Diego's new job wasn't all too bad. It had it's odd hours but nothing that he wasn't used to from when he was a vigilante. Plus he hardly needed to interact with people. Just take the package, drop it off, and repeat. But this one package, he dropped it at the door, checked it off, turned around, and dropped the clipboard. He didn't try to process the information but immediately just started running back to the academy with everything he had.
Throwing open the academy doors he started shouting for everyone to wake up. Hearing the urgency in his loud voice, everyone woke up and sluggishly ran to the entrance. Luther and Viktor were the first to arrive. Then Lila and Five soon after with a taped mouth Allison. Diego was going to explain the situation but recognized that not all of them were here. And not to have them all together right now was terrifying.
Remembering that Ben couldn't step into the house, Diego ran to the yard. That's when everyone saw why he was in such a panic state. The moment they stepped outside, they were hit with a wave of heat. A wind filled with dust blew onto their faces, forcing them to look away. When they reopened their eyes, it just confirmed that their sights were not illusions from their sleepy states. What greeted them a good morning was the apocalypse.
The yard was split down an imaginary line. Half of the courtyard was perfectly fine as they left it last night. The other half had the academy gate walls fully destroyed. The city being shown the same. The buildings were destroyed. Some having its rubble set on fire. No one in sight. But while that was a background for the city, the first thing they set their sights on was Umbrella Ben's memorial statue on the ground.
"Ben!" Diego hopped over the statue towards the couch/makeshift bed covered by a fallen tree. The others rushing too when they saw a foot sticking out from under the branches. "Ben! Come on you emo bird wake up!"
"Fineeee! What do you losers want?!" They paused when they saw a buddle of blankets on the safe side of the yard reveal their not dead brother.
"Wait. If you're there then who is- Klaus!" They gave another push on the tree off the couch. Just as they guessed, the last sibling appeared. And though he was highly confused and a bit roughen up, which was nothing new for the man, he was pretty okay. The tree barely leaving a scratch on him. Also not anything new for him.
"Klaus, why are you out here?" They gave him a hand to sit up.
"Well I thought that Ben would have gotten lonely out here all by himself that I came to keep him company."
"Meaning that he kept bothering me to find out why I couldn't go in the house until he fell asleep on my couch. Luckily he didn't have a strong grip on the blankets so I was able to grab those at least. I should have left last night when I could have." As Ben got up, he caught sight of the statue on the floor.
Having a portrait of himself hung in shame in the Sparrow academy was less humiliating than this death statue staring at him. This was not his choice of a morning greeting. But this hunk of rock was not him. It was the other Ben. The one that these people loved. He never asked them what killed their Ben but this statue meant that they at least missed him a little. That was something he shared with them. They all missed their dead siblings.
"Well you should be grateful for Klaus or you would have been the one to be crushed by that tree." Looking around, they finally took in their situation.
"What is happening here?"
"Same old, same old. End of the world. One second I was delivering packages, next thing I knew half the city was gone. There were even some people out for a morning run and not a single one commented on it. I was the only person that saw what was happening."
"That just proved the fact that we're the only ones in the world that know what is happening."
"Uh I think there is one more person out there that knows a bit better than we do." Lila pointed out over the yard. If they squinted hard enough and tilted their heads, there was a single building out in the mess of fire and rubble. An unassuming house untouched by the destruction.
"Think that's where dad is?"
"It doesn't look like a big, bad villain lair to me. Could be the smoke blocking my vision though." Klaus said as he tried to climb Luther for a better view.
"Wonder why it's still okay? Literally nothing around it is standing and it looks like a normal rural house. If it was a villain liar wrapped in multiple security forces that would make a bit more sense. A house like that isn't seen in the city that often anyways."
"Hey, let's not rule out that it isn't covered in defenses, big guy. Dad had a lot of questionable decisions. Even our own house was structured weird."
