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"𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐌𝐘 𝐅𝐀𝐔𝐋𝐓."

∽☂ ∽

"𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐈𝐅𝐔𝐋, 𝐈𝐒𝐍'𝐓 𝐈𝐓?"Fei led everyone to the basement where the Kugelblitz was in all glory - just a huge ball of fire.

Lila scoffed at the sight. "That's what took Stanley."

"Along with a few other billion people." Fei added.

"Yeah, who I didn't know and don't care about." Lila said as she began walking around the ball.

"Right. So it's all about you." Fei scoffed.

"All of us are irrelevant." Five broke it to everyone. "This thing's gonna take the whole damn universe. What is it made of?"

"Micro black holes collapsing at increasingly short intervals." Sloane replied to him.

"Thanks, blondie." Y/n rolled her eyes. "You obviously know your way around this."

"Why aren't we getting sucked inside?" Five ignored her along with Sloane.

"Honestly, we don't know." Sloane answered. "You shouldn't exist here, and neither should this."

"An impossibility for an impossibility." Y/n said as she crossed her hands on her chest. "The universe is a sucker for balance."

"Grace has been tracking the waves." Fei informed. "Next one is due in three hours."

"All right, so what do we do?" Diego wanted to cut to the chase as soon as possible.

"We trap it." Sloane told him.

"Dyson sphere?" Y/n asked.

Sloane looked at her before answering. "Yeah."

"Okay." Y/n walked closer. "Confinement factor?"

"0.98 at peak energy flux."

"Tensile strength?"

"UTS ceiling of 10,000 gigapascals."

A silence set in between the two who were staring at each other's souls.

"What do you think?" Allison asked her and Five from the way back.

The couple looked at each other, knowing the answer. "Could work." Five answered. "Or we could all die horribly."

Y/n smiled at him and nodded. "We're in."

"You two are not the ones we need." Ben strictly told them. "Well, at least not him."

"Excuse you?" Y/n furrowed her eyebrows.

"For this to work," Fei began. "We need Sloane, Lila, Y/n, Christopher, and-"

"Viktor." Allison finished for her. "Of course." Before walking out and leaving everyone to wish she hadn't started that pathetic fight.

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"𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐔𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐈 𝐌𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄." Five smiled as he walked inside Y/n's old room which was now one of the Sparrow's.

Y/n, sitting on the edge of the bed, looked up from the ground. "Yeah, wasn't too hard to solve."

Five took a few more steps before stopping a few feet away from her. "What happened between you and Ben?"

"Nothing." Y/n was quick to shake her head. "I just ended up spending some time with him and, in the end, he somehow managed to-"

"You're lying." Five cut her off. "When you're ranting, you're lying. So, tell me the truth, Y/n."

The girl looked at him for a couple of seconds before she sniffled. "It was stupid." She could already feel the tears about to fall down her cheeks. "The whole thing was so stupid."

She buried her face in her hands and Five was quick to sit down next to her and put his hand around her shoulders. "Hey, it's all right. Whatever happened, it wasn't your fault."

"But it was, Five." She raised her voice a bit. "The entire thing was my fault."

It was the first time Y/n admitted that she was guilty, which was a red alarm for Five. "What do you mean?"

Y/n wiped away her tears and thought about it for a second. She was hesitant to explain it to him, but she had to. "When we were thirteen, I liked Ben, but I...I didn't know he liked me back, which he did." Her voice quivered with every word. "That's when I found out that you did like me, so I chose you, and not him."

She was scared to look him in the eyes. That's when she turned her head she saw his heartbroken look. "So, you chose me as your second choice? Like, a plan B?" The disappointment was visible in his voice, that's why it scared Y/n.

"No, no, it wasn't like that!" Y/n turned to face him and held his face in her hands. "No, Five, I swear, I loved you, and I could never love Ben the way I love you, please. I'm sorry, please, Five, I'm so sorry..."

It was a moment of shock for Five. Even if Y/n crying her heart out next to him was painful to hear, he couldn't bring himself to process this. Y/n kept apologizing without stopping as Five sat there frozen.

After his moment of scare was over, Five looked down at her and gently caressed her hair. "Hey, it's okay." Y/n sat up but couldn't bear to look at his face. That's why he took her face in his hands and wiped away the tears with his thumbs.

"Y/n, it's okay. We were kids, you and I were both lost. It's natural that your feelings came back once you saw him." He tries assuring her while she let out quiet sobs. "I love you and nothing will ever change that."

The girl could see that even he was starting to tear up. One of his hands slowly traveled down Y/n's body and over to her stomach. "We're finally expecting a-a child together." His voice quivered at the end. "That's all I could ever ask. I don't care about the past, I only care about you and our future."

