Ep.1 Second Chance
The Umbrella Files -- Season One
General tags: The Umbrella Academy, original character(s), fix it fic
Word count: 12, 261
"I need a life that isn't just about needing to escape my life."
-- Robert Polito
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Thirteen felt like she was being ripped out of her body. Every one of her senses was overwhelmed by an unknown number of things. She opened her eyes. There were two versions of her. The one that could feel everything, and the one that felt so disconnected from it. Somehow the two felt connected. Thirteen reached out to the other version of herself, wanting to be whole again. The one dressed in the grey tank top and shorts, not too stark of a contrast from herself, yet still somehow so different. The other Thirteen seemed hesitant, maybe even suspicious of the other version, but reached out despite this. Before their hands could touch, Thirteen was ripped away. She was thrown out of that slow falling state, falling in real time now and crashing into something hard.
Thirteen couldn’t help but cry out when the sharp edge of what felt like a hardcover book jabbed into her ribs. The pain temporarily took over everything before dulling away. Thirteen glanced to the side, seeing herself laying on some kind of table. Maybe if the adrenaline wasn’t trying to find its way out of her system she would’ve freaked out, but her head felt far too muddled to think of anything other than that stabbing pain in her side. Thirteen pushed herself up and looked around.
The place was strange. Faded red wallpaper with subtle white designs. Carved baseboards with swirls in them. You could hardly see the walls behind the obscene amount of furniture. Bookshelves and glass drawers filled to the brim with obviously expensive things. Decorative eggs and silverware. Paintings that Thirteen recognized from history books.
“Kyra? Thirteen?” Diana called.
Thirteen looked up to see her sister Diana looking much younger than she had when they left. The previously forty something year old was now reduced to her fourteen year old self. The one Thirteen remembered meeting on her first day in the lab. Her hair was no longer in a slick back bun, now back to its usual loose and curly state. Thirteen felt a pang of amusement when she realized that the suit her sister was wearing was far too big on her, making her look like a child playing in her mothers clothes.
“We need to go.” Kyra said abruptly.
“What? Where?” Thirteen asked, confused. Thirteen climbed up off the table, nearly falling onto the couch when her knees buckled. Thankfully, the leather couch was there to break her fall. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing around, but it was better than the floor. Thirteen groaned and pushed herself up against the cushions. Her body felt like it had been pushed far beyond its limits and it wanted to shut down for at least three days minimum.
“I don’t think we should be rushing into anything right now. I just got reverted to my fourteen year old body, and Thirteen can barely stand. Should we– and she’s already walking.” Diana let out a sigh.
“Well, it’s not like we have anything better to do, right?” Thirteen muttered, raising her hands to her head. Her palms lit up with a weak white light. She pressed her hands to either side of her head, feeling the last of her energy start to flow into getting rid of that headache. The ability to walk was overrated anyway.
Kyra stopped and turned to look at Diana. “They’re fighting.” She said, her voice sounding distant, as if she wasn’t entirely there. Had she gotten a premonition or something? Thirteen stayed quiet, trying to hear whatever it was Kyra had heard. People were talking. Loudly enough that she could hear the sound through the walls, but not their voices.
“Who?” Thirteen asked. Kyra didn’t explain any further. She only started walking again. Thirteen rubbed her forehead. Diana moved over to Thirteen, holding out a hand and helping her up off the couch. She stayed there for a few moments, letting Thirteen gather her bearings.
“Are you going to need help walking, or do you have it from here?” Diana asked.
Thirteen shook her head. “I’ve got it from here. Just… don’t expect me to be running anytime soon.” With a heavy sigh Thirteen forced herself to start walking. Her legs, muscles long atrophied, were pushed to their limits. Every step was just one unsteady motion followed by another. She could feel Kyra’s heartbeat in the distance, following it until she found the girl standing outside a window. Thirteen walked over, grabbing onto the coffee table and using it to keep herself standing. She was starting to regret being so stagnant back in her cage, but it wasn’t like she had access to a gym or anything down there.
Outside the window there was a gathering of people, standing around a… pile of ashes? Thirteen’s focus was quickly drawn to the two men in the circle standing nearby a statue of a young boy in a uniform. The first man, a man with a buzzcut who was dressed in dark clothes and black leather straps around his chest, seemed to be antagonizing the second man. A man who was abnormally tall and bulky, wearing a large jacket as if to hide his puzzling stature.
“After everything he did,” The buzzcut man started, approaching the taller man. “He had to ship you a million miles away. Want to guess why?”
“Diego,” the much larger man warned. A convenient way for Thirteen to learn the other's name. “You need to stop talking.” His fists were clenched tightly and the tension in his jaw was visible, even from far away. A fight was about to break out.
Diego, previously known as the buzzcut man, jabbed a finger into the other’s chest. “I’ll tell you why. Because that’s just how much he couldn’t stand the sight of you!” This seemed to be the other’s breaking point, as he le out a loud yell and shoved Diego back. Diego stumbled with the force of the shove but managed to catch himself before he fell. The bigger man chased after him, throwing a few punches. Unfortunately Diego was much faster and more agile than th either, and was able to dodge every attempt. The other people surrounding them backaway, but didn’t seem surprised by the development. Thirteen couldn’t help but assume that this was the norm if their only reactions were to back away from them.
Thirteen’s breath began to fog up the window and she quickly wiped it away, wanting to see what would happen next. There was a chimpanzee in a suit, a somewhat familiar sight to Thirteen. Although she was used to seeing him in a sanitary suit, not a suit and tie. “Boys!” He exclaimed, using a cane to approach them both. “Stop this at once.” He demanded.
“Yeah guys.” A third man giggled. He wore a very unusual outfit. A feathered scarf and a long coat to match his leather skirt. “Hit him, hit him!” He exclaimed, dancing with his pink see-through umbrella. Thirteen had never met another man like him. Then again, Thirteen had only ever met a handful of people. Most of them wore suits. The others wore lab coats.
Whether because of the third man’s cheering or their anger, the fight continued on, with the bigger man finally landing a punch on Diego. One that really seemed to hurt. Diego shrugged off the damage, moving away again. The bigger man chased Diego with a second punch, but Diego dodged, causing the punch to land on the crotch of a statue of a boy. The people outside seemed to hold their breath as the statue trembled before cracking and falling to the ground in three even parts. Thirteen winced at the sound of the crash, the sound loud even through the
window.
Thirteen held her breath, fearing that if they looked just a few feet to the right they’d see her and her sisters staring at them through the window. Apparently Kyra had wanted that attention, choosing now to step outside and intervene. Before Thirteen could say anything, Diana followed her outside. Caught between hiding in the house and following her sisters, Thirteen rubbed her wrists, before reluctantly following them as well. She stumbled on one of the steps, managing to catch herself before she fell. Thirteen stayed behind Kyra and Diana, feeling safer standing behind them knowing that if the fight came that way, they could handle it. After just barely evading the entirety of The Commission, Thirteen could not handle a fight. She couldn’t even handle a tame walk.
The attention of the family turned to them, and Thirteen felt small under their gaze. She felt like she was back on the exam room table while the surgeons looked at her. Thirteen was broken out of her thoughts by a boy no older than fourteen. “Who the hell are you?” He asked. Thirteen stayed silent, not wanting to draw any more attention to herself than necessary.
A girl with brown-blonde curls spoke next. “Better question, why the hell were you inside our house? I can’t be the only one that finds that a little strange.”
