8 ○ Umbrella Academy

Family Matters

Being back in the mansion felt as odd as ever, everything felt...smaller. Makes sense, I'm an adult now, the last time I'd lived here I was still a teenager. The house was oddly quiet, I don't believe it's ever been so still. Walking so I could look through the doorway, I saw Mom sitting by the fire, staring up at the portrait of Five. Her mind was working too fast to keep up with, so I ignored it as best as I could as I came to stand beside her. "Hey, Mom." She was transfixed, whatever her brain was calculating didn't allow for much other focus. I placed a gentle kiss to her blonde hair, returning to the foyer.

Someone's thoughts - I couldn't tell who over Mom's - steadily grew louder, my eyes snapping up to Allison. "Hi, Ali. It's been a while."

"No kidding," she snickered as she came down the rest of the stairs, wrapping me in a gentle hug.

"And I thought I got tall," I chuckled, offering her a soft smile when she pulled back. "Is anyone else--"

"Just Diego and Luther," she informed softly. Allison had always taken her thoughts down as many notches as possible around me, at least she had promised to take it into consideration after I politely refused to attend her wedding. Too many people in a small space, I would've just ruined the day. I turned a bit when the door clicked open, smiling when Vanya slowly stepped through the door. "And Vanya," Allison added with a soft smile of her own.

The door had closed by the time I stepped forward and wrapped her in a hug. No matter what she wrote about me and our family, she was still my favorite sister. When I stepped away, Allison waited an awkward moment before bending down and wrapping her in a hug too. "Hey, Allison," Vayna softly spoke.

"Hey, sis." They were pulling back from their hug when I felt a tug on my brain.

"Ah, what's she doing here?" Diego's voice sounded though the open space. "You don't belong here, not after what you did." He walked right passed us, didn't even spare me a glance.

"You're seriously going to do this today?" Allison defended. "Way to dress for the occassion, by the way," she added as he stomped up the stairs. I looked over the leather and knife straps with a soft sigh shaking my head. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

"At least I'm wearing black," he scoffed, continuing on his way. His attitude made my scar hurt, my multicolored eyes turning back to Vanya with a sympathetic frown.

"You know what? I - Maybe he's right, I shouldn't--" she started, starting to take a step back.

"Forget about him, you're our sister," Allison reminded.

"I'm happy you're here," I tacked on, offering Vanya a small smile. I gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze and followed Diego's path up the stairs, instead going to my own room when I watched him dart into Dad's.

It was a mess, Mom must've came in here to clean. Taking off my jacket, I began organizing. Shifting the papers so they stacked neatly, spacing everything a fingers width apart, stacking the books according to hieght. It only took about five minutes, looking at the rest of the room I'd decided to move onto the bookshelf. I'd taken several steps before I stopped at a voice.

"Ada's home," Diego scoffed, taking in the start of my OCD organization. "This how you always start out?" I frowned and kept walking to the bookshelf, slowly organizing the books there. "How many times do I have to tell you I'm sorry?" he sighed in defeat, realizing I was still upset with him.

"As many as it takes for you to mean it," I answered, looking at him over my left shoulder, the scar and amber eye in his view for only a second before I turned back to organizing. I could hear him huff, his words falling short. I could feel the confliction in him from here, but he just left the room, leaving me to my OCD solitude.