"That's what Sloane and Marcus said during our renovations too. According to Pogo, the whole academy was an architectural nightmare for the builders. His perfect world mansion should be no different."
"Can we focus here? The world is doing some weird overlap of timelines again. And here I thought that portrait of Ben and Five would be the worst. We don't know what that house is but it standing on the apocalypse side of things is a sign of something. I think we should try to check it out." Viktor proposed.
That's when they realized that through this entire conversation, Five hadn't said a single thing. He was just standing at the entrance of the yard. Stuck in his spot. Eyes widen with pupils constantly scanning the area. All colour drained from his face.
"Five? You okay?"
He snapped his head at his name being called. He couldn't let something like this shake him up. The world was ending. They already knew this. He should have been prepared for something like this to happen. Half of the city remaining was a good sign that he had to focus on. Getting thrown off like this wasn't going to help them. This sight isn't unfamiliar that he should have been used to it by now.
He forced himself to take in some air. "This is my apocalypse."
"Yeah, it's an apocalypse. We already established this."
"No I mean... this is where I jumped to the first time I time travelled. This is where I got stuck for 40 years."
They looked forward to the desolate wasteland. This was completely different from their Kugelblitz that just had an infinite void and missing people. The smell here mixed with rotted corpses and smoke. Nothing standing to properly take cover. They couldn't even see anything they could use to survive. There was no sign of life. This is what their brother lived through? Their small brother, alone, for all those years went through this? This is what he was so desperate to stop.
"Five... we had no idea."
"How could you? I never wanted any of you to see this. Let's just go." He tucked his hands into his pockets and started walking ahead towards the strange house.
It was moments like this and 2 days ago that they really missed Cielo. Five was quick to shut himself down and not let any of them in. Only she really saw what he went through to be able to properly say something to him. Yes, he should have said something more to let them know but it wasn't that easy for him to say it. Same for them to hear it. All their relationships, though getting better, was no where near what they needed it to be to handle everything thrown their way. 40 plus years that he went through this hell. They knew nothing about their brother.
"How did you do it?"
"Do what?"
Ben didn't really know what he meant either. Just that, everything and anything must have been a struggle. How could Five... continue?
"How did you get back?"
"A lot of concentration and even more luck. Any more questions?" It was taking all of Five's energy to keep his focus. Though he was somewhat happy that Ben was so interested in actually speaking with them rather than picking a fight, he wasn't particularly in a talking mood. They just had to focus on saving the world before the rest of it became like this.
"No." Ben understood not to push further at this moment. If he were Five's shoes, he probably wouldn't want to talk about it either. All of them thinking the same thing.
The more that they trekked through, the more they realized just how much of a struggle living here would have been. There was not a single path that they took that didn't have something dangerously covering it. Each step that they took towards the house could mean foot impalement, tripping and getting impaled, losing footing to fall into impalement, or even climbing up a shaky pile of rocks and getting a concussion. Not to mention all the fires and sparking high wires forcing them to take multiple turns away from their destination. They didn't even get breakfast in the better side of the city.
Besides the occasional warning of the hazards, Five didn't say anything while leading. He was the expert in all of this that they just let him lead. Klaus and Luther had tried a few times to lighten the mood. Even Lila had taken a good jab at his ego to try getting some sort of reaction out of him. He just kept brushing them off.
They were rewarded for their long, treacherous journey when their father, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, greeted them at the doorstep of the sole remaining house. Just the same as they were kids returning from a mission. He stood straight, hands behind his back, and a frown permanently painted on. "Children. It seems that the universe once more beckons for its own demise. What paradox have you brought us this time?"
Being around their dad often didn't feel great. His presence alone made them brace for the worst of it. Lila being the only one not affected by the man's deeming glare. "Us? You created this world. Not so much of a genius that you couldn't make your perfect world last more than a week."
"And yet the moment the world comes to an end, you all come running to me for an answer."