“Really? Cause that’s not the only strange thing about them.” The fourteen year old muttered, his glare stuck on Diana for some reason.
“Oh goodie you noticed them too! I was beginning to think those ibuprofen pills were laced or something.” The scarf man said with a giggle.
Thirteen felt utterly confused by these people. They seemed to be very familiar with each other, a family of sorts. But none of them seemed close. They interrupted each other and ignored each other. Thirteen was starting to feel a headache coming on. Kyra glanced back at Diana and Thirteen before stepping forward, almost hiding Thirteen with herself. “We don’t want any trouble.” She said, raising her hands in a placating gesture. “We didn’t mean to end up inside your home. We’re just lost.”
Diana let out a huff. “Yeah, that’s one way to put it.” She muttered.
Diego crossed his arms, and Thirteen spotted one of his hands reaching for one of the many blades on his person. “Maybe you should get unlost.” He warned. “This isn’t a bed and breakfast.”
“Children please, let us not be so rude to our new friends.” The blonde woman in the black dress spoke. There was something off about her, Thirteen noted. All the electricity in her body was screaming out to Thirteen that this woman was not human. Thirteen peeked out from behind Kyra to see the woman's face more clearly and realized, this was Mother. But… not her Mother? The Handler had mentioned timelines. Thirteen’s was called 44D25C. What was this one called? Thirteen’s staring must’ve caught the attention of Diego, who stepped in front of Mother– err, their timeline’s Mother, protectively.
Kyra noticed him reaching for the blade and moved to stand in front of Thirteen. “We didn’t come here to fight, so if our presence here is a problem, we will leave. We just need a few moments to gather our bearings and we’ll be on our way.”
“Oh my god wait, are you guys like, a lesbian couple and she’s your kid? Cause I mean if so, I totally support you guys.” The scarf man said. Diego reached over and gave the over man a firm smack across the head, making a face at him. “Seriously? Have a little decorum.”
Kyra nodded slowly, ignoring the comment. “Alright. I think introductions are a good place to start. My name is Kyra.” She gestured back to Thirteen and Diana. “These are my sisters, Diana and Thirteen.”
“Whoa whoa, her name is Thirteen?” The scarf man snickered. “What, were you like, bad luck or something when you were born?”
Thirteen glanced at Klaus, not sensing any malicious intent. “Something like that.” Thirteen said quietly. She noticed everyone else’s strange looks at her name. She regretted not coming up with a name, even something small. Just so she could pass for normal and not get strange looks every few seconds.
Allison stepped forward. “Mom’s right, we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot.” She held her hand out to Kyra, a polite smile on her face. “I’m Allison.”
Kyra shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, Allison.”
Allison took her hand back and gestured over to the young boy behind her. “You’ve already met my brother Five. Oh, and my brother Klaus.” Five? Thirteen glanced over at Five. Was he an experiment like them? Maybe that’s why they gave her that look.
Klaus, the one with the pink umbrella and eccentric outfit, grinned and waved his hand. “Aloha my friends.”
“The two idiots who broke the statue are Diego and Luther.” Allison gestured to the two behind her. Diego gave a nod of acknowledgement while Luther gave an awkward sort of wave.
Then there was the girl with straight hair. She walked over, stopping right in front of Thirteen, which struck Thirteen as odd. The girl held out her hand to Thirteen as Allison had done with Krya. “I’m Vanya,” She introduced herself. “But you can call me V.”
Thirteen glanced over at Kyra, who gave her a nod. Thirteen reached out and put her hand in V’s, giving it a firm shake. There was something about her that Thirteen found familiar. A feeling. Thirteen had never met this girl, but she knew they had something in common. “Thirteen.” She said after realizing she hadn’t said anything for a while. “No other nickname, just Thirteen.” She could feel herself cringe internally. She had been trying to mimic the way that V had introduced themself, but it only came out wrong. V laughed like Thirteen had said something funny. Thirteen felt a strange feeling wash over her. Something warm.
Kyra cleared her throat, knocking Thirteen out of her thoughts. “You can let go now, Thirteen.” She advised her. Thirteen looked down and realized that she was still holding V’s hand. She quickly let go, pulling her hand back to her side. “Sorry. I haven’t done one of these in a long time.” She said quietly, feeling her face flush with embarrassment.
“It’s no problem.” V said with a smile.
Kyra began to talk to the others, but Thirteen couldn’t bring herself to listen. She was stuck on the girl, V. Thirteen didn’t know why. Something was very different about her, she wasn’t like the others. But Thirteen couldn’t tell why. She seemed ordinary. From her clothes to the way she carried herself, nothing stood out. But this was one of those things where everything felt too carefully chosen to brush over it.
Thirteen turned to Diana in the hopes that she would have an answer, but Diana’s attention was elsewhere. Thirteen followed her gaze to see that Diana and Five were locked in some kind of staring contest. Thirteen didn’t know if there was something about him that she was supposed to know about, or maybe some kind of off feeling that Diana was getting that she wasn’t.
Thirteen looked up to see Kyra and the others walking back inside. Apparently they had decided this was a conversation best held indoors, and not in the pouring rain. Thirteen followed along, stopping when she saw Scarf man shove a white stick into the pile of ashes on the ground. He stood up and blew smoke out of his mouth, and for a moment, Thirteen could feel her innate curiosity rearing its head. The original Umbrella Academy, the people she suspected they were, were experiments of Reginald's as well. Could Klaus have been part dragon like her sister Kyra was?
Klaus started walking inside and Thirteen quickly followed, tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention. The man whirled around, pointing his index fingers at her before lowering them. “Hey, Thirteen right?” He asked.
Thirteen nodded. “Question, are you a dragon?” She asked, not wanting to waste any more time.
Klaus let out a surprised snort before waving his hand. “Me? A dragon? Only when I close my eyes. Or have one too many magic mushrooms if you know what I mean.” He winked at Thirteen, as if sharing an inside joke with her that she didn’t understand.
“You have magic mushrooms?”
“Well, not on me.”
“Oh.” Thirteen said, disappointed. Thirteen had been a little excited at the idea of getting to try some magic mushrooms. “So are you a dragon?”
“Sadly I am only a dragon in spirit.” He brought his hands to his chest and made a sad face.
“So how are you able to do the smoke thing that Kya does?”
“Oh you mean this little thing.” Thirteen watched Klaus pull out a white and red box, pulling out a longer white stick than the one from earlier. He lifted it to his lips and pulled out a purple item, a lighter she realized, flicking it a few times until a flame sprouted up. He lifted the flame to the white end of the stick, taking a breath and pulling it away to blow smoke into the air. Thirteen watched the smoke curl in amazement.
“Unfortunately, it’s just cigarette smoke.” Klaus shrugged, taking another drag. “I do not have dragon abilities, though I so wish I did.” Klaus held out the stick to Thirteen. “Wanna try?”
Thirteen reached out, picking the stick up and being cautious of the burning end. She examined the stick, turning it over in her fingers. “So what do you do? Blow through it? Breath through it?”
“Uhm, kinda but not really.”
Thirteen blinked. “No offense, but that doesn’t clear up anything.”
“None taken, I’m terrible at explaining.” Klaus reached over and switched the cigarette in Thirteen's fingers so the orange part was facing her. “So this part is the filter, the part that actually goes in your mouth– NO DON’T EAT IT!” Klaus quickly caught Thirteen’s wrist before she could put it in her mouth, letting out a groan that was half amusement and half frustration. “Alrighty, someone has been living in a cave their whole life.”
