"You guys," Klaus asked, "Am I still high, or do you see him too?"
"Five, where have you been?" He rolled off of the counter, falling down. He had debris in his hair and all over his clothes.
"Are you alright?"
"Who did this?" Allison asked.
"Irrelevant." He took Allison's coffee from her hand, standing up and walking over beside me, downing the whole cup in one go. "So the apocalypse is in three days. The only chance we have to save our world is, well, us."
"The Umbrella Academy." Luther stated.
"Yeah, but with us, obviously." He put a hand on my shoulder, and I resisted the urge to twist it behind his back and shove his face into the floor. "So if y'all don't get your sideshow acts together and get over yourselves, we're screwed. Who cares if Dad messed us up. Are we gonna let that define us?" They all shook their heads. "No." He looked at me.
"I'm gonna kill you." I told him. "I'm going to kill you, and then I'm going to make Klaus find a way to resurrect you, and then I'm gonna kill you again!"
"What?" He asked.
"I have just spent the past day, screaming and making up motivational speeches, trying to get these guys on board, because you Mr. Hotshot, went off to the Commission without bothering to tell me about it, and then you come back to this time, right now, so the past day never happened and you do it with one sentence?! Are you freaking kidding me?!" I shoved him, shaking my head and standing beside the others, who all looked at me like I was crazy. "Carry on with your 'stopping the apocalypse' thing. Don't let me get in your way." I narrowed my eyes at Five.
"...and to give us a fighting chance to see next week, I've come back with a lead." Five held up a folded piece of paper. "I know who's responsible for the apocalypse." He handed it to Allison, who began unfolding it. "This is who we have to stop."
"Harold Jenkins?" Allison asked.
"Who the heck is Harold Jenkins?" Diego questioned. Five finished off whatever was left in the coffee cup and chucked it across the room.
"I don't know...yet. But I do know that he's responsible for the apocalypse. So we have to find him. And we have to do it now."
"But how is he connected to what's gonna happen?" Luther asked.
"I don't know."
"Wait, so you just know his name? That's it?"
"That's enough." Five stated.
"There's probably dozens of Harold Jenkinses in the city."
"Well...we have three days to figure out which one is the right one." I pointed out.
"I'm sorry, am I the only one that's skeptical here?" Five winced uncomfortably and I furrowed my eyebrows. "I mean, how exactly do you know all of this about what's his name?"
"He was at the Commission," I explained, "Its their job to know the who, when, and why of everything that matters in the context of the universe. Which, I feel like I have explained this before, oh, that's right, I have."
"You know those lunatics in the masks who attacked the house?" Five asked.
"Oh yeah, I think I remember those guys." Klaus said sarcastically.
"Yeah, the ones that attacked us while your girlfriend was unconscious and you were getting drunk." Diego agreed, also with sarcasm dripping from his voice.
"Yeah, then, they were sent by the Temps Commission to stop Mary and I from coming back and preventing the end of life on earth.
"The Temps what?" Allison asked.
"Our old employer, like Mary said, they monitor all of time and space to make sure that whatever is supposed to happen, happens. They believe the apocalypse is coming in three days. So I went to Commission headquarters and intercepted a message that was meant for said lunatics. 'Protect Harold Jenkins'. So he must be responsible for the apocalypse." Suddenly they all burst into questions.
"Do you have any idea how insane this sounds?" Allison asked.
"You know what else is insane? Mary and I look like thirteen year old kids. Klaus talks to the dead, and Luther thinks he's fooling everybody with that overcoat. Everything about us is insane. It always has been."
"He's got a point there." Klaus agreed.
"We didn't choose this life, we're just living it. For the next three days anyway."
"But the last time we tried to stop it, we all died. Why isn't this time any different, why shouldn't I go home to my daughter?"
"No, the last time you four tried to stop it, you all died." I corrected. "But now there's six of us."
"We're here, we have the name of the man responsible. Guys, we actually have the chance of saving the lives of billions of people. Including Claire."
"You know her name?" Allison asked.
"I do. And I'd like to live long enough to meet her."
"Alright. Lets get this guy." I internally rolled my eyes at how much easier it was for him to convince them. Wait, why do I remember a day that never happened?
"You had me at Gerald Jenkins." Diego said.
"Harold Jenkins." Five and I said in unison.
"Whatever. I've already lost two people this week, I'm not losing anyone else."
"Luther?" Five asked.
"Yeah, you guys go. I'm gonna stay behind and go through Dad's files. I still think this has something to do with why he sent me to the Moon."
"Seriously? Now you wanna make the end of the world about you and Dad?" Diego questioned.
"No. 'Watch for threats', that's what he told me. You think that's a coincidence? This all must be connected somehow."
"No, we all have to stick together." Allison argued.
"We don't have time for this." Five interrupted.
"Let's roll. I know where we can find this a-hole. Klaus, you're with me." Diego said.
"Yeah, I-I'm good."
"Here we go again." I muttered.
"I think I'll uh...I think I'll pass I'm feeling a little under the weather, so uh..." I sighed and Five and I followed Diego out the door.
"You know, we really don't have time for you to be mad at me." Five whispered. I nodded.
"Yeah...well I'm gonna be mad at you anyway, and save the world while doing it. Just try and stop me." I tried to walk past him, but he grabbed my wrist, stopping me in my tracks and standing in front of me. "What happened do we don't have time for-"
He cut my off, putting his mouth on mine and kissing me passionately for a moment before pulling back and offering me an over-confidant smirk, fully expecting this to make me not angry anymore. I returned it.
"You taste like debris." I said, patting the side of his face and walking past him. "Nice try, though."
YOU ARE READING
The Burden of Knowledge (An Umbrella Academy/Number Five Fan-Fiction)
Fanfiction"Knowledge is a burden-once taken up, it can never be discarded".-Stephen R. Lawhead. Mary Burke was one of forty-three children from across the world that came into existence in a single day by some freak event. She was one of the lucky few howeve...
