p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanDespite my excitement to be with Klaus again, I still settled in near Five, leaning against the plush chair off to his right, which Diego soon rested against as well. He popped up in front of our siblings, adjusting his blazer a couple times before he felt comfortable addressing the masses./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"All right. First off, I wanna say I'm sorry." He eyed each of the people in front of him with the urgency and enthusiasm of a child, but something buried deep back held a much heavier burden. "I know I really screwed the pooch on this whole 'going-back-in-time-and-getting-stuck thing." No one responded, but I noticed a few of our siblings shake their heads or roll their eyes. "But the real kick in the pants here is we brought the end of the world back here with us." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"Klaus immediately halted in his movements, shockingly finding that more important than pouring himself another drink. His eyes nearly popped out of his head as he turned and stared at our youngest brother, simultaneously confused and appalled./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Oh, my God, again?" he sighed, almost exasperated with the prospect of chasing another apocalypse. "All of you knew? Why am I always the last one to find out about the—" Klaus gasped suddenly, a new realization popping into his mind. "Oh, my God. My cult is gonna be so pissed. Five! I told them we had until 2019."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanI'd like to say I was shocked by the revelation, even disgusted. I wanted to think that I would push my head back and raise an eyebrow, silently questioning the choices Klaus had made now that he was presented with the opportunity to start over in the 1960s./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanBut, in all honesty, nothing about the idea of Klaus being a cult leader even emremotely /emsurprised me./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"We have until Monday," Five informed him, devoid of any regret or confusion. "We have six days."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Is it Vanya?" Allison and I scoffed as Klaus took a sip of the alcohol he'd resumed pouring./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Klaus," my sister warned./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"What? It's usually Vanya." Vanya, no longer wanting to be the subject of familial ridicule, turned her attention to Five./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Do you have any leads, Five?" she asked, silencing everyone else. My brother cast a glance in my direction, signaling me to pick up the nearly-empty folder on the seat of the chair and pass it to him, so he could hand it off to our sisters. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Yeah, we have one." Allison's jaw fell slightly when she opened up the object of interest and looked at the photograph clipped inside. span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Holy shit, is that Dad?" she gawked, shifting slightly to allow Vanya and Klaus to have a look themselves./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Yeah," Diego sneered. "And he's standing on the grassy knoll." Vanya's brows furrowed, unsure of why what was just some patch of grass the her was so significant. "Diego, Mina, and I have been trying to talk to Dad about what exactly this means. So far, we've got nothing."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Not nothing," Diego interjected quickly. With one glance to the side, I noticed that crazed look was beginning to envelop his eyes, causing me to tense up. "He's planning to kill Kennedy."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Maybe," Five dismissed. "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 the timeline, we have to make it right again."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Yeah, but how are we supposed to fix it if we don't know what's broken?" Allison inquired, raising a legitimate point./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Come on," Diego snapped. "Do the math. 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." I flinched slightly as he removed himself from the chair, moving to stand behind Five, who shrugged and nodded. "Kill Dad."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Find Dad." Five spoke at the same time as Diego. My brows knitted themselves together as I fully processed what Diego had said, and I turned my head back to glare at him. He'd fallen head-first into these delusions. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanWhile the rest of our siblings were busy trying to forget or just straight up disregard what Diego had said—which was impressive, considering our collective disdain for the man on trial—Vanya looked as though the wheels in her brain were starting to turn, piecing together the little slivers she had./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"None of us are supposed to be here, right?" she asked, partially thinking out loud. "I mean, what if it's us?" She made a good point. We were possibly the only irregularity in this timeline—except for The Swedes, but they didn't count in my mind—so it was entirely possible this was our fault. "Has anyone here done anything to screw up the timeline?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanEveryone suddenly fell silent, electing to take sips of their drinks or stare at another sibling, silently accusing them of a crime. Those who didn't dare to draw their eyes to another pair shook their heads, denying any part in the potential screwing of this timeline. One could have heard a pin drop, until Luther shrugged and opened his mouth./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Diego's been stalking Lee Harvey Oswald," he stated casually, as though his brother would just take that and go. But, Diego being Diego, he instead shot up an accusatory finger, throwing a revelation right back./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"And you're working for Jack Ruby," he barked./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Allison has been very involved in local politics," Klaus slurred, causing his sister to shoot her head up and roll her eyes at him./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Okay, emyou /emstarted a cult," she shot back./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Mina essentially told her friend gay rights were coming soon." Caught off-guard, I spun on my heel and glared down at Five, crossing my arms against my chest. If he wanted to play that game, he couldn't expect to just get away with lobbing the ball up and letting it bounce away./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Okay, need I remind you that you told a local conspiracist about the entire future?" I spat. