Final Night Alive

Chapter Nine:

From her seat in the kitchen, Wanda sighed and shifted the bandage wrapped around her head as it started to itch. She'd only been wearing it since last night and already it was starting to irritate her.

She was no stranger to bandages or stitches with her line of work, but with Dr Cho's technology, she'd rarely had to sit back and allow herself to heal properly with a bandage or stitches.

The bandage Elliott had found in the back of one of his drawers was itchy against her forehead and mussed her hair up.

Wanda forced herself to put her hands in her lap lest she tear the bandage off and be done with it. Instead, she focused on the conversation between Elliott and the Hargreeves'.

Since the gala, Lila hadn't made another appearance. Wanda's memories from last night were a little muddled due to what she suspected was a mild concussion after being launched down the stairs, but she vaguely remembered a confrontation between Lila and Five.

What happened after they'd left, whether Diego had said anything to her or not, Wanda wasn't aware.

It was no surprise, though, that Lila hadn't shown her face again.

Wanda would have felt bad for her if she weren't so sure that there was something off with the woman. She was undoubtedly hiding something.

"-until you showed up," Diego said to Five.

Wanda wasn't one-hundred percent sure what they were talking about, but she had an inkling it was to do with the men who'd attacked them yesterday.

"Yeah, I was here for a year and no one messed with me," Luther commented from the stove. He was cooking an insane amount of scrambled eggs, to the point the pan was almost overflowing.

He and Diego gave Five a pointed look.

"They have a point," Wanda muttered tiredly.

If what they were saying was true, then it was a big coincidence that, when Five showed up, the Swedes decided to start attacking them.

"Even if it was my fault, which it isn't," Five began, casting around a glare, "we only have six days before the end of the world and the closest anyone's gotten to dad was that driveway at the consulate."

Wanda sighed. That was another point. They didn't seem to be getting anywhere, and being in this universe trying to stop an apocalypse that wasn't technically anything to do with her was giving her a headache.

"Well… that's not exactly true," Luther admitted.

Everyone turned their eyes to him, questioning.

Slowly, Five moved further into the room.

"What do you mean?" He asked Luther.

"I saw him," Luther stated.

"'Saw him'?" Diego prompted.

Luther shrugged.

"Well, when I landed here, I was alone. I tried to find you guys, but no luck. Before I got a job working for Ruby, I had nowhere to go. No money," Luther recalled. "When I realised I was in sixty-eight, I managed to scrape up a bit of change and took a bus."

"To where?" Wanda asked.

"Back to the Umbrella Academy," Luther answered.

"But-" Diego started.

"Yeah," Luther said. "It wasn't the Academy in sixty-eight. I know. But, I was alone and didn't have anywhere else to go. I thought, seeing as it was sixty-eight, dad would be here at least. So, I took a bus there."

"And?" Five pressed.

"I rehearsed a speech, so he would believe me. Well, kind of. Not really a speech, but… Well, I know dad believed in time travel so… Sorta hoped he would just believe me…" Luther trailed off and shrugged.

He turned the stove off and began to dish out breakfast. Diego, Five, and Luther joined Wanda at the table and they began to eat.

"When I got there," Luther continued his story, "there was some kind of party going on. And dad was there. I kinda froze for a second, but when I came back to myself, I went up to him and announced that I was his son."

Diego huffed a laugh and Five smirked up at him.

"Real subtle," Five commented.

Wanda shook her head almost pityingly. She could see Luther's nonchalant expression, but knew deep down he was hurt.

Still, he went on with his tale like he was merely talking about the weather.

"I tried to convince him, but he wasn't having it. Thought I was CIA or KGB, or something. Said he hates children, insulted me, then kicked me out," Luther said.

"That's pathetic," Diego said.

"At least he didn't shank my ass," Luther retorted.

"No, bro, he shanked your heart."

Wanda chuckled and shook her head fondly. From what she'd heard from Five, Luther and Diego were most likely to disagree and get into an argument, and yet here they were joking about these things.

Either they'd grown in the years since Five had seen them, or he was sorely misremembering.

"Is that my bathrobe?"

Elliott's voice drew her attention. She looked up to him in the doorway and followed his gaze to Luther who was, indeed, wearing his bathrobe.

"No," Luther guiltily denied.

"Look," Five interrupted, "who cares what he shanked? He knows something about time travel."

"Wait, why don't you just do your thing and time travel us out?" Elliott said.

Wanda nodded in agreement.

Five shook his head and rose from his seat to pace.

"Anyone care to explain?" Five asked his brothers.

