•Lambent• {Five Hargreeves} The Umbrella Academy

Chapter 2- Please Come Back

"I'm telling you, Harold, it was so cool!" Ellie lay with her friend, watching the clouds as they floated by, retelling her story about the bank.

Her friend sat up, listening intently and occasionally snapping a picture of his long-time crush. He would never let her see when he would take pictures and she never seemed to notice.

"I wish my powers would show up already. I was born on the same day as them!" Ellie felt her heartache at his words. She knew that nothing was out of place about his birth, she knew he wasn't special but she continued to play along, sparing his feelings.

She sits up to properly address him.

"I'm sure they will eventually! But hey," she nudged his side, "there's nothing wrong with being powerless! Look at me I was a whole day late on the whole magical power thing and I'm doing perfectly okay!" She felt awful lying to him but it was almost worth it to see him smile. Ellie knew about his rough home life so she was happy to help make him happy again.

"Yeah, you are pretty great," there was a beat of silence before he spoke again, "are you coming with me to see them? Maybe Five will even recognize you!" Ellie shook her head.

"Can't. I got roped into going to my grandma's." Harold grimaces at the mention of her grandma, remembering the time he had met the crazy one.

"The crazy one or the one with the cabin who makes cookies?"

"Cabin and cookies. Her name is Dolores if you must know, considering you've met her multiple times," Ellie laughs. Harold shook his head with a small smile.

"How could I forget, Ms. Ellie Dolores. Good thing you're not named after the crazy one," he added. Ellie laughs even harder.

"Oh God, I'd change my name so fast." The pair sat and talked for another hour before bidding each other farewell.

•••••

Ellie had arrived at an empty house, there was a sign on the door that explained her grandmother would be back in a couple of hours, giving her the perfect time to research the new part of her powers she discovered at the bank.

She recorded the findings of her powers on a notebook she acquired a couple of years ago when some things were happening randomly from suppressing her powers. Pulling it out, she got to work.

'Bullet-time effect': use of time dilation to slow down or speed up quickly in response

It wasn't long before all of her thoughts seemed to drift off to Five. There was something about him that made her heart flutter, the thought of their small interaction caused her to blush. She almost wished she'd gone with Harold just so she could see him again but something told her not to.

So lost in thought about the boy she barely noticed herself nodding off to sleep.

"Anyone?!" Ellie froze, out of all the times she had dreamt the same dream this had never happened.

"Hello?" She called out. Ellie walked around in the direction of the voice and froze when she saw who it belonged to.

"Who's there?" Ellie looked at the boy strangely. She was standing right in front of him, could he not see her?

"You can't see me, can you?" Five looked around for the source of the voice and shook his head.

"No, I can't. Who are you? You sound so familiar, do I know you?" Ellie chuckled lightly, hoping he was dreaming too.

"You do, from the bank." Five raised his eyebrows in shock.

"I never got your name," he said finally. Ellie sighed lightly.

"Dolores," she didn't know why she lied. Maybe it was because she was scared because she hoped this wasn't real.

"Why can't I see you?" He asked. Ellie looked around for an answer but came up with nothing.

"I'm not really here. I'm asleep. Why are you here? How did you get here?"

"Time travel. I should've listened to my dad, he told me I wasn't ready but in a sense I was, I guess. But now it doesn't look like I can get back."

"I'm sure it'll come soon. You got here didn't you?"

"I guess. What are your powers anyways? How are you here but not really?"

"I don't know. My main power is enhanced reflexes it's kinda boring compared to yours but I don't know why I'm here. I've been dreaming of this place for as long as I can remember and it's always the same..."

"Until today," Five finished for her. Ellie nodded even though he couldn't see. There was a small moment of silence until Ellie watched her hand flicker in and out of sight.

"I think I'm waking up."

"What?"

"Um, okay. Go north, you'll find four bodies, as horrible as that sounds, but one of them has a glass eye. I think it belongs to the person who started the apocalypse," she rushed out. She was running out of time.

"What? Dolores!"

"I'm sorry."

"Will I see you again?"

"I always come back."

"Dolores! Dolores! Please come back!"

Ellie awoke with a gasp, not knowing where she was. It wasn't until she saw the pictures on the wall that she remembered she wasn't at her house.