“A cage.” Thirteen corrected.
“Huh?”
“You said the orange part is the part that goes in my mouth?” Thirteen asked before he could think about it for too long.
Klaus blinked before nodding. “Between your lips, yeah. Same way you would with a straw. You just inhale and exhale. I mean I really wouldn’t recommend keeping that smoke in for more than a few seconds y’know? But if you want to, be my guest.”
Thirteen glanced at the cigarette before following Klaus’ directions and inhaling the smoke. She pulled away and started coughing. The taste was awful, and the feeling of smoke in her lungs was unlike anything she’d ever felt before. When she looked back up, she saw Klaus laughing while holding his stomach. “Oh! Oh that never gets old.” He said with a grin, wiping his tears.
Thirteen frowned. “You lied to me?” She asked, not liking being the butt of the joke.
Klaus waved his hands. “No no, I didn’t lie to you. It’s just what happens the first time everyone smokes. So I didn’t lie to you, it’s just what happens y’know?”
“No, I don’t know.” Thirteen snipped, looking back down at the cigarette. “This is disgusting. Why would anyone willingly breathe in smoke like this?”
Klaus shrugged. “All the cool kids are doing it. I mean for me I’m just in it for that nice little buzz that makes everything feel better.”
Thirteen held up the cigarette in disbelief. “This small stick of smoke makes things feel better?”
“It makes me feel better.”
Thirteen's body still hurt after all the running she’d been doing. While the injuries would heal, it wasn’t going to heal immediately and was still going to leave her with a lot of discomfort. Hesitantly, Thirteen placed the cigarette back between her lips and took another inhale of the smoke. Thirteen coughed, but not as violently as she had the first time. Thirteen pulled it away and waved the smoke out of her face. “This is still disgusting.”
“It’s an acquired taste.”
“What do I do with it now?” Thirteen asked, wiping the water from her eyes.
“Why don’t you give it to me?”
Klaus and I both looked up to see Kyra holding her hand out. I hadn’t noticed her stay behind while the others went inside. Thirteen placed the cigarette on her palm and Kyra lifted it up, taking a long drag. She pulled back and breathed out much more smoke than she could’ve gotten from that little stick. Instead of putting the cigarette back between her lips, she took a breath of fresh air and let out a cloud of smoke that spiraled out into the air.
“Show off.” Thirteen said quietly before moving past her and headed into the house. Thirteen glanced back and saw Klaus putting his hands together and bowing to Kyra. “I have been out-classed.” He said, holding out a hand for her to shake. Thirteen noticed the ‘HELLO’ tattoo on his palm. It reminded her of Kyra’s spiral tattoos on her wrists. Thirteen decided to leave them two to talk while she went to go find Diana and the others.
Thirteen walked into one of the large rooms to find that everyone had claimed a seat. Thirteen chose to sit away from them, sitting down on a simple chair at the corner of the coffee table. Thirteen glanced around at everyone, taking in their outfits once again. She glanced down at her own. Everyone was dressed formally, which made sense seeing as they were having a funeral of sorts before they had interrupted the party. Thirteen was starting to feel a little self conscious about still being in her prisoner garbs, those being a beat up tank top and a pair of shorts. Thirteen reached over to the couch in front of her and picked up one of the pillows, using it to hide herself.
Kyra and Klaus finally rejoined a few moments later. Thirteen noticed a smile on Kyra’s lips. She decided then that Klaus must be a good person if Kyra was sharing a laugh with him. She was a good judge of people after all.
Seeing the tense atmosphere, Kyra sighed and jumped into action. “I won’t make us wait any longer, I’m sure you’re all confused as to why we’re here.”
Because Sir decided that he wanted to dabble in human experimentation, and once Thirteen and the others were old enough and the opportunity arose, they decided to escape. Only for them to land in the same place, and be kept apart from each other for years. Then finally when they found each other and escaped a second time they ended up landing in a new timeline. Obviously there were a few details Thirteen was leaving out, but she didn’t feel like giving a synopsis on her entire life story.
“My sisters and I are from a different timeline.” Kyra explained.
Thirteen noticed each of their surprised reactions, but the one that bothered her the most was Five’s lack of reaction. As if he’d known about it. Whether he knew about them or the timelines, Thirteen wasn’t entirely sure. But either option still warranted caution around him.
“Timelines.” Luther repeated. “What do you mean, from a different timeline?”
“Do I need to explain timelines to you?” Kyra asked. The question seemed genuine, but Thirteen could hear the slight passive aggressiveness to her tone.
Luther shook his head, not catching the undertone. “No, I know what timelines are. I’m just more surprised that they actually exist, and that you’re from a different one.”
“They exist. And in the one we’re from, when Ben–”
Klaus perked up almost immediately, nearly knocking over a vase in his excitement. “Ben? Like, like Ben-Ben? He’s got something to do with this?”
Kyra paused. “I’m uh, I’m getting to that. In our universe when Ben died, Reginald decided to do away with all the children born on the same day.” Kyra explained. Thirteen couldn’t hear his name without trying to hide, pulling the pillow closer to her chest. “So what he ended up doing was making children.” Kyra finished.
Klaus raised a hand. “Wait, Dad can do that?”
Thirteen couldn’t help but smirk at the idea of Sir creating children. She reached up to hide it before returning her face to its usual neutral expression.
“No, I mean he created us in test tubes.” Kyra corrected him with a smile of her own. “Choosing DNA and body parts that would suit whatever role he created us for. Merging and mutating us with superpowers and seeing what would fit. Experimenting on us essentially.”
Klaus let out a dramatic gasp, lifting a hand to his mouth. “Oh my god, test tube babies.” He whispered, as if the existence of unicorns had just been revealed. Thirteen was starting to like Klaus a little more than she’d like to admit.
“So you guys are what, the better versions of us?” Luther asked. Five scoffed, crossing his arms and looking away.
“That’s what he wanted us to be.” Kyra confirmed.
“But you’re not.” Diego stood up. “You said, that’s what he wanted. So why weren’t you guys better?”
“Maybe we were better.” Diana stood up as well, ready to take him on if needed. “But we weren’t going to let him continue to experiment on us so we could spend the rest of our lives being his perfect little soldiers. So we escaped.”
“You escaped. And that escape landed you in the middle of our house?” Diego asked.
Diana and Kyra shared a look. “Sort of,” Kyra answered.
“What does that mean, sort of?” Luther questioned, stepping closer, as if using his height to try and tower over her. He had a few inches on Kyra. Thirteen didn’t know exactly how tall Kyra was, but she knew she was either around or close to six feet tall. At least, to Thirteen she was.
“Luther!” Allison warned, holding out an arm to him as if she could stop him.
“No, Allison. I agree with him.” Diego said, crossing his arms. “We’re supposed to believe that these… people, let’s say, walked into our house, and claimed to be the Frankenstein that Dad created–”
“Frankeinstein’s creature.” Five corrected.
Diego spun around to face Five. “Excuse me?”
“Frankeinstein was the name of the doctor, dumbass. What you’re saying is that Dad created himself.”
“I don’t fucking care! That’s besides the point.” Diego scoffed, trying to move on.
“Alright genius, what’s your point?” Five pressed.
“That these people were literally built to be better than us, right?” Diego asked, turning towards Kyra.
Kyra pursed her lips. “Okay first of all, that is not what I said at all.”
