Pins clattered onto the wooden floors nearly exactly in time with the slam of bowling balls hitting the ground. A few laughs carried over the music drifting from the speakers, while a small group a few lanes over shouted congratulations and 'happy birthday's at a kid who looked to be no older than Five's corporeal age.
I straightened again as I finished adjusting the tightness of my shoelace, looking over the faces of all my siblings. The fact we'd had to pay for a lane was bullshit to me. We could have just sat in the food court area, ordered something and talked all this out, but no, the manager had to rob us in a time when we were already desperate. Five and I had gone a couple of times just to get some scores on the board, but the game had long been abandoned at this point. We had more important things to focus on, things that would keep this old bowling alley we all used to sneak out to standing.
"Look, I hate to be the one to say this, but everyone needs to prepare." I crossed my arms as I focused on Luther, for once ready to hear out whatever plan he'd been formulating in his mind this whole time.
"For what?"
"To do whatever it takes to stop Vanya." My open mindset started to close off a little at his implications. No way in hell was I going to hurt my sister any more than we already were going to need to. Even then, there had to be a way to avoid harming her at all.
Thankfully, before I could chew him out, Allison slapped his chest with her pad of paper.
"We may not have a choice, Allison."
"Bullshit," I scoffed. "There's always options." While the rest of us focused on the plan, Klaus opened up the newspaper Five had brought with him and started to read it.
End of the world and he finally decides to read. Between this and getting sober, I barely recognized the person he'd become. Not that it was a bad thing.
"Yeah, like what?" I raised an eyebrow as I looked down at Five, almost daring him to keep contradicting me. However, despite my momentary confidence, I couldn't come up with something on the spot.
"I don't know." He smirked at me, causing me to kick his shin just hard enough to make him grab the affected area, but not enough to actually hurt him.
"Look, whatever we decide, we need to find Vanya. And fast, okay? She could be anywhere."
"Or... here." Everyone looked to Klaus and stood up, crowding around him and leaning over the paper. "Look at this."
My eyes rested on the ad for her orchestra's concert, featuring her smiling face front and center. In all of the panic, I had completely forgotten that she was performing tonight. For a second, I felt guilty, but reality hit me again, and I remembered we had more pressing matters at hand than missing one concert. After all, if we didn't do something, this could be the last one.
"That's right. Her concert is tonight."
"Hello." Discomfort settled in my stomach as a slightly peeved worker approached us, forcing a smile onto her face. "I hate to intrude, but my manager says if you're not gonna bowl, you gotta leave." I flinched a little as the manager at the desk slammed a pair of bowling shoes down on the counter.
"Whose turn it is?" I snickered a little at Diego, unsure how he could think we were taking this seriously enough to remember who was supposed to go.
"Oh for..."
Luther reached down and grabbed onto a pink bowling ball, then proceeded to chuck it over his shoulder. It bounced across a few lanes, perfectly jumping over the gutters, and knocked down all ten pins, all without him even looking. I met eyes with the worker that had approached us and smirked, causing her to roll her eyes and turn away.
Allison tapped her pen against her pad of paper, drawing everyone's attention to what she had written.
'She's our sister,' she argued.
"We're the only ones capable of stopping this," Luther countered. "We have a responsibility to Dad."
"To Dad?" I shouted, shooting my eyes up to him. "No, I've heard enough about-"
"He sacrificed everything to bring us back together."
"I'm with Luther on this one." I rolled my eyes at my brother, though his position did surprise me. Given how close he and Vanya had been, I would have assumed Five would have wanted to try and save her at all costs. "We can't give her a chance to fight back. There are billions of lives at stake. We're past trying to save just one."
"Five, it's Vanya."
"Mina, if it's going to stop the world from ending, what other options do we have?" I threw my hands up a little.
"I refuse to lay my hands on her like that. I'm sorry, guys, but no way in hell am I going to do something like that to her." I felt my breath catching in my throat a little. "I just... I can't."
"I know." Five's demeanor softened a little. "But you have to put past emotions aside for this Mina." The rest of our siblings' eyes went a little wide as I shook my head.
"Gee, thanks for that, Five." I quickly darted my eyes around to everyone else. "What? It was before Dad made us realize we were meant to be siblings. Let's just move on, please."
