Number Eight {The Umbrella Academy} -- [On Hold]

Fourteen

I was supposed to be dead.

I couldn't be alive.

But I sure as hell was still living and breathing when I woke up in my bed, covered in blood but somehow not dead.

What the absolute hell?

"Uh, Klaus?" I croaked out. My throat felt as dry as a dead lizard as I spoke, so I decided I would find a solution to that problem before worrying about my siblings.

I swung myself up to sit and grabbed a glass of water on my bedside table and drank it all in one gulp, ignoring the fuzzy blackness around the edges of my vision.

"Klaus? Diego?" I called out more clearly the second time, but no answer to my calls came.

"Miss Vivian?" Pogo entered the room, a relieved expression on his face.

"Hi Pogo. Um, was being... was being shot and uh, dying, a dream or something?"

He shook his head.

"Then how the hell I am I still alive?"

"You have powers, Miss Vivian. Incredible ones, at that. Your body can heal itself at accelerated rates. Your father gave you a serum to increase your healing powers when you were younger, which was not successful in the way he hoped. That was what halted your physical growth as a teenager."

I just stared at him for a moment.

"And how exactly do I remember none of this?" I rubbed my arms, and realised the cuts I had obtained before being shot had healed almost entirely. My chest was aching a hell of a lot, but didn't seem to be too badly injured.

"Miss Allison."

I inhaled sharply, dropping my gaze to blankly stare at the floor. I knew Allison's powers were, well, powerful, but I didn't realise she could will away a whole decade or so of memories around something specific. And besides, why would my sister do such a thing? 

I decided I would get an explanation after I made sure all my siblings would safe, so I shoved all my confusion to the back burner of my brain and looked back up to Pogo.

"Is Klaus okay? Did he make it out?" I asked. The chimpanzee nodded, and I sighed in relief. "Where is he? Where is everyone?"

"He and Master Diego left a while ago to, "Kick the bastard's asses", if you'll excuse the profanity. I informed them that you were going to recover. However, the rest of your siblings believe you are dead."

"Why didn't you tell them?"

"I wished to make sure I was not misinforming them if you were not to return. Your other brothers are upstairs, and I'm sure they would be relieved to see you," Pogo said, and I nodded. He went to leave the room, and I called out to stop him.

"Um, Pogo? Would you mind pulling out Dad's files about my powers?" 

"I'll leave them in here for you for when you are ready."

"Thanks."

"Of course. And welcome back to the land of the living, Miss Vivian. Thank you for surviving." He left it at that, and I stared blankly at the carpet for a while before shakily getting to my feet.

I pulled some clean clothes from the spilling-open dresser, and made my way out of the room, snagging an old sweater of Ben's as I passed the chair it was laying on. I made it to the bathroom without falling over, and sat heavily on the bench by the bathtub after shutting the door.

I dropped my clean clothes into a pile on the floor and shed my bloodied jacket, shirt and bra. I glanced in the mirror, and discovered that while there was a lot of bruising and dried blood, the wound the bullet had made had almost healed, leaving only a little raw skin.