"Grass! A little help here?" Cielo shouted out in desperation as both her hands and arms being filled with briefcases that she barely managed to open the door.
Herb and Dot hurried to the door to take some of the briefcases from her hold. Gently setting them to the side so that Cielo could lay on the floor in exhaustion. "Thanks you two. We really need to redesign these things to be more portable."
"Why do you have all of these?" Dot placed a glass of water next to her head.
"Why do you think? The new board has been so picky about maintenance and apparently I need to check that all of them are up to standard. Even though they're not even broken or malfunctioning in any way. Then I need to plan, not teach, plan a seminar in re-training proper use of briefcases but I won't be teaching it because and I quote, with your history we would be sending a wrong message to recruits that may have any funny business up their sleeves. I never misused my briefcase! Copycat and Five did! Not me!"
The two showed sympathy for the former co-chairperson. Ever since the new board had taken over, they made her life a living hell. The work load only got heavier after Lila had left. As much as Herb had tried to be a bridge between the two parties, 11 members to him alone was nothing. And if Cielo ever fought back it would only confirm that she was a threat to Commission. She was only left with fleeing with her life or sucking it up.
"Is there anything we can do to help?"
"Oh I really should have a talk with all of them again. This simply isn't fair for you. It's an abuse of power and I shouldn't be having that in their mindset so early on." Herb straightened his tie in an attempt to appear more threatening. The two ladies chuckled.
"Thanks but you two specialize in completely different fields than I. If I make a mistake in anything, you know they would be on my ass. It really isn't that big of a deal, Grass. Sooner or later they'll get bored of pulling these things and become a proper board. Keep in mind that all of them are new to the position. Even yourself. It's normal to be a bit conscious of my past. If doing some lousy paperwork will gain their trust, and build them to be more proper, I'll happily oblige. I'm just glad that I don't have to be co-chairperson anymore."
"But Miss Cavallone, you were a spectacular co-chairperson even if only temporarily. As the one that worked beside you I personally saw how much you put into getting Commission back on their feet."
"I was only doing what was right in the moment. I mean, who else could do what I did at that point? Now we have a board that will slowly get to that point. Who am I to continue stepping on their toes?"
The two moved to stand by her side. Raising her head, she flinched at how they were towering over her. A shadow covered their eyes, leaving only their frowns visible. "You are the time anomaly that will carry out Time's will."
Cielo shot up. The glass of water that Dot left her being knocked over. Her eyes flashed to the wet broken glass then back up. Herb and Dot nowhere to be found but instead she was in the bunker.
A coughing fit shifted her attention to the tube in the middle of the room. Before she knew it, she was beside it. "Old man Five!"
"Cielo..." Her eyes went to the screen monitoring his vitals. There was nothing out of the ordinary. But the man was fragile enough as it was that it would be a lie to say that he was okay.
"I'm here. I'm right beside you." If she could reach through his glass case, she would have held his hand to let him know. The man continued to stare straight up at the ceiling.
"Cielo... don't interfere... you'll only make it worse." He whispered so quietly that she thought she misheard.
"Wh- what do you mean by that? You haven't- you barely answered any of my questions. I haven't even- I didn't want to-" Her hand almost slammed down on the glass. "How can you blame me when it was your Cielo that forced me to interfere?! I never wanted this! I know it was you that made Mister fish head recruit me! You could have let me die! Control other Cielo better! And you're blaming me because Time and Space like to fuck people over?!"
He turned his head to face her. But instead of the crinkled old man that she expected, it was the younger Five's face that greeted her. "Then she let me die?"
Her feet stumbled over themselves, knocking her down. "N-no I didn't- I-"
The glass case released all the pressurized air as the younger Five rose from it. She couldn't say anything seeing his uniform ripped all over, blood dramatically dripping from his missing arm. Despite his critical condition, he calmly stared at her on the floor.