"First time he tried, he got lost in the apocalypse," Luther said, voice muffled with his mouth full.

Wanda's eyes widened in alarm. Lost in the apocalypse? What the hell did that mean?

"Second time, he ended up without hair on his balls," Diego added.

That explained Five's whole 'stuck in his thirteen year old body' thing.

Five poured coffee into a mug and took a long sip.

"The last time I tried, I scattered my family across three years in Dallas, Texas, possibly triggering a doomsday," he finished. "Anymore questions, Elliott?"

So, no time travelling out of it, then, Wanda deduced.

"Uh, no," Elliott shook his head.

"Guys, you're all missing the big picture," Diego said, "dad is the ringleader of a sinister cabal that's planning to kill the president."

Wanda sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"A cabal?" Luther exclaimed.

"Ignore him," Five said. "Look, the way I see it, we only have one option."

"Oh, yeah? And what's that?"

"It's time to get the Umbrella Academy back together," Five decided.

"Hell yeah," Diego smirked. "Family meeting."

Wanda didn't like his expression all of a sudden.

Awkwardly, she got up from her seat and headed over to the bin where she emptied the remains of her breakfast. Then she put her plate into the sink and rinsed it.

"Okay, then can one of you get Allison, please?" Luther requested.

"You two still a thing?" Diego asked. "Do we need to talk?"

Wanda's eyes widened, suddenly processing Diego's words, and she whirled around.

"'A thing'?" She repeated.

"No, she's married," Luther quickly denied.

And if she weren't? Wanda thought mildly.

"Woah, dude, that's rough," Diego commented.

What the hell is with this family? Wanda wondered not for the first time since meeting Five.

"I'll get her," Five decided, placing his cup down and walking to the entrance to the kitchen. He turned to Luther. "Can you get Vanya without squeezing her to death?"

"I'll try," Luther deadpanned.

"Great. Wanda, with me," Five said.

Relieved to be away from whatever the conversation had turned to, Wanda followed Five in teleporting outside to the car.

The fresh air hit her immediately and she sighed, basking in it for a moment as Five unlocked the car.

Once the car was open, she hopped into the passenger seat and opened the window as Five took off.

To say the conversation between Five and Allison was tense would be an understatement. This was the first time the two of them had seen each other in a while (albeit, they had different views on it), so, while Allison was relieved to see Five, she made sure to tell him what she thought about being dropped in Dallas alone.

Wanda understood where she was coming from.

Surprisingly, or rather not so surprisingly, she and Allison got along very well. So did she and Klaus, who was much more welcoming than Luther and Diego when she'd first met them.

She wondered briefly why they hadn't sought Allison and Klaus out sooner.

When they arrived back at Elliott's, Five looked anxious to be out of the car. Klaus, Wanda, and Allison had been joking the whole ride back and it seemed Five was nearing his limit.

"Le petit mort, le petit mort," Klaus rambled as he followed Allison into Elliott's.

"What? You don't speak French," Allison laughed.

"It means the little death," Klaus grinned.

Suddenly, the rest of the Hargreeves and Elliott appeared at the top of the stairs, peering over the railings at them all.

"Oh, wow," Klaus said. "I know this is impossible, but did we all get sexier?"

Wanda quietly chuckled. One thing she'd come to like about Klaus already since meeting him an hour or so ago, was his humour.

He seemed to always know what to say and when to say it. His comedic timing was near perfect.

"Vanya," Allison breathed.

"I can't believe I have a sister," Vanya smiled.

She moved around the railing and bounded down the stairs. Wanda watched her head straight to Allison and, despite her memory loss, there was a warmth in her eyes as she and Allison looked at each other that almost seemed like she'd never forgotten.

"I missed you," Allison said.

"Thank God someone did," Vanya commented half-heartedly.

Then she and Allison smiled and embraces each other.

"You are drunk," Diego commented quietly to Klaus.

It wasn't strictly wrong. Both he and Allison were tipsy, as Wanda and Five had soon come to realise.

"No, just a little… Oh, that is so sweet," Klaus said at the sight of Vanya and Allison.

He hurried over and wrapped his arms around his sisters.

"No- Jesus," Allison sighed, but Vanya only giggled.

"Klaus, is Ben here?" Five asked.

Wanda frowned. Who was Ben?

She didn't remember Five or any of the others mentioning someone called Ben.

But then… Seven siblings, Five had said. Yet there were only six of them right now.

"Oh, uh, no," Klaus replied, pulling away from Allison and Vanya. "No, unfortunately, ghosts can't time travel."

Wanda frowned, watching Klaus.

