Capítulo VIII- Bienvenidos de nuevo

Five looked as if he was shaking ants out of his pants. Vydia couldn't help but wonder if that's what she looked like under the paradox psychosis. And if she did, she apologized to any bystander who witnessed it. Luther didn't count, he tried to murder them for a whole ten minutes. She would only accept him trying to kill her if she tried to kill him. She only threatened him after he announced younger yet physically older Five and Vydia's plan.

Vydia couldn't pull five aside and ask him what was wrong with him. She didn't want Lila to suspect they were plotting against her. They currently had enough trust that won't lead to the temptation of any murder or any sort of argument, hopefully. Vydia had to pinch Five's blazer and pull him back to her to prevent him from wandering forward. They stepped through the doors that led to the operation bunker.

Lila pushed passed them, saying, "Exsqueeze me."

"You're excused," replied Five.

Lila passed by them and directly walked to the bunker's doors. She stepped close to it and a blue light scanned her eyes. It beeped, deciphering her face and then an alarm buzzed. She sighed, "We're screwed."

A robotic female voice said, "Unauthorized access."

"Well, shit," Vydia nodded. "What are we gonna do now? Do you think I could cut through that thing?"

"Jesus!" Lila exclaimed eyeing Five. Sweat glistened on his face, dripping down his neck. He scratched his scalp like he had an infestation of lice and panted as if he finished running a marathon. "You're sweating like a dodgy shrimp on ice. What's wrong?"

Five let out a fart and Vydia took a step away, eyeing her husband. "Are you going to tell her or should I?"

Five slowly looked over at the sealed bunker, making his way to it. Lila switched gazes between him and Vydia, "Tell me what?"

The blue light scanned his features. Instantly, the machine chimed and the same female voice said, "Access granted." The door unlocked and hissed open.

"I guess your essential personnel," Lila said, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

Vydia expected a white room and the light reflecting off each surface. Instead, she was faced with low lighting lights from the ceiling and blue strips of light down the side of the walls. There was a table surrounded by orb chairs in the corner on top of a fluffy white carpet and a machine in the middle of the room. A head popped out from the machine that pumped air into their lungs. She could hear the shallow breaths.

Lila stepped into the room first, "Wow."

Five and Vydia went in next and immediately. He froze. He glanced back at the hallway confused and removed his hand from his neck. The crazed look in his eyes stopped as the door shut behind them. "Well, that's weird. It stopped," he said, setting the book down on the glass table.

"I can't tell if I should be concerned or glad you didn't reach homicidal rage," Vydia mumbled.

"Both." He set his eyes back to the man on the machine, "That's him, huh? The founder."

Lila peered over the glass, observing him, "Looks like tinned beef. I was expecting more man and less," she hit the glass top twice, "can."

Five tucked his hands in his pocket and furrowed his eyebrows. Vydia narrowed her eyes at the man's head, sensing familiarity. Her eyes shot wide when she got close enough to see the man's face. It was Five Hargreeves. His eyes were closed and his grey hair was sprawled on the headrest his head laid on.

Vydia grabbed Five's arm and looked at his distraught face, "Just making sure you were still here."

Lila gave them a look, "What? Can't spend more than five minutes canoodling each other."

"No," Five didn't remove his gaze from himself, "That's me."

Lila laughed and tossed her head back, clapping. "No way. This whole time you've been complaining about the commission, and you're the one who founded it. Classic."

"If I did, I have no memory of it."

"So here I was thinking you were a maverick with the exception of Vydia, but you're a company man down to the bone. I mean you," she continued laughing, "You literally cannot breathe without this place."

"Somethings not right. I don't have paradox psychosis. I can feel it outside but in here, it's," he sighed out, "nothing."

"Never were too bright, were we?" Vydia looked down at the raspy-voiced Five. "The operation bunker is paradox-proof. I constructed it as a panic room in case of a collapse in the time continuum. In this room, all permutations of yourself can exist. You must be here because of the kugelblitz."

"Is that like a cheese blitz?" Lila asked.

"No, it's german for 'ball of lightning,'" Vydia answered.

Five turned his head to her, "How do you know what?"