"Hey, you know, guys, uh... maybe I could help." I smiled a little at Klaus, thankful both for his diversion and his willingness to help with the plan.
"Now is not the time," Luther sighed.
"No, let him finish." Everyone looked a little shocked Diego was defending the brother he usually ridiculed. "He saved my life today." Klaus got up from his seat, appearing to be slightly drained.
"Is that true?"
"Yeah, yeah, I did... take credit for it. In fact, the real hero... was Ben," he admitted.
Everyone fell silent for a moment, but the looks on their faces weren't promising. It honestly surprised me a little that they weren't at least open to the possibility; he always talked as though Ben were there, and now, even though he had been sober for a couple of days, he still talked to the 'air' beside him. Why was it so impossible to believe?
"Today... Listen. Today, he punched me in the face. And earlier at the house, he was the one who saved Diego's life, not me." I had to admit, that first part did sound a little nutty.
"You are unbelievable Klaus," Luther scoffed.
"You want proof, is that it?" I tensed a little as he reached over and picked up a bowling ball. "All right, I-I'll give you proof." He turned the pink ball in his hands, blinking rapidly. "All right, it's show time, baby. Catch!"
I grabbed onto Five's shoulders and yanked him back as the ball flew through the air, just narrowly missing where his head had been. For a moment, I'd hoped that something would happen, and somehow, Ben would appear in front of our eyes, holding a pink bowling ball; but, instead, the ball just hit the ground, smacking the carpeting with a definitive thunk.
"Is there any way to silence that voice in your head that screams out to be the center of attention?"
"You know, I liked you a lot better before you got laid."
Luther's eyes widened in panic, and after taking a moment to register what had come out of his mouth, Klaus matched that. I drew my lips in a little bit, raising my eyebrows and looking to the ground, attempting to avoid the awkwardness of the moment. Allison crossed her arms, strangely glaring at Klaus rather than Luther. Wasn't Luther the one she would more likely be upset with? Whatever happened to 'don't shoot the messenger'?
"Which was a complete... It-It wasn't his fault, 'cause he was ridiculously high, right?" Somehow, Klaus managed to make this worse. "And-And the girl, she thought he was a furry..."
"Stop!" Luther barked.
"Sorry."
I buried my face in my hands as I propped my elbows against my thighs, as though I somehow could hide from the secondhand embarrassment. Now certainly wasn't the time that I thought all our secrets would come spilling out, but I guess that's what happens when we're all put in a room- or rather, a bowling alley- together and have to come up with a plan. Inevitably, something's going to go horribly wrong.
Allison's eyebrows flew up as she grabbed onto her pad of paper and headed toward the glass doors, already trying to give up on this situation. Luther ran after her, splitting up our ranks again. We needed to get to Vanya and stop the end of the world, but instead, everyone was more focused on each other's love lives.
"Excuse me?"
I looked up to see a red-haired, plump woman approaching us with an arm around the shoulders of a boy I presumed to be her son. My brow furrowed as I looked at her, recognizing her face for some reason. I had seen her before, long ago, but where? The memory felt distant.
"Excuse me? It's my son Kenny's birthday, and... Uh, wouldn't your son be happier playing with kids his own age?" For a moment, I blinked at her, confused. Did she think I was Five's mom? "Assuming it's okay with your two dads."
I couldn't help it. I snorted suddenly, covering my mouth with my hand as I tried to hold back my laughter. Diego and Klaus looked to each other with wide eyes before shaking their heads, while Five narrowed his eyes at the woman and her son.
"I would rather chew off my own foot," he spat. The woman's face immediately soured, and she grabbed onto her son again, quickly ushering him away. I was too busy staring at Diego and Klaus and trying not to absolutely lose my shit to notice when Five got up at first.
"If I was going to date a man, you'd be the last one I'd date," Diego asserted.
My eyes wandered to my brother, his body blocking something in his hands that had captured his full attention. Curious, I stood and made my way over, crossing my arms as I stood next to Five. It took him a moment, but when he noticed me, he moved aside a little, revealing a golden tube in his hands.
"You'd be lucky to get me," I heard Klaus shoot back.
