Shadows & Mirrors // f.hargreeves fanfic

:::: Forty-Nine ::::

Manuela stared out at the crumbling world around her. Immediately after she had woken up her brother had explained to her everything that she had missed. The universe was collapsing in on itself after one wrong move caused Christopher to explode along with the Kugelblitz. The blast had taken out not only her home but also her sister Fei. Now Manuela, Ben, and Sloane were the only Sparrows left. An empty feeling settled into the pit of her stomach. Manuela had never been without her siblings before and now she only had two of them left.

"So..." Manuela began as she turned back towards the group. Everyone was seated in the upper level of the hotel lobby. "How...how is it that we're all still here when everything around us is being sucked into that mass of black holes?"

"Maybe we're the last to get flushed," Viktor shrugged.

"Wait, has anyone seen Klaus?" Luther asked.

"Or Dad?" Sloane added.

"Or Nova?" Five asked quietly.

"They'll be here," Diego responded in the same quiet tone.

"Really? Did they...hit traffic?" Ben asked sarcastically and Manuela jabbed her elbow into her brother's ribs. He sent her a glare which she met fire with fire. "Look, people, we're alive because we're special, right? We're the only ones who can save the universe!"

"Uh, question," Allison piped up while raising her finger in the air.

"Yes," Ben said as he gestured to the woman.

"Didn't we just try that and fail miserably?" Allison asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, it's because his plan was stupid," Diego interjected. "I got a better idea."

"Of course you do," Ben muttered quietly to Manuela who was still standing next to him.

"This'll be good," Manuela whispered back.

"We go with the large hard-on particle accelerator. You guys do some science, and..." Diego began to explain before making a clicking sound with his tongue and pretending to hit a baseball, "...we launch the KKugelblitz into outer space. Didn't think I knew that did you? It's in Switzerland."

"What is he even talking about?" Manuela asked her brother in a hushed tone. When she looked up Ben was pinching the bridge of his nose as he sighed heavily in annoyance.

"It's hadron, not hard-on, ya moron!" Ben exclaimed angrily.

"Oi! At least he's trying, you shitty little squid. What have you contributed you?" Lila snapped defensively.

"He was the one who wanted to go back for Manuela though," Five interjected nodding towards the woman. Manuela glanced towards her brother questioningly but he wasn't looking anywhere near her. She made a mental note to ask him about it later.

"But he did blow up half of his family," Diego pointed out.

"Oh, you wanna talk about family problems?" Ben asked defensively as he took a menacing step in Diego's direction. "You know what should have blown up is your face on that neck!"

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

Manuela sighed and rubbed her temples when Ben attempted to trash talk in Korean while Diego fired back in Spanish. She didn't even have the energy to stop them. Instead, Manuela just swiftly moved to sit next to Lila on the small couch. There were more important things on her mind. The world was literally ending and she had no idea what was next. Would she retain her near-immortality even if the universe didn't exist anymore? She had so many questions. There were so many things she wanted to do before she died.