The Flood // the umbrella academy [Klaus]

t w e n t y . t h r e e

The drive was long and, for the most part, silent. It wasn't the optimal family road trip by any means; Bea spent the first quarter of it glaring icily into the rear-view mirror, catching Luther's cerulean eyes every time he glanced up to check his surroundings. After a while, however, that game became tiresome and her face was beginning to ache, so she took to staring out of the window instead, watching the world zoom by in a mix of blues and beiges. For Bea, car journeys certainly weren't as thrilling as motorcycle journeys - there was no rush of wind coating her entire body as she tore through the tarmac. She made a hasty mental note to take her newly acquired Harley out for a spin once the world was fixed to not implode and kill everyone.

Five, meanwhile, was feeling very tense. He had a plan, sure, but it was incredibly risky and not exactly his first choice. He'd have to leave his family again for an unprecedented amount of time and he knew Bea would react negatively once she realised what he was planning to do. He quickly looked into the right-side wing mirror, noticing his sister staring forlornly into the passing scenes of blurry trees and yellow fields. She appeared relaxed in her naivety, the opposite of how she would have been had she known the truth. I'm doing this for you, he thought to himself. For everyone.

After just over an hour of travel the car finally stopped, pulling steadily to a halt along an expansive stretch of road. Unbuckling his seat belt, Five sighed, a sound overflowing with a virulent mix of anticipation and melancholy. He broke the silence of the vehicle, speaking directly to Luther. "You know, I never enjoyed it," he said.

"What?" Luther asked.

"The killing," Five clarified. 

Bea listened quietly from her position in the backseat, coming to the conclusion that this was a direct reference to the conversation the two men had previously had - after she had stormed out of the bedroom. She rested her head against the plush leather seat as they continued, peering out of the window to her left so as not to appear as though she was eavesdropping. 

"I mean, I was...I was good at my work and I took pride it in," he paused, looking Luther directly in the eye. "But it never gave me pleasure." He looked forward once more. "I think it was all those years alone. Solitude can do funny things to the mind."

Gently perking up, Bea leaned forward and positioned herself between the two front seats. This was certainly a conversation she wanted in on and she assumed Five wouldn't have mentioned it out loud had he not planned to include her. She felt his words affect her deeply, like an immediate punch to the gut. She could relate to his plight; knew what solitude felt like. Though she could never, ever compare her experiences to his, she still understood.

Luther understood too, it seemed. "Yeah, well, you were gone for such a long time. I only spent four years on the moon, but that was more than enough. It's the being alone that breaks you."

"I was completely on my own for just over a year," Bea added, staring down at the briefcase nestled securely between Five and Luther. "Street life is hard, especially with a guilty conscience. I kind of...pushed people away for a while." She saw Five nod from her peripheral vision. "I know I can't exactly compare that to either of your experiences, but I do know what total isolation feels like."

Noticing the mood in the car steadily becoming more somber, Luther quickly changed the subject. Motioning towards the briefcase, he rested his arm on top of it. "You think they'll buy it?"

Five looked over. "Well, what I do know is that they're desperate. It's like a cop losing his gun. If the Commission finds out, they'll be in deep shit. Oh, not to mention the fact that they'll be stuck here until they get it back."

"Wait," Bea cut in. She hadn't truly known what they were doing or where they were going when she entered the car back at the Academy; she had merely trusted that Five both wanted and needed her company. Now that they had arrived at their destination, questions were beginning to circulate in her mind and, if what she thought he meant was true, fists were going to fly. Or rather two very specific bodies were. "Are we here to meet the two people that I think we're here to meet?" she offered.