ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ ᴏꜰ ᴅɪᴠᴏʀᴄᴇ
'ʙᴏɴᴅᴇᴅ ꜰᴏʀ ʟɪꜰᴇ'

The plans to meet back up at the bar in two hours changed as Allison had gone home to see her daughter. None of them could blame her and Inanna wished that she too could have gone home. Inanna didn't go down to have dinner with the others either, telling Five that she wanted to catch up on her sleep.

However, Inanna didn't sleep much, her mind running faster in the quiet room and even when Five returned to the room with a box of Chinese food and a small pile of clothes for the both of them, Inanna was still awake, but with her eyes closed and facing the wall, Five believed she was asleep. Five sat the box of food and the clothes on the table before getting in his own bed for the night, leaving Inanna's mind to wander until the sun came up.

Inanna was out of the room before Five, after changing into the more 2019 accepted clothes that Klaus had picked out for her from the 'store' in the hotel, ignoring all of Five's suggestions as he chose a floral red and black shirt — to match the yellow one he had picked out for himself — and a pair of worn converse and denim jeans.

"How is our little Sugar Mama feeling this morning?" Klaus came up behind Inanna, peering over her shoulder as she picked through the buffet of food that had been laid out for breakfast.

Inanna rolled her eyes at the nickname, knowing that Klaus wouldn't drop it at any point. — The same way Diego hadn't dropped 'Red'. "She's doing okay, don't you worry about her".

"Hey" Klaus moved to Inanna's side "You and I are bonded for life now, you have my oxygen inside your lungs" Klaus reminded Inanna.

"You mean I have your carbon dioxide in my lungs" Inanna said.

Klaus waved his hand in Inanna's face. "Doesn't matter. The point is, you and I are family and I worry about family... How are you feeling?" Klaus asked again.

Inanna turned to him, the faintest of smiles tugging on her lips. "I'm okay, Klaus" Inanna said.

"Really?" Klaus leaned closer to Inanna as she plated herself some breakfast.

Inanna nodded, her smile growing. "Really" Inanna took a small side step away from Klaus.

It wasn't a complete lie, other from the lack of sleep and the unanswered questions, for someone who had found out that their life had been ruined, Inanna was doing her best.

Five came up to the buffet next to Inanna, pressing a good morning kiss to her temple as he tucked her hair behind her ear so he could see her face.

"Did you have to match with my wife?" Five asked Klaus as he sat his hat on his head, looking from Inanna to Klaus.

Inanna looked down at her outfit, only then realising that Klaus wore the same thing just in yellow and black.

"We are life partners, Five, the sooner you accept it, the sooner you can learn to love it" Klaus said as he walked away from the couple to rejoin Diego — who's hair was cut shorter, almost matching his mugshot — at the table to hear more about his alleged son, Stanley, who was helping himself to the muffins.

"Life partners?" Five repeated Klaus's words.

"He gave me mouth to mouth back at the farm, you know, to stop me from dying, so now we're 'bonded for life'" Inanna repeated Klaus's words.

"Why is he so strange?" Five asked looking over at Klaus who waved at him from the table.

"I think he's rather sweet in his own odd way" Inanna shrugged.

Five shook his head at Inanna's comment "How'd you sleep? You were passed out when I came back up to the room" Five said.

"Like a baby" Like a baby who was teething. "You know, you could have got in my bed" Inanna said to Five.

"And have you elbow me in the face, I'd rather sleep with the rats than wake up with a black eye".

"That was one time, Five, and a complete accident by the way" Inanna said. Five nodded, not believing Inanna and his eyes followed Stanley as he sat down at a table across Diego and Klaus.

"Who's the kid?" Five asked.

"The kid is your nephew" Inanna nodded as Five turned back to her, looking even more confused than he was seconds before. "Diego's alleged son" Inanna said. "Be nice to him, he's only a kid" Inanna said leaving Five to join the others at the table.

Five followed after Inanna, one hand tucked into the pockets of his jeans and the other holding a drink Chet had made for him.

"Who's... who's the mother?" Five asked Diego as he looked over at Stanley.

"Yeah, who's the mother?" Inanna asked sitting down at the table.

"Lila" Diego muttered.

"Excuse me?" Klaus asked in shock.

"The fuck?" Inanna glanced over to Stanley as she pulled the wrapping off the muffin she had grabbed from the buffet.

"Whoa, Lila'a here?" Five asked Diego.

"Was. She dropped him off in my lap last night then bolted" Diego said looking down at his hands.

"I don't much care for that one" Klaus said.