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I'm—I'm just a… a nanny on a farm," Vanya shrugged. "I don't have anything to do with all of that." There was no way that was possible. With this family, no one was just an insignificant puzzle piece./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Well, maybe you do, we just don't know it yet," I suggested, not wanting to rule anything out. span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanI snapped my head around as Diego whistled, drawing our attention back to him./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Listen to yourselves. Everything in our new lives is connected to Kennedy. That can't be a coincidence. Luther works for Ruby, Allison is protesting the government, Mina's planted an idea that leads to protests soon, Dad is on the grassy knoll, Klaus is…" He trailed off, finally hitting the speed bump in his logic. "…doing something weird and pervy, but probably related. See, clearly, we were all sent back here for one special reason: saving John Fitzgerald Kennedy."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanI rolled my eyes, shifting my posture onto one hip as I glared at Diego. All at once, my siblings began to speak up, nearly drowning me in a sea of voices, but I made sure he could hear me./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Okay, first of all, prominent LGBT rights protests didn't start until 1966 with the 'sip-in', which is emlong /emafter Kennedy is killed; and second of all, your hero complex is so goddamn inflated by your ego that you genuinely believe you can save Kennedy. You don't even have any concrete evidence that's what's going on here."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"At least I'm doing something important," he snapped back. "What have you been doing? Chasing around Lila like a lovesick puppy, and then the moment she does something you don't like, you turn your back on her." I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off. "And when you're not doing that, you're leaning over Five's shoulder, watching his every move like he's goddamn incapable." I could feel the intense anger growing in my stomach as my fists balled up./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"You agreed something was off about her!" I screamed, unable to contain myself anymore. "You don't have any room to talk, you piece of shit mother—"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Guys, you all die."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanIn an instant, my mounting rage fell away completely, leaving me slightly exhausted from the loss of adrenaline. Slowly, I turned to look down at Five, my insides completely crumpling as I watched his face contort, trying his best to hold back his tears. At this rate, the revelation we didn't make it out of this wasn't shocking anymore. But watching as Five desperately attempted to keep himself composed completely shattered me inside. He'd seen so much in the however-many-years of life he wanted to say he'd lived. What he needed was a break, but it didn't seem like he'd ever get that now./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanEveryone fell completely silent, moving and adjusting so they could look to their brother, wearing varying degrees of shock and surprise on their faces./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I was there. I saw it." His voice gargled. "And I wanna forget it, but I can't. I saw Russian nukes vaporize the world with all of you in it… in a war that never happened until we brought it here. And Hazel gave his life to save us, so you may need to shut up and listen to me."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanThough it sounded like Five was about to launch into a rant, his emotions overwhelmed him suddenly, and he fell completely silent, his eyes fascinated by his shoes for no apparent reason. I looked to my siblings, who remained wide-eyed and afraid, then carefully moved and set a hand on Five's shoulder./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Guys, can you give us a minute?" I whispered. Without hesitating, my siblings jumped up from their seats and shuffled toward the back of Elliott's kitchen, offering us as much privacy as this space allowed for. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanRather than attempting to push him into explaining, I simply began to pace around Five, allowing him the proper time to get himself together. Part of me was still rattled, but I needed to push that down for now, and focus on what was more important. The silence weighed heavy between the two of us as Five pulled together whatever he was going to say next, but the moment his mouth opened, it snapped back shut again, prompting me to sit on the table across from him and start the style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Do you want to talk about it?" I muttered, trying to keep my voice low. Though Five nodded immediately, it still took him a moment to explain./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"You were all fighting together." His voice could barely be heard, but I could still catch his words. "You guys managed to fend off most of the soldiers, and the bullets, and the tanks." I watched as a little, bittersweet smile crossed his face. "You saw me, and you called me a little shit, but you still came over and hugged me." I shook my head, trying to fight down my smirk for the sake of the story./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Sounds about right."