Do you have a green thumb or do plants just seem to wilt in your presence?
Marianna still wasn't back even when Emery opened his eyes in the middle of the night.
He and Five had ended up laying down sometime during the hours they were asleep and when Emery eased out of Five's loose grip and snuck out into the hallway to search for the girl, a sense of dread pooled in his stomach.
He glanced at the clock 1:30 am. She would be back by now. She always came back. He'd have to talk to Allison the next chance he got, see if she'd seen the girl recently.
Emery snuck back inside but Five was already sitting up waiting for him.
"I thought you left." He said, voice low in the silent room. The lack of noise was almost unsettling.
"Just stepped out to see if Marianna was back yet."
"Why, is she not in?" Five asked with a frown. He stood up and checked the top bunk. "Huh." He said when his searched revealed nothing.
"I'm worried." Emery said.
"Well, should we go and look for her?" Five asked.
Emery was about to say yes but then he caught sight of Five and the bags still beneath his eyes. They had been having such a good sleep and Five had yet to have a nightmare tonight.
"No, it's ok." He said. "It's still dark. Let's get some sleep." Emery said, padding over to Five.
The boy tensed. "Do you want me to use the top bunk or sleep on the floor? Sorry, I kind of fell asleep on you earlier."
"No, sleep here." Emery said. He could have worded the sentence fifty different ways but he had chosen those three words. Idiot. He scolded himself as he carefully got back under the sheets and made room for Five.
He found himself holding his breath when Five joined again, not clutching to the very side of the bed like last time but making himself comfortable- therefore making them closer in proximity.
"Thank you." Five said into the darkness as he stared up. "For letting me stay here. For being on my side." He added.
"Always." Emery replied, letting his eyes shut and forcing a sense of peace within himself though his body was trying to do everything but by reminding him how close Five's body was to his and how Marianna could be dead right now and he was going to sleep with the knowledge.
This means nothing. He told himself as he faced away from Five and folded his hands beneath his head. He hated Five. Five hated him; had made it blatantly obvious. The apocalypse was in Five days. He needed to focus on that.
Restlessly, Emery fell back asleep.
✩
"Do you think they'll show?" Five asked. They were heading to the address indicated on the letter invite from Reginald. Five tapped his knee restlessly as Emery drove them there.
"Positive." Emery said.
"Even Luther?"
"He'd be a fool not to." Emery replied. "With all his talk about branching out, he's never not going to show up to something like this."
"I hope you're right." Five said.
"I hope so too." Emery said, glancing at the streets in case Marianna was wondering them. A futile effort- this much Emery knew but the worry was gnawing at him from the inside out.
Five cleared his throat and adjusted his uniform tie but didn't say anything for the remainder of the ride.
Emery didn't blame him. He knew the boy was probably kicking himself for opening up to Emery. He was probably scared that Emery no longer saw him as someone who always had it together. Emery wanted to talk to him about it, to tell Five it was okay and that his perception of him didn't change but he found his hand instead drifting to the radio nozzle where he turned it on and to a channel playing old timey- or rather current songs. He didn't want to re open the wound of last night and Emery guessed Five didn't either.
They got there and Emery parked. "Do you want me to come with you?" He asked, hand hovering over the car door handle.
"What do you mean? Or course I do." Five said, door already open on his side.
"This is your father." Emery said. "I'm not part of this family and it seems like a family gathering."
"You can't let Luther get to your head. He didn't mean it. He's just overwhelmed with everything."
Emery shook his head. "But he's not wrong." He said.
"Maybe so. But you're a part of this. I need you in there with me." Five said.
Emery moved to retaliate, to say that there was no way he was needed here but he found himself nodding and soon they were both getting out of the car and entering inside.
They walked together to the elevator, steps drawn out as they looked around for the other Hargreeves siblings.
Five pressed the button to go up and stepped in when it opened. Emery stood beside him and watched as Five sighed and pressed the button for the right floor, digging his hands in his pockets as the doors started closing.
At the last second, a hand wedged itself in between the small crack to prevent it from shutting anymore.
"Wait up." Diego said, opening the doors all the way and stepping in next to Emery who was now donning a small smile.
"Hold it." Allison said, appearing next and stepping in as well. Five shuffled to the right to make more room as everyone else started filtering in.
"Excuse me." Luther said.
"Hey everyone." Klaus greeted as he too stepped in.
"Good. We're all here." Five said, a proud smile on his own face that faded eventually as the doors shut for good this time and they began rising.
