Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“On the 12^th hour of the first day of October 1989, 43 women around the world gave birth. This was unusual only in the fact that none of these women had been pregnant when the day first began. So, the eccentric billionaire and adventurer Sir Reginald Hargreeves resolved to locate and adopt as many of the children as possible.”

“He got seven of them, yes I know, blab la bla.” She says out loud earning some weird looks from the costumers of the cafe. She looks back down at the book she is holding. She knows the story already.

Milly is  the most ordinary girl in the city. Nothing about her is special. Well... not unless you count the black belt in karate, the fact that she speaks 4 different languages or the fact that she is extraordinarily good in archery, so much so that there is a 99% chance that she would hit the bullseye (not that she calculated it). She has average grades, more than average in math and science, she loves Taylor Swift, flowers especially sunflowers or really anything yellow, and the color pink. She has long  blond hair in 2 braids with red bows as elastics and blue eyes. She is wearing some baggy jeans and a red shirt with a white star. Her hands are adorned with golden cheap rings, the ones that make your fingers green, one on every finger except for the ring fingers. Her pointer finger is skimming over a page to read.

That is what she is currently trying to do anyway. She bought this new book about the Umbrella Academy a few days ago, and even though she knew almost everything about them she wanted to see if there was anything new. (There wasn’t.)

Milly isn’t a stalker. That would be extremely creepy, especially for a 14-year-old girl.

Her mother was the stalker. No, not a stalker... More... Well yeah a stalker is the best way to put it. Her mother, like million other people, was born on the 1^st of October 1989. Her pregnancy was very normal. One of the most peaceful ones Milly’s grandma had, but very normal. You know... sex and 9 month and a baby. Cool.

Her mother didn’t really want to accept it though. She was convinced she was special. She was so devoted that Milly even has some pictures her mother took with Ben, number six, when they were about 15 years old. She never told her how they met, but the picture has the Hargreeves house in the background soo...

Her mother was too young to understand privacy (or at least Milly likes to think so).

She is now the same age her mother was when she got pregnant with her. Teen pregnancy yay. She got sick immediately after her birth. On her last moths of living, the only thing that she would talk about was the Umbrella Academy. Milly made her talk about it until she had nothing more to say and then, when Milly was only 3 years old she died. Her grandmother couldn’t handle the stress of the funeral, and she had a heart attack a few months later.
Milly isn’t exactly sure how she remembers her mother stories so vividly, but again, she has a very good memory on things that peak her interest.

To summarize the Umbrella Academy was the only thing that made her feel close to her mother.  

One thing that she never did know about the Umbrella Academy was how they looked as kids. The reason is stupid, but 90% of them got to grow up and some of them are even successful, whereas  her mother never could be, because she is dead. So the only pictures she looks at are the recent ones, where they are successful and happy.

Milly has been living in foster care for the past 10 years. The system is shit, so she can sneak out whenever she wants, and sometimes she even gets to go out to eat and buy some books. Today is one of those days.

She went to her usual café,  and sat down, a book she picked up in the library a few days before on the desk next to a cup of tea, while “picture book” by the kinks was playing in the background.

Pictures of your mama

Taken by your papa

A long time ago

Picture books

Of people with each other

to prove they loved each other

a long time ago

Fitting... she thought.

See, and ordinary girl in an ordinary café and an ordinary tea during an ordinary day.

The sound of a paper slamming on the desk made her look up.

“Hey kid” an old man with a puffy face and a white beard appeared in front of her. She looked up at him with a questioning face.

He huffed “I’m old and I need to sit down and have my coffee in peace so if you would just move” Old people only pulled the “I’m old” card when they found it fitting, she thought almost rolling her eyes.

Well... she is finished with her tea anyway.

“Sure” she closes her book and leaves to pay when she notices a newspaper. The first page had a writing in big bold letters

CITY SAYS GOODBYE TO REGINALD HARGREEVES

Well... not an ordinary day after all.

Family reunion time, Milly thought and smiled. Now the question was.

What was the Umbrella Academy doing the last time they were seen?

And how is the wife Grace handling it?

Oh and why in the hell does he have a monkey for a butler. But thatis not relevant to his death. Well, unless he died of rabies she supposes. Even though Pogo (the monkey???) seems quite educated. Though Travis the shimpanzee looked  civilized too....

Well, from what Mia knew, Luther, number 1, was on the moon?... so said some reddit page anyway, Diego, number 2, never really got over the being heroes thing and now he solves crimes (in his way anyway, not that Milly is judging...) in the city with the detectives. He was last seen in a house where robbers had broken in. It was a bloodbath people said. Allison, number 3, was last seen on a red carpet of her new movie, Love on Loan 3, with a beautiful red dress Milly definitely wasn’t jealous of. From what people knew Klaus, number 4 was just out of rehab, one of the many, (again, she is not judging, just stating facts). Nummer 5, and Ben, number 6. Well...

Vanya, number 7 was last seen rehearsing for a play in the orchestra she plays in. People don’t have much information about her, since she is the only one without powers, even though it always sounded strange to Milly. Why would Reginald Hargreeves adopt 6 magical children and one ordinary one. Well, she had many theories, but she was working on it. Vanya had published a book on her life as the “ordinary” kid in the Hargreaves family -Extra-Ordinary: My Life as Number Seven.- It went immediately on Milly’s definitely not so big book collection she keeps on her shelf.

The more Milly thinks about it the more she realizes she does sound like a stalker.

Oh well. Like mother like daughter.

Twitter says that  Reginald died because of a heart attack, and while he was pretty old there is just a feeling, just a hunch in Milly’s stomach that doubts it. Then again, she is not a detective, nor a sensitive.

On her way back to the foster care she passes the Umbrella Academy. She keeps her eyes the door for a while when a woman goes up the steps and opens the door to the house. Milly blinks a few times. That must be Vanya. She would have recognized Allison, that’s for sure.

Cool. She thinks as she hurried to her house.

_____________

Living in a foster home certainly has it’s advantages. Like it being so close to the Umbrella Academy.

Jesus Christ she really was a stalker

She couldn’t hear or see anything, but it was still a good view? She supposes.

All the thoughts that she had in the last 3 hours were written on her notebook, that she carries everywhere. It is a black notebook, vintage style, leather. It’s almost full. It’s one of the 4 she has collected in time. They all look relatively the same, and she buys them at a shop who sells them for 5$. It’s convenient.

The fist entrance from the first book was from her mother 17 years ago.

It reads:

A week ago something happened. Some armed robbers took a bank and some people hostage. At first there was nothing weird in it, I mean I have seen multiple robberies but not like this one. After a few hours suddenly all hostages were released. 6 children, who are my age AND are all born on the same day????? (my birthday!!!!)-more thoughts on this later-literally saved the hostages and ended the robbery. I repeat. CHILDREN MY AGE BORN ON MY BIRTHDAY. Exact day, month AND year. Like. Oh my god.

 And 5 days later the footage of what happened IN the bank was released.

I will try to describe. I will also try to save the cassette so people can watch it at a later date in case these children become world known and I am the only one with a cassette.

A girl with a very pretty afro and a mask whispered something and then the robber SHOT ANOTHER ROBBER IN HIS FOOT????? HUH?! You think this is big news, wait until I tell you the rest. Then another blond kid FELL FROM THE ROOF!!! Not one scratch (that’s what I saw) and he launched himself on one of the robbers who FLEW OUT OF A WINDOW???!!!!!!??? Then another kid pulled out some knifes and shot them at the hostages, but the suddenly they magically CHANGED DIRECTION????????? How is this possible????!!!! Then there was this guy who appeared out of NOWHERE and then DISSAPEARED AGAIN!!!! Literally HOW?! And THEN ( because there is SOOO much more) somehow the gun the robber had in his hand became a STAPLER??? Helloooooo????AGAIN. HOW?   Then there was this guy, who didn’t do anything before but then suddenly he goes into the vault and comes out with blood everywhere???? I noticed that he didn’t really seem happy about it, but I found it so cool.   And then the hostages got freed.   It was the coolest thing I have EVER seen.

But then the interwiev came and it was a bit weird what the old guy said. A guy asked if he (the old guy(dad?)) was concerned for the well-being of the children, and he said that he is also concerned for the fate of the world??? I mean that was sketchy. Is he planning the apocalypse or something???

ANYWAY I have to go meet up with my boyfriend now, he got into another fight. He should really stop, but then again it is very hot...

PS: If this ever becomes a book please correct all of my grammar mistakes....
Oh and don’t publish the last sentence pls.

Milly smiled reading it. She still doesn’t  know who her father is, but that is ok with her. For the most part at least...

It was late now, way past dinner time and she accidentally skipped it...

Everyone is asleep.

I think I’m alone now; she thinks and smiles.

She lays on the bed and gets out a very old book that she rips the pages from. She uses scissors to cut the pages from the book Romeo and Juliet and make a flower and then she makes another one, and another, and another, and another, and another. The last flower is the first page of the book, all white and yellow because of the age of the book. She makes the last flower and sticks them together forming 7 beautiful marigolds.  As complicated as it seemed, her mother taught it to her 5 days before she died, to give her comfort. The first one is the biggest (trial and error she supposes).  The fifth one has a blank page and the beginning of a chapter. She reads -Mantua. A street-. The sixth is the only one who has no text visible. Only in the stem. It makes the flower look almost... dead. The last one has the beginning of a chapter too, there is more to the name, but she makes out this -A churchyard; in it a tomb bel-.

She observes them a bit more, taking each and every one of them in her hand. When she picks up the fifth flower a thunder goes off. Her hand burns suddenly and she lets the flower fall down on the floor. It lands upside down. Another thunder.

“I’m too tiered for this” Milly speaks out loud. It helps her ground herself. Of feel less lonely, but she like the other term more.

She gathers the flowers in her hand, careful not to mix up the order of the flowers and gives each flower a number. This is when she realizes she made 7 flowers. And she just wrote a number on each flower. She giggles and goes to bed. There is another Thunder, louder than the ones before. Then. silence.

The weird sensation in her stomach returns. Like a piece of her that was missing is finally back.

Chapter Text

As much as she loved the rain, it was just a tiny bit inconvenient. Carrying a wet umbrella in her backpack, risking the safety of her notebook and 2 other books was risky.

The second she woke up Milly had the urge to get out of the foster house. It was raining when she did so like a normal person she brought her old umbrella with her. Now it wasn’t raining anymore, which was good. What wasn’t good was the fact that she walked so much that she ended up in a bar she had never seen before, called -Griddy’s Doughnuts-. It looked cozy, and she was tired from walking all day. She had mostly roamed around the city for half the day when she decided to explore some areas she didn’t know.

She even passed down some dark alleys, the ones your parents are supposed to tell you to avoid... She passed the one directly next to the umbrella academy where she saw a homeless man with a skirt (slay) getting rid of some objects in a box. Only 2 hours later would she realize that the “homeless” man was Klaus, number 4, Hargreeves.

Oh my god she just called the man who can literally talk to the dead homeless. Oh no. She tried to find him again, just to have a better look at him, but no luck, he was gone. So she roamed a bit more until she realized she hadn’t eaten yet.

This is how she ended up at Griddy’s Doughnuts, when it was already dark. She doesn’t want to go back alone, mainly because she is a 15-year-old girl, alone, in the middle of the night. Sue her, she will have a sleepover today. It’s not like the foster house would notice. She enters the coffe-shop, it is almost empty and Milly doesn’t know how to feel about that. She sits near the window in the most secluded table she can find and takes her notebook out. She orders a chocolate doughnut and takes out her notebook, just looking trough it. God she really needs a better diet than this.

She is in the middle of eating when she notices a child, probably around her age exit a car and get into the shop.

I’m sorry, since when can such young kids drive? Sure he could be older, but he does looks 13.

She follows him with her gaze. He sits on a barstool and starts to incisively ring the little bell, they had, the one to call the waiter. She rolls her eyes at the noise.  Another man comes in and sits beside him. Oh thank god he has a dad. The boy has a school-uniform on, which is weird considering that none of the schools in the area have a uniform. He must be from another town. She hears the kid say to the waitress “The kid wants coffee, black” She smiles. At least he is self-aware of how he looks. She looks down at her light blue shirt she is wearing, noticing a chocolate stain on it. Shit

She grabs her glass, that is now half filled with water and gets a tissue to soak it in the water before trying to get the stain out of her shirt. She starts rubbing.

