Number Eight {The Umbrella Academy} -- [On Hold]

Eighteen

"Why'd he do it then?" Five asked, frowning.

"He said it was the only way to get us all home again."

"No. Dad wouldn't just kill himself," Luther protested.

"You said it yourself, he was depressed. Holed up in his office and room all day and night," Five said, looking down at the table.

"No. There weren't any signs. Suicidal people exhibit certain tendencies, strange behaviors."

"Like sending someone to the moon for no reason?"

"Luther, you were gone for five years." He looked down at me, pain clear in his eyes. "I went months here without seeing the bastard, and when I did, he was weird. The last time I saw him, he was actually nice to me, or at least his nice. Didn't yell at me for being drunk under his roof as per usual. The signs were there, you weren't here to see them. I- I think he did."

He stared at me for a moment, then the table, then Klaus.

"I swear to God, Klaus, if you're lying..."

"I'm not! I'm not."

"Master Klaus is correct." Pogo -solemn and sorrowful- slowly walked into the kitchen. "Regretfully... I helped Master Hargreeves enact his plan." My heart sank, and I'm sure I had the same look on my face as my brothers had on theirs. One of betrayal.

"What?" If words could kill, Pogo would be dead after Luther spoke.

"So did Grace. It was a difficult choice, for both of us. More difficult than you could ever know."

"But you chose it." I met Pogo's gaze, and he looked down.

"Yes. Yes, we did." He sighed. "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 bastard," Five muttered. I couldn't agree more.

"So the security tape we saw?" Luther asked.

"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?" Five asked.

"To save the world, of course." Klaus laughed, shaking his head.

"First the moon mission, and now this? You watched me search for answers and said nothing. Anything else you want to share, Pogo. Any other damn secrets?" Luther demanded.

"Hey, calm down, Luther," Klaus tried.

"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 had no choice."

Luther moved to loom over the chimpanzee, who seemed close to breaking his stoic appearance.

"There's always a choice."

He left.

Pogo sighed, then hobbled after him.

Five thrust his hands into his hair, then sighed.

"I gotta-I gotta think." He jumped through space, leaving Klaus and I alone.

"Well fuck, broseph. I didn't think our family could get anymore insane, but here we are." I jumped off the counter and went to sit, but Klaus stuck out an arm to stop me from sitting in the chair beside him. I rose an eyebrow.

"Uh, he's sitting there. Ben, I mean."

I turned and stared where I estimated my brother's head to be, then spun back to the living one.