Tripping back through the gardens, now tightly held in Diego's grip, Ben barely registered the sight of Theodore up, awake and fiercely clinging to a pair of teens garbed in the aqua clothes of Destiny's Children like they would disappear at any moment. That's sweet—I wonder how he knows them? Ben thought as Diego dragged him further inwards, towards the mansion and away from their blue nephew hidden amongst the foliage. "You need to come with me" Diego insisted, sparing a glance back over his shoulder to make sure they weren't being followed.

"Where?" Ben asked, curious as he let his brother take him away. Honestly, he was just happy to be able to touch his brother again.

"Five found a way home" Diego explained as members of the cult bowed and prayed to him—well, Klaus.

"It so great to talk to you again, Diego!" Ben giggled.

"You hear what I just said?"

"Yeah"

"Are you high, Klaus?"

"No, I'm not Klaus" Ben pulled the two to a stop when Diego rolled his eyes at him. "I'm Ben"

"You are high" Diego brushed off. "Look I don't have time for this. Where's Theo—?"

"—I can prove it!" He caught his brother's wrist as he went to leave. "Ask me something only Ben would know"

"…Okay. When we were little, what did you reprogram Allison's Teddy Ruxpin to say?" Diego leant in close, lowering his voice to a whisper.

"Luth~er sniffs Dad's under~wear" Ben sang with a smile.

"Holy…shit!" Diego gasped aghast as he stumbled backwards, hands over his face. An action which was quickly replaced by the fierce hug he pulled Ben into. Ben instantaneously melted into his brother's embrace as Diego gripped tight to his shirt as if he would disappear. "I—I don't get it, I mean…Klaus said you didn't make to Dallas"

"Yeah, well, Klaus says a lot of things" Ben replied as the pair pulled back, but remained close. "But guess what? I can possess him now! And it's freaking awesome!"

"Okay, you can tell me all about it on the way back to 2019. Okay?" Diego's hands moved to cup his brothers' face as he stared into the gleaming eyes of Klaus that just shined with the mischievousness of Ben. Two brothers for the price of one.

"What about Destiny's Children? We can't just leave them!" Ben replied, easily accepting that their brother had found a way back. "Klaus should be the one to tell them—"

"—Oh no, no, no, no, no, okay? You stay in this body. We need someone responsible behind the wheel, okay?"

"All right Diego. Will you wait, I just need like, ten—ten minutes"

"Actually" Diego acquiesced as he checked the ticking watch Five had gifted him with. "There's something that I need to do first. Meet me in the alley behind Elliot's in 30 minutes, okay?"

"Okay"

"Don't be late"

"I won't"

"Good to see you, brother" Diego embraced him one final time before hightailing it out of the mansion to who-knows-where.

"You too! Bye!" Ben called his farewell as Diego left, his halcyon attitude quickly cut short by Klaus' continuous attempts to eject him from his body. The pair jerked to the side as Ben quickly slapped himself back into Klaus and dread set in. Time was ticking.

With eyes wide, Ben's thoughts raced as he scrambled for what to do. They had a way back! But he only had 30 minutes—30 minutes!—to say goodbye! What could you even do in 30 minutes? Who would he tell? What would he do? Theo! Their nephew, still didn't know! Scurrying back through the gardens, Ben retraced their steps to where he had seen said blue boy in passing with little difficulty. The constant jerking motions that their shared body made, made him look like a drunken Jazz performer with a burst appendix. Thankfully, all the world saw was Klaus, so that was at least some kind of salvation, he supposed.

After some helpful directions by some concerned passersby and more needless praises to the (fake) prophet, Ben eventually found himself back in the orchards and making his way over towards the trio sat in the branches on one of the plum trees lining the way. "Theo! Nn! Theo!" Ben called out, jerking every so often as he tried to remain inside and in control.

"Uncle Klaus?" Theodore's scaly blue face peered out through the violet fruit as the three young men turned to face the man. Their nephew leant out of the tree, one hand gripping tight to the branch on which Kiran (the elvish-looking blonde with plum juice running down his chin) sat. Across from them, Yugi (the sharp-eyed ginger) anxiously watched the thin branch sway with the added weight. "What's going on?"

"Theo!" Ben called as Klaus though their hands up in the air in an attempt to get rid of him.

"Uncle Klaus? Are you okay?" Theodore furrowed his brows as the other pair of teens shared a look between them.

"I'm not Klaus!" Ben tried again.

"What?"

"It's me! Ben!"

"Uncle…Ben?" Theodore easily scrambled further down the tree until he was sitting in front of the elder man, his legs locked around the thin branch the only thing keeping him in place. "Aren't you dead?"

"Well, yes—"

"—Maybe he's possessed!" Kiran called out from above them, "Remember, Nash could do something similar!"

"Yeah, but his were more like puppets!" Theodore leant back as he called up to his friends. "And he never wore people like suits!"