"All right then, let's get down to business," Five said.

With that, they all withdrew and headed back up the stairs to gather and make a plan.

Everyone quickly took a seat with Wanda taking up what she now deemed her favourite chair which happened to be a comfortable, beaten red one near a window.

"First off, I wanna say I'm sorry," Five began, "I know I really screwed the pooch on this whole 'going back in time and getting stuck thing'."

Wanda glanced around and noticed a couple of the Hargreeves roll their eyes. She could hardly blame them, though she knew Five was trying his hardest to fix everything and hadn't intended anything that had happened so far.

"But the real kick in the pants here is we brought the end of the world back here with is," Five sighed.

"Oh, my God, again?" Klaus asked, appalled.

The siblings gave Klaus pointed looks.

"All of you knew?" He demanded. "Why am I always the last one to find out about the end - oh, my God. My cult is gonna be so pissed, Five!"

Wanda raised an eyebrow. Why on Earth did Klaus have a cult?

"I told them we had until twenty-nineteen!"

So, that was the year Five and his siblings came from.

Not too far from her own time.

"We have until Monday," Five said flatly. "We have six days."

"Is it Vanya?" Klaus asked, sipping alcohol.

"Klaus," Allison scolded.

"What?" Klaus retorted. "It's usually Vanya."

Wanda shook her head with a sigh. Why was this family so difficult?

If she and Pietro had this foreknowledge about their own universe, they would have just gotten the job done without the bickering.

Well, there may have been a little, but not as much as the Hargreeves.

"Do you have any leads, Five?" Vanya changed the subject.

Diego picked up a folder from the side and passed it to Five, who handed to Allison.

"Yeah, we have one," Five announced.

Klaus bounded round to peer over Allison and Vanya's shoulders.

"Holy shit, is that dad?" Allison asked.

"That's him?" Vanya wondered.

"Yeah," Diego confirmed. "And he's standing on the grassy knoll."

"Diego, Wanda, and I have been trying to talk to dad about what exactly this means," Five explained, "so far, we've got nothing."

"Not nothing," Diego denied. "We know he's planning to kill Kennedy."

"Maybe," Five agreed. "But we don't know who or what sets doomsday in motion. Could be Kennedy, could be something entirely independent. But if we know something changes in the timeline, we have to make it right."

"Yeah, but how, if we don't know what's broken?" Allison asked.

Wanda nodded.

"Oh, come on, do the math," Diego said. "We know dad's having shady-ass meetings with some shady-ass people. We know he's on the grassy knoll in three days to kill the president. So I think we all know what we have to do."

Diego rose and strolled around to stand beside Five.

"Kill dad."

"Find dad."

Five and Diego looked at each other. Wanda frowned and shared a look with Klaus who was no leaning against the wall beside her.

Klaus offered her some of his drink. Wanda sighed and took a sip.

It was going to be a long six days.

"None of us are supposed to be here, right?" Vanya spoke. "I mean, what if it's us? Has anyone here done anything to screw up the timeline?"

For a few beats, there was silence. Wanda glanced at all of the siblings, felt the tense silence. Watched as Allison poured herself another drink.

Then…

"Diego's been stalking Lee Harvey Oswald," Luther broke the silence.

"And you're working for Jack Ruby," Diego quickly retorted.

"Allison has been very involved in local politics," Klaus announced.

"Okay, you started a cult!" Allison pointed out.

Klaus raised his hand and hissed.

"I'm just a nanny on a farm," Vanya stated. "I don't have anything to do with all of that."

"Maybe you do, we just don't know it yet," Allison shrugged.

As the conversation went on, Wanda felt her head begin to swim. Her vision followed suit and she found it hard to focus on what was being said.

Her heart skipped a beat and, as she shook her head, her vision refused to fall back into line.

Confused, she lifted a hand to the back of her head, feeling for moisture on her bandage, but she felt it was bone dry.

Still, she brought her hand in front of her face anyway, just to be sure. It was absent of any blood, unsurprisingly.

Frustrated, she shook her head again and squeezed her eyes shut in the hopes her vision would realign and she would be able to focus.

But when she opened her eyes, nothing had changed.

She felt sick.

Something was clearly very wrong now, but she couldn't figure it out.

"Well, you can count me out," Wanda heard.

Everyone's voices sounded muffled. Slow.

She looked up and spotted a blue blur walking away. Towards the kitchen? No, the stairs.

Then there was a bright flash and Wanda's heart skipped a beat.

She watched, as if wading underwater, as Luther picked Number Five up and tossed him over the stairs. Then he disappeared in another flash.

