《•••The Past•••》
If you ever had a tattoo done, you know it's not the most pleasant feeling. The small needles repeatedly puncturing your skin, leaving almost minuscule drops of inc inside of you. Going on for hours without a real break until your skin feels sour. And that's just getting the tattoo itself, there also is the entire process of picking out the right artist and design. The price and payment must be taken care of, the worst part if you'd ask me. After all of that, there will be a painful spot on your skin, depending on the size of the tattoo, it'll feel like a big, medium or small graze. The skin around it will be hot and red, not to mention the unbelievable itch that you're not aloud to scratch at. Every day you'll need to clean it, wash it two times a day with special soap and put on some salve afterwards. Besides the cleaning, you aren't aloud to let the freshly places tattoo get in the sun for too long, you're not aloud to wear skin tight clothes over it, or led sand get on it, or lie on it or go swimming or do anything what could damage the ink or skin. Now, if you went through this entire process, and experienced all of these inconveniences, you'll hopefully have the tattoo you wanted and everything would've been worth it. But there is always the chance that you didn't get what you wanted and you'll be stuck with an awful picture on your body for the rest of your life that's only going to remind you of the big mistake you made. And of course, that was exactly what Number Eight was going through right now.
Kiara was still sitting in the big, leather chair she had been strapped to for the past four hours. Not anymore though. The straps had been removed after the tattoo artist, a big, dark skinned man named Otto, had finished drawing the last line into the palm of her hand. Of course these two tattoos weren't Kiara's first tattoos. She already had the black Umbrella Academy logo done on her wrist, just like her other siblings. But the skin on her wrist, wasn't half as sensitive as the skin on the palms of her hands.
At the start, Kiara had been struggling, pulling on the restrains, balling her hands into fist and squeezing them shut as tight as possible to keep the bald man from tattooing her palms. Of course this didn't last long, since her adoptive father had her sister, Number Three, use her powers on her so she would co-operate. Now it was over, Kiara got her own will back, but the only thing she could do was stare at the palms of her hands, where one eye on each hand was staring right back at her. The lifeless pictures looked very realistic and just like the ones Kiara had drawn on her palms herself a week ago, the irises had a dull grey color. The young girl wasn't aloud to close her hands, nor touch anything with them for the rest of the day. Tears had been filling her eyes from the moment her sister's rumor had worn off. She wasn't just crying because of the burning pain in her hands, but also out of anger and frustration. She didn't want this, she had pleaded and begged her father not to make her, but to no avail. After Otto was done and the restrains were removed, Sir Reginald left the room to take care of the payment, leaving the two children behind.
A few sniffles were heard from the girl, a few tears streaming down her cheeks. Klaus, who had been aloud to stay with them as long as he kept quiet, had his hands on her shoulders, squeezing slightly. "It hurts..." Kiara said between sniffs.
Klaus rubbed his hands over her shoulders in an attempt to comfort her, his voice soft and reassuring. "I know, but it's gonna be fine."
Kiara shook her head furiously, "what if it doesn't? What if I can't control it? Like t- t- the umbrellas appearing randomly? A- after the lo- logo?" Klaus moved from beside her, kneeling down in front of the girl who still was staring at her hands.
"Kiki, stop worrying so much, you'll know how to handle it eventually. You always find a way."
Again, Kiara shook her head, tears still streaming down her face. "I look hideous...." She tried to close her hands, not really thinking about it at the moment, but immediately she winced from the pain and opened her hands again. Of course Klaus noticed this, he placed his hands on her wrists, not wanting to hurt her by touching the tattoos.
"Kiara, look at me," he started. Kiara looked up for the first time in the past hour, meeting her friend's eyes. "You do not look hideous," Klaus stated, his voice was firm, but still sweet. "Never, ever, think that again. Ever. Okay?" Kiara glanced down, tears still in her eyes but she eventually nodded weakly. Klaus smiled at her with one corner of his mouth, "besides, I think it looks really cool."
A scoff came from Kiara before she reacted, "yeah, sure."
"No no, really!" Klaus said, softly rubbing his thumbs over her wrists, looking down at her palms. "I think it looks pretty bad-ass."
A smirk came on his face, which made Kiara look away for a second. "You're lying..." she mumbled.
"I'm not! Really I-" Klaus moved his hands, lightly touching the tips of her fingers. The next moment, the eyes on Kiara's hands lid up in a bright, red color. At the same time, Kiara shot up straight, her own eyes also lighting up with the same red color. Klaus froze as well, startled by what was happening in front of him.
