Campfires were nice. They gave off a pretty glow and were warm to sit around. Give them some marshmallows and sticks and everything would be great. It was an old tradition for normal people to gather in groups in the dark. The moment over a fire bonded many. Sitting in a circle on blankets while telling stories. It was absolutely lovely to think about. A memory that they could fondly reminisce about at a later time.

"Why the fuck are we sitting around a campfire right now?" Ben was really helping to set the mood.

"Because it's cold and a certain someone's paradox psychosis won't let him step foot in the house. So its either we let you go mentally insane or sit by a little fire. Think you can do that birdie?" Lila said as she threw a random stick into the fire.

"Honestly we should throw him back in there just so that he shuts up."

"We're not doing that Diego. Paradox psychosis isn't only a mental toll but a physical one as well. We have no idea how badly he can hurt himself or someone else if we subject him to it for long."

"How do you even know that it's actually paradox psychosis? You told me that it only happens with our doppelgangers being close to us. If he's reacting to the house, could it be something different?"

"So you were listening to me Luther. And you are right that we should only experience those kinds of side effects with our doppelgangers being nearby. However, we can't ignore that he is experiencing something negative. The rules have clearly changed. Thanks to another certain someone." They all turned their attention to Allison.

Huddled up in blankets, Allison tried her best to appear strong. Her tears were long dried but she didn't look any better than her arrival. She hadn't spoken a word since. Though her mind was running through what she could possibly say to them. What would settle all those harsh glares?

"So, Allison, where are we?"

She took a moment. "I don't know."

"You don't know? How could you not know?!"

"I don't know!" Luther grabbed Ben before he did anything that he would regret. Allison visibly shaking as she held back breaking down again.

This may have been the first time they've seen their sister so weak. Allison was always self confident and strong. Ever since they were kids, she held her head high for what she believed in. No matter the paparazzi that shoved a camera in her face moments after a divorce or white supremacy cafe owner, she continued to fight. But here she was. The toll of years' worth of fighting showing under the fire light.

"What was your deal with Dad?"

"It was the same as what he told all of us. That going into Oblivion and activating the sigils would give him everything that he needed to reset the universe. I was supposed to act as a middle ground to convince you all to follow him. If not, I would have had to rumor you guys." Before they could shout at the idea of getting rumoured into being sacrifices, she continued. "But then Luther died. And I couldn't follow him. I didn't know that we were the bells."

"Um I got murdered. Not died." She couldn't bring herself to look at him.

"Logistics aside for now, what else did he tell you? To do or about the reset?"

"That if I followed him that he would create a near perfect world. One without the apocalypse. One where we could get anything we wanted if we did it right."

"Meaning Claire." Viktor spoke. He sat the closest to Allison. That wasn't saying a lot given how there was a clear line between her and the rest of the family.

"Yes. With the reset I got Claire and Raymond back." She had to be honest. If she wanted them to help her she couldn't be playing any games with them. The moment they sensed anything wrong she would be booted back onto the street.

"Then why are you here?" An image of them flashed in her head. Their frozen concern hadn't twitched at all by the time she left them. Nothing she did changed. She could only think of how much she manipulated them that it got to this point.

"I thought that... I thought that this world was perfect. That I had gotten everything that I ever wanted. Ever needed. But I ended up hurting them. I just wanted them to stop questioning everything that was happening. I did it for them! I didn't mean to rumour them so much! And now they're… I don't know. Stuck?" It suddenly hit them all that Allison never stood on a sigil. She never got the energy sucked out of her. She could still rumour them. Out of all of them sitting around the fire, she was the most dangerous of them.

"I know that I messed up. I owe all of you an apology for siding with Dad but you have to understand that I was desperate. We all were! But Raymond, Claire, they didn't deserve what I did to them. They need your help. If Lila copies my rumours maybe we can- or- or Five, you and Sloane can probably come up with a better strategy- or I couldn't even budge them so if Luther-"

"Stop!" Luther took a deep breath in and out. "Just stop talking for a minute."

