Rushing out of the car, Cielo and Five arrived at the destroyed Umbrella Academy. An all too familiar scene to Five. He scanned the area as she ran ahead once seeing his siblings. A newspaper by his feet with a headline he didn't need to read fully to know what it said. The academy, Cielo's new watch, the same newspaper, everything was happening as it was before. Nothing had changed.

"Everyone, okay? What happened here?" She gave a hand to Klaus woozy on his feet getting over the rubble.

"Vanya happened. Her powers have awakened and she lost control."

"Violinist did this? No way..."

"Guys. This is it. The apocalypse is still on. The world ends today." Five warned all of them as he made his way through the rubble.

As the family was having a discussion of what was happening, Cielo stared at the rumble around them. This was all new to her. The exposure she had to their powers never pointed her to think that they could be this dangerous. And for it to be Vanya to do this was unthinkable.

They spent this entire time trying to find the cause of the apocalypse. Picturing that it would be some bad guy that murdered without a thought. That he had some massive weapon of destruction and a vendetta against everything living. Yet the real cause was right under their noses. They didn't do anything but ignore the real problem.

"We have to find her." Helicopters flew over their heads. They couldn't do anything if the police caught them first. With time running out, they needed all they could get.

"We gotta go now! Regroup at the Super Star. Go!" All of them scattering in different directions. Diego taking Klaus and Cielo's hands to run.

Ducking away from the spotlights that were flying above their heads was hard enough. Neither her nor Klaus having the physical ability to keep up with Diego was another problem on top of the rubble. Nearly tripping over everything she tried to jump above. Fear of falling and dragging them down with her with each step. She never had to run from the police before.

Suddenly saving the world was scarier than she thought. At least the one eye man was a normal human. Vanya? She can destroy a whole building by herself.

Hiding themselves into a nearby alleyway where the helicopters wouldn't spot them, they were all given a chance to breathe. "You two okay?"

"Yeah I'm good. Cielo?"

"A bit winded but- yeah- yeah, I'm good." She panted out with her hands on her knees.

"Well we can't stay here out in the open for too long. Where did Luther say to meet up?"

"The Super Star lanes." Ben told Klaus.

"The bowling alley?" He questioned.

"Ah right. No wonder. Good job remembering." Diego scanned the area. "We shouldn't be too far. This way. Follow me you guys."

"So can someone inform me why we're going to a bowling alley of all places? Seems very obscure to me." She sucked up not getting much of a break as the two men started walking.

"Actually, when we were kids, sometimes we would sneak out when dad was asleep. Not only were they close to the Academy and opened late, no one really questioned why there was a group of kids there without any supervision. We didn't do it that often but I guess the memory really stuck with Luther that it works as a meeting spot."

"Ohh yeah I remember that. Sometimes we would also go to that doughnut shop afterwards. The nice workers there would always give it to us for free because they were fans of us. Not that dear ol' pops ever give us anything sugary that those were the best things in the world."

Cielo smiled at the image of the seven kids going out into the night. It was nice to know that their childhood wasn't 100% dreadful. They had real moments where they were free to be kids. They were all subjected to a similar kind of treatment that must have been a real connection they formed on nights like those.

It was crazy to think that the famous heroes that she once admired didn't have that privilege. That they could be so broken like this.

"How amusing. Did you guys do anything else?"

"Whenever we could yeah! We would always be so tired in the morning but it was worth it. With fame and powers like ours, we did as much as we could in the night. Though boring people, cough cough Vanya, Five and Ben, would always choose to go to the library while the rest of us went to the arcade. I would always beat Diego in those street fighter games just so you know."

"Okay you did not beat me. You just kept button mashing that my character couldn't do anything to stop it."

"Hey, a wins, a win. Don't blame me for you not understanding how the game works."

"Doesn't matter, game or you, they are both stupid. And I won all the other games we played."

"Yeah yeah say whatever feeds the ego." Klaus mouthed him winning and pointing to himself to Cielo making her giggle a little.

Arriving at the Super Star lanes, it wasn't hard to find the remaining Hargreeves group as they really stood out next to the children's party lane. All three of them were already there, having a hushed discussion about the events that just unfolded.

"You guys okay?" Luther asked when they showed up.