"I second that" Inanna pointed at Klaus and with a nod of her head she tore the top of the muffin off, she sat it on her plate to eat the bottom half of the muffin first.

"Technically, she's family" Five said sitting his drink on the table.

"She was trying to murder us, like..." Klaus thought for a moment trying to wrap his head around the time jump "yesterday".

"Yeah, like I said, 'family'" Five said to Klaus. "Diego, is she coming back?" Five asked turning around to grab a chair from another table.

"Well, she goddamn better be because we got more important things to be dealing with right now!" Diego shouted his words which were aimed at Stanley.

Inanna hit Diego's arm, "Leave him alone, he's what? 12?" Inanna shrugged.

"Do you want to baby sit him instead?" Diego asked Inanna.

Inanna glared at Diego. "You're not baby sitting him. He's your son. Just be friendly to him, I mean, what's the worst that could happen? You actually like him?" Inanna said glancing over her shoulder to the young boy who didn't look much older than her younger brother, Jacob.

Viktor walked towards the table, his hair cut short — it was a very drastic change but Inanna thought it looked rather good. "Where's Luther?" Viktor asked.

"Who cares? Probably out for... a run" Diego paused for a split second, noticing the change of look.

"Mmm" Klaus swallowed his coffee, his hand waving at Viktor. "Love the haircut" Viktor smiled.

"So I, uh, talked to Marcus last night" Viktor said.

"Wait, what? You talked with the enemy?" Diego asked. "By yourself?" Diego asked.

"Somebody had to do something" Viktor responded.

"Who elected you, Vanya" Diego asked.

There was a pause as Viktor looked around at the family in front of him. "It's, uh, Viktor" Viktor corrected.

"Who's Viktor?" Diego asked.

There was a smaller break than before from Viktor and with a tug of a smile he nodded. "I am. It's who i've always been" He said.

Viktor looked around hesitantly, waiting for one of them to speak up. "Uh, is that an issue for anyone?" Viktor asked.

Klaus chuckled. "Nah, I'm good with it" Diego said.

"Me too" Inanna gave Viktor a warm smile, which brought Viktor's smile back.

"Yeah, me three. Cool" Klaus said continuing to eat his breakfast.

"Truly happy for you, Viktor" Five said. Five raised his brows as Viktor turned to him. "But last time I checked, you don't speak for this family" Five said.

Viktor sighed as he took a step towards the table. "Okay, well, it's fine, okay? Marcus totally gets it. He doesn't want a war any more than we do".

"What are you talking about? Diego asked. "He tried to homicide us!".

"So did Lila, and you had a kid with her" Klaus commented.

"That's not the point!" Diego said turning to Klaus.

"Listen, we made a deal. He's gonna give back Five's briefcase, then we're gonna get out of the timeline. We're gonna meet later today for the, uh, the handover".

"And go back to the original timeline?" Inanna asked ignoring the looks and comments from the others who thought Viktor was crazy. Viktor nodded.

"That's a rookie move. Dude is playing you" Diego said.

"Oh, really?" Viktor asked.

"Yeah" Diego nodded. "But maybe we can use this. And we turn it back on them, and then we wipe them the hell out".

Viktor sighed, growing annoyed with Diego's plans to attack the Sparrows. "Diego, stop, please. And you're not gonna like, do anything today".

"Except bond with your spawn" Klaus said grabbing Diego's shoulder.

Diego shoved Klaus's hand off him. "Alleged spawn" Diego corrected.

"I will get the briefcase, and then we will all go back and fix the timeline" Viktor said.

"Hey" Five spoke up. "We're not going anywhere! This is a perfectly acceptable timeline".

"Yeah, why don't you tell that to Allison, who's upstairs grieving her daughter, who doesn't even exist here!" Viktor said.

"Not to mention, we've been replaced by a bunch of blobs and cubes and birds and shit!" Diego said.

"News flash, geniuses! It's not about us!" Five said "Take a lot around. If you hadn't noticed, there's no doomsday. There's no apocalypse. The sun is shining. Birds are doing whatever the hell birds do. That's all that matters. We're done messing with time" Five picked his drink back up as Inanna casted her eyes down at her plate, letting Five's words sink in.

It wasn't all that mattered to Inanna. Five had his family, even if they hated each other most of the time, he had them, Inanna only wanted her parents and her brother, and instead she was given another version of herself and the news that her family had sold her to Reginald Hargreeves.

"And I'm officially retired" Five said. Klaus sniffed Five as he stood up from the table to go to the buffet.

"Is he wearing aftershave?" Klaus asked. Inanna shrugged, glancing back up at Klaus. "I'm concerned".

