The Occult: DOOMSDAY

[ chapter seven ]

Melanie laid on Ben's bed once again, not having the strength to spend the night at home on her own, not after having spent the last two days awake without sleep, and the distress that clinged onto her still hours later.

The morning sun poured in through the window, but Melanie still couldn't bring herself to get up from where she laid, staring at the wall, curled into herself.

As she heard approaching footsteps, she hoped they would walk straight past, but instead her hopes are dashed as Luther's voice comes from the other side.

"Melanie?" He calls.

"What?" She replies, voice horse after not saying a word since they arrived back at the academy.

"Family meeting. Get up and come down to the living room." He commands, earning a groan from Melanie as she rolled over, throwing the pillow under her head at the door.

It didn't take Melanie long to get up once she had to, asking Klaus for more clothes and getting a red t-shirt dress that she changed into before stealing a probably expensive black and white stripped long sleeve shirt and leggings from Allison's room to complete the look, slumping down stairs and laying back on a couch as she waited for everyone else.

"Three days?" Allison asks Luther, handing Melanie a cup of takeaway coffee once everyone had gathered in the room.

"That's what Five said." He shrugs, taking a sip of his own coffee.

"The old bastard did mention the apocalypse, come to think of it." Klaus sighs, sitting on the floor beside Melanie with his back resting against the couch. "He just left out the part about how soon."

"But can we trust him? I don't know if you've noticed, but Five's a little..." Allison trails off, making a whistling noise and twirling her finger beside her ear.

"Our little psycho." Klaus chuckles lovingly.

"He was pretty convincing. If he wasn't trying to stop an apocalypse, those lunatics wouldn't be chasing him." Luther explains, Diego raising his eyebrows at him.

"That's why they were after him?" He asks.

Luther nods, while Allison leans up against the bar.

"What did Five even see?" She asks.

Luther hesitates for a moment, looking to Allison before his eyes scan the rest of the faces in the room.

"Uh, apparently, we all fought together against whoever was responsible." He nods, obviously leaving out details, being the worst liar of the family.

With all eyes on him, he awkwardly moves, getting up from the bar stool and walking to the end of the couches as he speaks.

"Okay, so, here's the plan. Uh, we go through dad's research-"

"Wait, what?" Allison cuts him off, the other three adding on their own calls for him to stop.

"What actually happened the first time around?" Klaus asks Luther, who looks more and more uncomfortable by the second.

"Yeah," Diego adds, "what are you not telling us? Come on, big boy. Spit it out."

All of the siblings look up at him expectantly, coffee cups in hand and silence falling between them.

"We died." Luther says quickly, taking a sip of his coffee immediately after the words leave his mouth.

"What was that?" Allison asks, Melanie raising her own eyebrows as she twists to face Luther fully.