"You didn't do this, you didn't do that, it was the other Cielo, all of them are excuses. When are you at fault then? When Meritech burned down? When AJ or Hazel died? Not to mention all the Commission agents that the Handler sacrificed because you couldn't stop her earlier. Where did your years of research and training from AJ go when the apocalypse wiped out your family? Twice! When is it your fault Cielo? When will you take responsibility?!"
Five blinked in front of her to grab the wrist that held her watch. "What's the point of having someone monitor Time if the only person left is as useless as you?!"
Using all of his force she was pulled forward to meet him face to face. In his eyes she saw each person she let down. Random lives that she only saw through the ISB. Her family, friends, and coworkers. Commission members including Hazel, Agnes, Dot, and Old man Five. All the special children and those that associated themselves with them. Five. Each person that she wanted to save was yelling at her.
She didn't know where she was. It didn't matter. Commission, bunker, home. It was all gone. Nothing mattered. On her hands and knees she could see the tear drops splashing onto the floor. The water mixed with blood to cover her hands. All she could do was watch the dark liquid colour her. But the tears wouldn't stop. The more she cried, the more blood she saw.
Positioned behind her were two things. She felt them there. The Kugelblitz's light flickering in a mocking way. The woman that she never met took a step forward. With her own voice she leaned down to repeat the phrase that all those she let down spoke.
"Everyone is dead because of you."
Morning came. As long as time flowed, night would pass and morning overtakes. It used to be comforting knowing this fact. That no matter what happened, there was a certainty that a better opportunity was to come. With all that known, to Cielo, a new day was a chance for her to fail. What was even the point of knowing everything that was to come but not having the ability to change it?
Commission members thought that there was nothing more powerful than human will. That it was because of human will that timelines were infinite. But Cielo knew that even if 90% of the billions of human population had the resolve to fight back against the Kugelblitz, they would get wiped out without a second thought. Human will wouldn't stop the day or night from coming.
Holding her knees to her chest, she laid by the payphones. Only one hotel worker had passed by her. They didn't say anything so she didn't move. Her tears had long dried that she was just grateful that they didn't comment. The bare minimum of sleep she had gotten after passing out was not nearly enough to get her energy up to greet anyone. The nightmare contributed to the exhaustion that plagued her. She only moved when she heard footsteps storming in her direction.
Five crouched down with a hand hovering over her cheek. "Cielo? Why are you here? What's wrong?"
It was so easy for him to take up all her attention. Her mind became a flurry of whispers telling him to check up on him. Talk to him, be near him, ask him more. Suddenly the reason why she was crying felt so distant.
The first thing she did was pull Five down to his knees, into a hug. Leaning her head onto his chest as she calmed herself listening to his heartbeat. Seeing her in this state he wrapped his arms around her. "Are you okay? Did anything happen when I was gone?"
"I just missed you. That's all."
There was no doubt about it. The closer that she was Five, the more at ease she was. It was like her entire body reacted to his presence alone. It had been like this since the beginning. The blind trust she had for him despite everything that should have been a red flag. The way she was the one to forgive him for all his actions when she never had to apologize for anything. It had been him that would put any strain on their relationship. It was on her to pick up the pieces. Yet she couldn't deny the calmness that only he could create.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. Just stay still for a bit longer." He didn't say anything as he rested his chin on the top of her head.
"Who knew you could be so clingy? Seems like every time we reunite you're holding onto me."
"That's your fault for always running around you jumpy little old young man. Is it really that hard to stay still for a moment? I leave you alone for a few minutes and you disappear. Off to the next adventure. Settle down for a moment and I wouldn't have to worry as much."
"I'll have you know I was doing fine in my retirement before the Kugelblitz started taking things out. I should have just left the hotel on my own instead of sightseeing with Klaus." And yet he didn't.