The lights in the hotel switched off all at once, leaving it only lit by the sun that came in through the large windows. The lights flickered back on not even a minute later, and Klaus gestured for Inanna to follow him as he stood up from the table.

Inanna slid her plate of breakfast over to Diego and picked up the top half of her muffin as she followed after Klaus without question. Klaus walked over to Five at the buffet whispering "Hey. What do you say we get outta here, huh? Take a little... road trip".

"What are you talking about?" Five asked. Inanna shrugged propping her elbows up on the counter when Five looked to her, wondering if she knew what Klaus was saying.

"I'm talking about a sojourn to the countryside. You and me, the wind in our hair. Thelma and Louise on the open road" Klaus said.

Five scoffed "You know they die in the end, right?" Five asked.

"Holding hands, living our best life, my little cherub!" Klaus said crouching down to Five's height as Five scooped a spoon of fruit onto his plate. "I nearly died from Luther's sleep farts last night while you were snuggling the human form of a field of daisies" Klaus gestured to Inanna who raised her brow at his comment as she ate her muffin. "We need to get out of here, get some fresh air!".

Five turned to Klaus. "Okay, I'll bite. Why me, Klaus?" Five asked.

"Because you said... you said you're retired, and that's what retired people do. And don't you deserve some fun? And Inanna, our sweet, sweet, not at all threatening, Inanna, you will come too right?" Klaus asked nodding his head.

Inanna sighed as she looked over her shoulder to Viktor. Inanna wanted to help Viktor, she wanted to get her old life back but she'd need Five's help eventually — not trusting herself with a briefcase after the last one she operated by herself blew up in her face, knocked her unconscious for three days and left her in pain years later — and the day with Five, without interruptions from his siblings, gave her the time to convince him to come out of retirement for a little while.

Inanna nodded "Sure, but I'm not being your sugar mama, find some other old lady to spoil you" Klaus's smile grew as he ran round Five to Inanna.

"This is why you are my life partner" Klaus kissed the top of Inanna's head as she tried to shove him away but he secured his arms around her shoulders, hugging her tightly.

"There's no lobsters" Five said.

"Excuse me?" Klaus asked loosening his hug as he dropped his arms to his sides and turned to Five.

"There were three lobsters in that tank a minute ago" Five said staring at the fish tank on the other side of the buffet that was empty.

"Yeah, well, you know, maybe Chet blended 'em into a morning smoothie" Klaus suggested.

Five tried to hide his smile as he looked from Klaus to the tank and then back to Klaus. "You're an idiot, but I'm in" Five said to his brother.

Klaus cheered and kissed Inanna's head again. Five's brows furrowed as Klaus sniffed Inanna's hair, Inanna noticed and moved away from him.

"Don't be weird" Five said with a shake of his head.

"Were you born in a field of flowers?" Klaus asked Inanna.

"I will kill you in a field of flowers if you sniff me again" Inanna threatened.

After Five had eaten and circled different sights he wanted to see along the road trip, Inanna and Five followed Klaus out of the hotel, 'borrowing' a car from the car park.

"This actually isn't so terrible" Five said as Inanna drove them down a long and empty road between two long fields of grass.

"See? Told you" Klaus said from the back middle seat.

"Come to think of it, my whole life i've been under the gun. Missions for Dad, working for the Commission, trying to survive the apocalypse, surviving multiple murder attempts-" Five glanced to Inanna next to him as tapped his fingers against her knee. "I was always looking around every corner, just waiting for the other shoe to drop. It's nice to just breathe".

"Good for you, man. Retirement is suiting you" Klaus nodded along to the quiet music that played over the radio.

"Oh!" Five leaned forwards in his seat remembering the map he had packed in his bag. "All right!" Five took the maps out of his bag and Klaus scooted forwards to see what Five wanted to show him. "So, I've circled all the roadside attractions along the way".

"Oh... I'm not sure we're gonna have time" Klaus mumbled, but Five ignored him as he began listing.

"We have the Brownsville Big Nickel. Oh, Ricky's Bakery has award-winning pies-".

"If you just let me explain..." Klaus started as Five continued.

"Or there's this Cow Henge. That's it-".

"Listen to me" Klaus spoke louder hitting Five on his shoulder lightly. "Just shut up for two seconds, okay? Just two seconds? All right?".

"Okay" Five folded the maps back up, his smile fading. "I'm all ears" Five turned to look at Klaus.

"We are going to Pennsylvania to find my birth mother. Yay!" Klaus cheered.

"Excuse me?" Inanna and Five asked.

"I thought we were just taking a drive to Pennsylvania?" Inanna asked Klaus. "See the sights with the wind in our hair?" Inanna repeated what Klaus had said to Five.

