ZERØ (The Umbrella Academy)

Chapter 6: Man On The Moon

Esme opened up her eyes and let out a groan as she looked to her side and hissed in pain.

"Hey." Esme turned her head to her side and saw Diego.

"How are you feeling?" He asked softly.

"Hurts." She told him softly and he ran his hand over her head gently.

"I'm fine though." She reassured him as he placed his hand back in his lap and she began to sit up.

"Esme You should rest." Diego told her as she groaned a bit more.

"I'm tired of resting." She stood up from the bed and began to make her way out.

"Uh. Esme. One more thing." Diego stood up as well and she turned to him.

"What is it?"  She asked as he looked at her debating if he should tell her what happened to Mom.

"Nothing. Just be careful."  He told her and she smiled to him, before walking over and wrapping her arms around him, he did the same but made sure to be gentle.

"Will do Diego."  She smiled and pulled away, heading out of the room.

~~~

Esme sat on a bench watching kids play on the playground. She wished she was able to do that at their age. She lost count of how many times she begged her father to let her go play with other kids.

"You're starring and it makes you look creepy." She heard a voice from beside her and saw it was Iyla.

"Iyla?" She questioned not believing who she was seeing.

"That's my name." He smirked a bit.

"Now you're even more weird because you're talking to yourself." He commented as she grabbed her phone from her purse and put it to her ear.

"Didn't want the police to get called." He spoke, mostly to himself.

"I-I thought your spirit died or something." She looked at him a bit shocked.

"I'm pretty good at not dying. My kind at least." He shrugged, shifting his body forward on the bench.

"Daro."

He let out a stifle laugh.

"You remembered."

"The last time I saw you was when I was seventeen. Why did you leave?"  She questioned as he kept his gaze on the playground.

"I don't know."  He lied, but if course Esme couldn't tell he was lying.  She always hoped people would tell the truth and would believe them.

The truth was that Iyla liked Esme more than friends.  He first found her when she was twelve years old.

She was afraid of him at first but he showed her that he was nice. To her anyways.  Iyla was cruel to everyone else that he encountered, killed them even, but he found Esme to be his favorite.

He practically watched her grow up and when she was seventeen he left, tried to forgot all his feelings for her, but of course it didn't work.  He can't admit them to her.

He's over a thousand years old.

She's only 29