I swung around the corner, tripping on a couple of stairs as I ran up in an attempt to find my siblings. Given how things had been left, they were likely still in their rooms, attempting to figure out what exactly just happened. None of us had seen Vanya's powers in action before, but something told me that at least Luther had put two and two together and figured out she was causing this. I still refused to believe she was capable of any sort of harm or destruction, but I couldn't discount the pattern that had started emerging.

I had just made it to the staircase that led to my siblings' bedrooms, when I crashed chest-first into two figures, who grunted in pain before falling right to the ground. My eyes widened as I reached my hands down, helping Klaus and Diego back up onto their feet. Diego adjusted his sling slightly as he glared at me.

"Shit. Sorry, guys," I muttered, sheepish.

"No time, no time!" Klaus shouted, already spinning me around and starting to push me away. "We have to find Mom and get out of here!"

"Right, right." The three of us ran to Mom's charging spot, only to find the cushioned seat bare. The beautiful paintings that once sat proud on the wall now swung violently back and forth, tumbling from their places of honor as the golden frames containing them cracked and shattered. I stuck my arms out, attempting to keep myself from falling as another explosion rocked the ground beneath me.

"Mom!" Diego shouted, attempting to call her to us. "Where is she?"

The three of us quickly turned on our heels as a piece of the ceiling fell just inches from me, smashing onto the marble flooring.

"Mom!" I shouted as we crossed the bridge that normally would lead to where all the Umbrella Academy memorabilia had once been housed. The cases had been smashed and any little items buried beneath rubble, but at this point, that wasn't the most pressing issue.

"Mom!"

Just as we headed down the next hallway, a chunk of the ceiling crashed down onto the back of my neck, knocking me off my feet. Klaus and Diego's bodies thudded beside me, with the latter rendered completely unconscious. I tried to pick myself up, but the moment I lifted my fingers, every nerve in me seemed to go dead, forcing me to flop back down like a limp, helpless piece of garbage. I tried to fight again, not wanting to give up on my family that easily, but no matter my willpower, my body refused to move

After one last, fruitless attempt, I closed my eyes, allowing my head to loll to the side. I hadn't completely believed what I had said to Five about being destined to die, but if it's what time wished to happen, then it would. I had hoped so desperately that we changed the timeline, that none of us would be harmed and we could actually fight this catastrophe, but there was nothing else left to do. The necklace I always wore with pride dug into my sternum as I closed my eyes, resigning myself completely.

That's when, suddenly, my body shot forward, feeling as though someone were pulling on my hand. Adrenaline shot through me, forcing me to suddenly jump up just as what appeared to be nearly the entire ceiling came crashing down. Klaus must have gotten up and pulled us out of the way just in time.

I turned to thank my brother, but found him instead staring at the spot next to me with wide eyes, his jaw fallen slack. It took me a second to figure out just what he was staring at, but when it hit me, I turned to the air beside me and gasped a little.

"Holy shit," Klaus muttered as Diego came to. I reached down and helped him to his feet, setting an arm under his shoulders to support him.

"Come on," I shouted, turning my head back to the still-dumbfounded Klaus. "Come on, come on. Klaus!"

I rushed him up the other set of stairs, leading to Five and my rooms and the attic, where the fire escape had been installed. Klaus, Diego, and I fought a little to push ourselves out, but we managed to escape just in time, our feet touching the ground right before the bricks and mortar began to fall away.

"You okay?" Diego nodded, and I snapped my attention to Klaus. "You okay?" Diego maneuvered around me and placed his hands on his brother's face.

"Hey, you just saved my life, man." I furrowed my brow a bit as Diego wrapped him into a hug. This was pretty out of character for him, even at what could possibly be the end of the world.

"Okay. Great." I watched as Klaus shrugged a little, still looking at the spot next to me. I felt something warm spread in my chest for a moment, knowing who was right beside me.

"Shit. Mom." I moved my eyes up to where Diego was looking. My heart dropped as I spotted Mom, standing in the window and smiling down at us. "Mom!" The three of us began to frantically wave our arms, attempting to get her to come down and save herself.

"Mom! Get out of there, now!"

"Mom, get out of there!" I begged. "Mom!" She refused to budge, continuing to look at the three of us as though we were her paintings.

"I'm going after you!" I grabbed Diego's arm and yanked him back.

"No, Diego!" He tried to break away from me, but I only tightened my grip. "Diego!"

"Please, Mom!"

Tears welled in my eyes as she blew one final kiss down to the children she had spent so many years dedicating her life to. She knew exactly what was going to happen, yet she made no efforts to come and be with us. As sad as it was, I almost saw the positive in all of this. She had spent so many years submitting to Dad's will, watching as he abused us. Mom had watched her children suffer for long, and hadn't been able to do a damn thing about it.

At least she could finally be free from all of this.

My brothers and I huddled together as the largest cracks finally formed in the place we had called home for so many years. Glass shards and concrete flew out before the building completely crumbled down, wiping away almost 30 years of neglect, abuse, card games, and peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches. But the implications of the Academy falling were far greater and more grave than I liked.

