Number eight- The Umbrella Academy

three

By the time she was at the bottom of the stairs the flashing was still going. It was an off colour, a blue-ish silvery tone, nothing that she had ever seen before. She ran through the entry way where she met with Allison.
"Are you ok?" Katie asked as they rushed to go out into the courtyard. Allison looked a bit shaken up because of the occurrence be outside. "I'm fine, you?" Allison asked, they reached the door and she nodded, although she wasn't sure that she had seen her.

When they had got to the door, all of their siblings were going outside. The wind was whipping around the courtyard, causing all of the fallen leaves and branches to be disrupted.

"What is it?" Vanya shouted over the sound of the wind.

"Don't get too close!"

"Yeah, no shit." Diego shouted in a sarcastic tone.

"Looks like some sort of temporal anomaly." Luther shouted, he paused for a second before speaking again. "Either that or a miniature black hole. One of the two." He said like it was normal.

"Great so either way we're in danger then." Katie commented.

"Pretty big difference there, Paul Bunyan."

"Out of the way!" Klaus charged through the siblings, making them separate. He was carrying a fire extinguisher. That would obviously not do anything at all.

"What are you-" Luther started but stopped in the middle of his question as Klaus threw the extinguisher into the giant glowing hole that was in front of them. "What is that gonna do?" Allison asked. "I don't know. Do you have a better idea?"

The electricity in the air crackled loudly. It continued to flash white. "Whoa,whoa,whoa."

"Everybody get behind me." Luther said, pushing himself to the front of the little cluster of siblings. "Yeah, get behind us." Diego added, pushing himself to stand next to him.
"So much testosterone." She mumbled. The power struggle between the two of them was unreal.

"I vote for running, c'mon!" Klaus shouted, just before another crackle of electricity came. They were getting stronger by the second. A face started to materialise within the glowing mass. First it started as a middle aged man, grey hair and beard, then it shifted to a younger boy. Someone who seemed so recognisable to her but she couldn't put her finger on it. Screaming filled the air, she wasn't sure if it was from Klaus or this strange man.
The thundering sounds suddenly stopped as a teenage body fell through it. Immediately, they rushed forward to see who it was. Katie was stuck at the back of the crowd. Due to her height she could not see anything.

"Does anyone else see little Number Five, or is that just me?" Klaus asked, this caught her attention straight away. She pushed past Klaus and then Luther (which was a struggle).

"Five?" She felt like the wind had been knocked out of her, she was speechless. He was actually there. She thought that he had gone long ago, never to return. But he was here. Actually here.

"Shit." Number five said, looking at his siblings. In his mind when he came back and saw them it would have been in a different situation, not eight days before the world ended. But he was glad to see them, he had missed them dearly. As his eyes scanned their faces he saw his sister, Katie, tears rolling down her face. She was the hardest one to loose. They had been so close and then to be all alone. It was hell on earth. Seeing her face right now made him feel awful that he had left, worse than he had already felt.
From further observation he had noticed that one of them wasn't there. Ben, where was he? He wasn't there at the Umbrella Academy in the future either, even if they were all dead he was still missing from the group.

— — — —

Five sighed, he was looking in the cupboard for some decent food to eat. There was nothing spectacular but he did find peanut butter and marshmallows. "What's the date? The exact date." He demanded

"The 24th." Vanya said, still in awe of seeing Five here. "Of what?" He asked. "March."
"Good."

"So, are we gonna talk about what just happened? It's been 17 years!" Luther questioned, seeing his brother now was strange for him, considering he had mourned for him, all of them had, and now he was here.

"It's been a lot longer than that." Five said just before he spatial jumped to where the draw was, he grabbed a butter knife to spread his peanut butter.

"I haven't missed that." Luther commented.

"Where'd you go?"

"The future. And it's shit by the way." Five stated, the things he had seen, no one would believe him unless they saw it themselves. Which was impossible.

Listening to the conversation and Fives voice made Katie feel distant. She didn't want to be apart of it. She was speechless anyway so even if she wanted to she couldn't. Away from the group she stood, leaning against the wall, drink in hand like earlier whilst they all surrounded him on the table.
Five looked the exact same way he did when he left. His dark hair still pushed the same way. The dimples that were on his face were still there. It was as if he never left. But he did and she couldn't forget that. As much as she was happy that he was back, she was angry that he left in the first place, that he even decided to time travel.
If what he was saying was true then something massive must have happened that completely messed up the world.
"It couldn't hurt if I just looked in his head, just to check." She thought to herself. At first, she closed her eyes so no one could see them glowing. Then slowly relaxed her mind, letting herself slip into his mind, slowly.
She first saw memories of when they were kids messing around on the roof or out in the courtyard.
The memories started to flash quicker, him time travelling and landing in a desolate space. She could see fire and fallen buildings, debris everywhere. Next came a paper he looked up at the date. Eight days away. That flashed away and she saw her siblings dead bodies, they looked the exact same as they did today, all of them were there except Vanya.
She let out a scream of pain, the pain in her head was piercing. Quickly, she managed to pull herself back out of Fives head before she was pulled in too deep.

When she opened her eyes she saw Five about to leave the room, he stopped in front of her.
"You looked didn't you?" He asked her, looking down as she slid towards the floor. She nodded meekly.
"I'll talk to you later." He said and turned away, not looking back, even when Katie pushed a message into his head.

I missed you.

- - - -

Sorry for the delay, I was in Ireland for the weekend visiting some family.

I hope you liked the chapter, I love seeing your comments across the book and your opinions in them.