Raincoats | The Umbrella Academy

Smoke and Ash

Five Hargreeves left the department store with a tear in his eye and a wrenching feeling in his gut. That pain didn't come from the very sore wound in his side, but the unsettling feeling that this wasn't over.

He wanted it to be. God, that was all he had ever wanted, but he couldn't shake the idea that it never would be. Five was doomed to be chased by the apocalypse, looming over his head like the giant clouds of ash and death it brought. 

The best he could do for now was try to move on. Hazel's words from earlier were bolded in his mind. There you go, you guys can grow up. It was that, and the image of Charlotte's lost expression that made him decide to give up Delores. She was a thing of the past, a safety blanket, a fake sense of familiarity. 

Delores was a person created by his own deranged mind. She was a representation of every person he loved as a child. She was Grace's kind words, Diego's stuttered input, a wavering command from Luther, Vanya's concerned whispers. The mannequin was only a vessel for these people to inhabit. She was the only thing, other than decomposed corpses, that resembled a living being in all those years of solitude. Over time, Delores developed into her own person. She was a mixture of all of the best qualities of the people Five loved. She was the only person he had.

It was time to close that chapter now. He had to move on and grow up. Sorrow had to be left behind. 

Despite this newfound hope for the future, there was still something lurking under the surface. Something was off and these opportunities didn't feel real. It was like watching a movie where all the characters think the worst has come to an end, but there's still forty minutes left to watch.

It all came together when he stopped to check for the daily newspaper on his way home. The headline was startling, but not unexpected. He knew that headline and that format better than any other text. It was newer and crisper than the one he found all those years ago, but it was the same print of the newspaper he found in the apocalypse. 

Things weren't over yet.

His legs carried him down the sidewalk, picking up speed before he closed his eyes and thrust himself through a blue rift. He nearly fell into the rumble that was the Umbrella Academy. 

The last few pieces of the puzzle clicked into his head just as he spotted something disturbing. From underneath the first pile of settled debris he found a dust covered rain jacket. Canary yellow against the choked air, it lay under a large chunk of bricks. Five almost dropped the newspaper when he crouched to inspect the coat. There was no blood that he could see, but if Charlotte was under that piece of wall... 

"Five!"

The redhead flung herself at him before he could even react. She embraced him tightly and briefly, before pulling away. She was covered in plaster dust and tiny bits of the home he once knew. One of the sleeves of Charlotte's borrowed dress was darkened with blood and the same crimson liquid stained the collar. Her hair had been put up some time after he left the Academy, but the shortest pieces hung out of the ponytail in a halo of frizz around her head.

Relief made Five want to brush the plaster from her cheek, but rational thought made him hold his own hand back from the movement. She was clearly startled and trying to do something so affectionate would only rattle her more.

"It's Vanya," she breathed. "Vanya is all four horsemen, Five." Charlotte looked the same as she did after the explosion at the lab all those days ago. Shaken and small looking.

The endless gears in his brain twisted unnaturally to provide the full story. Vanya brought on the apocalypse. It was always her. "Are you okay?"

She cringed, as if someone had just threatened to hit her. "What? Yeah, I'm fine, but I haven't seen-" Charlotte cut herself off when they heard distant voices. Without hesitation, she grabbed Five's arm, for both support and to lead him in the direction of his siblings.