Wanda had to follow him. Something was happening to her and she had to let him know. It might have something to do with the apocalypse. Or time travel. Or… something. Universe travel?

What was it Five called her? A universe hopper?

She stumbled from her seat, only to collapse as the floor went from under her.

She heard shouts of her name, but she couldn't answer.

Something was really wrong now. Whatever was happening, it felt… familiar.

With widened eyes, she looked down at her hands and noticed they were disintegrating.

No. No, no, no.

She had to stop the apocalypse and get back to Natasha.

"Jesus, what's happening to her?"

"Five! Get back here! Your buddy's, uh, disintegrating!"

"Someone do something!"

"Like what?"

It was too late. Wanda knew that. And even if it weren't, no one could do anything to stop this.

Thanos had finally won. He'd finally gotten her, an entire universe away.

"Natasha," Wanda breathed before she finally disappeared.

Wanda came to with a gasp of air and a mouthful of dirt. Immediately, she began to spit out the dirt back on the floor then she wiped her mouth.

What the hell just happened?

Didn't she just…

Did Thanos snap her? Again?

Slowly, she clambered to her feet and looked around herself. She was in a forest somewhere. A… strangely familiar forest.

No, this wasn't just familiar. This was Wakanda.

The same place she'd fought Thanos. Killed Vision. Died. Sort of.

How was she here? Did Natasha and the others do it? Did they bring everyone back? Did they bring her back Five's universe somehow?

In the distance, she spotted movement. She held her hands out in front of her in preparation, blazing scarlet.

But before she could do anything or see who was in the forest with her, a noise sounded from behind her.

"Wanda."

Wanda startled and turned around to come face-to-face with one Dr Strange.

"Dr Strange," she returned the greeting.

"I'm sorry to do this," Strange said, "I imagine you've had a very strange few days."

"You could say that," Wanda agreed.

She didn't question how he knew.

"We need your help now," Strange announce.

"With what? Is everyone okay? Where is Natasha?"

"The Avengers brought everyone back using time travel to create their own gauntlet, but Thanos has returned," Strange explained.

"And Natasha?" Wanda pressed.

"Right here."

From the portal Strange had opened, a very familiar figure appeared. Red hair tied back into a plait, wearing a recognisable black catsuit with batons in her hands.

"Tasha," Wanda breathed, overcome with palpable relief.

She almost fell to her knees again, but Natasha caught her before she could fully descend and clung to her.

Wanda buried her face into the crook of Natasha's neck and breathed in her scent, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes.

"The way things were going, I didn't think I would ever see you again," Wanda joked.

"If certainly felt that way," Natasha replied.

She pulled back away from Wanda and, cupping her face, pulled her in for a kiss. Wanda melted easily into it, settling her hands onto Natasha's waist.

There was a brief cough from Dr Strange that Wanda mentally rolled her eyes at though she reluctantly broke the kiss.

"I don't mean to cut this reunion short, but we have a war to win," Strange announced. "We could really use your help, Wanda, if you would lend us a hand?"

"Of course," Wanda agreed quickly.

Her mind flashed to Vision whom she'd had to kill mere days ago to stop Thanos from gaining the mind stone, and anger flooded her.

She would personally make Thanos pay for the terror and heartbreak he'd brought.

"Then let's go," Dr Strange ordered. He looked over Wanda's and Natasha's shoulders. "You too."

"It would be my honour."

Wanda whirled around to see more familiar faces, and almost blanched. Had they been there the entire time?

At a tug in her hand, Wanda turned back around and met Natasha's eyes.

"Let's go end this war," Natasha muttered.

Wanda nodded and allowed Natasha's to guide the way to the portal. She watched Natasha step through, their hands still linked.

Just as she was about to put her own foot through the portal and join Natasha on the battlefield, her hand fell out of her grasp.

She looked down in confusion at the loss of contact, only to find her hand missing. Disintegrating. Again.

No!

She'd just come back! Why was this happening again?

"Nat!" She called through the portal.

Natasha turned around at her cry, but Wanda couldn't step through the portal. Dr Strange held out a hand to prevent her stepping through and Natasha coming back.

"No, I need to -" Wanda began to protest, but she was disappearing too quickly.

The portal vanished with a precise movement from Dr Strange, only for another to appear in its place. It was the same battlefield, but Natasha wasn't on the other side.

"Believe me, it's for the best," Dr Strange said.

"What's happening to her? Is it Thanos again?"

She was almost gone now.

"We'll see you soon, Wanda."

"Natasha," Wanda breathed.