Vide Noir | The Umbrella Academy

Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen:

They appeared in front of a coffee shop, the streets surprisingly bustling for morning. Della didn't know what day of the week it was, or even what month. But it was warm, and she was regretting not stealing a pair of shorts instead of pants.

A chime went off as Five swung the door open, letting it swing shut just before Vanya could slip in. The woman huffed, holding it open for both of them.

Della trailed behind the Hargreeves sister, filing onto a stool just as Five had. Vanya sat in the middle, swivelling back and fourth nervously.

"I can't believe I have a brother." She muttered.

A waitress wandered over, giving them each a look. "What do you want?"

Five perked up, "A coffee."

The woman grunted, sliding a mug towards him as she went to fill it up with the coffee pot gripped in older hands.

"Leave the pot, dear."

She glared, turning to Della. "You shouldn't be in here."

Della blinked, "Huh?"

But she was gone, hobbling to the other side of the counter, mumbling about Five being a little shit.

Vanya took a deep breath, "Are you gonna tell me what's going on here?"

"When you were a baby, you were bought by an eccentric billionaire. He raised you in an elite academy with six other siblings with extraordinary powers. But in the year 2019, in order to avoid the apocalypse, we jumped into a vortex and ended up being scattered throughout the timeline in Dallas, Texas." He said it so nonchalantly, as if it wasn't a big deal. "Any questions?"

"What do you mean by apocalypse?"

"I mean the end of the world as we know it." Five said, "Gone."

"Yeah, but how."

He pursed his lips, eyes softening. "You really don't remember?"

"No, nothing before a month ago."

"Then what do you remember?"

Vanya tapped the counter impatiently, "Um, I landed in, like a... back alley. Got hit by a car. My head was ringing like crazy and I had no idea how I got there, where I came from."

"That blows." Della mumbled, "But you remembered your name?"

"Yeah. Not sure how that works— what starts the apocalypse?"

Five stared at his sister for a few moments, eyes racking his brain for an excuse, unable to tell her to the truth. "Asteroid impact. The big kaboom ends everything. Just like the one that got the dinosaurs, but way worse. Bad news is, it followed us here."

"What do you mean followed us?" Vanya's face paled.

"Eight days from now, the world ends in a nuclear doomsday. It's a different disease, but same result."

"That can't be right."

"I saw it." Five said sharply, eyes meeting with Della for mere moments as he paused, turning back to his sister. "You were there. We all were."

"Were you?"

Della's eyes widened, "What?"

Vanya pursed her lips, "Where were you?"

"Trying to get out of Paris."

"Why would you want to leave Paris?"

She nodded, sitting up straight. "Because it was 1945, and someone was trying to kill me. I ended up here by accident."

The woman's eyes wandered, having no idea how to process any of what was being said. Della felt bad, she remembered when this was her. She wanted answers and nobody would give her anything clear, instead The Handler put her right to work, told her there wasn't time for questions.

"Shit." Vanya whispered, head shaking slightly. Within a blink she hopped off her barstool, "I need to make a phone call."

Five watched her leave, annoyance flashing in his eyes. "Vanya—"

"Let her." Della took up the woman's stool, nudging Five to face the counter again. "She's confused."

"So what."

"Clearly she has a life here." She stared at him, "Just let her make the phone call."

Five shifted in his seat, the hand he'd kept tightly around the handle of his coffee mug came free, his pointer finger angrily stabbing the countertop of the bar. "We have eight days, Adella. Eight. We don't have anymore time to waste."

She paused, taking a breath before meeting his gaze. "Then what are we doing here?" She questioned, "We've went out and wasted an entire night looking for the rest of your family. We wasted an evening trying to talk Moon boy into helping, which was pointless— and now Diego can't even help because he was stabbed by your dad. And Lila— she bugs me, and I know I know her but I don't know from where which is really fucking annoying."

He leaned against the counter, staring her down. She hated eye contact, and he knew that. Della adverted her gaze, finding the checkered floor immensely interesting.

"Why does everything have to be complicated?" He asked, "Why the hell did we get chosen for this?"

"Chosen?"

"These powers." He huffed, "I never asked for it. All it does is cause problems— ones that should be impossible."

Della snorted, sneaking glances at him. He was focused on his coffee mug now, the dark liquid swirling in on itself.

"At least you got time travel." She told him, "You get to go places. Moving stuff with your mind feels like it's only meant for hurting people."

"Who told you that?"

"The Handler." Della mumbled, "I learned that too, after getting stuck in the 1800s. I didn't know what else to do, to defend myself. I got used to it."

Five sighed, watching her yet again. "Got used to what?"

"Hurting people." She looked at him, trying to decipher the look in his own eyes. "Did you?"

He said nothing, only ran a hand through his hair as he slipped off his stool. She watched him walk over to his sister, raising a hand and ending the call. Vanya glared at him, saying a few things Della couldn't hear from her spot across the coffee shop. She frowned, not knowing why she asked him such a question, one they both knew the answer too.

Of course he got used to hurting people. He had no other choice.