3rd Person POV
FLASHBACK
The 8 siblings run into the dining room and stand by their chairs for breakfast. Vanya and Lilly stand by their shared chair.
Mr Hargreeves walk in and stands at his chair.
"Sit." Mr Hargreeves says.
They all sit down, Vanya and Lilly right next to each other on the same seat. They share food, but because of her meds, Lilly is rarely hungry.
Five taps her knee from under the table and Lilly looks up from her plate at him.
"I'll make you a peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich later." Five whispers.
"Thank you." Lilly says, smiling at her brother.
"Number Five?" Mr Hargreeves asks. Talking was unallowed at the table. Five looks up at him.
"I have a question." Five says.
"Knowledge is an admirable goal, but you know the rules." Mr Hargreeves says. "No talking during mealtimes. You are interrupting Herr Carlson."
"I want to time travel." Five says.
"No." Mr Hargreeves says.
"But I'm ready." Five argues. "I've been practicing my spatial jumps, just like you said." Five jumps. "See?"
"A spatial jump is trivial when compared with the unknowns of time travel." Mr Hargreeves says. "One is like sliding along the ice, the other is akin to descending blindly into the depths of the freezing water and reappearing as an acorn."
"Well, I don't get it." Five says.
"Hence the reason you're not ready." Mr Hargreeves.
"I'm not afraid." Five says.
"Fear isn't the issue." Mr Hargreeves says. "The effects it might have on your body, even on your mind, are far too unpredictable. Now, I forbid you to talk about this anymore."
Five leaves.
"Number Five!" Mr Hargreeves yells. "You haven't been excused! Come back here!"
Five is out the door.
"Uh-oh." Lilly whispers to Vanya.
END FLASHBACK
"I survived on scraps." Five tells Vanya and Lilly. "Canned food, cockroaches, anything I could find. You know that rumor that Twinkies have an endless shelf life? Well, it's total bullshit."
"I can't even imagine." Vanya says.
"You do whatever it takes to survive, or you die." Five says. "So we adapted. Whatever the world threw at us, we found a way to overcome it."
"We?" Lilly asks.
"You got anything stronger?" Five asks, holding up his cup.
Vanya pours Five a stronger drink.
"You think I'm crazy." Five says.
"No." Vanya says.
"It's just... it's a lot to take in." Lilly says.
"Exactly what don't you understand?" Five asks.
"Why didn't you just time travel back?" Vanya asks.
"Gee, wish I'd thought of that." Five says sarcastically. "Time travel is a crapshoot. I went into the ice and never acorn-ed. You think I didn't try everything to get back to my family?"
"If you grew old there, you know, in the apocalypse, how come you still look like a kid?" Vanya asks.
"I told you already." Five says. "I must have got the equations wrong."
"I mean, Dad always used to say that time travel could mess up your mind." Vanya says. "Well, maybe that's what's happening?"
"This was a mistake." Five says. "You're both too young, too naive to understand."
"No." Vanya says.
Five starts walking to the door.
"Five, Five, wait." Lilly says. "Look, we haven't seen you in a long time, and...and we don't want to lose you again."
"That's all." Vanya says. "And you know what, it's getting late, and I have lessons early, and I need to sleep, and I'm sure you do, too." Vanya grabs a blanket for Five. "Here. We'll talk in the morning again. Okay? I promise. Night."
"Night." Five says.
Vanya stops in front of Lilly.
"Take your meds." Vanya says and Lilly rolls her eyes.
"Meds? You're still sick?" Five asks.
"26 years and counting." Lilly says, putting a pill in her mouth.
"Night sis." Vanya says and Lilly smiles. Vanya walks to her room.
"Don't tell Vanya..." Lilly starts out and Five looks at her. Lilly walks over to the trashcan and spits the pill out.
"Half!" Five scolds in a whisper. "You're sick, you have to take your pills."
"And I will, but not right now." Lilly tells him. "I'm sick of being sick and I'm starving. My meds mess with my taste buds and I really wanna eat something tomorrow morning other than a cracker."
"Just be careful." Five says. "Gambling with your life is not a good idea."
"I promise I will take it tomorrow." Lilly says. "After I eat some actual food."
Lilly goes and lays down on the couch.
Five sits down.
The last thing Lilly heard before she fell asleep was the door opening.
***
Lilly wakes up.
She looks over and sees that Five is nowhere to be seen.
"Five?" Lilly asks, getting up and walking around the apartment a little.
No response.
Lilly runs into Vanya's room.
