Theodore awoke alone in the overbearing darkness much as he had done for most of his life. In that one brief moment as he ruminated in the dark, he languished in that place of peace & safety where pain had yet to reach him and the warm vestiges of sleep still tugged at his heavy bones. If Theodore didn't know any better, he would have of thought that he was back home, tucked away in his bed beneath a pile of blankets as he woke to the dark of those early school day mornings. it would have of been nice, if it weren't for his other senses kicking into gear as he returned to reality.

The smell of smoke filtered in through his nostrils, bringing him the scent of sizzling bacon which quickly turned his stomach when he realised that it was not his vera cooking breakfast in the kitchen. A burning sensation crawled across his shaking limbs from the electrical wires that were still entangled around him; they were mercifully weaker than before but that didn't stop his muscles from continuing to spasm at every small twitch or zap. His heart, which felt like it had lodged itself in his throat, could not move any further thanks to the shock collar still clipped around his jugular. The only saving grace in that department was that with the Keepers dead, there was no one to activate the device strapped there.

Brown eyes eventually peeled open, revealing the sight of cyan fireflies floating past his field of vision and past that, a bubble of warm lumen (one he could not remember erecting) light that encased him, keeping him safe from the looking dark beyond. And then just like that, the whining of a violin whispered in his ears as the lumen dome popped like a soap bubble, twisting off into the cracks of the ruins like starry little motes. It was a gentle song; weak & pure that calmed his achingly racing heart. Humming along to the violin's song that only he seemed to hear, Theodore clung to his vera's song as he hefted the chunks of debris off of himself. And then, gritting his teeth against the pain, he flopped over onto his stomach & clambered to his feet.

There wasn't much he could do in this state, but it was just enough that he could widen that gap over to the left of his shoulder; widening it far enough for him to scramble through and out into the open. It was a mission and a half to weave his way through the mess of ruins that had once been the Umbrella Academy and more than once Theodore found himself having to stop so that he could brace himself against an outcropping rock, here or tug at the trailing electrical wires when they became caught on splintered pieces of wood & jutting out pieces of pipe, there. Theodore found it much harder to navigate the ruins of the Umbrella Academy than he had the ruins of Saint Gregory's, but he assumed that that was because unlike the campus, the blast zone academy was much more contained and the building itself was much more compact than the other. Either way, he found himself continuously tugging at the collar still strapped to his neck whenever it pinched at his skin as he squeezed through a crag or tumbled out of a gap that he had forced himself through.

It was only once Theodore had shimmied out of a small cranny next to a broken bookcase and clambered over the horribly burnt & broken bodies of the LANE Keepers surrounding him, that he felt like he could just that little bit easier. Bracing himself against a wall of splintered wood, the Garde boy paused to blink back the dots dancing around the edges of his vision as rib-rattling coughs shook his bones. It was like he was trying to retch up the dust, debris & motes that had lodged themselves in his lungs and he found himself forever grateful for Loric genetics & the lumen bubble which had protected him from far worse.

Theodore wasn't sure how long he leant there—only that pure determination & spite kept him upright—but once he felt like the world would stay level enough for him to scramble over this next crest, did he push away from the splintered wood keeping him upright. Absentmindedly—as he squawked quietly at the debris shifting beneath his feet & making him stumble—Theodore recognised the sounds of nearby voices shouting at each other. It took a few more minutes for his sluggish brain to realise that those voices were those of his dons and he felt a wave of relief surge through him.

A wave that was quickly followed by the fearful anxiety that whispered hauntingly in his ear about how they locked him away and how they must've been the ones to call the Keepers on him because who else would know where he had been staying for the past week? Nervously shuffling closer, Theodore audibly swallowed as he slid down the other side of the rubble and bit back a curse with a visible wince as the electrical wires caught again on some debris and he was wrought with a series of small sparks that had his muscles spasming again. Right now, he would gladly shove those fears aside, if only so that they could help him get these blasted devices off.

"…C'me 'ere! Help me search!" Don Diego wept as he scrabbled at a nearby pile of rubble, trying to shift the concrete away to the best of his abilities despite the fact that he only had one usable arm.

"Diego! Stop—stop!" Don Klaus tried as he latched onto Don Diego's elbow and yanked him back to his feet. Hauling his older brother around to face him, Don Klaus cupped Don Diego's face in his hands, making sure that the distressed man looked directly into his eyes so that he knew he was being serious. "Just stop"

"What are you—?" Don Diego squirmed in his hold, "Lemme go—!"

"—Stop! Stop! Stop!" Don Klaus dug his nails in, unintentionally indenting his brother's cheeks with his own toothily-jagged cuticles.

"What do you wanna do?!" Don Diego sneered as he tried to project his usual level of suave confidence and persuade his brother to help him. The last time they had had to dig someone out of rubble like this, they had been seventeen and it had been their brother caught in the confines. None of them were excited to see a sight like this again. "You w-w-w-wanna walk away from this?"

"…No" Don Klaus shook his head as he let go of Don Diego when he was convinced that the man wouldn't dive right back in.

"What about the others?" Don Diego pursued, searching for his family members. "Allison? Luther? Theodore? Pogo?"

