ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ ᴛᴡᴏ ᴏꜰ ᴅɪᴠᴏʀᴄᴇ
'ᴍᴜʀᴅᴇʀᴇᴅ ᴍᴏᴛʜᴇʀꜱ'

Inanna and Klaus followed after Five into the hotel and over to the bar where the other sat, wiping her eyes dry with the back of her hand.

"Okay, gather round people" Five said holding the book in his hand. "Where is-where's every—Where's Luther?" Five asked.

"Haven't seen him" Allison responded taking a glass from the bar man as Inanna stopped next to her, asking for whatever drink Allison had.

"Who knows?" Diego said.

"Anybody know where- Okay, you know what?" Five open the book and sat it on the counter. "We got bigger problems to worry about right now".

"Like what?" Allison asked.

Five pointed at a newspaper article which had been clipped into the book. "This" Five said. Five flicked over the paper to another newspaper article as his siblings surrounded the counter, all of them looking at the articles which spoke about the deaths of different women.

"Who are they?" Viktor asked.

"These are our mothers" Five responded.

"How do you know?" Diego asked Five.

"Because-" Five glanced to Inanna and she turned away from him "This is Inanna's mother" Five turned the page once more, stopping on a news article which was written about Inanna's mothers death — a black and white photograph of Iris underneath it.

On the page after was an article about Inanna's father and Inanna hoped Five wouldn't mention him. Inanna's father, Jonny, hadn't died the same way as her mother but he had been killed in a car accident on the same day while Iris had been driving.

"They're all dead" Five said, he knew Inanna didn't want to hear it, just reading it had shattered her, but Five had to tell his family. "They all died on the exact same day, October 1st, 1989".

"That's our birthday" Viktor said.

"Not anymore, it isn't" Five responded. "They all died before we were born. It's how dad was able to adopt Anna, she was orphaned at two months old".

"That's dumb" Diego said and Five crossed his arms, waiting to see what Diego had to say. "If we weren't born, how can we exist?" Diego asked.

"Exactly" Five said.

"What are you saying?" Viktor asked.

"I'm saying, when we jumped here, we created a time paradox" Five began explaining and Inanna sat her empty glass on the counter, willing herself to listen to him. "All right? Not just any paradox. This is the grandfather paradox".

"What the hell is a grandfather paradox?" Klaus asked. Nothing good.

Realising that it wasn't the best idea to have the conversation at the bar with strangers around them, Five lead them upstairs with a cup of coffee in his hand, starting up the conversation again once they were around the pool tables.

Inanna laid across one of the pool tables on her stomach, resting her head on her arms, listening to the conversation that took place.

"I'm so confused" Diego said, watching Stanley who was swinging one of the pool cues around.

"Shocking" Allison muttered.

"Well, someone killed our mothers, so we shouldn't exist" Viktor said. Klaus laid on the floor, repeatedly hitting himself in the face with the book. "But clearly, we do exist, and the universe can't handle it, which is a problem".

"Big problem" Five sighed.

Stanley jumped and kicked his leg out in front of himself, freezing when Diego shouted his name. "Now is not the time to be doing karate, okay?" Diego said pointing at him with his knife.

"Yeah, well. Mom said I need to practice" Stanley argued.

"Yeah, well, she's not wrong" Diego said flipping the knife in his hand. "You're very bad".

"Yeah. Well, I saved your pathetic ass" Stanley shouted.

"Okay, hold on" Allison shouted, wanting to change the direction of the conversation back to the paradox. "Five, so we caused a paradox. What does that mean?" Allison asked.

"It's hard to say. It's all been theoretical until now, but things have started to disappear" Five said.

"What things?" Viktor asked.

"Right now? Uh, lobsters" Five responded with a slight nod of his head, recalling the two lobsters that had vanished that morning.

Klaus sat up "And a shit ton of cows!" Klaus added as Inanna mumbled "And cows" under her breath.

"But I have a feeling this is just the beginning" Five said.

"A feeling?" Allison repeated. "Aren't you retired?" Allison asked as Five looked over his shoulder to her.

"I want nothing more" Five said.

"You know" Allison walked over to Five as she spoke, stopping in front of him when he turned to her "You can't drag us through hell because you have an itch only an apocalypse can scratch and then expect us to deal with the fallout. You're not the boss".