"We spent 45 years in an apocalypse. I snooped through your science books sometimes." He shrugged, not surprised. "Imagine a black hole."

Lila slowly nodded, "Okay."

"Now scrape that and imagine more than 100 together, sucking everything in and causing living creatures to disintegrate."

"Oh, dear. That's very bad."

"Exactly." She asked old Five, "How do we fix it?"

He breathed out, "You don't."

"If you created all of this," Five began, seething his words, "then you must have created a solution."

Old Five wheezed and a choked caught come out. He tightly gasped, "All that will be left is oblivion."

"Oblivion." Lila approached him and placed her hands on the machine, "What do you mean."

The machine unlocked hissing and ejected old Five. His body was frail and skinny. The outline of his bones was visible on his pale skin and his stomach sunk in, outlining his ribcage. There was a tattoo on his chest and Vydia quirked an eyebrow at it. "This is what you have coming."

Five hovered over his older body, "Listen to be, you ass. I just spend the last twenty days running around saving the world from an apocalypse, only to keep trying to save the world. Now, I'm stuck in this pubescent body, my hormones are raging, and all I wanna do is enjoy my life with our wife and buy a 1970s corvette stingray."

"Take it easy on him Five," Lila advised.

"Lila, this is between me and myself," he raised his voice and turned to her. "So, stay out of it." He sarcastically smiled, "Thank you."

"She's right, Five." Vydia put a hand on his shoulder and moved in front of him, "Let me handle this." As he was about to protest, she said, "No. You don't have an option." His jaw clenched, biting back any words. She smiled and him and stood by the older Five's side. She placed a hand on his head, feeling the cool skin underneath her palm. Although, it wasn't her Five, looking at his sickly figure made her stomach churn. It was still Five whether it was him in another timeline. Her hand softly touched his head, afraid she would hurt him in this fragile state.

"Vee, it's been so long." Older Five's body smoothened under her touch, releasing the antagonizing tension he was giving to his younger self. "You know, it was always lonely without you. Believe it or not, I miss your unusual annoying antics." His small chuckle turned into a series of coughs.

"There must be a reason I'm dead." Her thumb caressed the top of his head, "You know I don't back down from a fight." She dropped the kind smile and asked, "What happened, Five?"

"You didn't want to see me like this, hooked up to a machine for years waiting for you to come to me. I didn't want you to see me like this either. You died a natural death years ago."

Vydia glimpsed at Five, His eyebrows were no longer furrowed, they drooped down and his jaw clenched hearing the news. One hand was in his pocket as he hunched forward, swallowing his words.

She half-heartedly smiled, "See, I told you I must've had a reason."

"I know you don't back down from a fight. Don't even try asking me how to fix the kugelblitz. Listen to me, now. Whatever you do, Vee. Don't save the world." Vydia couldn't argue with him. His eyes slowly shut and his last remaining breath was exhaled through his mouth.

"What do you mean don't- Five!" Five gripped the bed his older self laid on, "How do I fix this!" The machine powered down, dimming the room.

Lila checked his pulse with two fingers on the side of his neck. She deadpanned, "He's dead, Five." She spun on her heel and headed to the door.

Agape, Five heavily took short breaths. He shut his eyes and pressed his lips together, refraining from bursting in front of Lila and Vydia. "Can I have the room?" he questioned them.

Lila and Vydia exchanged glances, Vydia's more worried than uncertain. Lila tilted her head, "Er... we don't think I should leave you two alone."

Five's eyes remained closed as he took calm breaths. "I need the room."

"Okay, we'll leave," Vydia gave in. She didn't touch Five, knowing the last thing he needed was that. She and Lila walked out of the quiet room in sync. The door sensed their presence and opened. It closed when they exited the room, leaving Five taking sharp breaths.

Vydia's eyes shut, holding back a shriek from falling through the portal. The pain lessened and her eyes shot open, seeing the wooden table below them. She created a forcefield and the hard surface crushed through the table, smashing it into pieces. Five, Lila, and Vydia grunted at the force of the fall. The thud of the briefcase hitting the forcefield struck loud against their eardrums.

"Shit."

"Shoo."

"Hey, don't shove us, or I'll shove you."

Viktor asked, coming up to them, "Where have you been?"

