The Umbrella Academy: The End

Reunion

His siblings followed his wake, and of course, Luther was the one to start.

"Where have you been, Five? It's been over a week." He sounded both hurt and angry.

Five laughed.

"You can't just run out on us like that," Allison complained.

"I'll explain everything." Five headed to their shared bathroom. He paused for a moment, admiring the flush toilet and paper next to it. Sometimes the simplest things were the most precious. "Give me one minute."

He closed the door and took care of business. He made a pile of his uniform, careful to conceal the book and envelope. He wrapped a towel around his waist and exited the bathroom. His six siblings stood outside the room.

"Well?" Diego said. "Tell us."

Five smiled at him. "Sorry, I haven't seen an actual toilet in a long time." He grinned, crossing to his room, his siblings following in his wake. Except for Luther, who remained outside the bathroom.

"Seriously," Ben asked. "What happened, Five?"

"I got lost in time," Five answered. His sibs spread around the space, some on the bed, some on the windowsill, Luther in the doorway, decidedly not entering the room. Five glanced around, thrilled to see every face. "Avert your eyes and let me get dressed."

They obliged except Klaus. Not unexpected. Klaus felt very at home with nakedness. Five dressed, keeping his back to his siblings. He hid the book and the envelope under the loose board in the wardrobe. He dumped his dirty clothes on top.

"Okay, he's decent. You can look." Klaus sounded bored.

"You look so thin. How? You've only been gone for nine days?" Vanya's voice sounded small and scared.

Five met her gaze, then looked at each of them. "More like six months."

Luther burst into the room. "No way you've been gone that long." He looked angry and hurt, maybe because Five was now the oldest. Or because Luther failed to keep his team together.

"Yep." He smiled at Luther, the hardest sell.

"Where did you go?" Allison also sounded skeptical. Not surprising either.

"I went to 2019, April 1st. And the world was a wasteland."

A shocked silence filled the room. Six pairs of eyes looked around at each other, but no one said a word.

"So, I'm going to chat with Dad, and then we'll talk." He moved to leave, but Vanya stopped him with a tug on the sleeve of his clean sport coat.

"What happened, Five?"

He smiled. "A lot. And we can stop it." He touched her cheek and headed off to confront his father.