Kiara, on her turn, didn't notice his reaction. Because the moment Klaus had touched her fingertips, she got pulled out of reality by an unknown force. She didn't know what happened, but what she did know, was that she was terrified by what she saw. Kiara wasn't in the living room anymore, she was somewhere else. Somewhere she didn't recognize, maybe she could've if she wasn't panicking as much as she was. There was darkness surrounding her, the only light coming from the small windows just beneath the ceiling of the stone walls that were around her, but even that wasn't enough for her to make out anything. Only the dark wasn't what scared her, it were the people that surrounded her. Man, woman and children were in the room, screaming and yelling. Moaning. And all directed to her. There was something wrong with them, they were pale, some missed parts of their limps and others didn't even have eyes. Kiara's heart was pounding against her chest, adrenaline rushing through her body as she moved backwards, crawling to the corner of the walls, pressing her hands against her ears without actually doing it. She didn't want to move, but her body didn't seem to listen to her brain. One of the woman came closer, there was a big hole in her head, showing parts of her damaged brain, her mouth stood wide open, teeth missing and blood dripping out as she was laughing. The woman's laugh wasn't happy, it was an crazy, uncontrolled laugh that send shivers down the girl's spine. Kiara screamed. Only it wasn't her who screamed, the voice coming out of her mouth wasn't hers, it was a males voice.
The next moment, Kiara was back in the chair. Gasping for air with her heart still pounding against her chest, the fear hadn't left and if it even was possible, her hands now hurting even more then they had before. Her eyes, which had turned back to their own blue color, shot from place to place, taking in the room to be sure she was actually there again. "Kiara? Kiara what happened?" Worry was all over Klaus's face and sounding through his voice. While it happened, he had let go of her hands, but instead was holding her upper arms. Kiara didn't answer, she couldn't while still in her state of panic. "Kiki? Please talk to me," Klaus pleaded, shaking her a little in the hope she would snap out of it. And it worked, a little at least. Because she looked him in the eyes, before shaking her head. She couldn't talk about it, not now. Kiara started to crimp in as more tears made their way down her face. Klaus didn't know what exactly just had happened, but he did know that his friend needed him right now. "Come here..." he mumbled as he softly pulled her into a hug. Kiara didn't protest as she buried her head in his shoulder while his arms wrapped around her, pulling her close. She wanted to hug back, but was too scared to touch anything. "It's okay, sweetie. It's okay, I'm here." Kiara's breathing got rapid and she started shaking through the sobs she couldn't keep in anymore. She was terrified by what she had seen, and the possibility of it happening again now the eyes were permanent on her skin, was big. Worry started to well up inside of her, but she didn't know about what. Everything was confusing, not understanding what was going on with her powers or why her emotions were acting weird. She just closed her eyes, letting her friend's embrace and soft words calm her down.
《•••The Present•••》
After Kiara's shower, she and Allison had been catching up, sitting on one of the couches in the ground living room. Allison had told Kiara all about her daughter, the divorce and all the drama around the custody case. Kiara had listened very carefully, trying to show support at the moments Allison was feeling most vulnerable. This wasn't a new thing, Kiara would often help others by just listening to them, her powers making it easy for her to know when and how to respond. Allison wiped away a stray tear that had made it's way into her left eye, careful not to smudge her make-up. "Uhg, look at me, only talking about myself," Allison said, before she put on a smile towards her sister. "What's been going on with you? Klaus mentioned you had a new flame? What's his name? How did you meet?"
Kiara chuckled, shaking her head. "His name's Brian. He's an accountant and we met a little less then a year ago at my work, actually. He came for a cover-up tattoo for the name of his ex."
Allison started laughing and Kiara joined in. "That's awful!" Three said and Kiara nodded in agreement.
"It is! I mean, getting a tattoo of somebody's name? I know I'm not supposed to judge, I once tattooed a pig with Donald Trump's face on some guy's leg! But a name?"
Allison had stopped laughing, looking at her drink for a while before answering, "I kinda get it, if you love somebody that much that you want to show it to the world." Kiara thought about it for a second, her sister's words did make sense to her, in a way. "Anyway," Allison continued, "I need more details then that. How long have you been together? Did he ask you out the same day you two met? Or did you do that thing were you sense someone is attracted to you and ask them out?"
Kiara chuckled, remembering the first time she did that. They were young adults, around the age of 18 and the two sisters had met up in a bar. Allison said Kiara couldn't get a date on her first try, so she picked a guy she felt was vesicle attracted to her and asked him out. Proving her sister wrong. But that wasn't what happened this time so she shook her head, "no, we ran into each other a week later, we talked a little and he asked me out. Brian is a very simple, straight to the point kinda guy, which is nice for a-" Kiara stopped talking, seeing Vanya walk down the stairs, bag packed and jacket on. "I'll be back Ali, gotta ask Vanya what she's up to." Without waiting on her sister's reaction Kiara jumped up and walked to her other sister who was standing in the other room. "Hey Vanya! Are you going already?"
