"Dusk..." Five croaked at the scene in front of him. It all had happened so suddenly. How in the world did she manage to get to him a mere second before the blade came hurtling toward him? He watched in horror as the blade pierced her chest, the tip of the sickle severing her spinal cord. The moment the blade exited her body, her wings disintegrated, and she reached out for a hand, hoping someone would save her. With adrenaline pumping through his veins, Five got up and rushed to the balcony, grabbing her before she plummeted to the ground.

With all his strength, he pulled her to the other side, wrapping her in a bear hug as he lay her on the ground. Amidst the chaos downstairs, Five could hear his twin taking desperate and shuddering breaths, hoping it would be enough to keep her body alive. The more he looked at her, the more he felt his emotions mix into a toxic concoction. He was angry, scared, sad, and more than anything, he wanted revenge. Revenge on the monster that hurt the only blood family he had. Revenge against Reginald for dragging them into this mess. But Dusk needed him. That way if it happened, she wouldn't die alone.

"Why would you do that?!" He hissed, punching the ground next to him. "It wasn't supposed to be you!" Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of where he was standing. If Dusk hadn't saved him, at the very least his arm would have been taken off. "Fam-family protects o-one another..." Dusk coughed. Five swore never to cry, never letting others see him at his weakest. But as he looked at his injured twin, a tear escaped his left eye. He didn't want to imagine losing the sister he discovered days ago.

"You better not be giving up on us right now. You are way too tough to let some metal bastard take you down!" He wrapped her arm around his shoulder, and taking one step at a time, he took her down the flight of stairs back to the others. He didn't know how long she had left, maybe minutes, seconds even. On the steps, Dusk slipped from his grasp. Seeing how pale she was growing, Five realized the heartbreak they were going to endure.

The sounds of screeching came from the far end of Hotel Oblivion, and unbeknownst to the twins, the Guardian had been thrown towards the elevators, unable to get up. "Five! Where've you been?" Viktor asked when he saw the time traveler. Five couldn't say anything, how could he tell them another family member was dying? But as Dusk fell to the ground once again, it all registered in their brains something was wrong.

"Dusk, what happened to her?" Sloane questioned Five. "The Guardian... Dusk pushed me out of the way. H-he stabbed her..." Five stuttered. "No!" Klaus gasped. They gathered near Dusk, wondering if there was anything they could do, but the moment they saw her wound to the heart, the realization fell on top of them like a thousand bricks. "Baby, come on. Please, you can't leave me!" Klaus pulled her into his lap and cradled her head, desperate to keep her eyes open. "Just keep breathing, we'll be out of here soon!"

The raven's eyes fluttered open and closed as she fought to stay with him. "I-I'm scared, K-Klaus. I-I want to go home..." She whispered. Klaus sniffed as he brought a hand to her hair. "I know, we'll find a way. But it won't be worth it without you!" the junkie sobbed, his salty tears landing on his lover's cheeks and neck. Dusk could feel blood coming out of her mouth as she struggled to speak, but Klaus needed to know something before she left. "I-I will always love y-you... no matter h-how many worlds a-part we are," She painfully smiled. "I love you too... forever and always,"

He stared into her ocean-blue eyes, wiping away the tears that slipped down her face. It was happening all over again, first with Dave, now with Dusk. He wanted to protect them both so bad, but he felt that once again, he had failed. Dusk's breath hitched, and her body grew heavy as she took her last breath of life, her head falling back in her boyfriend's arms. "No... please don't! NO! DUSKY! Someone help me!" Klaus begged, looking to his siblings for help. "She's gone, Klaus. She's gone..." Victoria shakily exhaled, closing her best friend's eyes. 

Right after, an orange glow engulfed her legs, a few flames flickering in and out. It took a moment to float and burn like a tiny sun before it travelled to the rest of the raven's body. And as the light continued up to her chest, they watched as Dusk's body turned to ash, gathering together in a pile on the ground. Klaus's hands fell into his lap, and stared at that pile, feeling a waterfall of tears pour down his face as he mourned his angel.

