Grand Theft (The Umbrella Academy)

CHAPTER EIGHTY-ONE: Eighty-Lost

Seven months in suspended time later...

Unamused, Haddock stares at the Yorkshire Terrier that is sitting on his lap, though it's more focused on the colored lights behind him as the subway train goes through the portal.

It breaks the silence between them and nips at his hand, wanting to play.

"Ow! Why did you get this thing again?" He coddles his finger dramatically as he glares at the dog.

Fleur sighs and picks the dog up lovingly to hug. It in turn squirms until she sets it down to run about the train. "You've been asking that for the last five months. Get over it. I really don't understand why you don't like Ms. Pennycrumb. She's freaking adorable. Look at her."

Hadd only grimaces, hiding his fondness for the Yorkie. "Oh I see her. Over there hidin' behind that piece of lint."

She scoffs with an eye roll.

"You know, when you said that you wanted a dog, I thought you meant like a huntin' dog. This thing is useless."

Ms. Pennycrumb's nails click across the metal floor as she runs back to Hadd, jumping onto his lap. Despite his constant grumbling, her preference of him leads Fleur to believe that he doesn't hate it as much as he says.

He rubs her ear then she runs across the seats to her momma who can't not pet her. "She's not useless. She's our emotional support animal. Aren't you, Ms. Pennycrumb? Yes, you are." She smiles brighter then kisses her head.

Hadd smirks and crosses his arms. "She's a mutt is what she is. Another mouth to feed or else the wind will carry her off, or maybe a bird."

Fleur smacks his shoulder and his smile grows.

He slouches and rests his head on the back of the seat feeling perfectly content with his new life right now. It can be tough, but he hadn't felt this at ease while living soundly alone in an apartment with the same bed every night.

Suddenly a pit grows in his stomach for no reason at all. His eyes shoot open. He looks back at the entrance to the timeline they just passed and it's like a noose of overwhelming hope around his neck. His whole body screams to turn around. "There. We need to go back." He abruptly stands for the doors.

Fleur squints. "What? What do you mean? Hadd?"

"It's Consy. I-I just... I know it. I feel... You know?" He pries the doors open then jumps out of the moving train without hesitation.

Seeing the colors coming up, Fleur quickly grabs Ms. Pennycrumb then jumps out after him. Watching him running towards the stairs leading to the new timeline, she huffs then runs along the tracks after him, the dog running alongside her. "Hadd! Wait up!"

He doesn't in the slightest as he barrels up the stairs and into the new world. "Consy! Connor! I'm he—" He disappears and she can no longer hear him.

"What the hell?" she mutters to herself, seriously worrying for his sanity. Fleur helps the dog off of the tracks then hoists herself up before bolting after him.

Taking the stairs two at a time, she breaches the new timeline and finds Haddock frozen in his tracks. It's then that she looks around and finds that they're standing in another post-apocalyptic world. Everything is scorched and crumbling, but the fires had long since gone out. The moon is still intact. Solar flare or asteroid impact maybe?

The Adam's apple of Hadd's throat bobs up and down roughly as he looks around. "I felt her... I feel her... I swear," he whispers. "I was so...sure that she would be here." He sinks to his knees. Trembling, he sifts dust in his hands, still in a state of shock. His head hangs and his eyes gloss thereafter. Hope is a dastardly thing.