"two words with endless possibilities"

★・・・★・・・★

Teens laughed and chatted amongst themselves as bowling pins were knocked over during their games. They had no idea that this would be their last time on this planet alive.

I wondered if it was better to be oblivious to the end. Maybe if we all didn't know that the impending apocalypse was going to kill everyone we could enjoy our last day and live normally.

None of that mattered though because the end was inevitable, and we all knew it.

Everyone was lost in their own thoughts as we all sat at a table near our assigned bowling lane.

Luther was the first to break the silence. "Look, I hate to be the one to say this, but everyone needs to prepare," he cautioned.

"For what?" Diego scoffed.

Luther locked eyes with us all. "To do whatever it takes to stop Vanya," he replied seriously.

Alison slapped Luther across the chest with the notepad in her hand.

Luther sighed. "We may not have a choice, Alison."

"Bullshit," Diego called out. "There's always options."

Five crossed his arms. "Yeah, like what?" He asked.

"I don't know," Diego shrugged.

"Look, whatever we decide, we need to find Vanya and fast. She could be anywhere," Luther interrupted.

Klaus was busy flipping through the newspaper Five had found. I noticed his eyes widen as he looked up.

"Or.. here." Klaus shook the paper, and motioned for everyone to read it. "Look at this," he said.

All of us leaned in and gathered around Klaus to examine the newspaper. There was a picture of Vanya on a concert ad for the orchestra

"That's right. Her concert is tonight," Diego noted.

"Hello." A female spoke from behind us. She spoke hesitantly. "I hate to intrude, but my manager says if you're not gonna bowl, you gotta leave."

The young woman shrugged and smiled. Behind her, I saw her manager angrily slam a pair of bowling shoes on the counter.

"Whose turn is it?" Diego asked the group.

Luther picked up a bowling ball, and threw the ball aggressively, causing it to bounce across 2 lanes. The bowling ball knocked down all of the pins. Strike!

Alison scribbled words onto a piece of paper from her notepad.

She's our sister.

"We're the only ones capable of stopping this," Luther tried to reason with her. "We have a responsibility to Dad."

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms. Here comes the 'my dad sent me to the moon' speech again.

Diego sighed frustratedly. "To Dad? No, I've heard enough about—"

Luther cut Diego off. "He sacrificed everything to bring us back together."

"I'm with Luther on this one," Five agreed. "We can't give her a chance to fight back."

"Even if that means.. killing her?" I asked carefully.

Five frowned and nodded. "There are billions of lives at stake. We're past trying to save just one."

"You're right." I smiled softly and held his hand, supporting his claim.

"Hey, you know, guys, maybe I could help," Klaus insisted.

Luther crossed his arms. "Now is not the time," he scolded Klaus rudely.

"We're not going to stand a chance against Vanya without everyone, together," I remarked recalling the last time everyone split up.

Diego shot daggers at Luther. "Let him finish," he ordered.

Luther narrowed his eyes at Diego curiously. He didn't trust where he was going with this.

"He saved my life today," Diego clarified.

"Is that true?" Luther turned to Klaus, shocked.

Klaus nodded slowly. "Yeah- Yeah I did take credit for it," he paused. "In fact, the real hero was Ben."

Everyone was quiet and surprised that Klaus mentioned Ben.

Klaus sighed. "Today, he punched me in the face." He pointed towards his face. "And earlier at the house, he was the one who saved Diego's life. Not me."

It was hard to believe that a dead man could physically touch living people, but it didn't seem impossible.

Sure, Klaus used to be high or drunk all the time, but for the past couple of days he's been sober.

Maybe he unlocked another power or something. Klaus told Luther, Five, and I at breakfast the one morning about how he conjured his Dad. I remember him mentioning something along the lines of his Father telling Klaus that he had more potential.

"You are unbelievable, Klaus!" Luther thought Klaus was joking, so he immediately became offended.

"I think he's telling the truth," I cut in. "If Klaus conjured your Dad then who's to say he didn't conjure Ben?" I defended him.

"Thank you, Alexa," Klaus exclaimed.

It was obvious that the other siblings weren't too convinced though.

Klaus threw his hands up in the air and huffed. "You want proof, is that it?" He lifted up a bowling ball from the ball return. "Alright, I'll give you proof!It's showtime, baby."

Klaus nodded forward, which I assumed was for Ben. He launched the bowling ball into the air, and we all watched it hit the ground. I silently cursed because I really wanted Klaus to prove everyone wrong.

Unfortunately, Ben didn't catch the ball, if he was even there, and the others lost even more faith in Klaus. If that was even possible.

"Is there any way to silence that voice in your head that screams out to be the center of attention?" Luther spat.

"Hypocrite," I mumbled under my breath angrily. Sometimes it feels like I'm the only one that actually believes in Klaus.

"You know, I liked you a lot better before you got laid," Klaus shot back at Luther.

I raised my eyebrows at the accusation and sudden awkwardness. Luther's eyes widened to the size of golf balls! He glanced at Alison, who had her arms crossed agitatedly. That information was definitely not supposed to be shared.

"Which was a complete... It wasn't his fault, cause he was ridiculously high, right?" Klaus tried to fix his slip up, but it wasn't really helping.

He continued to ramble on. "And the girl, she thought he was a furry!"

"Stop." Luther demanded.

"Okay," Klaus said as he looked away and scratched his head uncomfortably.

Luther slowly turned towards Alison. She picked up her notepad and walked away.

"Alison, wait!" Luther tried calling after her, but she kept walking. He followed her outside of Super Star.

"Excuse me," a heavy set woman and a young, ginger boy approached Klaus, Diego, Five, and me.

"What now?" I grumbled and crossed my arms.

The woman smiled cheerfully. "Excuse me, it's my son Kenny's birthday today, and.. wouldn't your children be happier playing with kids their own age?" She hugged her son. "Assuming it's okay with your two dads!"'

"Oh, we're not—" I began, but was cut off by Five.

"I would rather chew off my own foot," Five growled.

The woman's cheery, bright faced fell and she frowned fearfully. "Let's go, Kenny," she ushered her son away quickly.

"Happy birthday, Kenny!" I laughed as they walked away.

"If I was going to date a man, you'd be the last man I would date," Diego clarified with Klaus.

Klaus scoffed jokingly. "You'd be lucky to get me."

Suddenly, Five stood up and walked over to another lane. I followed him and we stopped at a bowling ball return.

Five picked up a golden cylinder. "How the hell did she find me?" He spoke to himself.

I tilted my head. "Who?"

"The Handler," he answered, lost in his own thoughts.

Five gasped and pulled a tiny piece of candy out of his pocket. When he unwrapped the candy, there was a miniature tracker inside.

"She's good," he stated as he dropped the small device onto the ground, and crushed it under his bowling shoes.

Five opened the cylinder and pulled out a fortune cookie. He broke the cookie in half, revealing a piece of paper with a message on it.

TIME MARCHES ON... OR DOES IT?
Rain Quail, Rm 12

"Lexa, I have to go, but I promise I'll come back," Five announced apologetically.

I nodded unsurely. "Okay, but be careful."

Five kissed me on the cheek, and then teleported to the address on the paper.