Did this mean the apocalypse was still on? I didn't think that was possible, given that Five had come back and we were alive, but this all looked like what he had described. Something must have caused a branch in the timeline- that's the best I could explain it- and rerouted back to the end of the world. And I knew exactly what it was.

Once the dust settled, Diego immediately threw himself onto the rubble, trying to dig through and find Mom's body. Klaus and I glanced at each other a moment, unsure of whether we should let him have his moment or drag him away.

"Mom! Mom!" he shouted as he rifled through the masses of nothing. "Klaus, Mina, come here. Help me search." Gingerly, I reached out and placed a hand on my brother's shoulder, trying to bring him back from his slight hysteria.

"Diego," I whispered. "Just stop it. Stop."

"No. What- what are you doing?" I managed to pull him up to his feet again.

"Stop. Stop."

"Let me go. What are you doing?"

"She's gone. She's..." My voice broke a little, but I attempted to compose myself.

"What do you wanna do? You wanna-wanna w-w-w-walk away from this?" I drew in a shaky breath as we met eyes. For a second, he looked like he had when we were kids, just hoping someone would think he was good enough.

"No." I lowered my gaze and shook my head.

"What about Pogo?"

"Just-"

"He didn't make it."

My blood boiled as I turned around. Luther and Allison came up over the hill of destruction, shoulders slumped and gazes defeated. For a moment, my rage reached its peak, and I almost started screaming at him, until I finally registered what he said. Immediately, all that anger simmered down into regret and grief. And, at least they had made it out alive.

"What?"

"Vanya killed him." I slowly began to shake my head, refusing to believe Luther's words. Vanya couldn't, no matter what her powers were. She'd never been capable...

But all of this... it was her.

"But Vanya wouldn't-"

"No, I saw it," Luther interjected. "Just before we got out."

"Mom. Now Pogo." I choked down tears, not finding this the appropriate moment to shed them.

"Guys."

Some of the guilt and sadness momentarily lifted as Five came running over the destruction, holding some newspaper in his hands. His eyes lit up a little the moment he spotted me, and I quickly made my way over to him and crouched down, wrapping him in a tight hug. Despite the desperate situation, the rest of our siblings actually let us have our moment. They must have understood something else happened before I met back up with them.

Either that, or they were afraid of what Five would do if they tried to interrupt his time with his sister.

Once the moment passed, Five looked to everyone else, holding up the ashen and torn newspaper he had gripped in his hand.

"This is it. The apocalypse is still on. The world ends today," he declared, confirming my theory.

"I thought you said it was over," Luther argued.

"I was wrong, okay? This newspaper, I found it in the future the day I got stuck. The headline hasn't changed."

"No, that doesn't mean anything." I rolled my eyes at Diego. I certainly wasn't the brightest of the Hargreeves bunch, but at least I understood what Five was trying to get at. "The time could have been altered since the newspaper came out this morning."

"You're not listening to me," Five growled. I tapped him on the shoulder, trying to get him to bring it down and explain in a way that wouldn't end with everyone wanting to choke the life out of him. "When I found it, I assumed this place came down along with everything else. But here we are. The Moon's still shining, the Earth is in one piece, but not the Academy."

"God, shut up about the Moon." Everyone looked to me with varying degrees of confusion. "Oh, sorry. Reflex." Luther shot me an unamused glance, but I chose to ignore it. We had more pressing matters at hand. Klaus made his way over and snatched the newspaper from Five's hands, reading the cover story with intense precision.

"I'm confused."

"Then listen to me, you idiot! Vanya destroys the Academy before the apocalypse. I thought Harold Jenkins was the cause, but he was the fuse. Vanya is the bomb. Vanya causes the apocalypse."

"We're all alive, which means there was a branch in the timeline, right?" Five nodded. "But ultimately, it all came back here, right in the same place we were when Five jumped forward." I paused for a moment, looking over all of my siblings' faces. "We have to find her."

Before anyone else could offer any suggestions, a bright spotlight shone down on us, and helicopters began to circle the building. We couldn't stay here, not without getting taken in to be questioned. We couldn't afford to waste any time with anything; a plan had to be conceived before Vanya could end the world.

"We gotta go, now!"

"Regroup at the Super Star!" Luther shouted. "Go!"

"Seriously?" I groaned.

"You have a better place?" For once, I was at a loss for words with him. "Then shut up and go."

I reached over and gripped my brother's hand, leading him over the rubble and around the side of the Academy. I had built up just enough electricity for him to get us through and to the brightly-lit bowling alley, beating the rest of our siblings there. We both tried to catch our breath as we leaned against the wall, waiting for everyone else.

Once we had composed ourselves, I crouched down and pulled my brother in for another hug, this one much longer and tighter than the last one. The wave of emotions had crashed down completely on us, and the desperation mixed with the relief that I had survived.

All of us were alive, and for the most part, well. We might actually be able to pull this off.