Wind Chimes || The Umbrella Academy

Chapter 22.

"He just disappeared, Ben what the hell happened?" Serenity asked in a panic, thinking back to the blue light that engulfed Klaus' body before he disappeared. Her thoughts were running at a hundred miles per hours as she thought of all the possibilities of what happened to Klaus.

"I don't know, but you need to calm down, Ren. Panicking about what happened won't do anything but make it harder to figure out what happened." Ben calmed Serenity down, holding her by the arms, looking deep into her eyes. Serenity's panic turned to fear, but it was better for her because now she could think clearly.

"It might be a stretch. A really big one. But that blue light looked like the portals Five uses when he travels." Serenity said softly, trying her best to eliminate her fear, but it didn't work at all. Ben thought about it for a minute, dropping his own arms from Rens. Around them, few people were walking on the sidewalks, and not many cars drove by them. The darkness of the early morning was not comforting at all to Serenity, it only made her more irritable.

"Maybe, but we can't do anything about it. All we can really do it trust that Klaus will do what he does best, getting himself out of dumb situations." Ben practically whispered what he said. In truth, he was just as worried as Serenity was, but he felt like he needed to be the one to ground her. When they were kids, Serenity was always better at calming him down, and now he felt like he owed her.

"You're right." Serenity mumbled, looking down at the ground as if it would stop Ben from seeing her in the weak state that she was in.

"How about we go walk around a bit? Maybe go home for a little bit?" Ben suggested, taking Serenity's hand. Serenity nodded, looking up in front of her. The two of them walked down the dimly lit sidewalk, walking straight through the living junkies who looked like they were high off their minds. It was still difficult to walk through people for Ren, and she flinched whenever she did, but Ben didn't flinch at all when he walked through people.

"How long did it take for you to get used to just walking through things?" Serenity asked curiously, looking over at Ben who just looked forward as he walked. He had to think about it to himself for a minute, and in the end, he just shrugged a bit, not quite knowing when he fully got used to being able to walk through everything he needed to.

"I don't remember to be honest. I think a couple of months at most to be honest. You should be able to transition pretty well seeing as you adjusted with living with us so fast." Ben chuckled a bit, remembering how Serenity was able to fit in with everyone at the Academy so quickly.

"Awe man!" Serenity yelled, making Ben flinch a bit and stop walking. He turned toward Serenity who held a large pout on her face. Without words, Ben raised an eyebrow at Serenity who sighed to herself.

"I never got to get a tattoo." Serenity complained, genuinely upset by this fact. Ben rolled his eyes but smiled at Serenity's dumb complaint. Though what she said was stupid, Ben thought that it was cute.

"What were you planning on getting?" Ben asked, beginning to walk again in the direction of the Academy.

"Take a wild guess." Serenity laughed. It was never a surprise to anyone when she told them what she wanted to be tattooed. She wanted it very badly, but she never got around to it because she was too scared. Whenever Ren even looked at a tattoo shop, she couldn't stop herself from going back to the day all of the kids were forced into getting the Umbrella Academy symbol tattooed on their wrists.

"A windchime." Ben smiled at her, and she just nodded with a smile on her face as well.

"I was planning on getting the one you made me when we were ten. That one is my favorite." Serenity explained, looking at Ben who had a cocky smile on his face. He was proud that it was her favorite because when he made the large wind chime, he worked on it for months trying to perfect it. He made it from an old bamboo windchime that he got from an antique store, then he took it apart and added small things to it over time that were important to him and Serenity.

"Good," Ben said. It was definitely a big confidence boost for him, which Serenity rolled her eyes as, but was also glad for. It was nice for her to think about how something so insignificant could make Ben so happy.

It was not long before Ben and Serenity reached the Academy. The light from the sunrise began to reflect off of the windows. It looked beautiful to people just passing by, but Ben and Serenity knew what used to go on behind the curtains.

Ben and Serenity just stood in front of the Academy, staring up at it. It may seem strange, but they both felt emotional being able to walk into the Academy together. For seventeen years they both had the be alone. Even if either of them were with Klaus, they never felt whole in the large house.

Simultaneously, they both walked through the door and into the house. It seemed like a scene from a movie for Serenity, as she couldn't help but imagine things the two of them did together in every room they walked in.

"Ben, don't listen to Diego, okay? He is just angry and doesn't mean it." Young Serenity said softly, sitting on the couch with small Ben who was sitting on the living room couch with a sad look written all over his face.

"I know, I just don't like it when he makes fun of my powers," Ben said sadly, smiling lightly at Serenity who hugged him.

Ben and Serenity made their way to the staircase which would eventually lead them to their rooms.

"Stop being so loud, Mr.Hargreeves will hear us." Serenity giggled, running down the stairs with Ben, Klaus, and Five. All of them were wearing pajamas, and Serenity almost slipped on the floor because of her socks.

"The only thing he is going to hear is you falling on the wood floors you idiot," Klaus said, rushing to the kitchen where the four of them planned to eat their routine midnight sandwiches.

A small smile spread across Serenity's face as she "remembered" the event. She clearly recalled that they were not caught by Hargreeves, but she did end up falling and get a bruise on her ass for a couple of weeks.

Soon enough, Ben and Serenity reached her room, where the light from the now brighter sunrise filled the entire room. The energy in her old room was calming and nostalgic for both of them. When they were young, they would just hang out and talk about everything in the safety of her room.

"I am afraid of the cage, Ben." Serenity said weakly, looking down at her hands as she fiddled with them. All of the kids had noticed in the past couple of days, that the cage was set back up again, waiting for Serenity to be shoved back inside of it.

"Don't worry, Serenity, you'll be okay."

-

This chapter is short as fuck, sorry, this week has been super busy because of how I was sick last week and I am 100% sure that I failed the Apush test that I took today but gang gang. I crave the biggest death. Anyway, I will try my best to update this weekend but I am going to my friend's house (which is an hour and a half away) for the whole weekend because she is going through a thing. I swear that I will try to make better chapters and be better about updating after this week is fully over. So sorry!