It was dark by the time Diego had dumped his nephew at his apartment and returned to the search of his missing siblings. Having detoured to the Gardes' apartment to pick up a couple of things for Theodore (including his Go-Bag which had been stashed in the cubby hole of the bay window seat) and searched the place for any sign of Vanya. Her violin was gone alongside her phone, the bed was still cold and the sheets had been tossed back into a barely passable resemblance of a made bed (Dad would've been furious) which told him that she had left of her own accord, but she had not been back in some time. Those weren't the only concerning things of note; there was also the fact that their neighbours hadn't heard hide nor hair of the women since last Tuesday and an answering machine full of needless calls (most of which were from either Allison, himself or Theodore) sat waiting idly.

"This is Vanya Hargreeves, please leave a message at the tone & I'll get back to you as soon as I can"

"You have seven new voice messages. First message:"

BEEP~

"Vanya, it's Mrs Kowalski. Mr Puddles is missing again, if you see him will you call me? Thanks"

"Next message"

BEEP~

"Vanya, this is Peter from the Icarus Theatre. Just wanted to remind you that we've left the concert tickets you've asked for at the Box Office. Your guests can pick them up at any time"

"Next message"

BEEP~

"Hey, Vanya, it's me. I just wanted to…things have gotten so messed up. All I ever wanted was to be a good sister to you; guess I pretty much failed at that. But you need to call me, okay? I love you, sis"

"Next message"

BEEP~

"Hey, it's me again. Just wanted to make sure that you were okay. Theo turned up at the academy today; said he couldn't get a hold of you. Is something wrong? Y'know, you can tell me anything, right? I here for you, sis"

"Next message"

BEEP~

"Hey Vanny, it's Dee. Haven't heard from you in a couple of days. What happened? Are you okay?"

"Next message"

BEEP~

"Vanya? It's Eudora. Look, I'm not sure if you've heard, but there's been an incident at Meritech Industries. Something happened to Theodore, you need to come to North General Hospital as soon as possible"

"Next message"

BEEP~

"Vanny, you really need to pick up the phone"

"Next message"

BEEP~

"Vera, where are you?"

It was a fruitless search, one that only wrought more brain curdling questions and served to frustrate him even more. But as much as he wanted to drop everything and figure out this puzzled, he currently had another sibling to look for; one who was thankfully a little easier to track down thanks to his newfound hoarding habits. With Theodore safe in his apartment back home and with all the LANE Keepers still (not so subtly) swarming the streets outside (something which Diego noted as a reason Vanya might not return to the apartment complex) and itching for a reason to enter the complex once more, Diego knew that it was time to go.

Diego eventually reunited with Luther at the Argyle Street Library; the one that was tied to the university of the same name, which it explained why it was still open so late. The only reason that the pair had agreed to meet each other there was because of the clue they'd found printed in the old (beloved) copy of Vanya's book in Five's van (it had clearly seen better days and almost every word had been replaced with the nonsensical ramblings of the certified genius).

Inside the library itself, the pair barely spared a moment to nod their greetings before Luther 'ordered' the pair to split up and take a wing of the building each to search for said wayward brother. As the hours wore on however, it quickly became apparent that it was not going to be an easy task and as the night dragged on, they eventually reunited on the uppermost level with nothing to show for it. "Anything?" Luther sighed despairingly as he came into view.

"No…" Diego muttered as he moved to casually lean up against the railing and stared down at the dizzying floor below. Their argument from earlier in the day swirled around in his head; the words they said pestering him until he found himself unable to hold them in any longer. "…You wanna know why I left?"

"What?" Luther puzzled, his brows furrowed in confusion at the out-of-the-blue question. "What are you talking about?"

"Why I left the academy" Diego explained, shifting so that he could face his brother but still keep his elbows hooked onto the railing behind him.

"Yeah" Luther scoffed as he shuffled over to stand a little closer to his brother. Now within arm's reach of Diego, he could see the deep bags under his eyes which painted the skin a dark shade. "Cause you couldn't handle me being Number One anymore"

"No" Diego refuted derisively, a brow quirked in disbelief that his brother still could not see what was right in front of him. "I left because that's what you do when you're a teenager. You move out, become your own person and grow up"

"Oh yeah, you're a real grown-up, Number Two" Luther scoffed.

"At least I make my own decisions, Number One" Diego sneered. "You've never had to hold down a job, look after someone else, pay bills…Have you ever even been with a girl?"

"…I—I don't know what you're talking about" Luther looked away, unable to hold his gaze for too long as his cheek flushed a brilliant red beneath the moonlight.

"…Look" Diego sighed as he took in his brother's embarrassed expression, and inwardly, he took slight pleasure at succeeding at making him so flustered. "You wanna blame me? Blame us for leaving? That's okay, but maybe you're asking yourself the wrong question"

"Huh?" Luther's head jerked back over to Diego, brows furrowed in confusion. He was Number One, which meant that he was never wrong; that being a leader and a hero were all that he ever needed to be. That being those things wasn't wrong, no matter what Diego was trying to imply.

"Maybe it's not about why we left" Diego continued strangely soft, "Maybe it's about why you stayed"

"I—I stayed because the world needed me! Because the world needed the Umbrella Academy! And when they called for our help, I was the only who answered!" Luther replied affronted before becoming bolstered by his words as he went.

