After debating with himself, Zero had decided to go with Luther to make sure that Klaus got home without causing any more trouble and to see what Luther had been talking about. He now stood by, leaning against one of the pillars while Luther showed all of them a videotape of what looked like their mother poisoning their father the night he died.
"What happened to your eye?" Allison asked, a look of worry crossing her face.
Zero shrugged slightly, "I let Klaus punch me." Allison stared at the boy, not knowing if she should take his words seriously or if he was playing some sort of joke on her, so instead, she decided to avoid it altogether and turn back to the others.
"I mean, do you really think mom would hurt dad?" Vanya asked no one in particular once the video was over. Zero had to agree with his sister; he knew that their mother was created to not only take care of them but to interfere if anyone was in danger.
"You haven't been home in a long time, Vanya." Luther stated as he looked at his siblings. "Maybe you don't know Grace anymore."
"Oh, so she's Grace now? Not mom anymore?" Diego asked, anger filling his voice as he crossed his arms. "If he was poisoned, it would have shown in the coroner's report." He said.
That wasn't necessarily true. They all knew there were poisons that could be undetectable unless the person knew what to look for, but Zero saw it as the wrong time to bring it up to his siblings.
"Well, I don't need a report to tell me what I can see with my own eyes." Luther stated, pointing back at the screen that had shown them the tap.
"Maybe all that low gravity in space messed with your vision. Look closer." Diego said, pushing a button on the remote. "Dad has his monocle. Mom stands up; monocle's gone. She wasn't poisoning him. She was taking it to clean it."
"Then where is it? I've searched the house, including her things. She doesn't have it." Luther said. Zero raised a brow at his brother's words. He never liked how their mother's things were in a simple wooden box, and now that Luther thought she killed their father, he completely disregarded her rights to privacy.
"That's because I took it," Diego said, holding up one of his knives as if it were the most interesting thing in the world, "After the funeral."
"You've had the monocle this whole time? What the hell Diego." Allison muttered in a frustrated tone. Zero looked at what was happening from afar, not wanting to get involved unless necessary. He knew that if he commented on the matter, he would undoubtedly get dragged into an argument that wouldn't end for hours.
"Give it to me," Luther demanded, taking threatening steps towards the man, his hand extended in a demanding gesture.
"I threw it away." Diego told him.
"You what?" Luther asked angrily.
Allison scoffed and took a sip of her drink while Vanya watched everything unfold in disbelief. "Look, I knew that if you found it on mom, you'd lose your shit, just like you're doing right now." Diego said as he pointed his knife at Luther.
Luther took a step closer to him and muttered, "Diego, you son of bitch." The two looked at each other as if they were about to fight, driving Vanya to quickly step in front of Luther.
"Hey, no. Calm down." Vanya said, trying to defuse the situation. But Luther still looked pissed off, so Vanya looked between the two. "Look, I know Dad wasn't exactly an open book, but I do remember one thing he said. Mom was well designed to be a caretaker, but... also a protector." Vanya told them.
"What does that mean?" Allison asked, causing Zero to give her a look because Vanya had literally just explained it. "She was programmed to intervene if someone's life was in jeopardy," Vanya explained while Zero shook his head slightly.
"Well, if her hardware is degrading, then... we need to turn her off." Luther told the group.
Diego's eyes instantly widened at that as he stood up straighter. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. She's not just a vacuum cleaner you can throw in a closet! She feels things, I've seen it." Diego exclaimed as he pointedly held his knife in Luther's direction.
"She just stood there, Diego, and watched our father die." Luther argued.
"I'm with Luther." Allison said, making Diego glare in her direction.
"Surprise, surprise," Diego muttered, earning a look from Allison.
Diego, Luther, and Allison all turned to look at Zero. "What's your thought on the matter?" Luther asked him. Zero stood there for a minute and thought about it.
"I say 'way to go, mom' having to deal with him, all alone for all those years must have been a nightmare on its own, so good riddance." He said while Luther glared at the boy angrily. "What you wanted to know my thoughts, space boy." He told him with a slight smirk on his face.
Zero, Diego, Luther, and Allison then turned to look at Vanya. "I-I don't." Vanya began, but Diego grew impatient and cut her off.
"Yeah, she shouldn't get a vote." Diego said.
"I was gonna say that I agree with you." Vanya said.
Diego froze before nodding his head, "Okay. She should get a vote." He looked around the room before his eyes landed on Klaus.
"What about you stoner boy? What do you got?" Diego asked.
"Oh, so, what? You need my help now?" Klaus asked, causing Zero to look at him innocently. "Oh, 'Get out of the van, Klaus.' Well, welcome back to the van."
"What van?" Allison asked. Zero looked at Luther with a grin, knowing that the comment was directed at him since Zero never told Klaus to get out of the van.
Luther rolled his eyes in annoyance. "What's it going to be, Klaus?" Luther asked.
"I'm with Diego because screw you!" Klaus exclaimed. "And if Ben were here. He'd agree with me." A second passed before Klaus turned his head angrily and hissed at the empty corner of the room.
Zero's eyes widened slightly as he realized that Klaus wasn't looking at nothing; he was actually looking at their dead brother Ben. That's why he had been talking to himself in the alley the whole time he had actually been talking to their brother.
"So that's four," Diego said, interrupting Zero's train of thought.
"Wait." Luther began.
But Diego ignored him and held up four fingers on one hand and two on the other. "To two," Diego continued.
"Votes not final yet." Allison said.
"What?" Diego asked.
"Five's not here." Allison pointed out, causing Zero to look at her and wonder if his sister knew how math worked.
"That wouldn't change anything. Even if he did vote to shut her down, that would still be four to three." Diego told her.
"The whole family still has to vote. We owe each other that. And that gives everyone time to think it over and decide if they want to change their minds or not." Allison told them.
"Right." Luther said, agreeing with her.
"No, we should wait." Vanya agreed. Silence fell among the group before Luther, Allison, Klaus, and Zero walked out of the room.
YOU ARE READING
Number Zero- The Umbrella Academy (Book 1)
Fanfiction"On the twelfth hour of the first day of October nineteen eighty-nine, forty-three women around the world gave birth. This was unusual only in the fact that none of these women had been pregnant when the day first began. Sir Reginald Hargreeves, e...
