The Voices in Her Head (No. 8)

XII

Katrine waited for Five to wake up and he eventually opened his eyes. She smiled at him. "Good morning. How do you feel?"

"Not great, but I think I'll live."

She laughed softly. "Well, that's a start."

Five frowned at her. "What is it?"

"It's just...there are two days left until the apocalypse, and I'm worried we can't stop it."

He met her eyes. "We will, Kat. I know we will."

"But what if we can't? I mean, I should be dead."

Five nodded slowly. "You would have been had Diego not come when he did."

Katrine's eyes narrowed as she read Five's thoughts. "That's why I wasn't there when the Academy was destroyed."

"Yeah."

"So, what now? I'm alive when I should be dead. Is that going to cause a paradox of some sort?"

"No, I don't think so. I mean, it hasn't yet."

Katrine's attention was drawn to Klaus yelling loud enough to hear upstairs, "Whoo! He popped his cherry!"

She grimaced. "Disgusting. I can't believe he's my older brother."

Five nodded. "You and me both."

Katrine frowned. "You two are the same age. Well, were."

"You know what I mean."

After a moment, the two of them walked down the stairs. Katrine was there in case Five needed support, but she knew he'd refuse it.

When they entered the kitchen, Klaus was pouring coffee and Luther was sitting at the table with his hood up. Katrine noticed a cup in front of an empty chair and asked, "Ben?"

"Yeah. I'm grateful for a terrible cup of coffee."

Katrine had to bite back a laugh. She couldn't hold it in when Five stole Luther's cup of coffee.

While sipping her own, she said, "It's terrible."

He glanced at her and took a sip and immediately frowned. "Jesus. Who do I gotta kill for a decent cup of coffee?"

Katrine sighed. "I don't know, but I'll join you. All I want is a good cup of coffee."

Luther sighed as he leaned across the table. "Can we get started?"

Klaus frowned. "Anyone seen the others? Diego? Allison? No?"

Katrine tapped her fingers on the table. "I saw them yesterday. They joined me and Five when we went to Harold Jenkins' home. He's got an unhealthy obsession with the Umbrella Academy and a weirder obsession with me and Vanya."

He frowned at his sister's words, seemingly disturbed. "Alright, then, this is the closest thing to a quorum--" He banged the table. "--that we're gonna get. There's no easy way to say this, so I'm just gonna spit it out."

"This is a bad idea."

"Yeah."

Katrine frowned. "Klaus, Ben, enough with the pessimism."

"You're pessimistic too, Katrine."

'That doesn't mean you need to be.'

"I'm dead. So, I have every right to be."

Katrine huffed and crossed her arms. She stuck her tongue out at the empty chair with the coffee mug. The siblings glanced at her and frowned. It was all incredibly disturbing. Luther let out a cough and turned to their brother.