2 men and a woman come in at some point, but she is too busy getting the stain out to notice more . The boy says something, and then is when she looks up, the stain long forgotten, and she sees a...

Wait is that a fucking gun the man is pointing at the kid?

She doesn’t move, she barely breathes. “You think I want to shoot a kid?” the man with the gun says “Go home with that on my conscience?” What the fuck??

Milly can only make out the “you’re not going home” from the kid before all hell breaks loose.

The kid disappears and reappears behind the guy with the gun hitting him from behind.

Milly doesn’t hide for some reason. She observes. If she stays quiet and still enough there is a higher chance she won’t be noticed. It is a bit hard to stay still with bullets flying around the shop. She looks at the kid again.

Holy shit.

It takes her a moment to realize who the kid is, but god the signs were there. The uniform, the way he literally disappeared. Number 5? Wasn’t he dead?

The lights start flickering  and the 3 people start shooting at the kid who is now seated behind the bar.

Where even was the barista?

Number 5 disappears and the 3-armed people turn around. The woman stares right at her.

Well shit.

She stands up just as the woman starts to charge at her. She has a literal gun why would she choose to use her fists. Better for Milly in any case because she manages to catch the woman’s arm, twist it behind the woman’s back, break it, sorry not sorry, and let her fall down, her gun next to her on the floor.

There are shots being fired somewhere next to her.

The woman yelps, just as Milly is able to grab her gun. She hopes shooting is as easy as in the movies.

The people with guns in the shop seem to suddenly multiply. She stares down at the woman, who is pointing another gun at her and where did she even get it in the first place. Milly subconsciously pulls the trigger and fires a few shots at the woman. She hits. And Milly falls to the floor, the gun still in her hand. A bloodbath. She looks around taking in all the dead people in the bar, where the hell was the barista oh my god.

“Hello” she looks up to find number 5 staring right at her.

Fuck

She drops the gun immediately and raises her hands in the air. He is scary. The guy is just staring at her, confusion clear in his face.

“I’m not trying to kill you” she says quickly.

“I know. The question is, why did you kill her?” he asks and points at the woman, who has an abnormal amount of blood coming out of her chest. The sight makes her want to vomit.

“Self-defence?” she says, not tearing her eyes away from the woman.

“Good enough” number 5 says  before teleporting? behind the bar and taking out a knife and slashing his arm open?

“What are you doing?” she asks.

He doesn’t answer, instead getting his fingers in his arm (god she did need to vomit now) and pull out-

“Is that a tracker?” she asks again. He turns to her “Good eyes”. He holds up the tracker with his bloody fingers.

She turns around and vomits the doughnut on the floor.

Number 5 is getting out of the bar when she finishes.

“Hey wait” she runs up to him, and he is still ignoring her. “Can you drive?” she asks as the boy gets into the car. He just raises his eyebrows and lets the engine run.

She opens the passenger door and gets in. In seconds she also has a knife pointed to her neck. Jesus.

“Sorry sorry...” the knife moves slightly back, enough to let her breath properly. “Could you get me home?” she asks. She doesn’t really know why she is asking him of all people, but she feels like she could trust him. Number 5 doesn’t answer, he just looks at her.

She swallows. “Well I can’t get back alone in the middle of the night it is dangerous” he furrows his brows “and I care why?” she swallows. “Because I just saved your life?” nope wrong thing to say, the knife tightens and touches her neck again.

“What I mean” she starts “ is that you live close to me”.

Again wrong thing to say. The knife tightens again. It is now pulling the skin apart. Not enough to draw blood but enough to hurt. “I know your number 5 I mean you literally teleported” she says, in an attempt to get the knife out of her neck. It works. Somehow.

“blipped.”

“What?”

“blipped, not teleported. I blipped.”

“Oh, okay...” she takes a deep breath, now that she can. “so will you drive me?” “yes” “thank you”. Her shoulders relax and she leans back into the passenger seat.

The knife is on her throat again. Fucking great.

“If you ever get in my way I will kill you, do you understand” “Understood” “Great”

Number 5 starts driving and after a while he asks “Do I know you?” Now Milly is confused “I don’t think so. I mean I’m just 15 and you are what, 30?” “Fiftyei- That is none of your buissness” Did he just say fifty?“Okay”

The drive was quiet then, it was very relaxing.

“Where do you live?” number 5 asks. Milly blinks. “You can just drive to your house and then drop me off I know the way” She doesn’t want him to know where she lives. She was embarrassed, so sue her.

“Do you think we should call the police? You know... for the... um... dead people?”

“I’m sure the bartender already did that”

She nodded.

“You can go now” Milly looked out the window. They were outside of the academy. She turned to him and smiled. “Thank you. I’ll see you” “Hopefully not”

He drove away. Wait away? Where was he going?

_______________

As 5 drove to Vanys’s apartment he thought about what had happened. Why he drove the girl home, he doesn’t know. It seemed like the right things to do. As much as he hated it, it wasn’t safe to leave a girl in a bar where a mass murder just happened. Especially if she did one of the murders.

Now that he thinks about it he doesn’t even know her name. Oh well, it’s not important , it’s not like he is going to see her again anyway.

______________

“Ma’am, I’m detective Patch” she said standing infront of the witness.

“Hi, Agnes. Agnes Rofa”

The detective was currently investigating the mass-murder that happened a few hours before in Griddy’s Doughnuts. Something had to have gone wrong. There were dead men everywhere, mostly killed by their own shots. But there were also various stab wounds, a broken neck and a broken arm.

“Oh, I don’t know, did you want a last name?” Agnes asked.

“I’ll take it if you’ll give it.” The detective sat down.

“Did you see what happened here?” she asked

“No, not exactly”

“Let’s start at the top.”

“Well, it was- it was a slow night. It was quiet. My last 2 costumers were this... older guy and- and his kid. The guy had a dough- No, that’s not right the girl had a doughnut.” The girl? Before she could ask about this she continued. “The guy had an éclair and the kid had- had coffee.” What kid has coffe at this ungodly hour, she wondered. “I went- I went into the back room... um, to just get some more change. But then I hears his truck start up. They drove away. I heard shots, so I hid under the desk.” Agnes took a deep breath. “And by the time I got back in here... everyone was... was, you know...”She shut her eyes.

“Was there anyone else in the shop?” the detective already knew the answer but she still asked. “No, I- Yes.” Bingo. “Another kid” nevermind. “She got here before the kid and the father. She was alone, and she ordered a doughnut. She was reading a book the entire time. She was sitting there.” Agnes pointed to the table who was smashed in 2. “Did you see her leave?” “No, I- Maybe she went and got in the truck with the kid and the old guy. She said she walked from the city, to clear her head I think. I don’t remember well, sorry.” “How old would you say this kid was?” “Um- I think about 14 or 15 years old.”

“I’m sorry not to be rude, ‘cause you seem super sweet, but...” Agnes sighs “do I have to go through all this again?” Again? “Again?” “Well, I already told the other detective everything.”

What other detective? “What other detective?” “You know, the man with dark hair and a- I think it was a mask.”

She needed to make a phone call. Now. “Thank you for your cooperation.” Eudora says and stands up. “Detective” an officer says. “We found this near a body. It’s the newspaper from a few days ago.” Patch looks at the newspaper, noticing the front cover CITY SAYS GOODBYE TO REGINALD HARGREEVES . Of course.

Chapter Text

She knows it’s stupid but Milly knocks on the Umbrella Academy’s door the next day. Something in her tells her to do so, so she does so. Nobody answers...
Understandable, the house is very big but still. They have a butler don’t they? She gets ready to knock again when the door opens from the inside. Oh god why her. The homless- no Klaus, number 4 comes into view, followed by number fife. “Hi” she smiles and waves. “Oh hello” Klaus, number 4 waves back with as much enthusiasm. She looks at fife who has a boring expression on his face. “I wanted to thank you for bringing me home yesterday” “I am starting to wonder if you even have a home” number fife retorts. Her smile wavers. “Oh don’t be like that brother she looks nice” Klaus, number 4 says hitting number 5 on his arm. “Sorry” number fife mumbles. “We really have to go now” “Where?” “On a mission” Klaus, number 4 interrupts. That earns him a glare from number 5. “Can I come with?”

When did she ever become so brave my god.

“Yes” “No” Number 5 and Klaus, number 4 say at the same time. “Come oooon. Let her have some fun” Klaus, number 4 whines looking at her, then number 5. “You know what, fine. After what happened yesterday you can only get in more trouble.” “What happened yesterday?” Klaus, number 4 asks. “Nothing” her and number 5 answer at the same time. Milly smiles. “So where are we going?” she asks. “To discover who this eye belongs to” Pardon? number 5 holds up an eyeball? “Um... what?” Number 5 raises bis eyebrows before speaking “It’s fake. I found it and I want to know who this belongs to.” “I am just as confused as you are-”. Klaus, number 4 stops. “I’m sorry what is her name?” he asks number 5 who stops walking. He turns to her. “I’m Milly” she says. “You didn’t know her name?” Klaus, number 4 gasps “The shame” “It’s not like we did much talking yesterday” he answers, this time directed at her. Klaus, number 4 raises his eyebrows in surprise. Oh shit that sounded very wrong...  “Klaus, you drive”. He threw the keys at him as they reached the car. “Fineee” Klaus, number 4 says as he gets into the car. Is he high?? Milly opens the door behind the passenger seat when Klaus says “Stop” she stops automatically while number 5 sighs. She waits a few second then Klaus, number 4 speaks again “You can go in now, thank you.” what was that????

______________

“Like I said to your son earlier, any information about the prosthetics we build is strictly confidential. Without the client’s consent, I simply can’t help you. They are sitting Infront of a doctor in Meritech Prosthetic's now. She knew by the way he was speaking alone, that number 5 wasn’t happy about the answer the doctor gave him. “Well, we can’t get consent if you don’t give us a name.” Klaus, number 4 is just sitting there, listening to the conversation while Milly is trying to find a way to break into the archives and get the stupid information number 5 needs. “Well, that’s not my problem.” The doctor is getting on her nerves. She shut her eyes. “Sorry. Now, there’s really nothing more I can do, so-“ “And what about my consent?” Klaus, number 4 speaks up. What does he have in mind?  “Excuse me?”

“Who gave you permission...” Number 5 turned to her with a questioning look. Milly shrugged. “to lay your hands...” what? “on my son?” WHAT?

“What?” number 5, her and the doctor said at the same time. “You heard me”

“I didn’t touch your son." “Oh really? Well then how did he get that swollen lip, then?” What...? Milly furrowed her eyebrows and number 5 looked away his gaze now fixed on Klaus, number 4.

“He doesn’t have a swollen-“ The sentence gets interrupted by Klaus, number 4 standing up and punching number 5 in the face. Milly gasps standing up from the chair. Milly stares at number 5. Shit that must hurt.

Klaus, number 4 speaks “I want it. Name, please. Now.” “You’re crazy.” The doctor says and Klaus, number 4 chuckles. “You got no idea.” He says before reaching for the snow globe on the desk and picking it up. Milly puts her hand on number fives shoulder, just in case Klaus is planning on hitting him with that too. “-Peace on Earth-” he reads. “That’s so sweet.” He smashes the snow globe in his face. What the hell???Number 5 takes a step back at the sound. He then looks at his shoulder, where her hand is still resting and sighs. “God, that hurt!” Klaus, number 4 says. He is now bleeding from his forehead. “Do you want me to punch you too” he says to Milly. “No” number five says immediately followed by her “absolutely not.” The doctor stays frozen just for another second before reaching for his phone “I’m calling secur-” Klaus, number 4 snatches the phone from him. “What are you doing?” Number 5 and her are still staring at him in disbelieve. Klaus, number 4 brings the phone to his ear and speaks “There’s been an assault in Mr. Big’s office, and we need security, now. Schnell!” he sreams the last word. Cool, apparently he knows german. Milly turns her head to the corridor. Since the walls are made of glass she is surprised to see no cameras and no people. Thank god. She turns her head to the doctor again and drops her hand from number fives shoulder.

