One day, six hours, and ten minutes before Sententia.
The door shut with a snap behind Georgiana. For a minute they all stood still.
"I'm going on patrol," said Spaceboy abruptly, "Keep your ear on the communicator."
"What?" exclaimed Rumor, "Luther, you haven't slept and you're still bleeding and there are freaky people who want to-"
"No time," he answered brusquely.
"Typical," Kraken rolled his eyes.
Space fixed him with a hard look.
"It seems that we either work together or we die on this one Kraken."
"It seems that we either work together or we die on this one Kraken," mocked Kraken, "Well it seems to me that dear old Dad left us in a shit hole a mile deep. What's the point of going on patrol?"
Walking to the table he picked up the five cards Georgiana left behind.
"Look at these," he snapped, throwing one down on the table after another, "Shield, Mover, Transmuter, Reaper, Incendio, we're up against them and we don't even really know what it is they do!"
"I think they're sort of obvious except Reaper," ventured Rumor.
"Who appears to be the brains of the operation," Kraken snapped, "We don't need to be walking around with our fucking hands in the air, we need to be finding out more about these weirdos or we're all going to die!"
"Much as I hate to do this," .05 said, "I'm going to have to agree with Kraken."
Spaceboy's glance flickered between the two of them.
"Fine. I'm going out on patrol though. We may be able to find and reason with them."
"Yeah," snorted Kraken, "Like that'll work. Like that's ever worked."
"I'm still going out."
"Then I'm coming with you," Rumor said firmly.
Space gave her a look that was halfway between curiosity and anger.
"Fine, I'll reset the televator."
.05 and Kraken shook their heads before going upstairs. Rumor redirected her attention to Séance who was staring blankly at the wall.
"I assume you're going to bed," she said vaguely.
"I'm tagging along," he replied, "I've been eating speed for the last three days and every time I close my eyes I see centipedes."
"That's great," Rumor replied absently.
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Pogo sighed as he walked up the stairs. All his life he had prided himself on never listening in on a conversation. That was crude and tactless. He instead eavesdropped. That took a good deal more skill. It would've been impossible to have survived in that house if he hadn't formed some sort of unscrupulous defense mechanism. Even so his conscious pricked him about it.
Right now he had one mission; to check on the two most estranged members of the Academy. Currently he was going to check on Vanya. The one battle she was involved in she got head trauma. .05 was next. That boy was worrying him. He thought back to the few conversations he'd had with him over the past few hours. No, that boy wasn't quite right. Shaking his head he knocked on the door with his foot. Both of his hands were currently occupied with cups of steaming coffee.
"Vanya?" he asked cautiously.
He heard footfalls behind the door. It opened slowly as if the opener was unsure if they wanted to let the person in. He smiled internally. That had always been a habit of Vanya's, ever unsure, always nervous. Opening it he saw that she had changed into a loose white nightgown that was too big for her. It looked outdated, probably something she had used to use for dress-up when she was younger. The gown still didn't fit her.
"Brought you some coffee," he said, "You could use it."
She looked slightly dazed but nodded anyway.
"You shouldn't be out of bed you know," he said as he edged his way in.
"You try lying in bed for hours on end with nothing to do," Vanya snorted as she took a cup and sat down on the edge of her bed.
"Your siblings are out-" he started.
"Trying to save the world," Vanya finished, "Yeah, I know."
"How?"
"They usually are."
She took a sip of the coffee. Pogo had always found that coffee helped things. It helped him have an excuse to visit them whenever he wanted to and to talk to them. Right now he used it as an excuse to explain Sententia.
"Guess I was some sort of malfunction then," murmured Vanya.
Pogo sipped his coffee. He'd thought it better to leave out Destructions.
"How many times to I have to tell you," he said at length, "You are special Vanya. You just don't need to destroy things."
"Hm. Hargreeves never seemed to think so," Vanya muttered.
Personally Pogo didn't want to contemplate some of the things Hargreeves had called Vanya. A distraction was the kindest.
"Do you care about what Hargreeves thought?"
"No," admitted Vanya, "Not since I was ten anyway."
"Then there you have it," Pogo said, "He's dead now Vanya, we buried him yesterday afternoon. Forget his opinions and remember the ones that you do care about."
A small smile came across her face. He smiled back. At least one of them had turned out relatively happy. Then Vanya frowned thoughtfully.
"Pogo, if the Sentinels were raised in the same manner as us," she said slowly, "and they killed their mother, then what must she have done to make them do that?"
"I don't know," said Pogo quietly, "I don't know."
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Cat opened her eyes. She smiled as she made out her lover's face. Then suddenly it all blurred and she was looking at the Queen of Hearts.
"Who cares for you?!" Cat shouted dizzily, "You're nothing but a pack of cards!"Everything slowly morphed back into the way it had been before. She frowned and rubbed her neck."What happened?" she asked in a different tone. "Seer made you stab yourself," Reaper said, his eyes flashing with anger, "Don't worry. Athena gave him a good hiding." Cat winced in pain as the woman whose body she was inhabiting screamed."Where's my jewelry box?" she asked as she looked around her room. "Gone," he said coolly, "Helene found what you were keeping in there. If I've told you once I've told you a thousand times that you cannot take it anymore!"
"But it helps," pleaded Cat.
"No," he said, "It doesn't."
"It gets rid of the screams."
"No it doesn't!" he snapped as he grabbed her arm. Her sleeve fell back to reveal numerous puncture wounds both new and old.
"It's just something that bitch got you hooked on so you'd be easier to control! God dammit Cat, she made your system incapable of living without that stuff! She's the reason you have to keep changing. We give you what you need to survive, just take that!"
"I think I got off easy," she whispered evasively.
"You can't do this to yourself anymore," he said, now calm, "I forbid it."
What about what she did to you? That was what Cat wanted to say. You didn't used to be this controlling. You wouldn't have killed anyone. What about the rest of us? When we were younger Athena used to cry at the end of Old Yeller. Now she laughs. Helene used to dance, faster and freer then anything I've seen. Now she only runs when she has to. Arkady snuck to the roof to star gaze. Now he barely goes out at night.
"I've sent Helene and Athena to give our opponents a little message. We need you sharp for the battle," he said, "And that means no more drugs. Nothing. Do you hear?"
She looked at him sadly.
"Winning this," murmured Cat, "won't change anything."
"Yes it will," Reaper said fiercely, "We'll finally be safe."
"That's what you said when you killed Lenore," she said, "it won't change anything. It won't bring Ryuk and Jacob back."
"No," once more his eyes flashed with anger, "but this is different."
"You would let the world burn for this game?" she asked.
"Yes!" snapped Reaper, "After what the world has done to us it's only fair. The Umbrella Academy is the last obstacle. This will make us happy. I can make us happy."
As he finished he wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.
"I'll make you happy my love," he murmured lovingly.
There was so much that she wanted to say. She wanted to beg him to stop it before they lost anyone else. Sententia frightened her like Lenore had frightened her fifteen years ago. Yet she knew it would be pointless.
"I don't care about the world," whispered Reaper, "So none of us can."
Around her the world faded into a room with a table in the middle of it. On top of the table was a little bottle with the words DRINK ME on it and some sort of biscuit.
"Well, if I eat it, and if it makes me grow larger, I can reach the key," she said, "and if makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door: so either way I'll get into the garden, and I don't care which happens!"
As the world went back to how it really was Reaper was nodding, taking that as an agreement. Yet as her mind came back to her she realized that was a lie. She did care. She cared very much.