You Better Bring an Umbrella, Vol. 1

Chapter 30: Inevitable End

        I never thought I'd be able to say that I've felt my life being drained away. Then again, I never thought I'd be able to say I can control lightning, either. Nothing about my life had been normal, not by any sort of means. I'd never been able to use the same mile-markers as every other kid out there, so all of us resorted to our own. We would secretly celebrate late at night in the kitchen when one of us finally mastered our powers; we'd snuck out to get donuts for the first time after our first mission at that bank; we all had silently raised a glass, within isolation, when the first one of us had the guts to walk out of the Academy and never look back.

I'd never appreciated any of it, not even for a second. I always looked back at my adolescence with nothing but disdain. I'm not sure anyone loved growing up all the time, but I had truly and thoroughly despised the way I had been raised. My father never cared for us, not for one second, and it left each of us with uniquely shaped scars. We'd never fully learned how to adjust and be normal, and we'd never learned how to deal. The only times we all could say that we were genuinely happy was when we were all together, whether we'd actually admit it or not.

For a moment, I didn't feel bad for Vanya. She'd been raised in the same household, with the same situations the rest of us had. She wasn't any different from the rest of us, so what gave her the right to throw a tantrum like this and be excused for it, rather than punished? Why did the rest of us suffer nights without food, time without our other siblings, or the entrapment of our own mental prisons we'd built for ourselves, while Vanya was given an instrument through which she could channel everything instead?

But her upbringing hadn't been the same as our other siblings. None of us had it hammered into our heads that there was nothing special about us. Technically speaking, the seven of us that trained together had nothing special about us, either. We were surrounded by other kids that had powers, so we couldn't really stand out. Vanya, however, had always been told she was ordinary. That dreaded word struck so much disdain into anyone who had the misfortune of adapting the label. She'd been excluded, pushed aside, name-called, and glared at more times in her life than any one child should have, yet she still managed to pick herself up, walk out the doors, find someone to talk things out with, and start more of a normal life than any of the rest of us.

The others could make their arguments otherwise, but Vanya was the strongest out of all of us.

Of course, when it comes to powers and this situation, that certainly was a disadvantage.

I leaned against the wall, sparing another glance at Five, silently trying to warn him that if he died, I'd kill him. He seemed to pick up on what I was saying and shot me an unamused glare in return. Normally, I would have marched over there and started to scold him, but there wasn't time for that right now. Besides, if this was the last time I'd ever see my brother, I didn't want my last words with him to be angry. So I softened my expression a little bit, which caused a tiny smile to light up his face.

I waited patiently for Luther's cue, my eyes bouncing between him, Five, and Vanya now. The waves of energy around her grew stronger and bigger, pulsating more intensely as time went on. The longer we waited, the less time we had to pull this off, and Luther should have known that. Why he was waiting so long was beyond me.

Thankfully, just a few seconds later, I saw him move a little, indicating to the rest of us that we needed to do the same.

"Now!" he shouted, bringing all of us out of our hiding places.

Klaus, Diego, Five, Luther, and I all rushed onto the stage, hoping she'd get distracted by those of us in the front, so that the others could maybe get a shot through. Like Five said, only one of us needed to get to her while she was occupied with the others, and we could pull this off.