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"But after you and Hazel said hello, the nukes came. He said we needed to go, and I wasn't thinking about any timeline consequences, so I tried to get you to come with me. You wouldn't." His breaths became shaky again, speeding up. "You pushed me toward Hazel, and you told him to protect me 'at all costs'." Finally, he managed to look up from the ground. "The last thing I saw before we jumped was you waving as you hugged Klaus and Vanya"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanRising tears threatened to breach the surface of my eyes, only abolished by a quick swipe of my fingers. In my reality, it hadn't happened yet—and I'd do my damn best to make sure it never happened—but somehow, I could picture everything perfectly. Every detail burned bright against my brain, throwing me out of my seat and toward my brother to envelop him in a tight hug. All the while, my brain ran rampant, words replaying in my head as they pulled themselves together and reached a horrifying conclusion./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"That's three times I've died now." I felt Five nod against my torso. "One more than the rest of our siblings."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"It's not that much." It was strange to hear him in denial, especially when the topic related back to something he knew so well./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"But no detail is insignificant." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanThat wasn't helping. As important as it was in my mind, there were far more pressing matters that could assure that number wouldn't go up any more./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Let's stop the end of the world, then," I declared, leaning down to wipe away a couple of tears that slipped from his eyes. "This time, for real."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"That seemed to bring back some of his old self, and with that little bit of reassurance, I waved the rest of our family back in./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"All right, listen up," Five ordered, forcing his siblings' attention to him. "I don't know if the things we've experienced here are all connected. I don't know if there's a reason for everything. But Dad will. We need to talk to him before everyone and everything we know is dead." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanLuther barely even gave the proposition a thought before he pushed himself up from his chair and started toward the staircase that led outside./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Okay, I'm out." I stared daggers at my brother as Five leered in his direction./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Did you even hear me, Luther?" he demanded./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Yeah. Yeah, I did. I heard a 58-year-old man who still wants his daddy to come and fix everything. Well, you can count me out. It's time we all grew the hell up." Appalled at the hypocrisy, I rested a hand against my hip and followed Luther with my eyes./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"You have no room to talk, Luther!" I shouted after him. Diego shot up and ran down the stairs after his brother, while Five blinked onto the staircase to block his way. I watched the three of them with wary eyes, prepared to strike at any moment./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"No one leaves until we figure this out," Five declared./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanI relaxed, for a second, as Luther sighed, until he suddenly grabbed Five by the vest and threw him off the stairs, only saved from injury by jumping out of the scene entirely. Furious, I started toward the stairs, but before I could get far, Allison reached out and grabbed onto my arm, holding me back. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"Still, I wasn't about to allow Luther to just get away with throwing my brother around, so I turned once, then stuck my hand out in his direction, delivering just enough of a jolt to cause him to cry out. Quickly, he averted his glare to me, but I just shrugged and smirked at him, feeling absolutely no remorse for my actions./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanWith my temper quelled at least a little, I focused back on Klaus, Allison, and Vanya, the only three left in front of me. Klaus had, at some point, picked up one of the ambrosia dishes and had started to eat it, somehow not repulsed by the dish. Then again, he'd clearly had a lot of alcohol, so maybe it balanced out./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"You know, I could really go for some tacos right now," he announced suddenly, looking to his three sisters. "Allison? Tacos?" She pointed back in the direction of Diego and Luther, who had now completely vacated the style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Shouldn't we wait?" Despite her serious question, Klaus just shrugged, brushing it off./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"You know those guys. I mean, it could take forever for them to bro it out." His eyes shifted to Vanya. "Vanya, tacos?" She appeared much more willing./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Is there any way that tacos are gonna cause the end of the world?" Klaus smiled as he began to get up, reaching for his precious bottle of Vodka./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I mean, there's only one way to find out, right?" Finally, he looked to me. "Mina, you coming?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanThough I loved the thought of getting to spend time with the siblings I had yet to catch up with, not to mention get some halfway decent food, my mind kept wandering back to Five, concerned that he hadn't come back yet. He could have jumped anywhere, especially if he was in distress like he probably would have been as he was being tossed off the stairs. I couldn't just sit here and wonder./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I really should go look for Five and make sure he's okay." Klaus blew a raspberry in my direction, causing me to jump back slightly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"He can take care of himself for a few hours. Come on," he encouraged./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"You really should come with, sis," Allison added, already looping my arm with hers./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanHonestly, a couple hours away from everything was exactly what I needed. A little part of me protested, but I managed to silence it for the time being./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Let's get out of here."