May comes in like a lamb; Umbrella Academy

27

"Remind me why we're doing this, again?" Mary had her arms crossed as she watched Diego circle around Klaus, wrapping a rope around him.

"He wants to get sober."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but there are easier ways to do that, no?"

"Not for Klaus."

"Yeah, not for me." Mary shook her head, sitting down against the wall with her arms crossed. "That's it, tighter and higher!" Klaus cheered on Diego, and Mary continued to watch with an unamused expression. Diego yanked the rope and Klaus winced, making Mary do the same. She followed Diego with her eyes as he circled around him.

"If I see a boner...I'm leaving." He grumbled, and Mary snorted.

"Why do you want to get sober anyways?" She asked.

"She's right. Good job, but I think you'd wanna take every drug on the planet." Diego added on. Klaus sighed deeply.

"Oh, the thought did cross my mind, believe me, but...I have to do something, and the whole bothersome thing doesn't work unless I'm sober." He said. Diego began to fasten the knot around his leg.

"Is this about conjuring the one you lost?" He asked. Mary looked up, her eyebrows furrowed.

"You lost someone?" She asked. Klaus sighed, and Mary frowned. The thought of how Klaus' trip to the past affected his mind and relationships didn't even meet her brain.

"What was her name?" Diego asked.

"His." Mary corrected, before turning to see Klaus' response.

"His name was Dave. We soldiered together in the A Shau Valley." Mary's eyes grew wide.

"Soldiered?! Shit...Klaus, I'm sorry..." Klaus mustered a weak smile that nearly shattered Mary's heart. Diego looked up at his sweating, heartbroken brother. Mary knew there was no way that he believed the story, so she only hoped he wouldn't upset Klaus more.

"Dave must have been very special to you.." He said, and Mary let out a sigh of relief. "Especially since he was able to put up with your weird ass." Klaus snorted, and Mary smiled a little.

"Yeah, he was.." Klaus chuckled. "He was kind...and strong, but vulnerable, and...beautiful. So beautiful, and I was stupid enough to follow him to the front line." Mary frowned, hugging her knees to her chest.

"You fought?" Diego asked.

"Oh yeah, baby..."

"They let you?"

"Let me? Please, the war couldn't take enough bodies.." Klaus chuckled bitterly, "including his." The room fell silent, and Diego stood up from where he had previously been, walking around Klaus a final time. "Hey, look at us. Packing in the quality sibling time before the world ends." Klaus mumbled wistfully.

"Yeah, might as well." Diego grumbled, "everyone I like is already dead."

"Ditto." Mary added.

"Right, Diego, the lady cop.."

"Mom, too. I let them both down." Mary averted her eyes. She had thought the same about herself. "So here I am. Alone with both of you." Diego pat Klaus on the shoulder, and Mary sent her brother a satire smile.

"I'm glad we're sharing the love." Klaus let out an obnoxious whine after Mary had spoke, disturbing her greatly.

"I have to pee." Diego stared back at Klaus with a look that could only be described as fatal, and Mary stood up, brushing off her skirt.

"Though I'd love to watch exactly what I just did a second time, I have some business I would like to attend to." She gave the other two in the room a halfhearted salute, turning to leave, "there's a boy on the loose and it's my job to catch him." She blocked out whatever denying response Diego yelled out and whatever Klaus pulled from his ass and wandered to Five's bedroom. Upon knocking on the door for good measure, she opened up the door and begun to search everything she could; all the scratches on the wall that cracked the paint, all the redwood drawers filled with socks and time travel books. She sighed when she found nothing, and was about to give up when her eyes met Vanya's book for the second time in a few days. She plopped down on Five's bed, rifling through the pages of the book when a small slip of paper fell out. Arching an eyebrow, she raised the book over her head to stare at the small, fortune cookie-shaped paper in her lap. She placed the book down and looked at the paper.

"You look good for an old man."

At the bottom of the paper was a series of numbers, and after Mary looked at it for a good twenty minutes, right side up and upside down, she realized the numbers were coordinates. She shoved the paper in her pocket, her hand brushing by her stuffed rabbit, giving her even more determination to track down her friend. She hustled out of her house and to the library, down the stone path that clicked with every step. Her eyes were fixed on the ground, her speed way past fast-walking. When she arrived at the library, she consulted the dusty map outside as to where she as going. Sliding her finger against the bumpy surface of the directory and using the small amount of math she could, she was able to pinpoint where she was supposed to go. Taking a mental note, she made her way north, knowing to keep walking until she saw nothing but woods, and when that time arrived, go south.

Following her mind, she ended up in an empty forest. "Shit." She murmured to herself, as she spun around to try and find any sort of bearings. She heard the putter of an engine, and swiftly ducked behind a tree. She peeked he head out and observed a familiar blue car. It was slim and short, and Mary couldn't pinpoint why it was so familiar until one of her attackers from a few nights before stepped out of the left side of the car. Her chest froze when the other followed suit. Mary remembered their names being "Hazel and Cha Cha" from Five's little drunken party. Though she wanted nothing to do with them, she knew they were related to Five's business, so they must have come from the direction it was in. Ducking behind a few more trees, her snakes out just in case, Mary maneuvered her way around the car and to the South, her feet peacefully swiping through the calm and quiet leaves.

After awhile, the trees cleared out, and in their place stood a large white building. People were swarming in and out of the building, but they arrived from seemingly nowhere. Mary pondered that there might be others with Five's ability, but she rendered it unimportant. Getting rid of her snakes, she presented herself in her usual posture, daintily walking to the door of the building and slipping in. Nobody seemed to think she looked unordinary, which just further told her that Five was there. Upon walking into the building, she wasn't sure where to go. That is, until loud gunshots were heard from the basement of the building, and people began to scream and rush out. Mary ducked into a room, and when everyone had left, she rushed towards the noises. She turned a corner, and was immediately tackled by Five, who trapped her under him as a sort of protective shield.

She had never seen a brighter light.