Chaotic Good | the umbrella academy

FIFTEEN

I DON'T WANT TO DIE ALONE.

With a clenched jaw, she pulled a rag from her pocket and cleaned it away silently. On every window or mirror she met, crimson ink portrayed a sentence.

MAKE IT STOP.

I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING.

I DON'T WANT TO DIE.

LEAVE ME ALONE.

Eddie sighed and looked away from them.

"Miss?"

"Hermes," she answered, not turning to face him.

"Do you require any assistance?"

"No."

The redhead returned to cleaning the glass, the silence returning.

"You should tell her the truth."

"It isn't your place to advise me of such a course of action."

"You regretted not telling anyone. You regretted a lot of things."

"Those were just spur-of-the-moment things. Mouths become loose when you're on death's door."

"No, they weren't, and you know it."

She finally turned to face him fully. "And then what? Telling anyone won't make me better. Everyone will become so apprehensive around me. Like one wrong move, and I'll shatter. I don't want that."

"But then you'll rob them of a chance to say goodbye."

"That's not my problem."

\_|_/\_|_/\_|_/

When Eddie returned from her world, she blinked groggily and stared at the dim room. Vanya sat on an armchair opposite the sofa she laid across. She'd pulled closed the curtains over the windows to block the light, making her hard to distinguish.

Her green eyes flickered to her bandaged hands, and she sighed.

"Thank you, Vanya," she spoke quietly.

"Do you need anything else?"

"No."

"Okay."

I DON'T WANT TO DIE ALONE.

"I need to tell you something."

Vanya straightened further in her seat, but Eddie remained sprawled across the sofa, staring at the ceiling.

"I haven't told anyone this and wasn't planning on it either. I'm still not sure. But you deserve to know and... and I trust you.

"A few years ago, I began to get headaches. They were constant like someone was slowly hacking against my skull. I didn't think much of it at that point. I just thought it was my work catching up with me. Then... I began to feel nauseous, and suddenly I'd have the urge to throw up."

Eddie fell quiet for a moment and ran her tongue over her teeth. She inhaled sharply and continued, "Hermes advised me to make an appointment with a doctor. Well, more like forced me, but whatever. I went, and they took some tests.

"I have a brain tumour just above the hippocampus. That's one of the parts that control emotions, memory and abnormalities like hallucinations. It's deep within the brain."

"Oh my God, Eddie." Her voice made Eddie glad she couldn't see her face in the darkness. "Is- is it- Are you-"

"Terminal? Yeah."

They fell into silence before a small sob escaped Vanya's throat, and the shuffling told her she covered her mouth. "Do you- do you know how long... how long you've got left?"

"I don't. I didn't want to know. It could be any day, or who knows... I'll live to one hundred."

Vanya suddenly got up and moved away, the sounds of her feet following her to the kitchen. Eddie didn't move, but even if her sister tried to hide them, the sounds of her sobs filtered into her ears.

The redhead closed her eyes, slowly bringing a hand to her forehead. She winced at the pain but noticed it was less than before - Vanya had probably given her some painkillers.

With a heavy exhale, Eddie pushed herself to her feet and followed Vanya's path gingerly to the kitchen. She stared at the back of her as she sobbed, hands covering her face. "Vanya?"

She didn't turn to face her but let her hands drop from her face. "Sorry, I'm acting like you're already dead."

A small smile formed on her face. "Wishful thinking, hey? It's okay. I've already had time to process it."

"Can- can I hug you?"

Eddie froze, her tongue poking through the gaps between her teeth. She didn't reply immediately, her gaze burning into Vanya's back.

"I'm sorry- Ignore me-"

"-Will it make you feel better?"

Vanya turned to face her and nodded.

She needed to be brave.

I DON'T WANT TO DIE ALONE.

With a short and quick exhale, Eddie approached Vanya. She didn't move immediately, internally psyching herself up and trying to push down the panic already threatening to burst from her. Before Vanya could see her glowing eyes, Eddie wrapped her arms around her shoulders.

Cautiously, Vanya returned the gesture, her arms around Eddie's middle, burying her head into her ginger hair.

She forced herself to relax as she felt her sister's shoulders begin to shake, sobbing into Eddie's collar. Letting out a sigh, the redhead swallowed thickly and tried her hardest to keep the revolt from taking over her whole body for her sister's sake.