THE BEAST ─ five hargreeves

[ 015 ] the saltwater crocodile shoots luther

XV.

t h e s a l t w a t e r
c r o c o d i l e s h o o t s
l u t h e r

—WHEN VANYA STOPPED over at the Umbrella Academy to pick up her extra violin bow, she wasn't expecting to have a near-death experience with the largest reptile on the planet.

Unfortunately, life has a way of working out like that.

Vanya had walked into the kitchen on that chilly March morning, looking for her precious wooden stick that had been misplaced. She was met with the familiar sight of Five sipping coffee at the dining table.

He listened with feigned attention to a small white parrot with a tuft on her head that was yellow enough to match her marmalade-stained beak. The bird was belting out a polish folk song, and Five kept nodding in agreement like a parent listening to a babbling toddler.

"Hey," Vanya approached him, "Do you, um, know where my violin bow is? I've lost it, and I can't remember—"

"Vanya?" said Five, getting up from his seat, "Just the person I was looking for. Have you seen Zara around?"

Vanya shook her head.

"Oh," he frowned pensively, "I figured she'd be with you or Allison."

"Why the two of us?"

Five shifted, looking suddenly uncomfortable, "Because she started acting weird and got up really quickly."

"And?" Vanya prompted.

"Well, I figured," he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "Maybe it was . . ." Five trailed off, looking uneasy.

"What?"

"You know . . . code red. Lady problems. Shark week. The court of the Crimson King. Riding the cotton pony—"

Vanya winced.

"Okay, okay. I'll go check on her," she assured the floundering boy. He shut up quickly, giving his sister a grateful nod.

It was nice that Five finally had a friend, Vanya thought, as she hurried through the maze of halls and corridors.

He was lonely, and in a sense, Five always had been alone—even before he time-travelled away for over a decade. Vanya understood that. She knew what it felt like to not fit in.

Of course he was part of the Umbrella Academy, and he was a very good fighter, indeed. But Five was also short-tempered, emotionally distant, and had a superiority complex that could rival Narcissus himself.

It wasn't his fault. That was just the kind of person Five was, and Vanya loved her brother despite his flaws.

That didn't mean she never worried about him.

How would he grow up? How could he navigate his teenage years with no parents, no siblings his age, and enough mental trauma to lead him to believe he was a fifty-eight year old in the body of a child?

Vanya shook her head sadly. Five was probably the only person she had a real connection with in her youth.

At least now he had Zara. It would be nice for him to grow up around someone who wasn't like the other Hargreeves.

Someone normal.

She turned the corner, and her eyes fell on Diego. He was on his knees in the middle of the hallway with a pained grimace plastered across his face.

"Where's Zara?" she questioned him, knowing the man wouldn't like to explain his predicament.

Fixing her in his trademark glare, Diego gestured to a closed room a little ways behind him.