At what point did their relationship become so reliant on one another?

Cielo blushed when Five chuckled at her stomach growling. Now that they came to their agreement she realized how much energy she had exerted today alone.

"How about we get something to eat before we start fighting again?"

"Sounds good to me. Have you tried this hotel food yet? The last thing I ate was those weird space, freeze dry foods that tasted of nothing and hardly felt filling. I don't know how anyone can survive on those things."

As they stood hand in hand waiting for the elevator, she wondered if it was a good idea to leave her briefcase back in the breaker room. She had spent the past 2 plus years with that always close by her. To not have it in a secure location at the very least worried her. Five was a good substitute in grounding her in the moment but he had his own legs to walk away the moment he desired. She didn't like the thought of being without either beside her.

Which Cielo was currently holding his hand plagued Five's mind.

Now, she had always been someone that made strange comments but throughout the conversation he knew there was a difference between how she spoke with Luther versus him. It wasn't solely because of their comfortable levels with one another. She was almost a different person between the two incidents. With her memories being not entirely her's and the multiple cases in the past as proof, he didn't know who or what exactly was with him now.

"When you were with the other me, did he say anything about possibly unlocking your other memories?"

She stared straight at the elevator numbers arriving on their floor. "No, Old man Five didn't talk much. His lung condition wasn't all that great to be chattering away anyways."

She was still a terrible liar.

Why she had to lie, he had a pretty good guess. Their condition made it so that they stuck together. Not so that they would agree to support one another. As to what she was lying about, that's a whole other issue. One that he was very much contemplating whether or not he should bring it up. The last thing he wanted was to excuse her of possibly betraying him. Again.

"Then what do you plan to do next if you don't want to kill Harlan?"

"I thought you wanted to get food before we started arguing again?" They stepped in and pressed for the lobby. She knew that he knew she was lying. No amount of Commission training could change her natural display of guilt.

"It was an honest question. Whatever you say, I won't be upset."

"I very much doubt that."

"Give me your best shot. You may not know how to unlock your memories but your instinct can be very keen at times. What's on your mind?" He gave a wide, innocent appearing, smile.

"Alright then Old man. I want to meet the Sparrows."

"No." She drastically groaned out. 'Won't be upset her ass'; of course he wouldn't openly allow her to meet his killer, somewhat, siblings. "It's not safe to meet them."

"And the Umbrellas are safe? The super sized human and the knife covered guys? And more?"

"They won't dare lay a finger on you."

"Yeah now. Maybe. But they've held hostile feelings to me in the past. Quite frankly the only Hargreeves siblings that have been consistently nice to me are Seance and Violinist. Violinist more so on the curtsy view of things. But even those two could probably rip me in half if they really wanted to. I think the Sparrows would be a lovely group of people to meet."

"You believe too much in people."

"You look too poorly at people. Okay, what about meeting Bargain point? The first and last I saw of him was in the barnyard when he was losing control of his power. It's quite fascinating that Violinist was able to transfer his power in the first place. And if you further look into it, he's had his powers longer than Violinist has. The control over it would be extremely beneficial to keep."

"Or dangerous. He's here for Viktor. Not the rest of us. We're practically inviting him if we play our cards wrong with him."

"All I'm saying is that he isn't too different from Violinist. Catastrophic powers given to a child that has no support. Frankly he's very put together for his circumstances. I'm more surprised that he didn't blow up the world himself." She was going to say more but stopped herself.

In order to create a change in the timeline there needs to be a ripple. Something small that people brush past in their daily lives. Usually Commission would eliminate someone to keep things in line. Keeping someone alive wasn't standard. The Umbrella Academy in 1963 shouldn't have been allowed to live for that long. Six human wills did not match what was necessary for Time to survive.

Something they did back then forged a connection to their mothers' killer. To someone so powerful that their will was to use their power specifically on the day they were supposed to be born. The cause of the Kugelblitz was the grandfather paradox. On the surface, it was simple to blame the Umbrellas for returning to a timeline that they shouldn't be interfering with. Digging deeper it was the fault of whoever killed their moms that caused this. Power to do something that globally and simultaneously was apocalyptic.

The only time she saw that level was in Viktor. And Harlan.

"I get it. You want to keep him alive. Even more of a reason that if the Sparrows find out about this, they'll hate you even more."

"That's not wrong..."

Given that Five didn't tell her this, it was clear that he didn't know that his brother was protecting their mothers' murderer. They were already wanting to sacrifice him to the Sparrows. If they find this out? She didn't need her memories to predict what would happen.