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"All right. First off, I wanna say I'm sorry." He eyed each of the people in front of him with the urgency and enthusiasm of a child, but something buried deep back held a much heavier burden. "I know I really screwed the pooch on this whole 'going-back-in-time-and-getting-stuck thing." No one responded, but I noticed a few of our siblings shake their heads or roll their eyes. "But the real kick in the pants here is we brought the end of the world back here with us." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"Klaus immediately halted in his movements, shockingly finding that more important than pouring himself another drink. His eyes nearly popped out of his head as he turned and stared at our youngest brother, simultaneously confused and appalled./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Oh, my God, again?" he sighed, almost exasperated with the prospect of chasing another apocalypse. "All of you knew? Why am I always the last one to find out about the—" Klaus gasped suddenly, a new realization popping into his mind. "Oh, my God. My cult is gonna be so pissed. Five! I told them we had until 2019."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanI'd like to say I was shocked by the revelation, even disgusted. I wanted to think that I would push my head back and raise an eyebrow, silently questioning the choices Klaus had made now that he was presented with the opportunity to start over in the 1960s./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanBut, in all honesty, nothing about the idea of Klaus being a cult leader even emremotely /emsurprised me./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"We have until Monday," Five informed him, devoid of any regret or confusion. "We have six days."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Is it Vanya?" Allison and I scoffed as Klaus took a sip of the alcohol he'd resumed pouring./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Klaus," my sister warned./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"What? It's usually Vanya." Vanya, no longer wanting to be the subject of familial ridicule, turned her attention to Five./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Do you have any leads, Five?" she asked, silencing everyone else. My brother cast a glance in my direction, signaling me to pick up the nearly-empty folder on the seat of the chair and pass it to him, so he could hand it off to our sisters. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Yeah, we have one." Allison's jaw fell slightly when she opened up the object of interest and looked at the photograph clipped inside. span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Holy shit, is that Dad?" she gawked, shifting slightly to allow Vanya and Klaus to have a look themselves./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Yeah," Diego sneered. "And he's standing on the grassy knoll." Vanya's brows furrowed, unsure of why what was just some patch of grass the her was so significant. "Diego, Mina, and I have been trying to talk to Dad about what exactly this means. So far, we've got nothing."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Not nothing," Diego interjected quickly. With one glance to the side, I noticed that crazed look was beginning to envelop his eyes, causing me to tense up. "He's planning to kill Kennedy."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Maybe," Five dismissed. "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 the timeline, we have to make it right again."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Yeah, but how are we supposed to fix it if we don't know what's broken?" Allison inquired, raising a legitimate point./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Come on," Diego snapped. "Do the math. 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." I flinched slightly as he removed himself from the chair, moving to stand behind Five, who shrugged and nodded. "Kill Dad."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Find Dad." Five spoke at the same time as Diego. My brows knitted themselves together as I fully processed what Diego had said, and I turned my head back to glare at him. He'd fallen head-first into these delusions. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanWhile the rest of our siblings were busy trying to forget or just straight up disregard what Diego had said—which was impressive, considering our collective disdain for the man on trial—Vanya looked as though the wheels in her brain were starting to turn, piecing together the little slivers she had./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"None of us are supposed to be here, right?" she asked, partially thinking out loud. "I mean, what if it's us?" She made a good point. We were possibly the only irregularity in this timeline—except for The Swedes, but they didn't count in my mind—so it was entirely possible this was our fault. "Has anyone here done anything to screw up the timeline?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanEveryone suddenly fell silent, electing to take sips of their drinks or stare at another sibling, silently accusing them of a crime. Those who didn't dare to draw their eyes to another pair shook their heads, denying any part in the potential screwing of this timeline. One could have heard a pin drop, until Luther shrugged and opened his mouth./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Diego's been stalking Lee Harvey Oswald," he stated casually, as though his brother would just take that and go. But, Diego being Diego, he instead shot up an accusatory finger, throwing a revelation right back./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"And you're working for Jack Ruby," he barked./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Allison has been very involved in local politics," Klaus slurred, causing his sister to shoot her head up and roll her eyes at him./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Okay, emyou /emstarted a cult," she shot back./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Mina essentially told her friend gay rights were coming soon." Caught off-guard, I spun on my heel and glared down at Five, crossing my arms against my chest. If he wanted to play that game, he couldn't expect to just get away with lobbing the ball up and letting it bounce away./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Okay, need I remind you that you told a local conspiracist about the entire future?" I spat. