The Apocalypse | The Umbrella Academy

ix.

Diego sat in the armchair, his left arm getting tattooed. He winced and tried his hardest to not cry and to stay strong. Grace sensed his discomfort and walked over to him. She went to hold his hand but Diego flinched away. Grace's smile disappeared from her face, sadness filling it instead. She walked back to their father and smiled when she saw him looking at her.

Klaus was hugging Allison in the corner, both crying from the pain of the tattoos. Klaus wiped his eyes with his wrist, not wanting to disturb his sister.

Luther, Ben and Five sat in chairs waiting to get tattooed. Looks of obvious discomfort were spread across all of their faces.

Vanya was standing on the staircase, watching her siblings getting their tattoos. They were all wishing they didn't have to have them, yet Vanya wished she could. All of her life she had been told she was ordinary and this was just another painful reminder. She took out a black Sharpie from her pocket and drew a make-shift tattoo of an umbrella in a circle on her left wrist. This was the best she could get to being like her siblings.

Her brows furrowed as she recounted the amount of siblings in the room. Klaus, Allison, Diego, Luther, Five and Ben. But... where was Evelyn?

Her father rushed past her on the staircase, ignoring her as usual. Vanya could hear him shouting and Evelyn shouting back. Then, a cry from her sister. Vanya swallowed in fear. Her father had always treated Evelyn and Klaus worse than the rest of them. There was talk that he was going to throw Evelyn into an asylum to get her to behave. But he wouldn't do that... would he?

Her father pushed past Vanya again, manhandling Evelyn. She had an ugly red welt down her face, roughly the size and shape of his hand. Evelyn had tears in her eyes but she was determined to not cry, to not show weakness. Her eyes passed over Vanya and wished she was ordinary like her. She wished she was born a day later, or a day earlier. She wished she was adopted by someone else. Wished he'd just die.

He pushed Evelyn into the chair after Diego had gotten out of it. He then secured her to the chair so she couldn't move. He knew Evelyn: she most likely would.

"You're crazy!" Evelyn shouted at her father. He made no movement, no answer. She turned to the tattooist instead. "I'm not even eighteen. What you're doing is illegal. I'll call the police." Her words rushed out as she tried to persuade him not to. The tattooist looked at her nervously.

"No one will believe you," her father said. "Now, be quiet."

Evelyn sat still in the chair out of shock. The buzzing of the needle came closer and closer to her skin. It eventually touched her fair, skinny wrist and her lip trembled. The pain was horrific. A gasp escaped her plump pink lips.

"Is there any way you can make it more painful?" asked the voice of her father, as calm and relaxed as if he were asking a supermarket worker if they had any more of a product. Evelyn swung her head at her father, disbelief on her face.

"N-no there isn't," the tattooist said.

"Go over it three times then."

"What?" Evelyn screeched.

"Perhaps you'll learn to be more respectful, Number Zero."

Evelyn looked at all of her siblings for help. None came. All of them were petrified of their father to say the least.

The tattooist went over the tattoo three times despite the bleeding in most areas. When he was done, her arm was red and inflamed, and blood was over the arm of the chair. Evelyn had screamed multiple times, the siblings forced to put their hands over their ears. They wanted to help but couldn't imagine the consequences for themselves.

*

Anna traced the tattoo on Evelyn's left wrist. There were scars on the tattoo from where the needle had pierced her skin more than it was supposed to.

"Your dad was a psycho," Anna said.

"Was? He still is," Evelyn laughed.

"It's not funny. He hurt you."

"I'm used to it," she shrugged.

Anna kissed Evelyn's tattoo, sighed and left her fiancée to reminisce on her painful childhood.

*

"Are you okay?" Klaus asked, his voice soft.

Evelyn looked around the kitchen, where she had fled to, before answering her brother. "Yeah." She was obviously not okay. She had turned a couple of shades paler than she normally was, and her tears had led a smoky trail of mascara down her face.

"No, you're not."

Evelyn sighed. "Fine. I'm not okay."

Klaus sat on the kitchen table and motioned for Evelyn to take a seat on one of the chairs. She walked over and sat on an uncomfortable oak chair.

"What happened with Anna?" he asked. Evelyn tensed. "It'll help," Klaus continued.

Evelyn swallowed before she told him. "I woke up one morning. I brushed my foot against her leg and it was ice cold. I told her... I told her she was freezing. I turned around and there she was," Evelyn paused. "She was dead. I screamed and screamed. She looked horrible. There were flies around her and everything. It was if she had been dead for days, weeks even. But I had only talked to her the night before. I rushed out of bed and called for an ambulance even though they'd be no help. Her cause of death..." She stopped before continuing. "Her cause of death is still unknown. She didn't even have a funeral."

Evelyn broke into tears. Klaus got off of the table and circled round to his sister, so fragile even though she tried hard not to be. Her façade which she had to make because of her upbringing had shattered into millions of pieces in that single moment. Klaus hugged her from behind and Evelyn let out several heart-racking sobs.