious occupants startle in surprise. "What the hell?!" Diego spun to face Luther and Five (who remained on the other side of the room—one on the edge of the bed and the other standing next to it) after useless rattling the doorknob in an attempt to open the door. "What was that for?!" He demanded.

"No one touched the door, Diego" Five snarked.

"Yeah right!" Diego stomped back down the stairs and over to the two congregated by the bed.

"It wasn't us!" Luther raised his hands in surrender

"Oh? So you expect me to believe it was Theo?"

"Ney…forvodor! Et neue me! Neue me!" Theodore suddenly cried out, making all three uncles snap around. The language wasn't one that Luther recognised, though the tone of it sounded almost like it was French, but that was it.

"Theodore…?" Five asked softly as they watched the tears streak down his freckled cheeks and white-knuckled fists clench into the fabric of the blanket covering him as he tossed and turned. The way his face contorted into expressions of pain and fear pulled at Luther's heartstrings and he wanted nothing more than to end his nephew's suffering, but he didn't know how.

What happened next however, none of them were expecting. As more gibberish fell from Theodore's lips, random objects—including Theodore himself—around the room began to float, some even spinning on an invisible axis. "What the hell—!" Diego cursed as he dodged a spinning spanner that flew towards him from the work bench. As Theodore's words picked up in fervour, more things took to the air until all three Hargreeves siblings were hoisted skywards.

"I think he's having a nightmare!" Luther called out as he bobbed towards one of the shaking ceiling lights.

"Yeah! No shit!" Diego fired back as he was shot across the room like a rocket. As for Five, he tried to teleport closer to Theodore's writhing form just above the bed, but each time he made it close enough, he was just pushed away by some unseen force.

"So wake him up!" Luther sassed.

"What do you think I've been trying to do?!" Five snarked as he was sent flying once more—this time gripping tight to Dolores.

"Neue…!" Theodore whined, his voice becoming desperate as he fought against monsters they couldn't see. "LOREN DEPIKA! GAVIR! LOREN!"

"Guys…" Diego warned as he flipped upside down like he'd been yanked upwards by his belt loops. "He's glowing—!"

"Well, that can't be good" Luther commented as Theodore's veins started to fluctuate and glow an eery blue.

"Vanya never said he glowed!" Diego shouted in pain as he banged into one of the beams.

"Yeah, well, she also didn't mention the nightmares or the gibberish!" Luther fired back.

"Well, then what did she say?" Five cut in before the two could go all out, as he wedged himself in one of the corners of the room.

"She said he was telekinetic!" Luther called from the other end of the room.

"No she said, he was telekinetic among other things!" Diego retorted.

"No she didn't!"

"Yes she did! You were just too busy accusing everyone of murder!"

"Hey idiots! Focus!" Five interrupted "Floating blue nephew—how do we wake him up?"

In the end, it appeared they didn't need to as Theodore suddenly snapped upright with a wheezing gasp as he fell the foot back into bed. A lot of things happened at once; with Theodore no longer (un)consciously using his telekinesis, the items & people in the air suddenly slammed back to earth. Luther hit the ground hard, landing on his back with a wheeze and knocking his hard head against the stairs as gravity returned to normal.

Used to the moon's gravity as he was, Luther was the first to recover as he spared a quick glance to both Diego (who was cursing up a storm from where he had awkwardly landed on top of a pile of weights) and Five (who was still clutching onto his mannequin like his life depended on it). Both seemed okay; so he moved on to inspect their nephew who now sat hunched over on the bed, hugging his knees as his shoulders shook with quiet sobs. Whatever he had been dreaming about seemed to have really scared him.

"Theo?" Diego asked, unnaturally soft as he and Five joined Luther at the bedside. "Are you alright?" Theodore didn't reply, but his shoulders continued to shake with silent sobs.

"Nice going, Diego, you just made it worse" Five snarked, as Luther's giant hands hovered over Theodore's form before retracting as an idea came to mind.

"Why you little—!" Diego turned on Five, his previous anger towards him still raging.

"Knock it off, you two" Luther scolded as he returned with a somewhat clean towel that he'd scavenged from the pile now slumped by the door.

"He started it" Five excused, sounding very much like the thirteen year-old he appeared to be.

"Well, I'm ending it" Luther replied as he lay the towel overtop of Theodore's head and let it fall around him like a shield.

"What's that s'posed to do, genius?" Diego then turned on Luther.

"I dunno" He shrugged, "It used to work with Ben—and back up, stop crowding him"

That seemed to take all the wind out of Diego's sails who deflated at the mention of their deceased brother and reluctantly backed down. At the same time, Theodore curled in on himself further as he held tight to the edges of the towel and used it like a safety blanket. In the meantime, Luther righted the stool he had been sitting on before as Diego chose to remain standing and Five returned to the edge of the bed.

The three elder Hargreeves remained there in silent vigil until Theodore peered out from beneath the towel with tear-covered freckles and misty blue orbs that seemed to stare right into their souls. A few brown curls clung to his sweaty face and he wore an expression of unexplainable hauntedness that told them just how bad the nightmares really were. Luther's heart cried out for his nephew, because in that moment when he looked at them like his world was made of glass, he looked so much like Ben did after a mission, that it physically hurt. The sharp intake of breath from Diego and Five's hand gripped tight to the blankets beneath him, told Luther they agreed.