Chaotic Good | the umbrella academy

TEN

CHAPTER TEN
' I COULD HAVE KILLED THEM. '

Eddie ignored the glare which Five sent her and the looks of unrest which held her other siblings. They were royally fucked, and they needed to know that.

"You know, it's impressive," Lila began. "Whoever knocked off your mums hated you all enough to end the entire universe."

"Which also doesn't narrow it down," Eddie added, crossing her arms over her chest. "A lot of people hate us that much, alongside the fact it might have been an inside job." She briefly glanced at Allison, whose recent hostility made Eddie question whose side she was really on.

"Why are you looking at me?" she bit back.

Eddie shrugged in a careless motion. "Am I not allowed to look at my sister?"

"We don't know that the thing that killed our moms did it personally," Viktor reasoned.

"It doesn't matter who created the thing. We just have to kick its ass," Allison shot back.

"And how do you plan on kicking a Kugelbliz in the ass?" Eddie let out a long sigh. "I somehow forgot how hard it is to discuss options with you all."

Five shook his head. "The best plan is to go back in time and eliminate the paradox and destroy whatever it was that took out our mothers and stop the Kugelblitz before it starts, but we can't do that. Briefcase is kaput."

Allison furrowed her eyebrows and spoke like her idea was an obvious one, "And why the hell can't you just jump us out of here?"

Eddie muttered a short string of curses under her breath and turned away, moving towards the bar and downing a shot.

"Last time I tried that, we all got trapped in time," Five replied, glancing at Eddie but not commenting. "Do you really wanna risk that again?"

"What's plan B?" Viktor asked.

"Normally, it's a form of contraceptive but, in this case, he doesn't have one," Eddie replied from where she drank another shot.

"And you do?" Five shot back, temper hanging by a thread.

Klaus, Diego and Stan descended the stairs, the first joining Eddie at the bar. They drank another shot, and she pushed her hair away from her face and cracked her neck.

"What did we miss?" Diego asked, stopping by Lila.

"The universe is ending, and we're all going to die," she replied carelessly. A wave shot through them all, and all of the siblings, bar Five and Eddie, whipped around.

"What the hell was that?" Diego shouted.

"That was the Kugel wave, and it's been getting worse," Eddie replied, making her way towards the siblings with her hands finding her pockets. "The first few were harmless. I barely noticed them, but now, Lobsters, cows, dogs and... people."

"How long do we have?" Luther replied.

"At this rate of escalation, if you factor in-" Five stopped.

"-How long, Five?" he repeated, voice raising.

"Four - five is generous - days before the rest of existence is blitzed," Eddie finished, giving him a sarcastic smile.

Luther shook his head with a long sigh. "We should've given them Harlan."

"Luther-" Viktor began.

"What about Harlan?"

"The Sparrows said if we turned him over, we could end the fighting and then work together to save the world. But if we didn't-"

"-But we tried to make peace," Viktor intervened. "And then the step-siblings from hell attacked, kidnapped you, and they tried to kill us. I mean, come on." He sounded exasperated or desperate, Eddie couldn't tell. "We can't trust them. Working together would be like trying to defuse a bomb by pouring gas on it. It's only gonna make things burn down faster."

Klaus raised his hand. "But don't we need the big, bad, glowy thing in their basement?"

Eddie turned to look at him. "Klaus, how do you know what and where the Kugelblitz is?"

"Oh, was that what it was? Yeah. I saw it when I went to visit Dad. It's in the old storage room where Mom used to keep all her luggage."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Diego asked, annoyance lacing his tone.

"I did. I told you!" he protested.

Diego scoffed. "You say stupid shit all the time!"

Five and Eddie looked at each other. "Of course," Five spoke, teeth gritted with frustration. "It appeared in the same place we did."

"Five, I have an idea-"

Something caught Eddie's eyes from the corner, and she turned to face it. The ground moved in the shadows - slow, like sludge. She furrowed her eyebrows, moving towards it carefully. Her eyes followed it as it shifted like a wave and slowly slithered up the bar. The way it moved, it seemed like some sort of parasite underneath the paint of the bar, like an air bubble gurgling.

Eddie changed her direction and approached it, her steps slow and deliberate. The sludge began to dance, moving along the expanse of the bar from one end to another. She followed it with her head, eyebrows pulling into a furrow. It stopped abruptly in front of her, ebbing like it had a pair of lungs.

She lifted her hand carefully, her fingertips holding a slight tremor. They hovered above the sludge, and it froze like it was waiting, hoping for her to take the bait.

Eddie didn't know why she fell for it, but her finger pulled towards it like a magnet, and her flesh met the conscious paint.

The sludge burst into life and exploded forward, wrenching around her arm and crawling up.

A scream escaped her, her power exploding outward as she jumped back, throwing her arm about to try and rid the sludge from her. She punched her appendage with her fist, teeth clenching as she breathed heavily through her nose.

She whipped around, and when she looked back at her arm, there was nothing there. Eddie blinked rapidly and found herself still standing in the circle with her siblings, arguments sprouting between them. They seemed oblivious to her and her quick breathing.

Eddie turned in a circle, eyes flickering to the corner where the sludge had first made itself known, but it was empty, normal.

"They'll kill him." The sound of Viktor's desperate voice caused Eddie to turn around and focus back on the conversation.

Lila raised an eyebrow. "Uh, so?"

"We are talking about one person versus saving billions of lives here," Five reasoned.

"I mean, is this really a debate for you people?" Lila continued.

"Hey, Little Britain?" Five shot her a glare. "You don't get a vote."

"Lila lives in this universe too." Diego stepped up. "Besides, she's family now. Kinda, sorta."

Lila grinned sarcastically at him. "Mm. Thanks, kitten."

"I don't give a shit about the Sparrows," Five continued. "But I'm not gonna let scary-ass Grandpa finish you off."

"How do we know Harlan killed the Sparrows?" Eddie spoke up, gaze focused on the ground, and her hands found her pockets. "That noise - whatever that cube did - it affected me too." She finally looked up, eyes flickering deliberately between her siblings. "I could have killed them equally as much as he could. When I have sensory overloads, you forgive me-" She locked eyes with Diego. "-You comfort me. Regardless of what or who I've destroyed in the meantime.

"Why are you so willing to hand him over when if it was me, you would have fought for me? I'm not disputing the fact that someone needs to give for us to access this basement, but I am disputing the fact that you're willing to hand over someone who may be innocent without even thinking about it."

The others were silent for a moment.

"Eddie," Five spoke up. "We need you."

Her jaw clenched for a moment as her eyes found his. She finally shook her head. "It's not like any of you would understand," she replied. "You'll do what you want to do, regardless of what I say." She turned away, her feet carrying her to the stairs.

In her wake, she heard Five speak, "Viktor, we're down to ethical triage here, all right? We can't save everyone. The kindest cut wins."