𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝘀𝗵𝗲𝘀 ~ 𝗞𝗹𝗮𝘂𝘀 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘃𝗲𝘀

~ Chapter Fifty Seven ~

As the Umbrellas walked through the city battered and bruised, people couldn't help but notice them and wonder what happened. Though no one dared to ask them anything, the siblings could feel their eyes on them. "Can we just... go somewhere private so people can stop staring?" Allison asked. "Well, we can't go back to the Academy unless we want to get our asses kicked again," Dusk replied.

"No shit, Sherlock! Anyway, I think there's a park up ahead. How about we rest up there?" Diego said, pointing across the street towards the entrance of the park. The rest of the siblings nodded in agreement, and just as the traffic lights turned red, they walked across. Walking for a few minutes longer, they eventually collapsed at a few picnic tables, finally feeling the tiniest bit of relief.

"You know, out of all the craziest things that have happened in my life. I did not expect nearly freezing to death by a Sparrow to be one of them," The raven muttered as Klaus laid his cowboy hat over his face. "You're not alone, Dusk. I've never had my ass handed it to me like that before. It's like... here you go, it's your ass," Luther stated, feeling a bit concussed.

Looking at the rest of her siblings with concern, Dusk couldn't help but realize one of them was missing. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers as the thought of Vanya still being in the Academy crossed her mind. "Guys... has anyone seen Vanya?" she questioned. To her relief, Number Seven stumbled and walked into view, also relieved to see them. "You okay?" Allison questioned. "Apparently, so is Ben," Klaus chimed in. "Mhmm, and he's a complete dickhead,"

"They're all dickheads," Diego commented, agreeing with his sister. "Dickheads who can fight," Luther corrected. "Okay," Five sighed, looking very irritated by the constant receptiveness. "The next person to say 'dickhead' is getting a punch to the throat," he threatened. As the rest of her siblings once again made that comment about the Sparrows, Dusk kept her lips zipped.

"Hey Klaus, did Dad ever tell you why he was calling them his kids?" The raven inquired, remembering walking in on the two talking before she dragged her lover away. "He sure did! You ready?" They all slightly leaned forward, giving Klaus his cue to continue. "Dad was so repulsed by us back in Texas that he adopted an entirely different group of children just so that he didn't have to raise us!"

I knew we shouldn't have gone to him for help. Dammit Dusk, why didn't you try harder to convince them?! "If Dad didn't adopt us as kids, he changed the timeline. So, who knows what else is different now?" Five explained. "Shouldn't you know? You're the one with all the knowledge about time-traveling," Allison queried. "Sorry Allison, but it might take me more than 20 minutes and a traumatic brain injury to figure this out. Is that okay with you?" Five bit back.

"No actually, it's not! Do you realize that we screwed up again? We're in another timeline where a bunch of assholes have taken our house for themselves!" Allison quivered in rage. "Alli, I think we all know that. Don't get your panties in a bunch," Dusk sighed. Allison stared at her sister with surprise. "How can you be so level-headed about this? Usually, you're the one who explodes when things go wrong,"

"Well, excuse me for still recovering from being thrown around like a ragdoll. I'm pissed, don't get me wrong, I'm just trying not to show it," Number Eight scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Look, it's fine. We still have the Commission's briefcase. So worst case, we can go back in time and fix it," Vanya reasoned. Everyone except Five nodded at the idea, hoping everything would be right as rain after that.

"There are two problems with that statement. First off, time travel is complicated, people-" "Yeah yeah, we get it! Your job is so hard!" Diego interrupted before ushering his brother to continue. "And secondly..." Five stared down at the ground, taking a breath in. "...I no longer have the briefcase," he finished, causing everyone's jaws to drop. "Five, where the hell is the briefcase?" Allison asked as she stood up from her seat.

When no answer came out of Five's mouth, the Hargreeves siblings sighed as they were officially stuck in the new timeline. And as much as they wanted to sneak back into the Academy and grab the briefcase, they couldn't risk it.

~~~~~~~

Later on in the day, the Hargreeves continued their walk throughout the park, drawing more attention to themselves as people walked past them. As the raven tried to ignore them, she slipped her hand into Klaus's, lightly squeezing it. "You know, besides all the people staring at us, this is a beautiful park," she commented. "Yeah it is, but you know what would make it even better?" "What?" 

The couple stopped, while the rest of the group continued walking. Number Four ran a gentle hand through her hair and for a split second, made leveled eye contact. "This..." He said before leaning in and placing a soft kiss on her lips. Dusk's hands immediately cupped his face as they continued. It didn't matter if anyone took notice of their PDA. All that mattered was this moment.

"Hey, guys! Quit sucking each other's faces, you're falling behind!" Diego shouted, making them pull away. They glanced over to see the rest of the Umbrellas had stopped about ten feet away from them. "Shit," Dusk and Klaus said in unison before they caught up. "You know, I need to go find Claire. I will catch up with you guys later," Allison said, breaking the somewhat deafening silence.

"Allison, wait! First, let's get somewhere safe, clean up those cuts, and then we'll go find her," Vanya immediately stopped her from walking any further. Luther, Klaus, and Dusk looked to a nearby building to see a billboard with the Sparrow's faces, a caption reading, Crime is the problem, we are the solution. "Look at them with their... stupid smug..."

"You can do it, big guy," Dusk patted his back as Klaus joined in on the encouragement. "S... s... smug... smugness," Luther managed to get out. The pair sighed, telling him that he would get it eventually. "What are we still doing out here? We can't just stand here bleeding out in this park," Allison asked. "I don't know, but we better gear up fast before they come back for round two," Diego replied.

"What makes you think they'll come after us?" Dusk questioned. "Cause I would," Diego lowly growled. "Not to mention we did bust up their antiques and shit. So, I'd go after them too if they did that to us," Klaus added. "Alright, let's just think of someplace off the radar where we can lie low and not draw attention," Five suggested. "Well, what kind of weird-ass place are we not gonna draw attention?"

As the siblings thought long and hard, none of them had the best ideas. Out of the corner of their eyes, they saw Klaus spinning around in a circle. Given his background, maybe he had an idea for a low-key location. He stopped spinning, noticing the questioning looks on their faces. He took a moment to process the thought before a lightbulb went off in his head.

"I've got the perfect place!"