Hotel Obsidian | Morning

[knife_bender]

The vibe of this family meeting was much more sullen than the last one. They were down two more siblings (RIP, Chistopher and Fei), and this shitty hotel was literally at the end of the world.

And now Diego knew that he was now facing this apocalypse with his wife and child. Or children. God, they didn't have time to get an ultrasound before the world ended, did they?

So, yeah, bad vibes all around.

Annie	Annie was sticking close, trying not to let the hopelessness of this all overwhelm her. That had felt like a very close call, and with how things were going and the state of the world outside those doors...she was just kind of starting to wonder how many close calls you got to have, anyway. They'd been so lucky up to this point, you know? Maybe luck was a finite resource. But it also wasn't productive to think like that, and thus Annie was lightly pacing near Diego, and trying to think of anything that might actually help this situation.
Five	Five, meanwhile, was facing away from his siblings, looking down at the main floor of the hotel. Because the best plan they had failed miserably. And here they were again. And he still hadn't figured out his own cryptic words for himself.
Allison	"How is it we're still here when the rest of the universe is going down the cosmic shitter?" The important questions being asked by Allison Hargreeves.
Luther	"Maybe we're the last to get flushed," Luther suggested.
Allison	"Wasn't talking to you," Allison said.
Luther	Rude. "Has anyone seen Klaus?"
Sloane	"Or Dad?" Sloane added.
Diego	"They'll be here," Diego said, based on absolutely no information whatsoever.
Ben	"Really? Did they hit traffic?" Ben asked. "Look, people, we're alive because we're special, all right? We're the only ones who can save the universe."
Allison	Allison raised her hand. "Didn't we just try that and fail miserably?"
Diego	"Yeah, because his plan was stupid and I've got a better one." Again, Diego said this based on no information whatsoever.
Ben	Ben rolled his eyes. "'Course you do."
Diego	Diego pushed himself up and walked over to Ben to let him know his great idea. "We go with the large hard-on particle accelerator. You guys do some science, and we launch the kugelblitz into outer space." He lifted his eyebrows at Ben, expecting applause. "Didn't think I knew that, did ya? It's in Switzerland."
Ben	"It's 'hadron' not 'hard-on' ya moron!" Ben yelled.
Annie	Wow, you really did learn something new every day, huh? Annie had also totally thought that that word just meant something sciencey in Swiss. (Also: 'Swiss' was not a language, Annie.) "Okay, fuckstick, what's your plan?" Annie snapped at Ben, too tired and pregnant and hopeless for any of this. "At least Diego's trying."
Diego	"Now, honey, he did try and succeed at blowing up half his family." Was that called for? No. Did Diego care? Also no.
Ben	"Oh you wanna talk about family problems?" Ben had quite literally watched your brother smack your sister in the face. "You know what should have blown up is that face off your neck!" Super mature.
Diego	Diego also responded in a super mature way that you'd expect from a soon-to-be father. "I wish I had a cake to hit you with in your face!" Then what erupted was a heated argument in both Spanish and Korean.
Five	You all always insisted on making him the most mature person in the room. Somehow. "Hey!" Five shouted, pushing away from where he'd been standing to round on them. "You guys done?" Real Sir Reginald energy there, Five. "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."
Luther	"Five, come on." It wasn't all that bad!
Five	"It's over, Luther. "We failed." Look out a window, pal!
Luther	"Well we made some friends along the way," he said, squeezing Sloane's hand. Oh, you all had no idea what was coming.
Five	"Incorrect!" Five replied immediately. Because you all weirdos made friends. He was a lone wolf who... did a lot to keep his dumb family alive. Shut up. "You know what we've done? Nothing. We made things worse every single time."
Allison	"Amen to that." Finally! Someone agreed with her!
Five	"Look, when I went to the Commission, I had a conversation with my 100-year-old self." Don't question it. "And my last words were: Don't save the world."
Viktor	"Don't save the world?" Viktor repeated. That had gone against everything they had been taught since, like, birth.
Five	"Don't save the world," Five repeated.
Diego	"That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard." And he heard a lot of dumb stuff!
Luther	"Is it? Whatever we're doing is not working," Luther said. "All we ever do is save the world for a day, pat ourselves on the back, and then everything goes to shit again."
Viktor	Viktor's eyes widened as that all fell into place. "We're the problem."
Allison	Allison snorted. "Yeah. We."
Lila	"So, wait," Lila ventured, from where she was laying upside-down on a chair and had mostly just been spectating this particular bout of Hargreeves bickering. She glanced over to Five, unsure if she understood correctly. "Your big plan is...no plan?"
Five	"Exactly." Thank you for getting it, Lila. "Conscientious objection." Don't look at him like that, you idiots. "Why the hell not? We've tried everything else," Five said. "Look, maybe this is just what the universe needs. I say embrace the apocalypse, see what's on the other side." Call it character growth!
Sloane	"What if it's nothing?" Sloane asked, looking up at Luther nervously.
Five	"Then it's been nice knowing you all. Whatever's on your bucket list, I recommend you do it now." You know. In the confines of this hotel.
Luther and Sloane	You brought what happened next on yourself, Five. "Well...on that super happy note..." Luther looked over at Sloane, who gave him an encouraging nod. "Oh, what the hell. We've got a little announcement to make." "We're engaged!" Sloane said, excitedly holding up her left hand where there was a handmade ring on her finger.
Ben	Ben groaned. "Kill me, Jesus."
Five	"Idiots," Five sighed. Because this really was his own fault, wasn't it?
