EUNOIA ━ diego hargreeves

54

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
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"YOU'RE NOT actually mad," Diego's voice rang out from behind Freya. After he'd put his disgusting dumpster hands on her face, she'd scrounged up the nearest trash bag and stomped off toward the exit, now her husband was trailing after her pitifully. "Are you? Freya? Freya. Frey-"

As she swung open the apartment door, they stepped into an empty room. For a moment, they both paused. Five and Lila were nowhere to be seen, and temporary annoyance forgotten, she shot Diego a look. "Where do you think they went?"

"Not sure," he admitted. "Gives us time to figure out what all of this means."

"I don't think Einstein could figure this out," Freya sighed. She settled on the couch, opening a file and flipping through the sheets of paper inside. Half an hour of researching passed, and she scrubbed a hand over her head. "I mean, these people sound insane."

"Insane or not.. they're right."

Freya gnawed at her lower lip—from what Five had told them about the Keepers, she couldn't disagree. There were multiple timelines, infinite, even, but the fact that others still had some of their memories shouldn't have been possible. And yet it was, somehow. Freya didn't know much about any of this, to be honest. She'd leave the theories to Five, she would much rather throw fireballs. Figuring out timeline related things were above her pay grade.

"Yeah," she nodded. "I guess that's true. I just.. I don't understand this cleanse thing. Or how they've renamed the butterfly effect to the 'umbrella effect.' Or how Sy and Jennifer are related to any of this-"

"Freya," Diego kneeled before her, arms bracing on her legs. "You're spiraling."

"How am I supposed to not?"

"Hm," he made a noise in the back of his throat, and Freya instantly recognized the flicker in his expression. Momentarily, she forgot where they were and what exactly their goal was supposed to be, because Diego's fingers had began to gently trace the inner works of her thigh, and she leaned forward to kiss him. Improper timing as always, but that was kind of on brand for them, anyway. And kissing Diego always short-circuited her brain, even after all this time. For a second, it stopped the spiraling of her thoughts, and all she focused on was him.

It was absurd how he could still kiss her senseless, hand coming up to cup her jaw—just as something sounded from behind them. They jumped apart, and Freya blinked at the sudden reappearance of Lila and Five, standing in the center of the room. Instantly, she raised a brow.

"Nice of you to join us," she mused.

"You guys find anything?" Lila asked.

"Oh, I found something," Diego stood, casually like he hadn't just been knelt before her, and grabbed the book he'd been holding. "Something that's gonna blow this case wide open."

Freya watched him, surprised. "First I'm hearing of it."

"You distracted me," Diego shot at her. Immediately she rolled her eyes.

Diego handed the page to Five, and Freya climbed to her feet, reading it over his shoulder. It was a similar format to the many papers she'd read over in the last hour, but Diego was right, this one was definitely stood out.

INCIDENT: JENNIFER. CASUALTIES: 2. UMBRELLA ACADEMY 10/14/2006.

"That's impossible," Five stated. "There was no Umbrella Academy in 2006."

"Not in this timeline."

"It must be one of Gene and Jean's artifacts," Lila said.

"Keep reading," Diego instructed, and they did.