A bend in space-time (Season 3) - The Umbrella Academy

Chapter 26: Wedding at the end of the world

Chronological markers: this scene fits in as a deleted scene from The Umbrella Academy, season 3, episode 8, around 27:12 (during Luther and Sloane's wedding).

Suggested soundtrack: The rescues - Teenage Dream ; Cindy Lauper - Time after time.

---

April 07 2019, 7:24 pm

I was finally in the wedding hall before everyone else tonight. Not because I was eager to toast or dance, no, but because I felt out of sync with the entire world and afraid of being late. What Klaus did for me earlier by conjuring my mother: I won't forget it, even through multiple more apocalypses. And him - even though he clearly realizes the significance of it - acts as if it were nothing extraordinary, with his usual modesty wrapped in flamboyance.

I stayed alone for a long time in the middle of all these chairs, far too many for the handful of living beings we are, letting the myriad of little lights from the disco ball danse in front of my eyes, as if I were at the heart of a nonsensical galaxy. Behind his turntables, Chet made his technical adjustments, then went to the kitchen to finalize the last preparations for the buffet.

It took a long, very long moment to get past the ambient discomfort, despite Luther's insistence that we grant them two of the last hours of our lives. I can confirm that I hate this kind of wedding celebration. I could already feel it, even though this is the first wedding I've ever actually been invited to in my life.

I dragged my feet a bit to go listen to Klaus officiate in the inner courtyard, but I have to say he was brilliant. He's talented at improvisation, that's a fact. Since our years with the 'Destiny's Chidren', he has also become incredibly skilled at public speaking. Factually, he was very moved. As for me, I remained like a dark shadow on the chairs dimly lit by the small strings of bulbs. Despite everything, I was almost touched by Luther's smile, but of course, I'd rather choke than admit that to anyone. Just as Klaus will never tell anyone that it took him a solid fifteen minutes - really - to stop crying from emotion afterward.

Lila caught the bouquet - because it hit her in the face after I turned intangible - then we returned to the reception hall for the cocktail hour. Luther was really determined to check all the boxes on the kitschy wedding checklist: he chose to open the dance with a cover of Teenage Dream. I hate dances, but after all, we're on the brink of the end of the world, again. So I agreed to 'dance' with Klaus under those damn hyper-cheesy chandeliers. On one and only one condition.

To be invisible for it.

Even without being seen, I can confirm that I hate dancing. Klaus, on the other hand, loved it. He even burst into laughter when we collided multiple times. Factually, no one was surprised to see him spinning around - seemingly alone on the dance floor - amid the smoke machine's haze. Well hidden in my invisibility, I ended up smiling. Widely. In a way that he might have glimpsed when the music stopped.

Now that I'm helping myself at the buffet, I'm completely freaking out over the sheer amount of food available, because for the Hotel Obsidian, this is the last chance to empty its cold storage before it disappears into eternity. There's enough here to feed at least six or seven times the number of people we are: a pitiful fraction compared to the seven billion humans we were just a few days ago. It's almost grotesque, just like this ultimate euphoria as a whole. But isn't that what humans always do in the face of their own end?

Everyone is serving themselves from this last buffet, before going to sit at one of the many tables that have been set up. There's an overwhelming choice of where to sit, even though we could have all gathered around a single large table. This scattering gives the illusion that a crowd is about to feast. But paradoxically, at the same time, everyone somehow ends up eating alone.