Annie	Well. Now they definitely couldn't announce the pregnancy. "Congratulations," Annie said, managing a real smile and crossing over to them, already making the requisite 'show me' gestures towards Sloane's ring. Look, she was pretty sure no one else here was going to give this a normal reaction on the heels of Five's pronouncement. And trying to find the bright side was usually Annie's job in this family, so it was actually sort of nice to be able to just react to someone else's happy news, instead of trying to find a silver lining of her own when she...kinda couldn't, right now.
Allison	"Now?" Allison asked, watching in disbelief as Sloane showed off her ring to Annie.
Luther	"We realize the timing is less than ideal," Luther said. "But obviously it's now or never. Am I right, Five?" This was exactly what you meant when you said bucket list, right?
Five	"Don't drag me into this, please." You gave him such a migraine, Luther.
Sloane	"Whatever time we have left, we want to spend it with all of you." Where had that basket of homemade wedding invites come from? "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	"Dress code is creative black-tie," Luther added. Which meant everyone was going to have to rifle through dead (disappeared?) people's suitcases.
Lila	Lila, who was not really one for arts and crafts outside of a sanitarium in the '60s, was honestly impressed by these...tiny jars of sand? You had had the time to make cute, crafty invitations? "Wow! You did this all yourself?"
Sloane	"Luther helped too," Sloane said, beaming. "We stayed up all night."
Reginald	Speaking of people who looked like they had been up all night, Klaus and Reginald made their appearance. Reginald, who was wearing an old man hat to rival Five's. He ignored the surprise utterances of Ben and Allison, and made himself the center of attention. "Gather 'round, children," Reginald said, gesturing. "Quickly now!"
Diego	Diego ignored that order, grabbing Klaus by the arm. "Where the hell have you been?"
Klaus	Klaus waved his free hand. "Oh, Reg and I. We got tangled up in a whole father-son end of the world road trip thing. You know?"
Ben	"You two hanging out now?" Ben asked, totally not jealous. He wasn't.
Klaus	Klaus could not sense the jealousy, for what it was worth. "Yeah, we laughed, we cried, we played in traffic, and long story short, I'm immortal now."
Luther	"Whoa, wait." Klaus said a lot of things, but Luther thought that one demanded an explanation. "You're what now?"
Allison	"Klaus, have you gotten into bath salts again?" Allison asked.
Reginald	Reginald took one of the jars out of the basket Sloane had been holding. "I think the more pertinent question is, why are you all playing with jars?"
Sloane	"They're invitations," Sloane said. "Luther and I are getting married."
Reginald	"All of space and time is collapsing, and you lot are planning a wedding?" he asked.
Luther	"Yeah, and space is limited, so..." Luther would just be taking that invitation out of your hand, Reginald. No abusive dads allowed.
Reginald	God, things were worse than he thought. "Is this how I raised you? To fiddle while Rome burns?"
Klaus	Klaus, went to Reginald's side and whispered, "Remember what we talked about, Reg. Remember to breathe."
Reginald	"Quiet, I'm on a roll," Reginald hissed.
Sloane	"Dad, have you been taking your pills?" Sloane asked, looking concerned.
Reginald	"As I matter of face, I haven't. And I can confirm I've never felt better in my life." He did miss TJ Hooker though. "You thought you could dope me up, and slow me down, take control of my affairs and squander my fortune. Well, Klaus here was good enough to wean me off that wretched poison. And now that the fog is lifting, I can see all of your dastardly designs with a bracing clarity."
Sloane	"You took him off his meds?" Sloane asked, looking at Klaus. "What were you thinking?"
Reginald	"He's the only one doing any thinking," Reginald said. "All of you could learn a thing or two from this impressive young man."
Diego	Diego looked over at Klaus, who was preening from the compliment. "Oh my god the world really is ending."
Reginald	"As for the rest of you, your training is to resume post-haste," Reginald continued. "We're running out of time. We have a mission to complete." And now he had the pregnant blonde one as a back up child! Things were coming up Reginald!
Ben	Ben jumped at the chance to suck up. "I'm ready. Let's do this."
Five	"Let me guess--" Five said, looking up at the old man. "Project Oblivion?"
Reginald	"How do you know about that?" Reginald asked.
Five	"I heard it all from Pogo," Five said, pushing himself up to really look the old man in the eye.
Reginald	Damn it. He should have killed him instead of firing him. "Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time."
Five	Rookie mistake! "And he confirmed what I always suspected about you."
Reginald	"Which is?" You weren't going to roast him, were you?
Five	Reggie, this was the child most like you. You had to know what was coming here. "That you're a sadistic lunatic who's planning on gambling all of our lives in another pointless mission."
Reginald	Okay, that was fair. "You'd take the word of a disgruntled chimp over that of your own father?"
Five	For that? Five teleported closer to get in his face. "Every. Damn. Day."
Luther	"Nobody wants you here, Dad." And, god, that felt good to say after all these years. "You should leave."
Ben	"You don't speak for all of us, big guy," Ben said.
Luther	"Feel free to join him," Luther replied.
Reginald	"I see," Reginald said quietly. "So it's come to this. Insurrection." Be more dramatic, Reginald.
Klaus	Ohhhh Klaus could tell this was going downhill, fast. "That's not the kind of erection we're striving for here, all right? Everybody just needs to be cool. Clearly, you guys are on a different chakra frequency right now." He started dragging Reginald away. "Hey, Pops, let's go have a nice cup of tea in the suite."
Reginald	"Let go of my arm!" Reginald protested.
Klaus	"Luther, Sloane, oh my god, I'm beyond thrilled," Klaus said, still dragging his father away. "You guys are gorgeous, send me your registry!"