"Yeah I really need to make friends with them." She was relieved when the doors opened again. She stepped out first with a small hop. "Look over there. Seance is all by himself, go have a chat with him."

"Klaus? Why?"

"Because he's in the same scenario as you by not surviving here. His opinion on what to do next is just as important as yours. Plus, as I said, he's one of your nicer siblings nowadays. Go have a decent chat with him while I get some food." She let go of his hand first to head in the opposite direction of his brother without waiting for any confirmation that he would.

Five could only shake his head at her. Not even a thought crossed his mind why she was so eager to leave the two of them even though it was her idea to speak to him. Sure enough Klaus was already at the bar with a drink in hand. It was her decision to talk to him that he had to follow her direction.

"Five! Come join me." Klaus called out as he approached him. He prepared another shot glass for his brother seeing the sluggish way he presented himself.

"Thanks."

"So what's the plan now that Viktor has gone AWOL?"

"Who knows. Even Cielo has no real clues to follow. She's insistent that I stop trying to save the world but I really have no idea what's going on in her head today." There was this foreign look in her eyes that he didn't recognize. The way she changed personalities from what she believed to supporting him was near instant.

The woman who was always so easy to read, suddenly had a completely unknown side to her. Her views were logical but hopeless. Still the Cielo he knew was underneath her Commission persona. He just never thought that he would have to bring that part of her out. Now with that condition he agreed to, he felt like he had nothing to say about her wanting to go down a different route.

"The worst part about this being that she's siding with my future self that died a pointless death. Right in front of my eyes."

Sitting down for a moment, he remembered how weak Old man Five was. Hooked up to a machine to keep breathing. Bared near naked for anyone to see. All alone as he breathed his last words out towards himself. His name never even left a legacy.

Klaus gasped. "That's crazy. The exact same thing almost happened to me!"

From the distance, Cielo watched the two brothers chat. Her shoulders dropped, a sigh escaping her lips. Her feet dragged to the other side of the bar far enough from the men that they couldn't see her. Though she never let them out of her peripheral view. Leaning her shaky weight against the bar, she forced herself to breath slowly. "What the fuck do I do now?"

A hotel worker, the only one left in the lobby, greeted her behind the counter. "What can I help you with today?"

"I would love to see a menu."

"Of course." Along with a menu, he placed a sign on the counter that read 'cash up front'. Understandable given that she didn't have a room here.

She nervously patted on her pockets for some money. Silently thanking that she had gotten in the habit of carrying a wallet around after Lila always made her pay during their time together at Commission. The few bills, some not of this time era, were probably enough to get a room as well. Reassuring that she wasn't going to get kicked out of the only place she had at the moment.

"Can I get 3 sandwiches please?"

He nodded and took the proper amount of payment. In less than a minute he presented her with 3 premade, wrapped sandwiches. For how cheap they were she was pleased that they were fairly stuffed. As strange as this hotel was, they clearly knew how to treat their customers.

Piling them into her hands, she gave a quick thanks before turning to the pair. Even now she could see the gears turning in Five's head. The tattoo he cut out of his other self's body in his hands. He must have found the next clue. She really couldn't stop the path he was.

"The tattoo. It's the symbol of the biker gang, the Mothers of Agony." Getting closer confirmed that he found out one part of the tattoos meaning.

"You know them?"

"Yeah, like two timelines ago they were... how do you put it? My farmacistas."

"This is good." Five stuffed the skin into his suit's inner pocket. Before he could blink away, a hand grabbed his. A wrapped sandwich roughly being put in it. Cielo's hold on him a bit tighter than she wanted.

"Take this with you. Drinking on an empty stomach is one thing. Going off on another adventure is another. You need to take better care of yourself." He stared down at the sandwich.

Did Cielo know prior that he was going to leave like this? Is that why she wanted to talk to Klaus? The thought of her possible betrayal scared him. He was used to her surprising him but this was a different level. Her personality was flipping and flopping as needed. It was hard to tell which version she was.

It was always like this though. Cielo was kind to strangers, rude to those rude, childish, professional, knew everything about time but nothing about the science behind it. She was everything yet nothing. Which one was truly her then?

"Five? This not to your taste? Don't be so picky." Joking was her way of pushing things aside. Smiling like nothing was wrong. It was the first time that Five actually realized he knew nothing about her.

"I need to go check out the tattoo artist. Stay here in the hotel with the others. Hide if the Sparrows come back. And if Viktor comes back then get Harlan to stay put as well. Do not engage with either of then until I get back. Or at least stay with Lila." He didn't have time to unload all of that. He had to blindly trust that she was pushing him in the right direction. The next clue presented itself to him. He had to leave now.