"Oh, God." Allison said a moment later and the next time Emery inhaled, it was to the smell of something he would pay a good sum of money to forget.
"Luther." Klaus groaned as Five and Emery held a hand over their noses.
"Sorry, I'm nervous." Luther said.
The moment they reached their desired floor and the doors opened again, everyone pushed out.
"Nasty. I'm choking." Five said.
"None of that." Klaus added.
They all spluttered and pushed forward away from Luther and his worry gas into a large room. They slowed to a gate as they took everything in.
They were in an area styled to look like a Tiki lounge as courtesy of the large sign above their heads that read 'Tiki Lounge'.
"All right, when Dad gets here, I'll do the talking, okay?" Five said.
"I've got a few questions for him myself." Diego said.
"Hey, we don't wanna scare him off all right? He might be able to help us stop doomsday, get us home."
"No Five, we need to figure out why he's planning to kill the president." Diego insisted.
"This is a metter of life and death you imbecile." Five stated.
"Okay, yeah, maybe we should take turns talking. Yeah?" Vanya ventured. "Here, whoever has got this conch shell gets to talk." She said, holding up a shell she picked up from one of the other tables.
"Vanya, we don't have time for a debate, okay?" Five commented.
"Maybe I should lead. We all know I'm a better public speaker than the rest of you." Allison said, taking the shell from Vanya.
"Okay, Daddy's girl." Diego said.
"Oh, jealous number two?" Allison teased.
"Hey, no more numbers." Diego declared. "No more bullshit. We're team zero. We're all team zero."
"Uh, Diego." Luther said, drawing the man's attention. "You don't have the conch."
"Oh." Diego said, grabbing the conch from Allison and letting it fly loose. It hit the wall with a clang and shattered.
"Classic." Luther scoffed.
Before any more bikkering could occur, the door sprung open and in walked Riginald Hargeeves. He stalked forward curtly and moved around the table, ignoring all the stares he was getting until he was firmly seated at the head of the table rightly.
"Not only have you burglarized my lab, set my chimp loose, conned your way into the Mexican consulate, repeatedly stalked and attacked me, but you have, on numerous occasions called me..."
The man was inturupted by Klaus taking a sea right next to him and sitting down with a grunt, margarita in hand. "Hey, Pop. How's it hangin'?'" he said casually.
Emery tipped his head back and took a deep breath.
"-Dad." Reginald finished. "My reconnaissance tells me you're not the CIA, not KGB, certainly not M15, so... who are you?" He finished only to be gretted with heavy stares and open mouths of people who could not longer seem to formulate a sentence.
"We're your children. Well- most of us." Five said at last. "We're from the future. In 1989, you adopted us all and trained us to fight against the end of the world. Called us the Umbrella Academy."
Sir Reggy seemed a bit incredulous with the information. "Why on earth would I adopt six--"
"Seven." Allison corrected. "One of us isn't here."
"Dead." Diego said. "One of us is dead."
"Yeah ba-ba-ba-ba-ba enough of that now." Klaus said, turning in his seat and talking to no one. At least no one visible.
There was a pause in which Reginald certainly looked like he was debating his life choices up until this moment. "Regardless." He continued. "What would possess me to adopt seven ill-mannered malcontents?"
"We all have special abilities." Five said.
"Special? In what sense?" Reginald asked.
"In the superpower sense." Luther said.
"Call me old-fashioned, but I'm a stickler for a pesky little thing called evidence. Show me." The old man demanded.
"Everybody wants to see powers all of a sudden." Allison said annoyedly as she stirred her drink.
"We're not circus animals, okay? We're not gonna bounce balls on our noses and clap our hands like seals for your amusement." Luther said.
"Surely, that kind of response is proof enough. I mean, if they were lying, they wouldn't be reacting like that would they." Emery said, speaking up for the first time since the elevator.
Reginald peered at him through his monicle. "'They'?" He quoted. "Who are you?"
"Not you're child." Emery said with a smile.
Reginalf pursed his lips and frowned. First impressions be damned thought Emery. He didn't like the man anyway.
Suddenly Diego was throwing one of his knives and it curved in an arc, missing Reginald completely and burying itself in one of the wooden beams beyond.
Reginald nodded to himself and then wrote something down in the notebook he had brought with him.
"Wait, what are you writing?" Diego asked, leaning forward.
"You are zero for two, young man." He replied, disintered.
Diego turned rageful as he got up in a fit, fists clenched and ready to throw hands.