"It's less like a suit and more like a Russian nesting doll situation" Yugi mused, pushing aside a stray branch to investigate the (not) cult leader.

"—Look! It doesn't matter!" Ben cut through their musings even as he drunk in the easy exchanges between the three boys. "We have to go! Now! Five found a way back!"

"Really? We can all go back?"

"Yeah, but we have to—wait, what do you mean 'all?"

"Kiran & Yugi are from our time too" Theodore nodded up towards the two teens who stayed down at him almost predatorily. "Or well they would be if they'd stayed there"

"Wha—?" Ben felt like the world had dropped out from beneath him at the revelation. This plus the earlier situation with Jill and Diego made for a mushy brain that didn't seem to quite work right.

"We grew up together" Theodore supplied half-heartedly. "At least before—"

"—Before we escaped" Yugi deadpanned.

"Uh, yeah…"

"Escape?" Ben's brows knotted as Theodore's past unravelled before him like a loose thread.

"We, uh, left about, eh…2014" Kiran shrugged as if it were no big deal.

"Tuesday 24th January 2014" Yugi amended with a deadpan, easily recalling the date in which their freedom had finally come.

"Yeah, that" Theodore agreed, trying to hide the wince that accompanied the memory. They all reacted similarly. "Do you think there's room for two more?"

"Uh…" Ben's gaze roved over the three sitting in the plum tree and tried to swallow around the lump that had suddenly sprung up in his throat. It seemed that even Klaus was shocked as he had halted his ministrations for the time being. "We—we—you—I—uh, w-we need to meet up at the alley behind Elliot's in 30 minutes…"

"Cool, we'll meet you there"

"Right…" Ben nodded, before he retraced his steps and made his way back to the mansion with the boys voices floating back to him the entire way.

"So that's your uncle?" Yugi asked.

"Both of them apparently" Theodore replied nonchalantly.

"Ha! It's like a sale at Macy's!" Kiran laughed, before his tone took on a cartoonic salesmen tone. "Buy one get one free!"

By the time Ben had finally made it to the front door, Klaus was trying his utmost to fling him from the body the two shared and he in turn, was doing his utmost to remain inside. It was like a reverse Bucking Bronco ride. As he scurried across the threshold and out towards the shrubbery-lined driveway, he wanted nothing more than to pick at the scab that Theodore had created in revealing more of his past just moments before. But of course, he was far more occupied with the weird dance he was currently occupied in and the deadline creeping ever closer.

Ben had almost made it to the line of foliage until Keechie, one of Klaus' most fervent followers appeared behind him like magic and looking like a kicked puppy. "Hey, uh, Prophet! Prophet! Where are you going?" Keechie chased after him with big innocent eyes blinking at him from behind his thick glasses.

"Uh…quick vision quest!" Ben scrambled, thinking on the fly as he prayed that he could get out of there in time without accidentally murdering all of Destiny's Children. "Be back in a few years. Maybe"

"Well, wait, wait, wait! Who will bless the pool waters?" Keechie pursued.

Geez, you really want to dot the i's and cross the t's, don't you? Ben silently hissed as he turned back. "You can do it, Keechie! You can do everything from now on!"

"No, Prophet! I can't!"

"Keechie!" Ben quickly retraced his steps to embrace the quaking man. He just hoped that Keechie couldn't see the slightly manic look in his eyes. "Bless the water, bless the air, bless the sex swing for all I care! Would you just do me one favour?"

"Yes, of course, Prophet! Anything!"

"Tell Jill that rollin' in the dirt was the greatest moment of my life"

"Uh—Prophet! Wait!" Keechie called as Ben tried to make a break for it. Again.

"C'me on!" Ben groaned irritably as he plastered on a fake smile and turned back to the bespectacled man who remained on the front porch of the mansion.

"Any last words of wisdom before you go?"

"Oh…my God!" Ben spluttered, saying the first things that came to mind as he backpedalled. He wasn't really sure why it was the Backstreet Boys—he blamed Klaus. "We're back again. Brothers! Sisters! Everybody sing! We're gonna bring you the flavour! We're gonna show you how!"

"Prophet…!" Keechie murmured sorrowfully as he watched Ben and Klaus disappear into the shrubbery like a child watching by the window as their parent left.

The drunken Jazz singer impression that Ben had been doing for the last few minutes all they way to the alley behind Morty's TVs had certainly gained some odd looks from the passersby; a few had even crossed the street or steered their children away from him, likely thinking that he wasn't quite there. Which wasn't far off, to be fair. Grunting and gurgling down the final stretch, he found his strength waning as he physically fought against Klaus. It was a lot harder now that the two shared the one body; although it probably didn't look any different than when the two had been rolling around on the hot barren road when they had fled from San Fransisco earlier in the week. But Ben didn't have it in him to be embarrassed, not right then when their arms were swinging wildly and he was trying to make sure that they met up with the others on time, least they got stranded. Again.