“Now, here’s what’s gonna happen, Grant.” “It’s... Lance.” Does he really not know when it’s the time to stay silent? “In about 60 seconds, two security guards are going to burst through that door, and they’re gonna see a whole lot of blood, and they’re gonna wonder, “What the hell happened?” And we’re gonna tell them that you-” Klaus, number 4 pauses and Milly looks at number 5, who has a satisfied grin on his face. “beat the shit out of us.” He then starts crying dramatically” Milly almost laughs. “You’re gonna do great in prison, Grant. Trust me, I’ve been there.” That, Milly did not know. “little piece of chicken like you. Oh, my god, you’re gonna get passed around like a...” he starts circling his hips. Ew. She doesn’t need that image in her mind. “You’re just- You’re gonna do great. That’s all I’m saying.”

“Jesus, you are a real sick bastard” “Thank you” Milly snorts. Number 5 smiles innocently at the doctor.

On their way to the archives Milly takes out a tissue and hands it to Klaus, number 4. He smiles at her and pats her head. Milly makes a mental note to pack a first aid kid if they ever do something like that again.

The doctor takes out a file from a drawer. “Oh, that’s strange.” He says. Great. “What?” number 5 says. “Uh, the eye. It hasn’t been purchased by a client yet.” What?

“What do you mean?” Klaus, number 4 asks. “Well, uh, our logs say that the eye with that serial number...” Klaus make his way to the doctor, standing just a bit too close to him. “This can’t be right.” Number 5 is silent. “It hasn’t even been manufactured yet.” Millys head snaps to number 5 who looks down for a moment. There is only one person with time travel powers here and it is surely not her. Is this the reason why he disappeared? Where did he go to? Why does he have an eye? “Where did you get that eye?” the doctor asks. Number 5 sighs, looking awfully guilty.

_________________

“Well, this is not good” number 5 says getting out of the building. “I was pretty good, though, right? “Yeah. What about my consent, bitch?”” He chuckles. Milly has currently a thousand questions on her mind. “Klaus, it doesn’t matter.” “What? What? What’s the big deal with this eye, anyway.” That was a good question that Milly wouldn’t have been able to ask without getting a knife to her neck. “There is someone out there who’s going to lose an eye in the next seven days.” That was a specific timeline. So number 5 did time-travel to the future. Shit. “They’re gonna bring about the end of life on this Earth as we know it.” “I’m sorry what?” Number 5 turns to her, like he forgot she was even there. Rude. He starts walking away from them when Klaus says “Yeah, can I get that 20 bucks, like, now, or what.” Really, that was what he got from this conversation? “Your 20 bucks?” “Yeah, my 20 bucks.” “The apocalypse is coming, and all you can think about it is getting high?” Getting high... really. No. wait, backtrack. “What do you mean by the apocalypse” Her question is ignored. “Well, I’m also quite hungry. Tummy’s a-rumbling”

“You’re useless. You’re all useless!” well thank you. “Oh, come on. You need to lighten up, old man.” Klaus, number 4 says while number 5 is walking away. She starts following him when he sighs and sits down on a bench. She almost starts speaking when Klaus, number 4 does. “Hey, you know, I’ve just now realized why you’re so uptight.” Milly sits down next to number 5. Their shoulders are touching.  “You must be horny as hell!” Oh my god seriously? Klaus, number 4 sits on the other side. “All those years by yourself:” huh? “It’s gotta screw with your head, being alone.” For a moment there is silence. Milly could speak up to ask what the hell was going on but she doesn’t. This doesn’t feel like the right moment. “Well... I wasn’t alone.” Huh? “Oh? Pray tell.”

“Her name was Delores. We were together for over 30 years.” Um what now? “30 years? Oh, wow!” He chuckled. “God, the longest I’ve been with someone was... I don’t know, three weeks. And that’s only because I was so tired of looking for a place to sl-.” Number 5 then suddenly blipped. Bringing Milly with him.

She fell back on the seat of a Taxi. “Don’t stop. Just keep going.” Number 5 says to the taxi driver who gasps the second he sees them.

“Um hello?” Number 5 almost jumps out of his seat. Milly would find it funny if it weren’t for the unexplainable urge to puke. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“You tell me!” “Oh my god.” He rolled his eyes. “Can you please explain some things to me because I am a bit lost”. He looks at her confused. Milly lowers her voice. “-They’re gonna bring about the end of life on this Earth as we know it- and -The apocalypse is coming-“ she tries to mimic his voice, unsuccessfully, but she does get the point across because number 5 looks panicked.

“Tell me where you live” “What?” “Now.” “I- next to your house” “More specific” “Can you answer my question first?” “No” he grabbed her arm and blipped to the front of the umbrella academy. “Now go home and forget any of this ever happened.” “Yeah I don’t think I will” “You do remember what is going to happen if you get in my way, right.” “Yeah. I’m going to die 7 days before I was going to die anyway.” Number 5 sighed. “Just go home and enjoy the week.” “Trust me, I would enjoy it more doing illegal stuff with you. And your family...”

“Where are your parents anyway? They must be at least a bit worried”

“Dead”

Silence.

“My parents are dead. I live in the foster home 2 minutes from here. I have nothing to lose if this apocalypse comes. I can at least try and help stop it.” “Why?” “Because I’m 15. There are people who are 6, 2, even 90. They deserve to live. Everyone deserves to live. And even if the apocalypse comes I can say that I had fun.” She paused for a second. “But you will have to explain to me how you got here in the first place... Please.”

Number 5 paused, then sighed. “alright, fine. But first I have another mission.” “Does it involve murder?” “Theft” “Better than murder. I’m in” she paused. But first I have to get something at the foster home.” Number 5 nodded.

___________________

“Why are we here?” Milly whispered. They were walking in the pouring rain to a store called -Gimbel Brothers-. “To rescue Delores” number 5 says before grabbing her arm and blipping into the store. “Do they keep people prisoner here?” she said, concern laced on her face. After all, this was her favorite shop to buy clothes at. They were cool and relatively cheap. So she comes here every year after Christmas, where everything is on sale. “It’s complicated” Number 5 answers before walking to a specific part of the store. He turns around. “You stay here and keep watch. I’ll get Delores and then we can get out.” Milly nods as number 5 disappears into the dark store.

From here she sees a flashlight being opened, looking at the clothes. “Why is he looking at the clothing racks? Is his girlfriend a mannequin or something?” she thinks out loud, still whispering though. The light from the flashlight stops moving, being directed towards some mannequins. Oh fuck his girlfriend is a mannequin. He gets closer to the mannequin on the left. It has redish hair, a yellow French cap, and a white blouse with black dots all over it. Oh my god he is talking to a mannequin. There is a shadow moving to her right. Shit. Are those guns??? “12 o’clock” she screams ducking into the racks. “No!” number 5 screams ducking behind the mannequins. The room lights up the second shots are fired. Jesus christ. There is a woman with a bunny mask and a man with a- Is that a Freddy Fazbear mask?

Milly notices too late that she lost track of number 5. He is not going to leave her here is he?

She finds him again when he sprints to the mannequins and grabs Delores, letting her wig fall to the floor. Did he just risk his life for a mannequin? What the hell?

The 2 people have separated, so Milly starts following the man. “Shoot everything that moves” she hears the woman say. Well shit. Number 5 was a liar when he said there were no murders involved... The man stops to read a label, momentarily forgetting his gun. Milly takes the clothes out of a rack. That is the best she can find. Theoretically they don’t know she is there. I mean, she did scream, but it was probably overshadowed by the following scream number 5 let out, so for now, she was safe. -For now- was the key word.

“-Elastic wrist splint.-” Yes!” the man says, Milly gets ready to strike.

A gun goes off but she decides to ignore them. Bad idea Milly.

The man turns around and starts shooting at number 5. He blips.

In three

Two

one

Milly strikes, hitting the man in the head with the rack.
The man has a mask.

Milly is a fucking idiot.

She forgot about that little detail, as the man goes stumbling forward slightly. He turns around, but before he can shoot number 5 appears and blips with her to the opposite side of the store. “Hide” is all he says before blipping away again. “Hide my ass” she whispers, before hiding in the clothes again.

The shooting doesn’t stop as the man comes near her, following number 5.

The woman has now suddenly appeared. Number 5 then runs out of the store with the mannequin.

That motherfucker.

Police sirens can now be hear. Oh she is fucked. She runs to hide behind some products, anywhere to evade the police.

“Five?” Number 5 turns around.

Glad he didn’t leave her in the store but really.

She doesn’t have the nerve to be mad, because he looks absolutely heartbroken. She understands that he is not thirteen but damn.

“Oh great you’re here.” “Can we please get out of here?” she looks at him better and notices that he is cradling the mannequin very gently. As weird as it is, she has to admit that it looks kind of sweet. “I can’t blip.” He says, “Don’t ask why, I don’t know.”  Great. “Then let’s get out of here.” She says.

Chapter Text

Number 5 and her end up walking to the academy. “See you” he says. “Yeah, absolutely not. You still have some questions to answer remember?” He sighs. “Come in then.”

The house is gigantic. The living room is as big as the entire first floor of the foster home. “Up the stairs” He carries the duffle bag that has now Delores (number 5 insisted she call her by her name) in it over his shoulders. Going up the stairs they encounter 2 people. Allison, number 3 and a very big guy. She assumes him to be Luther, number 1.

“Five” Allison, number 3 says. ”What the hell happened to you?” “She then looks at her “And who are you?” “Are you okay? Can we help?” Luther, number 1 says, reaching for number 5. Number 5 grabs his arm to stop him, and Milly takes a step back. “There’s nothing you can do. There’s nothing any of you can do.” He lets Luther’s, number one’s arm fall. The walks away. “Five” Milly says. “I’m Milly nice to meet you.” Is the only thing she says before following number 5. “Hey. Wait!” number 5 ignores her going to what Milly assumes is his room and slams the door.

Right. In. her. Face.

Milly doesn’t even bother knocking, she just opens the door. “Really?” she asks watching as number 5 takes out Delores and sits her on his bed. He doesn’t talk. “Are you bipolar or something?” Milly is kind of fed up with him at this point. “I know you went through some stuff, that I still don’t know about, because you insist on telling me -later-? When is later going to be. In 7 days. Oh no sorry almost 6?” she takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself down at least a little. Number 5 is still looking at the duffle bag in front of him, not moving a muscle. “I’m just trying to help. Trust me, it’s going to be easier doing things together instead of alone. You can’t just shut everyone out. It hurts others and yourself. Is this some kind of self-destructive behavior?” “You wouldn’t understand.” Is all he says. “Then please make me understand”. Milly stays there, waiting, not moving a muscle before number 5 speaks again.

“Alright”

“Are you bleeding?”

Number 5 furrows his eyebrows before looking at his arm.

Milly opens her backpack and grabs the First-Aid kit she took earlier from the foster home. “Sit down and start talking. From the top.” Surprisingly number 5 does.

“Well, I was adopted along-” “not that much” I interrupt him “Why are you 13?”

“Alright” he took a deep breath. “When I was 13 I wanted to time travel. Our father said I wasn’t ready, but I was stupid and insisted. So when he said -no- for the thousand time I snapped and run outside, where I tried to teleport on my own.” I look away from him briefly to take out a sterilized needle. I also try not to puke at the sight of the wound. He continues. “At first it worked. I time-traveled a few months forward. But then I wanted to take it a step further and time-traveled to the future, more exactly in 6 days. Everything was destroyed, everyone was dead and I was completely alone. I couldn’t go back, so I stayed there. I ate what I found, so mostly insects and then I met Delores, who gave me a gun and I went hunting with it. I mostly stayed in the city, near The Academy. I spent 48 years trying to go back.” “That’s messed up” Milly says as she takes out his bandages. “But, if you spent so many years there, why do you still look 13?”

Number 5 sighed. “I had to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists across every possible instance of time. And that was apparently my 13-year-old body.” He stops for a second “I don’t miss being old.”