He was about to say something more, but Y/n laughed out of joy and smashed her wet lips from her tears against his, putting her hands on his cold cheeks. Alas, the moment of sheer happiness - has come.

∽☂ ∽

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐆𝐘 𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐃𝐋𝐘 thrummed as everyone entered the basement and gathered around once again. Lila and Viktor stood across each other while Sloane and Y/n did the same with Christopher floating above the Kugelblitz.

"Okay, how do we start?" Viktor asked.

"Have you ever moved a nest of bees?" Sloane asked them.

"No, because that's weird." Lila answered for her.

"You can't just pick it up." Sloane said. "You have to keep the nest calm while you build a box around it, and then you trap it."

"What if the force energy field breaks its structure?" Y/n asked her. "Do we continue on with it?"

Because it was the worst-case scenario, Sloane only had one answer. "If we want to stay alive, then no - we drop everything."

Christopher said something to Sloane and she was the first one to begin using her power. She floated up in the air, her palms glowing bright blue as Fei continued on with the instructions. "One of those black holes inside is vibrating at a different rate."

"I can feel them." Viktor said as the ball began changing colors.

"Good. Whatever happens, don't let them speed up or change, or everything will blow."

"Don't shake the bees. Got it." Viktor understood and began using his own power - he began creating a protective energy field around the Kugelblitz.

"Lila, when you're ready, do exactly like Viktor." And just like that, Lila copied Viktor's movements. "Y/n, when it reaches a certain point, join in. Just be careful with each move."

The girl nodded and after a couple of seconds, she began using her own power - letting in small energy surges, thanks to her telekinesis, and making sure that the ball of fire doesn't move out of his field as well as limiting its movement.

Slowly but steadily, the Kugelblitz began shrinking, giving everyone a sign of hope. But that didn't last for long because as soon as Grace entered the basement carrying a blowtorch in her hands, all hell broke loose.

She began firing it at everyone, making the four at the Kugeblitz start the process go faster. "Come on, let's speed this up!" Sloane told everyone. When the ball grew to a remarkably small size, she gave the sign. "Christopher, now!"

The cube made itself shatter into hundreds of pieces, surrounding the Kugelblitz from all sides as it became harder for the four of them to hold it like that. Everyone else surrounded them and when the ball of fire was small enough for Christopher to trap it inside of him by collecting his pieces, the four of them heavily sighed, barely managing not to fall to the ground.

A blue light shinned within Christopher as everyone anxiously waited to see the end. At the same time, Five jumped back into the basement from somewhere. "Did it work?"

"Next Kugelwave in three," Sloane began counting. "Two, one."

But when the next wave was supposed to hit, Christopher let out a small fart which let everyone take a moment to breathe and relax. Especially because the end result was hilarious.

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"𝐇𝐄𝐘." Lila walked into the living room where Y/n was quietly sitting at the bar. "Mind if I disturb you?"

"Not at all." Y/n sighed, turning in her seat to look at her. "I'm always happy to see my berating sister."

Lila looked down at the ground and walked towards her. "Yeah." Before sitting down on the seat next to her. "Listen, I just want to say that I'm sorry. We both haven't been the best sisters and even though I never said this to you," She slowly looked up from the ground and smiled. "I love you. You're the only blood I have left after all."

"Yeah," Y/n smiled. "That's true." The two finally shared their moment which was needed. "So, um, how are things between you and Diego? I know it must have been hard, especially with Stanley disappearing."

"Oh," Lila's smile dropped. "Uh, yeah, it's been hard, you know? I was raising that little guy for years and then he's, uh, gone."

"I can't imagine what it's like to lose your own child like that." Y/n looked away. "Diego might have seemed like a bad dad, but I'm sure you were a decent mom, right?"

Lila tilted her head at that. "Well, if keeping your child alive counts as one, then yeah." Which made the two girls chuckle.

While everyone was partying just hours ago, she and Lila were the only ones that didn't drink. Of course, that made some suspicions rise for Y/n. "So, uh, listen," She cleared her throat. "I noticed you were actually sober during our celebration party, and-"

"Y/n, Lila." Five came running into the room, disrupting their sweet moment. "We have a problem."

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"𝐒𝐎, 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐄'𝐑𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄, but the whole of the universe is going down the cosmic shitter?" Allison questioned, leaning against a pillar.

Everyone stayed silent, sitting in the hotel lounge. "Maybe we're the last to get flushed." Viktor answered.

"Wasn't talking to you." Allison rolled her eyes as Viktor looked down.