"In one piece. Can't say the same for the house." They all gathered around in a circle, Cielo taking the seat next to Five. A heavy air weighting then down wondering who was going to bring up the elephant of the room.

"Look, I hate to be the one to say this, but everyone needs to prepare."

"For what?"

"To do whatever it takes to stop Vanya." The harsh words receiving a slap from Allison.

"We may not have a choice, Allison."

"Bullshit. There's always options."

"Yeah, like what?" Cielo took a nearby newspaper to slap Five in the arm this time. Tossing it back to Klaus who she took it from.

"How about talking with her? Giving a little TLC? That's still a very viable option here."

"Yeah, like talking with her is going to work. She lost her marbles. She killed mom and Pogo. Almost killed Allison and destroyed our home!"

"That was not your home. It was a prison for all of you." They went silent. "Have any of you ever truly had a conversation with Violinist? Understood why she is the way she is? This isn't some act that is completely out of character. This is 30 years' worth of anger and repression coming out all at once. She is still the same person you all know."

"Can we even say that we truly know her if this is how she acts?"

"When I read her book, one thing stood out to me. It was the first thing I asked her when we met. In her book, despite knowing that none of you are blood related and having such a strained relationship, why did she still refer to you as siblings? Not adopted or by your names, but by brothers and sister. She said, because everything aside, you are all family. The only she's ever known. The only people she could rely on to somewhat understand a sliver of what horrible childhood you guys had. Do you guys even know why she wrote her book?"

"To spite us?"

"No. It was to get someone, anyone to listen to her. Hear her and everyone else's pains. You are not only the heroes that saved people with your unnatural superpowers. You were children that hid behind masks. She wrote that book to bring truth to a glamourize yet forgotten life."

She lowered her head. "The Violinist I know is the kind to come to my door whenever I dropped something to make sure I'm okay. Teaches people violin in her free time. In the afternoon she would happily play show tunes by herself not knowing that the walls were thin enough to let neighbours hear. She's kind and caring and I know that the last thing she needs right now is to be restrained again. She has powers that she didn't know she did. She's scared. Yet none of you are helping her. Does that make her the monster here?"

"Hello?" They turned to an employee standing by them. Breaking the tough atmosphere that they had surrounded themselves with. "I hate to intrude, but my manager says if you're not gonna bowl, you gotta leave."

"Whose turn is it?" The manager asked from afar.

"I'll go." Cielo left the family for a moment to get her own pair of bowling shoes.

The Umbrella kids let her go as they had more pressing matters to deal with. Allison was the first to knock on the table to catch their attention. Flipping slowly through her notepad to let them all read her thoughts. [She's right. Vanya is our sister. We have to be there for her. Don't you remember how we felt when we discovered our powers?]

"Okay but we never went berserk and destroyed the academy."

"I wouldn't bet on that Luther. I distinctly remember one time you broke one of the house's pillars when you saw a bug on it."

"Oh like you were perfect Diego? You accidentally pierced one of dad's paintings because you got distracted in practice. Pogo was so pissed." Luther said to rebuttal his brother's claims.

"That was almost as funny as Five getting stuck in the wall for an hour." Klaus joined in quoting Ben's words.

"Hey my powers are more finicky than the rest of you. I will only say that Ben's were harder to master than mine. At least I didn't try to rumor my way out of getting in trouble without saying the magic words."

[I'm just glad my powers can be turned off unlike a certain someone that relies on drugs.]

"Oh you guys wish that you were as chill as me." He threw his hands back behind his head. All of them were laughing at the situation.

At the end of the day, they were family. An extremely dysfunctional, unreliable group of weirdos that were bonded with a single word. Family. That included Vanya. A single look they all shared made it clear. They wanted to save her.

"Aw did I miss a touching moment?" Cielo came back from her bowling attempts to see they were all smiling.

"So what do we do now?"

"Whatever we decide, we need to find Vanya first. And fast, okay? She could be anywhere."

"Or here." Klaus placed a newspaper article on the table in front of them. And there she was. Performing tonight as the main soloist and her big debut as a star. Something that none of them knew she was even in a position of doing.

"We're really doing this? Saving the world?"

Allison knocked on the table again. [I need to do something first. I need one of your voices.]

"Are you serious? When we're-" Cielo patted Diego on the shoulder. Smiling at him and his sister.

