Hey guys,
It's been another long minute since this stories last update, it's been really hard to find time to write in between work, school, and family. Rest assured though I still haven't given up on writing it, and I also haven't watched season 2, so again this story is not influenced by that in any way. I apologize again for the long wait.
Hope you guys enjoy :)
Chapter Sixteen: Where's Five?
Five didn't answer her, cozy wasn't exactly the word he'd use. The Handler had her same mocking smile that she always has on, a mischievous smile that makes one think she knows their secrets, makes Five feel like she knows his deepest desires and greatest regrets.
"Hello Five," she greets him as she walked the distance to close the large gap between them. Her eyes linger on his family a moment before she stops in front of him.
"You're looking quite well, all things considered," she continues when he doesn't reply back to her, she's running her beady eyes over his form, taking in the changes that occurred with his time jump. He went from sophisticated old man to lanky teen with a perpetual scowl on his face, a startling difference for sure.
"I have to admit that congratulations are in order, it was clever of you to throw us off your track with the age regression, it's impressive and your commitment is admirable," she points to his body to emphasize her compliment.
"Wish I could say that it was done on purpose, unfortunately it was just a miscalculation on my part," he supposes they would have found him sooner had he been the age he was when he was in The Commission, he hadn't stopped long enough to think that him being back in a child's body is what kept him under the radar for just a little longer.
"How about we jump right ahead, and you tell me what you really want? Why did you call me here?" The Handler playfully leaned on her tips toes a few times, it was unnerving to witness the carefree way she handled things.
"You know what I want," Five didn't bother to clarify, it was obvious what he wanted, he didn't need to go into unnecessary explanations, they were both too old to be skimming the line of mystery and untold truths.
"Yes, but you realize what you want is next to impossible to achieve, even for someone like me," she blinks at him with fake innocence, as if she really did consider his wants.
"What's meant to be, is meant to be Five," she states with a wave of her free hand, her smile growing larger as she glances around the empty brown fields that surrounded them.
"I refuse to believe that," Five growled at her, he wouldn't have gone through this much trouble if he believed it was fruitless, he wouldn't have put in all this effort if he believed even for one second that it was impossible for things to change.
"Oh Five," The Handler shook her head in mock sympathy, her smile turned downward into a frown, "This fantasy you've been nurturing about summoning up your family to stop the apocalypse, is just that, a fantasy. I must say though we're all quite impressed with your initiative and ambition, which is why The Commission would like to offer you a new position back at headquarters, in management," The Handler says with a flurry of rabid movements of her free hand.
"You're kidding me, right?" He said back, he wasn't sure if he was more amused or more unsettled by the way she proposed her idea, either way it did get the thoughts in his head swirling.
"No, of course not Five, come back to work for us again, it's where you belong. You won't be in the correction division any longer, you'd be in the home office. You know you'd be more happy working for us then going around in this senseless circle, be happier in your body then this child's play one you currently have," with each of her words she stepped closer to him, he had to stop himself from taking steps back the closer she got.
"And what about my family?" Five questioned, seeming to consider her proposal.
"What about them?" She distasteful glowered over to Luther and Allison.
"I want them to survive," he replied, saving the world is important to Five but saving his family first and foremost is what his main objective is.
"All of them?" She asked with curious eyes.
"Yes, ALL of them," he answered back with an eye roll, how else was he supposed to answer, how could he possibly choose which family members get to survive and which ones don't? The Handler is more delusional then he previously thought if she believed he could name any of his siblings above the rest.
"I'll see what I can do," she sighed in inconvenience, she held out her hand to Five for a shake, "Do we have a deal?"
"Just a moment," he walks away from her to Hazel and Cha Cha, grabs the gun in Cha Cha's hand to take the clip of bullets out, he throws the pieces in two separate directions, he does a quick search for any more weapons but not finding any he stalks back over to The Handler.
Five looks back to Luther and Allison, still frozen with their expressions unguarded, he hated having to leave them with Hazel and Cha Cha with no clue as to where he went but their smart, so he knows they'll be okay. He also thought about Vanya, Luna, Diego, and Klaus back at the hospital, they too wouldn't know what exactly what's going on, but he'll see them again soon, of that he's sure.
Five would do anything to make sure his family survives, with that train of thought he grabs The Handlers outstretched hand and feels the familiar pull of jumping.
"You seem mighty confident in that statement," Allison tells Five with a shake of her head, it never fails to astonish her how cocky Five is, her brother's ego is much too big for his tiny body.
"Where's Five?" The question comes from Luther who is looking around the field's frantically, he vaguely recognized that Allison continued her conversation like Five was here, but now he isn't. Allison is stuck in her head for a little bit, wondering that same thing, she was just talking to him, literally had her mouth open to remark back to him.