“Okay hold up,” Luther said, raising his hand. “Can we rewind this conversation a little, because what do you mean you sort of just happened to land in the middle of our house after escaping from a different timeline.”
“It means that the situation is a little too complicated for us to explain over champagne and cucumber sandwiches. Do you understand, or does that need an explanation too?” Diana gave Luther a pointed look, as if challenging him. For a fourteen year old, it was impressive how easily Diana was able to make Luther take a step back.
This time it was Allison who spoke up. “Alright, just so that we’re all on the same page.” Allison stood up. “You guys are from a different timeline where Ben’s death affected Dad so bad, that he decided to start experimenting and creating super powered kids of his own?”
“Correct.” Kyra confirmed.
“And you guys had enough of that, and decided to escape, but somehow you ended up in the middle of our house?”
“Just about.” Diana nodded.
“Great.” Allison clasped her hands together. “We’re all on the same page.” She glanced back at the others to make sure no one was confused before turning back to Kyra. “I guess the question now is what do we do?”
“Not what we do,” Five stepped forward. “But what I do.”
“Ooo, is this the part where you tell us where you’ve been for the past… what, seventeen years now?” Klaus asked, leaning forward in his seat. Thirteen looked even more confused now. Five had been missing for seventeen years? He didn’t look like someone who’d been gone for seventeen years. He hardly even looked like someone who was gone for ten years. Every minute Thirteen spent with these people only seemed to raise more questions that she was not getting the answers to anytime soon.
Five opened his mouth before shutting it and rubbing his face. “I need some coffee before I even attempt to explain what’s going to happen to any of you.” With that, he turned on his heel and left the room.
V quickly stood up, looking panicked. “Wait, you’re just going to leave again?!”
“I’m just going to the kitchen, Vanya. I’m not going to disappear into time again.” He called, not bothering to turn around or slow down to answer her.
V let out an exhausted sigh and sunk back into her seat on the couch. Diego turned to face her. “What? Disappointed that he didn’t actually leave so you could have more material for your next book?”
With the reveal that V had written a book, Thirteen suddenly liked her a lot more. Thirteen loved books. Reading time in the lab was the only kind of solace she found other than an experiment or training done well. Thirteen shook her head, not wanting to become attached. She didn’t know these people. For all she knew they could be like him. They were his children after all. Raised by him. Chosen by him.
V threw Diego a glare. “Can’t you go five minutes without having to be the biggest asshole in the room.”
“I’m the asshole? I’m not the one who decided to air out the family’s dirty laundry for a few bucks.”
V abruptly stood up, leaving the room almost as fast as Five had in search of coffee. Maybe her book was a bit of a sore spot for the family, but Diego seemed to be the only one truly bothered by it. Thirteen couldn’t help but wonder why that was. Maybe it mentioned a few personal things about him that he didn’t agree with.
Luther stepped over and shoved Diego, pushing him back a few steps. “What the hell was that?” He demanded. “Can’t you just let the book go already?”
Diego’s anger flared up like a fire. “How could you forgive her so easily?”
“Because it was just a book, Diego. You have to let it go at some point.” Luther retorted.
“Really? Just a book? It’s so strange to me that you can write off something like that so easily but you’re still stuck on the idea that somehow someone got into the most secure place in the damn world, and killed Dad without anyone knowing.”
Thirteen was honestly surprised that a fight had broken out once more when Luther shoved Diego into the coffee table. She knew now why everyone had been so desensitized to it when they had begun fighting outside. This was just a common occurrence in the Umbrella household. Thirteen looked over at Kyra to find that she wasn’t surprised by this either. Thirteen reasoned that she’d already seen it coming, and had decided not to get involved. Which might’ve been the case, had she not heard Kyra whisper “This should’ve happened earlier. Just what have we done…?”
Thirteen was about to turn and ask her what she meant before Pogo shook her out of her thoughts. “Boys, cease this at once! Do not do this on your fathers–” Pogo was cut off by Luther lifting Diego’s jacket and throwing him down onto the coffee table, a loud crack resounding. Thirteen couldn’t tell if it was Diego or the table that had made that sound. Klaus however didn’t share her concern, and instead let out an amused giggle while lighting himself a second cigarette. Or maybe it was his third? Klaus giggled and waved his cigarette around. “Yeah guys, stop it.” He said, while sounding like he didn’t actually want them to stop.
Diego rolled off the table before Luther could bring his fists down on the table. Diego grabbed one of his various blades, brandishing it as Luther before moving forward and starting to slash at his coat. Luther ducked away from each slash until he bumped into a pedestal, starting a chain reaction that knocked over all the other priceless vases and artworks sitting atop them. Thirteen winced at the noise, her hands quickly reaching up to shield her ears from the loud shattering sound.
When Thirteen looked up to see Diego finally landing a hit on Luther with his blades. Thirteen grimaced, expecting blood, but to her surprise there wasn’t any. Just… fur? Thirteen tried to get a better look but Luther quickly covered the space with his hand. He seemed almost panicked about it, looking at every one to see if they had seen it, but his eyes lingered on Allison. He turned away and hurried off into the mansion.
Allison let out an annoyed breath and glared at Diego before following Luther. The two must be close if she was the only one who chased after him.
“Is your family always like this?” Diana asked Klaus, giving the coffee table and destroyed artifacts a raised eyebrow.
Klaus snickered and leaned forward to put his cigarette out on the destroyed coffee table. “Well isn’t yours?”
Diana glanced back at Kyra and Thirteen. Thirteen could tell she was thinking of their time back at the lab with Sir, Mother, and their siblings. Diana turned back to Klaus and shook her head. “No, not really.” She answered.
Klaus shrugged. “Then you’re lucky.”
Thirteen didn’t agree with what Klaus had said. She didn’t think any part about any of them was lucky. Not the powers they had been cursed with through human experimentation. Not the place they grew up in, the one that was so terrible that they decided to risk escape despite not knowing if there was anything better out there for them. Maybe they were lucky because they survived their butchered time jump, but it cost them each other. Diana grew old without them. Kyra grew up while she was there. Then they’d managed to find each other, and escape a second time. Thirteen looked up at Kyra and Diana. Her siblings in every way, including artificial blood. She didn’t want to lose them again. She clenched her fist. She wouldn’t lose them again.
V ended up calling them all into the kitchen as Five didn’t seem like he’d be able to find coffee anytime soon. Luther and Diego had fortunately calmed down, with Diego even going as far as to hold a hand out to the three sisters. “I’m Diego.”
Thirteen hesitated before giving him a light handshake. She hadn’t formed a solid opinion about him yet, other than the fact that he had a lot of knives and would fight his brother a lot.
Diana only shook his hand for a second before pulling away.
Kyra was the only one of them to give him a proper handshake. “Kyra. And I know who you are.”
“You do?” Diego frowned, as if growing suspicious again. “How?”
“Oh!” Klaus exclaimed, “So did Dear old Dad mention us while he was…” He gave a glance at Kyra and Diana, noticing the subtle suture marks in the skin around their joints. “Playing mix and match with your body parts?”
Thirteen didn’t know how to feel about his comparison. It wasn’t the best way to put it, but it did hit the nail on the head. If Thirteen recalled correctly, Diana and Kyra were among the few that actually received parts that weren’t their own.
Kyra let out a whistle. “You could say that.” She shrugged. Thirteen had to fight back the jealousy that welled up inside her. She’d always wanted to learn how to whistle, but she’d never figured it out. Five years in that cage and that was the one thing that pissed her off more than The Handler; being unable to learn how to whistle.
