~𝕸𝖞 𝕳𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖙 𝖂𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝕲𝖔 𝕺𝖓 ~𝐹𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝐻𝒶𝓇𝑔𝓇𝑒𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓈

Chapter 7: Piper

" The briefcase! In my mom's company, people use briefcases to travel in time to protect the timeline," Piper said, using air quotes when saying 'protect the timeline'. "Protect the timeline? What does your mom do? And how did you turn into a cat?" Five asked. He instantly regretted asking her as Piper tortured us with her story of a lifetime.

" My mom works in an organisation called the Commission. People call her 'The Handler'. The company assigns people to protect the timeline, and sometimes even KILL people who are in their way. Have you ever heard of the 43 special children? Well, my sister Lila and I were two of those kids."

" Yeah, we're those kids too. I can teleport through time and space and Dolores has telekinesis powers," Five replied. " Lila? You guys are twins?"I questioned.

"No, ADOPTIVE sisters. I'm from China and she's Indian. She was born in London though. Both our parents were killed, so Mom adopted us. I can turn into any living being I've seen. Unfortunately, I couldn't hide some of my characteristics, like my voice, eye colour. Lila can mimic other people's powers, so she technically has all kinds of powers, including mine. She's Mom's favourite."

"I was a rebel in the family," she continued, " Mom trained us to be assassins, but I just think that killing people to protect a timeline is not worth it," she shrugged, "Once, I secretly spared a man's life, but Mom found out. She pretended she forgave me, but what I did was against the Commission Rules. She told Lila to rumor herself that she will not remember me. Then Mom told me to go on a mission the other day. I was paranoid about that so I snuck my bread and left a trail of crumbs along the way, just like how Hansel and Gretal did. Then Mom handed me a briefcase and activated it, sending me here. I just hated her guts. And my LIFE now," she said, acting like a drama queen.

" Do you think you can lead us to that company?" I asked, ignoring her little comment. "Well, the bread crumbs are either eaten by birds or are burnt, but I can try to sniff the scent of them, or try to remember the route," She suggested.

We followed Piper. " If you're also born in 1989, how are you still so young?" Five questioned." When did you arrive here?" " 17 of December, 2002," I answered quickly. Piper laughed. December 17? That's 2 weeks ago! Why are you so OLD then?" She chuckled off, and told us, "Time does change everything. Come on, it's a long way to the Commission, so I hope you won't die soon."she gave us a fake smile.

It was one of the longest walks I have walked in my entire life. It felt like ten years, especially when Piper was talking about every single detail of her life. Like a GRANDMA ( seriously, I thought I was in a FUNERAL.)

"Does she have an 'off' button?" I whispered to Five, who looked really irritated. " I have an idea," he winked (butterfly alert!), " Ay, Animal Girl? Can you turn into a giraffe?" "It's Piper," she said, and turned into a giraffe, " Why? You know I could still talk like a person, even when I changed into an animal, right? Now, where was I ?" Five and I groaned, and continued walking.

After a long speech from Piper, we were all tired. (Weirdly, evenings are pretty dark these days.) Piper and I built a shelter and Five blinked to Thailand to get fire. I observed the food from the environment with my powers and I got a turkey leg.

" You guys eat it. I'll chew from the bone," Piper said, and turned into a puppy. Five tore off a piece of half of the turkey leg. " No thanks, I'm good, you should get some more. Guys need to be more built- up, right?" I gave him a soft smile.

"Are you guys like, a thing?" Piper suddenly asked. " No, no, just siblings. Brother, Sister. Frére, Sœur. M'kay?" I babbled, feeling real hot on my face. Piper shrugged, and fidgeted with her fingers.

Five and Piper went to sleep immediately after we ate. I looked to the sky,staring at the dark canvas. "When are you going to confess to him?" I heard a voice saying. "Piper! Aren't you asleep?" "Answer my question." "Confess what?" I was starting to get annoyed. "Mm Hm," she hummed sarcastically, sounding unconvinced. " Girl, not only can I smell bread crumbs, I can also sniff out liars," she continued, " Just tell you how you feel already! It'll be super cute! Ooh! Ooh! Maybe you guys can get married, and have three kids and seven grandkids and two dogs and five baby hamsters!" " Shush! He'll hear you!" I whisper- shouted. "Do you know if he likes me? You know, like I said, we're siblings. There's a gap." Piper rolled her eyes, " I am a lie detector, not some mind- reading mastermind! I only found out if you were lying because you said something, but Five was silent. But I clearly see he's into you. Plus, I've seen you and Five were REALLY close back in the Academy." I frowned. " You were spying on us?!" " Don't you remember? I told you about the mission when I was twelve?" Clearly I didn't listen to any of it! "Oh yeah! Yeah, that one. Exciting mission," I lied. Piper raised an eyebrow. "Just... think about it." she said. "Night," I told Piper. "Nighty- night," she answered.

☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️☂️

"Good morning Five," I slowly got up. Five was already up. "Morning," he simply answered, not looking at me. We set off five minutes later. I thought Five was going to talk to me, but he was extra quiet. That left me no choice but to listen to Piper's stories.

But I couldn't stop thinking about Five's quietness. Was he angry with me? What did I do wrong? I looked at Five and found him staring at me, with a weird look on his face. He instantly looked away.

Suddenly, Piper squeezed between us. "So, what's the haps?" Then her expression changed into a really dramatic- fake- surprised look. "Did you lovebirds argue or something?" she gasped. Shit. Did Piper tell him about the conversation we had last night?  I gave Piper a death glare to shut her up. Thankfully I think she got my hint and just walk to the front, leading us to the Commission.

"This is it," Piper stopped walking. A massive building laid in front of our eyes. "You guys go in. I'll wait here. I'm forbidden from here."she gave us a small smile, "Wish you guys luck."

Five and I walked in the building. We found a guide map and found where to get a briefcase. Five teleported and came back with a briefcase in his hand. "Well that was easy,"I said, breaking the silence. " Come on, let's go before we get caught," he replied, pulling my hand. We fled to the exits and heard loud shooting noises outside.

We ran out and to our shock, we saw Piper lying on the floor, unconscious. There was a lot of blood on the ground. I looked up, and saw a blonde and formally dressed woman with a lot of makeup. "Who the hell are you?" I backed off a bit, because she was clutching a gun.

"People call me the Handler."

A/N: What whaaat??!! Trust me, now the Handler's here, shits 'bout to blow up. Btw, does anyone wanna guess why Five has been ignoring Dolores? Comment here! I know you guys may seem annoyed by this, but seriously, please send this book to your friends on WhatsApp, instagram stories, whatever. That really really helps me a lot, thanks 🫶🏻🫶🏻

Truth: If you can live the life of one Umbrella Academy member, whose would you choose and why?

Probably Luther. I know he's sort of a boring character, no offense, but I really don't have a choice. I mean, Diego lost two of his loved ones, Allison lost his voice, Klaus has a dead boyfriend, Five lived in an apocalypse, Ben died, and Vanya was an outcast. They all had a hard time, and even Luther had to go through a heartbreak, so there's that.