"I—I should…go I…should I…I should…should go…" Theodore mumbled to himself as he listened to his dons' disparaging cries. The words tumbling from his mouth were stunted and out of place, but he knew what he was trying to say.

KA-THUNK!

Stumbling over a loose piece of rubble that had him fumbling over his own feet, Theodore carefully picked his way over to the worried voices gathered around the corner. "Oof!"

("Teddy…?" Don Ben breathed as Theodore suddenly appeared around the corner as if summoned by his brother's words. His clothes were tattered & burnt beyond repair, some sort of electrical wire hung loosely from his frame and the shock collar was still firmly pressed against his throat as he shuffled ever closer, still coughing up the dust & smoke lodged in this throat).

"Huh?" Don Klaus perked up, spinning on his heel at his brother's gasp. Following his line of sight, he was met with the same visage of their nephew who was clearly worse for wear (For one briefly terrifying moment, the necromancer thought that his nephew was in fact, dead and the person he was now seeing was his ghost because it would have taken a miracle to survive that).

"D-don?" Theodore coughed, glancing up with a misty-eyed gaze to see both Don Diego & Don Klaus gathered close together amongst the grave of their childhood home.

("Wait—! Where's Vanny?" Don Ben worried to himself as he twisted every which way, looking for any sign of his youngest—and recently dead—sister. His stomach dropped when he found none; Theodore was alone).

Ugh! Grounds shouldn't do that…! Theodore inwardly groaned as the horizon line tilted horribly on its axis, precariously shifting between one extreme & the next and he knew that his spiteful battle to stay upright was a lost one.

"THEODORE!" Don Klaus cried as he & Don Diego shot forward to scramble over the mess, with Don Klaus getting there first and quickly swept up the twelve year old into a tight hug. Enveloped in a warm embrace of his don, Theodore relaxed a little, knowing that they would keep him safe as he tried to calm his shaky limbs and wildly beating heart.

"Oof!" Theodore huffed at the sudden impact of the hug, but leant into his dons' grasp nonetheless. Dots danced in front of his vision, threatening to consume it and pull him under into the becoming arms of sleep. Between this breath & the next, Theodore's legs buckled of their own accord, dropping out from beneath him as the dark dots finally overtook his vision and his eyes rolled up into the back of his head; finally passing out.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Klaus asked as he dropped to the ground with their nephew, until he was able to cradle him more comfortably. Pulling back from the hug, Klaus proceeded to check Theodore over for any injuries or any reason as to why he had suddenly passed out. Gaze roving over his face, he quickly noted the dried blood peppered on his cheek from a cut that had sprung to life upon escaping from the ruins of the academy, the electrical wires hanging loosely from his small frame and the collar wrapped around his neck. "Teddy? Hey, hey, hey! Teddy? Wake up! Wake up! Teddy—!"

("—Is he—is he…alive?" Ben asked hesitantly, almost afraid of the answer even as the words left his lips and as he watched his brother pat/slap the boy's cheeks in an attempt to rouse him. It wasn't working).

"…Uh" Klaus nodded in acknowledgement as he slapped his fingers against the boy's wrist as he checked for a pulse and found it beating there. "Uh huh"

("Good, good" Ben sniffled, nodding succinctly as he tried not to cry).

"D-Diego—!" Klaus tossed over his shoulder, "Help—help me get this stuff off! Diego—!"

"—Uh, uh, yeah" Diego nodded shakily, as he stared wide-eyed at the boy at his feet and tossed a knife at his brother. He had paled considerably by that point; confused & angry tears gathered in his eyes as he thought about how Theodore had just slaughtered all those Keepers, how he had crushed Pogo and how Mom had suffocated under all those tonnes of rubble. It was true that he cared for the boy, but in comparison to his mother, it was nothing. "Here"

"Thanks" Klaus, ever the pickpocket, was able to easily unlock the collar with practised ease, but the wires proved to be more tricky.

"Theo—he just…but why would he—? I don't—I don't understand—! What the hell is going on?!He killed those Keepers and—and the house—M-Mom—and Pogo—why—why would he do that?! How did he do that?!" Diego blubbered as a kind of panic welled up inside him and warred with the confused anger swimming in his stomach. He just couldn't fathom why Theodore would do something like that. Klaus, on the other hand, was more focused on using the gifted blade to saw away at the wires encapsulating Theodore with a certain level of concerned worry on his features as the boy spasmed or twitched painfully every now & then thanks to said wires.

"What…?" Luther greeted in confusion with his brows pinched so low that they formed a single shelf that shadows his gaze. Towed behind him by their handhold, Allison silently followed as they reappeared from the southern end of the block.

"Theodore crushed him" Klaus clarified, "After, y'know, the LANE Keeper threw him across the room and broke his back"

("Not to mention crucifying that guy" Ben added, finding himself awash with relief at knowing more of his family were alive).

"Yeah, that too" Klaus nodded, pulling off the last of the wires and chucking them aside to sizzle amongst the fiery ruins.