Milly smiles at him. “At least you’ll be able to relive your life when we stop this apocalypse.” “You seem so sure of theat.” She smiles again. “Someone here has to be” She knows number 5 is about to speak again. “All done.” she still says, “Does it feel better?”

Number fives arm is now bandaged, and he looks down. “Thank you”

“Don’t worry about it.” She puts the rest of the first Aid kit back in her backpack for further emergencies. “I have to go now, but I’ll see you tomorrow morning” Milly don’t even wait for his answer as she run down the stairs and out of the door.

Not much later she pukes in the bathroom.

________________

It’s the literal crack of dawn when she walks out of the foster home. She had written all the information five told her in her notebook the night before and then she had nightmares about a river filled with blood. (After much consideration and the fact that Milly considered 5 a friend now calling him number 5 seemed wrong) But she still woke up at that ungodly hour.

Why?

Because five is a liar. He is a stupid, idiotic, no self-preservation liar. So what does Milly have to do in order to not let him sneak out without her noticing.

Getting up at six am and stand outside his window. (She isn’t a stalker)

When she arrives Klaus is already in the trash, seemingly talking alone. He is looking for something when Fives window opens. Predictable.

“Damn it, where’s Dad’s stuff?” None of the 2 noticed her yet. Good. “Shut up!” Klaus says after a moment of silence “I’m trying to find whatever... priceless crap was in that priceless box so that Pogo will get off my ass!” Five in now next to the dumpster. “I’d ask what you’re up to, Klaus, but then it occurred to me... I don’t care.” Milly doesn’t show herself yet. (She isn’t a stalker okay, just observing) She mistakes Klaus’s jacket for another man when Klaus starts speaking again.

“Hey!” Klaus says to five, noticing him. “You know there are easier ways out of the house, buddy?” “This one involved the least amount of talking. And meeting people.” “It honestly just makes you look stupid.” Milly says looking at five with an unimpressed face. Five jumped, then looked at her and shuts his eyes. “Hello Klaus” Milly says, and he returns with a wave. She then turns to five again. “You really thought you could escape without me noticing? You seriously need to stop trying to do everything alone.”

Klaus starts talking again. “You need more company today? I could, uh... clear my schedule.” “Looks like you’ve got your hands full” five retorts and Milly snorts. “Oh, this? No, no. I can do this whenever. I’m just-” he doesn’t get to finish the sentence before he falls into the dumpster. “I just misplaced something. That’s all” then after a second or so “Oh. Found it! Thank god!” he holds up half a bagel and puts it in his mouth. Milly gags. “Delicious”

“I’m done founding your drug habit.” Five says “Come on! You don’t- Maybe I just weanna hang out with my brother. Not you” I shake my head and follow five, who doesn’t say anything else. “Mi hermano! I love you” German and Spanish. Klaus is a cultured man. Apart from the whole drug problem and all. Klaus, continues as five and Milly get into the van. “Even if you can’t love yourself!”  Five and her haven’t spoken jet but that’s okay. At least there were no knifes on her neck and no discussion on her staying behind.

Milly calls this improvement.

“Where are we going?” she asks when five starts driving. “Please stop talking.” He answers, “It’s already a miracle you’re coming with me.” Milly rolls her eyes and sighs, slumping into the passenger seat, with a duffle bag with Delores on her lap and her backpack at her feet. Not really comfortable, but this’ll do.

________________

“Are we seriously here again?” Milly says staring at the Maritech building.  “Yes” is the only thing he says to her before reaching into the duffle bag and pulling out a bottle of... well alcohol and then Delores. “Hey” he says with a very sweet voice. Milly will never get used to the fact that he is talking to a mannequin.

“Sorry you were in there for so long, Delores.” Five kisses her hear???? He sits Delores up. Delores is now sitting in the middle. “No, I’m not drunk” he says. Now he is talking to himself too. And the half empty bottle of alcohol says otherwise. “I’m working” Five said more words to a Mannequin than to Milly in the last 2 days. “Yes, it’s about the eye thing.” Milly really wants to say something, but if this is his way to cope... She has seen worse anyway. “This is the place it was made.” He pauses “Or... will be made” He looks out the window. “We just have to wait.”

“What are we waiting for exactly?” Milly askes. Now she ffels like she can start talking. Five looks at her then, “I forgot you were there” “Excuse me?” “I’ll tell you when I’ll know” “What is that supposed to mean?” Milly panics a bit.

“Get into the backseat.” He suddenly says. “What?” “Backseat. Now.”

She does.

_______________

Five falls asleep. Milly notices he has a nightmare. 

Someone starts banging at the passenger window. “Five. Five!” she looks at him. Luther. “Five!” she says, louder. That wakes five up.Luther opens the passenger door and steps inside, sitting on the passenger seat. “What are you...” Luther tries to close the door, but doesn’t quite succeed. “Oh, my god... he manages to close the door.

“You okay?” he asks and really is Milly invisible? Why does nobody ever know that she is there?

“You shouldn’t be...” Five starts than seems to rethink it and asks “How did you find me?”

“Um...” there is a moment of silence. She feels a foot touching her. She screams and turns around, only to find Klaus hugging Delores. When the hell did Klaus get here?

“Hey, a little privacy, guys. We’re really hitting it off back here.” Jesus Christ. A bottle of water flies in Klaus’s direction, but he shields himself with Delores. “Get out! You can’t be here!” Five exclaims exasperated. “We’re in the middle of something.” Milly waves at Luther, who is staring at her confused. “Any luck finding your one-eyed man?” Klaus asks. “No” whispers Five. Oh so this is what they were doing. Good to know. Milly isn’t slow. There are just so many possibilities of what they could do that Milly wasn’t sure. For example. They could wait to blow up the building. “What’s he talking about?” “Does it matter? It’s Klaus” Five sighs. “What do you want Luther?”

He stammers. “So, Grace may have had something to do with Dad’s death.

What now? Grace as in the wife?

“I need you to come back to the academy, all right? It’s important.” “-It’s important- You have no concept of what’s important.” “Hey” Klaus interrupts. “Did I ever tell you guys about the time I waxed my ass with chocolate pudding?”

“Please don’t, there is a girl here too. And underage...”

“What are you still doing here?” Luther asks now, interrupting Klaus’s train of thoughts. And thank god for that.

“What? I need an excuse to hang out with my family?” “We’re trying to have a serious conversation” Luther retorts. “What, and I’m incapable of being serious? Is that what you’re saying?” What a mess of a family... “Luther’s got a point; you should get out.” Five says. “What?” Klaus reluctantly gets out. Milly likes gossip, so she doesn’t even think of leaving the van.

“What the hell are you up to?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me. Last I checked, I’m still the leader of this family.” Again, what a messed up family. And -Leader-, really?

“Well, last I checked, I’m 28 years older than you. Milly snorts and Luther turns around. “Yes he told me” she says looking at Luther’s confused face. He turns back to Five.

“You know what your problem is?”

“Really hoping you’ll tell me” oh for the love of god please stop fighting.

“You think you’re better than us. You always have. Even when we were kids.” Milly almost takes her notebook out. It’s fine, she can remember all this.  Five sighs.

“But the truth is, you’re just as messed up as the rest of us.” Harsh.  “We’re all you have” Sweet? “And you know it.” Okay way to many emotions at once.

“I don’t think that I’m better than you, Number one.” Please don’t say I know- please don’t say I know-

“I know I am” fuck.

“I’ve done unimaginable things, things you couldn’t even comprehend.”

“Right”

“Just to get back here and save you all” crazy how a conversation can change in seconds.

She looks out the window.

“What is Klaus doing?” Milly asks pointing her finger in Klaus’s direction. Luther turns to look infront of him, while five turns to her then to Klaus.

He is running out of a shop with probably stolen things in his hands. A shopkeeper is chasing him. “Hey, bitches!” he screams, running.

“Now I’m starting to wonder if that was the wisest decision.” Five says and Milly smiles at him.

Chapter Text

Five and her were still in the car a few hours later. Milly was reading a book, while five was still talking to Delores. “You know, you don’t have to tell me that. I know there are only six days left.” Then a few seconds later “Yeah, you got a better idea?” Milly sighed and looked up from her notebook. She was writing down everything that had happened. It was useful information after all. “Okay then.” Milly looks up just in time to see a worker come out of the building. She puts down her book just as five speaks. “There’s our guy.” “Finally”

The guy stops, looks around and then walks away to a car. “What the hell is he up to?” Five says. He steps away from the car again, this time without his suitcase. “Where’s his suitcase?” Milly asks. “We’re about to find out.” Five grabs her arm and blips. We continue to follow the guy the whole night.

“Can’t we just talk with him now?” Milly asks. She is exhausted and dizzy from all the blipping. She can’t even imagine how Five feels.

“We’ll confront him in a second.” He says. When the man finally steps into a car Five blips them into the backseat, before blipping himself into the passenger seat.

“Oh Jesus” the man says. Five grabs out his knife and puts it at the mans throat. Milly has to admit that watching the scene unfold is much better then being at the receiving hand. “One chance. That’s all you’ve got. One chance to tell me exactly what’s going on in that lab.”

“I... I manufacture prosthetic devices for fake patients.” He says and Milly raises her eyebrows in surprise. “I build the insurance companies and sell them for cash on the black market.” “Including eyeballs?” Five asks. “Yeah, they’re my biggest seller. I mean, they sell like hotcakes. I- I’ve got a list, waiting list, probably 20 buyers.”

“So the serial number he told you...” Milly speaks. “Uh, could’ve already been bought. Yes, off- off the books” Five sighs. “I needed that list, Lance. Names and numbers, I need the list now!”

“Let me guess, you don’t have it?” Milly asks. Five turns to her for a brief moment. “I mean, not on me” Lance says. Predictable. “The only copy’s in my safe at the lab.”

“Well, you start the car, then. ‘Cause we’re going on a field trip.” Five slowly removes the knife as the man puts on his seatbelt and starts the car.

“I have a bad feeling about this” Milly whispers to Five. “I can bring you back if you’re not up for this.” “I didn’t say that” “Good.”

___________________

Milly smells the air “Five” “Yes?” “I think something is burning” They look up, only to find a cloud of smoke forming in the direction of Meritech Prosthetics. “Shit” Five exclaims before running. Milly follows, just to see the building burning. “Oh Jesus Christ.” There’s an explosion that sends Five flying backwards. “Five!” Milly runs to his side, shaking him awake. He slowly sits up again. “Are you okay?” He doesn’t answer, he just stares at the burning building.

Then, everything goes dark.

__________________

Milly wakes up in a public library, next to Five, who is also asleep, next to some open books, and a bottle of alcohol. Milly passed out seconds after Five woke up, probably from the shock. Or the pain from the burn that she has on her arm. I hurts like a bitch.

Milly hears faintly 2 people talking. She stands up.

“You ever even been with a girl?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about-”

“Look, you wanna blame me, blame us for leaving... that’s okay. But maybe you’re asking yourself the wrong question.”

She puts a name to the voices. Luther and Diego.

“Maybe it’s not why we left. Maybe it’s about why you stayed.”

“I stayed because the world needed me.”

“You stayed because you couldn’t let go of the way things used to be.” Jesus does this family do anything else apart from fighting? “The Academy. Dad. And Allison” Milly almost call them when Diego speaks again. “Dad’s dead. Mom too, now. We’re orphans again, dude.” Wait their mom is dead?

“Hey um sorry” she calls out to them, and they turn around. Luther raises his eyebrows. “Hi, um. I’m Milly. I don’t know if you remember me” what the hell is she doing? “Five is over here if you are looking for him.  She turns around and walks to where she was before. There are a few other people looking at him now, telling to call security. “What is that?” Diego asks. “Delores... His girlfriend when he was- when he time-traveled. He is also... well-”

“Drunk as a skunk” Diego finishes, just as the alcohol bottle rolls away from Five’s lap onto the floor. That’s one word for it...

__________________

Luther was carrying Five to the Umbrella Academy while Diego and her were walking alongside him.

“Thank you for helping us... well more him but still” she says.

“Who even are you and how do you know Five?” Diego asks. “Long story...” Diego and Luther look at eachother briefly. “Well, that’s my stop”  Milly says in front of the foster home. “Tell him I’ll see him tomorrow.”
“Sure” Diego says before walking away. Luther looks at the building. “Isn’t that a Foster home?” he asks. “Yep” Milly says before turning around and getting to the door. She doesn’t like to talk about that.