“Not just that.”
Thirteen looked up to see Five leaning against the table, taking a sip from the mug in his hands before continuing. “You’re the Seer.” He said, focus solely on Kyra. Thirteen briefly questioned what was in the coffee if it had somehow given him the ability to know people’s titles. Maybe it was those magic mushrooms that Klaus had mentioned earlier.
“The what?’ Klaus asked, stretching out the ‘a’ until it became a ‘whaaaat.’ No one answered him, and Thirteen got the feeling that everyone had a tendency to ignore him more than they did answer him.
“You know,” Five continued. “I’m surprised that we never ran into each other. But then again, you must’ve been busy up in that fancy office seeing as you were the only ever Seer the Commission had.”
“You could say that.” Kyra replied evenly.
Five let out a sigh and took a sip from his coffee, letting the tension build. “A psychic human-dragon hybrid who escaped from a ruined timeline. A few days ago I would’ve been ordered to take out someone like you. So how was it that you were not just allowed to stay alive, but asked to come work for the Commission?”
“I’m sure you have a better question on your mind.” Kyra replied, smoothly moving past the question.
Five paused, giving Kyra an analytical eye before starting a new line of questioning. “How much do you know?” He asked, setting his mug down on one of the small tables nearby and making eye contact with each of them. If he was trying to hide that, he wasn’t doing too good of a job.
“How much do you think we know?” Kyra countered. Thirteen bit back a groan. One of her least favorite things about Kyra, aside from her tendency to answer her questions in riddles, was her tendency to answer her questions with more questions.
Luther entered the room, glancing between all of us. Seeing the tense atmosphere he decided to ask a question of his own. “What’s going on?”
Klaus stood up and patted Luther’s shoulder. “Little brother is keeping secrets again~!” He sang.
Luther frowned and turned to Five. “Five, how do you know these people?”
Five decided to ignore Luther as well. “You’re right.” He said to Kyra, despite her not saying anything. “We don’t have time for this.” Thirteen was a little confused by his reply, seeing as no one had mentioned anything about a time limit on anything. “We need to talk. Immediately.”
“Like hell we are.” Diana said, stepping in front of her sisters. Thirteen felt a brief moment of safety as her sister stood protectively in front of them. “We are leaving.”
Thirteen heard a strange warbling sound. The same one she recognized from the briefcase. Her eyes darted to Five and for a split second she saw some kind of clear effect surrounding him, like water right before the surface tension broke. The effect seemed to swallow him whole, causing him to disappear. The warbling sounded again and Thirteen's eyes darted to the top of the stairs. The ripple effect appeared again, and Five emerged from it. “That’s too bad. Because I wasn’t exactly asking.” He called. “All three of you are coming with me.”
Thirteen looked at Kyra, waiting for her to tell them what to do. Kyra started walking towards the stairs, and Thirteen got up from the chair and followed. Thirteen looked around the house as they walked. The place was a stark contrast from the white walls and dark rooms she’d known all her life. For some reason, despite all the items in it and the size of the place, it held that same constricting air about it.
Five stopped in front of a door. He seemed to hesitate when reaching out for the doorknob before shaking it off and opening the door, leading them inside. It was a fancy sort of office. Large bookshelves pressed against the wall stacked with books. Files and papers left untouched on the desk from the last time they’d been used. TV monitors still tuned into what looked like camera footage of the house. Thirteen’s eyes were drawn to the bookshelf again, looking at each of the books. Most of them were rather boring, but one in particular caught her attention. A dark book with bright white letters. ‘EXTRA-ORDINARY, by V- HARGREEVES.’ That must’ve been the book that Diego was so upset about. Before Thirteen could reach forward to grab it, she heard the warbling sound again.
Thirteen turned to look at Five but he was gone. The warbling sounded right behind her, and she tried to turn around, but Five was faster. She was knocked down to her knees, and something sharp and metal pressed against her neck and she froze.
“Alright look.” Five started. “The way I see it, you three are hiding far too much for me to actually trust anything you say. Especially you.” Five jerked his chin in Diana’s direction. “So in order to make sure you’re telling the truth, I’m going to use this one as collateral damage.”
Thirteen glanced down to see a thin line of blood begin to spill from her throat because of the sharp silver blade Five held tight against her. Half of Thirteen was curious as to when he had picked it up, and where from, but the other part of her was just a little more focused on trying to survive.
“Don’t do this, Five.” Diana warned, sounding as if she’s had to say this before.
“Stay there.” He told her. “No one moves, no one leaves this room until you tell me exactly what you’re hiding.”
“Okay, okay.” Diana took a step back. “Just don’t hurt her.”
“Question one, why are you here? Commission send you to finish me off?”
“We’re not here to kill you.” Kyra answered. “But now I have a question for you.”
“That’s not how this works.” Five said, pressing the knife closer to Thirteen's throat. The pressure made her panic for a second, and the lights in the room seemed to flicker to match her state.
“Well it is now.” Kyra continued. “Eight days, what does that mean to you?”
Five paused and sighed. “Of course the Seer would know about this.” He nodded slowly. “Eight days. That’s the end of everything. The apocalypse.”
Thirteen felt like someone had cut her open, taken her heart, and literally dropped it into her stomach. The apocalypse? On top of everything she’d learned today, this had to take the cake. Five had been missing for almost twenty years, Luther had some kind of animal arms (Thirteen suspected gorilla), Klaus was not a dragon physically but apparently was spiritually? V had written a book that no one liked. And Allison–... actually, Thirteen hadn’t learned anything about Allison. But she dressed nicely. Unfortunately Allison’s knack for fashion took a backseat to the pressing concern that was the apocalypse in eight days. Thirteen let out a slow sigh, regretting it as the motion caused the knife to slice into her freshly healed skin. She winced, feeling the blood run down her chest.
Did she care about the apocalypse? One glance at her sister Kyra said she didn’t have a choice. They wouldn’t get another chance to jump to another world. Thirteen’s choice was either return to the Commission, or try and stop an impending apocalypse. She didn’t have to think too long to make her choice. Even if it meant working with the man– er, boy, holding her at knifepoint.
Five started the conversation once more. “Three commission workers. I know what your job was, Seer. And you of course, The Handler’s prized possession. But her, I don’t recognize her. What did you do for them?”
Thirteen clenched her jaw. “I didn’t do anything for them.” She bit out, trying not to get too aggressive considering he held a knife to her. “But they did a lot to me.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means she was kept prisoner.” Diana answered. “They kept us all apart for about a decade or so.”
“So you were all there at the same time, either employee or prisoner, and neither of you had any idea that they were keeping from each other?”
“I was in the field, Kyra was kept in an office far away from everyone, and Thirteen was hidden away in some basement no one even knew about. Not that hard to imagine how we never found out about each other.” Diana crossed her arms. “That, and we landed at different moments in time.”
Five nodded slowly. “Yeah, that makes a little more sense than just the Handler working her magic.” He shook his head. “They’re going to come after you, you know they will. They don’t like their property, be it employees or prisoners escaping from them.”
Thirteen felt a cold feeling wash over her, something akin to fear. She had just escaped from there less than an hour ago. She didn’t want to go back there. She didn’t think she could handle it any more. It was likely she’d crack and give into whatever it was they asked of her. Whether it be asking her to be a glorified battery that powered their building, or to don a suit and be one of their agents. Her breathing became sharp and quick, unable to stop her thoughts from spiraling.