"Yeah yeah I get it. I'll probably just work on the briefcases and look into whatever history books this place has. Maybe catch up with Copycat too. If I can separate her from your brother that is. Seance is here too. And I told you how much I love hanging out with him."

"Aww Cielo. Really?" He touched his chest with a pout.

"Of course Seance. While Five is going off on his life staking adventure once more, I should enjoy my early retirement and hang out with you today."

"Let's do that!" Her hand hadn't released its hold. She didn't want to let him go. That much he could tell. For whose sake, he was convinced it was his.

"You two do that then. At least you'll keep each other out of trouble."

"I should be keeping you out of trouble but you'll run off before I can stop you. Just avoid getting into any fights please." It wasn't like he didn't want to bring her along. They were consistently getting separated that the amount of questions he had about her was always rising with little time to ask remaining.

On the other hand, he couldn't stop having suspicions of her. Different from when they first met, he genuinely felt fear that she would betray him. He expected it when they first met. Could he trust this Cielo or should he expect the worst?

"No promises." He pulled away from her. The two shared a fake smile to each other. They knew that there was an elephant in the room but too many things that had to get priority. In a blue flash Five was gone.

"Off he goes once more. Didn't even last 10 minutes before running off. I told him to get along with his siblings. Not go find a tattoo artist. How does he expect to find the bar if we didn't tell him where it is?" She mumbled to herself.

"You know about the Mothers of Agony?"

"In the opposite way that you know them actually. I avoided that place with all that I had. Not the type of crowd I would associate myself with in the first place. The symbol is recognizable enough in our city. Want a sandwich?"

"Don't mind if I do." She handed it to him as she took Five's previous seat.

She poured herself a glass. The smile she displayed to Five dropping the instant he jumped. Klaus wasn't blind to her change in her attitude. He knew when someone was depending on alcohol to clear the mind and that's exactly what Cielo was trying to do now. "Hey what's wrong?"

She shrugged, peeling back the sandwich's wrapping. "Nothing much. Just wanted a drink to calm down. I have a lot of work to do, you know? But we can still hang out though."

"You're gonna have to try lying better to me."

"It's not a fun conversation."

"Sounds interesting though." He shuffled the chair closer. His eyes were shining with anticipation. She sighed seeing that he wasn't going to drop it.

"Once in the past someone I hated told me that Five would never choose me over his family." She swirled the liquid around in the shot glass. "And well I- I understand why he values you all so much. I love you all too. But with everything that happened when I was co-Commission head- and being trapped in that bunker, I- I fear that I will be the same as him. That I will never choose him over Time."

"What makes you say that?"

"I have this annoying nagging feeling stopping me from stopping him. To stop running around, obsessed with doomsday, I wanted to stop him from going. I couldn't. I couldn't choose him over Time and its desires. Now he's off to the biggest biker gang in the city for a tattoo artist. I have no one to blame but me." And she hated that the feeling was herself.

The reminder that part of herself wasn't truly what she wanted had been constantly haunting her since she had learned the fact. It will always choose to save Time. It all started and ended with that. There was another person's memory living in her. It wasn't just the secrets of the universe implanted. A whole other person was. The best part being, 'she' always came out. She had no control over her words. Her actions either.

"I'm sure that that's not true. You two have survived two ends of the worlds. That has to mean something. He wouldn't sell you away like nothing." But he has before. Five lied to her about Meritech, left her in 2019, and killed AJ. He left her here the second he found out about the tattoo. To him, those things were miniscule compared to the rush he constantly faced. It was only a few days for him that he didn't have time to think about his mistakes.

For Cielo, all those mistakes, those betrayals, she had to ponder over them for years. Alone. It was only a matter of what he was going to do this time or if Cielo would wise up to give him a taste of his medicine.

"I suppose you're right, Seance. Just a bit of paranoia getting to me." Klaus wasn't none the wiser to her fake smile.

"Don't worry about it. I may not know all about time travelling and junk but I do know one thing, love will prevail through any mess."

"Love really is a powerful thing isn't it?" She downed the drink in one go. The usual burn in her throat trying to draw her attention away from her muddled thoughts.

"Ah cupid is striking my family at an all time high. Reuniting you and Five, Lila and Diego, and I'm pretty sure Luther is this close to winning over a certain Sparrow." She was glad that it was Klaus that was here at the moment. His laid back self gave her a bit of room to breathe.