She takes out her keys as she hears Luther speak. “Well, we can’t go back to the house. It’s not secure. Those psychopaths could come back at any moment.” Milly puts her keys in her backpack and runs after them.

“My place is closer. No one will look for him there.”

“Someone broke into your house?” Milly asks. She is now walking alongside them again. “Shouldn’t you go?” Luther asks. “Nobody will notice. Were they a man and a woman with a bunny mask and a bear mask?” They stop. “How do you know that?” Diego asks. “Because they tried to kill us two times in the last 2 days...” “Can I come with you?” “Better not. You’ll be in danger.” Luther says. “Can I at least give you my number so that I know where Five is?” “Not really. If he wants to be found you’ll find him.” With that Diego starts walking again. “Sorry.” Luther says and he walks away too.

She sighs.

_______________________

“When’s supposed to happen?” Luther asks, sitting on a chair in front of Five. “This... apocalypse.”

“I can’t give you the exact hour, but... from what I could gather we have 4 days left.” Five answers reluctantly.

“Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

“It wouldn’t have mattered.”

“Of course it would. We could’ve banded together and helped you try to stop this.”

“I already have help.” He didn’t want to admit it but it was nice talking to someone who could actually answer back. And she was some help. He panicked slightly when she just passed out the day before, but she did wake up in the library later, so he knew she was okay.

“For the record, you already tried.”

“What do you mean?” Five didn’t like remembering that day. He wishes he never time-traveled in the first place. “I found all of you.” He says then.

“Your bodies.”

“We die?” Luther asks and honestly. The apocalypse. What did he expect? “Horribly” he looks away. “You were together, trying to stop whoever it was that ends the world.”

“Wait, how do you know that?”

“This was clutched in your dead hand when I found you.” He throws Luther the prosthetic eyeball. Luther catches it and observes it. “Must’ve ripped it out of their head right before you went down.”

“Whose head?” good question.

“Like I said, I don’t know.”

“Well, there’s a serial number on the back. Think maybe you could try-” Does he really think he hasn’t tried that?

“No, that’s a dead end.” He settles for this. “It’s just another hunk of glass.” Luther gives the eyeball back.

Diego bursts through the door.

“Piece of shit.” He says as Luther stands up. “Do you have any idea what you just did?” Diego charges for him but Luther stops him. “Nope, let me- Get your ape hands off of me!” Low blow. “I can do this as long as it takes you to calm down.”

Diego stops squirming. “Fine.”

“Now, wanna tell us what you’re talking about?”

“Our brother’s been pretty busy since he got back. He was in the middle of that shootout at Griddy’s and then at Gimble Brothers, after the guys in the mask attacked the Academy, looking for him.”

Did Milly tell them? “None of which is any of your concern.”

“It is now.” He retorts. “They just killed my friend.”

Shit.

Luther turns to him. “Who are they Five?”

“They work for my former employer. A woman called the Handler. She sent them, to stop me. The as soon as Diego’s friend got in the way, well, fair game.”

“And now they’re my fair game. And I’m gonna see to it they pay.” He starts to walk away. He will die if Five doesn’t stop him.

“That would be a mistake, Diego. They’ve killed people far more dangerous than you.”

“Yeah, we’ll see about that.” Diego slams the door. Shit.

Before he can do anything else Luther speaks. “What’s this really about? And don’t give me any of this -It’s none of your business- crap, all right?” “Well, it’s a long story.”

___________________

“So.. you were a hit-man?” Luther asks bringing him a cup of coffee. “Yes.”

“I mean, you had a code, right? You didn’t kill just anybody.”

“No code. We took out anyone who messed with the time-line.”

“What about innocent people?”

“It was the only way I could get back here.”

“But that’s murder.”

So much for making him feel better. “Jesus, Luther, grow up. We’re not kids anymore. There’s no such thing as good guys or bad guys. There’s just people, goin’ about their lives. But when the world ends, all those people die, including our family.” He pauses. “Time changes everything.”

Chapter Text

Maybe banging on the Academy’s door wasn’t a good idea after all. Especially when it was Luther who opened the door.  He didn’t look like he was in a good mood. Like. At all.

“So you’re here” Milly said. She genuinely hadn’t considered the possibility of someone else opening the door to be honest. “Hey” he said. Now that Milly notices it he looked more tired than anything. “Sorry to bother you but is Five here?” Luther sighed. “Yes, but I have to ask you something first.” Milly nods. “Did you know about Hazel and Cha-Cha?”

“Who?”

“The man in the mask.”

“Oh.”

“Five told me everything. What do you know?”

“What did he tell you? I don’t want him to lash out at me in case I say something I didn’t have to.” Luther sighed.

“I know about the apocalypse, and the Handler.”

“Oh yeah me too. He told me- or well he talked to Delores and I was there too. But yes I know that.” Milly pauses. “Do you also know about the briefcase?”

“What briefcase?”

“Nevermind.” There was a second of silence. “Can I come in?”

“Sure, I’ll show you were his room is in case you don’t remember.” Milly smiles.

Milly raises her eyebrows as she finds Five on a chair, writing equations on his entire bedroom wall.

“Who you talkin’ to? What is all this?”

“It’s a probability map.” Oh yeah that made more sense actually. She could recognize a few equations here and there.

“Probability of what?”

“Of whose death could save the world.” Five turns around. He looks exhausted. “I’ve narrowed it down to four.”

“Are you saying one of these four people causes the apocalypse?”

“No, he is saying that one of those people might prevent the apocalypse.” Milly chips in.

Five turns around again. “Hi” Milly waves. “Hey. But yes, she’s right.”

“Oh. I’m not following.”

“Time is a fickle, Luther. The slightest alteration in events can lead to massively different outcomes in the time continuum.”

“Like the butterfly effect, right?” Milly asks. She is observing the equations on the walls. She doesn’t understand much but some things are familiar. “Exactly like the butterfly effect. Look Luther, a 15-year-old is smarter than you.” Milly snorts.

“So, all I have to do is find the people with the greatest probability of impacting the time-line, wherever they may be, and kill them.” Ew, Milly hates blood.

“Oh, yeah...” Five moves to grab something, and Luther and Milly look at the names on the wall. “Milton Greene. So who’s he, a terrorist or something?” Luther asks. Milly shakes her head. “People don’t have to be evil to affect the timeline in some way. They just have to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.” “Yes, he is a gardener I believe.”

“You can’t be serious. Wait, this is madness, Five. You-” Five takes out a gun? “Wh- Where’d you get that?”

“In dad’s room. I think he used it to shoot a rhinoceros. It’s similar to the model I used at work.” He says, picking it up and pointing it at the wall. “Nice shoulder fit and highly reliable.”

“But you can’t- This guy Milton is just an innocent man.”

“It’s basic math. His death could potentially save the lives of billions.  If I did nothing, he’d be dead in 4 days anyway. The apocalypse won’t spare anyone.”

“We don’t do this kind of thing.”

“We are not doing anything. I am.” Milly would like to say that she wants to help but the sight of blood makes her want to puke so she stays silent.

“I can’t let you go and kill innocent people. No matter how many lives you’ll save.”

“Well, good luck stopping me.” He starts to walk away. “You’re not going anywhere.” Luther says and grabs Delores. This is not going to end well. He puts her out of the window, and Five points the gun at him. Too far Luther, too far.

“Put... her... down.”

“Put the gun down. You’re not killing anyone today. I know she’s important to you, so don’t make me do this. It’s either her or the gun. You decide.” Milly takes notice on how Five struggles to think if he should pull the trigger or not. Children.

She steps infront of the gun. “Five put the gun down.” She says. “Him. First.” “Oh my god are you guys children, Five put the gun down.”  Five doesn’t. He just removes his finger from the trigger. At least that. “Luther give me Delores” He is still looking at Five when she reaches her arm towards the window. “Absolutely not.”

“You don’t have to let go of her, just let me hold her too.” He takes my arm and puts it against her arm. Milly holds tight. Five is still pointing the gun at them. “Five I have her. I’m holding onto her. She’s not going to fall. Now please. Give me the gun. Or put it down, just. Don’t shoot.”

“Five looks over Milly’s shoulder, the slowly turns the gun sideways. Milly reaches for the gun. “Please?” Five sighs and gives her the gun.” Milly yanks her arm that is holding Delores, it slips through Luthers grip and gets her back inside. “Thank you” she says. She gives Five Delores and turns to Luther. “That was too far.” She whispers. “How about I hold your girlfriend out of the window and threaten to throw her out of it.” “It’s not the same.” “Maybe not for you.” She lowers her voice “but for someone who spent decades alone with a mannequin ad their only companion it is.” Luther sighs.

Five is now sitting on the bed, cradling Delores. It still gives her the creeps, but she ignores it. “You’re still a good person Five.” Luther says then. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have risked everything coming back here to save us all. But you’re not on your own anymore.”

“There is one way. But it’s just about impossible.”

“More impossible than what brought you back here?”

Five sighs.

____________________

Five, Luther and her were driving in a secluded road, almost in the middle of nowhere. They stop. Luther is driving and Five is in the passenger seat.

“So, we’re meeting up with the people who are trying to kill you to give them a fake briefcase and risk that they try to kill us again?” Milly asks.

“If everything goes to plan nobody will die, and if something happens I’ll just blip you to the Academy.” “I can defend myself.”

“Sure. But you also vomit at the sight of blood so.”

“Okay-”

There is a few second of silence when Five sighs and speaks “You know, I never enjoyed it.”

“What?” Luther looks at him.

“The killing. I mean, I was... I was good at my work, and I... I took pride in it. But it never gave me pleasure.” He sighs. “I think it was all those years alone. Solitude can do funny things to the mind.”

Milly can see the exact moment it clicks in Luther’s brain, what she said earlier.

“Yeah, well, you were gone for such a long time.  I only spent four years on the moon, but that was more than enough.” Wait so he did go to the moon? Twitter was right??? “It’s the being alone that breaks you. You think they’ll buy it?” He gestured to the briefcase.

“Well, what I do know is that they’re desperate. It’s like a cop losing his gun. If the commission finds out, they’ll be in deep shit. Oh, not to mention the fact that they’ll be stuck here until they get it back.”

“Well, I should hold onto it.”

“hm?”

“In case they make a move on you.”

“Okay, Luther, but be careful.” Five turns around. “You too.” Milly smiles at him. “I mean, I’ve... I’ve lived a long life, but... you’re still young. You got your whole life ahead of you. Don’t waste it.”

“I know you’re technically fifty-eight but that was very weird.” Milly says. “Agreed”.

A car approaches them, and they all get out, Luther holding the Briefcase.

“If this all goes sideways,” Five says, “do me a favor and tell Delores I’m sorry.” Milly nods and Luther doesn’t answer.

Hazel and Cha-Cha exit the car and start walking towards Five. Five meets them in the middle. Milly noticed that the bunny mask has just one ear now. Weird.

“The masks really necessary?” Five asks, and they pull them off. Hazel has a gun in his hand. Milly fidgets with her hands instead.

“So where is it, kid?”

“Wow, that’s how you’re gonna start.” Five retorts. “You know, we can get right back in our car and call it a day.” Great now he is threatening them.

“You won’t even make it halfway there” Cha-Cha says pulling out her gun. Oh my god. Milly is struggling to not move and do something. She doesn’t know what but she wants to do something.

“Maybe” Five says. “But as I’m sure you found out in your previous foray,  my brother is not your average giant.”

“He’s right” Hazel says “You dropped a chandelier on him, and got right back up.”

“By the time you took him out, he’d smash your precious briefcase to a pulp.” Milly is starting to think that that’s exactly his plan. Die only for Luther to destroy the fake briefcase.

“Probably us too right?” Hazel says. “So, how do we help each other?”

“I need you to get in contact with your superior so I can have a chat with her.” Okay Five is crazy. “Face-to-face”

“About what?” Cha-Cha asks.

“I don’t belive that’s any of your concearn.”

“Just don’t tell her about the briefcase.” Cha-Cha answers. No way this is working.