She quickly shut her mouth. Everyone taking the moment to try fully understanding the situation. Ben was back. Experiencing some unknown type of illness that only happens inside their home. Allison was back. Fully powered and mysteriously had done something to Raymond and Claire. Don't forget that the world was potentially ending with timelines collapsing into one another! Only grand times around the fire.

She equally took the time to look at her family. Coming here, she expected only one or two of them to be here. Not the whole family. Even Sparrow Ben was here. How was it that her whole family was together and she had no part in it? If she didn't show up, they probably would have continued on their lives without her. That shouldn't be right. She was supposed to be a part of this family.

That's when she really took a look at all of them. They were acting weird. Five had walked out to the courtyard with his own two feet. Klaus wasn't trying to use the fire to light any blunts. Diego wasn't playing with a knife. Sloane wasn't around her new husband. Said husband just yelled at her. And he looked... smaller. And alive.

She had wished for her perfect world. She never once thought of what would happen to them or what kind of world they would enter.

"You only came back to ask us to fix your mess. Are you kidding us right now?"

She kept her head low. "I did say that I owe a lot of apologies. But Claire and Raymond-"

"What about us Allison?!" She flinched at Diego suddenly getting up. "We tried to help you! We were your family long before they were introduced into your life. And yeah, we all weren't best friends, and there were a lot of fights between us but siding with Dad, sacrificing us, and then crawling back here with no answers and more demands that only suit your perfect world? You have to be fucking joking with us!"

"Maybe you would understand if you actually had a kid and Lila was in left stuck in the past with nothing but a memory!" She snapped back. This was how their family reunions always went.

"Maybe but at least own up to it when the truth gets thrown at your face!"

"I am! I am trying to talk here! You're just not listening!"

"What are we listening to besides you just saying you don't know? Just rumour us to do your bidding. You would just love to use that easy answer, wouldn't you? Unfortunately, I don't think you know what you want us to do. You just want to blame us for not helping you."

"Fine! You want me to be the bad guy so badly?! I heard a rumour that..." she started with her fists balled up in fists. No one moved. So it was true, she still had her powers.

In the middle of her sentence, the image of Raymond and Claire came to mind again. No, this wasn't the answer. Forcing her powers onto them was just repeating the same formula. The outcome was would be the same. Her powers did nothing but bring her misery. With her, anyone she ever controlled the will over.

Her fists uncurled as she let out a shaky breath. "You're right. I only know how to rumour people."

They watched as she stared at the fire. Her eyes wandering in the blaze as if looking for an answer. "When I landed in 1963, I survived without my voice. I lived so long with Raymond that I almost forgot what it was like to have powers. But when things got tough, when I thought they could take him away, I just couldn't stop myself. And it never stopped. It never stops. Like you guys, my powers, I use it as easily as breathing."

She turned to Klaus. "I tried to rumour you sober because it was what I thought was best for you. I didn't think about the withdrawal or the voices you would still hear."

Then to Ben. "You don't know this but I used to rumour you to come on missions even if you didn't want to."

Diego was starting to calm down seeing her regret. "I rumoured you to do stupid stuff like they were pranks."

She looked at Five with a chuckle. "I used to rumour you to get worse marks than me on tests but Pogo always knew and punished both of us."

She took a deep breath in looking at Luther. "I rumoured you to like me. I assaulted you in Hotel Obsidian because I couldn't bare the thought of you and Sloane who I thought was the enemy. I never got to say my congratulations to your wedding."

Finally, she turned to Viktor. "I don't know who I owe most apologises to but you're definitely near the top. I changed your entire view of your life. I blamed you for everything that went wrong. I was so blinded by Claire and the Kugelblitz that I took it out on Harlan and you. I don't even know if sorry would be enough to make up for all the damage that I did to you. But I am so sorry Viktor. To all of you."

She quickly wiped her tears away. It wasn't some sort of pity play that she was trying for. She always knew at the back of her mind that her powers weren't right to use. But then again, she thought she knew what was right for other people. It pained her that she was hurting them more than saving them. She wasn't the superhero that people wrote about. She was the villain in her own created world.