"And you need us to save the world that you put together so let's stop with the games now shall we?" He had to give it to Lila. Though not his child, she had earned his interest many times. This is no different.
"Indeed. Then what do you propose? Surely you all came here with some form of a plan." She sneaked a glance back at Five in his emotionless state. It was his plan to use Cielo and Oblivion together. But with the way he was now, it was hard to ask him to stand up against someone as headstrong as Reginald Hargreeves. To top it off, the one standing in front of them was Cielo's murderer. It was surprising enough that he wasn't attacking him on the spot.
"What is Oblivion and how do we access it?"
"Ah I see. You plan to use Oblivion to reset the universe once more. This time with your own conditions most likely. Though a bold move, it is simply impossible without your powers. And before you ask, I cannot return your powers."
Allison mumbled through her duck taped mouth to get their attention. "Then what about Allison? She still has her powers. Would that be enough?"
"Resetting a universe needs an enormous amount of energy. If seven of you were not enough to stabilize one reset, a single person is out of the question. Especially one as unstable as her. None of you have reached your full potential. It is no wonder why this universe failed." Somehow it all turns back to their fault. That they were the failures to what he set up for them.
Lila was losing her edge. Like her adoptive mother, Lila was seen merely as a power source. When it all fails it was on the child that had expectations too high for themselves. She couldn't win this one to one battle against him. Not when she had her own problems with parental figures.
"With how you approached me, I expected more. How do any of you plan to save the world when you walk around with your heads hung so low? All of you have survived the end of the world and have no pride to do it again. What was even your purpose in coming here? Are you truly children that needs an adult to fix your mistakes? Knowledge of what Oblivion is not what you are missing. You all lack decisiveness to do what is necessary for your goals."
They've all made decisions that backfired on them. They've weighed whose lives were more important than another's. Each time they tried to do good, it only ended up hurting those closest to them. None of them believed in themselves.
Reginald looked over the small crowd of people that called themselves his children. He didn't know what the other him did in their training but not a single one of them was worthy of upholding his name. Even he recognized that only one Sparrow stood before him and it had been one that failed him many times before. And while he initially thought Lila would be a worthy use of her powers, in the end she too had her issues that prevented her from actually being a threat.
"It is humbling that the only one ready to meet me head on was a normal human being. Does that not make any of you feel ashamed to be lesser than her?" An immediate reaction would have been to cuss him out for speaking about Cielo in this way. She was dead because of him. She had tried everything in her power to protect them from his actions. And yet he spoke about her highly. Compliments were supposed to be reassuring. Coming from someone so condescending as Sir Reginald Hargreeves it just sounded like sarcasm. It was being used to insult them and mock her.
"You came here for knowledge yet have nothing to offer or worthy questions to ask. Her unlimited knowledge was wasted assisting in you lot." Something clicked in Five's mind. Five understood that Cielo's knowledge of multiple timelines was valuable information that was kept secret for her own safety. For the safety of the world even. If someone were to gain that information, they could control the flow of Time to their will. That's what they were trying to accomplish now with her revival and Oblivion. If their dad fully believed that he covered every base to safely reset the universe, he had to have had some way of knowing how the flow of Time worked.
Right now, Reginald's world was crumbling yet he showed no fear of the worst. He did not need the academy kids to help him. He had something in his back pocket. He believed in something concrete to fix his mess. And as he had been so bluntly shoving in their faces, he only acknowledged Cielo's worth. She was someone that could change universes if used properly. In a perfect world, that kind of knowledge couldn't disappear. Not on Reginald's watch.
The others froze, feeling a static crackle in the air. Looking around in a panic as they couldn't tell what happened. All except Five who was completely blindsided by his building anger. "I should have known. You value knowledge above everything else. Of course you wouldn't let her die. You have her here!"