“They’re going to come after all of us you dipwad.” Kyra hissed, smoke pouring from her nose in her frustration. “We are four runaways from the Commission. As in, the organization that is literally built to prevent any anomalies and ensure that major events in human history go as planned, by any means necessary.”
“I am not a runaway.” Five scoffed. “I broke my contract.”
“The only way to break a contract is if they let you go, or you die on a mission.” Kyra retorted. “And you know they don’t like to let people go.”
“The only way out is death.” Diana said, more to herself than anyone else. She said it as if she’d heard the phrase a thousand times before.
“So what was your plan then?’ Five tilted his head. “Escape and live out the rest of your lives on the run from the commission?” Upon the lack of response, Five let out another scoff. “That’s some plan. I’m curious though, how di you manage to pull this off? Did you steal a briefcase? Make one? Or does one of you have some kind of time traveling ability?” Each word was spoken with levels of condescension that Thirteen had only ever heard from Sir.
Maybe Kyra picked up on it, because Thirteen could see the anger written all over her face. The air around her wavered with the heat emanating off her. “Listen here, Number Five.” She gritted her teeth and took a step forward. “Diana and I have worked at the commission far longer than you have. Twice as long in fact. We jumped to escape from the commission, and to stop the apocalypse from happening so we could live our lives in peace. So maybe instead of constantly antagonizing us at every turn, I recommend that you stop and think about this. You know my job and you know I’m damn good at what I do. I’ve seen things about the upcoming eight days, things that you’d never be able to find on your own.” She took in a deep breath, blowing out some more smoke before continuing. “You want to question our escape? That was our chance to finally be with our family. To be free, even if we have to constantly be on the run. It’s better than being locked up in that godforsaken lab, or working for the commission. So if we have to live on the run we will. But we won’t let our freedom be taken away by the end of the fucking world.”
Five seemed physically stunned by what she had said, staying silent as he mulled over her worlds. “I don’t need your help.” He said finally.
Thirteen felt like the walls were beginning to close in on her. The idea of being returned to the commission, being tested on again. Brought back to life over and over again until they finally cracked whatever Reginald did to make her the way she was. Then what? Keep her down in that basement? Wait to see if she would die of old age? Test on her more just for fun? She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t breathe–! Thirteen lurched forward, biting down on Five’s arm in a desperate move to try and remove the pressure from her neck. Five let out a yell and tried to free himself, but Thirteen bit down harder. The knife lodged itself in her neck in the struggle, and Five ripped his hand free and tossed her to the side. Thirteen felt the knife fully plunge into her neck before her vision blinked out.
✦✦✦
When Thirteen opened her eyes, she found blood clouding her vision. Thirteen reached up a hand to wipe the blood from her eyes. The feeling returned to the rest of her body, temporarily overwhelming her before she managed to get a grip on herself again. Thirteen started to push herself to her feet, but her movements were jerky and she slipped in the puddle of blood beneath her. She coughed, spitting out blood from her mouth. Every breath in was a wet noise, blood mixing in her lungs. She reached up to feel a gash in her throat trying to close around a knife. Right, she’d been stabbed. Thirteen reached up to grab the desk, using it to push herself up. She saw Kyra sitting in one of the arm chairs, hands covered in blood and her face pale. She saw Diana as well, one hand covered in blood, but her expression was angry. Thirteen then turned her gaze to Five, and she saw that he was sporting a bloody nose. More than likely the cause for the blood on Diana’s clenched fist. Five was staring at Thirteen with apprehension, glancing at his bite mark.
“Great. Now I have to deal with a zombie bite and an impending apocalypse.” He muttered, trying to feign casualty, but Thirteen could tell that he was a little unnerved by her.
Thirteen tried to speak but the knife in her throat reminded her that it probably wasn’t a good idea. She reached up and yanked the knife free from her throat, tossing it on the floor a few feet away. A spray of blood landed on the carpet. Finally the gash in her throat healed without anything stopping it from closing. She sucked in a breath before speaking. “Are you done… arguing?” She asked, her voice sounding like it hadn’t been used in years. “We don’t have… the time. For… this shit.”
Kyra took in a shaky breath and reached up to wipe the blood from her face, only managing to smear it more. She stood up. “Look, Five. You might not want help, but you’ll certainly need it. If you want to be stubborn and do things your own way, that’s too damn bad. My family and I are here to stay, and we’re not going to let you screw this all up and destroy the one shot at living a normal life that we have. So like it or not, we’re here to help.”
After what felt like an eternity, Five sighed. “Fine. How do you plan to help?”
✦✦✦
Thirteen tried to pay attention to what was going on, but between the escape and her death, she was exhausted. She kept nodding off in the chair, unable to keep herself upright. Thirteen gave a glance at Kyra, who seemed to understand the situation and gave her a nod to go before finally leaving. Thirteen rubbed her arms. She’d lost track of how many times she’s died, but every time she came back she felt cold and hollow. Like she was just occupying a dead body, and not one that was alive.
She stopped and leaned against a table, feeling like she was moments away from passing out. Thirteen suddenly became aware of another heartbeat in the hallway with her, and she turned to see Pogo approaching with a jacket thrown over his arm. He gave her a knowing smile, walking up in front of her and holding it out.
“You seem chilly… Miss Thirteen, was it?”
Thirteen reached out and took the jacket, pulling it on. “Yes, you’re right.” She admitted. She didn’t think to question how he knew. In her timeline, Pogo always seemed to know everything.
“You should wash up and change out of those clothes.” He advised her.
Thirteen winced, remembering her current bloody state. “I uh, don’t have any other clothes.” She said quietly, embarrassed of her lack of… anything really.
“There are spare clothes in each of the rooms upstairs. Each one has a conjoined bathroom. Would you like me to escort you?”
Thirteen was slightly wary, but her exhaustion and grimy state made her a little more compliant than she normally would be. “Yes please.”
Pogo held out his arm to her. “May I?”
Thirteen reached out to take his arm. “Yes, please.” She said, being careful of how much of her weight she was putting on him. He adjusted his grip on her arm, helping to keep her upright as they walked.
“So as I understand it, you were also an Umbrella child, correct?” He asked.
Thirteen nodded. She got the feeling that he was mostly asking her questions to keep her awake so she didn’t pass out, but she didn’t mind it. She’d prefer it over collapsing to the floor.
“That’s not the entire story, is it?”
Thirteen shook her head.
Pogo hummed. “I helped raise these children. Grace and I. You could consider this an academy of sorts, thus the name. Together we taught and trained these children to save the world.” Pogo let out a tired sigh, stopping at one room in particular. “But we failed to teach them how to save themselves.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No no, don’t apologize. It is no fault of yours.” Pogo patted her arm and they began walking again. “Tell me, what of your timeline, dear girl? Were Grace and I able to save you then?”
Thirteen paused, thinking of their very first escape. Thirteen recalled Pogo’s sacrifice. Grace’s struggle against her programming to help them. Thirteen nodded. “Yes, you did.” She answered finally.
Pogo smiled. “I am glad then. One version of me succeeded.”
They stopped at the door at the end of the hallway. “This is my favorite room, I think you’ll enjoy it. It has the best view in the academy, you can see the park from here.” Pogo let go of her arm and opened the door. Thirteen stepped inside and looked around. Thankfully this room did not have the bleak white walls or dark brick that she was used to, but a nice red wallpaper with some kind of flower stem like design. In the room was a large bed pressed against the wall with plenty of space for her to crawl underneath and sleep. There was a large closet pressed against the next wall, and a desk underneath a large window on the wall across from the door. “This door here leads to the bathroom. Would you like me to ask Grace to make you something to eat?” Pogo asked.
