W H Y?《Umbrella Academy》

No. 8

"Is something wrong Mr. Hargreeves?" Mr. Burger asked. James sighed, "No. I won't be able to pick him up for a few hours. Would one of my siblings be able to come to pick him up? I believe they are all on his contact list." There was shuffling on the other end of the line.

"Yes, we have Luther Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves, Alison Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves, and Vanya Hargreeves. Who would be picking him up today?"

James looked at the sky. "Um, I'm not sure. There should be another number on the list. It should be xxx-xxx-xxxx. That's my father's house. Just call that number and whoever answers will more than likely be picking up my son."

"Alright. Thank you for your time." James hung up and Five looked at him questioningly. "What happened?" He asked. "Miles got into a fight and I think I know who it was with and why." Five nodded, and the two continued on their way.

<~>
Vanya woke up from her slumber and went into her living room, "Hey Five?James?" She called out. She scanned the room and saw neither of the boys was to be found. "Oh, shit." She cursed under her breath.
<~>

"Hey, Luther?" Miles asked, the larger male. "Yeah?" He asked. "If I die. Will you carry my coffin?" The boy asked. "Of course-" Luther said, "So you can let me down one last time." Diego snorted from where he was signing Miles out of the school "You want some ice for that burn?" He said looking at number one. Luther looked at Miles who was laughing and Diego handed the paper to the receptionist before the three of them leaving the office and headed back to the estate.

<~>

Five and James stood in front of a large building the glass eye clutched in Five's hand and James straightened out his blazer and cuff links. The two boys walked into the building and looked around, Five didn't see anyone who he deemed could help the two, so he turned to head out of the building when a man saw the two, "Uh, can I help you?" The man asked eyeing the two 'children'. James and Five spun around to find where this new voice came from. Five held up the eye in his hand, "We need to know who this belongs to." Five said. The doctor walked over to the pair, "Where did you get that?"

James scoffed, "What do you care?" James looked at Five who handed him the prosthetic. "We...we found it... at a playground actually," James said turning the eye around and inspecting it. "Uh, must have just," James clicked his tongue, "popped out," he said, a sick grin tossing his face. The doctor looked unsettled. "We wanna return it to its rightful owner." Five said. "Oh... what thoughtful young men." The lady at the desk said, "Yeah, look up the name for me will ya?" Five said James elbowed him.

The receptionist looked confused, "Uh, I'm sorry but the patient records are strictly confidential. That means I can't tell you-" James sighed, "Yeah, we know what it means," The doctor looked at him. "But I'll tell you what I can do." He said. "I will take the eye off your hands, and return it to the rightful owner." He said, referring to the object in James' hand. "I'm sure he or she will be very grateful, so if I can just have-" He held his hand out for James to put the eye in it. "Yeah, You're not touching this eye," He said.

"Now you listen here, young man-" James laughed and Five grabbed the man by his collar, "No! You listen to me asshole." Five said, the man looked scared. "I've come a long way for this, through some shit your pea brain couldn't even comprehend." He said. James smirked. "So give us the information we need, and we'll be on our merry way." Five said menacingly.

"And if you call us young man one more time." James pipped, "I'll personally put your head through that wall." James said, "Oh, dear." The receptionist said. "Call security," the doctor said softly, the receptionist nodded, and picked up the phone. Five pushed the man back, and the two left the building. "I've got an idea," James said.

<~>

Vanya pushed the academy door closed as she stepped in. "Five, James?" She called out. "Are you upstairs?" She asked. She went to the second floor and saw Allison playing and talking with Number Zero's son Jayden in a room. She saw no sign of either boy so she went to the third floor, where she saw Five standing by the window.

"Oh thank god," she sighed out. "I was worried sick about you and James," she said walking over to the shorter male. "Sorry, we left without saying goodbye." Five said. "No, look I'm the one who should be sorry," Vanya said, Five turned around to face her. "Yeah, I was dismissive and...I- I guess I didn't know how to process what you were saying and I still can't, to be honest."

"Maybe you were right to be dismissive." Five scoffed, "Maybe it wasn't real after all. It felt real. Well..." Five paused and moved a toy train on his desk. "As you said, the old man did say time travel could contaminate the mind." Vanya sighed, "Then maybe I'm, not the right person to be talking to. Look I used to see someone. A therapist, I could give you her information."

Five sighed, "Thanks, but... I think I'm just gonna get some rest. It's been a long time since I've had a good sleep." Vanya sighed. "Okay." with that, she turned and left the room, Five followed her, and he came back into his room once he was sure she was down the hall. Items clattered, and both Klaus and James came out of the closet. "That's so....touching all the stuff about family and Dad and time. Wow!" Klaus said walking over to Five's window.

The black-haired male stopped for a moment, and James climbed onto his back like they would when they were kids. "It was disgusting how sweet it all was," James added. "Would you two shut up? She'll hear you!" Five hissed. "We're moist!" Klaus said then preceded to laugh when Jayden stumbled into the room and tried to hand Five a toy train. Five looked down at him and scoffed causing the little boy to run over to his dad. Five looked at the frilly shirt Klaus was wearing, and the muscle shirt James was wearing.

"I thought I told you two to put on something professional!" Five scolded. "What, this is my nicest outfit! And I wanted James to show off his tattoos!" Klaus whined. Five rolled his eyes and sighed, "We'll go raid the old man's closet." James scoffed, "And you're not going to say anything about what I'm wearing?" James asked. Five looked at him. "We'll go raid Klaus' closet for all his old clothes." James nodded. "Whatever, just as long as we get paid," Klaus said following Five out of the room. James picked up Jayden who was just sitting on the floor playing with his train and followed his brothers out of the room.

"When the job is done," Five said. "Okay, so, just so we're clear on the finer details," Klaus said. "I just gotta go into this place and pretend to be your and James dear old dad correct?" Klaus asked facing the two shorter boys in front of him. "Yeah, something like that." Five said, "What's our cover story?" Klaus asked. "What? What are you talking about?" Five asked looking at his brothers.