"Vanya!" Lilly exclaims, shaking Vanya awake.
"What?" Vanya asks, waking up.
"Five's gone." Lilly says.
"Shit!" Vanya exclaims, jumping up.
The two girls run into the living room.
"It doesn't even look like he spent the night." Lilly points out.
"Oh, Jeez." Vanya groans. "We gotta go find him."
"Where should we look first?" Lilly asks.
"Home." Vanya says.
"God, I hate that place." Lilly groans.
"Come on." Vanya says.
***
"Five?" Lilly asks, opening the door to the Umbrella Academy.
"Are you upstairs?" Vanya asks, going up the stairs and Lilly follows. "Five?" They find Five in his old room, looking out the window. "Oh, thank God. We were worried sick about you."
"Sorry I left without saying goodbye." Five says.
"No, look, I'm the one that should be sorry." Vanya says. "Yeah, I was dismissive, and I I guess I didn't know how to process what you were saying. Neither of us did. And I still can't, to be honest."
"Maybe you were right to be dismissive." Five says. "Maybe it wasn't real after all. It felt real. Well like you said, the old man did say time travel could contaminate the mind."
"Then maybe I'm not the right person for you to be talking to." Vanya says. "Look, I used to see someone. A therapist. Lilly went to the same one. I could give you her information."
"Thanks, but I think I'm just gonna get some rest." Five says. "It's been a long time since I've had a good sleep."
"Okay." Vanya says.
"See ya later." Lilly says.
The twins leave down the stairs.
At the bottom of the stairs is Allison, crying on the phone.
The twins reach the bottom of the stairs and watch Allison hang up the phone.
"Are you okay?" Lilly asks.
"Yeah." Allison says.
"Well, I've never met your ex-husband, but he sounds like an asshole." Vanya says.
"That's one word for it." Allison says.
"You know what? You're probably better off here." Vanya says.
"No, I'm probably better off with my daughter." Allison says.
"Of course, you're right." Lilly tries to cover for Vanya. "We didn't--
"You know, if I wanted advice, Half, it wouldn't be from you." Allison says and Lilly cowers back slightly.
"Hey, don't talk to her like that." Vanya says. "And what is that supposed to mean?"
"You don't have a child." Allison says. "Neither of you have ever been in a relationship."
"That's not true." Vanya tries.
"So you know what it's like to love someone like this?" Allison asks. "Like when you're apart from her, you can't breathe? Like you would you would die, and I I mean actually die to know that she's okay and happy. You two have separated yourself from everyone and everything. You always have."
"Because Dad made us." Lilly says.
"Did Dad make you both write that book about us, too?" Allison asks. She starts walking over to the stairs and then stops. "You're both adults now, twins. You don't get to blame your problems on anyone but yourself."
Lilly looks down at her hands as Allison leaves.
Lilly turns around starts walking away.
"Where you going?" Vanya asks.
"Dance." Lilly says. "I'm gonna go dance."
"Wait, did you take your meds?" Vanya asks.
"Not yet." Lilly says.
***
Lilly walks into the backstage of the empty auditorium.
The only lights are the stage lights and a candle, which she stops in front of to put her bag down.
She has her normal blue color on with her black leather gloves.
Lilly puts her hands up, in front of her face and stares at her gloved hands.
She takes a deep breath before slowly undoing the gloves.
FLASHBACK
"No!" A four-year-old Lilly cries, tugging at the black gloves on her hands. "No, no, no!"
"Half, you must wear them." Mr Hargreeves tells her as Mom tightens the straps on the gloves.
"I don't wanna!" Lilly yells. She starts using her teeth to pull them off of her hands.
"Stop it, Half!" Mr Hargreeves yells.
Lilly quickly stops at the raised voice.
"Leave us." Mr Hargreeves says to Mom and she leaves. "If you do not wear these gloves, you could die." Mr Hargreeves says. "You and a lot of other people."
Mr Hargreeves leaves the room, closing the door on the dark room.
END FLASHBACK
Lilly places her leather gloves on the table next to the candle, staring at her hands and turning them around in the dim lighting.
Lilly puts her hands down and the candle falls on her left hand.
Lilly gasps, pulling her hand away and holding it. But she realizes that it didn't hurt. It didn't even leave a burn mark.
"What?" Lilly asks in a whisper.
Lilly picks the burning candle up and puts her hand over it.
The fire doesn't hurt her or leave a mark.
"What the hell is wrong with me?" Lilly asks in a whisper.
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Hope you guys liked that chapter!!
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Next chapter up NEXT SATURDAY
-MC