"Here it is" Don Diego unimpressively announced as he parked out in front of Peabody's two-storey terracotta house, where it lay nestled among the other suburban family homes along the pastel-coloured street. Mercifully, Doro seemed to be out.
"Huh" Theodore hummed as his gaze roved over the front of the golden house. He'd heard many stories over the years and on occasion, they'd driven by with nostalgia on the brain and loosened tight lips.
"What?" Don Fën perked up, his gaze jumping between the boy and the facade of the golden house.
"Nothing, just—the apple trees are new" Theodore noted, nodding to the freshly turned mounds of dirt that housed the aforementioned saplings on the front lawn.
"Mm" Don Fën hummed in acknowledgment as all had began to make their way out of the car and up the front of the lawn, into the house.
"Just be careful!" Ven Allison warned for the umpteenth time as they all clambered from the vehicle and up the front lawn, making their way towards the front door.
The warning was more or less directed towards his Don Diego (whose vigilante nature had been making itself known more and more throughout this little venture) and Don Fën (whose temporal assassin nature was also making a troublesome appearance; one that often clashed with the vigilantism of his brother). The two mean had been butting heads since they had left the Umbrella Academy (or so said Ven Allison) and it was starting to drive the other half of the cab's inhabitants insane. In all honesty, Ven Allison had practically thrown herself from the cadillac as soon they'd arrived, least she'd found herself strangling either of her brothers, just to shut at least one of them up.
"We don't know what Jenkins is capable of" Ven Allison mothered.
"Yeah, well, he didn't seem so dangerous the last time I saw him" Don Diego rebutted, "Looked kinda scrawny"
"Everyone looks scrawny behind bars, don" Theodore reminded him as he bent to retrieve the little chipped garden gnome hidden amongst the potted hydrangeas which was sat on the porch. Wriggled free from the dirt, Theodore then proceeded to struggle to unscrew the lid of the peanut butter jar which was glued to the gnome's feet. The large peanut butter jar below held the hidden key inside the jar just as vera had told him it would be (y'know, as soon as he could get the blasted thing open).
"Besides most serial killers and mass murderers are uber dangerous" Ven Allison added, rolling her eyes at her brother who had tried to forcefully jiggle the door open whilst Theodore received the spare key from the potted plant. "I mean look at Five"
"Thanks" Don Fën replied sincerely as he limped over to inspect the aforementioned apple trees, toeing at the newly turned dirt with a calculated gaze.
"Good point" Don Diego nodded in agreement as Ven Allison rolled her eyes again retreated back down the front steps and made her way around to the back of the house in order to find the entrance she had used last time. If all went well, then the window in the laundry room would still be open or unlocked, allowing her to slip inside without much hassle. "So, what do we reckon this guy wants with Vanya?"
"I don't know" Don Fën mused aloud as he bent to fiddle with the clods of fresh dirt. "How about we ask him after we kill him?"
Freshly upturned dirt, a missing sister and a confirmed serial killer didn't usually amount to anything good and the schoolboy assassin's stomach turned at the possibility that he could be standing over his sister's grave. Out in the open as they were, the quartet had already garnered several wandering eyes from the nosy neighbours, so it's not like they could very well dig up the front garden right then and there. There was also the notion that Harold Jenkins could return at any minute (there was no car in the driveway or out on the street to suggest that someone was home) and he also didn't particularly want to scar his nephew should they find something…untoward hidden beneath the flowerbed. No, that was a job for the dark of night.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa—!" Don Diego quickly protested whilst he eyed up the front door. Getting access to the spare key was proving to be difficult and they were running out of time as it was; which was why he eyed up the glass pane on the upper half of the door. Even with one arm, it would be easy enough for him to break inside. "Hey, look, I'm just gonna burst through—! Where's Allison?"
"I 'unno" Don Fën shrugged as he shoved his hands in his pockets.
"You know what?" Don Diego huffed. "It would just be nice for people to just stick to—"
BLINK!
"—the plan" Don Diego harrumphed, ending with a scowl as he glared at the front door like it had personally offended him. "Great"
CRASH!
Theodore pulled from his war against the stubborn peanut butter jar lid (which had clearly not been opened in a while), jumped at the sudden sound and turned to find that the previously pristine stained window pane had been smashed in. Shuffling a little closer with the garden gnome tucked under his arm as some sort security blanket-slash-impromptu-weapon, he cautiously peered through the cracked glass to find Don Diego lain out on the floor amongst several shards of broken glass and wooden splinters, groaning like the old man that he (truly) was. Relief flooded the young boy, dropping his shoulders from where they had risen up to his ears and as he turned to place the garden gnome (plus hidden key) back in the potted plant on the porch, both Don Fën and Ven Allison reappeared.
"Subtle" Ven Allison commented dryly, sparing her brother a withering look as she strolled up the main hall, having clambered in through the same window in the bathroom, as last time.
"Nngh!" Don Diego groaned pitifully as he tried to regain his breath from diving through the waist-high window pane.
"Y'know the door was unlocked" Don Fën added (having teleported himself inside) as Theodore easily twisted the knob and walked inside. The only reason that Don Diego had had trouble opening it before was because the door was a push not a pull.
"There were easier ways inside, Don" Theodore agreed as he toed a couple of shards of glass at his feet."There was a key"
"Yeah, well, my way works just fine" Don Diego snarked as he eventually scrambled to his feet and shook off the excess glass clinging to him before wandering further off into the depths of the house. "Spread out. Yell if you, uh, you're, y'know, in trouble"
"Ah, such inspiring leadership!" Don Fën deadpanned as Don Diego limped off towards the kitchen to salvage what dignity he still had.
