W H Y?《Umbrella Academy》

No. 3

Five looked down at himself then back at his family, "Shit." Was all he said.

«~»

Everyone was inside and Five started walking around the kitchen looking for stuff. He sighed, "What's the date? The exact date."

"March 24," James said sitting next to Klaus.

"Good." He said pulling out a piece of bread.

"So are we gonna talk about what just happened?" Luther asked. Five ignored him and continued making his sandwich. "It's been 17 years." Luther continued, Five scoffed.

"It's been a lot longer than that." He jumped from in front of Luther to the stool in front of the oven, "I haven't missed that," Luther said.

"Where'd you go?" Diego asked. "The future. It's shit, by the way." Five said, jumping back to the end of the table. "Called it!" James said. "I should've listened to the old man. You know, jumping through space is one thing, jumping through time is a toss of the dice." He looked up at everyone, "Nice dress." He said, motioning to Klaus' skirt.

"Oh, well, danke." The junkie said. "What how did you get back?" Vanya asked. "In the end, I had to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of my self that exists across every possible instance in time," Five said.

"That makes no sense," Diego said. "Well, it would if you were smarter." Five retorted. James snickered and stole a marshmallow from Fives hand.

Diego shot up, but Luther held him back, "How long were you there?" He asked. "Forty-five years. Give or take." Five said, "So what are you saying? That your 58?" Luther asked.

"No, my consciousness is 58. Apparently, my body is now 13 again." He said, finishing making his sandwich.

"Well, how does that even work?" Vanya asked. "Delores kept saying the equations were off." Five said taking a bite of his sandwich.

"Bet she's laughing now." Vanya was confused, "Delores?" She asked.

"I think I might know why your body's 13 again," James said looking at his brother. Five raised an eyebrow. "Well, go on, say it." He said. "Well, when you left 17 years ago, your body was 13. And when you got to the future you stayed the same way and aged there. So you did whatever for 58 years, then when you came back to your correct timeline. There wasn't a 29-year-old version of yourself to return to, so your body went back to the last version it was before you left. So your body is 13 again." James said.

Five looked surprised at the theory his brother came up with on the spot. He picked up the newspaper that was on the table. "Guess I missed the funeral." He said. "How'd you know about that?" Luther asked. "He went to the future dumb dumb," James said.

"What part of the future do you not understand?" Five asked. "Heart failure huh?"

"Yea-" Diego started. "No," Luther said, cutting him off. Five clicked his tongue. "Nice to see nothing's changed." He said leaving the kitchen with his sandwich.

"Uh, that's it? That's all you have to say?" Alison called after him. "What else is there to say? The circle of life."

"Well, that was interesting," Luther said.

-James Pov-

Everyone had cleared out of the kitchen including me, so I went up into my room in search of some different clothes. When I packed all of our bags, I forgot to pack most of my clothes, and the only thing I packed was my work clothes. I sighed and opened my closet.

Inside was only the uniform, "Damn," I sighed and grabbed one before changing into it. I put my other clothes into my bag and went downstairs.

I put my hands in my pockets and saw Five staring at the painting of him above the fireplace, Vanya was next to him. "Nice to know Dad didn't forget me." He said, turning to face her. "Read your book, by the way. Found it in a library that was still standing. I thought it was pretty good, all things considered." He said pacing the space between the couches. "Yeah, definitely ballsy giving up the family secrets. Sure that went over well."

"They hate me," Vanya said. "Oh, there are worse things that can happen." She looked at him, "you mean like what happened to Ben." I inhaled sharply remembering how he died, I was there. I remember seeing it happen in front of me. "Was it bad?" Five asked carefully realizing how Vanya's statement caused me to react. I nodded sharply.

«~»

Everyone filed outside and stood around Luther who was holding onto the urn containing our father's ashes. "Did something happen?" Mom asked. Everyone looked at her, "Dad died. Remember?" Alison said. "Oh. Yes, of course." Mom said. "Is Mom okay?" Alison asked. "Yeah, yeah, she's fine. She just needs to rest. You know, recharge." Diego said.

Pogo stepped up to everyone. "Whenever you're ready dear boy." He said to Luther. Luther took the top off and poured the ashes onto the ground. Klaus made a face, at what fell out, and Luther tried shaking the urn to get more of the ashes out. But sighed when it was empty. "Probably would have been better with some wind," Luther said, trying to lighten the mood. I just shook my head.

"Does anyone wish to speak?" Pogo asked. Everyone stayed silent. "Very well. In all regards, Sir Reginald Hargreeves made me what I am today. For that alone, I shall forever be in his debt. He was my master... and my friend, and I shall miss him very much. He leaves behind a complicated legacy--"

"He was a monster."

Klaus laughed and I giggled. "He was a bad person, and a worse father- grandfather in some cases," Diego said motioning to the boys standing next to me and Vanya. "The world better off without him."

"Diego," Alison said. "My name is Number Two. You know why? Because our father couldn't be bothered to give us actual names."

"He had mom do it." Mom perked up at her name. "Would anyone like something to eat?" She asked, "No, it's okay mom." Vanya said. "Oh, okay." Mom said. "Look you wanna pay your respects? Go ahead. But at least be honest about the kind of man he was." Diego said.

"You should stop talking now," Luther said. "You know, you of all people should be on my side here, Number One."

"Oh, big bad Luther coming to the rescue," James muttered.

"I am warning you," Luther said. "After everything, he did to you?" I looked at five, who looked just as confused as I was. "He had to ship you millions of miles away," Diego taunted. "Diego, stop talking," Luther said. "That's how much he couldn't stand the sight of you!" Diego said poking Luther's chest.

Luther grabbed Diego's wrist and swung at him, Diego dodged it, and Luther swung again. Everyone stepped back, and Pogo tried to stop the fight. "Boys, stop this at once!" He said. Both Number One and Number Two ignored him, Diego continued taunting Luther who kept swinging.

Pogo sighed and went inside, the two boys got really close to Ben's statue and I got nervous. Luther went to punch Diego, who ducked and Luther punched Ben's statue. I watched it fall off its podium, then the head break off.

"And there goes Ben's statue," Alison said before going inside. Miles and Jayden followed her in. I felt tears rush down my face.

Vanya went inside and Diego pulled out a knife. "Diego! No!" I shouted. He thew the knife and it cut Luther's arm. I remembered Ben's last mission, he was fighting, a knife was thrown and I couldn't save him. I wiped my face and shouted for the two boys. The sound was louder than normal, and they both covered their ears from the noise.

I watched Luther rush inside and Diego take mom inside. I snatched the joint from Klaus, I finished it and we bother walked over to Dad's pile of ashes. "Look at this. Team at its best." Klaus and I said before I stuck the joint into the pile and went inside with my brother.