Annie	So, part of Annie felt like this was ridiculous, but she kind of wanted to throw herself entirely into helping with and supporting this wedding. If they were going to die -- she, Diego, their child, his entire family, the rest of the world -- and that was somehow a guarantee, then she didn't want to just sit around praying and crying. Well, okay, maybe she kind of did want that, but she also -- They'd been given an opportunity to try to make the most of this, right? And that was what she was good at: finding a light in all the darkness. "What're you gonna wear to this?" she asked Diego, who was...you know, Diego, that did not look like getting ready for a wedding, to her. "We need to find clothes."
Diego	"I'm not going." See the way he was crossing his arms over his chest? That meant he was super not going.
Annie	"What do you mean, you're not going?" Annie asked, frowning at him in confusion. "It's your brother's wedding." Of course he was going?
Diego	"And the world is literally ending," Diego said, like Annie needed to be reminded of that. "We should be figuring out how to fix this, not getting ready to the do the Electric Slide."
Annie	"Weren't you listening?" Annie asked, soft and worried. "Babe, I don't think we get to fix it, this time." And to her, the options looked like...giving into the hopelessness, or giving into the Electric Slide.
Diego	"I'm not accepting that," Diego said. "I'm going to fight for our family, even if I have to do it alone."
Annie	Annie considered that for a second -- it wasn't like that was an unexpected response, and almost any other time, it would have been her answer, too. "I love you so much, Diego," she said quietly, moving over to take his hands. "But I don't know if it's worth it this time. I really don't." She'd already faced down the possibility of her own death at his side -- what, three times now? Four? If it had just been them, she would have been trying to help form a plan already. But it wasn't just them. In several ways, now.
Diego	"So, what, I'm just supposed to be okay with this?" Diego asked, looking down at their hands. "Go to some stupid wedding knowing you and our baby are gonna vanish at any moment?"
Annie	"What's the alternative?" she asked, glancing up at him. "Seriously. I'm listening, honey. What's your plan?" There was no plan. Christopher had been their best bet.
Diego	Diego was silent for a few moments because, no, he didn't have a plan. Dad seemed to have a plan, but he didn't want to admit he had been on his and Ben's side during all that. "I can't lose you two." Or three. They really needed to figure that out.
Annie	"I know. Me neither." This broke her heart, and it was all over her face, but she also didn't know what else they could do. There wasn't a Soldier Boy to run after, or the Commission to face down. This was too beyond their scope, it seemed like. "But -- if we don't have a lot of time left, Diego, I want to spend what's left with our family." And on that note, she moved his uninjured hand down to press it to her abdomen. There was definitely at least one baby in there, even if it was much too early for them to be doing much moving around or kicking to say hi to Dad.
Diego	Did you want Diego to tear up, Annie? Because that's how you did it. He nodded his head, running his fingers across her abdomen gently. "Okay. I hate this, but okay."
Annie	"The first hint of a chance," Annie promised, her eyes also welling up as she covered his hand with hers, "and I'm there." If this was it, she couldn't ask for a better way to go out than surrounded by people she loved. "But in the meantime -- I'd really like to dance with you at this wedding, Diego."
Diego	"I'd like that too," he admitted with a small smile. "I guess I can go rifling through some suitcases to see if any formalwear fits me."
Annie	"Put the creative in 'creative black tie,'" she suggested, leaning up for a soft, kind of sad kiss. "I think there might be a bachelor party downstairs, too." Further distractions. Further loving, bickering family situations to immerse oneself in while facing down the end of the world.

[NFI, NFB but OOC is appreciated. Taken from TUA 3x08 Wedding at the End of the World and preplayed with apocalypsehow and defenderofdesmoines]