"Fine, I'm the messenger-" Five said tilting his head. "-and i'm telling you something terrible is coming".

"Then let's go attack the Sparrows, get the briefcase, and go home" Allison said. Inanna wondered what had happened with the plan Viktor had made with Marcus — she knew it hadn't gone right, otherwise Viktor would have the briefcase to get them home.

"This is our home, Allison. Accept it".

Stanley knocked over the other cue sticks and the loud clatter as they fell to the floor interrupted Allison and Five before Allison had the chance to respond.

"That's it! I'm telling your mom" Diego shouted.

"Wait, where's Lila?" Five asked looking between Stanley and Diego.

"Shower. I told her she could stay with us" Stanley said.

"Wait. When did Lila get back?" Viktor asked as Five began walking to the stairs.

"Five, where you going?" Diego asked.

"Go talk to somebody who only has half her head up her ass" Five said looking back at his siblings. "And no, Inanna, you can stay here".

Inanna pulled herself up onto her knees, staring at Five in confusion. "I'd rather electrocute myself than spend a second with that psychopath".

Five didn't responded only waving at her as he began walking down the stairs, ignoring Klaus who called for him to come back.

Five didn't think Inanna wanted to see Lila, he thought Inanna wanted to try and kill Lila — or at least injure her — after what had happened at the farm.

"I mean, he has a pretty good track record with this stuff" Viktor said pointing towards the stairs. "I feel like we should listen to him".

"Sure" Klaus pointed at Viktor. "Hey, quick question" Klaus stood up still holding the book in his hand.

Stanley continued practicing his karate, shouting 'Cobra kai' as Klaus walked over to Viktor. "Do none of you heartless bastards care about our murdered moms?" Klaus asked dropping the book onto the table.

"Klaus, the only one that we knew plugged into a wall" Diego replied.

"Oh yeah?" Klaus scrambled to pick up the book again, turning it so Diego could see the photo of his mother "Well, this is my real mother. And she's called Rachel. And I have her eyes. See" Klaus turned to Viktor. "Come on! We need to find out who did this! This is the thing!" Klaus dropped the book back onto the table. "This is the main thing!".

"Is that all you want?" Diego asked.

"Yeah" Klaus nodded. "And it's what Inanna wants. I had to endure the worst car ride in my life because someone decided to off her parents".

"Your psycho father is the one who told me that my parents had sold me" Inanna said. Klaus sighed, nodding "I think I am allowed to be upset" Inanna muttered.

"Are they technically your parents?" Allison asked turning to Inanna. "I mean, you've been replaced in this timeline so-".

"They're my parents" Inanna responded. "I don't give a shit if i've been replaced, Jonny and Iris are my parents".

Inanna didn't even want to think about Marnie and Jacob. She knew that if they were alive, neither of them would know her or Anna.

"You spent years alone in an apocalypse with Five, your parents died a long time ago, Inanna" Allison said. "We have other things-".

"Okay, that's not cool" Diego shook his head at Allison as Inanna got off the pool table.

"No" Allison looked from Diego to Inanna. "You were so quick to tell me to leave my husband behind but now that Anna's parents are dead you want us to drop everything to do what? Hunt down the killer?" Allison asked.

"I just want to get back to my family" Inanna argued as Allison walked over to her.

"Then talk to your husband" Allison leaned down to Inanna's height.

"Okay! Let's stop this" Diego said holding his hand out to the two women, cutting the argument short before Inanna could tell Allison that she had tried talking to Five already. "If anyone killed our mothers it's obviously Dad, all right? He knew where we were born, and I'm sure it wasn't hard to track Inanna down either" Diego looked between Inanna and Allison. "He hated us in '63. Boom. Murders".

"You think Dad is capable of killing innocent people?" Klaus asked.

Allison's scoff turned into a laugh of disbelief as Inanna nodded, believing that Reginald, although she barely knew him, would definitely be capable of murdering innocents.

"Absolutely" Viktor responded.

"Oh, it's Murder City, buddy" Diego said.

Luther appeared at the top of the stairs, out of breath from running from wherever he had been the whole day.

"A little late for a meeting, Pal" Diego said.

"I was being held captive. By the Sparrows" Luther extended his arms out to his sides, holding a Sparrow bag and a drink in either hand and wearing a Sparrow Academy outfit set.

