Chaotic Good | the umbrella academy

THREE

Luther ignored her, gaze locked on the cigarette Klaus smoked. "Put that out! You know Dad didn't allow smoking in here!"

"Is that my skirt?" Allison asked as she focused on Klaus' attire.

"Yes, it is!" he exclaimed, smiling broadly. "I found it in your room. Kinda dated, I know, but very breathy on the bits." He demonstrated it by twirling the fabric. "And as my darling, supportive sister put it, 'Anything's unisex if you stop being a little bitch about it!'"

"Fuck yeah!" Eddie chimed in, finally looking away from the fuse box and brandishing her screwdriver above her head like a picket board. "Oppose the patriarchy and shitty societies!"

"I'll drink to that." Allison took a swig of her whisky after toasting to her sister's words, causing Eddie to cheer and down her drink.

"Okay, enough!" Luther gathered their attention back. "We have more important things to discuss!"

"Like what?"

"Like his death!"

Eddie's grin dropped, and she slowly put her empty glass on the sideboard again, exhaling heavily in annoyance but managing to keep her frustration reigned in.

"I don't understand." Vanya furrowed her eyebrows. "I thought it was a heart attack."

"According to the coroner," Luther replied.

"Wouldn't he know?"

The words made her control of her words dwindle, and the sentence had left her mouth before she realised it. "Exactly, dear. Luther thinks he's more qualified than a coroner with his non-existent degrees."

"What makes you the expert?" Luther shot back.

The whole room looked at Luther with varying expressions of "Really?"

He shrunk back slightly. "Look, last time I talked to Dad, he sounded strange."

"Oh, quelle surprise!" Klaus exclaimed, his voice distorted by the liquid in his mouth.

"Strange how?" Allison questioned.

"He was on edge. Told me to be careful who I trusted."

"Luther," Diego began. "He was a paranoid, bitter, old man who was losing what was left of his marbles."

"No," Luther continued, disregarding their reasonings. "He must have known something. Klaus, I know you don't like to do it, but I need you to talk to Dad."

"I can't - I can't do that! I can't just call him up in the afterlife like, 'Hey, Dad! Can you... stop playing tennis with Hitler for a sec to answer this call?'"

"Why not?" Luther questioned.

"Because... I'm not in the headspace for it."

Everyone - bar Eddie's - eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Oh, come on!" she exclaimed as if it was obvious before her voice dropped to a deadpan, "He's fucking high."

"I am not!" Klaus denied dramatically.

Eddie scoffed. "Your eyes have dilated forty-five per cent at least in the last ten minutes. You're fidgety and impulsive, and I genuinely don't think I've seen you concentrate on anything for more than eight seconds."

The room fell into silence briefly as they processed the information.

Klaus glared at her and returned her scoff but in a mocking tone. "Okay, whatever. Maybe I am. I mean, how are you not? Listening to this nonsense!"

"And then there's the matter of the missing monocle," Luther intervened before Eddie could fire back at her brother's mock.

Diego furrowed his eyebrows. "Who gives a shit about a stupid monocle?"

"Exactly, it's worthless. So, whoever took it, I think it was personal."

Eddie's eyes widened, the monocle in her pocket suddenly weighing like a tonne of bricks. As she swallowed lightly, she made sure the folds of her clothes hid the object and forced her tense muscles to relax.

"Someone close to him. Someone with a grudge," he continued.

"Where are you going with this?"

"Oh, isn't it obvious, Klaus?" Diego shot back. "He thinks one of us killed Dad."

The engineer's eyes flickered up to Luther, grip tightening around the screwdriver but keeping her mouth closed. Then wasn't the time to accidentally dig herself into a hole.

"You do!" Klaus exclaimed. "You actually think one of us killed Dad!"

"How could you think that?" Vanya questioned in disgust, her voice wavering.

"You're crazy! Crazy!" Klaus shook his head, getting to his feet, and Eddie took the chance to follow so that the attention wouldn't be solely on her and the monocle in her pocket.

"Be right back! I'm just gonna go and kill Mom!" Klaus shouted dramatically as the redhead followed at his heels.