"It's funny. When we were young, Dad used to tell me that our powers were given to us for a reason. That not using them would be denying the world of a gift. Looking back, listening to Dad never really resulted in anything good."

Mentioning their dad made them feel the weight he always put on their shoulders. Allison wasn't the only one that had such a shrewd way of thinking. They were all fucked in the head. She wasn't in the place to say it. None of them really were.

"I always wanted to be a better parent than Dad was to us. That's why when I messed up this time, the only people that I thought I could get to help them was you guys. Even if you hate me and want nothing to do with me, please don't take it out on them."

They all remained silent. They had already made their minds up about saving the world. Adding saving Claire and Raymond was a useless side quest. And truly speaking, even with her new found realization of consequences, they didn't fully accept her apologies.

"Pass."

"Geez birdie learn to read the room a little."

"We are not in a room! Maybe this fire has tricked your brains but we are not on a fun little field trip. We are in a courtyard of an abandoned orphanage that used to be my house with nothing to our names and we have only one person to blame!"

"That's enough Ben." Viktor stood up, almost standing in the way of anyone getting closer to her.

"No its not enough! She wouldn't be here if she didn't fuck up again! She doesn't know what we need to save the world or how to get our powers back! She has no value to us to be doing favours!"

"That's the point of favours, we shouldn't be ranking up points just to have someone else help each other! She's still our family!"

"Your family. My family is dead."

No one fought against that.

"Did you guys lose your powers?" Allison quietly chirped in. If what Ben was saying was true, which it was, then she really fucked up badly without knowing it.

Five finally let out a deep sigh. "All of you calm down. Allison, I assume you have money? How about you go get us some take out."

"But-"

"Now. We did lose our powers but you don't need to be fighting us right now. Just get us some food. That's one favour you can do."

She bit her lip and nodded before getting up to leave on a very long walk.

Those remaining by the fire had their eyes going between Five and Ben. The only reason they had went to get Ben was because of Cielo's words. Something about the way Ben had resented Cielo, and now Allison, told them that that reasoning wouldn't work. And though Five was heavily swayed to not take any anger out on Allison, it didn't mean that he would put everything aside to help her other family.

"Since all of you want to spend your last few days, possibly hours, making up with the enemy, I'll be the one to open your eyes. We have no idea what she is planning next. Or even if this Claire and Raymond are really in danger. The whole world is in danger again and they are two random people who are insignificant in the grand scheme of things."

"There's no such thing as someone being insignificant." Five placed his hand over her watch. "Allison is prideful. She wouldn't come back here unless it was an emergency. She isn't lying about Claire or Raymond. They are the reason she came back to us at this moment of us saving the world."

"I can't believe the old man is vouching for her. She killed your weird time controlling girlfriend. In her little apology roulette, she didn't even mention her. Has your brain finally gone senile?"

"Even my old senile brain can run laps around your little emo, anger invested brain."

"Ben isn't wrong that Cielo's death was due to Allison's actions. Doesn't that mean you should have some anger towards her?"

"I do. I can clearly say that I am beyond angered that she had the audacity to come back here after what she did. And seeing their relationship, I know first hand how much they butted heads. But I'm not proclaiming her innocence. All I wanted to say is that I would rather have Allison as a quiet ally than a demanding enemy."

Lila leaned back onto her hands. "Five does have a point. Without any of our powers and her cluelessness, the only way we can save the world is through your dad. Someone I don't want to poke a stick with unless we have some sort of backup plan."

"So what? We play nice until we save the world and maybe get our powers back? Then what? We don't know how to save Claire and Raymond. We don't even know what exactly happened to them except that she rumoured them. She can easily do the same to us."

"But she didn't. She stopped right before she rumoured Diego."

"Viktor's right. Even when Five was being his usual bossy self, she didn't fight back. Whatever happened to Claire and Raymond must be pretty serious. And you know I never met Claire but Raymond was a pretty chill brother in law. Nothing truly bonds two men more than a good chat in prison. We can't just let them suffer because we won't forgive her."