“Fair, enough.” Cha-Cha stops pointing the gun at him.

Five turns and walks back to them, while Cha-Cha calls the Handler on the phone. “What happens now?” Luther asks. “Now, we wait.” And they do.

Well until an ice-cream truck pulls up. “Is that her?” Luther asks.

“Shit.” Milly says then. “It’s Klaus and Diego.” She whispers. “What the hell is he doing here?” Five asks.

“Diego wants revenge doesn’t he?” Milly says. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Hazel and Cha-Cha pull out their guns again and start shooting at the ice-cream truck.

Luther pulls Five and her behind him. A bullet goes flying in their direction but then stops. How?

“What the hell?” she whispers. Five’s head snaps to her. “Why are you moving?” he whispers back. “I have a better question, what the fuck?”

“Don’t move.” He says. “At. All. I’ll explain later.”

“Milly holds her breath.

Five goes out of his hiding place behind Luther and observes the scene. Milly can’t see much from where she’s standing, but she doesn’t move.

“Neat trick, isn’t it.” A woman, who Milly guesses is the Handler says. She literally appeared from nowhere. She can’t see what they are doing, she barely hears their conversation from here. “You look good, all things considered.” The Handler says. Milly knows that if she moves she’ll notice. She is in the Handlers peripheral vision after all.

“It’s good to see you again.”

“Fells like we met just yesterday.”

“Course, you were a little bit older then. Congratulations on the age regression, by the way. Very clever”

“Threw us all off the scent.”

“Ah, well, I wish I could take credit. I just miscalculated the dilation projections, and... Well, you know. Here I am.” “You realize your efforts are futile. So why don’t you tell me what you really want?” The Handler asks then adds, “and let your friend come out, I didn’t freeze her for a reason.”

Five turns his head to her.

“Come on.” The Handler says.

Five sighs, then slowly nods. She walks next to Five. “Hello.” She says.

“Why?” Five asks. “I’m afraid your going to have to find out on your own” The Handler says. “So, speak up.”

Five looks at her, the back at the Handler “I want you to put a stop to it.”

“You realize what you’re asking for is next to impossible, even for me. What’s meant to be is meant to be. That’s our raison d’être.” Five pulls out a gun and points it at the Handler.

“Yeah? How about survival as a raison?”

“I’ll just be replaced. I’m but a small cog in a machine. This fantasy you’ve been nurturing about summoning up your family to stop the apocalypse... It’s just that. A fantasy.”

“You said next to impossible though.” Milly thinks that this detail is very important. The handler smiles at her. “Smart. And deadly... I must say, though,” she looks at Five again and takes a step towards him. “we’re all quite impressed  with your initiative, your...  stick-to-itiveness, really quite... quite something. Which is why we want to offer you both a new position back at the commission, in management.”

“What?” Milly asks.

Five briefly look at her “Sorry, what’s that now?”

“Come back to work for us again. You know, it’s where you belong.”

“Well, it didn’t work out too well the last time.”

“But you wouldn’t be in the correction division any longer. I’m talking about... the home office. You’d have the best health and pension, and an end to this ceaseless travel.”

He isn’t really considering this is he?

“You’re a distinguished professional and you” he turns to her. “I have just the right job for you”

“Don’t bring her into this. Why do you even want her. There is nothing special about her.”

The Handler smiles “There isn’t.”

“We have the technology to reverse the process. I mean you... you can’t be happy like this.”

The Handler pushes the arm where Five held the gun, down.

“I’m not looking for happy.”

“We’re all looking for happy.” The Handler looks at her. Well she is perfectly happy thank you very much. The Handler starts stroking Five’s cheek. Creep.

“We can make that happen. We can make you...yourself again.”

Oh. My god he is seriously thinking about it?

“ And what about my family?”

“What about them?”

“I want them to survive” and isn’t that sweet of him.

The Handler looks at Luther, then sighs and looks at Diego, Klaus and the other guy inside the van.

“All of them?” she asks.

“Yes.” Five retorts, “All of them.”

The Handler pulls out her sunglasses and puts them on. “Well...I’ll see what I can do. Do we have a deal?” she reaches to Five to shake his hand.

Milly wants to stop him. “One thing.” Five says. He walks to where a gun is discarded on the floor and takes out the bullets. He then trows the gun away in the grass. He starts to walk towards them before turning around and moving a bullet that was directed to Luther.

The Handler holds out her hand again. “I’ll see you two”

“I never agreed to anything.” “You did. And you will.” Then they all disappear. How?

 Milly didn’t even agree to this.

_____________________

Hazel and Cha-Cha enter their room. No briefcase, and no way of going home. Just great. Cha-Cha throws the keys on the table. “Don’t say it.” “Say what? Pinch me, I must be dreamin’.” Hazel gives a chef-kiss to the air. “Quit your bellyaching, Hazel. It’s only one more day.”

“See, that’s a relief. I was worried it was too good to be true.” They hear a message arriving from the commission. Cha-Cha opens the minifridge and gets it out.

“Well it gets worse.” She says. She hands the message to Hazel. He looks at it and scoffs. “Contract to kill number Five terminated.” He crumples up the paper.

“Obviously, Number Five cleared things up with the Commission.”

“You think they let that little shit off so easy?” Cha-Cha says.  “It doesn’t make any sense. “Sure it does. He’s a legend.”

“And what are we? Chopped Liver?”

“Worker bees.”

“Well, we better get buzzin’. Because the next job that comes down that pipeline, we need a win. Gotta show headquarters we still got it.”

“What? You see, that’s your problem right there. Next tube, next job ,next-”

“Right, but there won’t be a next anything if we don’t find the briefcase. End of story.”

“Whatever.” “Whatever.” “Whatever. Whatever. I need a hint of sucrose. I’m heading to the vending machine.”

“Fine.” Hazel starts to walk away.

They hear another message incoming. Hazel stops and turns around.

Cha-Cha is already at the mini-fridge, grabbing the message and opening it.

Hazel looks at the message. A picture and a name. Then, “-Kill needed in 3 days max-. the message reads. -No need for a new briefcase-.

Hazel speaks. “Is that-”

“Looks like it.”

Hazel sighs.

There is another message the second Hazel leaves the room. Cha-Cha reads it.

-Terminate Hazel-

Chapter Text

When Five reappears Milly isn’t with them. “Where is she?” he asks. “Don’t worry. She’s already at the Commission. I just wanted to have a chat with you.” They starts walking.

Five sighs. “I have to admit, in all the time that I’ve been here, I’ve never met anyone quite like you. Hazel and Cha-Cha for example, are talented, certainly, but... they can’t see the big picture. Your spunk, your enterprising spirit, well,”, she puts a hand on his shoulder. Has this woman ever heard of personal space? “it reminds me a great deal of myself, if... I may be so vainglorious. If things work out for you here, you could potentially make a fine successor, Five.”

They enter the building where the Commission is located.

“I’d like to discuss the logistics of my family’s safety at your earliest convenience. As well as this body replacement.”

“Such chutzpah. It’s refreshing, I’ll admit. Slow down, Five. All in good time. In fact, now that you’ve finally agreed to work with us, we’ve got all the time in the world. The commission works in support of a delicate balance between the timeline of events and mankind’s free will.  The briefcase is no longer part of your kit, Five. Free your mind. You’re management now. One of us.” She takes him to the place where he’ll work.

“All the people on this floor are case managers, each one responsible for one major event at a time.”

When they step in front of the room, it looks like it’s neverending. “So many of them.” He says.

“Impressive, isn’t it? Being apart of something... so grand. Come along.” She says. He follows her.

“Whenever someone chooses the wrong path and the timeline is changed, the Commission gets a report from field agents on the ground. These field reports are sorted and assigned to a case manager. They determine if anyone needs to be... removed from the equation to assure that their event happens as it should. Based on that determination, the case manager sends instructions via pneumatic tube to... temporal assassins like you formerly were number Five.” Five hates when people add the word -number- in front of Five. “Any queries so far?”

“Yeah,” he says, “Who was the case manager handling me?” He was going to kill that person.

“Ah. You mean the apocalypse.” The Handler says.

_______________________

“Five, meet Dot” Milly hears the handler speak. “Dot is responsible for all apocalypse matters. In fact, it was Dot here who first flagged your appearance in 2019.” “No hard feelings.” She answers

“Five” she walks up to him. “Where the hell were you?” “Give me a second.” He says.

The Handler speaks again, ignoring Milly. Seriously what is up with people ignoring her?. “I suspect... you like a challenge, Five.” She gestured to the desk behind Milly’s. “Which is why I’ve given you a particularly complex first case.” She hands him a file, and he opens it.

“Too bad Joseph Späh decided against sabotaging the fuel tank. It would’ve been so much easier. What is she talking about? “Anywho... if you have any questions... I’ll be right behind you.” She walks away. “Five” she says again, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Where the hell were you?” she asks again, because really. Getting teleported in this place, with a note on what to do was not a pleasant experience. He looks at her for a moment.

 “You’re hair is longer.” He says. “I- Yes, this is what happens when 3 months pass, Five.” “What?” “Three months have passed.” “Not for me.” He says. “I’ve been here for 2 hours, I think.” He is looking at her from head to toe. “Fuck, really?” “Yes.” Milly sighs.

“Well, what do you have to do?” he asks, gesturing to Milly’s desk.

“Well- um...” Milly tries to not look confused at the change of subject. “I work with time-travel issues... Nothing really happens, I just have to make sure the assassins time-travel works. And... occasionally some other stuff. Did you know that Klaus time-traveld?” she asks. “Yes I did.” He sits down. “Okay.” It’s weird talking to him now. She doesn’t like it.

____________________

How has it been 3 months for her? Five wonders as he finishes his first task. Why would the Handler give her 3 months advantage, if he can even call it that. Something didn’t add up.

“Hiya, Five. How’s it going?” Dot says. She managed to already get on his nerves. This has to be a new record. “I must have utter silence in order to complete this task.” He says. He looks up at the desk infront of him. Milly is currently taking notes in her notebook of a thick book. It’s mostly images, and some text that he can’t make out. There is a clock, with the hour, minute, and seconds hands all different colors, with some text underneath. The second image on the other page is metro stations, that she is recreating in her notebook, scribbling something on the side of it. She looks utterly focused on that.

“Hey, a few of us are having lunch, and I was wondering if you...” Dot continues talking so he clears his throat. “you’re doing something.” She finishes.

_________________________

Five and Dot are having a one-sided conversation behind her, but Milly is too focused to listen. She is learning many new things, that aren’t exactly useful to know in the real world, but here?

Time-Travel always fascinated her, as well as the concept of the multiverse. The books explains very little about the second topic though. She jumps when she hears Five whisper. “Do you have something to deliver?” she didn’t even hear him stand up...

She turns to look at him and that’s all it takes for her to say yes. Admittedly she has something to deliver to one of the assassins, but Five’s face clearly said  -Stand up or I’ll drag you with me-.

They start walking in the corridor in complete silence, even when they reach room 103. “What are we doing?” Milly whispers, as Five walks to the pods to send a message, “we’re supposed to-” A hand moves her to the side. The Handler. Of course.

“I’m afraid that’s not procedure.” That was what she was just saying! Five stops and looks behind him. The Handler grabs the message from Five.

“Five, meet Gloria. Gloria is perhaps the single most vital cog in our machine.” Milly waves shortly as Gloria steps closer. “Gloria, this is Number 5.”

“Look at you. Deadly little thing” her eyes flash briefly to Milly. “So happy we decided to close the contract on your life.” What?

“I’m afraid your reputation precedes you. And it looks like you’re building on it here.” The Handler opens Five’s message. “oh. Karl Weber” she says. “Now tell me, why unfortunate Karl?” Five grimaces at The Handler as she hands the message over to Gloria. “Karl Weber is the butcher at the shop where Capitan Ernst A. Lehmann acquires his weekly roast. So, if Karl dies, his butcher shop is passed to his son Otto, who... never washes his hands, which is disgusting.”

“So he’s the one who gives the Capitan his roast.” The Handler says, “And that gives him food poisoning.” Five finishes. “Which makes him late for work. Which delays the takeoff.” “And to make up for the lost time, the Hindenburg flies through a weather front of high electrical charge and humidity.”