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I'm—I'm just a… a nanny on a farm," Vanya shrugged. "I don't have anything to do with all of that." There was no way that was possible. With this family, no one was just an insignificant puzzle piece./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Well, maybe you do, we just don't know it yet," I suggested, not wanting to rule anything out. span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanI snapped my head around as Diego whistled, drawing our attention back to him./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Listen to yourselves. Everything in our new lives is connected to Kennedy. That can't be a coincidence. Luther works for Ruby, Allison is protesting the government, Mina's planted an idea that leads to protests soon, Dad is on the grassy knoll, Klaus is…" He trailed off, finally hitting the speed bump in his logic. "…doing something weird and pervy, but probably related. See, clearly, we were all sent back here for one special reason: saving John Fitzgerald Kennedy."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanI rolled my eyes, shifting my posture onto one hip as I glared at Diego. All at once, my siblings began to speak up, nearly drowning me in a sea of voices, but I made sure he could hear me./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Okay, first of all, prominent LGBT rights protests didn't start until 1966 with the 'sip-in', which is emlong /emafter Kennedy is killed; and second of all, your hero complex is so goddamn inflated by your ego that you genuinely believe you can save Kennedy. You don't even have any concrete evidence that's what's going on here."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"At least I'm doing something important," he snapped back. "What have you been doing? Chasing around Lila like a lovesick puppy, and then the moment she does something you don't like, you turn your back on her." I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off. "And when you're not doing that, you're leaning over Five's shoulder, watching his every move like he's goddamn incapable." I could feel the intense anger growing in my stomach as my fists balled up./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"You agreed something was off about her!" I screamed, unable to contain myself anymore. "You don't have any room to talk, you piece of shit mother—"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Guys, you all die."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanIn an instant, my mounting rage fell away completely, leaving me slightly exhausted from the loss of adrenaline. Slowly, I turned to look down at Five, my insides completely crumpling as I watched his face contort, trying his best to hold back his tears. At this rate, the revelation we didn't make it out of this wasn't shocking anymore. But watching as Five desperately attempted to keep himself composed completely shattered me inside. He'd seen so much in the however-many-years of life he wanted to say he'd lived. What he needed was a break, but it didn't seem like he'd ever get that now./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanEveryone fell completely silent, moving and adjusting so they could look to their brother, wearing varying degrees of shock and surprise on their faces./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I was there. I saw it." His voice gargled. "And I wanna forget it, but I can't. I saw Russian nukes vaporize the world with all of you in it… in a war that never happened until we brought it here. And Hazel gave his life to save us, so you may need to shut up and listen to me."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanThough it sounded like Five was about to launch into a rant, his emotions overwhelmed him suddenly, and he fell completely silent, his eyes fascinated by his shoes for no apparent reason. I looked to my siblings, who remained wide-eyed and afraid, then carefully moved and set a hand on Five's shoulder./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Guys, can you give us a minute?" I whispered. Without hesitating, my siblings jumped up from their seats and shuffled toward the back of Elliott's kitchen, offering us as much privacy as this space allowed for. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanRather than attempting to push him into explaining, I simply began to pace around Five, allowing him the proper time to get himself together. Part of me was still rattled, but I needed to push that down for now, and focus on what was more important. The silence weighed heavy between the two of us as Five pulled together whatever he was going to say next, but the moment his mouth opened, it snapped back shut again, prompting me to sit on the table across from him and start the style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Do you want to talk about it?" I muttered, trying to keep my voice low. Though Five nodded immediately, it still took him a moment to explain./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"You were all fighting together." His voice could barely be heard, but I could still catch his words. "You guys managed to fend off most of the soldiers, and the bullets, and the tanks." I watched as a little, bittersweet smile crossed his face. "You saw me, and you called me a little shit, but you still came over and hugged me." I shook my head, trying to fight down my smirk for the sake of the story./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Sounds about right."