They weren't only having to consider forgiving Allison for the sake of it. If they denied working with Allison they lost the chance to take advantage of her powers. It would also doom 2 innocent people, one of them being a child and the other a man from a completely different time era. By working with her, they were doing more good than bad. The sole reason they didn't go down the logical route was because of the emotional reasoning.

"Strange but Klaus is making a lot of sense."

Luther stood up. He took a few steps in a mini circle. The others waiting for him to say something. His siblings knowing that the two used to share a strong relationship that was no more. If anyone would be the receiving end of the most apologies it would him or Viktor.

"I don't forgive Allison. Not just about the reset or siding with Dad or even rumouring me. I just can't stop thinking about her and Viktor's fight in the Sparrow academy. But at the same time, I think about how she saved him at the Icarus theatre. Those were both her. I don't forgive her for how she turned her anger onto one of us. But I don't want to hate the one that grew up with us."

Cielo had mentioned that in the afterlife. They were more than just siblings at times. As many times as Allison had been cruel, she had been the nicest of them all. It was difficult to describe the anger that came with every mistake she did when it was paired with the relief that came when they saw she was alive in this universe.

He still cared for Allison. He cared for Claire. He didn't know Raymond too well but he seemed fine. It was just complicated to simply say that he forgave her because she felt bad. He didn't know what he wanted to hear from her. But they weren't what they were in the past anymore. That wasn't going to change with one conversation.

Viktor then took a step forward. "I don't blame Allison for being distraught after all that we went through. I don't mean to forgive or forget what happened to Harlan either. I ended the world. Twice. Thrice if you count giving Harlan his powers that killed our moms."

"I would count that." He waved Ben off.

"Okay fine I ended the world multiple times. Besides that, I thought that you all would look at me like I was a monster. But I couldn't have been more wrong. Every one of you, including Allison gave me another chance. It isn't my place to tell you guys to forgive her or say to work with her. I only want to say that I believe that she learned from what happened. I want to at least try helping her."

"And how do you plan to keep her under wraps in case she does rumour us? I can't redirect her rumours nor can we be sound blasting her away. We are all at her mercy if she really does turn to take us down."

"That's the thing. We can't. We just have to trust her." They all looked at each other. Trying to gauge the others reactions.

"You are all naive idiots. I'm out. Throw me back out on the streets after she brings us some food." Ben kicked some dirt over the fire. The light barely flinching at the attempt.

"Everyone said their concerns? Can the adult finally speak?" Five stood up, gesturing for everyone else to sit back down.

"Alright, please enlighten us ol' wise one." Making a grand, sarcastic, wave of his arms, Ben let the old man take the stage.

"Thank you. Now I tried the logical route of telling you the advantages of having her around and I could emotional with using Cielo's and Viktor's words. However, what our in-law, no longer ghost brother, here needs is some comfort that his fragile, human body isn't going to be bossed around. So what if I can find a way that she can't rumour us and we can get our powers back?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Oblivion." The man wasn't a jokester but he can really catch them off their feet with his creative imagination. The look on his face showing that he was as serious as ever.

"You want to reset the world again?"

"Precisely. Both Allison and Dad said that the reset gave them the choices to make a world that was perfect for themselves. What if we did the same? Give us a world with our powers, an actual home, lost loved ones, government legal papers of our existence, and most importantly a real apocalypse free world."

"But the world is ending because of the timelines overlapping. Allison is here because her perfect world is an illusion biting her in the ass. How can we create a world that doesn't turn back on us?"

"Because what they didn't have is the biggest Time anomaly and the Temps Commission chairperson making the world." It came back to Cielo.

Lila and Five shared an equal look of understanding as she stood up. "Cielo has knowledge of multiple timelines. She has more experience with apocalypses and time management than anyone. If she created a world fit for us, she could easily avoid anything that would cause a doomsday."