The Handler continues “And the static electricity inside the aircraft makes a virtual tinderbox. Tiny engine sparks...”

“And just like that we have...” Five proceeds to make an explosion with his hand. He looks really proud of himself.

“Gloria and the Handler laugh.

Milly sighs in disbelieve and as Five and the Handler return to the office. Milly gives Gloria her message. She opens it and reads through it. She always does to confirm it’s the right choice. “Do you think this will work?” she asks. Milly doesn’t have names or pictures of the people she is assigned to, so she -doesn’t get attached-. Her theory is that she may know some of this people and they don’t want favoritism. This is why they put Five solving very old cases. “Yeah, just make it... Well bigger. Like a lot.” She says. “Isn’t that a bit... extreme?” Gloria asks. Honestly, Milly thought about so many other ideas to get this person where she is supposed to be and at this point human trafficking is the best option. “I can’t think of anything else.” She admits. Gloria nods again, then looks down at the paper. She grabs another File and opens that up too. “Interesting.” She looks down at the File, then back at her. She nods.

Milly’s messages don’t go to assassins, but to another type of -correctors-. Again, she doesn’t know what they do, and she isn’t sure she ever wants to know. “We’ll see what we can do.”

Milly thanks her and walks back to the office, when the lunch bell goes off. Five is the only one in the office now. “You know, you didn’t need to bring me with you. I know this place better than you.” She says packing her backpack to bring it to lunch. No one was allowed to touch her backpack, nor anything that was inside. “This is why...” he says standing up and taking Dot’s File under his arm. “I need you to point me somewhere where no one can find us.” Milly sighs. She’s getting used to his shenanigan’s again. “Follow me.” When are they ever going to have a normal conversation. They look more like boss and employee than friends. Even though he probably doesn’t even consider her a friend.

“A bathroom is the perfect place.” She says. “No normal person is going to film in a bathroom. Five grabs her arm and pulls her into the stall. And locks the door “The hell?” she says. “I think there’s something in here that you won’t like either.” Milly sighs, but then freezes when the door of the bathroom opens once more. “Shit” Five whispers. He gestures for her to get on the toiler bowl. Could this get any more awkward??? Milly instantly recognizes The Handler’s walking as comes in and goes in the stall next to them. Shit.

“So, how’s your first day going?” she asks.

“Couldn’t be better.”

“Glad to hear it.” Oh my god is she- that is not normal. That is borderline predatory at this point.

Five and her share a disgusted look. “I burned my rugae.” -You can keep some things to yourself.- Milly almost says. “Ever burn your rugae?”

Five starts to put the File he stole back under his sweater. “The ridged on the hard palate that help pass food to the esophagus. Anyway, I’m on a liquid diet for 2 days, hence the marathon of urination.” PLEASE KEEP IT TO YOURSELF. “One faulty cog, and nothing works as it should. You know, we value integrity at the office above all else. Trust is essential, and that trust is... built over time. But in the event of a breach, the Commission will act swiftly and without mercy.” Ha swiftly. Nope focus!

“An efficiency I’m sure you above all people can appreciate, Number Five.” She finally gets out of the stall. “I’m feeling puckish. Have you two had your lunch.” Milly slaps a hand on her mouth. It takes everything in her not to scream. “I understand that you haven’t seen each other in some time... partly... but please refrain make-out sessions in a bathroom stall. Oh absolutely not what the fuck? “I’m sorry, but you can surely understand.” EXCUSE ME? She whips her head to Five. “But no, we haven’t had lunch yet.”

She looks at Five with the most murderous gaze she can muster. “Go along with it.” He mouths.

“Great. How would you like to lunch witch me in my office?” The Handler asks just as Milly shakes her head. Even if they look the almost the same age there is a huge maturity gap.

Like her frontal lobe isn’t even fully developed yet. She still needs to finish puberty. SHE CAN’T LEGALLY DRIVE YET. “Please” he says as Milly gets off the toilet. She nods warily.

Again, she did not agree to any of this.

Five stands up and starts messing her hair up. “Hey” she whispers, “We have to make it believable” Is all he says, before continuing to mess up her hair. Milly decides to do the same. The look Five gives her is priceless “We have to make it believable” she mocks him.

“You can eat solid foods, and I can live vicariously...” The Handler peaks inside the stall just as Five removes his hand from her hair, “through you.” Milly is going to kill that woman. She is not sure if this is a joke anymore.

Milly is trying to fix her hair again, when Five answers, “Sounds great.”

______________________

“And that’s how Phil determined that the Archduke just had to go.”

They had been sitting in the Handler’s office for more than 45 minutes, listening to some stupid stories. It was the first time she actually ate lunch with someone, while you were allowed to talk, and she never wants to do this again.

“Care for dessert?” she asked. Milly shook her head. “I had a bad Twinkie in the apocalypse once. It kind of put me off desserts.” Five answers. “Please indulge me.” She was looking directly at Five. Scratch that, she hadn’t even glanced in her direction since they got here. Five grabbed some sweets from the bowl sighing and put one in his mouth. “What’s it taste like to you?” The Handler asks, lighting up a cigarette. “The 1950?” Five answered and hold up what? He looked as confused as she was. Milly reached to grab one when the Handler picked up the bowl to put it in her lap, just as she speaks. ”Precisely right.”  Excuse me? What the hell does she have against her? “Our clever metaphysics division concocted a way to perfectly distill an entire decade into a single candy.” Milly had to admit that it was super cool. “This one’s modeled after the Fudge Mutt, America’s favorite in 1955.”

“Remarkable.” Five says and it would be, if only she could have one. “You’ll be happy to know it’s the very division that’s building your new body” and isn’t that news?

“Oh, that reminds me. I have something for you.” She calls her assistant, Carla, and instructs her to bring a box in the room.

Carla brings in a big white box, as the handler rounds the table. Five and Milly stand up to see what’s inside when the Handler pushes her backwards setting herself next to Five.

Five raises his eyebrows and looks at Milly. Milly makes an exasperated face at him raising her arms in the air.

“Go ahead, open it.” The Handler says to Five. He does. “Clothes make the man, Five.” Milly can’t really see what’s inside, but she guesses it’s a suit of some kind. “Won’t it be nice when you actually wear it? Very soon, I assure you. They’re perfecting your body as we speak.” The Handler sounds very excited about that, but Five doesn’t. He almost looks disgusted. “Thank you, it’s a very kind gift.” Is the only thing he says. He closes the box again, then turns around, looking behind Milly’s shoulder. “Is that a Chinese flamethrower?” Milly raises her eyebrows as she turns around to look at it. “Good eye” the Handler says. Five decides to walk up to it, and he doesn’t notice as Milly gets pushed aside by the Handler, again.

“War. Such a fascinating concept. A temporary slave for a permanent human flaw.” Five is still observing the flamethrower intensely. It’s scaring her a little, because she doesn’t exactly know him, but she is very sure that he is thinking about killing someone with it. If it’s part of a plan, Milly doesn’t know just yet.

“Course, it’s a bit easier to see from 30,000 feet.” She chuckles. “These are just some of the things I’ve collected in my travels. M26 grenades from Vietnam War,” is she telling Five where to find deadly weapons? Milly thinks ad The Handler pick the grenade up “And this, the most noteworthy, perhaps. My Walther pistol.” If Milly didn’t think the Handler was crazy before, she certainly would now.

“The very one Hitler used to kill himself. We’re not supposed to take these things, but... he wasn’t gonna use it anymore.” She whispers the last part. She points the gun at the other side of the room. “Feel... how perfectly balanced that is.” She switches hands holding the gun. Five takes it and examines it for a moment.

“I had some thoughs I wanted to run by you.” He says. “Some suggestions to improve Commission protocol.” Oh this isn’t going to end very well is it?  “Mm! Shaking things up already.” The Handler says and is she flirting with him??? What the actual fuck is happening? “I admire that.” She strokes his cheek. The Handler really needs to stop doing that. “Go on.” She says, returning to her Desk. Milly sits down reluctantly. She isn’t sure if she should just stand and wait until Five explodes or not. “Gloria.” He says. Her fears are true. Five is not even sitting down, which means, he is ready to fight. “The tube operator.” The Handler and Five are currently having a staring contest from each side of the desk. Milly feels far too vulnerable to stay sitting so she stands up too. “Wouldn’t it be much simpler if the case managers were to send their own message?” he asks, and Milly immediately knows what he is thinking about.

The Handler seems to know too because she says. “I appreciate your thought. I really do. But everyone loves Gloria. I- I would never hear the end of it,” bullshit. “She’s been with the Commission family for years, and she’s this close to making pension.” There is a knock on the door. Dot comes in. Oh they are fucked.

“Sorry to interrupt. May I have a moment alone?” she asks. -yep. Fucked.- She looks at Five, who is already looking back.

“Of course.”

“Duty calls. We’ll continue this discussion later, Five.” “Sure. May I?” he gestures to the sweets bowl. “Please” The Handler says and Five grabs two hands full. Milly doesn’t even try to do that, so they just exit the room.

When the door closes Five stops and holds out his fist. “Here” he says. Milly furrows her eyebrows. “She didn’t let you have some so I’m giving you some.” “That is...” she pauses. “really nice of you actually.” She says as Five drops the sweets on her palm. She tucks them inside her sweater.

“Oh my god, how do I taste the 1980s right now.” She says in disbelieve a minute later, with a candy in her mouth. Five shakes his head, the corner of his mouth turned up.

Chapter Text

“Are you ready to get out of here?”

“Not really... Could you explain the plan one more time?” “We don’t have time, come on.”

He grabbed her hand and blipped behind Gloria, hitting her and making her pass out. Milly grabs the message from her hands and quickly gives it to Five, who sits at the desk and opens it. The letter reads. -Second assignment.: Protect Harold Jenkins.- “Second assignment?” Milly asks. Five grins. “Our mission is now to kill Harold Jenkins.” Why murder?...

He then puts it in the typewriter and starts typing. “You have got to be kidding me...” Milly says as she reads what he typed. -Terminate Cha-Cha for immediate extraction.- They send the messages as quickly as possible when, “You know that’s not how we do things here.” Shit. Milly tries to make herself invisible. That’s what she is good at after all. “Where’s Gloria.” The Handler asks. “Don’t know. Couldn’t find her anywhere.” He says as casually as possible. Gloria groans from behind the desk. Well isn’t that just great.

“You’re a great disappointment to me.” She says. “You can’t change what’s to come Five:” Actually that wasn’t true. It was literally Milly’s job to change stuff. “I truly find it so odd that you can’t shed this fantasy.” Five is getting more irritated  by the second. “You’re a first-rate pragmatist. And you” she turns to her and... well shit. “When are you going to realize we are on your side. We know what you are capable of, your smart.” She turns to Five again. “You belong here with us.”

“I don’t belong anywhere, thanks to you. You made me a killer.”

“You were always a killer.”

“That’s just wrong, you aren’t born a killer, you get made a killer.”  Five looked at her for a second, then he snaps his head to the Handler when there is some unzipping sound. Oh this is not going to be fun...

He points the Hitler- gun at them. Five grabs her arm again and blips, just as the gun goes off.

They blip behind a cart. “What do we do now?” Milly asks.

“You try not to get shot, I’ll do the rest.”

The alarm goes off, while the Handler continues to shoot.

“What’s the rush Five? We’re just getting started. Is this how you want the last line of your report to read?”

Five blips in front of the cleaning cart again. “When I’m done, I’m done I guess.”

The Handler is still pointing the gun at him. “You can’t keep this up, Five. We both now that even you have a limit. I saved you from a lifetime of being alone. You owe me.”

The Handler pulls the trigger.

The Handler is out of bullets. Thank fuck.

She starts trying to fire repeatedly, and Five doesn’t move. Milly bets he is smirking.

“I do owe a debt.” He says when The Handler finally lowers her aim. “Now.” He whispers and Milly grabs his Blazer as he blips. They end up infront of Glorias desk. She stands up as quickly as she can. “But it’s not to you.” The Handler turns around just as Five removes the safety pin of the grenade. I knew that showing him where to find weapons was stupid.

