a mannequin and a boy • the umbrella academy ON HOLD

volume one, issue 7.5

( bonus chapter, skip if you want! :) )

While Dolores may have seemed dismissive when she talked about her long lost twin brother, she really wasn't. In fact, she'd been looking for Ben- for years, all the way until the apocalypse.

Every time she would ask her mom about him, she'd get the same lecture- "Soo-ah, you're too young, and I don't want to talk about it." (She always liked the name Dolores better, anyways- it was the name Five gave her, after all.)

Her mom didn't know much, either, to be fair. Of course, she asked the man that came to her that day about his name and his credentials, but she later discovered that he lied about where he lived. From there, she gave up.

But Dolores wouldn't give up that easily.

"You're sure you don't know, like, where he is? Or if maybe he has the same powers as me?"

"I said leave it alone, Soo-Ah! Go to your room."

"I wish you could've taken care of both of us! Or at least give me away too! Maybe he's living better than this!" Dolores shouted as she stormed off to her bedroom, which was right next to the living room and the kitchen. Instead of a door, she had a curtain, so she shut that curtain, and screamed into her pillow, like the typical thirteen year old.

Dolores always wished that her last words to her mother was more kind. Maybe an "I love you" would've sufficed.

"Soo-Ah, enough of this nonsense. Come to dinner!" Her mother shouted, going into her room. She gasped, her cheeks flushed with worry and rage.

"What is it, mama?" Dolores asked, furrowing her eyebrows from her bed. Her mother went right to her bed, flinging off the covers feverishly, searching for something- or someone.

"Soo-Ah! Soo-Ah!" Her mom shouted, looking all throughout the house. Dolores frowned, following her as she tried to get her mother's attention.

"Enough with the jokes, Soo-Ah, please! It's not funny!"

"It's not a joke, mama, I'm right here!" Dolores assured, reaching to touch her mom's shoulder. Her hand went right through her.

Usually, Dolores could never hold her spirit form for this long, and she was usually able to let go of it. But after an hour, she couldn't.

A day passed and there was an official missing report out for her, but no matter how many times she called, no one could hear her. After a week, Dolores gave up, accepting her new life as a spirit.

For the first year, she stuck around in Korea with her mom, out of a hidden hope that they could be reunited. But her mom moved on, eventually, and even thrived without having to worry about her daughter.

She still visited her grave regularly, though. By the time Dolores migrated to America in search of her brother, her mother had left fifteen roses by grave, one for each month she visited.

The first place Dolores started was with newspapers from October, 1989. It took her a few years to learn English, but most of that was during middle school, so it wasn't too difficult to translate the papers.

It wasn't until she passed some televisions in busy New York that she found what she was looking for.

"The Umbrella Academy's Debut, and its one year anniversary." On the screen were multiple teenagers like herself, all in domino masks and demonstrating amazing powers.

She couldn't tell which one could possibly be her brother, or if he was even there, by the masks, but it was a start.

"The umbrella academy- what a joke!" She heard a pedestrian spat out to his wife, shaking his head. She slowly followed them, trailing close behind to eavesdrop.

"I don't know, what they're doing is pretty admirable, Hank. I mean, they stopped an armed robbery, after all!" The wife replied, and then began rambling on how much she admired the group, until she eventually blurted a location. That was all Dolores needed.

She took the nearest train to where she believed the academy was. Of course, she could fly, or just walk, as she didn't get tired, but that was time consuming.

She finally arrived at a townhouse in the middle of a historical district. There was nothing special about this place- it had a normal number on its door, like every other building on the block. There were overgrown weeds on the sidewalk, and vines started to creep up the stairs.

Dolores wasn't too good at phasing through walls and doors yet. She probably could eventually, but that was a waste of time. She was so close- she couldn't wait to see her brother!

She rounded the building in search of a back patio or a courtyard. Luckily, she found just the place she was looking for- a gravel square in the back of the place, with a gazebo and everything.

It began raining, but that wouldn't stop Dolores as she entered the gates, slowly. There was a funeral going on, she first noticed. Everyone was dressed in black and adorned with an umbrella, and there was a large picture of an Asian boy over the casket.

Dolores drew in a breath, a painful feeling in her chest as she connected that picture to her potential brother. He was the only one that could be her twin.

"Who are you?" A boy asked her, creeping up behind her as the service ended. She jumped, eyes widened as she turned to see the very same boy in the picture.

"But... aren't you... dead?" She trailed off, confused.

"Aren't you, too? I mean, no one else can see you-"

"Ben, who is this?" Another boy asked. The other kids didn't even see Ben, or Dolores, as they kept on with their lives, ignoring their friend's antics.

"I don't know," Ben replied, tilting his head. "Does anyone else see her?"

"No, they would've said something. Hey, there's only room for one ghost around here, beat it!"

"Klaus! No need to be so rude. And too soon, I'm still getting used to this dead thing."

"I'm not dead! I'm just..." Dolores trailed off, unsure of how to describe it.

"Not living," Klaus finished for her, with an attitude. "Look, today just isn't a good day for this. I'm gonna go to bed and pretend all of this is a bad dream."

He walked off, a depressed slump in his step. Ben shrugged his shoulders, following the boy, determined to also forget she was there.

Maybe she'd try again later, Dolores settled. Another day. For now, she had a whole world to explore, and if her twin brother really was dead, then she had nothing holding her back.

Not until she met Five, of course, and the apocalypse happened.

authors note
soooo a little filler chapter!! slash flashback. this wasn't rushed per se more of just a result of boredom from a loooong car ride.

also, I literally need season three soooo bad! so more of these may come out, just to pass the time, give me ideas of stuff you might wanna see!

thanks for reading!