Viktor, Sloane, Victoria, and Five held one another, not being able to hide their tears. Ben and Dahlia looked at each other with regret, realizing they should've seen the good side in her. Diego's eyes watered, and he sniffed a few times before feeling Lila bring a hand to his face, whispering it was going to be okay. But Allison and Reginald just stared with annoyance, like her death was not important. "Such a shame," Reginald shook his head. 

"Don't you start!" Diego growled. "You rang those bells and handed us a death sentence on a silver platter! Dusk is gone because of you!" "She made her choice! And frankly, it was a stupid decision," Reginald spoke coldly. Klaus felt his hands ball into fists as the anger coursed through him. "You're evil..." he quivered. Reginald just sat there and took it, like the words didn't affect him. 

The argument was interrupted by growls that grew louder and louder with every passing second. Klaus wiped the tears from his eyes and looked over his shoulder, seeing his girlfriend's killer standing up from the ground, ready to finish what had been started. "Guys? We're not done yet!" He stated. "Five, what did you say about the sigil?" Lila asked hurriedly, remembering his words before Dusk made her sacrifice.

"The sigil is on the lobby floor. It's in the stars," Five answered, pointing to the stars imprinted about ten feet away. "Children, find a star on the sigil. Stand on it!" Reginald instructed. "Ben, now's your time, boy!" The Hargreeves looked at each other with hesitancy, but one by one they made their way to the sigil. Allison and Dahlia tried to step on the stars, but Reginald stopped them. "Eight points? We're the eight bells?" Viktor questioned.

As the group stepped on the stars, the ground underneath them glowed white, there was only one star that hadn't been lit, and that was Klaus's. "Klaus, come on! It's the only way to beat him!" Reginald shouted over the Guardian's roar. The junkie looked at Dusk's ashes and then back to Reginald, he didn't have the strength to leave her. But as her last words echoed in his mind, he blew her an air kiss, telling the pile he would see her again one day before stepping onto that star.

As soon as he made contact with the star, a jolt of blue electricity came out of the center star and spread through their bodies before flying into the air, making contact with the Guardian. He swung back and forth the more electricity fried him, and within five seconds, the final Guardian fell to the ground, dozens of cockroaches exiting his body. Loud whirring and clicking filled the room as the Umbrellas and Sparrows were engulfed in blue light, unable to move any part of their bodies.

The Hotel Oblivion crumbled all around them and turned into thin yellow lines. Reginald walked over to a round table, which spun and built a holographic dome around him. He pressed a few buttons and moved numbers and words around, while the Hargreeves groaned at pain and the bright lights blinding them, Allison look at them in shock, knowing that this was not what she agreed to.

"This wasn't a part of the deal. You're hurting them!" She looked over at him. "I can't stop now," Reginald said, continuing to stare and work on the holographic dome. "It'd shut down the machine," "What machine? I don't understand!" Allison blinked with confusion. Reginald explained that the hotel was a facade, that they were stuck inside a machine in another dimension. "Whoever created the universe built this place,"

