Disclaimer: I do not own The Umbrella Academy.
Warning: Character death. Five dies. But 13-year-old Five will show up as the main character in the next chapter.
"What's with all the lollygagging?"
Piercing gunshots and deafening violin music filled the auditorium, but Five's voice was crystal clear in the chaos. Diego arched his neck at his youngest (oldest?) brother's appearance, just as Luther shouted in warning.
"Five, get down!"
A bullet went straight for Five, but he ducked just in time, hands coming up to protect his head as he ducked behind the chairs.
The violin music seemed to get louder. Diego chanced a glance up at the stage to see Vanya, his sister, his harmless sister, glowing as she played her heart out, irises and skin turned pure white. She was standing, lost in her own world, but fury radiated from her music. He could feel it penetrate his bones.
"Five, what the- I thought you bailed on us," Luther shouted over the gunfire.
"I had an errand to run."
His eyes were wide, scanning the auditorium for any possible advantages, taking in every shooter in the building as well as his over-powered sister. Diego could practically see the calculations running in his mind.
"This is not good," he said, voice just barely audible over the noise.
"You know these guys?" Diego asked. He was practically laying on the ground to avoid the bullets.
"Yeah, I do."
"And?"
Diego knew what Five was going to say before he said it. He may not know much about what his brother had been up to since he had disappeared all those years ago, but he just knew that it had involved these people.
"Well… we're screwed."
Two more shooters entered the auditorium. Diego saw them just in time to pull out two knifes and throw them at them. They hit their target, taking both out immediately.
"Guys! It's Cha-Cha!"
Klaus entered the building, running at full speed, seeming to be completely unaware of the people in the building currently trying to kill them.
"It's Cha-Cha! She-"
"Klaus! Get down!"
He ducked behind the chair at the last moment, narrowly avoiding a bullet to the brain.
More shooters entered. Five jumped from his spot behind the seats and onto the back of one of the shooters, spinning him around so that he shot his friends. Diego brought out a few more knives, guiding them to their targets.
Then, suddenly, from where Diego was sitting, he saw Klaus stand up. He almost yelled at the idiot to get down, but then he noticed something. Klaus' hands were glowing a magnificent blue. He was staring at them in surprise as they began to shake and glow brighter.
And then a blue figure was beginning to form directly in front of him.
It seemed to understand that it had just materialized in front of Klaus, and suddenly there were tentacles coming out of his chest, snatching up shooters and squishing them like bugs, their guts pouring out onto the ground. The figure was screaming in pain, but he didn't stop.
"It's Ben," Luther said, eyes wide as he stared at the scene.
It was.
Ben, his brother who had never made fun of his stutter, who had always checked to make sure he was okay after training, who never liked killing people and was always forced to. Ben, who had died when they were only sixteen years old.
Ben, who they didn't believe Klaus could see.
Cha-Cha appeared in the corner of his vision. He moved to go after her but, at the last minute, he saw a strayer shooter appear in the doorway. They aimed their gun at Klaus, and Diego knew that in a moment, there would be a bullet in his brother's head.
The gun went off.
One moment, Five was nearby, staring at Ben with a look of amazement on his face. The next, he had jumped to Klaus to try and push him out of the way.
He wasn't fast enough. When he jumped, he landed in front of Klaus, and the bullet meant for his brother hit him right in his temple.
Ben's killed the man the moment the gun went off, but the tentacles retracted suddenly. He stumbled forward, mouth falling open in horror, and then flickered out of existence.
Klaus collapsed onto his knees. His hands came out, catching his brother as his body toppled forward. Blood and brain matter covered him, drenching his clothes and ashen skin. Diego pushed himself to his feet, Cha-Cha completely gone from his mind as he lurched towards his brothers.
By the time he reached them, he realized that the violin music has ceased. Vanya had witnessed her brother, arguably her favorite brother, whom she had lost for years and only just gotten back, who had been the only one to stick by her, shot in front of her eyes.
Her violin fell to her feet. Her bow fell limp in her hand, still glowing. Her eyes lost their glow, though, and her free hand came to her mouth, knees buckling.
Cha-Cha reared forward suddenly, and Vanya screamed, flinging her bow out. A whip of pure power flung from the bow, slicing Cha-Cha's head clean off of her body, and the woman slammed to the ground.
Vanya crumpled to her knees. A sob wrenched out of her lips and the auditorium shook, but the glow was dying down.
Allison moved forward. Luther grabbed her arm to stop her, but she wrenched it out of his grip and rushed up to the stage. She immediately gathered Vanya into her arms, and the girl sobbed into her chest. The auditorium shook some more, and then slowly, it came to a stop. Vanya's sobs echoed throughout the building.
Diego wrenched his eyes from the scene and stumbled over to Klaus, who was still holding Five's lifeless body. Klaus was still and silent, but upon closer inspection, he could see that his body was shaking.
"Klaus," he said, bringing an arm out to his brother's shoulder. He squeezed it gently and then, slowly, pulled Five's body from his arms. He laid his brother down, trying not to look at his head.
"He's here," Klaus' laugh bubbled forth suddenly, hysterical, "He's still here."
Diego frowned at him, but he continued. Tears sprung to his eyes.
"He says we stopped it."
Realization came upon him. He swallowed hard.
"Is he s-s-sure?"
Klaus gave a shaky nod towards Vanya.
"We stopped her. He stopped her. When he-" his laugh choked off into a sob.
"Sit down," Diego said, putting his arm on his shoulder and guiding him to a seat, "Sit down. Breathe."
"He says we have to train her," Klaus rambled, "We have train her so that she knows how to control her powers. We have to- We have to-"
"We will, Klaus. Just calm down."
He paused for a moment, before speaking up again.
"Five, if you can hear me, shut up."
Klaus barked out a laugh. He wiped furiously at his eyes.
"He told you to shove it."
Diego couldn't help the slight smile that graced his lips, but it fell quickly when he remembered why he couldn't hear Five himself. He squeezed Klaus' shoulder again.
"We can stop it now. We're going to help her. And I need you to not have a panic attack on us, okay?"
Klaus sniffed. He looked down at his hands, covered in Five's blood, and wiped them on his pants. He nodded.
On the stage, Vanya had fallen quiet. She leaned against Allison, eyes closed and chest rising and falling evenly. Any evidence of her power had disappeared. There, on the stage, was just Vanya, a traumatized woman who had cried herself to sleep.
Author's Note: Leave me a review and let me know what you think!