"Don't be silly Kraken. Of course she's serious. Go ahead, Rumor." They nodded at each other before she grabbed Luther to do whatever it was she needed.

"Cielo, we need to leave now."

"The concert is not for another hour. Unless you want Violinist to run away, the best play would be while she's on stage and distracted. With the end of the world on the horizon it's only right that Rumor gets a chance to accomplish something important to her. As equal of importance as Violinist is to her. She's smart enough to know the risk of leaving now herself. Like I said, we have an hour. You told me that you guys used to come here as kids. Let's not leave this place's final memory to be planning the downfall of another."

The remaining brothers couldn't argue with her kind tone. Doomsday was here, they couldn't spend the last few moments arguing. Allison will return in time with a reformed resolution that was not bothered with last regrets. They all believed in Cielo's words and their sister.

Diego rolled his eyes, looking over to the bowling alley. And at the scoreboard with a small chuckle. "How did you only manage to knock down 3 pins in two turns? The kids in the next lane are doing better."

"I haven't been bowling in years, sue me." Though she was a bit embarrassed that she couldn't score higher.

"Let me show you how it's really done." He cracked his knuckles before grabbing a ball.

"That is not going to be a fair game! Your powers are going to make it easy to win."

"Then let's make teams. Best combined score by the time Allison and Luther get back wins. I'll even handicap myself with Klaus."

"And my handicap is getting the old man. He probably hasn't bowled in over 40 years."

"I take offense to that. If I can shoot someone from a 300-meter distance, then I can push a ball down a lane. It's simple science. Taking in the weight of the ball and the velocity-"

"Yeah see. I'm getting an old nerd on my team." His three brothers burst out laughing at her comment. Only she could make fun of him without getting into real trouble.

"Fine. I'm teaming up with Klaus then. We're going to wipe you two."

"Team underdogs! Whoop whoop!" He threw his arm over Five's shoulders with a cheer.

"Doesn't matter who teams up with who. I'm still winning. Just watch how a real bowler should do it." Diego demanded all their eyes to him as he readied himself like this was the most important thing in the world.

For a second Five forgot about the time limit they faced. He always tended to say that he didn't have time. It was move move move. He could rest when time was available to waste. Never did he think to create time. Stop to smell the roses as they say. Or play a single round of bowling with his siblings to be more fitting.

Allison could have run off with whatever they were doing but he knew they were coming back to help. His siblings were finally helping him. If he listened to them in the first place, Vanya wouldn't have fallen this far.

He turned to Cielo laughing at Diego's stance. She did the impossible. The Umbrella Academy was brought together. Determined to save the world together. She created time for them.

But the universe was cruel to him. Behind him he heard a familiar noise. Looking in the direction of the noise was a Commission issued tube used for messaging on field agents. "How did she-"

He unhooked Klaus's arm to reach into his pocket. As he guessed, the old candy contained a tracking device. Clever. Crushing it under his foot before going over to the tube. The other's following behind him in confusion as he opened it up.

"Time marches on... or does it? Rain quail, room 12." He flipped over the fortune cookie paper seeing the small arrow in the corner. "Bring the doppelganger too."

"Doppelganger? Is that referring to me?" He met her eyes. Then looked down at her watch. The biggest mystery that he hadn't figured out yet.

"We gotta go."

"Wait, we'll come along. Power in numbers right?" Five considered bringing his siblings along. But he knew that this wasn't a doomsday/family related issue. This was a personal issue that he needed to resolve on his own. The dangers too extreme that he didn't even want Cielo to come along.

"You guys stay behind and wait for Allison and Luther. We'll meet up with you all later at the theatre. As long as the Handler has a mark on us, we'll be hunted for. She wants the apocalypse to happen that we have to take care of her first. Come on Cielo."

She didn't want to question his way of thinking but she also didn't want to go. This was the Commission they were dealing with. The impression that she had of them wasn't the best. There's a reason why both Five and Hazel did everything in their power to ditch it. But she had to go with him because she was called a doppelganger. The main reason she originally got involved with all of this was because of that doppelganger.

"I guess this is going to be a team play effort. We'll meet up with you guys later so make sure to hold up your parts."

"Go get 'em you two." She didn't want to get anyone. She wanted someone to tell her what was going to happen. She wanted to play a game of bowling. Cielo wanted to run away.


