Life's lie || Umbrella academy

Chapter 14: The Majestic 12

I forgot to mention that there are like minimal spoilers in last chapter for The Haunting of Hill House, but ya know... The book has been around since 1959... But never the less, I'll warn you now. There is a spoiler for the book in here too. (Like in the first sentence.) Also I know that the story has been going quite slow up till this point, but nothing much has happened around Diego and Five that could easilly also include the mentally disturbed person that is Zariah. But better times are coming. I promise.

Zariah had been reading for what felt like minutes but must have been way longer since she had reached the part where Eleanor drove her car into the water so she could stay at the house forever. Although she loved reading, she didn't read all that fast, despite her father's attempts to get her to read faster. As she was half way down the page a hand grabbed the top of the book and pushed it down gently. It took her a good thirty seconds to register who was in front of her and what was being said.
"-eep at all?" It was Five who was standing right in front of her. There was an expression on his face she couldn't quite read, but she could see that he was tired.
"Hm? What?" She asked, blinking at the light she hadn't noticed coming through the window before.
"I asked if you slept at all last night or eaten for that matter." He eyed something next to her and she followed his eyes to where a plate of now cold food was standing. She hadn't noticed anyone placing it there, but she hadn't noticed it became daylight again either so it didn't really surprise her.
"Don't think so." She replied, trying to continue reading, but Five pulled the book away before she could, closing it without marking the page. She tried protesting but before she could he had spacial jumped out of her vision. There was no use in trying to find him, because for all she knew he was on the moon. A few minutes later he appeared again with Mexican food in his hands.
"You still like El Chico's, don't you?" He said as he handed her a paper bag. She smiled at him as she took it and opened it to find two quesadillas inside. A quick thanks escaped her mouth before she held up her hand, earning a questioning look from Five.
"The book." She informed, wanting to finish the story she had spent so long on reading.
"Not until you have finished your breakfast." He responded before stalking off to where Diego and Lila were.

A memory flashed into Zariah's mind as she bit down on her food. It was from when they were 17 and their family had gone out on a mission. The year 2006 had already been a strange year and everyone had been acting stranger and stranger. Especially her father, mother and Pogo. Ben was refusing to go on missions and had become more distant, but he was forced to go on this one. It was something about a warehouse or something and not being allowed to open something. The details were vague as she wasn't allowed to listen in to their conversations, even though she did her best to do so anyways.
"Have you taken your medication yet?" Her mom had asked as she was waiting patiently on the couch for her siblings to return. Something had felt wrong. It was as if something terrible was about to happen, but she didn't know what.
"I don't know." She answered her mother. Truth be told she knew she hadn't, but was scared to tell her mother in fear of being punished. "Hey, mom? Is father working from home today or is he with the team?" She tried to divert the topic.
"He is with your siblings." She replied, grabbing at something in her pocket and pulling her medicine out a second later. Everything after taking that was more or less a blur. She remembered Luther telling her that Ben had died because "they failed as a team", but nothing more than that.

"What did you say?" Diego's voice broke Zariah out of her trance. She could feel an ever so slight rumbling of the ground, but it stopped the moment Diego's voice reached her ears. Things like that happen sometimes, so she just opted to ignore it instead.
"Hm-? Nothing." Zariah looked up at where she had apparently been staring at her now empty bag of food. He looked at her with a hint of sadness but there was also determination in his eyes. "Where are you going?" She asked, now noticing that Diego was wearing a shirt once more and that Five and Lila were both preparing to leave again. However, she now noticed that Lila was wearing a blue dress, something she'd never imagine the woman wearing. She handed Diego a tie and held out a coat for him when he was finished putting the tie on. He didn't answer her question though.
"Five? Where are you going." She looked at her other brother for answers.
"We're investigating a party at the Mexican Consulate." He provided, seeming distracted by his own thoughts for a minute before grabbing into a hidden pocket of his coat while walking over to where Zariah was still sitting. He handed her the book back. "I need you to stay here and stay safe." He added. Zariah looked at her other siblings, Luther, Allison, Vanya and Klaus were already at the stairs and exclaiming their wishes to go with the others. She looked for Ben to see if he wanted to come too, but couldn't find him. That's weird... He was here yesterday. She wondered where he had gone, but turned her attention to her other siblings again.
"We're coming too." She declared as she put the book down and stood up. Diego and Five both looked like they were about to protest, but Lila cheered.
"I have the perfect dress for you." She exclaimed, running into another room only to come back seconds later with a lilac dress. It had a high collar and ever so short sleeves, but was quite elegant.