Vydia dissolved the forcefield and rolled off the wooden stick. Five stumbled as he stood up, "Facing my mortality, Viktor. I don't recommend it."

"You had the briefcase?" Allison shouted. She ignored the group of three recovering from the fall and picked it up, "We've been looking for this."

"Well, look no further. That's the last one on Earth." Five took a clear look at the dented briefcase. It smoked and crackled in her hands. "Or was the last one." Allison shoved it aside, scoffing as she walked off.

Vydia scooted closer to the briefcase and held it up. She waved away the smoke coming out of it. "And we're screwed," she said, spotting three missing screws. She suppressed a smile.

Five crouched next to her, turning his gaze, "You make terrible jokes."

"Like you make any good ones at all. We've agreed I'm the funny one."

"No, we didn't."

"In my head we did."

Five rolled his eyes and pushed himself up to his knees. Vydia dropped the briefcase to stand with him, dismissing the glare she received from Allison feet away. She sat on the stairs leading to the elevators, fiddling with her bruised hands. She didn't know how long they were gone, but she wasn't sure it wasn't long and wasn't surprised they got into a fight.

Vydia felt something small and soft hit her back. She turned around and Stanley stood behind a pillar with pieces of paper crumbled into his hand. He gestured for her to come to him. She lightly shook her head, mouthing, "Not right now." She turned back to the Hargreeves.

Again. Another paper hit her mid-back. "Hey, Chatty Cathys." Five made a talking motion with his hands, bringing back Diego and Luther to the conversation. Meanwhile, another piece of paper hit Vydia's back. "Quit the chatting, all right? I'm calling a family meeting here."

When another paper hit Vydia, she whipped her head around, mouthing, "What?"

Stanely held a pleading look and put his hands in a praying gesture, whispering, "Please."

She sighed and told Five, "I'll be back."

He furrowed his eyebrows, "What, where are you going?"

"I need to use the bathroom real quick." He sent her a confused stare. "I drank a lot of lemonade before we left. What? It has the right amount of sweetness," she shrugged. "Brief them real quick and I'll be right back."

"Okay." Five glanced around, counting his family in his head. He asked, "Where's Klaus?'

Vydia parted from the group and the closer she got to Stanley, the bottles of unknown substances came into view. He picked them up and handed two to Vydia so he could hold one and two pairs of gloves. She held them both in one hand, one hanging on her pinky and the other on her pointer finger. She would've bombed him with questions but she decided to wait to be out of earshot. In the meantime, she read the labels. One bottle was acid and it made Vydia's eye widen.

"What the hell are you doing, Stanley?"

He picked up his pace and avoided her eyes. The bottle in his hands shook from the uneasy state he was in. Vydia can practically see the sweat forming on his forehead. "Well, remember when you said-"

"Oh, no," she rubbed her forehead.

"What do you mean 'oh, no'!" He harshly whispered. "You're the one who-"

A whistle cut Stanley off.  "Stan!" Diego called out. He approached them, eyes furrowed and head tilted. "What are you two doing? What's all this?" He took a bottle from Vydia's hands, "Acid."

Stanley gulped. "Well, uh, you told me to clean up my own mess. I have to thank you for teaching me a valuable lesson in personal responsibility."

"Yeah, I'm not buying that."

"Yeah, and what did you do that you can't tell your own dad?" Vydia crossed her arms. "And what does this have to do with me?"

Diego's eyes trailed to Stanley's wrist. A spec of blood was painted on him. "You got blood on you. Come on, talk to me. If you can tell her, you can tell me." He crouched down to meet his eye level, not letting go of his soft tone, "Hey, I'm your dad."

"Um... okay. But you gotta promise you won't be pissed," he nervously said.

Diego and Vydia glanced at each other and back at Stanley. He didn't answer them and strolled down the hall and halted in front of the elevator. The tension rose as they waited for the doors to open. He didn't look at them once after stepping and pressing the floor number. Stanley's quietness was beginning to worry Diego and Vydia. The kid always had some sort of remark to say. That was saying a lot considering they've known him for two or three days.

