~~~Five~~~
When I woke up, it was the next morning, I was suddenly in pajamas, and Mary was nowhere in sight. I felt a little uneasy at that. Even when I was at the commission, not having her beside me at all times made me uncomfortable. I assume its because we were all the other had for thirty years.
I walked into the kitchen as Luther went to take a sip of coffee. I took the cup out of his hand, drinking it myself.
"Nice. Ok." Klaus said, standing across the table with the coffee pot in his hand.
"Gosh. Who do I gotta kill to get a decent cup of coffee?" I asked.
"Can we get started please?" Luther asked groggily.
"Anyone seen any of the others? Diego? Allison? Mary? No? Alright then, this is the closest thing to a quorum," He banged a spatula on the table, causing Luther to wince, "That we're gonna get. Now, listening up, there's no easy way to say this, so I'm just gonna spit it out. Yeah." Luther and I both stared at Klaus, waiting for him to continue.
"Klaus."
"I conjured Dad last night." Luther and I glanced at each other.
"I thought you said you haven't been able to conjure anyone in years."
"Ah, yes, I know, but I'm sober. Ta-Da! I got clean, yesterday, to talk to someone special, and then ended up having this...conversation with dear old daddy himself."
"Has anyone got some aspirin?" Luther questioned.
"Top shelf, next to the crackers." I informed him.
"Hey, hey, hey. This is serious, guys, alright? This really happened, I swear. Its moments like this I wish Mary were here, she'd believe me."
"That's because she doesn't know you." I pointed out, taking a sip of my coffee.
"No, its because your girlfriend, has a tendency of looking for the best in people, otherwise she wouldn't be with you." Klaus replied. I narrowed my eyes at him. Mostly because he was right.
"Ok fine, I'll play. What did the old man have to say?"
"Well, he gave me the usual lecture about my appearance and my failures in life, yada yada yada. No surprise there. Even the afterlife couldn't soften a hard head like Dad, right? But he did mention something about his murder, or lack thereof, because...he killed himself."
"I don't have time for your games Klaus." Luther told him, standing up and pushing his chair back.
"I'm telling you the truth, Luther. I'm telling you the truth."
"Why'd he do it, then?" I asked.
"He said it was the only way to get us all home again."
"No, Dad wouldn't just kill himself."
"Well, you said it yourself. He was depressed." I pointed out. "Holed up in his office and room all day and night."
"No. There weren't any signs. Suicidal people exhibit certain tendencies, strange behaviors."
"Like sending someone to the Moon for no reason?" Klaus asked.
"I swear Klaus, if you're lying..."
"I'm not. I'm not."
"Master Klaus is correct." Pogo said, entering the room behind me. "Regretfully...I helped Master Hargreeves enact his plan."
"What?"
"So did Grace. It was a difficult choice for both of us. More difficult than you could ever know.Prior to your father's death, Grace's programming was adjusted so that she was incapable of administering first aid on that fateful night."
"Sick old man." I muttered.
"So the security tape we saw?" Luther questioned.
"It was meant to further the murder mystery. Your father hoped that being back here, solving it together, would reignite your desire to be a team again."
"And to what end?" I asked.
"To save the world, of course." Klaus chuckled.
"Alright."
"First the moon mission and now this," Luther said, "You watched me search for answers and said nothing. Anything else you want to share, Pogo? Any other dang secrets?!"
"Calm down Luther," I warned.
"Luther," Klaus started.
"No I won't calm down! We've been lied to by the one person in this family we all trusted!"
"It was your father's dying wish, Master Luther. I...I had no choice." Luther took a couple of steps forward.
"There's always choice." Luther walked out, and Pogo followed after him. I rubbed my hands over my face and tugged at my hair. This was too much to process all at once. Dad knew about the apocolypse, he knew his death would bring us all together. Did he know about Mary? Did he know that I would get trapped in the future and meet her? If he knew about the apocalypse, he must've known that she was the only person to survive it.
"I gotta think." I told close, space jumping into my room. I sat down on the bed.
~~~
After sitting in my room thinking about everything for about an hour, I went to go get Klaus. I knocked on the door as I walked in. He was laying on his bed with yarn and two knitting needles for...whatever reason.
"Hey. Get up, we're going." I told him.
"Where?"
"To save the world."
"Oh, is that all? Great." He replied, putting his knitting down and sitting up. I began pacing.
"So, Pogo said Dad killed himself to get us all back together, right?"
"Yeah, so?"
"So it got me thinking. I had to jump to the future to figure out when it happened, but Dad, he can't time travel. So how'd the crazy jackwagon actually know to kill himself a week before the end of the world?
"Well, you know..." He started, putting his socks on.
"Don't answer. That was purely rhetorical." I interrupted. "Truth is, our whole lives, he's been telling us we'd save the world from an impending apocalypse."
"Yeah, but I always thought he just said that to scare us into doing the dishes." Klaus reasoned, putting his shoes on now.
"Me too. But what if the old man really knew it was going to happen?"
"Yeah, but knew how?"
"No idea. But the idea remains his fakakta plan worked. We all came home. Since we're here, we might as well save the world."
"Oh yeah? What like, the two of us?" He asked.
"Well, ideally no, but I've gotta work with what I've got." We walked out of his room just as Diego ran into his own, peeling his jacket off."Where have you been?"
"Jail. Long story. Where's Luther?"
"Haven't seen him since breakfast." I answered.
"Yeah, two days until the world ends, he picks a great time to drop off the grid." Klaus added.
"Crap." He said, putting his knife holster on. "Allison and Mary are in danger." Klaus and I looked at each other, and I felt panic start to rise up in my chest.
Mary is in danger.
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...