"But—but he wouldn't—!" Diego protested weakly as he shifted agitatedly on his feet. "The—the Keepers—and—and Pogo—"

"—No, I saw it all happen" Klaus shook his head in denial, shoulders hunched up around his ears as he clutched tightly to their nephew. "It was after you passed out—"

"—I got hit on the head—!" Diego squawked.

"—Teddy did try to save Pogo though; ended up crucifying the Keeper on ole Reggie's prized buck at the end of the hall" Klaus continued, "Not that it matters…"

"First the school and now the academy…" The silent 'What's next?' went unsaid.

The remaining Hargreeves family members slumped against each other and the piles of rubble despondently at the news sunk in that their littlest and most vibrant member had in fact torn their family & childhood home to shreds. They heavy silence was suffocating, settling around their shoulders like a heavy fog and it wasn't until the frantic calls of Five coming over the western crest, that it broke. Brandishing a fresh (& slightly singed) newspaper in his hand, Five scrambled over the burning rubble without much grace.

"Guys—oof! Guys!" Five called, making all eyes turned to him. "This is it! This is it! The apocalypse is till on! The world ends today!"

"I thought that you said that it was over!" Luther angrily retorted, gesturing wildly with his hands still clasped with Allison's.

"I was wrong, okay?" Five reluctantly admitted; tone tinged with patronisement. "This newspaper is the one that I found in the future, okay? From the day I got stuck—Look! The headline still hasn't changed!"

"No—! That can't mean anything!" Diego profusely shook his head in denial, "Time still could've been altered since that newspaper this morning—"

"—You're still not listening to me! When I found it, I assumed this place came down along with everything else, but here we are! The moon's still shining, the earth's still in one piece, but not the academy!"

"I'm so confused!" Klaus puzzled as he contorted so that he could reach the newspaper and snatched it from his brother's hand, hoping to see what was so important about a damn newspaper. Shifting awkwardly with Theodore in his lap, he snapped the pages open and held them out far enough that—if he were conscious—both of them could read it.

"Then listen to me, you idiots!" Five growled, easily letting the paper go as Diego collapsed heavily against an outcropping piece of rubble behind him. "Theodore destroyed the academy before the apocalypse! I had thoughts that Harold Jenkins or Vanya was the cause, but Harold is the fuse! Vanya is the bomb!"

"Are—are you saying that they—that their little family reunion—causes the apocalypse?" Klaus choked out, still not quite sure what to believe.

("If—if Harold Jenkins is the trigger and Vanya is the bomb, does that make Teddy the ignition?" Ben puzzled, brows furrowed in confusion. "Or, with Vanny g-gone, does that make her the ignition and Teddy the bomb?")

"Yes" Five nodded gravely, asserting their worst fears, whilst Klaus just shrugged in unsurety in response to Ben's questions.

"…We have to find them!" Luther nodded as he set his shoulders in determination and his tone took on the tone of his 'Leader voice'

It looked like the mission was set; time to act. But before any of them could do anything further or suggest a place to start, the Umbrella Academy suddenly found themselves awash with blinding spotlights that bared down at them from overhead, the wailing of sirens racing up the street and the whirring of chopping helicopter blades that sounded far too close for their liking. The reinforcements had been called in; time to go.

"We gotta go!" Diego quickly jumped to his feet, a blade already at the ready. "Now!"

"Right! Regroup at the Superstar!" Luther ordered as the Hargreeves flew from the scene, scattering in different directions like rats from a sinking ship. "Go! Now!"

"C'me on, Teddy!" Klaus chirped as he hoisted the unconscious tween up by his pits and hefted him over his shoulder before he made his escape.

"Wait—! If Theodore is a part of the apocalyptic equation, then shouldn't we just leave him here? Hand him over to the authorities?" Luther interjected, having stayed behind to shoo his family to safety but then paused when he watched Klaus pick up the boy and sling him over his shoulder.

"We can't" Diego shook his head, despite clearly contemplating it. (He was still upset that his nephew had more or less killed their mother, their carer and destroyed their childhood home all in one fell swoop).

"Why not?"

"Because, you idiot" Five sneered condescendingly as he turned on his eldest brother, having stayed to do the same as him. "If this is what the kid can do in a panic—against said authorities, whilst collared—what do you think Vanya—his mother—will do when when she finds out what you did, huh? 'Cause I'm betting on world destruction, how 'bout you?"

("…Are you gonna tell 'em?" Ben asked as they fled. "About…Vanny?")

"…" Klaus just swallowed thickly as he clung tighter to Theodore, fear & grief clearly swimming in his eyes and Ben knew that he had his answer.

"C'me on! We can't do this here!" Diego tossed back over his shoulder, already picking his way back over the crest with one last longing look spared at the ruins before he left. Luther was not far behind.

"…And so it begins" Five sighed tiredly, the last to leave the academy steps as he stared at the ruins of his home just as he had done 45 years ago. Although that had been a very different situation; he had been much younger & naive then.

Sirens wailed in the distance and Five knew that he couldn't remain there for too much longer. It was with one last longing look (thankful that he had returned Dolores to her family so that she did not have to suffer the same fate as their mother), he was gone. Only his signature ripple of blue remained twisting in the air as he Blinked, tearing into time & space as the reinforcements descended upon the ruins.