The Umbrella Academy: The End

Doing the Work

For the next week, whether or not he was on punishment, Five spent time with Vanya. She seemed surprised, at some level, by his interest in her. One afternoon, he sat in her room as she played the violin.

The door opened, and Klaus entered, dragging Allison behind him. "Concert!" he said, shoving Allison onto the bed and sitting on the floor next to Five.

Vanya, wide-eyed, gazed at them. "Why are you..."

Allison folded her arms over her chest. "Klaus just grabbed me."

Klaus put his head against Allison's leg. "Aw, come on. She sounds good. Sit back and listen."

Allison glanced at Vanya. "It was cool of Dad to give you the violin. I got the impression it's super special."

Vanya grinned. "I have the sheet music for Phantom of the Opera. Wanna hear?"

The three agreed. A level of tension eased. With only two girls among the seven kids, Five should push them together more. The boys were simple to herd. Women were much harder. But if they bonded...

Vanya scrambled through her small bookshelf, leafing through pages of music. Yeah, she was all about her violin, perfect for bonding.

"Here it is." She stood. "And it came with this." She handed a booklet over to Allison.

Klaus bounced onto the bed next to her, and they flipped through the glossy color pages as Vanya played the familiar refrains.

A story of isolation and misunderstanding. Hmmm... Five should find her something more "happy ending" like Wizard of Oz or Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Any dream would do.

Vanya played while the three others lounged in her room. After a squeaky run-through, she paused. "Why are you all in my room?"

Five gave her a sad smile. "Because we wanna hang out more often."

She ducked her head, her bow trembling in her hand. "I mean, I'm glad you came to listen, but what if Dad finds out?"

"Finds out we're listening to you play violin?" Allison dipped her sentence in serious sarcasm. "Oh, what a breach of etiquette!" She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, but you're supposed to be, you know, teaming up..." Vanya shrank into herself even more.

Five sat straighter, "I think I mentioned, Vanya, you weren't there in the rubble. It scared me as much as seeing the other four dead. I wanna make sure that future doesn't happen.

Allison squeezed his shoulder.

Five placed his hand over hers.

"None of us want that, Vanya," Allison said. "You're our sister. So what if you can't shoot laser beams with your eyes."

A small smile crossed her lips. "So, you guys are going to bother me like this all the time?" Her sarcasm wasn't as deep. A few more weeks with lots of attention from Allison and Vanya might be just as deadly with her cutting remarks.

Five beamed.

Klaus hopped from the bed. He pulled Vanya into a bear hugging, almost crushing Vanya's violin. He squished her tight against him. "Get used to it, babe. We are going to bug the shit out of you." Klaus stepped back and grinned at the tiny girl. "Wanna come to the cemetery on the next field trip?"

Allison and Vanya eyed their brothers with wide eyes and opened mouths. "You didn't!" Allison said, knowing full well what "field trip" meant. She'd been on a few of her own with Dad.

For the next hour, the four sat in Vanya's room, whispering and giggling about hiding out in the crypt.

Like real teenagers.

Until their father broke up the party, and Five got punished again.

He managed to keep the trend going, though Dad, Grace, and Pogo watched him closely. His siblings began hanging out more in each other's room, taking interest in each other, and sharing.

After some encouragement from Ben and Five, Luther started playing music from his enormous record collection. Eventually, two or three sibs hung out there, taking music and comparing bands.

Once while, after being dragged to his room as punishment for some mutinous action, Five spotted Diego in Vanya's room, handing her a book. He grinned even as Dad shoved him inside and slammed the door.

It was working.