THE THING WITH SORROW - The Umbrella Academy

The Intruders

With her dog huffing and fussing over its owner and time passing slowly, the others eventually exited the living area to see Zero half slumped on the floor, the german shepherd standing over her legs and Zero leaning with her arms folded and head on the dogs back, running her fingers across his fur (much to his pleasure.)

Klaus was cross legged in front of her with a glass of fresh cold water between them, sitting back on his hands like it was just another day and they were kids again having a sleepover.

Except they could all see how exhausted and pale Zero looked. It was such a stark contrast to what they'd faced earlier that they couldn't help but stop and stare in curiosity. 

She swivelled her head tiredly and glared. "What am I, a fucking circus animal?" She snaps, less power in her voice than usual.

They exchange a hesitant look but leave, Allison and Luther heading off in opposite directions and quickly, keeping their heads down. Diego goes to follow, hand playing with one of his knives, but turns back at the last minute to ask, "you good?"

She tilts her head to the side to look at him. "Yeah," she mutters. "great."

He doesn't know what to say and decided to just nod and leave her be.

Her pride had meant she declined Klauses help and stood on her own, Bolt standing against one of her legs to keep her upright. She eventually went to the kitchen with her head low and practically inhaled a packet of salted crisps, then proceeded to gulp down two glasses of water; the crisps she was sure were stale as she'd scavenged them like some kind of savage from the back of a dusty kitchen cupboard.

She didnt care much for the taste - she simply needed the energy.

It was sort of sweet how there was a plate on the floor by the doorway with remains of scraps of ham on it, that Grace had clearly set out for Bolt. The moment they walked back in he finished off the plate and licked it clean much to her amusement. The kind act warmed her heart and she found it a shame she hadn't seen the woman yet.

Her and Klaus took a seat each, the former resting her head on her arms folded on the table and the latter kicking back with his feet up.

When a bit of energy slowly returned to her body she lifted her head when she noticed Bolt trying to get at something on the table. It was a bag of dog treats.

She had questioned where the fuck they came from because she was sure Reginald hadnt gotten a dog after all the kids had left the house, but she had certainly seen stranger things around the academy and so didn't comment. She simply handed Bolt one of the biscuits shaped into a bone and tucked the packet in her pocket while he crunched it happily at her feet.

With silence between them she looked troubled, distracted by something, and Klaus had a feeling he knew what it was.

Now she had let off some steam on the others, which in his and Ben's opinion (he informed her), was well overdue and deserved, all that was on her mind was her actual brother.

It had gently started to rain outside and the noise of patters on the tiny window in the dark room calmed her while Bolt laid his head across her feet to keep them from bouncing up and down.

"You need to talk to him and catch up."

"You think i dont know that?" She asked, putting her head in her hands. Her fingers tapped when she put them down, and Bolt huffed. She tried to stop the habit but she had a newfound energy buzzing in her body.  "Where the fuck did he go?"

"Off saving the world, I suppose."

"What?" She asked, lifting her head fully.

"Apparently the world ends in like a week," he shrugged casually, saying it like it was nothing, and for the life of her she couldnt tell if it was him joking or just being klaus. "He had this glass eye and I had to pretend I was his dad so he could talk to some guy in some place to get information on who it belonged to because that person could be the one who causes it-"