Thirteen shook her head. “I ate yesterday, I’ll be fine until tomorrow.”
Pogo gave Thirteen an alarmed look. “Yesterday? That is not healthy at all. Please, allow us to make you something small to snack on.”
Thirteen quickly shook her head. “No- I don’t want to be a bother.”
Pogo was already out the door by the time she replied. “It’s no bother at all! It’s almost dinner time, please wash up before then alright?” He gave her a small smile to try and mask his concern before closing the door behind him.
Thirteen walked into the bathroom and flicked the light on. It was cozy enough. The lime green tile backsplash and sky blue linoleum tub. Thirteen looked around to see what else there was. Pressed against the wall was a shelf with clean towels on it, and even a bathrobe. Thirteen couldn’t pretend she wasn’t debating the robe, but she ultimately decided against it. Thirteen walked over to the shower and turned it on, jumping back as a hiss-like sound echoed in the room. She bumped into the sink, knocking over the glass soap dispenser which crashed and shattered on the floor. Starting to freak out, Thirteen stepped away again only to bump into the rack with towels on it as well. Thirteen’s chest felt tight and she didn’t feel like she was getting enough air in her lungs despite her sharp and quick breathing. She reached up to cover her ears, trying to block out the sound of the spraying water with the sound of her rapid heartbeat hammering in her ears.
It took a while for Thirteen to work up the courage to get up off the floor. She needed to turn off the shower. To stop the noise. She took slow steps forward, forcing her legs to stay steady despite how much she felt them shaking. She stopped in front of the tub, willing one of her hands to stop covering her ears and shut off the shower.
Thirteen let out a loud sigh of relief when the sound stopped. She sat down on the tub, rubbing her legs to try and get them to stop shaking. “I don’t know anything.” She said to herself as she continued to massage her legs. “I don’t know anything.” She repeated, shutting her eyes tightly. “I don’t know anything…”
Somehow Thirteen managed to turn the shower on again, rapidly switching it over to the tub before the noise could get to her again. She discarded her bloody clothes and climbed in, staying still for a few moments. The water was all around her, feeling like it was giving her a hug that was far too tight. She was suffocating. All she could hear was the water dripping off her hair, and she couldn’t stand it. She could taste Five’s blood in her mouth still, even though she had washed it out. She reached into the water and pulled the drain, letting half the water drain before plugging it again. She felt a little more comfortable now despite the sound of water still dripping from her hair. At least this way she didn’t feel like she’d drown.
Thirteen climbed out of the tub once she’d finished washing all the blood and grime off. It was a relief to finally be able to wash her own hair again and not have someone roughly handing her hair. She wrapped a towel around herself, looking at herself in the mirror. Her hair, as better as it looked now, was an untamed mess. Thirteen glanced over at the towel rack, seeing a hairbrush there. She grabbed it and started to try and comb through her hair. But just like before when she’d tried to brush her hair with her fingers, the tangles were too tough. Thirteen rapidly grew frustrated and tossed the brush aside. She exited the bathroom, moving over to the desk in search of scissors. She opened the drawer and found a pair sitting neatly amongst a few other supplies. She moved back into the bathroom and started cutting her hair.
By the time she finished there was hair all over the bathroom floor, mixing with the glass shards she’d forgotten to clear up. Thirteen ran her fingers through her hair, liking how much easier it was to comb through it. Her hair was awkwardly layered and covered her shoulders, giving her a rather shaggy look. Knowing it was unlikely to get any better, Thirteen started to clean up all the hair on the floor, picking up the glass shards as well. She shouldn’t leave a mess. She was a guest after all.
Once she was done she left the bathroom to get changed. In the closet was the uniform of the Umbrella Academy. She could tell because it had the words Umbrella Academy embroidered on it just below the official crest. Not wanting to wear it, she decided on a white tank top and navy blue pants. She was used to tank tops and didn’t feel like switching so many things up so quickly. She did however take a pair of socks and shoes, not wanting to walk around barefoot anymore.
She was in the process of trying to remember how to tie her shoes when a knock on the door interrupted her delicate process. “Come in.”
Pogo opened the door. “Miss Thirteen. May I say that you look much better now that you’ve freshened up. A new haircut as well I see. It looks lovely.”
“Thanks.” Thirteen said, fully aware that her hair was a mess.
“If you’d like to cut your hair again, please let Grace know. She’s the best equipped among us to assist with haircuts. But for now, please join us for dinner.”
“Who is us?” Thirteen asked.
“You, Grace, and myself. It seems everyone else might be a little too busy to join us. I hope you don’t mind.”
Thirteen shook her head. “No, I don’t mind.” She was used to having dinner alone. This was a nice change of pace.
“Good. Allow me to escort you back downstairs.”
Thirteen leaned down and took his arm again. Her hair fell into her face and she quickly pushed it back. She really ought to fix that before it becomes a problem.
They arrived downstairs at the dinner table and Pogo pulled out the chair for her. Thirteen sat down, drumming her fingers along the table.
“And for today’s very special dinner for our very special guests, we have my secret recipe for lasagna and some garlic knots made by yours truly.” Miss Grace gave a warm smile to Pogo. Thirteen could feel the electricity in her veins again, just as she had outside. The feeling was all the more persistent since Miss Grace was closer. Thirteen shook her head, pushing away the feeling.
Miss Grace walked over with a tray, setting it down. Pogo walked over as well with a plate of garlic knots. “Bread making was always one of my favorite pastimes.” Pogo said as he set them down on the table.
As soon as Miss Grace set down a slice of lasagna and garlic knots in front of Thirteen, she was eating as quickly as she could.
“Whoa,” Miss Grace laughed. “Someone is hungry.”
Thirteen blinked, remembering where she was. They weren’t going to take this from her. She could relax now. She wasn’t there anymore. She felt her face get hot with embarrassment and she sat up straight, grabbing a napkin and wiping her mouth. “I’m sorry.” She said quietly.
“Don’t apologize.” Pogo said. He set down his fork, reaching for a garlic knot and piling the lasagna on top. “We’re friends and family here. There’s no need to be shy.” he said before taking a big bite.
Thirteen reached for her food again, feeling more welcomed than she had before. She copied what Pogo had done, piling the lasagna on her garlic bread and taking a bite, eating a little slower than before. When the plate was empty, Miss Grace walked over and picked it up. “Would you like me to fix you a second plate?” She asked.
Thirteen perked up almost immediately. “I can have a second plate?” She asked, unable to stop the child-like hope in her voice.
“Of course you can! A growing child needs all the nutrients they can get.” Miss Grace said as she got to work on fixing Thirteen a second plate.
Thirteen tried to hold back from asking for a third plate. She was used to eating as much as she could, never knowing when her next meal was. But here, they were friendly. She could relax. She didn’t have to survive anymore.
✦✦✦
After dinner, Thirteen left upstairs to try and get some sleep. She looked around the room. During the day it had seemed welcoming, but now at night the wallpaper was almost pitch black, reminding her too much of the cage. Thirteen grabbed a blanket off the bed and left in search of her sisters. She walked down the hallway, hoping that maybe the two heartbeats she could sense in the distance were her sisters. She walked up to the door and knocked twice, not wanting to barge in on something.