"What?" Allison asked.

"Wait? Did none of you notice?" Luther asked.

There was a chorus of lies as his siblings tried to reassure Luther that they had been worried sick about him but their lies fell short when Allison called them out for it.

"Oh yeah. Okay. Nice" Luther muttered walking over to the pool table.

"Did they hurt you?" Allison asked.

"Who? The Sparrows?" Luther shook his head. "God, no. Not at all. Excellent hosts. Really quite charming, actually. Even Anna was rather welcoming" Luther nodded at Inanna as he spoke the last sentence and sat the bag on the pool table, which Allison went over to, wanting to see what Luther had been given. "Oh, and you should see their gym. Outstanding! I really think we got these guys all wrong".

Allison pulled out a Sparrow Academy record which had Marcus, Alphonso and Ben on the front cover. "Says the guy they kidnapped" Allison held up the record.

"The fact that you said Anna was welcoming makes me wonder if you actually had a concussion which we neglected" Inanna said crossing her arms.

"No concussion" Luther shook his head. "But really, she is you but much nicer. If you weren't so.. you know, you, you'd get along really well" Luther smiled pointing at Inanna.

Inanna scoffed turning away from Luther "I'm sure we would" Inanna muttered, raising her brows as she leaned against the pool table.

Diego whistled getting Luther's attention. "What did they want?" Diego asked.

"Oh. Marcus" Luther said. "He's missing. They want him back. Unharmed".

"We don't have him" Viktor said.

"Well, damn" Luther chuckled. "I was hoping we'd solve that one quickly and then move on to problem number two... Disappearing people".

"Disappearing people?" Inanna repeated. "Dis-" Inanna flinched as Stanley accidentally smashed an ornament, shattering a pot onto the ground.

"Uh, it was... It was the wind" Stanley said, still holding the cue stick he had smashed the ornament with.

"Who's the kid?" Luther asked.

Diego dragged Stanley away from the others, taking Inanna with him just so he could keep on eye on her. Inanna didn't put up a fight, not wanting to be left alone with Allison, knowing that she'd punch Allison in her face if she mentioned her parents again.

"Discipline. That's what you need to learn" Diego said to Stanley as they walked through the hotel hallways. "When I was your age, I was up at dawn, all right? I was training, honing my skills. The biggest thing-" Diego stopped in the middle of the hallway turning Stanley to him. "I was becoming a real man".

"Right. Is that why you wear those tight pants?" Stanley asked, his response earning a chuckle from Inanna.

The door to the communal bathroom opened and a blonde Lila exited the room in a towel, holding her shoes and clothes and Inanna's smile disappeared in a second, remembering the pain she had felt in the field while Klaus saved her life.

"Lila?" Diego walked over to Lila. "You need to take this kid with you" Diego pointed back at Stanley who stood next to Inanna.

Lila glanced from Stanley to Inanna "Which one?" Lila asked, chuckling to herself as Five exited the bathroom with two briefcases — both of which Inanna noticed instantly.

"The hell were you doing in there?" Diego asked Five.

"Bathing" Lila replied.

"Together?" Diego asked, glancing to Inanna.

"Why have you got two briefcases?" Inanna asked Five pointing at the briefcases.

"I thought you'd rather electrocute yourself than see Lila?" Five asked as Inanna took a step towards him.

"Don't avoid my question, Five. That's all you've been doing since we got here. Why have you got two briefcases?" Inanna repeated her question.

"Ones mine and the other I nicked off the Sparrows" Lila said rubbing her eye.

"And you just didn't think to share that with anyone?" Inanna asked.

"Well, seeing as I wasn't planning on sticking around. No" Lila said.

"It doesn't matter anyways" Five interrupted. "The-".

"Doesn't matter?" Inanna repeated. "Doesn't matter?" Inanna looked away from Five, digging her nails into her palms, pressing them into the crescent marks that had scarred her skin over the years. "Five, did you not listen to me earlier?".

"I heard you, loud and clear" Five responded. "But the briefcases don't work" Five said before Inanna spoke up again.

"Don't work? That's impossible-".

"Well, clearly it's not" Five said. Inanna rolled her eyes crossing her arms over her chest.