"What does any of this have to do with them?!" The Rumor yelled. The monocle pressed a button, and Allison could feel herself about to vomit as her siblings let out bone-chilling screams of agony. "The particles inside their bodies are the only things that fuel the machine," Reginald finished. Five looked over to Allison, his voice was hoarse. "He tried to kill Klaus. He killed Luther and Dusk, and he won't stop until we're all dead!"

~~~~~~~

The cry of seagulls and gentle ocean waves filled Dusk's ears. She slowly opened her eyes, hissing at the bright white sky above her. What the? Where am I? She wondered as she picked herself off the ground. Everything was devoid of color, the only trace of it came from her bloodied bodysuit. The hotel was gone, and so were her siblings. "Klaus? Five?" She called out. But the only response was an echo of her own voice.

"About time you woke up," Dusk turned around to see a little girl dressed in white and a hat riding a bicycle. "I'm sorry, who are you?" She asked. "It doesn't matter who I am," the girl responded. Okay, sorry I asked! The girl explained what had happened. And as Dusk remembered Klaus's crying face, she realized she was in the afterlife. "There's someone who wants to see you," Who?

The bicycle girl pointed to a house about a mile away from the beach. Confused but determined to know, Dusk ran towards the house and burst inside. The place was decorated with old bottles full of knickknacks. And on the shelves were decorative seashells. She heard the sounds of a TV playing, and when she stepped inside, the occupant of the house lowered the volume and turned to face her.

"Hello there, Dusk," a woman who appeared in her early twenties spoke up. She had dark raven hair, her eyes a frosty blue. She almost looked just like Dusk. "Who are you? How do you know my name?" She questioned. The woman smiled and took a step towards her. "Sweetheart, I'm your mother." She couldn't believe it. After all of those days of wondering who her birth mother was, Dusk was finally meeting her. Although, the circumstances were different from what she imagined.

Her mother brought a gentle hand to her face. "I missed you, so much," Dusk smiled. "I miss you too, you and your brother. It's nice to see you too finally reunited," Number Eight remembered Five, and her heart ached at the last memory of him. She had never seen him cry before, never thought she would. But even in the afterlife, she could feel the pain of him losing the person he briefly shared a womb with.

"Are you... at peace? Did you feel any pain?" Dusk questioned. "No. It was very quick. And when I woke up, I felt safer. But I felt something was missing. It took a while to realize what it was, but when I watched everything back in your world, I realized my babies are trying to save the world. Not once, but several times," Her mother led her to the couch, and as she flipped to another channel, Dusk saw flashbacks of her life. Her first kiss with Klaus, meeting Victoria, finding her missing twin, everything up until she took her last breath.

The screen suddenly went static, and the loud sound of screaming filled the living room. When the static cleared, both women were shocked to see Dusk's siblings screaming in agony, their faces turning blue, yellow particles leaving their bodies. "What's going on?" Her mother frantically tried to turn it off, but nothing was working. Dusk stood up and walked to the screen, catching glimpse of Klaus, hearing him screaming not only at the pain but for someone to save him.

The longer they watched in horror, the more Dusk's mother came to a realization. "Dusk, you need to go back!" she gaped. "What?! How am I supposed to do that? I'm dead!" The raven could feel a panic attack rising in her chest. She felt two hands gently touch her shoulders, making her look into her mother's eyes. "You can do it; I know you can. You're a phoenix. And what does a Phoenix do?"

"They rise from their ashes and live again," Dusk nodded, She felt warmth return to her body, and she watched as the rest of her body's color returned. "Now go. Save your family, save your brother."

~~~~~~~~~

Despite her pleas to stop, Reginald would not listen to Allison. The sounds of screaming continued behind them, and the sibling's lungs ached for air. Five was right, their father would not stop until every last one of them was dead. He looked over to Victoria, whose body looked like it could crumble at any moment.

But out of the Hargreeves' vicinity, the pile of ashes started burning. And with a few swirls of flames, Dusk rose from her grave. Her hair was burning red with rage. Her eyes filled with determination. She flew towards Reginald's dome and feeling the hot breath down his back. He turned around, his eyes widened with fear. "Nobody touches my family, you son of a bitch!"

She opened her mouth and released her inner demon, ropes of flames setting the old man on fire. The lights hovering above her siblings shut off and they fell to the ground trying to catch their breath. The flashes of orange and red caught their attention, and they were surprised to see Dusk had returned to save them. When the flames cleared, the only thing that was left of Reginald Hargreeves was his shattered monocle.

Dusk turned on her heel and rushed to her siblings, crouching to their levels as they curled up into balls. Some looked up at her and they hoped this wasn't a hallucination. But Dusk had really come back, she was their saving grace. "Dusk, turn around!" Five gestured to the dome. She turned to see Allison walking towards a red glowing button, almost entranced by its pulsing.

