Let it Rain (The Umbrella Academy)

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: It's the '60s Babe

February 11, 1960

"Gill." I waved in his direction. "Ah don't feel so guid..."

He quickly stood up from reading his book. "Ronny, you okay?"

"Ah don't... Ah dunno." Suddenly my wooziness turned into me doubling over in pain, clutching my head.

Gill's eyes went big. "Ron!" He caught me in his arms and rocked me as streaks of sting shot through my skull.

"Ah... Ah remember.. something.. Ah think?" I sobbed in pain as flashes of Klaus and his silent conversations with Ben from that missing week that were still fuzzy in my mind.

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"Klaus."

"What?"

"Nothing, I just didn't want you to be alone." I walked over and hugged him.

"Thanks, but I'll be fine." I frowned.

I vacantly looked at him then dramatically sighed. "Will you at least sit with me for a bit? I don't like seeing you shaken like this."

"Sure, sure." I sat on the couch and patted the spot next to me. He laid his head on my lap and I combed his hair.

"Do you wanna tell me about it?" I asked in a calming voice.

"...His name was Dave." His words wavered as he said his name. "I was riding the bus present day and I opened the case, ended up on another bus headed for Vietnam. He, he let me sit by him and we'd stuck together since." His eyes glossed over. "Dave, he uh.. When he.. I didn't see a reason to stay so I opened the briefcase and came back."

"Things like that, they don't leave you. Not love. Not war. Especially not the little moments."

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"Mah brother wis in th' Vietnam war?" He looked at me with worry then suddenly my scar across my abdomen started burning and I clutched my head in agony.

"Ah know.. Ah know how Ah got th' scar." His eyebrows furrowed as he kissed my hair and gripped my shaking body to his chest.

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Like a bomb had went off, I was thrown out of the window. The wind was knocked out of me as I smacked hard against a tree... I landed on a tree branch... I was impaled by a tree branch...

I looked down at the red painted splintered wood protruding through my stomach. The metallic smell of blood was back. "Turn into Number Four." That's what the old man said. My consciousness was fading fast. I'm dying. What have I got to lose?... I looked up at the stars one last time and in one short burst of unimaginable pain, I turned into my brother...

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"Ah wis richt. Ah died." I bawled into his shirt.

"Shh... You're okay now." He stroked my back to try and soothe my writhing. It was almost like I was dying all over again with every memory. It felt like my consciousness was ripping apart to make room for what I lost.

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"Eighty?" Klaus squinted his glossy eyes. "I hate my power." He took another swig. "Why, why didn't you go into the light? Eternal peace and all that? Either that or I'm just really drunk." He looked at his now empty glass. "Probably the latter."