"Whatever Dad and Allison did changed the fundamental basis that the universe stands on. Neither of them could have predicted that they would end the world and hurt their loved ones. Cielo can."

"But what powered Oblivion was us. We don't have our powers to be resetting the universe again."

"That's another reason we have to find Dad. As kids, I thought that Dad adopted us because he was fascinated by the phenomenon that birthed us. If his goal was always Oblivion, then he knew where exactly our powers came from. If he knows then its possible to get it back. He did say we were meant to stop the end of the world. It's ending again. He needs us and if he doesn't then that's what Allison is used for."

They, minus Ben, did all really trust Cielo. Plus, they knew how weird she was that any theory that Five created with her was possible. If she was in charge of creating an apocalypse free, Umbrella safe universe, it didn't sound too bad.

"I just think you want your girlfriend back butgo back to how you think you can control your sister long enough to do that?"

"Allison has three weakness. One being those she cares about. We're already pushing that with Claire and Raymond that she was willing to work with us in the first place. Second, Allison cannot rumour anyone that cannot hear her. If you're so scared, then remain out of hearing range and block your ears. Or we duck tape her mouth until necessary. Not ideal but that quick decision can save us. Third and finally, she cannot rumour anyone to do something that they cannot do. For example, she cannot make you shoot someone if you don't have a gun. We are powerless so what more can she do to us that would actually hurt us? She is powerful, not invincible."

For the first time, Ben was considering working with the Umbrellas. All of them.

"Don't forget Allison has things at stake with this deal. If we don't trust her, we raise our defenses. This isn't a favour to our sister. This is merely a temporary compromise for all of us to get along until we each get what we want. How does that sound?"

"You're betting everything on us bringing back a dead woman."

He stuffed his hands into his pockets. "I am."

It was all up to Ben. All of them were needed with all the dangers presented. If the world ended, the world ended. He didn't like betting on a woman already dead but this was something that he spoke about with her before. He had to make the hard choice. Goosebumps ran up his red scratched arms thinking about the intense look she had watching him.

"You're lucky that woman was crazy or I wouldn't believe a word you said."

No one was particular happy with his compliance. A part of each of them hoping that he would have denied it. That they could finally stop trying to save the world. But they all knew that this was the best plan where everyone gained something they needed if they won. Whether Allison and their dad actually played along was still up in the air.

"Sooooo do we just wait for her to come back with her food now or what?"

After getting them all some fast food take out, they each took their portion to their rooms. Ben having to settle for the couch moved outside with many blankets. He complained but didn't dare to prove any of them wrong by stepping into the house.

Allison, unsurprisingly, was willing to make their relationship only value her powers rather than consider her family again. Everything else aside she couldn't argue with the plan to find and use Cielo to reset the universe properly. She didn't know how she got Raymond and Claire back that if Cielo made the decision and pushed the button, it had a higher chance of success. If being treated like a criminal in her old home was the way to save them, it was a no brainer of a decision.

Locked in her room with a fast food cheese burger wrapper on her lap wasn't too different than them as kids. Minus the fast food aspect. Though she wished that she still had some of her old stuff here. She had hardly spent any time in here after returning for their dad's funeral. The whole place feeling like she didn't belong was a first. She briefly wondered if this was how Viktor felt as a kid.

There was a knock outside her door. "Allison? You okay in there?"

"Yeah I'm fine. Thanks Five." Having any of them check up on her was a good sign.

"You're welcome." She could still hear the scuffles of his shoes outside. He didn't leave but didn't say anything. She sat by the door.

The two were similar. They both killed to save their families. Their image held by their siblings long shattered. Stubborn that they were right. Not once opening up about their struggles.

"You really think that Cielo can reset the world as we need? She's a normal person." She started, not wanting him to leave and knowing he wasn't good at holding a conversation.

"That's what she views herself as too. A regular person that got carried away by our weird family. But to me, she was always the biggest threat."

"Threat?"

He sat down on the floor with his back against the door. "We didn't see eye to eye about everything. We probably never have. You just have to trust her Allison."