The two arrived at the hotel room written on the paper. Hesitant to go in. Cielo looked at Five for some support. Some of her fear changing to surprise when she realized that she wasn't the only one worried. He held himself together for as long as he could in front of his brothers but he was terrified of meeting the Handler again. She had a way of speaking that was logical and had too much power to back it up.

How tonight goes- how the next few hours goes is all going to be determined by this conversation. If there was a chance, the ever so slight chance that the Handler could help them, he'll take it.

Cielo took a deep breath. "You know how I make fun of you for being an old man in a teenage body? I really hope that you still have a good fighting instinct because I don't."

He spared a glance at her hands shaking. As long as he had her, they would be okay. "At the first sign of danger, I'll blink us out."

He cautiously held out his hand for her to take. The action working like magic the moment they touched. "Ugh that sounds horrible. Better than getting murdered I guess. Let's just do this."

Upon opening the unlocked door, she was already out of her league. The Handler had taken a hostage. Agnes struggled to muffle out a cry seeing the two arrive. She moved forward to help her but couldn't with Five's hand keeping her in place.

The Handler didn't care all too much. Watching the silent action from her spot. "It's been a while."

"Three days."

"For you maybe. But for me it's been a lot longer since I've seen those adorable little shorts."

"So you've had time to heal." The tension between the two exchanging remarks about the other was making it hard to breathe. This was the person that made Five the way he was. The one determined to keep the apocalypse around.

"Luckily for the both of us, time is the one thing my organization has an abundance of."

"I got your message by the way. Nice packaging. So much for Commission protocol."

"There have been... a lot of changes since you left the Commission. You really did some damage." The Handler threw some candy in her mouth like nothing. "The briefcases were all but destroyed. To say nothing of the highly trained personnel you killed. After all, what is an institution if not for-"

"What do you want?" Cielo pulled him back before the Handler could touch him.

"I don't believe we ever met. Cielo Cavallone, was it? A prosthetist that somehow got roped into this time mess. I'm sorry that we couldn't meet under better conditions."

"You called us both here. What do you want?" She repeated. The Handler could only smile at her trying to appear tough.

"To be happy. To have a simple, unfettered life, to do the work my superiors require." She finally walked away from the pair to sit down on the couch. "But with Five being here, well it complicates all that. Especially your involvement, little prosthetist. You shouldn't be here."

"I didn't do anything. We figured out the cause of apocalypse. I didn't create the eye nor was I the trigger for Violinist's emotions. I have no part in this."

"Oh but that's where you're wrong. You approached Five." The two briefly glanced at each other.

"I didn't do it with any ill intent."

"I'm sure you didn't but that's not what I'm referring to. You know the other day Five asked me to look into you in 2002. Apparently he claims that the adult you visited him."

"He's told me this, yes."

"Well it'll be good for you to know that that never happened." She felt Five tighten his hold on her hand.

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly as I said. The day you time travelled I personally checked on the hour. You sat by yourself in your garden until your robot mother called you in for breakfast. No one approached you."

"No I saw her. She had a Commission briefcase and spoke to me like she knew more about myself than I did. Her initials were on the briefcase. She was real."

"Do you have any proof?" He went silent at this.

The day that the other Cielo appeared she didn't leave a single trace behind. No pressed grass, no personal information to prove that he knew something, disappearing before his mother came. The only thing that he had to prove that she was there was his own memory. His thirteen-year-old memory.

A part of him during his apocalyptic times did consider if she was his imagination. It wasn't until he saw her in 2019 that he confirmed her reality. That was cracking with this information.

"See? According to all our sources, she is not a member of the Commission. Never has, never will be. Records show her growing up completely normally; in many many timelines. The only time that we have that she is anyway a threat, is when she approached you this year. We couldn't figure out why she did though. She may not be the cause of the apocalypse but she is an anomaly we can't properly track. In any timeline, she is completely uninvolved with you. Almost like she made the choice to get involved herself."

The Handler was instilling distrust into the pair. And unfortunately it was working. There were too many variables about Cielo that didn't make sense. She may not be a part of the Commission but she had to be something untraceable. An anomaly in time that he couldn't understand. He was right about her. She was dangerous.