"Allison, don't you dare touch that button! We don't know what it'll do!" The Phoenix stood up. But The Rumor continued to reach out to it. "Don't make me do this!" Dusk's hands set ablaze, two fireballs ready to be thrown. Allison turned around with a distrustful smile. "Do you trust me?" she asked. Dusk shook her head, those fireballs looked really friendly now. "Alli, I'm warning you..." she growled.

Allison's hand went one inch further, and that was when Dusk threw her balls of fire. But before they could make impact, everything went pitch black.

"Guys?! Where are you?" Dusk called out. Suddenly something smash up against her, and she couldn't identify who or what it was. "Hello?" She said. "Dusk, we're here! All of us," Viktor responded. Everything started moving, and it felt like they were all stuck together in a cramped space. Then, two doors slowly opened, leading them into what appeared to be a garden. 

They looked around at all the greenery, only able to be seen by the dim streetlights. As they stepped towards the center, they could see a metal mold of Reginald's head along with a plaque that read, Obsidian Memorial Park. Graciously donated by Sir Reginald Hargreeves on the 1st day of October 1989. "Dusk? H-how are you... you're still alive!" Klaus quivered with excitement, pulling his lover into his arms. "Yes, I'm alive. I'm okay," She assured.

Klaus wept happy tears at her return. He couldn't get the image of her turning to ash out of his head. It made him want to cry with grief all over again. But his fiery angel came back to him, to all of them. Not just her, but someone else as well. "Luther?" Viktor gasped as he stepped out of another elevator. "Oh shit, you can see me?" Luther questioned. They all nodded and ran to embrace him.

"Wait, that's not all big guy!" Viktor gestured to his body. It had returned to normal, no longer a humanoid ape. Luther looked down and was just as surprised. The injured Umbrellas and Sparrows looked down at their wounds, shocked to see they had been healed. Diego's fingers came back, Dahlia's foot had reconnected with her leg, and the wound to Dusk's chest was gone.

"I got to show Sloane!" Luther said excitedly. But when he turned around, Sloane was nowhere to be found. His face fell, and he looked to his siblings, asking if they had seen her. "She was right behind me when Allison hit that button," Klaus answered. "She's gone too," Diego noted. Five took notice of the leafy paths that lay before them, and Ben asked where they were now. "The Hotel. At least what's left of it," Lila responded.

Five looked down in realization, Reginald had reset the universe. "Hey, I don't care about any resets. I want my wife back. Where is she, Five?" Luther growled, grabbing Five by his suit. "I'm glad you're alive, but take your hands off me," Five spoke calmly. But Luther jerked Five towards him. "Not until you give me an answer," 

Realizing he'd had to blink his way out of the grasp, Five closed his eyes and tried to teleport over to Victoria. But when his eyes opened, he was still being held by Luther. He tried again, but still nothing. "Something's wrong," He muttered. "That's right. You're about to get your ass kicked!" Luther snarled. "No, you moron. My power, I can't blink," When Five said that, they all tried to summon their powers to no success.

Klaus could no longer summon ghosts, Diego could no longer throw knives with precision, and Dusk could no longer summon her inner phoenix. "Klaus, your tattoos," She whispered, noticing the Hello and Goodbye written on his hands were no longer there. "Aw, does this mean I'm mortal again?" he said disappointed. "How do we get them back?" Ben inquired. No one answered, there wasn't any way they could think of to get them back. Part of who they were had been snatched away. And all they were left with was their mortality and each other.

"I gotta... I gotta go find my wife," Luther shook his head, heading down one of the leafy paths. "I'm out bitches!" Ben snarled, he too walked down a separate path, Dahlia following right behind him.  "What are we supposed to do?" Diego asked. Lila took her hand into his, "Live our lives?" she suggested. All that was left was Five, Victoria, Dusk, and Klaus. "This doesn't feel right..." Victoria sighed.

Dusk slowly nodded and grabbed her boyfriend's hand. "So, where do we go? What do we do?" the raven asked. Five shrugged his shoulders, his face emotionless. "Whatever we do, we need to stick together," the redhead stated. And with that, the two couples walked down the path, hoping to find a solution to getting their lives back.

To Be Continued in...

From the Ashes: The Final Season