a mannequin and a boy • the umbrella academy ON HOLD

volume two, issue 2

Five's seen a lot of disturbing events in his life, but he was not expecting to see a nuclear war and an apocalypse within the same day.

He heard the first bullet land directly above his head as he watched a missile soar above him, landing about a mile away.

As he stumbled out of an unfamiliar alleyway he noticed troops fighting against each other, including his own siblings.

"Soviets attack US?" He read off of a loose magazine cover, before looking back up. There was certainly a war going on, but not the last time he checked.

"No, this can't be right." He heard people shouting, at him and at other soldiers, all desperate for a victory, or an escape from this desolation they had to witness.

Five looked around and his heart jumped when he saw Dolores, fighting for her life just as the rest of them were.

She kept fizzing in and out of existence, or so the naked human eye could see, punching unsuspecting enemies or hiding. Her hair was a mess and blood soaked through her normally white shirt, but she still had a determined look on his face.

He next saw Vanya, completely pale and flying, use her magic to explode an incoming missile. She seemed to have more control of her power then, but Five could never be too sure with her.

Not far from there, Klaus was doing something Five couldn't even see, but one moment soldiers were running from him and the next they were killed by resurrected spirits.

Five shuddered when Luther jumped and landed right beside the ghost whisperer of a man. His back was littered in burn marks, darker than it already was with the ape DNA. Luther took more fire on his back, yelling a war cry as he was taking the shot for Klaus.

Even Ben was there through Klaus, using his tentacles beyond death to strangle some of the enemy.

Lastly, Allison joined the group after rumoring some men to blow their own minds.

Five wanted to grin out of pride for his siblings— they seemed to be killing it. Even Dolores was doing well, and she was a mannequin for thirty or so years.

How long had it been since they last saw him? For him it was a few seconds, but for them it could've been longer.

Five wasn't even acknowledged until Diego came in, avoiding every single bullet hurtled  at him.

Five was about to run into action before a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

Hazel, old and white-haired, appeared out of thin air right beside Five, his expression serious. Five wanted to curse him out for stopping him, but stopped once he realized that Hazel could help him more.

"If you wanna live, come with me." Five heaved a deep breath, furrowing his eyebrows in slight confusion.

"Hazel. What the heck is going on here?"

"There's no time to explain." Hazel pointed toward the sky at the weapons. "Those are nukes, old-timer."

The sky would actually be very pretty if it weren't for the dozen or so missiles falling to the earth. Five looked back to Hazel after spending a moment looking at them, a million questions flooding his mind.

"What about my family? And what about... what about her?" His voice nearly cracked as he looked back to Dolores. She finally saw him and smiled, even if the smile didn't reach her eyes, for Five knew that she knew it was the end.

"Can't save 'em if you're dead."

Five pondered it before grabbing Hazel's hand quickly, begrudgingly leaving them in ruins.

A few moments later and they were on the very same street, but perfectly restored. Although, no street in 2019 quite looked like this one, with its bundle of classily dressed white women and old-fashioned signs.

"What the heck was that?" Five asked Hazel, out of breath.

"The end of the world, November 25th, 1963." Five looked around at the shops surrounding them, everything clicking in his mind.

"'63... Y'know, Hazel, I'm no history buff, but I don't recall there being a nuclear holocaust. What about my family?" Five asked, shaking out his sleeves.

"Dead, like everyone else." Five tried not to show the slight despair in his eyes but that did take him by surprise, for sure.

"And... Dolores?" He asked, a little too hopeful then he should've been. Hazel sighed, shaking his head as an answer. Five looked down and nodded.

"Where am I now?"

"Dallas, same street. Ten days earlier. " Five could tell that the landscape was similar to the one from the war scene, minus a few explosions and nuclear weapons. "Plenty of time to restore the timeline and save them."

Five joined him as they sat on a bench together. For the end of the world, Hazel looked oddly calm, but it wasn't the first apocalypse either of them had seen, either.

"So, where do we start?"

"'We'?" Hazel repeated, shaking his head. "You're on your own, pal. I'm just here to keep a promise to Agnes."

"Is she..?" Five didn't want to imagine her as dead just like the rest of his siblings and Dolores, but judging by Hazel's grim expression, he didn't even need an answer.

Five had experience with a lot of gruesome events, but for something as natural and uncontrollable as cancer, the boy didn't have anything that could comfort Hazel.

Hazel mentioned 'forever'. How he and Agnes never got to spend forever together, but their time together was good even if it was short.

To a time traveler, forever seemed so attainable, and yet suffocating. Five didn't want to spend forever alone; he'd rather be surrounded by his loved ones for a short life then live an endless one that's lonesome and sad.

In his loneliest times he had Dolores, and even if she couldn't respond or anything, the insanity in him animated her.

And now that he knows she's real, he's going to do all he can to get her back and save the world.

authors note
I KNOW this is primarily stuff you've seen before, because pretty much all of the dialogue isn't my own and belongs to the show, but I wanted to include what Five might've been thinking of how Dolores was in the situation.

Question of the chapter: now that another season has passed, who is your favorite character out of the whole show?

My answer: Five is still in my heart but Ben and Lila were also my favorites.

I hope you enjoyed, I know it isn't the best but I really wanted to keep doing switching perspectives and include Dolores's life within Five's telling.

* chapters will get longer, I promise!

thank you for reading! bye!