•Lambent• {Five Hargreeves} The Umbrella Academy

Chapter 8- The Commission

Over thirty years later the couple was still very much in love. Ten years ago Five had managed to find a ring that fit her and proposed. They have been 'married' for a long time but it was still a lovely experience for them both. Dolores had learned a lot over the years but she was still very behind. Five was doing his best to help her but he didn't care that she wasn't as smart as he was. He was just glad she was happy even after being stuck there for forty-five years. There was a basic routine, Five would help Dolores with her hair and then they'd have breakfast before following the road again. Today was different. They were taking a break from spending all say on the road.

"Do you remember that, uh, the little mansion just outside the city limits? Where we," Five slurred. He had already drunk more than enough alcohol. Dolores smiled lightly, thinking back to when they watched the stars and Five had taught her the names of the constellations. They looked nothing like the shape they were supposed to be but she loved them. They were pretty. Returning her focus to him, she leaned back in her chair.

"Yeah, well, it turns out the wine cellar was untouched. Picked up a few cases of your favorite Bordeaux." Dolores looked over the bottle of wine and shook her head.

"You drink every single day, Five," she laughed as his expression changed. 

"Ah, that's an exaggeration. I don't drink too much," he tipped his own bottle up and took a drink making Dolores roll her eyes with a soft smile.

"You know, I work hard all day." Dolores nodded in agreement but made a sarcastic comment anyway.

"Okay, Five."

"I - Why would you even say that?" Dolores laughed and gave him a peck on the lips but was quickly pulled into another kiss that lasted much longer.

•••••

The couple sat in comfortable silence, FIve had finally sobered up and stuck his nose back into the notebook. He was getting close, it should take less than a year if everything was going correctly. He glanced back at Dolores who sat admiring the equations scribbled onto the concrete walls that surrounded them.

In the blink of an eye, a woman appeared in the rubble, sporting a black dress and a suitcase. Both Five and Dolores stood at the sight of her. Five quickly pulled Dolores behind him and lined his gun up with the woman's forehead.

"Who the hell are you?" he yelled. Dolores looked back and forth between Five and the woman. She almost didn't look real.

"I'm here to help," the woman said plainly. Dolores didn't know if the smile she wore was a fake one but she could tell that the woman wasn't lying. She placed a hand on Five's shoulder and took a step closer.

"Tell me why I shouldn't put a bullet through your head right now!" Five yelled, ignoring Dolores's gentle touch.

"Because if you did, you wouldn't hear the offer I'm about to make you. Which would be rather tragic, given your current circumstances. I work for an organization called the Commission. We are tasked with the preservation of the time continuum through manipulation and removals."

"I don't understand," Five stated, pulling Dolores closer to him.

"Sometimes, people make choices that alter time. Free will, don't get me started. When that happens, we dispatch one of our agents to eliminate the threat," The woman looked at the raised guns and laughed.

"No, no, no, no. You misunderstand me. You're not a target. You're a recruit. I've come to offer both of you a job. We've had our eye on you all for quite some time. And we think you both have a lot of potential. Your survival skills have made you both quite the celebrities back at headquarters. That and your ability to jump through time," she looked back to Dolores, "you, we have a lot to figure out about." Dolores nervously looked to Five.

"You're saying that we, we could actually leave here? Go back?" Five stuttered out.

"In return for five years of service. Once your contracts are done, you can retire to the time and place of your choosing with a pension plan to boot."

"If you can alter time, why not just stop all of this from ever happening?" Dolores asked. The tall woman turned her focus to her with a small smile.

"That's quite impossible, I'm afraid. You see all of this, it was supposed to happen." She gestured to the wasteland around them causing Dolores to do the same.

"That's insane. The end of everything?" Five asked. Dolores nodded in agreement.

"Not everything. Just the end of something. So do we have an agreement?" She looked at the couple expectantly as Five lowered his gun. They knew what they had to do.