"What about you, Seance? Anyone special in your life?"

"Me? I used to." The dog tags around his neck making a jingling noise. Pouring herself another shot, she didn't look in his direction. She saw first hand what those dog tags meant to him.

"What were they like?"

Klaus never really got a chance to talk to others about Dave. Old Ben had been there to see the effects but he always brushed off the attempts knowing what his brother would have said. Live for Dave, poisoning himself was not what Dave would have wanted, stop trying to change time, etc. Nothing that Klaus actually wanted to hear. No one understood him like Dave did.

"He was extremely nosy. A goody two shoes. He believed in others. Was selfless to the point where I wondered if he was even human. He looked up to horrible people. Always put on a brave front despite crying so many nights by himself." He started to choke up at the limited time he had spent with him.

"Then why did you love him?"

He took a shaky breath. Wiping his face and biting his lip. "Because he was all those things and more. He was the one to silence all the voices. He was the only one that ever made me want to live."

The small man that cried over their fallen comrades. That showed fear when he was first given a gun. The overbearing responsibility he had put on himself to uphold the so-called family legacy. He had faith and hope despite all the shit that surrounded them. The draining days and quiet nights. The warmth of the two pairs of hands interlocking for comfort in an unforgiving environment. When he was with Dave, the moments of all the ghost screams and gunshots firing went mute.

"That alone makes him worthy of your love." She offered him a napkin. To which he drastically blew his nose. A small weight off his shoulders for letting that all out. He grabbed another shot, holding it up to her.

"To our very questionable boys."

"Cheers to that." They clinked the small glasses, throwing them back together.

Klaus slouched into his seat. "Sorry to have unloaded that onto you."

"Don't worry about it. I was the one that asked in the first place. It's admirable as well. To have loved so deeply that it quite literally was the right person, wrong time. A love that defies the basic laws of time and life. I couldn't be more honoured to hear of such a story."

"Like you and Five are different. Tell me what do you love about my younger-older brother?" Her finger traced the top of the glass in a circle.

"I... he... I'm not sure if what we have can be categorized as love. I- I care a lot about Five. And I will admit that I have felt attracted to him a few times. Sometimes we hold hands, his presence gives me a lot of comfort and the kiss- a-anyways!" She shook her head. "We haven't had a moment to actually talk without the threat of the end of the world mocking us. I- just don't- I don't know what I feel for him. More importantly, how he feels about me."

Cielo dated in the past. She thought she knew what love was. Her family, friends, partners, storybooks, romantic shows of love were on full display around her from a young age. What she felt towards Five? It wasn't the same as what Klaus felt for Dave. It wasn't how Lila was to Diego. Was it love that Cielo felt for Five?

"Sorry that- I just- we just need to focus on stopping the Kugelblitz. Stuff like that doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things."

"Cielo-"

She patted him on the head. "It's fine. The both of us have to be logical. It's our roles."

"That's just cr-"

"Seance, how did you get to the Kugelblitz without the Sparrows seeing you?" It was clear that Cielo wasn't going to budge. He was the first Umbrella to see her two sides in full. Her words were spoken with responsibility. Everything else about her screamed for help. He wasn't a stranger to putting on a careless attitude in the face of stress.

"Ah you'll be surprised how many nooks and cranes there are in that old building. I slipped in through the sewer pipes."

"Is there a more- uh- cleaner way in? For me to get in?"

"Oh I see what you're doing. No way am I going to bring you there. The Sparrows are dangerous. Especially now that Harlan killed some of them and Viktor is hiding him. It's too dangerous for me to bring you. Let's just wait for Five. Or even Diego, he'll help." She held onto his arm before he could escape. No way the other siblings would approve of this plan. Same with Five. She had to rely on herself and Klaus alone.

"Take me to the Kugelblitz, Seance. I'm saying this not as your friend but as the former co- Commission head." He plugged his ears in. Making random noises to block her out. Though he couldn't stop when she pulled his fingers out. "You know you still owe me for those snacks back in the original 2019?"

"Cieloooo!"

"I'm sorry but please? Pretty please? There's something about this Kugelblitz that I can't understand. I need to see it face to face before we can formulate any sort of plan. If you don't sneak me in, I may just walk up to the front door to talk to them. Can you predict what happens then?"

He dragged out a loud groan, slumping into his chair. He did technically owe her. Not to mention that she was probably the key to solving this all. If he could help save the world, then he didn't really see the harm in bringing her to the Kugelblitz.

As unwillingly as he was to participate in this crazy idea, he agreed.