𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗘 𝗜𝗦 𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗧𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘| ꜰ. ʜᴀʀɢʀᴇᴇᴠᴇꜱ

(28) Some People, Well, Actually Everyone, Needs To Shut Up

Time came to a halting stop. The music, the people, the streets of the city. . .everything stopped. Keeping Diego and Luther in the loop is a new party trick that I can't keep up for long, the effects of using so much power are already affecting me. My limbs feel heavy and my heart is beating at a fast pace.

I've stopped time before, and even brought one other person into the loop. Never two. And never when I'm feeling this much emotion.

Luther and Diego pause, taking a look around them as if they had just walked into a whole different world.

"Why is it so quiet?" Diego mumbles, as if he's afraid that raising his voice will set off a bomb.

Luther's gaze lands back on me, his anger still flickering beneath his eyes. But there's something new there, an obscure emotion. Or maybe it's a very obvious one and I just suck at other people's emotions as much as I do with mine.

"What did you do?" Luther narrows his eyes. "You did that hand thingy and everything went quiet." He gestures turning a dial like I did only a few seconds ago.

Well, not seconds, time doesn't exist here.

I try and take a step towards him, but my body doesn't allow me too. My foot moves an inch, but it falls right back onto the floor with a thud. Why does my leg feel as if there's a thirty pound weight strapped to it?

I must be running out of time. Ironic given what I just did. Judging by how my body feels I can only stay in this timeless state for a short amount of time. Not time—something else entirely.

In this state I may be able to run from time, but it's only temporary. After all, time is inevitable.

I glance up at Luther, my thoughts stay in a box in my mind, not affecting my current mood. I am still very much angry. And that angry fuels my power, and that power is coursing through my veins right now, slowly deteriorating my body.

"Time, I stopped it." I reply, though I sound not as confident as I wish I did. This is a new thing for me, I guess anger does that to people. It pushes them to new heights.

I'm not all that surprised as several conflicting emotions play out on the boys faces. The emotion that overshadows everything is definitely shock.

"Um-." Diego raises a single finger as if to point something out. He pauses before finally saying. "Excuse me?"

I don't react to their emotions, instead I face Luther. It's time to end this argument.

"Your plan is going to get us all killed." I raise my head, defiance radiating off of me.

Luther gives me a look of disbelief. He takes a step towards me. "You just stopped time. Why is it so hard to use power like that against Vanya?"

"Because, idiot, I can't!" I spit the words, so close to saying something I shouldn't.

Why the hell would I tell him? I could never admit a weakness like that. I've always had such a powerful ability, the strongest of the Umbrella Academy, that was what everyone thought. And that's why everyone thinks I could easily defeat Vanya.

But I can't.

And it pains me to think that. Wouldn't it be so easy if I could just end all this with a swipe of my hand? Then we wouldn't be in this fucked up situation right now.

The truth was, the power I would need to fight Vanya. The power that I have is something that I can't control. Too much of it, and I would. . .make that same mistake again. And I refuse to.

Luther furrows his eyebrows, he looks frustrated, like he wants to grab me by my shoulders and shake me. And it's a valid want. I want to do the same thing to him.