Begin!

Universe*

~Normal POV

It was nearly 5 in the morning when the fire truck finally ran out of fuel. They had thankfully stopped next to the first building they had seen since leaving the village.

"Violet, wake up, we've stopped," Duncan said, gently shaking her.

He wished he didn't have to wake her up. He had been enjoying the last few hours having her snuggled up against him.

The inventor tiredly rubbed her eyes, "Did we run out?"

"Yeah and Sunny is tired too, she's been up all night. We stopped next to a gas station though."

Violet sat up and checked the clock, "Alright, let's have a look around. See if you can wake up the lovebirds in the back. Sunny and I will wait at the door, and we'll all go inside together."

Duncan nodded as Violet picked up her sister and climbed out of the truck. He leaned over to the back seat.

"Hey Klaus, Isadora, wake up!"

The two stirred, Isadora opened her eyes first, and spoke groggily, "Duncan, the sun isn't even out yet."

Klaus yawned and reached down to grab his glasses from the floor and put them on, "What time is it?"

"Almost five, the truck ran out of gas but we're at a station. I'm sorry to interrupt your guys' cuddling time, but Violet and Sunny are waiting for us outside," Duncan winked at them before climbing out the door.

Klaus and Isadora were confused at first by his statement until they looked at each other and realized their position. They blushed furiously and quickly separated before getting out of the truck themselves.

"Uh, I... I'm sorry about that, Izzie," Klaus said, running his hand through his messy dark hair nervously.

"It's alright, Klaus, I was the one asleep on you. It's more my fault really," Isadora was looking at the ground with a shy smile.

The poet silently hoped that her brother wasn't angry about her being that close to her crush all night. Sure, Duncan had not objected when she kissed Klaus on the cheek their last night at Prufrock, but she knew he was still her overprotective brother. He had every right to be. Ever since they lost Quigley in the fire, Duncan and Isadora had gotten much closer as brother and sister, and were actively looking out for each other at all times. This protectiveness had increased tenfold after they were kidnapped by Olaf.

"Guys are you coming," Violet called.

Klaus and Isadora joined them at the entrance to the station. It was an incredibly tall building labelled Last Chance General Store. True to its name, the children could see all kinds of things for sale inside. Since this was the only building for miles it must get its business from weary travelers who forgot to pack something essential.

"The sign says it's closed until 8. What do we do," Duncan asked as he peered into the store window.

Violet sighed, "Well... There's a ton of stuff in there we could use for supplies. And we could all use a change of clothes too."

"Even if it was open we don't have any money. What are you suggesting," Klaus asked, afraid of the answer.

"Klaus remember when I had to pick the lock on Olaf's suitcase to get the evidence to prove he killed Uncle Monty? I did that because it was an emergency. It was the same when we had to take that boat across Lake Lachrymose to find Aunt Josephine. I'd say we're in another emergency right now. We'll have to break in and just take what we need."

"I knew you would say that," The researcher replied quietly.

"Breaking and entering, stealing? Mother and father would be so disappointed," Isadora said, "But I suppose this is a survival situation."

"Yeah, ours too, but we don't have any other options," Violet picked up a small metal bucket off the porch floor and handed it to Sunny, "Sunny, make a lock pick out of this."

"Roger," Sunny replied before biting into the metal with all her might.

Within a few moments she handed a cut out piece of metal to her sister. Violet quickly picked the lock on the front door and they hurried inside. No alarm sounded, that must have been a good sign. The store didn't seem to have much of a security system. Perhaps that was a benefit to living in the Hinterlands; less people around to rob you meant not needing to work as hard at preventing it.

"Doesn't look like there's anyone in here," Duncan whispered.

"Unless whoever owns the store lives upstairs," Violet said, "Ok we have to work fast, let's start with our clothes. Everyone split up and grab what you need. We'll meet up by the bathrooms. Now go."

Violet and Isadora took Sunny with them to one side of the store while Klaus and Duncan went to the other side. After selecting suitable choices for each of them they met beside the bathroom doors.

"Duncan, Klaus you two keep watch while we change. Then we'll switch places," Isadora said as they went into the girls' door.

The two boys waited vigilantly while their siblings changed. After several moments, Duncan spoke up.

"I don't mind by the way."

Klaus looked at him quizzically, "What?"

"I don't mind if you and Izzie want to be together. You two slept like that all night, I don't even know how you got into that position," Duncan smiled.