"Five!" Luther yelled, Allison could see she and Luther weren't the only ones disoriented, the crazy people were to, but they seem to be recovering from it much faster.
"Five!" Luther screamed again; his worry was painted across his face with harsh lines. Allison tugged on his hand to get him to look at her.
"Luther, we got to go," she calmly told him, she was glad when he focused his attention on her and nodded, she was scared she would have to rumor him into the car, something she didn't want to do, rumoring is in her past and she has no intention of letting it rule her life again.
"What do I do with this?" Luther shakes the briefcase.
"Destroy it," Allison tells him, without second thought Luther picks it up above his head and slams it down to the cement beneath them. One or possibly both of the crazies scream at them, it was difficult for Allison's ears to differ the screeching. Luther shakes the thing in the crazies direction, teasing them with the busted-up case, before hurdling it into the air to the other side of the field, opposite to them, it makes a burst of sound upon impact.
"No!" The woman yells. Allison hurriedly gets into the passenger seat with Luther in the driver's seat, he presses on the gas pedal and their off. She wasn't sure if it was a smart decision to destroy the time traveling briefcase, but she does know that Five said that it's extremely important to the crazies so to let it be back in their hands undamaged did not seem like a smart plan to Allison, plus they needed a distraction to get away, a two birds one stone deal.
Twisting around to get a look out the back window, she sees the woman hunched over the briefcase, distress on her face, and she sees the man putting together a gun that was separated into pieces, shaking his head in anger, glaring at their moving vehicle.
It feels like a lifetime has passed for Vanya, in reality it's only the next morning from when she spent the night talking with Leonard. She feels different then she did then, more comfortable with her emotions and surer of herself. She didn't like leaving Diego so soon after surgery, but she doesn't feel right having Leonard thinking something is going to happen between them when she knows nothing's ever going to happen.
She's out of place in the trendy coffee shop he told her to meet him at, it's not crowded by any means, but the atmosphere is to modern for her tastes. Everything is sleek black and white, there's no color or cozy home feeling about the bar stools they have as seats literally everywhere. The drinks are all long names that Vanya doesn't even attempt to pronounce, and the people around her are all on their phones or laptops, not one person is conversing with another human being.
Vanya can safely say that she will never be back to this coffee shop again, which she's okay with. Waiting for Leonard and knowing what she's going to tell him is like a ticking time bomb, it's like she's breaking up with him even though they're not together, that makes her head throb at the temples. She doesn't want to hurt him by any means, she should have never went to him after hers and Diego's argument, she gave him a brief look into a future that is never going to happen, and she regrets that.
"Hey," Vanya jumps in her seat at the touch of a hand to her shoulder, Leonard is beaming at her, removing his coat after he nearly scared her to death, "I'm sorry I'm running a little late, sorry for scaring you to," he chuckles before seating himself on the stool next to hers, a little closer then she's comfortable with.
"It's okay, I haven't been waiting that long," she replies, he's turned toward her, but she has her face firmly looking down and her hands busy playing with the teaspoon to her coffee. It gets awkward for her fast, she wants to leave, she keeps herself planted though. She has no idea where to start the conversation at, but luckily, she doesn't need to.
"Did you like the roses?" Leonard asked, his eyes say he's positive she did, he really seen nothing wrong with going into her home without her there.
"They were beautiful," and they were, roses are a gorgeous flower, simple and perfect without much effort, "but you shouldn't have went to my house without my permission, or went into my room. Only my daughter and her babysitter were there and that's not okay," she thought she was going to rush her sentence out, Vanya doesn't like confrontation, avoids it like the plague, but she's proud of herself with how calm and settled she is in her statement to him. His eyes harden for a split second that if Vanya weren't staring straight at him, she would have missed it, it was there and gone in a blink.
"You're right, I'm sorry," he reached out and touched her shoulder again, "I didn't mean to freak you out, you dropped your pill bottle at my house, and I wanted to return it, and I thought you'd like some flowers and a good old-fashioned note. I thought I was being romantic but obviously I missed my mark," he says, his hand started rubbing her shoulder, she shrugs it off.
"Yeah, you did, don't do it again," she leaves no room for his excuses in her tone. His eyebrows raise in response to her words, surprise lit up his face. He shifts in his stool, eyes tracking around the coffee shop, he's no longer meeting her eyes, he's trying to regain himself.
"So I have a confession," he starts the conversation again after a moment of silence, "I was curious about you and looked you up, imagine my shock when I discovered that you have a book," he lets his words sink in and the implications that come with it. She doesn't know what he expects her to say back, the book was made in a period of her life where she suffered from depression and she was filled with anger and jealously for her siblings. That book doesn't define who she is now, she's changed from the child she was when she wrote it.
"What about it?" She asked, there's different directions this can take and she's not so sure if she wants to go down any of them.