"Do you two need a moment alone to settle your lovers tiff?" Lila asked glancing from Five to Inanna.

"No" Five and Inanna said. "We have important shit to do" Five said — 'We' being himself and Lila.

Five walked passed Inanna and Stanley and Lila followed after him, tapping the tip of Stanley's nose.

Diego followed them, pushing Stanley and Inanna along with him. "Wait. What's more important than family?" Diego asked

"End of the world, genius" Five said.

Five stopped in front of an elevator, sitting the briefcases down for a moment to press the button as Diego caught Lila's arm. "Lila, what's more important than us?" Diego asked.

Lila glanced from his hand on her arm to his face. "There is no us, Diego" Lila said.

The elevator dinged and Five picked up the briefcases, stepping into the elevator. He nodded his head at Inanna and a hint of a smile pulled on his lips but Inanna turned away from him, averting her gaze to the ground while Diego pulled Lila to the side.

"What do you mean?" Diego asked.

"Look, for you, it's been a couple days. For me, it has been over a decade. I've moved on. I've slept with many, many people" Lila stated. "Many" Lila repeated. "The only relationship we have left is the one with our child. So you better not screw that up".

Lila joined Five in the elevator and Diego shouted. "Wait! What am I supposed to do with him, huh? I got important shit going on too!".

"I doubt that" Lila responded. "Figure it out, Diego. Be a dad" The door to the elevator closed, leaving Diego in the hallway with Inanna and Stanley.

"How many is 'many people'?" Diego asked.

"Way-" Stanley drew out the word "-more than you, Papi".

Diego glared at Stanley as he turned to him. Stanley bolted off down the hallway and Diego chased after him not a moment later.

Inanna sighed, her shoulder slumping the same way Five's had done when Inanna's had turned away from him moments before. Inanna mumbled a string of profanities, all of which her mother would have scolded her for saying when she was a young girl, and turned on her heel to follow after Diego and Stanley.

Inanna left Diego and Stanley to themselves after two hours, quickly becoming irritated with the both of them as Diego tried to teach Stanley to throw knives, believing it would be a good father-son bonding experience but instead Stanley had cut not one but three of his fingers and had almost took Inanna's ear off — which had been
her last straw.

"Bo Peep" Inanna muttered brushing her hand over a light pink, frilled dress which hung on a hanger in the 'store' of the hotel.

Inanna stepped around the rack and grabbed a pair of black trousers, holding them up against her hip to judge how long they were as she grabbed a black button up blouse off the shelf next to her head.

Inanna took the two items to the counter and rang the bell as she grabbed her purse out of her back pocket. Inanna waited a brief moment before ringing the bell again and just when she was about to ring it again, impatiently, a short tailor — possibly in his eighties with grey hair — came out of the back room, using a wooden stick to help him walk.

"I'm coming, I'm coming" The tailor muttered.

"Oh... I'm sorry" Inanna sat her hands on the counter, watching the tailor as he walked behind it.

"Don't apologise" The tailor waved Inanna off "My fault. Got caught up in a fascinating story with a young gentleman back there" The tailor pointed to the back room, the doorway covered by a dark green curtain. "Is this all? Just the two?" The tailor asked.

Inanna nodded as she opened her purse. "Only have two hands" Inanna responded.

"Well, this place is open almost all day, if you feel like purchasing anything else" The tailor said as Inanna paid for the clothes "If you come after 8pm you'll be met with my granddaughter, Delaney" The tailor pointed at a framed photograph of himself and a curly haired woman which sat on the counter.

Inanna glanced to the clock behind him, recalling that it was past 8 already when she had left her hotel room "Shouldn't she be here now?" Inanna asked.

Inanna pointed at the clock behind the tailor as his brows furrowed, confused by her question. "Oh" The tailor nodded — it was quarter to nine. "Yes. Yes. I sent her off to spend the evening with her girlfriend" The tailor said, remembering the conversation he had had with his granddaughter a few hours before. "It's their five year anniversary today".

"Oh" A smile tugged weakly at the corners of Inanna's lips as she took the clothes from the counter and slipped her purse back into her pocket. "Well, happy five years to them".

hi! how is everyone?

just a little note:
my updates are going to be
a little slower because i haven't
had much motivation to write
this week and also because
i spent three days trying to
work out a certain plot point.