Even after determining that his family was safe he stuck around them. The moment he learned about the grandfather paradox, he fell back into his old habits. Picking fights with everyone, drinking, going head first without talking, Five can say he was better in that small moment of peace but he wasn't. It was the delusion of calmness that made him believe that he, himself, was fine. The ansty feeling to travel, to move, was still there. It would always be there.
That's what Five didn't understand. He was addicted to action. If he wasn't doing something, he was wasting his time. Same as when he first jumped, he wasn't someone that liked to leisure around or stick to a routine. Ending up in the apocalypse and joining Commission only amplified that need to move more.
That's what Cielo understood about him more than he did. He saw each apocalypse as a hindrance, an obstacle, to his happy retirement. She saw it as things to keep him going. That without any doomsday or something dire at stake, Five would shrivel up fast. And the more he continued to break himself this way, the harder it would be to pick the pieces back up. Holding him in place now was all she could do to give him a moment to breathe.
"Sightseeing sounds really fun right about now." She further buried her face into his suit causing him to wince. She pulled back. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
"No, just a bit sore. I don't remember my wrist tattoo hurting this much. Probably because of the size difference that I'm feeling it this time." He lightly rubbed his chest to ease the itchiness starting.
"You got the tattoo Old man Five got? That's quite the commitment. Why- why would you suddenly want to repeat his actions?" She released her hold on him. If it wasn't for the wall behind her, she would have put distance between them.
Just two days ago, Five was doing everything in his power to see that Old man Five's past wasn't his future. He was only supposed to head to the bar to see if they had any clues on the symbolism of the tattoos. Not get one himself. What kind of irresponsible artist would allow a child's body to get such a large piece in one day?
He sat back with his knee propping his head up. "Trust me, if you heard the nonsense that I did, you would have started to question everything. The symbol that was on your briefcase, did the other me ever say anything about it?"
She carefully shook her head. "With everything else that he told me, I didn't think too much about the matching tattoo to my briefcase. Mister fish head did however tell me that it was an old symbol meaning change."
"Well according to Pogo the symbol was a magical sigil that dad was heavily interested in."
"Woah woah hold on. Magic? Like hocus pocus magic? And Mister Chimpanzee told you this? Was he your tattoo artist? He doesn't work with Monocle in this timeline?" That didn't sound like the Pogo that she met. The chimpanzee she met loved the Umbrellas past all their faults and she assumed that would be the same for the Sparrows. He abandoned them to become a tattoo artist?
"See? It's nonsense that we're working with. But yes to it all. Magic, Pogo, your symbol, dad it all connects to Project Oblivion. The same one my other self told me to stop."
His explanation kept making less and less sense the longer he went on. Though she wasn't sure if it was because it all sounded make believe or if her exhaustion was reaching its tipping point. It would have been impossible to understand the basics of Commission if it wasn't for other Cielo in her head. Now she had to learn about magic symbols that are supposed to somehow be the key to some place called Oblivion? Fantastic.
"Cielo?" She snapped herself back into it at the call of her name. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah a bit tired but I'm okay. I spent all day with Copycat's kid. I guess I'm not as extroverted as I used to be. Plus, what you're saying is a lot. If Mister Chimpanzee didn't know everything about Oblivion, then doesn't that make it that much more dangerous? Besides, it technically has nothing to do with this doomsday. You said that he said that the Sparrows, and assuming you guys in your timeline, were meant to go there but it doesn't mean it can save us now. Only that Monocle has something up his sleeve that he still hasn't revealed. If it does have something to do with the apocalypse, wouldn't he have proposed it as a solution by now?"
He took a second to think about it. "Maybe he's waiting for something."
"Must be something big then. Assuming he wants those born on October 1st, he already has plenty of those to go around. My guess is that it has to be more of an event than a thing. Did Mister Chimpanzee mention anything big that would get people together that isn't the end of the world because that's clearly not working." A funeral. Holding a hand up to her head, she sighed.
