We walk back towards the hotel, Marah and Five in front of me, with Marah tucked into Five's side and Five's arm around her waist. Just as we reach the door Marah turns to me.

"Mom was Kugelblitz, wasn't she? That's why I haven't seen her." Marah asks, catching me off guard.

Not knowing how to answer I just nod my head. "I don't know when, all I know is that she was here and then she wasn't." I answer. "Much like when you first disappeared."

"Okay." Marah whispers, tears filling her eyes but she doesn't let any of them fall. "I just needed it to be confirmed, thanks dad."

She turns around in Five's arms, her head on his shoulder as they walk inside the hotel, me still behind them. I wish I could comfort her, but I was never the caring parent, that was all her mother. Now, she has Five to take care of her.

"Woo! Five! Yeah!" Klaus cheers, pulling me out of my thoughts as we see the rest of the group clapping and cheering for Five and Marah as they walk into the room.

"Here he is!" the knife boy, Diego, says.

"Yeah." Lila cheers.

"That speech last night! Wow!" Diego comments.

"Whoa!" Luther adds. "Brought me to tears, you big softy. I especially liked when you referred to usas a family bound by destiny and love."

 "Yes. That was great." Diego laughs.

"And we all can't forget that Marah asked you to marry her." Lila adds, causing me to turn my head towards my daughter, her red face in the crook of Five's neck as she hides from his siblings.

"Okay. Enough." Five sighs. "It was the booze talking. In the light of day,you're all still deplorable."

"But what you said about Marah, so cute." Klaus coos, earning another round of agreement.

"And your day's about to get worse." I state, pulling my notebook out, Five and Marah moving off to the side so that they can sit down. "The Norse had seven sleepers. The Blackfoot, seven stars. As a boy,I heard the legend of the seven bells. All these stories are the same. The village is under threatby flood, by fire, by a night that never ends.

"A shaman brings his disciplesto a sacred cave. He tells themif they can ring the seven magic bells, the village will be saved,and all will be restored just as it was." I start my story, getting interrupted by Lila

"Reggie? Can we get a little less Brothers Grimm and more 'What the hell does thishave to do with us?'" Lila asks.

"There is a truth to these myths. None of you can denywhat's going on around us." I continue, getting into what I really need them for.  "All of existencewill be gone by the end of the day, but whoever or whateverwove together space and time, they left a wayto put things back together if the universeever faced total annihilation. There is a portal in the universe. I built this hotel around it, and on the other side is the answer."

"And... we're supposed to, what? Just stroll in there,ring some bells, and fix this shit?" Marah scoffs, not believing me, a man who's always been about science.

"Sarcasm aside, you are mostly right. Except for the guardian." I state, a loud bang being heard throughout the hotel.

"What kind of guardian?" Luther asks, looking concerned.

"Kinda guardian that does this." Diego says, holding up his hand with his two missing fingers. "He had a sword."

"It is a force to be reckoned with." I state, bringing the group back together again.

"See? Yeah. This is where you lose me." Five states, probably having checked out when I first started my speech.

"This is where he loses you?I checked out at the sacred cave." Lila states.

"Why would the builders of this 'back door' need to have a guardian?" Luther asks.

Sloane thinks for a second before answering. "Ah! To protect it from peoplewho want to use it for nefarious means."

" Correct, Sloane. So it's gonna take all of usto defeat the thing protecting the bells." I state, praising my daughter.

"You're actually buying his crap?" Five scoffs, leaning back in his seat and pulling Marah with him.

"How is a guardian and bells any crazier than time-traveling briefcasesand assassins with cartoon masks?" Allison asks, glancing towards me out of the corner of her eye.

"Actually, she's got you there." Diego comments.

"I'm in." Allison agrees.

"I can't do this without you." I hear Diego say towards Lila

"Me too." Ben answers, being the ever loyal number two.

"Do we have a deal?" Lila asks.

"But I think some of us should stay back." Diego states. "Like Lila."

"Uh... or you can stay, and I can go." Lila argues, both of them wasting our time.

"No. This is much bigger than all of us.Nobody can stay back." I comment, looking at all of them. "You, my children, are all that standsbetween us and oblivion. Are we ready to go?"

"Well, I say we vote." Viktor states, ruining my plans, once again.

"This isn't a democracy." Ben argues. "Dad's calling the shots."

"I'm with Viktor. We vote." Five says, Marah nodding along.

"The world is ending,and you want to count hands?" I scoff, disbelief evident on my face.

"You're asking us to risk our lives." Luther states. "I think it's only fairyou give us time to discuss it. Privately. Why don't we meet back here in an hour?"

"Agreed." Five answers, Marah grabbing onto him tightly.

"Yeah, sure." Diego comments.

"Whatever." Lila mutters. 

Me and Five walk into Luther and Sloane's room. Five walking to the window as I sit in a chair near the door, Sloane nowhere to be found. 

"Hey." Five greets his brother.

"Hey, how long do we have left?" Luther asks.

"A couple hours." Five answers. "Could be more, could be less."

"Where's Sloane?" I ask, curious as to where my sister is.

"Raiding the wine cellarfor our end of the world party." Luther answers.

"So I guess you guys knowwhich way you're voting." Five sighs, walking over to me.

"You're more than welcome to join us." Luther sighs.

"We're still on the fence on that one." Five answers. "I saw something last nightthat I was not supposed to see."

"Diego and Lila. Yeah, they do it on the stairs sometimes." Luther says, causing my face to scrunch up at the image he planted in my mind.

"No, I saw Dad." Five states, I look up confused, not remembering this. Though to be honest, I don't remember a whole lot from yesterday. "He was in his room with someone.He was making some kind of deal. Before you ask, I don't know what the deal wasor who it was with. Everything is a blur."

"Wasn't me or Sloane." Luther states. "We were, uh,busy doing other things last night."

"Yeah, I get it, Luther. Thank you.Everyone was boning everyone last night." Five scoffs, my face turning red from the memory of how we woke up.

"Wait, Ben hooked up with someone?" Luther questions.

"Focus, please." I say, getting both of their attention. "That story about the bells?There's something Dad's not telling us." 

"Think about it. When has the old manever been straight with us?" Five answers.

"I don't know. He was ruthlessin our performance reviews." Luther mutters. 

"He always gave me five stars." me and Five say at the same time, earning a chuckle from both of us.

"Really?" Luther questions.

"Look, I'm old enough to trust my instinct, and it's telling me this is a trap. Food for thought." Five says, grabbing my hand as we walk out of the room and back to our room so that we can decide what we're gonna do.