Thankfully it was Kyra who opened the door. Thirteen glanced past her to see Diana in the room as well. Was she… missing something?
“What’s going on?” Thirteen asked.
“Nothing. Just catching up.” Kyra held the door open. “Come in.”
Thirteen stepped inside, looking at the room. It was blank like hers, but felt a little cozier. Maybe because this room had her sisters in it. Thirteen moved to take a seat on the bed. It was a tense silence for a while. No one really knew what to say. What do you say when you’ve just been reunited with your sisters who’ve been missing for years? Do you ask where they’d been? What they’ve seen? Do you tell them about what you did? Thirteen realized then that she didn’t actually do anything interesting. Kyra and Diana did though. They went out on missions like Agent Coronado told her. Maybe they’d seen a few interesting–
“Thirteen, your hair.” Diana murmured, eyes traveling over her sister's new appearance.
Thirteen reached up to brush some hair out of her face, feeling a little self conscious. “It was frustrating.” She said simply. “I uh… never got to do anything to it back there. It… doesn’t look bad, does it?”
“I like it,” Kyra said, lifting the towel around her neck to finish drying her hair. She had apparently taken advantage of the showers here as well.
“Seeing as you two showered, I suppose I should too.” Diana spoke up.
Thirteen moved over to sit on the bed. “I was meaning to ask, what happened to you? You uh… look a little different from when I last saw you.” The last time she saw her being only half an hour ago.
Diana looked down to her bloody umbrella uniform.
“It’s a long story.” Kyra chuckled.
“A very long story that I don’t want to get into.” Diana agreed. She left the room, likely going to shower as well.
Kyra moved over to join Thirteen on the bed. “So, how do you like it here so far?”
Thirteen looked up at her sister. “It’s not bad. It’s got a bed and a shower, and some free clothes.” She said, tugging at the straps of her tank top.
“I assume you didn’t like the academy uniform?” Kyra noted.
Thirteen shook her head. “I appreciate the free clothes, but I don’t want to be matching with Five.”
“Understandable.”
✦✦✦
Diana returned after a while, finding her sisters laying on the bed. She closed the door behind her. “So, what have you two been up to?” She asked.
Thirteen sat up on her elbows, smiling at her sister. “Girl talk.”
Diana moved over to the bed, laying down next to Thirteen. Diana reached out and grabbed Thirteen's wrist. Thirteen tensed for a minute, not used to having someone grab her wrist without cuffing her afterwards. “Is… everything alright?” She asked warily.
“Just checking your pulse.” Diana said, as if it were a normal thing to do. Thirteen didn’t realize why at first, until she remembered that she had died only a few hours ago. Thirteen nodded slowly, understanding that her sisters didn’t know about this ability of hers considering Sir would test it in one of the labs, and not where her sisters would see. “
After everything she’d been through, Thirteen wouldn’t lie and say that oftentimes she wished she didn’t come back at all. But with her sisters back and at her side, she’d stay alive. If not just for them.
“This doesn’t feel real.” Kyra spoke. Diana and Thirteen both turned to look at her. “I’ve been thinking about this moment for years. I’ve dreamed about it, not one of my visions but an actual dream. Now that it’s here… I’m not sure it’s real.” She admitted.
“It’s real.” Thirteen said, trying to reassure her.
“It doesn’t really feel real when the oldest sister somehow becomes physically fourteen and mentally forty something, and the other one died and got back up like she was just taking a nap.” Kyra said, gesturing between Thirteen and Diana.
“Alright first of all, I am right here.” Diana grumbled, crossing her arms. “And I’ll have you know, I’m forty-six.”
Kyra snorted, turning over to face her sisters. “I missed you.” She said quietly. “Both of you.”
“I’ll admit, I missed your morning philosophical talks.” Diana said, brushing a few loose curls behind her ear.
“Did you really?” Kyra asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
“No. I like my brain unscrambled in the mornings.”
Thirteen couldn’t help but roll her eyes. She didn’t know about them, but she knew that she needed sleep or else she was going to crash. Thirteen pulled the small blanket up to her chest.
“I think Thirteen’s got the right idea.” Kyra spoke up. “After breaking her out of the commission and jumping through time, I am absolutely exhausted.”
“You’re telling me.” Diana muttered, brushing her hair back again. “I am so not used to being in my fourteen year old body again.” She stretched out on the bed, grabbing the blanket and pulling it over herself.
“It’s nice to be with you two again.” Kyra admitted. “I just…”
“What is it?” Thirteen asked.
“I really… really wish it could stay like this.” She said. Thirteen knew full well that it was likely that this would be the last peaceful moment they would face for a while. Thirteen wanted to believe, even for just a second, that things could be this way. That things could be better, but after everything that happened at the commission, she couldn’t really hold out hope for anything anymore.
Diana laid on her back and let out a dramatic sigh, placing her hands behind her head. “Way to ruin the moment, sister.” She muttered.
Thirteen pulled the blanket closer, feeling uncomfortably cold. “It was always like this in my cage.” She said without thinking. “Back at the Commission, they liked to keep it cold.”
Kyra’s eyes flitted over to her. “Yeah?” She prompted, wanting to know more.
“She’s asking you to turn the heat on, you dork.” Diana said without opening her eyes.
“Right, yea. Sorry.” Kyra quickly brought her hands up and began rubbing them together. Her skin started to light up like embers in a fireplace, causing Diana to let out another exaggerated sigh.
“Now I know for a fact you don’t have to be doing all that.” She said, sitting up and turning to give Kyra a deadpanned look.
Thirteen reached back to shove Diana. “Shut up. You’re going to get this taken away from us.”
“Me? I’m just saying that little miss smoke breather over here doesn’t need to do her whole little magic hands pose to generate some freaking body heat.”
Thirteen sat up and grabbed the pillow from behind her, lunging at Diana with the pillow and shoving her down onto the bed.
“Hey– get off!” Diana exclaimed, voice muffled from under the pillow. She quickly started to grab at her arms and pull her off. But considering it was a twenty something year old who had been kept stagnant in a cage for years versus a fourteen year old assassin, they were pretty evenly matched.
Unfortunately, Kyra seemed to want to keep the peace and pulled them apart. “If you two want a personal space heater, then I don’t want to hear any more fighting.” She said, her tail moving from behind her to wrap around Thirteen’s waist and pull her off of Diana. Thirteen grumbled and reluctantly let go of the pillow, moving to burrow herself in Kyra’s warm arms. Diana shot her a glare before reluctantly moving closer. “Don’t steal all the heat you leech.” She said under her breath.
Thirteen ignored her comment. “What do we do now?” She asked Kyra.
Kyra shifted to lay on her back, looking up at the ceiling. She closed her eyes and draped an arm over Thirteen’s side. “Let’s get some sleep for now. We’ve got a lot of work to do tomorrow.”
“Like what?” Thirteen asked again.
Kyra mumbled something that either sounded like ‘hollow’ or ‘tomorrow.’ Thirteen decided on the latter as she drifted off to sleep. She let out a quiet yawn, relaxing into the bed. “Missed you guys.” Thirteen said as she closed her eyes.
“Yeah yeah. Missed you too.” Diana said, turning to face Kyra and Thirteen.
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Masterlist for the Umbrella Files
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Soundtrack: Between the Bars, Elliot Smith
Diana's pov: @cl0udy3
Kyra's pov: @thestardustseven