"Does that matter to you? What she holds is beyond your comprehension to handle. If you came here to save the world, you would let me do as needed." At this moment he was reverted back to a child. His emotions were high. His dad kept speaking like he was above him. He had never felt as powerless as he did the day his dad proved him to be nothing more than an unprepared kid taking on more than possible. This whole day he was set back at the start of his journey. Powerless, doubting everything, and lost.
Five already knew that he thought highly of himself. He suffered the consequences of jumping before he was ready. He didn't trust in Cielo's efforts leading to her death. Out of everyone, Five knew where he lacked the most. He hated himself and his confidence the most. No one could tell him what he already knew. Especially not their sorry excuse for a dad.
"She is not a tool that you can use!"
"And yet you plan to use her the same as I do." It was impossible to read him. Stoic and unmoving. His child was yelling at him. Not so much of a flinch appeared on his face.
"I am nothing like you."
"Are you not? Tell me how do we differ old man? Down to our choice in alcohol, you and I are the same."
"I-"
"Do you realize that if I didn't save her life she would have been obliterated by your family's Kugelblitz? That when she went to see said Kugelblitz and got hit with a wave, it was me that watched over her unconscious body? She is a rough wildcard that has an ability not of this world. And unlike you children, she can become the bad guy to do what is necessary even against the mass. All she needs is to shut that mouth of her's and she would be the perfect specimen to study. That is what she is right now. What you have all failed to be-"
A crumbled up receipt paper lightly hit Reginald on the head bringing his scolding to an abrupt ending. The tiny thing bouncing off of him and onto the ground. In that silence of utter shock they all slowly turned in the direction that it came from. "Don't talk about Five that way."
Klaus retracted his arm. Holding his wrist to stop it from shaking. "Stop talking like you know him. You don't know any of us!"
"Don't know you? I'll have you know that I know all about you children. Klaus, you were born in Pennsylvania to an Amish community's Rachel Herschberge. You have the ability to commune with the dead and immortality. The fastest record you set for reanimation is-"
"I'm not talking about that stuff! That's for Number 4! What about me Klaus? Do you know what I like to do? Do you know what my favorite snack is? The age I had my first hookup? Do you know why I tried helping you get the families together? Because I thought that your big head was finally started to see the value in everyone! But I was wrong. You suck at being a dad. I am not your child. I never was."
If there was one thing that genius, eccentric, billionaire Sir Reginald Hargreeves never could master, it was parenthood. He stared at Klaus that he once thought to be the biggest pushover. He was proven wrong. He was wrong about something. Rather than be upset, he felt rather... intrigued. He should have reprimanded the child for talking back so brutly. The urge to do so didn't come. Perhaps it was because the one in front of him- the ones in front of him- were no longer children.
"We didn't come here to be your soldiers again. We're here to save the world. This time of our own choice. Just tell us what we need and we will leave. You've lost here Reginald." His former number 1 had called him by his name. Thinking about it, he didn't remember Luther's words after stabbing him. Goes to show how little he thought of his former son.
One by one, the Hargreeves moved to stand with Klaus to block Five. Five, who was heavily breathing slowly became aware of his situation again. This wasn't the same as him being in the apocalypse. He had his family with him. Their many bodies completely covered the small body from his sights. Their dad's words were the equivalent of a stranger's opinion when he couldn't pair it with those cold eyes. His family, they were the ones that knew him, they were the only ones he cared about enough to hear their thoughts. As he stared at their backs protecting him, he couldn't even see the end of the world that mocked him the whole day.
Taking a deep breath in, the air lighten up enough for them all to feel. They only slightly parted so that Five could join their mini defense line. "Down to our alcohol choices we are the same but I have a family that will support me through the end of the world. That's what makes us different."
Reginald nodded. He may not know a lot being a parent but he knew when he lost. Threatening them would be pointless. In a way, he looked at them with more fascination even without their powers. Not many people stood up to him with such confidence. With such camaraderie. It was impressive. Just this once, he may have been wrong about them.