"I can't do that Five. I know all of you have these wonderful times with her that make you guys love her but I don't. I was unconscious first meeting her. Then we met at the hotel when she had already became Commission president. You saw us fight. I don't think I can just blindly trust her like the rest of you."

She pulled her knees close to her chest. Her harsh brother sounded so relaxed talking about her. It gave her comfort knowing that the main part of their plan was viewed so kindly. Yet, she couldn't share the sentiment. "There's something else I need to tell you about her. I rumoured her once. There's something... something inside of her mind."

"She has another version of her doppelganger's memories implanted in her head. It's a whole thing."

"No I mean, when I rumoured her it spoke in third person. She didn't consider herself to be Cielo. It... it didn't feel human." He nodded.

There was always something underlying about her that he couldn't name. Finding out a doppelganger's memories were in her made sense. But he knew what Allison meant. There were moments, very few moments, that Cielo spoke almost unworldly. He knew she was keeping something from him. Another thing occupating her mind wasn't surprising.

"Then what did it say?"

Allison felt cold just remembering her dead eyes looking at her as it responded. "That in order to save the world, Cielo Cavallone has to kill the Marigold children. She has to kill us. Five, what if- what if we give her the power to reset the world and she just erases us out of existence?"

He wished that he could open the door to comfort his sister in person. Instead he had to do it with his words. "Being erased from existence would be a bit of a disappointing ending."

"It's not funny. If she can't fight that thing inside her, we're done for. We can't go through everything again just for it to mean nothing."

"We won't. You're right though. Her morals lie with Time. She is the most dangerous anomaly in history. She set a record with over a 100 kill orders in a month. She also just has a bad temper when you tick her off. Cielo can very much kill us if she wanted. I won't lie. I knew that something was inside her. It's like you said, something greater than just her memories. But there's a saying in Commission that nothing is more powerful than human will."

He thought of her smile. Her innocence. She wanted nothing more than for them to be happy. She didn't back down from any fight. Going along with whatever nonsense Five spewed. She cried at Luther and Sloane's wedding. She cried for her mentor's passing. Cielo exhibited humanity. Cielo contained something greater than humans. What she did next was anyone's next guess.

"I never knew what was on her mind. I can promise you though, she is a terrible liar that is too nice for her own good. She can't betray anyone." Allison chuckled. A chuckle that soon turned into a full blown laughter.

It was so stupid. Her brother, the one that was so stuck up and a smart ass, was in love with the one that could kill them all. He was trusting in someone that originally was a threat to all of them. Yet in his voice, she found hope. No, Allison didn't trust Cielo. But she trusted her brother that trusted in the anomaly. For now, that was enough.

"Okay fine. If I can see you act like schoolboy with a crush, that will make this whole thing worthwhile." Cielo did like to say he was childish at times. If only he let his guard drop to let them see it more often.

"Don't bet on that. She gets too proud whenever I praise her anyways." He stood up, dusting his pants off. Hearing her laugh was all he needed. "Tomorrow we're going to find Dad so try sleeping tonight."

"I will. Thank you Five." He was about to leave when he saw Diego, Klaus, and Lila hovering around the corner. Diego shook his head to silently tell Five not to say anything.

"One more thing." She hummed in response. "I came to check on you out of my own choice. But the others are worried about you in their own way. I shouldn't have to tell you the reason why they didn't come by. Do you understand?"

None of them fully forgive her. She still had a lot more apologizing to do. To some more than others. "Yeah. I understand."

"Good. Then goodnight Allison."

"Night Five." The words became mumbled as she got further away from the door. The others separating to their own rooms without a word more.

Allison laid on the bed, not bothering to try getting comfortable. Quietly, she hummed a song that Grace used to play as a lullaby when they were kids. Thinking about it, if all their rooms were bare then Luther's record player must have been gone as well. There weren't going to be anymore nights of the song playing through the thin walls. Nor of Pogo's deep and warm voice reciting the poem. Nothing to null them into a slumber away from their chaotic lives. Guess she threw away more than she originally thought.