"How do we know that you aren't lying?"

"I suppose you don't. Maybe Five should come back to check it out himself."

"You only want that so that you could trap him there again."

"Trap is such a heinous word. I'd like to say I'm saving him from dying."

"You're letting billions die tonight though!" It was her yelling that brought Five back to his senses. Regardless of what their past was, right now their common concern was the end of the world. It was in saving his family.

"No need to get so worked up. That is not up to me. The Commission has a saying that we live by, what's meant to be is meant to be. Or as I like to say, que será, será."

"It's fucking stupid that's what it is! You recruit Five to sacrifice his family. Chestnut wanted to leave this life behind and you kidnap his lover. You choose to save Violinist for the sake of killing everyone else. You keep choosing but you never once have stepped into their shoes. Your organization claims that no person is insignificant in the grand scheme of things but I see that doesn't apply when a mass massacre occurs and wipes out everyone. Yes, I understand killing 1 can save all but what logic is in saving all those people to doom them in the end? What is the point in the apocalypse?"

Cielo wanted so badly to understand the Commission. There was logic that their actions were meant to save the timeline. She saw herself that the people carrying these missions out weren't evil. They did it for the sake of others. Because it was their job to listen. Through it all, it was those at the head that were the issue.

Squeezing her hand a bit to calm her down, Five pulled her back. "The Commission's raison d'être or whatever you want to say is bullshit in any language. I'll keep this short. I'll ask you one more time, why did you bring us here?"

"I want to offer you a choice. Everyone's going to die tonight, but unlike the rest of the world, you have a way out. You can abandon your family and this stranger prosthetist and skip ahead to the apocalypse, take a walkabout for a few decades, wondering if I'll come back and offer you a job again. Or you can stay here with your family and die a horrible death. While you weigh your options just know your siblings are fighting for their lives without you."

"You brought me here to pull me away. Make me hate Cielo to trust you in return." The Handler only shrugged, popping open a bottle of wine. "Don't bother contacting us again."

Five didn't give any warning before blinking the two of them to the Icarus theatre. The effect instantly took a toll on Cielo. Her collapsing to the floor in pain once more. Which was kind of helping since they had managed to pop in to a battlefield with bullets flying above their heads. Though the multiple gunshots firing was not helping with the familiar painful headache.

"Hate that..." she buried her head into her arms, curling into a ball.

"Five? Cielo? You guys are a little late!" Luther yelled out.

"Well there were a lot of arguments to work through." Five quickly asses the situation. Commission members shooting, Vanya losing control and Cielo crying out in pain. The situation was not favourable but nothing was nowadays. He had to work with what he had. Jumping onto the closest soldiers to get them to shoot their comrades.

Meanwhile Cielo was having the absolute time of her life in her ball of pain. Five was off dealing with other things she couldn't fully process through. She was left to deal with her headache by herself. She tried to keep her thoughts focused on one thing but there was too much happening all at once.

She needed to help the family calm down Vanya. Forcing herself to bite back her whimpers only makes the pain worse. Her mind was overwhelmed that she wasn't even sure if she was breathing still.

She didn't notice when her body was picked up. Even if she did, she couldn't fight back. She did, however, notice when she was moved outside. The fresh air and sudden near silence helped to calm her down. That was until she was rudely dropped onto the ground.

Groaning loudly, she was starting to regain a proper headspace. "Be more careful with her, you ruffians."

She slowly raised her head at the robotic voice. Jumping back at what greeted her. A koi fish was talking to her. Not only that but it was controlling a massive mechanical body that towered over her. Surrounded by a group of masked gunmen.

"I'm dreaming. I died. Is this the afterlife? Are you some sort of deity? I knew I wasn't very religious but I don't remember a robot fish being listed as a deity anywhere. Oh my gosh I'm dead."

"Didn't mean to scare you but I am nothing of the sort."

Cielo was fully convinced that her headache messed with her comprehension skills. Blinking multiple times at the scene. "You're a real life talking fish head... haha. And here I thought the limit was a talking chimpanzee."

"Let me introduce myself to clear up the situation a bit. My name is AJ Carmichael. I am the current chair-fish of the Temps Commission."

"That's the organization that controls time?"

"Not control. Helps manage." She tried to shuffle back but couldn't with the masked workers surrounding them. Staggering up to her feet she started to snap back to reality. Her strange form of reality.