"Shame that this is the one time you have all banded together." He turned to Five. "Don't be surprised when you see her condition. She's in the basement."
In the blink of an eye, Five found her. Cielo laid in an encased tube similar to the one Founder Five was in. If it wasn't for her being literally trapped with multiple wires covering her body and head, she would appear to be peacefully sleeping. He looked over the nearby health monitor that said that everything was normal. She was okay. She was alive.
"I'm sorry it took me so long to get here." He didn't expect a response. Watching her chest rise and fall with each breath was enough. "Just give me a bit more time to figure this all out Cielo."
Placing his head on the glass was as close as he could get to her. He could feel the exhaustion creeping up on him. From seeing the apocalypse to finding her trapped like this, he only could take a moment to relax near her. This entire time he thought that she was gone. A different version of her roaming the world until wiped out without another word. But she was here and alive. It didn't matter the state that she was in. This was more than enough.
"You're here. You're actually here." Another female voice spoke behind him.
He quickly turned around with his arm stretched out to protect Cielo's body. A woman with long blonde hair, pale as a ghost, dressed in all white stood from the desk of monitors. He didn't recognize her but the fact that she was the one watching over Cielo meant that she had some form of a relationship with Reginald.
"Who are you?" Before she could answer the door to the room opened with his family bursting through the door, out of breath.
Slowly he was starting to realize where he was. Coming here was as easy as breathing. Meanwhile it took his family running at full speed to reach what he did in less than seconds. That was the normal between them. Rubbing his fingers together he recognized that buzz. He never thought he would feel again. It was exhilarating and frightening to have that electricity running under his skin again.
"Five... how did you blink?" He couldn't answer but that question confirmed his feeling. He had his powers back.
"It's love." They all looked over to the mystery woman who had yet to identify herself.
"Love?"
"It is as I expected." They all filed into the room as Reginald followed in behind them. "You all still have a bit of Marigold left in you."
"Marigold? The thing that Cielo and Harlan called us?"
"Ah so it seems some of you know the term. Good." He approached Five, circling around him a few times in examination. "How do you feel boy? How did you know how to get down here? Are you feeling lethargic, adrenaline rushing, a mix of both? Was this jump any different than your previous ones?"
"Back off Reginald. You have some explaining to do about all of this."
"Yeah! Why can Five blink again, why is my best friend in a snow white coffin, and who is the chick spewing nonsense?"
"Wait, some of us don't know what a Marigold is. Is that what powers us?"
"How do we get our powers back like him then?"
"Does that mean that we can use Oblivion again?"
"Is Cielo even alive in there?"
"Please settle down children. Your questions will be answered in due time." The woman linked her arms with Reginald. "Firstly, my name is Abigail Hargreeves. It is an honour to meet you all. I've heard all about you from Regi. It seems like we have a lot to discuss with you. About the end of the world and, in a way, the start of it. Should I put on the kettle?"
"No. You two are explaining things here and now. We aren't playing tea time."
"Haven't you ever been taught that refusing such offers would be rude?" Her presence was surrounded in mystery that they kept up their defenses. She spoke so cleanly that it almost reminded them of how Grace used to program scolded them. Except this time, there was a slight bit of anger behind those non robotic eyes.
"Diego, stop picking fights. Some tea sounds lovely." She was more pleased about Viktor's response. Kissing Reginald on the cheek with a whisper into his ear before leaving the strange family alone again.
"Anyone else disturbed by what we just witnessed?"
"Who was that woman?"
He straightened his suit. "That was my wife. The reason for my reset."
If they had the tea currently in their hands, they all would have spit it out from shock. "Your wife? Is she a robot?"
"No and to be honest I never thought that I would have to reveal anything to you rowdy bunch but here we are." He took off his monocle for a moment to wipe off some dust and then put it back in its rightful place. "If you truly want to know what Oblivion and Marigolds are, then you have to forget everything that you've learned about the universe and myself. It started with the end of my world."