Klaus blushed a little, "You really don't mind?"

"You make my sister happy; that's good enough for me. Just promise me you'll keep her safe."

Klaus grinned, "I will, and thank you."

"Good, besides Izzie would kill me if I tried to get in the way of you two while I have something with Violet."

Klaus chuckled, "You have something with Violet? So, she told you about the statue?"

Duncan blushed, "You saw it too..."

"I pointed it out to her."

"Ok, could have warned me sooner. I talked with her last night and she said she wanted to be with me. We didn't kiss or anything, but I still held her when she fell asleep."

"Well, Violet is older than me so it's not really my business to say who she can or can't see. I only just turned 13 yesterday. I know you'll treat her right."

Duncan chuckled, "Well, happy birthday. I'm sure getting to snuggle with my sister was an excellent present."

Klaus blushed, "Shut up."

The girls exited the bathroom, and took their lookout positions while the boys went to change. Violet was now wearing a dark purple shirt, a matching jacket for extra pockets, and jeans. Isadora was wearing a dark red blouse, with a black jacket to keep her notebook inside, and jeans. They had picked out a simple pink dress for Sunny.

Isadora sighed contentedly, "It's nice to be out of that uniform. If I never see Prufrock again it'll be too soon. We were there forever."

"Agreed, that place was awful," Violet grinned as she set Sunny down beside her.

"What do we do with our old clothes?"

Violet looked around the nearby shelves and grabbed a bag. She stuffed her clothes into it, along with Sunny's, and held it out to Isadora.

"Just put them in here. We can't risk leaving them as evidence so we'll take them with us and toss them when we get the chance."

Isadora nodded and shoved her old uniform in the bag. Several moments later the boys joined them again. Klaus was now wearing a dark blue shirt and jacket and dark jeans. Duncan had chosen a dark green shirt and a black jacket as well, his notebook tucked safely inside, along with his own set of dark jeans. The boys added their old clothes to the bag.

"Now that we're a bit more comfortable, what's next," Duncan asked.

Violet looked at the clock on the store's back wall, "It's about 5:30 now; we should grab ourselves some food and water, and we'll eat in the truck while we figure out a plan. You two must be starving after being stuck in that fountain."

"You're right, we haven't eaten properly since we were locked up in that elevator shaft," Isadora said sheepishly, "We were so busy worrying about you guys that we managed to ignore our own stomachs."

"We don't have the means to cook anything so we'll keep it simple and just grab sandwich stuff."

After filling another bag full of food and getting a pack of bottled water, they exited the store and got back in the truck. As the five of them ate they took the time to finally look over Duncan and Isadora's notes on V.F.D. Everything had fallen into place. The spyglasses, the fires, their parents secretiveness, everything was much clearer now.

"Jacques Snicket called us volunteers when we met him in the Village of Fowl Devotees. Do you think our parents meant for us to join this group? If they were volunteers too, I mean," Violet asked.

"I suppose that's the case. Uncle Monty seemed to think so. He said our parents wanted to raise us in a quiet world. The V.F.D. motto is the world is quiet here. They might have been waiting for the right time," Klaus answered.

Duncan scoffed, "I'm not sure if I even want to join. Sounds like something Quigley would be more interested in. He was a cartographer, and being in an organization like this would mean traveling around constantly. It'd give him plenty of map-making material."

"You're right. It doesn't sound pleasant to me either," Isadora said, "But what choice do we have? We've already been roped into it."

Violet put a hand to her chin in thought, "Perhaps we can get out of it. We could find other volunteers and maybe see if we can negotiate our way out. Those fires are what put us on this path in the first place. With our parents gone, what more is there to do except survive? We'll carry on through this mess and we will get away from Count Olaf for good."

"And what then," Duncan asked.

"Then we move on. I seem to recall we agreed we'd go into business together after we inherit our fortunes. You didn't think I'd forgotten about building that printing press for you; did you, Duncan?"

The journalist grinned, "No I didn't forget."

"And we'll print books with it too," Klaus added.

"And my poetry of course," Isadora said.

They all smiled, feeling their hearts lighten immensely at their plans for the future. A future they were determined to spend together. But first they had to figure out what they were going to do about being stranded out in the Hinterlands after just having stolen several things, being framed for murder, and having no means of transportation.

~End of chapter!