Copycat [Umbrella Academy]

Broken Home

"Didn't I just tell you boys to play nicely?"

Carena had left Five and Hazel to themselves, assuming they'd have things to talk through and that Five could handle himself. When she came back, Hazel was gone, Diego was furiously shouting at Five, and glass was shattered all over the carpet.

Her brothers neglected to respond and instead both of them stormed out. She scoffed and turned back around to go to her room. As soon as she stepped into the doorway, the floor began rumbling and the structure of the house shook. She held onto the door for support and waited until it stopped. When it did, she listened for any signs of distress but only heard the hard thump of feet and the grating of metal.

She quickly followed the sound and made her way down into an unexplored area of the house that looked like a dungeon. She heard a conversation echo through the hall and she kept getting closer until she saw Luther, Diego, and Klaus surrounding a metal cage. As soon as she saw who was behind the glass of the cage, she ran forward.

"Vanya!"

She tried to get to her but Luther caught her waist and pulled her back. She desperately cried out and reached for the door. Vanya pounded on the glass and cried, but her words were muted by the soundproofed cage.

"No!" Carena resisted, "No! Vanya!"

She kicked and scrambled to get out of Luther's grasp. He finally dropped her and she shoved and punched his gorilla-like chest. He barely flinched or stumbled back.

"What the hell are you doing?" she screamed.

"Protecting us!"

She scoffed and moved to open the door again but Luther pulled her back by the arm and shoved her against the wall. His hand clasped around her throat and pulled her up. She immediately began losing air and she tried to remove his hand. Diego and Klaus jumped into action too and attempted to pull him away.

"Luther, let go!"

He debated it for a moment before he released his grip. She fell to the ground in a heap and gasped for breath. He turned to his other siblings with desperation on his face, "Vanya's powers will endanger us all!"

Klaus helped Carena stand back up as she massaged her throat.

"What powers?" she rasped.

"I don't know the specifics but I do know that Pogo and Dad hid it from us because they were afraid of her."

"That's ridiculous!" Klaus argued.

"If you're right, then she might've been the one to kill Peabody," Diego realized.

"And cut Allison's throat."

Carena's mouth fell open in shock and she rolled her eyes, "If there's a game called Pin the Blame, I'd say you're killing it."

Klaus became defensive and gestured to Vanya, who was still screaming for help.

"This is Vanya we're talking about!" he reminded, "Our sister. The one who always cried when we stepped on ants as a kid."

"I know it's difficult to accept-"

"It's not difficult, it's impossible to accept!"

Carena tried shoving her way back to the door but Luther pulled her back again. She instantly turned around and shoved him.

"How many times do we need to call you an asshole before you change your behavior?" she snapped, "You can insult us anytime you want. But locking up our family? You've crossed a line, Luther!"

"They're right," Diego agreed, "We can't keep her locked up in there without proof."

"What more proof do you need?"

"Why don't we just open the door and ask her?" Klaus shouted.

He moved to open the door too but Luther smacked his arm back down. Carena stepped closer and glowered, "You are not Number One anymore. We are not children! You don't get to call all of the shots for us!"

"She needs our help, and we can't do that if she's locked in a cage!"

"For all we know she's struggling with this new power," Klaus pointed out, "It must be terrifying to discover that you can do something that you never thought you could do before."

Carena took a step towards the glass and placed her hand on it to calm Vanya's frantic crying. She nodded sympathetically and spoke to her, even though she couldn't hear her, "We're gonna get you out of there, Vanya. Okay? Just hold on for me."

Their arguing was cut short when soft footsteps echoed behind them. They all turned around to see Allison holding onto the wall with a notepad in hand. She scribbled the words "let her go" onto the pad.

"I can't do that," Luther shook his head, "She hurt you."

Allison wrote, "My fault."

She pushed towards the door but Luther wouldn't budge from his position. He held back both of his sisters as they equally pushed against him. Allison's strength quickly diminished and she began to buckle at the knees. Diego caught her and reluctantly helped walk her away from Vanya's cell. Luther picked up Carena by the waist and tossed her over his shoulder as she kept trying to reach for Vanya.

As they reached around the corner of the hallway, she saw the pale face of Vanya as she desperately tried to beg her way out.

Luther carried her all the way upstairs and locked her in her room like a grounded child. She banged and pounded on the door, screaming profanities at Luther. But her own sounds were drowned out minutes later as a loud crash of metal shook the ground.

Carena stopped and listened in the dead silence, realizing what it must've been. She exhaled sharply, "Vanya..."

More explosions and shaking erupted. Carena urgently banged on her door to let her out. The door opened moments later by a frantic looking Klaus. He pulled her with him to the center of the hallway where her siblings and Pogo gathered.

"Are those explosions coming from-"

"Vanya," Pogo confirmed, "We need to get to safety outside of the academy."

They nodded and Diego, Klaus, and Carena ran the opposite direction. Diego pulled them towards the hallway of paintings where their mother usually sat. The building was crumbling and falling down on them when they saw that their mother was not around.

As chunks of the ceiling fell down, Diego pulled them to the stairs. Klaus and Diego got hit with falling tiles, but Carena was pushed out of the way. Unfortunately, the area where she landed was unstable, and the floor gave way.

She screamed as her body dropped onto the next level of the house. Her bones crunched and she let out a strangled cry. She landed on the broken floor tile that she fell with, but some of the debris landed on her limbs. She tried to move but could only swivel her head to see as far into the living room where Vanya and Pogo stood. She watched as her sister threw Pogo across the room, his chest being impaled by the deer horns that hung on the far wall.

"No!" she cried.

Her cry was caught by Vanya's ears. She turned her white eyes towards her sister and slowly walked over, the falling debris never hitting her. Carena's breathing was uneven and she turned her tear covered face towards her sister.

She lowered her voice to a pleading whisper, "Vanya...please stop. Help me."

Her white eyes stayed emotionless. But she lightly took her hand and brushed back the dusty, grime-covered hair that covered Carena's face. She took a look into her desperate eyes and waved her hand over the chunks of stone that fell on her body. She picked Carena up by the arm and dragged her outside.

Once she was out to safety, Vanya dropped her arm and walked away, leaving Carena to painfully watch as her home crumbled to pieces.

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