The tale was almost as old as time. Space was everywhere. Not restricted by human concept or will. Dance along it and be rewarded generously. But don't be confused. It is a powerful giant that could crush anything in its path without any thought. It was freeform. Never restrict it.
However, there was one thing that came to par with it. The need for order which soon turned to be Time. The thing with Time was that it was a fickle matter. It had many rules to be followed and it was a matter of trial and error to figure out what those rules portrayed. To sum it up, it was a cruel concept that loved to play its own powerful game.
The two were equal in every way. That's why messing with one meant the wrath of another. Kugelblitzs were one example. By having someone break a rule of Time, Space started to collapse in on itself and kill those that thought they were bigger than life itself. Another old example was the discovery of a crack between the two called Oblivion.
A place where no one lived so no rules were needed. Time was non-existent. The area was looped with no escape. Space was meaningless. In this crack, everything that was known of the universe was opposite. All was equal. It was solely in this gap that Time and Space were reduced to nothing. Meanwhile life that was so common, became exceptional. Anew can begin.
It's hard to put into words how to produce Marigolds. Or exactly what they are. To put it simply Marigolds were essences of life itself. They exist in everyone in extremely small doses. Every life that has a consciousness possesses it. However, there were few individuals within history that had exhibited a spike in their Marigold. Those sudden increases created old folklores of witchcraft and supernatural abilities. Nowadays, they mainly show in humans that are deemed as prodigies and geniuses. How and what each person developed based on their Marigold was all based on desire and will. Each one of them becoming, in simple modern words, extraordinary to everyone else.
For Reginald there had only been one power that he wanted. The power of everlasting will. To cure a life. The ability to merely gain a footing against Time's rules and Space's freedom. Pure life energy that lived between the two was the answer to such. Marigolds gave him everything he needed.
Experiment after experiment, nothing notable was produced. How? Reginald's intelligence was second to none. He had all the pieces in front of him. But he was missing one key point.
Love.
While there were many mysteries surrounding the particle, one fact was proven over and over. Marigolds that were exposed to true love possessed greater power. The one to learn this was not Reginald but his experiments themselves. They were merely tools that found a form of sanction in their despair. And that hope, doomed them further.
With a power so great, one could only wonder what the limit would be. If a vessel could receive a concentrated form of the particle, what would happen to them? If Reginald could not physically force them to generate more, he'll just have to take matters into his own hands. The more despair he created, the more love that people felt for those of the same fate.
One by one, his people fell by his hand. Some producing what he wanted. Others not even having that privilege. In the end, the planet was empty and the seeds of Marigold were created. The question now became, where to plant them?
Reginald stared at the bottle glowing with floating small lights. Then he looked out the window. Society had fallen. No one left to support it. It was a question of whether it was Time or Space that was trying to take him out with the planet. The only choice left was to escape. Releasing the Marigold into the universe they forged their own path towards the planet where Oblivion resided. Earth.
Multiple questions formed as the story came to an end. Like Reginald, they never really thought that they would get an answer as to what they were. The answer was nothing what they could have imagined. The alien that raised them killed an entire other planet's population in order to cure his wife. It was oddly romantic and traumatizing to hear that the action was full of purity in the wrong way. And that they were the result.
"So you really are an alien."
"Really Klaus? You just heard all that lore and that's the first thing you ask?"
"Well I don't know! How am I supposed to react to us being a product of thousands of alien lives sucked out of them, put in a blender, thrown to Earth to make us superheroes?" They had to give him that.
"Then Five's blinking just now was because of love? Like a fairy tale?"
"I can't say for sure. The fact that any of you are alive says that you automatically contain Marigold. Perhaps the reset didn't take away all your energy meaning you should have a higher concentration than the average human. The chance to use it just needed a jump start."
