Runaway ~ TUA (Book 3)

Chapter 10

Taya noticed her family leaving the bar, walking to where Viktor and Luther were standing. She sighed and got up, trailing behind them as she tried to figure out what they were saying. The teenager stood next to Lila silently as she listened to the conversation.

"He didn't mean to hurt anyone," Viktor explained. Taya guessed he was talking about Harlan.

"Really? You mean when he did this?" Luther gestured to the deep cut on Viktor's cheek and Taya winced at the sight, the wound looked like it hurt but Viktor didn't seem to be bothered by it.

"Wait, Harlan did that?," Taya questioned, staring at her uncle with concerned eyes.

"That's it I'm gonna end him," Diego stated.

"Look, I know how it looks, but Harlan didn't ask for this," Viktor defended, "If we hadn't gone back to 1963, if I hadn't saved him –"

"He killed Jayme and Alphonso, not you," Luther interrupted, "He's the reason we're in this mess, and he's our only way out of it." Taya listened to the conversation carefully, unsure of how to feel about where this conversation was going. She knew that the only way back home and to save the world, again, was to hand Harlan over, but it didn't make her feel any less terrible about it.

"Luther's right," Five agreed, everyone, including Viktor, looked at him. "If we're going to have even an iota of a chance of getting out of this alive, we need access to the Kugleblitz."

"There's only four of them left. We can just overpower them," Viktor pressed, not wanting to give up on Harlan.

"And risk losing some of us in the process? Harlan is insignificant." Taya slightly cringed at the last part of Five's sentence as she looked at Viktor and then at Five.

"You told me once that no one is insignificant." Viktor was now clearly upset by the situation and Taya looked at her feet, swinging on her heels slightly. "They'll kill him."

"So?," Lila interjected, taking Taya off guard and causing her to jump slightly. "We are talking about one person versus saving billions of lives here. I mean, is this really a debate for you people?"

"Hey, Little Britain? You don't get a vote," Viktor snapped.

"Lila lives in this universe too," Klaus reminded, interjecting and everyone looked at him. "Besides, she's family now. Kind of. Sort of. I think..."

"Thanks, kitten."

"I don't give a shit about the Sparrows, but I'm not gonna let scary-ass Grandpa finish you off," Diego said as he raised his voice slightly.

"Five days ago, he was just a little kid," Viktor argued, his voice breaking slightly which made Taya's heart crack, she could never imagine how hard this must be for her uncle. "And what? Now I'm just supposed to decide whether he lives or dies?"

"Viktor, we're down to ethical triage here, all right? We can't save everyone. The kindest cut wins," Five explained, Taya sighed quietly. Not saying anything as she half-listened to what they said next. She looked around the empty lobby, noticing a heavy feeling of dread filling the air. She didn't know what it was but she felt like something bad was bound to happen sooner or later.

Everyone soon began to disperse after Viktor walked away to get Harlan, Taya stood where she was for a moment before slowly turning around and walking away in the direction of the hotel bar. She sat down in one of the chairs and waited, not wanting to have any part of what was to come but she didn't have much of a choice.

"It's time." Five's voice caused Taya to look over to where Viktor was standing, but he was alone. The teenager furrowed her brows in confusion before she realized Viktor had let Harlan go.

"Where's Harlan?," Taya questioned.

"He's gone," Viktor replied, nervous about how everyone would react.

"You let him go, didn't you?," Luther sighed.

"Guys, Harlan's death isn't going to stop the Kugelblitz," Viktor told them, "It's just gonna be another tragedy on a tragedy, and we can find another... I will find another way."

"Well congratulations," Luther said, sarcasm was evident in his voice. "You just managed to destroy everything. Again." Viktor just shook his head and walked away and out of the hotel, Taya sighed, not knowing what to do with herself. Everything just felt like it was falling apart, because it was.

~~~~~~~~

The next morning Taya walked to the Sparrow Academy's house, she was looking for Luther and thought he might be there. The teen didn't even know why she was looking for him in the first place, probably because she felt like he was the only person who had all of his shit together.

She walked up and knocked on the door, standing there for a moment as she waited for a response. Fei was the one who answered the door, Taya gave her an awkward but friendly smile.

"I'm guessing you're here looking for the big guy upstairs," Fei guessed as a crow sat on her shoulder, Taya nodded. "Come with me." Taya hesitated but followed Fei inside as she closed the door behind her before the two of them walked up the stairs in silence. They reached a room and knocked on the door, there was some hushed chaos for a second before Sloane opened the door to her room, looking surprised to see Fei with Taya on the other side.

"Hi," Sloane greeted.

"Ben needs a word. And Red Riding Hood is looking for her uncle," Fei explained and Taya sighed.

"My name's Taya," the teen mumbled, immediately seeing where Luther was 'hiding' and she mentally facepalmed as she sighed quietly.

"Great. I'll be down in... ten. And Luther isn't here," Sloane replied, trying to lie her way out of the situation.

"Not with you," Fei said, opening the door wider and revealing Luther, who had his back against the wall. The sight caused Taya to chuckle slightly, waving at her uncle.

"Hi, Uncle Luther," she called.

"Oh! Hey, Fei. How's it going?," Luther replied, laughing nervously as he tried to play it off as if nothing had happened. "And Taya, what're you doing here? Shouldn't you be at the hotel with the rest of the family?"

"I came here looking for you, when you weren't at the hotel I assumed you'd be here," Taya answered.

"How did you know?," Sloane asked as she looked at Fei.

"We share a wall." Fei gestured to one of the walls in Sloane's room, Taya made a face as she shook her head before looking around at the adults she was with awkwardly. Waiting to see what would happen next, since she was already there she thought it would be best to stay for whatever word Ben wanted to have with Luther, knowing that if Ben knew Luther was there he probably knew she was there too.