Driving along the country road, I hum along to the music playing, focusing on all the country sites, glad to be away from the city and my children's demanding presence's. 

A thudding is heard in the back of my car, I furrow my brows as I turn the volume down, listening into the thudding and muffled cries of the disappointment of the spiritual one from 1963.

I slow the car down and bring it to the side of the road, stepping out of the car, I walk around till I get to the trunk. I pop it open, seeing a now very alive Klaus.

" Oh.What the hell, old man?" complains Klaus, acting as if he never saw this coming. "Did you kill meand lock me in the trunk of your car?"

"I did indeed.And you remained dead for 22 minutes." I answer, Klaus sobs, not liking my honest answer. "Totally vulnerable! I could have takenevery one of your organs."

"Why?" Klaus questions as if it isn't obvious already.

"The point is,if the world is truly ending, then you're running out of timeto master your gifts." I mention, hoping this will get through to him. "Oh! We have work to do!"

"No, Dad!" I close the car trunk as Klaus continues to yell, stepping back into the car, I turn the music up so that I don't hear his pounding and I continue my drive.

"What the hell are you doing?Stanley is gone! We need to face this!" Lila yells, running around the suite that the mystery door was located in. I look towards Marah seeing the amused look on her face, smiling at the look of joy on her face as she watches Lila and Diego panic over the loss of Stanley.

"Just check the chimney!" Diego suggests.

"He's not in the bloody chimney!He's been Kugelblitzed!" Lila groans.

"Whose fault is that, huh?You're the one that brought him here!" Diego yells.

"Congratulations.You're both mildly terrible parents." I speak up, walking over to the door and looking back towards the two. "Can we focus? Come on.How did this thing open before?"

"I don't know. It was already kinda open." Diego states, looking around at the chimney.

"'Already kinda open.'" Marah laughs. "Diego, you should have been an engineer.It's a lost opportunity."

"Why'd you wanna go in there anyway?It's just sushi and death." Lila states. I walk away from the door, walking back over to Marah and pulling her closer to me, being careful of her shoulder that has her tattoo that Pogo did for her.

"When we met future mein the Commission bunker, I warned myself about Oblivion." I state, reminding her of the traumatizing trip to the commission. "Now, Pogo told me--"

" Wait, whoa, whoa!" Diego stops me. "Pogo's alive?"

"Different Pogo, but yes." I answer, rolling my eyes. "The monkey saidDad spent years training the Sparrows for some kind ofsuper-secret mission into..."

"Oblivion?" Lila answers.

"So, we come back hereand find that you two sentient STDs have actually been in there." I smirk towards the dig I threw at them, liking the look of hate on their faces. "Everything's leading to Oblivion.So we have to go in there."

"Hell no! Not happening." Diego objects.

"No way! We barely got out alive." Lila protests.

"Yeah? So what?This is about more than just you two." Marah comments, leaning into my side as she closes her eyes.

"Says the girl with all his fingers." Diego retorts, his voice lowering softly when he sees her eyes closed. "I didn't get this by giving a mummy a hand job, all right? I went in there,and I lost my fingers to this thing with... with a knife and on a chain."

"Hey, look, Diego might be90% moron and 10% pelvic thrusts, but he's right about Oblivion, okay?" Lila comments, insulting and complementing my brother at the same time. "We're not just gonna waltz back in therejust because you say so."

"Good. Because you're coming with us." Luther states, walking in with a new air of confidence, as if he's the leader of our pathetic family once again.

I move my arms to resting below Marah's knees and on her back as I scoop her up into my arms, her head leaning against my chest as I follow Luther out, Lila and Diego following me. "This should be interesting."

"Where to?" Diego asks.

"Sparrow Academy." Sloane, Marah's sister states, grabbing onto Luther's hand.

"The world's ending, so I think it's timewe put our petty bullshit aside and work together on this Kugelblitz."

"Yeah? Or what?" Diego asks, butting heads with Luther once again.

"Or Stanley won't bethe last of us to disappear." Lila reminds, grabbing Diego's hand and dragging him with us.

We make our way to the Sparrow Academy, Luther holding Sloane's hand, Lila holding Diego's and Marah in my arms.

"Come on." Luther leads us through the house and to the living room, where the remaining Sparrow's and Allison are sitting.

I sit down on the couch, adjusting Marah so that she's sitting on my lap with her back to her siblings, her head on my shoulder.

Grace walks in with cookies, and her eye missing.

"Lovely to meet you." Lila states towards Grace, taking some of the cookies.

"Welcome." Fei states, ravens cawing around her. "Please make yourselves at home."

"Bitch, this is our home." Allison grumbles, ready to start a fight again.

"Excuse me?" Fei retorts.

"Uh, jellybean?" Luther asks, holding out a jar of jellybean's, attempting to calm down the room.

Marah starts to stir, opening her eyes and looking towards me. I lean down and leave a kiss on her forehead as she nuzzels into my neck more, not having realized where we are and that all her siblings are watching her as my siblings watch me.

"Where the hellis Viktor and Klaus?" Diego asks.

"With our luck,probably Kugelblitzed by now." I state, my voice quieter than usual as Marah is still waking up.

"You're a dark little dude sometimes." Sloane states towards me, her eyes softening at her sister.

"Ooh, what happened to your hand?" Fei asks Diego, looking at his two missing fingers.

"We don't have time for idle chitchat.Everyone, sit down." Ben states, having just now walked into the room.

"'Please' would be nice." Allison grumbles, sipping on her drink.

Lila chuckles at her comment, stopping when she sees no one else is joining in.

"No." Ben states.

"So, uh..." Luther starts, clearing his throat. "This is kinda nice, right? All of us here together. One big happy family. I feel like I'm sweaty. Am I sweating?" Luther asks towards Sloane, as he sits down, never having been good at being Number One.

"No, you're fine." Sloane comforts him.

"Look, I knowthere's been bad blood between us." Ben states, earning eye rolls from everyone in the room. "Whatever. Bygones, right?"

"Question?" Diego starts, flipping his knife and catching it as he points it at Ben. "Yeah, if I kill you,do we get our Ben back?"

We all snicker at that, some of us even wondering if it's true. "Hypothetically." Diego adds.

"Keep talking, and your hand won't bethe only thing bleeding." Ben threatens.

"Okay, if the testosterone twins are done,I'd like to get back to a plan." I state, Marah now fully awake and paying attention to the conversation.

"Where is he?" Viktor states walking into the room.

"Viktor." Allison greets.

"What did you do to Harlan?" Viktor asks towards the Sparrow's.

"They didn't do anything. I did." Allison states, standing up and moving in front of Viktor. "I killed Harlan."

"What..." Viktor trails off, not believing what Allison is saying. Ben grabs the cheese balls and sits next to me. "I... I don't... I don't understand. Why?"

"Because he didn't deserve to live." Allison answers.

"What? Because they said so?" Viktor scoffs. "You don't have to listen to them."

Ben leans over to me and Marah, whispering towards us. "20 bucks on the little one." we share a look and nod, agreeing with Ben.

"They don't get to tell uswhat to do." Viktor says calmly.

"I'll take that action." I answer to Ben.

"You coulda talked to me.We could've figured out something else." Viktor says sadly.

"So, what, you could lie to us againand take his side?" Allison mocks.

"That's not what happened." Viktor says quietly.

" Oh, no,that's exactly what happened." Allison says, getting angrier by the second. "I know Harlan killed all of our mothers."