In their original timeline, it was the death of Reginald that almost acted like a trigger for everything. It brought all Umbrellas together to cause each domino of Viktor blowing up the moon. But that theory was thrown out in Cielo's mind. If he wanted someone to die, then he already got that in 3 of the Sparrows. Taking Klaus would cause the opposite effect as well as he couldn't die. Was it someone specific?
"Pretty sure Pogo told me everything that he knew. No one ever could figure out what dad was thinking."
"Was he at the bar when you found him? Maybe I can talk to him?"
"Why?" She weakly shrugged.
"I met him once. And while it was a pleasant conversation, he told me that I remind him a lot of Monocle. I doubt he meant it as an insult but the more I learn about Monocle, I don't think it was complement either. Even if it isn't the same Mister Chimpanzee that made that comment, I kind of want to know what he meant by that."
"Hey." He placed a hand on her knee. His sleeve raising a bit to show his umbrella tattoo. "You're nothing like my dad. You've always put others over yourself without any expectations for something in return. You've accepted the worst side of people and never once ran away from your duty. Comparing you to that man makes no sense."
Though he spoke sweetly, the crumbs of his shouting from her nightmare remained. She couldn't take any of his compliments knowing that she hadn't actually done anything to help. He may be alive now but Old man Five isn't. Neither was her family or friends. Each moment she sat here, wallowing in her failure, the Kugelblitz was getting stronger. Killing more and more life.
"I think this may be the first time you've ever spoken nicely about me. You should do it more often. And more sweetly." His hand fell when she stood up. Slapping her cheeks once, cleaning up her appearance with a forced smile on her face. "Come on, let's find the others. I want to brag to your siblings."
Cielo didn't like showing Five how weak she was. He was the one with a better excuse to be weak. Yet every time they met, he held up his wall even to her. To shoulder all his burdens, she had to be strong. Not the other way around. Lending an ear was all she could do here.
Five wasn't one to question her sudden energy. In fact, he appreciated it. Though he saw how tired she was, he didn't think anything more of what she told him. With a small chuckle, he blinked next to her on the elevator causing her to flinch. "Don't let a few words get to your head. You've done a lot more than I know about that I can't list them all out."
"My my Five, sometimes I forget that you can be a real gentleman when you want to be."
"I'm regretting this already." Still, he couldn't hold back his smile at her giggling to herself.
"Whatever you say old man."
He rolled his eyes when he noticed that she had picked only one floor to head to. Almost like she knew where his siblings would be. Or her other self was leading them somewhere again. Whether she was aware of it was up in the air. In fear that it would change the course of things, he chose not to mention anything about it.
Stepping out of the elevator, the two were alerted at what sounded like someone rampaging in one of the hotel rooms. Accompanied by a lot of shouting. At the end of the hall one of the open doors lead them to Lila and Diego.
Five stepped in first as a pillow almost hit Cielo in the face if it wasn't for him moving her out of the way. "Hey watch where you're aiming even if it's not a knife!"
"Not now Five! Actually, get your small ass over here and help me check under the bed!" Five annoyingly sighed as he went to check on whatever his brother was going on about.
Cielo doing the same but going over to Lila. "What's going on?"
"The Kugelblitz got Stanley. Right in front of our eyes."
"Oh Copycat, I'm so sorry you guys had to see that. No wonder he's acting so out of hand." She turned to Diego arguing with Five to stick his head in further beneath the mattress. "Oh my god Kraken! What happened to your hand?!"
"Stupid Hotel Oblivion bellhopper, doesn't matter; see anything down there Five?!"
"Oblivion?!" Five suddenly raised his head, roughly hitting the bed frame.
"What- what does he mean by Oblivion? You guys found Oblivion?" Lila tiredly pointed to the light up box behind them.
"When we woke up we found that door open and went inside to check if Stanley was in there. And when this wanker rang the bell, despite me telling him not to, a samurai started attacking us."
