The Umbrella Academy: The End

The Envelope

"Luther, we need to talk." Five strolled into his brother's room and shut the door.

"Five, it's classwork time. We can talk after 5 pm for fifteen minutes before we go to dinner. You know that."

Five ran a finger along Luther's record collection. Why didn't their father encourage Luther's obvious love of music? Why, instead, fixate on his aviation interest? Five glanced at the model airplanes hanging from the ceiling.

"You made some new ones." Three new planes swayed on their wires.

Luther moved to the door and opened it. "We can talk later after classwork."

Five smiled at his brother and sat on the bed. Even at thirteen, Luther towered over him which was kind of funny in retrospect. "I have to share with you some information I learned in the future." Frame it like a mission, and Luther'd eat it up.

And he did.

Luther glanced out the door and closed it slowly. "What kind of information?"

"As our leader, I thought I'd tell you first."

"Dad knows?" Luther crossed his arms, his head cocked to the side.

"Yes." It was technically true. Five held out the envelope to Luther. "We'll keep it between us." He meant himself and Luther, but Luther would think Five meant the two of them and Dad.

"What is it?" Luther took it and pulled out the three sheets of paper. He examined them, flipping back and forth. "I don't get it."

Five hoped he wouldn't have to spell it out. "Look at the pictures, Luther."

Luther held up one page from the envelope, a newspaper cutting. "On the birth announcement?" he asked, his brow furrowed, his voice a little weaker.

"Yeah." Five attempted to sound patient. He had no clue how his brother would take the news.

"Okay... Some lady in Iowa gave birth to twins. It was a surprise. One was kinda big and one small." He shrugged and glanced at Five.

"And the date," he said.

Luther blinked at him several times. The truth slowly dawned, and Luther fought it. He shuffled the papers again. "October first... like us. Uh, one has blond hair and weighed, whoa, twelve pounds. The other had dark hair and only four pounds." He glanced at Five again.

Five mouthed, "October first."

Luther cleared his throat, his eyes looking pained. "The blond was born first and..." Realization hit, and he dropped the pages to the floor. "Where did you get that?" his voice a whisper.

Five swallowed hard. He'd read them this afternoon and had a tough time digesting the new reality. "My older self gave it to me right before he left. He said I should know. I read it today. I thought you should know."

Luther crumpled into a squat. "It can't be true. It can't." He reached to grab the pages, but Five flashed over and scooped them up, afraid Luther might shred them.

Luther put his hands over his eyes, and Five squeezed his shoulder.

"Dad would've told us." Luther's words shook with emotion. Five experienced the same shock, anger, and hurt when he'd read the papers. When he understood he and Luther were twins.

"But he didn't." He had to play this slow. The news was devastating for his brother. Not the twin part, but how Dad lied to them about it for their entire lives.