"Yes, I know" Klaus sighed. "I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry. I just needed somebody to come with me for emotional support".

"Oh, emotional support, like a Schnauzer?" Five said.

"Yeah! I knew you wouldn't come if I told you, so what was I supposed to do?" Klaus asked.

"You're goddam right I wouldn't have come, Klaus. You know why? Because I am supposed to be retired!" Five shouted.

"I know" Klaus mumbled. "I know".

"This was supposed to be a carefree road trip with my wife" Five said turning back around in his seat.

"Well, it still can be, babe" Klaus said.

"If you two keep arguing, you can walk to your birth mother-" Inanna said to Klaus. "And you can walk to the pig henge" Inanna said to Five as she rubbed her temple.

"Didn't he say cow henge?" Klaus asked. "Or was it sheep-".

"Ball of Twine?" Five read a sign in the road out loud. "You want to see the Ball of Twine, Inan?" Five asked.

"Not that I ever imagined i'd say this, but sure, I wanna see the Ball of Twi-".

Klaus jumped forwards in the backseat, reaching over Inanna to grab the steering wheel when she started turning off the road.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?" Inanna fought with Klaus over the steering wheel, watching as they began to swerve.

"We don't have time-".

"We're gonna die!" Klaus shouted as they swerved in front of another car and Five grabbed the steering wheel to turn the car towards the ball of twine with Inanna.

"I don't care! Let go" Five shouted.

"Stop acting like children! I'm the driver" Inanna let go of the steering wheel to smacked Five and Klaus's hands.

"Ow!" Klaus let go of the steering wheel with one hand to hit Inanna back.

"You know what?" Five shouted "No twine, no birth mother!".

━━━━━

"We should have gotten one of those old people cameras, you know the ones that your grandparents would take on vacations and take photos of you in front of-" Inanna looked from Klaus to Five neither of them understanding what camera she was talking about and as Inanna remembered the childhood that they both had, Inanna's words became quiet with realisation. "I was expecting something a little more exciting" Inanna cleared her throat turning her gaze back to the Ball of Twine.

"Yeah, I don't know why, but I thought it'd be a lot bigger" Klaus said.

"Seems pretty big to me" Five said.

"Maybe because you're so small?" Inanna asked.

Five sarcastically smiled at Inanna as he tucked his hands into his pockets, and Inanna stared up at the Ball of Twine wondering how they had made it. "Here's the real question" Five said. "How do you know your birth mother is in Pennsylvania?" Five asked Klaus.

"Well" Klaus took his sunglasses off. "Because I was on the ass end of a two-week bender, and I can't tell you the exact date because we were boofing Xanax and the whole business, but Amy Winehouse was at the top of the charts. So that puts us somewhere, where? In the mid to late aughts" Klaus suggested. "I helped myself into Dad's office, looking for the key to his safe 'cause he had Pogo lock up all the stealables. But instead, I found a treasure trove of our family history told in expired check stubs. I was too messed up to, uh, do anything about it, too scared to look her up. But always in the back of my mind, I wondered why she sold me off for three grand. I mean, come on, she couldn't have held out for five? six?".

"You see anything about my mother?" Five asked.

"No. Sorry" Klaus mumbled.

"Why now?" Five asked.

"Well, duh. Dad disowns us. Grace isn't Grace. Ben's... gone" Klaus listed "Now just felt like a good a time as any to find out who I could've been if I didn't grow up in this stupid family".

"Well, can you really call what we had a family?" Five asked.

"No, it's more like a-".

"Institute for Snarky Delinquents" Klaus laughed at Five's comment. "And not a good one at that" Five chuckled.

"But what is family? What is it? It's like some kind of giant... ball of twine that can never be untangled" Klaus said.

"A giant ball of obligation I've been pushing uphill my entire life" Five muttered looking up at the ball of twine.

"And the older you get, the bigger it gets. And the more you try and untangle it...".

Five spoke at the same time as Klaus. "You watch it roll down the hill...".

"And what's the point?" Klaus and Five said simultaneously. Klaus and Five turned to each other and Inanna turned away from them, hiding her smile. "Hey, I'm glad you came along" Klaus said to Five. "You're a good brother" Klaus's face twisted with a painful cringe and Five gave him the smallest of smiles. "All right, all right. You say nice things about me now" Klaus bit the end of his thumb.

Five turned away from Klaus and patted his shoulder as he began walking back to the car. "Let's go find your stupid mother".

Klaus ran after Five. "Love you too, tiny dancer!".

the next chapter won't
be out until sunday night but
this is my comfort chapter.