SKYFALL - F. HARGREEVES¹ - THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY

☂ ᏖᏂᏋ ፈᎧᏕᏖ ᎧᎦ ᎩᎧᏬ ᏇᏗᏕ ᏁᎧᏖ ᏕᏬᎦᎦᎥፈᏋ ☂

And he was too excited to let go.

***

"I'm leaving." A serious face sat on Hazel's face as he looked down at Agnes. He believed that he loved her. He believed that she was the one. He knew that he himself was still a good person. Because if he wasn't, then he would've killed her instead, and smile at his mess. "I want you to come with me."

"Where?" Agnes asked.

"Anywhere. It doesn't matter to me." He said, as birds chirped and sang in the background like a cliché love story. "Let's just fly away, like those warblers."

"Is everything okay?" She asked in a soft tone, tilting her head.

"Sure, everything's swell." He said in a bit of a sarcastic tone. His mood transparent.

"No, it isn't." She chuckled softly. "Customer service, thirty-two years. You... You learn a thing or two." She sighed.

"It's just work."

"Oh."

"It's a new assignment." He explained. "Corporate. We're supposed to follow orders, no questions asked, but..." He stopped.

"But what?" Agnes asked with curiosity.

"I don't want to."

"Oh."

"Not anymore. I'm done playin' their games. I'm ready for a change. I think you are, too." Hazel said as he shifted his weight on both feet. His lower back slightly leaned against the trunk of the small blue car, as if he was a another young guy in high school with a leather jacket and gelled hair.

Agnes looked down to her feet. Taking a few seconds to process. She looked back up to his face. "Okay." Was all she said.

"Really?" He asked. His mind swarming with doubt a few seconds ago.

"Yes, really." Her hands held each other's fingertips, as her heart beat fast, and she could hear it. She wondered if he could, too. "I mean, it-- it's like what you said. 'Life is short, and if you wanna do something, you just gotta... go for it.'"

Hazel looked at the ground. He shook his head as his eyes turned red. "You have no idea, uh... how happy that makes me." He sniffled.

"Sure. Sure, I do. How did you partner take it?" She asked.

"Oh... Oh, I haven't told her. In the years we worked together, she's never taken a sick day. Her job's her life. I wouldn't know where to start."

"I mean, it wouldn't be right to just disappear." Agnes said.

Hazel hesitantly nodded his head. "Okay, I'll try." Knowing that Cha-Cha was a beast when it came to betrayal. "You better be packed and ready..."

"Okay." She smiled.

"...When I come get you. We leave in the middle of the night. Two stowaways."

"Okay." She laughed.

"Assuming you still wanna do it. I understand--"