"Well come on, The Umbrella Academy was a pretty big thing for a long time, I mean how was that? Growing up in that household?" He's leaning forward again, eagerly trying to engage her, it's not a topic she likes discussing. His expression is to anxious, to hungry for information, it's more like he's less interested in how it affected her and more interested in the mechanics of growing up in The Academy.
"I shared a birthday with six other kids who all knew they were better than me in almost every way, and I was a number before I was a person so how do you think it was growing up in that household," Vanya can't help but snap at him, she's accepted and moved on from the way she grew up, but that doesn't mean she likes to dig up old memories. It wasn't some fairy tale that she likes to reminisce, it wasn't cupcakes and rainbows.
"Whoa whoa, I didn't mean to pry, I was just curious, I'm sorry," Leonard is quick to backtrack and apologize, "I shouldn't have asked, I just thought that I should get a better feel for how you grew up before mentioning Luna's father, obviously that backfired on me." Vanya lets go the teaspoon she has a death grip on and turns to face him fully, he doesn't seem like this news bothers him, he doesn't hold judgment or hostility in his gaze, only curiosity, but his words still make her bristle and defensive.
"What about Luna's father?" She plays dumb, she's not sure what he's asking, if he's asking anything at all.
"Family is never not complicated, right?" Instead of directly answering her, he quotes himself from their violin lesson. She doesn't know what it's supposed to mean, if it's meant to mean anything but she takes the opportunity to use it to say what she came here to say.
"Yeah, it's not something I expect you to understand," and she doesn't, Vanya herself barley understands it truthfully.
"I get it," he rushes to say, when Vanya looks at him with doubt, he explains, "Well I mean I don't get it, get it, but I'm not going to judge you, I mean it's not like you guys are actually siblings." He nonchalantly shrugs his shoulders.
"Right," she clears her throat, he's sweet to say that about something other people would raise their eyebrows at, but Vanya is ready to get back to the hospital, "Listen Leonard, I'm sorry but this isn't a date, I can't date you, I can't be with you, not now, not ever. I have way to much going on in my life with my siblings, my daughter, and figuring out where me and Diego stand, and I can't start a relationship with you full well knowing that I'm not going to put my all into it," it's a decent explanation that gives enough information without giving away too much information, it's truthful without being unnecessarily hurtful and it's straight forward without being confusing.
Vanya's worried that she'll have to repeat herself when he stays quiet, he didn't expect her to give this mini speech that sounds eerily similar to a breakup speech.
"I want us to stay friends, you're a really nice guy and I really enjoyed spending time with you. But I needed to make it clear that me and you wouldn't ever be a thing though," she further explains when she receives nothing in response. Vanya grows worried when he starts muttering under his breath, he's turning a deep shade of red, and his hands are clenching tightly to the table in front of them.
"Not supposed to be this way, suppose to fall for me, it's his fault, it was wrong, everything was wrong, have to figure out a different way, have to make this right, have to-" Vanya doesn't think he knows she can hear him, he's speaking very low, and normally she wouldn't be able to hear him, but the coffee shop is really quiet and he's too close. His reaction isn't right, couple it with his earlier eagerness to know about her life in The Academy, it sets off alarm bells, the red flags are flashing, warning her.
"I have to go," she almost falls from the stool in her hurry to jump out of it and leave. He's scaring her, whatever just happened wasn't natural and Vanya's gut is telling her to leave and get back to Diego.
"No! Wait!" His hand snaps forward to wrap around her wrist, he forcefully tugs her back to him.
"You can't leave! This isn't right! This wasn't how this was supposed to go!" He's shouting in her face; sprinkles of his spit land on her cheeks from how much he's enunciating the individual words. She's struggling to get out of his grasp, but the more she struggles the more he tightens his hold on her.
"Let me go!" She screams back at him, they have now garnered the attention of the other people in the coffee shop, she's relieved when two guys a tad bigger then Leonard make their way over to them.
"Hey man, let the lady go," one of the men pulls Leonard away from her well the other one stands in front of him to block his view of her. She doesn't wait to see what he does; she thanks the men as fast as she can move her mouth and runs out of the coffee shop and to her car that's parked down the road. She doesn't look back, to focused on getting away from Leonard, her steps are evened and rushed, she's never been more coordinated.
Vanya doesn't feel safe until she's on the road driving away from him. She has no clue what caused such a severe response from him, she also has no clue what he was talking about, but what Vanya does know is that offer to stay friends is off the table.
Hope you guys enjoyed, feel free to drop a review :)
***ANSWERS TO REVIEWS***
Genbo: I'm glad you enjoyed this update, it makes me happy to know that it wasn't a bad chapter, I know it's been a long while since this stories last update and that makes for a nervous post lol your review is much appreciated :)
Guest 1: I'm so happy you loved this update, thank you for your review :)
Guest 2 : Thank you! :) I'm glad to hear you enjoyed reading this chapter!