Eventually, the pair swung around the corner into the right alley, narrowly missing the toppled bin as they did so. Ben could spy both Five and Luther at the end of the alleyway with one of the black briefcases in hand. Fleetingly he wondered where Theodore had gotten to and the urge to embrace both of his (polar) brothers at the end of the alley was strong, but currently he was a bit more preoccupied with the eviction of the body he currently possessed. "Hey! Hey!" Ben panted as they danced closer. "We made it!"

"What do you mean 'we?" Five puzzled as their shared body jolted and seized.

"Get…out!" Klaus grunted as Ben popped out from his shoulder, fighting against the hands that held him.

"No!" Ben retorted, stubbornly.

"Out!" Klaus groaned as his entire body seemed to gurgle ferociously. Now bent in half, the possessed pair were finally separated as Number Four emptied the contents of his stomach (and more) onto the concrete at his feet.

"Ugh, gross!" Luther scrunched his nose up in disgust as both Klaus and Ben collapsed to the ground in exhaustion—one dry, the other very, very wet. "I can't believe it! I mean you're here!"

"We've got eight minutes left!" Five worried, checking his watch for the umpteenth time as he clung tightly to the briefcase in his other hand.

"I just had the strangest dream…!" Klaus whined as he stared up at the afternoon sun through half-lidded eyes.

"Where are the others?!" Five demanded angrily as if asking again would make them magically appear. Time slipped through their fingers like fine sand in an hour glass and soon enough, Five was more or less a ball of buzzing irritable energy. Luther, similarly pacing beside him.

"We've got a minute left!" Luther banged his large fist against the tarnished dumpsters besides him as he began to pace. It seemed that his anger was growing too as the time slipped away and no one showed.

"What's going on, guys?" Klaus slurred, his voice hoarse as he lay on the ground. "Are we going somewhere?"

"It was a simple task!" Five ranted as he paced like a caged animal, ignoring Klaus as he did so. "A simple task! All we had to do was be here! Didn't have to fight a giant sea monster, no! An army of mutants? Nein!"

"I can't believe this!" Breathed Luther. Ben knew that his blonde brother could be easily worked up; but as he watched his brothers pace, he thought that this time Luther seemed to be feeding off of Five's real anger in an order to still feel some semblance of leadership.

"It was handed to us on a silver platter!"

"Could you moan just a little softer!" Klaus whined as he hauled himself upright. "My head is killing me!"

"Listen to me, you useless puke bag!" Five snarled, creeping as close as he dared whilst still skirting the foul-smelling puddle Ben remained seated in. "WE JUST BLEW OUR CHANCE TO SAVE THE WORLD!"

WHIR! WHIR! CLICK!

"God dammit!" Five cursed as his gaze snapped to the vibrating briefcase now settled at their feet. Gripping it by the handles, Five swung and launched the briefcase up into the air where it disappeared with a zap and a whoosh of crackling blue energy.

"Shit!" Luther sighed as he watched their last hope disappear.

"We were that close. That close!"

"Now what?" Luther turned to Five who continued to pace. The large man had returned to lean against the dumpster whilst Klaus sat with his head in his hands. Apparently Ben's hypothesis had been correct because as soon as the briefcase was gone, Luther was quickly calming down. Something which could not be said for Five.

"Now nothing, Luther, all right?" Five snapped over Klaus' groans. "Make your peace with God!"

"What? What about Allison? And Vanya? And Theodore?"

"Screw them! Screw them all! They should've been here! And you!" Five turned on Klaus, "I specifically told you to do as I said and watch Theodore!"

"And what about Diego?" Klaus slurred as he ignored the jab from Five. Instead he watched amusedly as Five took his frustrations out on a pile of discarded boxes behind the dumpster. "He's quite a responsible young man, no?"

"Something must've happened to them!" Luther suggested a little worriedly. Ben tried not to let his thoughts linger on that option as he flicked off another miscellaneous chunk from his form and tried not to gag at the stench. Could ghosts even puke?

"Screw Diego!" Five paced, "Screw everybody! I was better off on my own in the Apocalypse!"

"Five! C'me on…"

"Y'know what, Luther? It's every Hargreeves for themselves now! How 'bout that?"

Ben could only watch as Five disappeared into the building behind them, slamming the door shut unnecessarily hard as he did so. "Did Five just get meaner?" Klaus whimpered as Ben silently threw his hands up in exasperation.

"Klaus, go check on Allison, okay? Make sure she's okay" Luther turned to them. "Find the others and we'll meet back here. I'll handle Five" With that he jogged after their irate brother, intending to calm him down enough to get a proper plan in motion, one that they would all—hopefully—stick to.

"And you—!" Klaus leant against the dumpster in order to help himself to his feet before he turned on Ben to scold him. "You've had your possession privileges revoked, mister!"

"I regret nothing!" Ben fired back tiredly as Klaus wandered off to find the rest of their family.

"Just stay out of me!"

"I REGRET NOTHING!"

"Back off!"

"NOTHING, I SAY!"