Five teleprted away from his seat and reappeared in front of Diego. "Stop!" He said, placing his hands on his brothers chest to halt him from his advances.
"Now that is interesting," Reginald noted. Just the way he had said it was aggravating. The man was looking at Five with interest now, an interest Emery didn't like.
"All right uh, quick run down." Five said. "Luther: super strength. Klaus can communicate with the dead. Allison can rumor anyone to do anything." Five began, sitting back down.
"Except she never uses it." Diego said as he too sat back down.
Allison just smiled. "I heard a rumor you punched yourself in the face."
"Ah!" Cursed Diego as he punched himself in the face. "Damnit!" He frowned in pain. Allison just happily slurped her drink.
"And you?" Reginald asked Vanya who was seated to his right.
"Uh, maybe we don't take Vanya for a test run." Luther suggested.
"Oh yeah, that's probably not a good idea." Contributed Klaus.
"Yeah."
"It's fine." Vanya dismissed. "I can handle it."
"Handle it?" Allison asked. "Last time you handled it, you definitely blew up the moon."
More protests sprung up as the sound of everyone talking over each other filled the air. "I wouldn't-", "No Vanya don't", "That's not a good idea."
But Vanya was moving, touching the edge of her utensil to the glass in front of her but instead of whatever it was she planned to do, the entire large fruit basket in the middle of the table exploded and everyone rushed to cover their faces while Reginald took it head on.
"This is my favorite shirt. Wow." Complained Klaus.
Vanya just smiled. "Oops." She said.
"That was impressive." Luther admitted.
"Nice touch." Emery added, picking up the end of what looked to be a cantaloupe and placing it on his tongue. "Doesn't taste bad."
"Look. We know that you're involved in a plot to assassinate the president." Diego said, standing up. Emery tensed and swallowed the fruit, ready to stop the man from lurching over the table if need be.
"You were recently hospitalized, isn't that correct? You still appear to be suffering from delusions of grandeur and acute paranoia." Reginald reasoned calmly.
"Am I?" Diego asked incredulously. He pulled the photo of Reginald on Knoll and handed it to the man. "Explain this then. Thats you. Two days from now on grassy knoll at the exact spot the presidents gonna get shot."
"Well... I've supposed you've solved it." Reginald said, handing the photo back. "You've single-handed let unearthed my nefarious plot. Is that what you want to hear? You fancy yourself a do-gooder? The last good man who will save us from our descent into corruption and conspiracy? This is a fantastic delusion. The sad reality is that you're a desperate man tragically unaware of his own insignificance, desperately clinging to his own ineffectual reasoning. More succinctly, a man over his head."
Diego sat down, features pained. "You're wr-wr.. wrong." He stuttered out.
"Look, forget about the president." Five said, trying to bring everyone's attention to the matter at hand. "We have a catastrophic war coming in five days. We need to figure out how stop it."
"Or?" Reginald asked. "Men will always be ar war with each other."
"No this isn't just some war. I'm talking about a doomsday. The end of the world."
"Well... you're the special ones, aren't you? Why don't you band together and do something to stop it?"
Emery opened his mouth to talk the man down a notch or ten but then Klaus was throwing his arms out and spluttering.
"Is he having a seizure?" Allison asked.
"Overdosing probably." Diego suggested.
"Should we do something?"
"Klaus." Five whispered aggressively. "Now is not the time. What are you doing?"
But Klaus didn't let up. His stomach crumbled like he was about to puke and he turned to Reginald, face pale as a ghost. "I'm.."
"Well? Out with it boy!" The old man demanded.
"Ben." Klaus or- Ben finished before Klaus dropped down into a heap on the floor where he lay groaning.
"Well." Reginald said, losing his notebook. "Thank you for coming." He stood up. "I've seen about enough."
"No I-" Luther began but then stopped as Reginald walked away. He slammed his first down onto the table and stood up, ripping his shirt open. "Look what you did to me. Look at it!" Luther demanded.
"Oh shit, why?" Five sighed, leaning helplessly back in his seat.
Reginald stared at the boy for a moment. "You in the culottes." He said, pointing to Five and then the door. "A word, in private?"
Five sighed but moved to stand and follow his father. "Emery, come on."
"If you can't exactly tell, Five. I'm not the one he asked for." Emery said.
"And if you couldn't exactly tell. I don't care." Five said, walking off and through the doors his father had left down.
Emery looked at everyone else only to see he would be getting no help from them so he just stood up, pushed his chair in and followed after Five.
After this night he could tell he would most definitely not be on Reginald Hargreeves' good side.