☂ 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 || 𝙵𝙸𝚅𝙴 𝙷𝙰𝚁𝙶𝚁𝙴𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚂 𝚡 𝙾𝙲 || 𝐁𝐊. 𝟐 ☂

26. ELAINA vs THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY

Lila, Elaina and Tony stood in the destroyed living room of Sissy's shattered house, peering towards the new huge opening Luther's body created when Lila flung him like a rag doll.

"Luther!" they heard Allison shout from the other side. "Luther!"

"I'll get this one, too," announced Lila as she started heading towards the opening.

"You can't hog them all, Lila!" called out Tony, making Lila simply flip him the middle finger.

Elaina's hands moved from Tony's arm to down to his hand. Tony looked at her, unused to the affectionate touches from the girl, but nonetheless enjoying it as he smiled down at her, squeezing her hand. Tony's eyes drifted from her intensely infatuated gaze to their hands, bringing his opposing hand on top of hers, pushing up the sleeve of her jacket slightly to reveal the reflective shimmer of Elaina's star bracelet.

Tony stared at the mocking chain and frowned deeply, his fingers quickly unlocking from her hand, jumping to the bracelet's hook.

Elaina's eyes widened as she yanked her wrist back, almost instinctively as she brought it up to her chest, cradling it with her opposing hand. "Don't," she said instantly.

The teen solely looked at her, a knowing yet curious looked crossing his face as he pulled his hands back slightly. "What's wrong, Els?"

The girl looked at Tony, her hand still cradling her wrist as she responded. "I-I just want to keep it on. Why are you trying to take it off?"

"Why do you want to keep it on?" he redirected to her.

Elaina shrugged as she looked down at it. "It feels wrong taking it off... Wait, didn't you give it to me?"

Without skipping a beat, Tony nodded. "I did, and that's why I want to take it off of you," he said, his hands cautiously reaching back to Elaina's wrist as she hesitantly allowed him to begin to take it off. "I never realized how tacky it was, you deserve better than this," he said as the clamp of the bracelet unhooked and he removed the chain from her. "I'll get you a better one," with that, he tossed the bracelet to the brick pile, watching as she stared at it, clearly conflicted. "Maybe one with diamonds, what do you say?"

"I mean, if you say so," she responded, absent mindlessly rubbing the spot the bracelet sat on before.

Tony eyed Elaina, his pupil enlarging slightly as he felt around in her head, confirming his suspicions to his mother about the kiss. It really was starting to wear off and he could feel her subconscious will banging on the metaphorical door that Tony placed in her mind, trying to break through to take back the reins. The fact that she could subconsciously remember the significance of the bracelet was just the tip of the iceberg and Tony knew it.

The brown-haired teen gave her his best smile, throwing an arm over her shoulder. "Let's check up on Lila," he said, guiding Elaina towards the opening.

The pair made it in time to see Luther still passed out on the floor as Lila and Allison punched and kicked each other. Allison managed to kick Lila in the stomach and twisted her arm around where she got Lila in a chokehold.

"I heard a rumor..." she started off.

"Why is she wearing a cape and gloves?" snickered Elaina as she took in Allison's outfit.

Allison paused for a second, her brows narrowing a bit in confusion at Elaina's question and her friendliness with the teen boy from the opposing team, his arm comfortably resting on her shoulders.

Lila took the opening with a smile as she finished Allison's sentence. "...you stopped breathing."

Allison's eyes momentarily turned white as the rumor reversed itself and affected her instead of Lila. Allison began to gasp for air as her lungs screamed for oxygen. Lila started to chuckle as she looked at the woman struggling to breathe as she looked over to Tony and Elaina. Tony gave his sister a proud smile as Elaina watched Allison in amusement, the corner of her lip turning upward in a crooked smile as she leaned closer to Tony.