Vide Noir | The Umbrella Academy

Forty Five

Chapter Forty Five:

It was snowing in Dallas, Texas. A large ring of dark clouds swirled around the property, and only said property. Snow floated down, being carried away in blasts by high winds. The ground was already covered deep in the flakes, the tires of their car fighting for grip to get up the long drive way.

"Well, this looks much worse than I anticipated." Della spoke up, peering at the large barn farther back on the land, angry blue beams shoot up into the sky from the broken roof. "This should be fun."

Everyone seemed to fall into silence as Vanya drove closer, coming a stop half way up to the modest farm house. They all filed out, Della suddenly wishing she dressed for the surprising cold.

"It must be whatever the hell is happening in there," Della shouted over the loud noises, "That's causing the cold front."

Five opened his mouth, but instead was cut off by the sound of a loading gun. A woman stood across from them, a gun gripped in her shaky hands, pointing directly at their group.

"Sissy!" Vanya stepped forward, "Hey—"

"Get back! All of you, get the hell back!" The weapon waved around, threatening to blow them all away.

"Sissy!" Vanya tried again, taking another step, the wind whipping her hair all around. "What's wrong?"

Della thought there was plenty things wrong with the situation in front of them, none that needed that question to be asked. Whatever the woman replied with, her voice was drowned out by the lighting crashing into the barn.

"This doesn't look great." Della mumbled to Five, who only nodded in agreement from her side. "I take back my earlier statement."

Klaus snorted loudly, "It could still be fun."

There was another crack of lighting, and this time Sissy managed to follow along with it as she redirected her line of fire towards Vanya. "What did you do to my son?" She yelled.

Five shook his head, an annoyed look stuck on his face. "We don't have time for this."

He managed a few steps before he was the target, "Where do you think you're going?" The woman questioned.

Della took a hesitant step forward, "If I may add, I do agree with Five here that we, nor your son, have time for this. We're here to help, alright? Whatever your son is going through right now, he needs someone who knows about it. We all have some knowledge of the unknown, and we all have our own tricks, okay? But your son, he needs help now. And by standing here talking about what kind of threat we pose, we're wasting time on getting him back to normal. We're not the bad guys. We just want to help."

"Before we get arrested for assassinating the president." Diego muttered.

"Which we didn't do." Allison added quickly, sending her brother a glare.

Adella nodded, giving a pleading look to the woman. "I know you love your son, I can feel it, I can see it in the look in your eyes, you love him more than the world itself and he's in pain, alright, and Vanya is the only one who can help him."

"Please." Vanya whispered, staring at her, ignoring the gun pointed at her head. Sissy pursed her lips, her tired eyes giving in, dropping her weapon and motioning for them to follow.

They all went forward, brushing through the snow towards the large barn. The wind tried its best to keep them back, but Vanya wasn't having any of it. She raced towards the broken building as if her life depended on it, everyone else in her family was much slower.

"Stay behind me," Five shouted over the noise, managing to jump in front of her.

"He's just a kid, what's he really capable of?" Adella huffed as they reached the entrance. The barn was a typical one, it looked like any storage area. The cement floors were caked in dirt, and a few haystacks were pushed to the sides amongst tools and other things. Boards from the caved ceiling littered the ground, leaving a trail towards the back corner. They all made their way to the concealed area, Five managing to nudge her back every time she attempted to weave around him.

Harlan looked to be unconscious, slumped on the ground in the corner. His face was unnaturally pale, a large blue dome of electricity kept flickering around him, keeping him away from everything.

"He's capable of a lot, apparently." Five grumbled.

Vanya stood an inch away from the dome, reaching a hand out. Della half expected to woman to be electrocuted, but instead her hand went through it before stepping into the safety of the bubble. She dropped to her knees, grabbing a hold of the boy. When his eyes opened wide, Della couldn't help but sigh with relief.

Cold nipped at her bare arms, her eyes trailing to a large hole in the wall, out at the summer landscape, covered in snow. This was all ridiculous. Down to them being stuck in 1963, missing all their chances to escape, for being under suspicion of killing a president and then watching a boy suffer because of something none of them ever wanted and now—

Della blinked, eyes widening as two figures appeared in the field. She stared, the tallest figure resembling a woman she very much never wanted to see again.

"Shit." She cursed, dodging debris on the floor as she rushed to the opening. The Handler stood in the centre of the snowy field, a briefcase gripped in one hand, and Lila, Diego's friend at her other side.

"Uh, guys." Klaus yelled, pointing where she stood.

Della couldn't hear any other part of their conversation, she only knew they finally spotted the two when Five rushed up behind her.

"Ah, shit." He grumbled.

"What, who are they?"

Della's eyes remained trained on them, worried that if she looked away, they would disappear.

"One's the Handler." Five said, "And the other is Diego's girlfriend."

Diego tisked, "Lila. And that's my ex-girlfriend."

"What?" Della glanced behind her, not able to help herself. The man shook his head, nudging her out of the way.

"Doesn't matter." He snipped, "They both look angry."

"Yeah, our brother has that effect on people."

Della sighed, turning to go back out the exit.

"Where are you going?" Five questioned, trailing after her.

"I'm only following you. I'm just a few steps ahead. So come on, let's go find out what they want." She said, stopping at the door. She turned to face him, "Well, I think I can guess. She's finally come to do us in."

Diego was right behind Five, "Well, then, I have to come too."

"Why?"

He shrugged, brushing by her. Della rolled her eyes, rushing with Five to catch up. "Because that's Lila. And you're my sister, so I gotta protect you and what not."

Five sighed, "If he's the one protecting you, I guess you're screwed. It was nice knowing you, Adella Markham."