"Hey, has anyone seen Klaus?" Luther questioned as he sat with Sloane who had her hands wrapped around him.

"Or Dad?" She added.

"They'll be here." Diego assured them.

"Really? Did they..." Ben mocked him. "...hit traffic? Look, people, we're alive because we're special, right? We're the only ones who can save the universe."

"Uh, question." Allison raised her finger up.

"Yes?" Ben turned to her.

"Didn't we just try that and fail miserably?" She reminded him.

"Yeah, it's because his plan was stupid." Diego stood up and walked to the middle of the room. "I got a better one."

"'Course you do." Ben rolled his eyes.

"We go with the large hard-on particle accelerator. You guys do some science, and..." He clicked his tongue, pretending to play baseball. "...we launch the Kugelblitz into outer space. Didn't think I knew that, did ya?" He turned to Ben with a smile. "It's in Switzerland."

"It's "hadron" not "hard on", ya moron!" Ben made fun of him.

"Oi! At least he's trying, you shitty little squid." Lila defended him from the couch. "What have you contributed?"

"Actually, he did blow up half of his family." Diego said.

"Oh, you wanna talk about family problems?" Ben began coming closer to him. "You know what should have been blown up is your face on that neck!"

"I wish I had a cake to hit you with it in the face!" Diego shot back.

"Really? That's the best you can?" Y/n quietly said to him from sitting on the other couch between Lila and Viktor.

"Hey!" Five broke up the two when they began talking to each other in different languages. "You guys done?" He made them turn their heads at him as he walked over to everyone else. "The universe is disappearing outside. So you can keep rearranging the deck chairs of the Titanic if it makes you feel better. But the fact remains that we are too late."

Ben and Diego both scoffed, returning back to their previous places. "Five, come on." Luther spoke up.

"It's over, Luther." Five was saying the words no one wanted to hear. "We failed."

"Come on." Viktor sat up. "It can't be over over."

"Yeah, come on, Five." Diego also showed some initiative. "We gotta figure this out, man."

"Okay. How about we take a step back. Look at the big picture here." He looked over at everyone. "Most of us have spent the last 28 days trying to stop the world from ending. What exactly have we accomplished?"

Everyone went silent. They knew that they have done zero progress - they began with the world ending and they are ending this the same way.

"Well, we made some friends along the way." Luther tried to look at the bright side, referring to Sloane.

"Incorrect!" Five said. "You know what we've done? Nothing. We made things worse every single time."

"Amen to that." Allison said from the back.

Five's look slowly landed on Y/n, sitting right across the room in front of him. "Look," He sighed. "When I went to the Commission, I had a conversation with my 100-year-old self. And my last words were, "Don't save the world."

"Don't save the world?" Viktor repeated.

"Don't save the world." Five did the same.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Diego was quick to judge.

"Is it?" Y/n spoke up. "I mean, whatever we were doing this whole time doesn't seem to work. We save the world, celebrate and get back to the same shit all over again."

"Yeah, maybe we're the problem." Viktor suggested.

"Oh, yeah." Allison scoffed. "Us."

"So, wait." Lila looked at Five. "Your big plan is no plan?"

"Exactly." Five pointed at her. "Conscientious objection. Why the hell not? We've tried everything else. Look, maybe this is just what the universe needs. I say, embrace the apocalypse. See what's on the other side."

"What if it's..." Sloane didn't want to say it. "...nothing?"

"Then it's been nice knowing you all." Five ended on a sad note. "Whatever's on your bucket list, I recommend you do that now."

As Five walked back to sit down, everyone went silent. The realization was going to take some time to sink in. It felt like a stab to the chest for Y/n - just hours ago they were talking about their future family and now they had hours left to live.

Luther and Sloane gave each other some exciting looks before agreeing on something. "Well, on that...super happy note, we've um..." The two stood up from their couch with nervous smiles. "...oh what the hell. We've, uh, got a little announcement to make."

He had his hand wrapped around Sloane as the two seemed to be bursting out with joy. "We're engaged!" They said in unison.

"Kill me, Jesus." Ben quietly said to himself.

Five let out a dejected sigh as Allison's eyes went wide as little plates. "Now?"

"Yeah. Look, we realize the timing is less than ideal." Luther seemed to be ready for this speech. "But, obviously, it's now or never. Am I right, Five?"

"Don't drag me into this, please." He said in a low voice.

"Whatever time we have left, we wanna spend it with all of you." Sloane began to get on that sentimental side. "So we're super pumped if you would join us in the banquet hall at 6 pm. for a celebration of our love and the official union of what's left of our two great families."

Luther had the widest and brightest smile ever as well. "Dress code is creative black-tie."

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