"That would explain why the reset is not complete. Without taking away all your Marigolds, the reset didn't have enough energy to fulfill all the requirements for a stable universe." At this point, Abigail had returned with a tray of finger foods, snacks, and a pot of tea.
"And because we're made up of concentrated life, the end of the world will continue to follow us. Space and Time are after us again." Five, through the entire conversation, didn't take his eyes off of Cielo. This house stood alone in the apocalypse; no doubt because of her presence here. She was sent to the Hargreeves to kill them. He could have denied it before but no more. She was an embodiment of Time's will.
"Then if we use Oblivion for a real reset, what happens to us?"
"I originally hypothesized that you would have all died when the Marigold left you. How you survived this world with full memories and remaining Marigold is..." They all slowly turned to follow his gaze towards Allison. She was the one that pushed the button. "The wish of the one who controls Oblivion."
"Allison, what did you wish for?" She shook her head. The whole event felt like a lifetime ago.
There was so much that had happened in that moment. She was watching as Oblivion was clearly killing her family. This being after fighting off all the guardians. Just before she had decapitated their alien father that had no change to her rumours. She hadn't been really thinking, just acting. She wished for Claire. She wished for Raymond. Then she looked at Viktor. She wished for him to trust him. In the back of her mind her perfect world included her siblings.
She wanted Five and Luther to meet Claire. She wanted to hear what kind of random yet sensible conversations could occur between Raymond, Klaus, and Viktor. From any of them, she expected Diego and Lila to be the first to give her a niece or nephew. And though this Ben wasn't the one she grew fond of, she still had a special place in her heart for didn't want any of them to die.
It was because of her stopping Reginald that Oblivion left a residual of Marigold left in them. The reset that he set had none of the Marigold children that they were good as dead. But she brought them back as normal humans. Both ending the world and bring back those that can save it.
"I started the apocalypse..." What a hypocritical twist of things.
No one could really get mad at her. Yes, her actions through Oblivion brought them to this apocalypse world but they all were the cause. The universe was telling them that they weren't allowed to live even though they've tried over and over and over again to try saving it.
"How do we wake Cielo up?"
"She can't save the world without-"
"How do we wake her up?" Five repeated. He already knew about the inevitable death that came with his weird family. He still chose her to save them. "We came here knowing that the plan wouldn't be perfect. None of this changes anything."
Reginald signalled for Abigail back to the monitors. "Miss Cavallone is an interesting specimen. Nothing like what we've seen before. In this state she is unresponsive to all stimuluses. Even removing her off of life support, her body remains stable. It's almost as if something else is keeping her alive. Bringing us to her brain."
As he talked, Abigail started to push at many buttons. Inside the case, some metal wires slowly crawling towards the sleeping body. There was a bit of panic watching the lifeless wires squirm their way over her head. Small sucker cups latching onto different portions of her skull. As soon as they made contact with Cielo, the tvs turned on to show only static.
"This is constantly playing in her mind. At first it was very unassuming. However, slow it down and zoom in." Doing exactly that, the image zoomed in as much as it could. Still none of them could immediately understand what was happening. Slowing it down barely did anything as the images came flashing by.
"This is all of history. What has already happened, to happen, and probably never will happen." Lila pushed her way to the front of the monitors. Looking extremely close and carefully at all the images. That didn't do a lot as it was an equivalent of flashing random pictures faster than a blink of an eye. A college of multiple points of history including the mundane, average person's commute to the painting of the Mona Lisa. Nothing coherent without the full story that just kept getting cut and jumped around.
"Though we have given many attempts to try analysing this data, her brain waves are too fast for any of our servers to handle."
Lila always knew that Cielo had a lot on her mind. She never would have thought that it would be like this. How painful it must have been to hold all of this. If they woke her up, what kind of monster could they release into this world? Did she want her best friend to continue being in pain just for the chance that they could live in this world that hated them? She never even liked it when the Commission threw all of their work onto her. This was on another level of keeping a calm head.