"One of the greats" Ven Allison agreed in kind before everyone went their separate ways.
Tender fingers traced the dusty spines on the bookshelf as Theodore quietly trotted around the living room of the childhood home that he could never remember. Although he had only lived here until he was four years old, there was just something about it that seemed so comfortable; perhaps it was the familial decorations smattered here & there or the various wooden duck-themed ornaments that were so similar to the ones in A'Vera's cabin that made it feel that way. Picking up one of the many framed collaged 'family photos' that sat around the place, Theodore found himself staring down at one of his vera's headshots (clearly cut from the back of a book jacket), a grainy (& recent) picture of himself that showed him performing as a part of the school choir and a selfie of his doro who looked far older than Theodore ever remembered him being.
The one next to it—the smaller one in the oval glittery frame—held an actual family photo of the three, but it was definitely an older one with Theodore still stuck in the pram and wide eyes happily chugging down what looked to be a chocolate milkshake with absolute vigour. Above him, Doro looked panicked as he tried to snatch the brown bottle back whilst Vera laughed heartily next to him. The corner of the picture was folded over to fit into the smaller frame, but the edges of someone's delicate script could still be seen peeking out.
"She looks so happy" Ven Allison murmured as she appeared at his shoulder, peering down at the little oval on the bookshelf.
"Mm" Theodore hummed as he replaced the collage for the smaller photo frame
"She never looked like this with us" Ven Allison mumbled just as quietly. Clearly she hadn't been meaning for him to hear, but his hearing was up there with his vera's (not nearly as good as hers, but nonetheless, still nothing to sneeze at).
"I don't know much about Vera's childhood, mostly because she couldn't talk about it" Theodore murmured as his eyes traced the laughing visage of his vera. "But I do know that it led her to making some rather questionable decisions; one of those being my doro. Which isn't hard to believe because the few memories I have of him aren't…great"
"M sorry"
"It's not your fault" Theodore excused as he noted Don Diego out of the corner of his eye where he seemed to be hovering about the fridge where a flyer for Vera's latest performance hung. It advertised the orchestra's next showcase to be on the eve of his birthday; where she would play first chair, just like always.
"But it is!" Ven Allison exclaimed, raising her voice only slightly in her agitation. "If—if I hadn't Rumoured her, then none of this would of happened"
I also probably wouldn't have been born. Theodore pursed his lips, as he kept the depressing thought to himself. If his ven hadn't followed orders like she had done, then it was highly likely that he never would have existed in the first place. So in some twisted, roundabout way, he was almost…glad for her interference; if only because he couldn't understand not existing.
"Did…did she ever talk about us?" Ven Allison ventured, "Did she ever tell you about the Umbrella Academy?"
"A little bit" Theodore admitted. "She showed me some of the stuff that she'd saved in her memory box and there was this library book that she used to tell me about the academy, and sometimes when you came on the news & stuff"
"That…that was it?"
"I do know all about A'Vera Katerina, though!" Theodore rushed to reassure her.
"Katerina?" Ven Allison puzzled as the sound of footsteps thundering around the second floor told him that Don Fën had ventured upstairs and down towards the bathroom at the end of the hall.
"She's Vera's vera"
"…Translation?" Ven Allison turned to Don Diego with an expectant brow. She recognised that 'Vera' must've meant mother, which logically meant that A'Vera would have been grandmother.
"She's Vanya's mother" Don Diego easily supplied as he slipped past on his way to investigate the back end of the house.
"Moth—? What about Grace? Wait—! Did you mean her biological mother? Diego…!" Ven Allison called after her retreating brother, but she received no reply.
"A'Vera Katerina doesn't talk to us much" Theodore added, trying to reassure any of his ven's concerns. "But I still get a birthday and a Christmas card from her every year"
"That's…that's nice" Ven Allison mumbled, quieting for a moment before she turned to watch the boy put the family photo back on the bookshelf.
"…How—how did…?" Ven swallowed thickly as she tried to get her words out right, "What was it like living out in the woods?"
"Good…" Theodore replied.
"Weren't you lonely?" She asked, thinking of her own daughter's numerous gaggle of friends.
"Not really…" He shook his head.
"Say Theo…?" Ven Allison hummed as she moved on to fiddle with a collection of slightly melted candles so as not to meet the boy's curious eyes.
"Hm?" Theodore hummed in question.
"Do…do you know how Vanya regained her memories about her powers?" She asked hesitantly, "A-about what happened to her?"
"Uh…maybe?" He blinked, trying to recall a time when his vera had mentioned such a thing.
"Maybe?" Ven Allison turned with a quirked brow, sounding almost scared to hear the answer.
"Vera got really sick when I was little—er, littler—like she couldn't the bed, sick" Theodore explained, not quite sure if it was the right reason or not. Although it was around that time that his vera had started using her powers more and more. "It was pretty scary"
"Tss!" Ven Allison hissed in guilt, turning back to fiddle with the ornaments as her shoulders climbed up towards her ears.
"But—but then she got better!" Theodore added, almost rushing over his words in his effort to get them out. "And then she went to yell at the trees until they fell over"
"Oh…" Ven Allison said, more at a lack for something to say. Guilt pricked at her when she thought of all the things she had done to cause her sister so much trouble. "Hey, Theo?"
"Mmhm?" Theodore hummed as he scratched at his burnt palms.
"D'you think you could help me with a lock?"
"A lock?"
"The one on the attic" She explained.
"Oh" Theodore uncomfortably shifted nervously in place, "We're not allowed up there"
"No? Well, don't worry, you don't have to come up there" Ven Allison reassured him, "But we still need to check every room in this house and whatever might be hiding up there"
"O-okay"