Cielo's eyes widened seeing the symbol on the door. The ominousness of it all was too much to take in. In this room were 3 special children. The hotel that they have accidentally chosen to flee just so happened to have the door to Oblivion in. It was all coming together so naturally.
"Just check the chimney!"
Five stepped next to her, seeing the symbol the same. Pushing on the frame a few times, he thought it was best to avoid any brute force. They had no idea what they were dealing with. Slightly turning to Cielo, he couldn't find any words to describe how lost she appeared.
Her mind was starting to run again. This was supposed to be the key to everything. Why the whole nonsense of the academies started and beyond this point was something only said academies can answer. And if Diego losing his fingers was any indication of what's to come, there was no way this was going to be a cake walk. Retracting her hand from the symbol, she placed it over her watch. What was she supposed to do in this situation?
"He's not in the bloody chimney! He's been Kugelblitzed!"
"Whose fault is that, huh? You're the one that brought him here!" The absence of Lila's retort made Cielo turn away from the symbol. In the silence, her mind found a goal to give her attention to her hurt friend.
"Okay that's enough Kraken. Copycat didn't ask for your Spawn to be wiped out. No one is to blame. I think we all need a second to recollect."
"Easy for you to say. Stanley is dead because-"
"Because of the grandfather paradox." He retracted at her suddenly being hostile. Her eyes turned soft with the threat of tears falling, turning him quiet. "And there's a lot that have died alongside him. We can't blame their deaths on anyone. So can we please not attack the few people we have left to care about? Please?"
Lila looked between her and Five. The older-younger boy only peeked over his shoulder at the scene. Most of his attention was on Oblivion that he could only spare the bare minimum to watch. He trusted Cielo to calm his brother but to Lila it was hurtful that her friend was left to quell his brother. And at the back of her mind she wondered why Cielo looked so tired of everything that was happening.
"He was right in front of us... and I couldn't do anything." Lila carefully held onto Diego's arm.
"You can't save everyone." He used to be. As a kid, it was literally his calling to save people. He went as far as becoming a vigilante for that sake. What good was being a superhero if he kept losing people close to him?
The couple sat down to allow themselves to actually take in their loss. It wasn't like Stanley's death didn't affect Lila. The gremlin that acted as their son was still a child. He made things interesting and was generally a good kid. He didn't deserve to go the way that he did.
"You're both mildly decent parents. The bar wasn't that high in the first place but let's celebrate that at another time. Now can we focus? Come on. How did this thing open before?"
"I don't know. It was already kinda open."
"'Already kinda open.' Diego, you should have been an engineer. It's a lost opportunity."
"Why'd you wanna go in there anyway? It's just sushi and death."
As Five roughly re-explained what he learned yesterday, Cielo went over to distract herself with the white buffalo head off the wall. Ultimately he was met with the refusal from the couple to head back into the death trap. Not surprising given the turmoil they just went through. Making it that much easier to convince herself not to mention the indent on the door.
All of them had to stop their arguments once Luther and a Sparrow entered the room. From the request she deciphered that she must be the Sparrow that had charmed Luther. Though the Spaceboy that she knew about was a lot more vulgar speaking than the last time they met. Their last interaction was not the best anyways.
It was only once Diego started walking towards the door that he noticed that Cielo wasn't making movements to leave with them. All she did was stare at the white buffalo. "Hey, you coming?"
"You said that you rang a bell to get the attention of your attacker? Just once?"
"Yeah? Why?" It should be seven bells. She shook her head and started to follow the others.
"Just good to know that it doesn't react without a trigger. Wouldn't want anyone else getting attacked or losing limbs. You two were lucky to have gotten out with as little damage as you did. Come on."
Cielo skipped up next to Five. Locking her fingers with his, she let out a sigh of relief at his effect. Though it didn't ease her heart that she knew everything about this was wrong. As long as the other Cielo was leading her places, she couldn't escape their fate. They were all going to die.