"She needs her anchor."
Five finally raised his head away from Cielo. Cielo had mentioned it once but she did indeed have an anchor. The original premise of an anchor was to have a stable point to recollect one selves throughout all the time manipulation that was done. The same can be said about those working behind the scenes. If she had all these thoughts running in her brain, she just needed a focal point to bring her back.
"An anchor?"
"It's an old Commission trick to get crazies to regain control. Someone that a person holds close. Cielo used to tell me that her anchor allowed her to make clear choices. If we give her her anchor, maybe it can stop whatever movie show she's playing on an infinite loop."
"I don't really get it but we just need to give her something to calm her down, right? Okay so who is her anchor?"
"Shouldn't it be Five?"
"It's not me."
"It's not Five." Klaus and Lila said at the same time as him.
"Wow, that's not offensive at all."
"Don't be hurt Five. Cielo just- she was conflicted."
"Oh you can be hurt by what I said. She never told me his name but she immediately denied it when I asked if it was you. Even laughed."
"Thanks Lila. Really appreciate that. But I already knew it wasn't me. She told me that her anchor was innocent and died because of our Kugelblitz." He remembered how distraught she was talking about her anchor dying. That should have been his first sign that she needed help. Someone that continued to abandon her as much as Five did didn't deserve to be her anchor.
"Okay but how about we just try? If your Marigold was really awakened by love, maybe Cielo can feel that and wake up?" Luther proposed as it wasn't too crazy considering everything that they learned today.
At this point the two aliens had been letting them figure out their next steps. Having one of them jump start his Marigold was already beyond their expectations of the children. If they could wake up someone as powerful as Cielo, they would all win in some way. This was supposed to be the couple's perfect world as well. Having to redo it again was not preferred.
The lock on the case had been undone. As the glass parted down the middle, Five braced himself. He knew he wasn't her anchor. He didn't have high hopes. On the other hand, in such a dire situation having any form of hope was considered high.
She looked so fragile. Sleeping without a care on her face. He never could understand what was going on in her head. And from the slips in the conversation, what the two had put her through in order to wake her up or probe her brain couldn't be humane. She wasn't physically strong. Heck, she was barely mentally strong. He could still feel how tightly she grabbed onto him in fear. The last thing he wanted was to hurt her further. He didn't really want her to wake up if it meant using this power.
He reached for her wrist that had a faint watch tan line. His fingers barely brushing her skin before the monitors started screeching. The static-like image changing to a complete white screens. Everyone tried to yell for Five to let her go when they saw him fall to the ground, grabbing at his chest.
"Five!" He pounded on his chest. The monitors returned to normal the moment the body fell to the floor. The motions he displayed resembling that of choking.
"What's wrong with him?!"
"He's not breathing!" Only Allison could take a guess as to what was happening. Cielo was trying to kill the Marigold. She was the only one that stepped back from the scene.
Viktor stepped in to quickly try administering CPR when Abigail pushed him away with a defibrillator in hand. Reginald shushing all of them to let his wife take care of it. These were fascinating results and he wouldn't let it die. Nor could he risk any of the other children getting affected by what was happening.
One shock. Wait.
Two shock. Wait.
Three shock. Wait. Wait.
"Give him the highest voltage." She didn't question the decision.
Fourth shock.
After what seemed like forever, Five sucked in a large gulp of air and then passed out. Abigail grabbed at Cielo's vital scanners to inspect Five's unconscious body. All signs showed that he was still alive meaning that he passed out of exhaustion. His oxygen levels slowly rose to the normal amount. Tears rolling down his face but otherwise healthy.
However, that panic on Five's face stuck with them. The screaming from the monitors buzzing their ears. The way they couldn't breath until Five took a breath. He almost just died in front of their eyes. If this was how Cielo reacted to Five, how could they possibly allow her to wake up to reset the world?Their plan was failing. As expected of those meant to end the world.