"How the hell did she find me?" Five muttered.
"What exactly is it?" I pointed to the tube.
"This is how The Commission would send us any new and necessary information while we were out on assignment: updates, cancellations, new terms, new missions... I just don't understand how they found where I am."
His eyes got distant for a moment, then he jammed one of his hands into his pocket, removing several wrapped candies. He suddenly placed the tube into my hands and pulled open the wrappers, revealing a smaller, silver cylinder with one end that started blinking green.
"She's good."
"Have they been tracking you?" I tried to keep my voice low, but the fact The Commission had been following us this whole time made my stomach churn. Thankfully, he threw the device on the ground and crushed it with his shoe. Better late than never, I suppose.
I raised an eyebrow as he turned the tube over. A window on the side of it revealed a fortune cookie, rattling around inside.
"Is this the normal method of message delivery?" I chuckled.
"Of course not." Five cracked the dessert opened and placed the two halves in my hand. "Here."
"Uh, thanks?" He unfurled the message inside, printed with precision on the small sheet. Even the handwriting beneath the pre-determined, false mantra marched neatly against the white paper.
'Time marches on... or does it? Rain Quail, Rm. 12.'
I sighed as Five looked up at me, his eyes slightly apologetic. I sighed and reached forward, pulling my brother into a hug.
"I have to go, I'm sorry. Whatever she wants... maybe she's willing to help stop the apocalypse." He sighed. "Not likely, but there's always that chance." His eyes shifted back to Diego and Klaus, still discussing the fact that woman had thought they were a couple. "Keep the rest of them in check, get them to come up with a plan."
"I'll try my best." I placed a hand on his shoulder and stuck up an authoritative finger. "Don't get shot again."
"I'll try my best."
I sighed as he jumped, and after a moment of staring at the nothingness, I headed back over to our lane and slumped down in a chair. Diego and Klaus glanced at each other, sharing a silent conversation before Klaus made his way over and sat next to me.
"Talk through what's on your mind." I smiled a little at Klaus and reached over, squeezing his arm.
"I know we have Five here this time, and we survived the Academy falling but... I'm still worried this is all going to turn out the same way it did when Five jumped. 'The apocalypse is still on', that's what he told us, yet here we are, all split up and brooding about our own problems. We're right back where we started, like always."
"It can't be that bad." I noticed Diego roll his eyes a little as he spoke. "All of us are here this time, we have a shot. You've said it yourself."
"Do you see Allison? Or Five? Not to mention Klaus made a complete fool of himself and now everyone's pissed at him." I quickly snapped my gaze to the brother seated beside me. "No offense."
"No, you're right," he sighed.
"Some team we are. We couldn't even get our shit together when it was just a simple robbery. We definitely weren't equipped to handle the end of the world."
My brothers and I fell silent, lost in our own bitter thoughts. We'd been given all this hope, like we maybe stood a chance in all this, only for it all to fall apart in the 11th hour. We'd really need to pull something out of our asses if we wanted to keep everything from going up in flames, but in order for that to work, Luther would need to be a leader... for once.
"Hey, you should call your dance friends," Klaus piped up. "Just... tell them to get out there. Or if you want to tell them the world is ending, that's cool, too." I laughed a little, looking to my clasped hands, and shook my head.
"Yeah, that... that'd be a good idea. You know, if any of us were actually friends."
"Jesus, Mina," Diego scoffed. "That's some of the edgiest bullshit I've ever heard come out of your mouth."
"I'm serious!" I insisted. "We all just see each other as competition. Sure, we'll engage in formalities, and I wouldn't have known Dad died if it weren't for them getting my attention, but no one actually takes the time to get to know each other beyond the surface."
Diego let out a 'hmph' sort of noise, then leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. His face wore that smug expression, the one he bore so proudly whenever he thought he was right, or when he'd bested one of us in our own games.
"What?" I snapped, raising an eyebrow at him.
"I just thought you were better than that. I mean, when we were kids, no matter how much all of us fought, at least we had you or Vanya to get everyone to make up." I felt annoyance switch over into a strong sense of betrayal. He, of all people, should understand what it feels like to see the people you're surrounded by as nothing more than inhibitors.
"Yeah, well, times change."