Vanya turned around, facing Nummer Eight, "don't waste your time. Diego's right, I shouldn't have come."
Kiara sighed, "don't listen to that asshole. He's just being his bitter self. It's not your fault."
Vanya looked down at the ground, "that's easy for you to say, but I don't have your confidence." Kiara frowned a little.
"This is your home and always will be." Kiara turned around, only now noticing Pogo had walked up from behind them. "Should I get you a taxi?" The old man offered.
"Yes, please." Was Vanya's response.
"What? But I would bring you home. That's what we had agreed on." Kiara said, being a little offended.
"I know, but you were talking with Allison and catching up with everyone... I didn't want to bother you." Vanya responded, again looking everywhere except for making eye contact with Kiara.
"You could never bother me," The woman stated, before starting to walk to the stairs. "I'll be back in ten minutes. I'll drop you off at your house and then drive to mine."
"You really don't have to-"
"Too late!" Kiara called back from the stairs, "I'm doing it! You, stay were you are. Don't move."
Vanya sighed, giving in to her sister's demand. "Okay..." she mumbled, but Kiara couldn't hear it anymore. She was already on the second floor, leaving Vanya with Pogo in the hall.
After gathering her main stuff, Kiara drove Vanya home before heading to her own. In her rush to leave in time for Vanya, she hadn't properly said goodbye to the others, except for Pogo, who had stayed with Vanya in the hall. It took her some time before she got home, so the moment she reached her front door it was already dark outside. Opening the door with her key, she stepped inside her living room. Surprised to, not only see Brian there, sitting on the couch, but also Number Five, sitting on the other one. The both of them looked up at her while an awkward silence filled the room for a few seconds.
"Hey honey," Brian said, walking up to her to give her a quick kiss. "This kid showed up, saying he was your long lost brother?" He whispered, the entire sentence sounding like a big question. "I tried to keep him out but he just... teleported inside." Kiara could see the distress in her boyfriends face and feel it at the same time, which made her suppress a sigh.
"It's okay, that actually is my brother. That's Number Five." Now Kiara turned her attention to her brother, who was still sitting on the couch. "What are you doing here?"
Five now stood up, "we need to talk, and the idiot needs to leave."
"Excuse me?" Brian said offended, "Kiara, I don't know who raised this kid, but they didn't really do a good job. You, should learn to respect your elders, young man."
Five rolled his eyes and Kiara could see the outburst coming. "Yeah, you need to leave, Bry."
Brian looked at the woman in surprise, "you're kidding, right?"
Kiara shook her head, "nope. Family business, you know Academy stuff. You can go to your own house for the night, right?" Kiara could feel Brian's irritation, but without saying another word, he took his stuff and left.
"I can't believe you're dating that." Five stated. Kiara sighed, locking her door before sitting down next to her adopted brother. Only now noticing the red liquid dripping from under his sleeve.
"Is that blood?"
Five glanced down at his arm, but dismissed it, "it's nothing."
Kiara squinted at the boy in front of her, "okay, if it's nothin', show me." Five sighed, but rolled up his sleeve anyway, revealing a blood stained piece of white cloth, bound around his under arm. Kiara glanced from his arm, to the boys face, not saying anything before standing up and taking some first-aid supplies from her kitchen.
"You really don't ha-" Five started, but Kiara didn't let him finish.
"Yes I do, you're bleeding." She said while taking off the messy, once white piece of cloth. Kiara started cleaning the skin and wound, "not that I'm not happy to see you, but why are you here?" She asked, tired of all the events of the day and just wanting to get it all over with.
Five sighed, looking up from his arm to Kiara's face, "I've decided you're the only one I can trust." A small smile appeared on the woman's face, but she didn't look up from what she was doing.
"Well, that's one thing that hasn't changed, has it?"
A short chuckle escaped Five's lips, "even thought that's true, it's not what I ment." Kiara was finished with patching up Five's wound, now looking the boy in his eyes.
"Okay, I'll bite. Why me?"
Five inspected his sister's work on his arm, decided it was done right and rolled his sleeve back down. "Because you'll listen."
Kiara scoffed, "that's an as good reason as any." There was a hint of sarcasm in her voice as she re-positioned on her couch, turning her full attention to her friend. "But you have my attention, so shoot."
It was silent as Five inhaled sharply, arranging his thoughts. "When I jumped forward and got stuck in the future, do you know what I found?" He asked his adopted sister, who shook her head.
"No, I don't."
"Nothing," the boy said, his voice haunted by the memory, just as his expression. "Absolutely nothing." Kiara crossed her brows, confused since she didn't understand what he really ment, but she didn't say anything and let him continue. "As far as I could tell, I was the last person left alive. I never figured out what killed the human race, but I did find something else. The date it happens. The world ends in eight days, and I have no idea how to stop it."