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"But after you and Hazel said hello, the nukes came. He said we needed to go, and I wasn't thinking about any timeline consequences, so I tried to get you to come with me. You wouldn't." His breaths became shaky again, speeding up. "You pushed me toward Hazel, and you told him to protect me 'at all costs'." Finally, he managed to look up from the ground. "The last thing I saw before we jumped was you waving as you hugged Klaus and Vanya"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanRising tears threatened to breach the surface of my eyes, only abolished by a quick swipe of my fingers. In my reality, it hadn't happened yet—and I'd do my damn best to make sure it never happened—but somehow, I could picture everything perfectly. Every detail burned bright against my brain, throwing me out of my seat and toward my brother to envelop him in a tight hug. All the while, my brain ran rampant, words replaying in my head as they pulled themselves together and reached a horrifying conclusion./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"That's three times I've died now." I felt Five nod against my torso. "One more than the rest of our siblings."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"It's not that much." It was strange to hear him in denial, especially when the topic related back to something he knew so well./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"But no detail is insignificant." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanThat wasn't helping. As important as it was in my mind, there were far more pressing matters that could assure that number wouldn't go up any more./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Let's stop the end of the world, then," I declared, leaning down to wipe away a couple of tears that slipped from his eyes. "This time, for real."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"That seemed to bring back some of his old self, and with that little bit of reassurance, I waved the rest of our family back in./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"All right, listen up," Five ordered, forcing his siblings' attention to him. "I don't know if the things we've experienced here are all connected. I don't know if there's a reason for everything. But Dad will. We need to talk to him before everyone and everything we know is dead." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanLuther barely even gave the proposition a thought before he pushed himself up from his chair and started toward the staircase that led outside./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Okay, I'm out." I stared daggers at my brother as Five leered in his direction./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Did you even hear me, Luther?" he demanded./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Yeah. Yeah, I did. I heard a 58-year-old man who still wants his daddy to come and fix everything. Well, you can count me out. It's time we all grew the hell up." Appalled at the hypocrisy, I rested a hand against my hip and followed Luther with my eyes./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"You have no room to talk, Luther!" I shouted after him. Diego shot up and ran down the stairs after his brother, while Five blinked onto the staircase to block his way. I watched the three of them with wary eyes, prepared to strike at any moment./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"No one leaves until we figure this out," Five declared./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanI relaxed, for a second, as Luther sighed, until he suddenly grabbed Five by the vest and threw him off the stairs, only saved from injury by jumping out of the scene entirely. Furious, I started toward the stairs, but before I could get far, Allison reached out and grabbed onto my arm, holding me back. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"Still, I wasn't about to allow Luther to just get away with throwing my brother around, so I turned once, then stuck my hand out in his direction, delivering just enough of a jolt to cause him to cry out. Quickly, he averted his glare to me, but I just shrugged and smirked at him, feeling absolutely no remorse for my actions./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanWith my temper quelled at least a little, I focused back on Klaus, Allison, and Vanya, the only three left in front of me. Klaus had, at some point, picked up one of the ambrosia dishes and had started to eat it, somehow not repulsed by the dish. Then again, he'd clearly had a lot of alcohol, so maybe it balanced out./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"You know, I could really go for some tacos right now," he announced suddenly, looking to his three sisters. "Allison? Tacos?" She pointed back in the direction of Diego and Luther, who had now completely vacated the style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Shouldn't we wait?" Despite her serious question, Klaus just shrugged, brushing it off./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"You know those guys. I mean, it could take forever for them to bro it out." His eyes shifted to Vanya. "Vanya, tacos?" She appeared much more willing./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Is there any way that tacos are gonna cause the end of the world?" Klaus smiled as he began to get up, reaching for his precious bottle of Vodka./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I mean, there's only one way to find out, right?" Finally, he looked to me. "Mina, you coming?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanThough I loved the thought of getting to spend time with the siblings I had yet to catch up with, not to mention get some halfway decent food, my mind kept wandering back to Five, concerned that he hadn't come back yet. He could have jumped anywhere, especially if he was in distress like he probably would have been as he was being tossed off the stairs. I couldn't just sit here and wonder./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I really should go look for Five and make sure he's okay." Klaus blew a raspberry in my direction, causing me to jump back slightly./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"He can take care of himself for a few hours. Come on," he encouraged./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"You really should come with, sis," Allison added, already looping my arm with hers./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanHonestly, a couple hours away from everything was exactly what I needed. A little part of me protested, but I managed to silence it for the time being./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Let's get out of here."/span/p