His Only Hope

Don't Ring the Bell

"It's magnificent," Reginald exclaimed as you all walked into the dark entrance hallway of the backward Hotel Oblivion. The floor was like an optical illusion, shiny cube floor tiles glinting up at you as yellow lights shone from through the walls and unnaturally bright sunlight glared from the windows at the front of the hotel. You wondered briefly what would happen if you tried to go outside.

"You guys should've stayed here. It's way nicer," Ben commented, and you clenched your fists. How could he be saying things like that right after Klaus died? They might not have been best friends, but... Klaus tried with him. That's more than anyone else had done.

"Lila and I barely got out last time, remember?" Diego asked solemnly, holding his harpoon close to his chest and not looking up.

"But I'm here this time, and the numbers are in our favor," Ben said smugly, his expression its usual twisted grimace.

"Oh, right," you said, rolling your eyes. "Because scrawny Ben and his magic tentacles are going to help us more than Luther would have." Sloane let out a barely muffled sob, and you cursed yourself inwardly. Loss was still new to her. You had to remind yourself of that.

Ben sneered at you as Lila spoke. "Well, whatever the thing that got us was, it was strong, fast, and super pissed."

"Yeah, well, so are we," you muttered, and Oliver scoffed.

"You sure on the first two?"

"You were included in that," you snapped back, glaring up at him. "So you're only insulting yourself." He simply looked at you with a calm expression on his face, infuriating you further.

"Okay, enough," Diego said, giving you a firm look. "Whatever you do, do not ring this bell. Unless you want to lose a finger. Or a tentacle."

You snorted and looked at the small golden bell in question - one of the ones you tapped with your finger that made a sharp dinging sound. You used to love those when you were younger. Reginald, for some reason, used to have one on his desk. Klaus would sneak you in there to rifle around in your father's desk, and you would tap it, the fear of being caught exhilarating. You smiled slightly at the memory, turning to remind Klaus-

Oh. Right.

Your posture stiffened and you looked back at Diego, who was eyeing you with a knowing look. Your eyes darted away, and you cleared your throat nervously.

"Right. Don't touch the bell. Got it," you said quickly, trying to divert the attention off of you.

"I'll take my chances," Sloane said quickly, hurrying toward the bell.

"Don't!" Lila shouted, standing in front of her to stop her. You watched, raising your eyebrows. Why on earth would she ring the bell RIGHT after Diego said not to? Yeah, maybe she didn't have as much trust in your siblings as you did, but...

"Get out of my way."

"To take out this thing, we need to be in the right state of mind," Lila said rationally, glancing back at Diego. Her eyes landed on you next, and you bit your lip so hard it hurt.

"State of mind? Do you mean, am I angry?" Sloane asked, her eyes widening in disbelief as she raised her voice. "Yes, I am angry! I wanna kill whatever it was that hurt Luther!"

"And you think we don't?" you snapped, unable to hold back anymore. Sloane turned to look at you, a distressed expression on her face, and you felt a twinge of guilt. But only a twinge. "He was our brother. We knew him for thirty years."

Not really.

"But making stupid decisions and getting ourselves killed won't bring him back." If I had, he might still be alive.