Stanley was only quiet if he did something wrong. He must've known the shakiness in his voice was an immediate giveaway. Vydia found it odd knowing Lila wouldn't shy away when lying. It confused her why she didn't teach Stan how to get away with things. Or maybe she was overthinking and Lila didn't want Stan hiding things from her. He was quite the troublemaker.

The elevator dinged open and the trio stepped out. Stanley's steps picked up faster and the uneasiness in Vydia increased. He stood in front of a room on the verge of tears. The smell of blood hit Vydia's nostrils upon entering the door. Klaus laid on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. His limps were sprawled to the side and blood wettened the white fluffy carpet he laid on. She dropped the objects in her hands and a knot formed at the back of Vydia's throat looking at Klaus's lifeless body. Diego gradually walked to him with her beside him. Stan was too afraid to be close to them.

Diego and Vydia kneeled beside Klaus. She touched his arm expecting a cold touch. The recent death was the only reason it was still warm. She asked, wiping a tear streaming down her cheek, "What did you do?"

"Nothing," Stanley quavered.

Diego closed Klaus's eyes and stood up. He roughly wrapped his fists around Stanley's flannel and pulled him closer, "Do not lie to us. This is my brother." Vydia could hear Stanley's paid heartbeat and quick breaths. "Tell us what you did."

Stanely's voice cracked, "We were just messing around, and it was fine until the gun went off."

Vydia glanced in front of Klaus where the gun supposedly hit. She had failed to see the harpoon in the wall earlier, where it has his blood splattered, seeing Klaus's body on the floor.

After reading the labels on the things Stanley held and gave to Vydia, Diego shouted, "And you were gonna dissolve the body!"

"I didn't know what else to do, okay! I tried to look for aunt Vydia because she said she could help and she wasn't anywhere. I just saw her on the way here!" he cried. Vydia rubbed her eyes with her fingers and huffed. "I couldn't tell you because you were gonna hate me, and I'd have to go to prison, join a gang for protection, and end up in the hole!"

Diego cupped Stanley's face, "Hey, hey, hey, hey. I don't hate you. I just- can't believe it okay? When did Vydia say she could help?"

Through his shallow hiccups, Stanley said, "Yesterday. She said if I ever needed help to hide a body she could help."

"I didn't think you would actually kill anybody!" she responded, standing up. She instantly lowered her voice seeing the boy flinch. She didn't mean to scare him more than he already was. "I'm sorry, I'm not mad. I just didn't think this would actually happen."

"Okay, one rule," Diego raised a finger. "Anything questionable Vydia says you tell me, okay?"

Stanley nodded, "Okay."

"I can't argue with that," she agreed.

Diego looked at Klaus's lifeless body on the ground, "All the stupid shit Klaus used to do. I used to think he could survive anything and now he's dead."

Stanely hugged Diego's waist, squeezing his eyes shut, "I'm really, really sorry.

Diego wrapped his arms around his head and rubbed his back, "Me too, kid." His voice wavered as he said, "Come on and help us wrap your uncle in the carpet. Vydia, find something to tie him with."

Vydia's eyes roamed the room. She hadn't taken in her surroundings of the eccentric pink room because of Klaus's dead body lying on the ground. She didn't acknowledge the room and only had one thing set in her mind, a rope. As odd as the room was like the white buffalo head hanging on the wall, she couldn't find a rope.

However, she did recall spotting one in the maintenance room. She geo-leaped in the room, luckily no one was around to find her. A rope hung on the wall and she quickly grabbed it and returned to the room. "Got it," she said, untying it. She gave it to Diego.

Klaus was wrapped in a blanket like a burrito. She lifted his upper body and Diego wrapped the rope and tied it. As Vydia held up his body, Diego circled it around him. The dark rope contrasted against the white fur rug.

"Why can't Aunt Vydia do her thing and take him downstairs?" Stanley questioned.

Diego responded, grunting as he tied the rope around Klaus's legs, "Because we need to be together when we tell them."

Vydia tugged on the rope to make sure it was secure, "I also can't show up in front of them with their dead brother in my hands." She placed her hands underneath Klaus's upper body and Diego placed his underneath his legs. "Ready?"

He nodded, "On three. One... two... three."