"No. You stayed because you couldn't let go of how things used to be; with the academy, Dad and Allison." Diego corrected as he drew himself up to his full height, annoyed that Luther thought that he had been the only one who had fought in the invasion all those years ago. Diego may not have been a part of the Umbrella Academy at the time, but that didn't mean he wasn't out there, fighting the good fight (sometimes, when he closed his eyes, he could still picture those elf-eared bastards as they blasted children from the map, slaughtering without a second thought). "Dad's dead…Mom too, now. We're orphans again, dude! And things are never gonna go back to the way that it used to…be…"

"Hehe~!" Someone giggled nearby, catching Diego's attention. "Where are his parents?"

"Do you ever stop talking?" Luther sighed irritably, unawares of what had pulled his brother's attention away from him.

"I'm gonna call security!" Came another voice, this one far more uptight than the first. With brows pinched in confusion, Diego trotted around the corner as he ignored his brother's taunts.

"Wow" Luther blinked dumbly as he watched Diego disappear around the corner. It took a moment for him to follow. "That was easy"

Following the sounds of jubilant laughter and the chatter of exhausted students, the duo soon found themselves confronted with the sight of one of their missing siblings. Five was passed out, propped against a pillar which had been painted in his brother's cramped scrawl, an empty bottle of vodka barely clung to his fingertips and his arm was wrapped tightly around the upper half of a mannequin whom Luther had authoritatively told him that the doll had been dubbed 'Dolores' Diego felt a swell of relief surge through him as his gaze narrowed on his little brother as he watched his chest fall up & down. Five looked the most peaceful he had ever seen him; especially in the last couple of days.

"Is he, um…?" Luther gasped as he stared at the collapsed form of their brother sprawled out across the floor. He seemed to be fascinated by the generous stream of drool falling from his lip and pooling against his shirt.

"Drunk as a skunk" Diego smirked, nodding in confirmation as the bottle finally fell from his fingers with a gentle snore and rolled to a stop by his feet. "Dude, help me with him"

"Ah—ah, right" Luther nodded as he subtly rubbed at the spot where Diego had backhanded him, before moving to hoist Five & his mannequin over his shoulder.

"…We can't go back to the house" Luther murmured as the three brothers traversed down the street from the library to Diego's car. Five was still snoring in Luther's arms, but from the twitches and low groans, he was starting to wake up. Readjusting the load in his arms, Luther trotted after Diego who led the way with ease. "It's not secure; those psychopaths could come back at any moment"

"My place is closer" Diego replied as he readjusted his hold on the bald mannequin. "No one will look for us there"

"…Buuuuuurp!" At that moment, Five awoke with a loud belch and sighed tiredly as he curled up in his brother's arms, blinking into awareness. "Wha…?"

"If you vomit on me…!" Luther half-heartedly threatened.

"You know what's funny? Ah! I'm going through puberty! Twice…" Five giggled, leaning back as far as he could go, even arching his back like he was trying to escape but not doing a very good job of it.

"Geez!" Luther grumbled as he was forced to scramble for a new hold. "Would you hold still?"

"And I…I drank that whole bottle, didn't I? But that's what you do when the world you love goes bye-bye! Poof! It's gone…" Five grinned giddily as he relaxed in his brother's arms. "What…are you guys talking about?"

"Two masked intruders attacked the academy last night" Luther sighed, a little relieved that Five had finally settled. Diego smirked, quite enjoying his brother's blights because it was like trying to watch a Nervous Nellie deal with being handed a newborn.

"And they came looking for you" Diego added, directing his response towards the glassy-eyed Five. "So I need you to focus: what do they want?"

"They sent Hazel and Cha-Cha…" Five slurred despondently.

"Who?" Diego asked, spinning around to face Five and Luther with an intensity that was almost frightening.

"Y'know, I hate codenames" Luther grumbled. Which Diego always found rather hypocritical considering the Umbrella Academy's own practise of codenames/hero names.

"Ah, they're the best of best" Five chuckled, "Except for me, of course"

"The best of what?"

"…Y'know, Dolores aways said that she always hated it when I drank. She said it made me surly—!"

"—Hey!" Diego snapped as he forced his brothers to stop in the middle of some dark back alley.

"Hm? Yeah?" Five muttered as he tried to focus his drunken gaze on his other brother.

"I need you to focus, okay?" Diego's voice turned soft and serious. He needed to know what these masked gunmen wanted from their family and if they had any connection with Vanya's disappearance. "What do this Hazel and Cha-Cha want?"

"Hehe~" Five giggled, grinning madly up at his brother in response.

"…We just wanna protect you"

"Protect me?" Five retorted, "I don't need your protection, Diego! Do you have any idea just how many people I've killed? No. 'Cause I'm the Four fucking Horsemen! The Apocalypse is coming…"

It probably would've made more of an impact had Five not then proceeded to twist & contort in his brother's arms so that he could expel the contents of his stomach all over the concrete below. Both Luther & Diego turned away, noses scrunched up in disgust; although, inwardly, Diego was just happy that he had done it out here and not in his car which—speaking from experience—would've been a bitch to clean up (Klaus had terrible aim and restraint).