"What does the chair-fish want with me?"

"You have caught the attention of a lot of higher ups Miss Cavallone. I'm here to recruit you into the Temps Commission."

"I'm- sorry- huh um I'm flattered but I'm not interested. Not at all."

"Are you sure? If you do choose to join us I can offer you a full time position, with benefits such as dental." She looked around as if this was the prank. A talking fish controlling a robot body offering a job at a time travel organization and the only thing he mentions were the work benefits?

"I'm sure. Very sure. Now if you could let me go then I shall head back in there with all the- well you know is happening. Nice to meet you I guess?" None of the workers moved.

"I see. Your quick decision was due to Number Five."

"So what if it is?"

"I'm going to ask you to reconsider. You're not like him. Your role isn't to save this world. I ask that you think about it with the little time you have left. Number Five can save his family. Escape from here with them. Do that and so much more. He was the best of the best. But you? You're normal. You couldn't help them even if you go in there."

"I can give them support. Talk to Violinist."

"This isn't a movie or book. Vanya Hargreeves will always be a trigger of the apocalypse. You can't change that by talking. Neither can the family. Struggle as they do, they will always have the end of the world following them. That is their fate."

"You don't get to decide that. Violinist only became this way because of the endless control over her life. All of the Umbrella Academy the same. You do not get the right to say that only the worst is to come from them. Your organization tries to control the way things move because you realize it yourself that human will is strong. They can change their fate."

"Then what of your's?" She bit her lip.

"Handlebars said it herself. I chose to be involved myself. I can't reason why I did but I did. Aren't my actions proof that people choose their own paths regardless of powers?"

"If you're so determined to choose your fate then how about changing it for the better? Allow for the chance for all of them to live a better life. You have the potential to be greater than he ever was. Higher up than even the Handler. Only if you come with me now. I want you to be an executive by my side. You can make decisions that could change worlds."

"You just said I was normal. How can I change the world?"

"We'll have to figure that one out together. Time is ticking." He held the briefcase out to her. Not flinching when a beam of light burst through the theatre's ceiling. "The end of the world will take you out if you don't choose. You no longer have a purpose here."

She placed a hand over her new watch in fear. The small clicks pulsing through her palm. Unbeknownst to her that a new day had come.

April 1, 2019. Doomsday.

"If I join- If I do- can I stop the apocalypse?"

"Hmmm hard to say. I was always told the apocalypse had to happen. No one can ever really predict what time will say. But you? A being that has somehow slipped her way into all this drama, maybe you can change that. If you do end up accepting this offer that is."

Accepting this offer meant being able to live. To understand what Five meant by her visiting him back in 2002. He made it seem like she was a part of something bigger. That's exactly what AJ was appealing to too. She could learn all that makes this universe turn.

Change the world but for the better. As much as she hated to think that this organization is the one that saved her, she couldn't deny the fact that she wanted to at least try answering all the questions she generated in the past week.

Her shoulders dropped as she couldn't keep up the hostilities any longer. No more riddles or questions or fighting about who she was or supposed to be. She wanted it all to stop.

Giving her hand out he placed the bulky briefcase to her. Given what Five said about these being the key to time travel, this was very underwhelming. Though she had to praise them for already personalizing it. Strange choice if she had to say since she couldn't understand why there were seven rectangles linked together on the corner. Her initials beside it were okay.

"Did you seriously have to go through the lengths to embroider my initials into it?"

"Like I said, you have caught the eyes of very high up people."

"And these squares?"

"An old symbol representing change."

Cielo turned her head to see the chunk of the moon heading towards the Earth. The sense of dread didn't exist knowing that they were close to the end. It came from knowing that she was running away. After all they went through, she now had to go in alone.

There was a thought at the back of her mind to take this and go back 8 days before today. Going back 8 days wasn't enough. She highly doubted that even if she went back to their childhood to stop Vanya's mistreatment that it would stop it all. Doomsday had something bigger behind it.

That's what Cielo needed to figure out. And the only place she could think of to even start giving answers was the Temps Commission. She was running away from the danger. She just hoped that this was the right choice in the end.

She took a final breath of the Earth she knew. Staring straight as everything started to burn around her and opened the briefcase.