They lifted Klaus's body off the ground. Vydia carrying most of his weight made it easier to transport him. In synchronized steps, they headed to the elevators. Stanley was right behind them, fidgeting with a lighter. She told Diego to watch his step and where to go because he couldn't see what was behind him.

At the elevators, Diego settled Klaus's legs on the floor. He walked to Vydia and took his brother in his arms. "I got it," Diego put all of Klaus's weight on himself. He pushed him against the wall, making a thud as Vydia hit the down button for the elevator.

Stanely played with the lighter in his hands, flickering it on and off. "Are you sure we can't just torch the evidence? Couple flames from Mr. Burns over here."

Vydia took the lighter from his hands, "You need to be ten feet from anything that causes damage or kills anyone. Also, we're not burning anything."

"Exactly, listen to your aunt," Diego agreed. "We're gonna go talk to the family together. They'll, uh, understand that this was an accident." Stanley looked down. "Hey, no matter what happens, We got your back, okay?" He was pushed forward by Klaus's weight.

"Give me him," Vydia took Klaus and she was able to keep him stable with one arm around his corpse. She dismissed the fact that she was holding a dead Klaus. "But Diego's right. We have your back."

Diego put his hand on Stanley's shoulder, "Tú ya eres mi sangre."

Stanley stated, "I still don't speak Spanish.

"And I accept your flaws. Now-" The elevator doors opened and the receptionist stepped out. He stopped and stared at the trio who awkwardly stared at him. Stanley's arm leaned against the wall, nervously smiling at him and Vydia flashed the man a smile. "Yeah, uh, we're playing a game," Diego lied.

He asked, "What's it called?"

"Guy in a carpet."

He sharply nodded, "I hope you win." He removed his stare and walked off like he didn't see a thing."

"Guy in a carpet? That's the best you can do?" Vydia judged.

Diego retorted, "Oh, yeah, I'd like to see you come up with a better name."

"Who said I would have? I would've threatened him and if he said something he wouldn't have lived to see another day."

"You are unbelievable." Diego shot his hand out before the elevator doors closed. They sensed his arm and opened it back up again. "I'm glad Klaus was right. I love this place."

Vydia grunted, throwing Klaus over her shoulder. She steadied herself before taking a step. She squatted to get his feet on the floor and perched him in the first corner on her right. Diego pushed his head against the wall to refrain from him falling forward again.

"Stan, press the button," Diego commanded.

"Okay."

He examined the scale of buttons and Diego instructed, "Ground, ground. G. There you go."

"Yeah, okay."

The elevator doors closed and Stanely exhaled. Their heavy breaths filled the elevator as it whirred, going down. Vydia focused on it to avoid the thought of Klaus being dead hitting her again. She hated grieving and the awful feelings that came with it.

A loud gasp from Klaus startled the trio. His eyes snapped open and he screamed, thrashing his limbs. Vydia shouted, backing away from him. They pressed their backs to the opposite side from Klaus and continued their screams.

"YOU TOLD ME HE WAS DEAD, PUTAS!" Stanely yelled.

"WHAT THE SHIT? HE WAS!" Vydia shouted at the same time Diego said, "HE WAS, AND NOW YOU SPEAK SPANISH!"

Klaus collapsed on Diego, pleading, "Let's just turn down the volume just a smidge, shall we? Celestial comedown is a bitch!"

Vydia's heart pounded against her chest. "I want to hit you so bad for scaring the hell out of us!"

Diego grunted pushing Klaus off of himself. He smacked the elevator wall and fell. Diego and Vydia crouched beside him. "You scared the shit out of me, Klaus! We thought you were dead!"

Klaus jolted and he breathed heavily, touching the hole in his chest. "Yeah Me too," he laughed maniacally. Diego and Vydia joined his fits of laughter to help prevent the tears that could start pouring out of their eyes at any minute. He cried out, "Me too. Me too."

-

Heyyyyy, its been a while but I didn't mean to. I love this story but now that we got to apocalypse again I wanted to gouge my eyes out. Like why did they have to make another apocalyptic season? Don't worry Im not gonna drop this story. I love Vydia and her relationships with the hargreeves too much

Anyways I'm sorry if there are any typos. Im tired and I've been wanting to get this chapter out since i finished it Monday. But i had last minute plans again.

-Aithusa