He shows The Handler the grenade and she looks at him in disbelieve as he throws it in her direction. “Shit” Before she knows it she is being pulled out of the room, just in time for the grenade to explode. Five blips them away to the briefcase rooms, where he grabs one, gets out of the room and puts a grenade on the shelves.

They run as fast as they can out of the room, before the grenade explodes. Five opens the Briefcase and they teleport just as the explosion reaches them.

_____________________

Five and her come crashing on the table, in the Umbrella Academy. Well... this is awkward.

“Ouch.” She says.

“Guys, am I still high, or do you see them too?” Klaus says. Milly manages to sit up, rubbing her shoulder. “Oh hey Milly.” Klaus says cheerfully. She looks around, briefly. “Hi..”

“Five where have you been?” Luther asks followed by Allison. “Are you alright?” followed by Luther again. “Who did this?” Five grabs Allisons coffee from her hand.

“Irrelevant.” He says. “Not really.” Says Milly earning a glare from him.

“I’m sorry, who is she?” asks who Milly assumes is Diego. “She is Five’s friend.” Luther answers. “Not friend, more colleague.” Milly sighs and stand up. Her muscles are aching.

Five walks a few steps away from them and starts drinking out of Allisons cup.

Then he turns around. “So, the apocalypse is in three days.”

Wait did they go back in time?

“The only chance we have to save the world is, well, us.”

“The Umbrella Academy.” Says Luther

“Yeah, but with me, obviously. So if y’all don’t get your sideshow acts together and get over yourself, we’re screwed. Who cares if Dad messed us up? Are we gonna let that define us? No. And to give us a fighting chance to see next week, I’ve come back with a lead. I know who is responsible for the apocalypse.”

“Which is, to put it simply, kill a guy named Harold Jenkins.” They all turn to her.

“Harold Jenkins?”  Allison speaks.

“Who the hell is Harold Jenkins?” Luther asks.

“shit.” Alison says.

“I don’t know... yet.” Says Five. “But I do know that he’s responsible for the apocalypse. So we have to find him.”

There was a noise, like opening a cabinet. Milly looked through the hall. She didn’t see anyone. “And we have to do it now.”

“How is he connected to what’s gonna happen?” Luther asks. Another sound. Is she going crazy? She slowly starts walking to the entrance hall. Nobody notices her.

Five and the others are still talking. “I don’t know.” “Wait, so you just know his name? That’s it?” now Diego is speaking. Milly sees a man at the entrance grabbing one of the figurines displayed there. Who the hell?

“That’s enough.”

“There’s probably dozens of Harold Jenkinses in the city.” Milly notices immediately how the man freezes, just for a second. Oh my god.

“Well, we just better start looking, then.”

The man starts to back up. “Who are you?”  the man freezes and turns around. Milly can see the panic in his eyes. What she couldn’t see was the man raising his arm and punching her in the stomach before bolting out of the door.

The only smart thing this man did, was punching her so hard that she could not breathe for about 10 seconds. That gives him enough room to run. “Motherfucker!” she starts coughing.

She is surrounded by the Umbrella Academy in seconds. Oh god...

“What was that?” Five asks, while Klaus starts patting her back.” When Milly catches her breath she answers. “There was a man in your house. Stole a figurine.” She points to the glass. “A figurine?” Luther asks, while Five just looks at her confused. “Just a figurine. He didn’t want anything else. When I tried to speak to him he punched me...” “Are you okay?” “Yeah... He also reacted very weirdly when you said the name Harold Jenkins.” “What do you mean by -weirdly-?” Five asks.

“Like when someone calls you with your full name to be reprimanded... Guilty.” He takes another deep breath. “So either he knows Harold Jenkins or-” “he was Harold Jenkins.” Five finishes. Milly nods. “shit.” Klaus says, but he sounds more excited than anything.

“I’m sorry. Am I the only one that’s skeptical here?” Allison says, “I mean, how exactly do you know all of this about what’s his name?” Five starts moving, like there is something bothering him. Milly furrows her eyebrows. “Harold Jenkins.” Five looks almost in pain... “You know those lunatics in masks who attacked the house?”

“Oh yeah, I think I remember those guys.” Klaus says.  Wasn’t he literally kidnapped by them?

“Yeah, the one that attacked us while you were drunk.” Milly sighs. Here we go. She hasn’t known them personally for very long but what she definitely knows, is that they fight at any given opportunity. She looks at Five who now definitely looks in pain. “Are you okay?” she whispers. “Fine.”

“They were sent by the Temps Commission to stop me from coming back and preventing the end of life on Earth.” Now that Milly is standing next to him, Five also looks very pale.

“The Temps what?” Allison asks.

“Commission.” Milly answers still looking at Five.

“My- Well now our former employer. They monitor all of time and space to make sure that whatever is supposed to happen... happens. They believe the apocalypse is coming in 3 days. So we went to Commission headquarters and intercepted a message that was meant for said lunatics.” “Oh that’s what we were doing” Milly said under her breath.

“-Protect Harold Jenkins-. So he must be responsible for the apocalypse.”

Why does nobody look like they are taking this seriously?

“What do you mean protect time and space?” Allison asks at the same time as Luther says. “Where is this Hazel, Five?”

“My skin is on fire.” Klaus says.

Five is now clutching his stomach. “Are you sure you’re okay?” He doesn’t answer. Now she’s getting really worried.

“Do you have any idea how insane this sounds?” Allison asks loudly.

“You know what else is insane? I look like a 13-year-old boy. Klaus talks to the dead, and Luther thinks he’s fooling everybody with that overcoat.” Milly would have smiled if she weren’t so confused about Five’s behavior. “Everything about us is insane. It always has been.”

“He’s got a point there” Klaus murmurs.

“We didn’t choose this life; we’re just living it. For the next 3 days, anyway.”

“But the last time we tried to stop it, we all died.” Allison tries to reason, “Why is this time any different? Why shouldn’t I go home to my daughter?”

“Because this time, I’m here. We have the name of the man responsible. Guys, we actually have the chance of saving the lives of billions of people.” He stops to think for a moment. “Including Claire.” Wait is that the daughters name? “You know her name?” Allison asks.

“I do, and I’d like to live long enough to meet her.” aw.

“All right. Let’s get this bastard.”

“You had me at Gerald Jenkins.” “Harold” Milly says.

“Whatever. I’ve already lost two people this week, I’m not losing anyone else.”

“And Luther?” Five asks. He looks hopeful.

“Yeah, you go. I’m gonna stay and go through Dad’s files.” Nevermind. “I still think this has something to do with my he sent me to the moon.” Milly sighs.

“Seriously?” Diego starts, “Now you wanna make the end of the world about you and Dad?”

“No. -Watch for threats-. That’s what he told me.” Hold on he might be onto something.

“You think that’s a coincidence? This all has to be connected somehow.”

“No, we should all stick together.” Allison steps towards Luther.

“We don’t have time for this,” Five speaks up. “Let’s roll. I know where we can find this asshole. Klaus, you’re with me.”

“Yeah. I- I’m good.” Oh you have got to be kidding me. “I think I’ll, uh...” he stands up from the couch “I think I’ll pass, I’m... feeling a little under the weather, so, uh...”

Klaus walks away, Diego and Five too. Milly does too of course, but she notices Five’s limping. What is going on?

_________________

They are in car in front of the police station now. Diego is driving, Five is in the passenger seat and her and Allison are in the backseat.

“I know this Jenkins dude has to have a record. We just gotta get our hands on this file.” Diego looks out of the window.

“And your plan is to what? Waltz in there and just ask for it?” Allison says.

“I know the station like the back of my hand, sis. I’ve spent a lot of time inside.”

“Handcuffed.” Milly snorts.

“Whatever. Here’s the plan.”

“Plan?” Five asks. “I’m just gonna blink in and get the file.” Well Milly didn’t think of that...

“No, that’s not...” Diego seems to go through the same thoughts process as her. But Diego is also very stubborn.  “You don’t know the ins and outs of this place, okay?”

“I literally just did this yesterday.”

“What?”

“My yesterday, not your yesterday. It’ll take me two seconds. Why don’t I just go?”

“Listen to me. You are not going in there.” Seriously?

“I made a call. That’s what a leader does.” Milly facepalms in frustration.

_________________

Five is leaning against a wall and Allison is making a call while they wait for Diego to return.

“I know I already asked you but are you sure you’re okay?” Milly asks Five. “Yes. Now worry about the File not me.” Yeah no Five still looks in pain.  

“Hey Vanya, it’s me.” She hears Allison say into the phone. “I just wanted to... Things have gotten so messed up. And... 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.”

“Can I tell you something?” she asks Five. He nods. “I always wondered why your father adopted Vanya if she doesn’t have powers.” “My father was a strange man.”

“It just...” Milly thinks about it for a moment. “It’s suspicious. I mean... what was his reasoning? Just... you know, in all movies the person without powers has always some secret ones nobody knows about.”

“This is not a movie.” Milly wants to argue with him, but then Diego returns.

“So?” Five asks. Diego holds a file in his hand. “You’re welcome.” That’s a relief.

Allison snatches the File from Diego and opens it. “Holy shit.”

“What?” they all ask.

“Harold Jenkins is Leonard Peabody.” Allison says at the same time as Milly exclaims

“That’s the guy that stole the figurine.”

_______________________________

Five, Diego, Allison and her get out of the car.

They are going to talk to Harold Jenkins, or more likely kill him.

“Be careful okay? We don’t know what Peabody’s capable of” Allison says to Diego. “Yeah. He didn’t seem dangerous when I first saw him. Looked kinda scrawny.”  “Yeah, well, so are most serial killers and mass murderers. I mean, look at him.” Allison points to Five, who glares at her. “Thanks.” He says.

“Good point. So what’s this guy want with Vanya?”

“I don’t know. How about we ask him after we kill him?” Five retorts. “How about we ask him before.” Milly says, reaching for the door.

“Hey, look, I’m gonna burst through-” Diego looks around for Allison, who went behind the house. Diego sighs. “You know what? It would be nice for people just to stick to-” Five blips away. Did he seriously leave her there? “the plan.” Diego says. “Great. Now it’s just you and me.” He says. Five reappears beside her and grabs her arm. “Forgot her.” He says before blipping her into the house. Milly laughs.

Diego decides to break down a window to get into the house.

“Subtle.” Allison says, as Five opens the front door.

“You know, the door was unlocked.” Milly giggles.

“Yeah, well, my way works just fine.” Diego says standing up. “Spread out.” He starts to walk away. “Yell if you, uh... you know you’re in trouble.” He sighs.

“An inspiring leadership.” Five says to Allison. “One of the greats.”

“I’ll check the bedroom.” Milly says as Five blips away somewhere.

The bedroom looks completely normal. There is nothing out of place.

Posters on the wall, books on the shelfs, nothing out of the ordinary. She takes out her phone, to take some pictures. That is what she sees detectives in movies do.

She takes pictures of the posters, of the floor, anything that can be tied to the apocalypse or Vanya. She then spots something under the bed.

A file, with many photographs of bookpages.

Again, nothing out of the or-

“Guys, you need to see this.” Allison calls. Milly quickly decides to put the File in her backpack.

“All out faces are burnt off.” Allison says. Many figurines, and posters with the Umbrella Academys faces are scratched or burnt off.

“Well, that’s not creepy.” Diego says. “This guy’s got some serious issues.”

“This was never about Vanya.” Milly notices how Five touches his abdomen once again, and gasps slightly. She frowns. “This was about us.” Allison says.

Five looks like he is about to pass out again.

This time he does.

“Five!” Thank god Milly manages to catch him.

“He lays him down on the floor. “Blood?” Allison asks.

When they look at his side, there is a shot wound. “Jesus Five.” Diego says.
“You walked around for hours with a gaping wound on your stomach? Are you out of your mind?” Milly exclaims. She knew something was wrong with him.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Diego asks.

“You have to keep going.” Five says. “So... close.” He then passes out. Shit.

“Five. Five!” they try to shake him awake.

“He isn’t dead, he still has a pulse.” Milly was already checking his pulse on his neck when he collapsed. Diego and Allison seem relieved. She takes out her emergency kit, ands starts covering the wound. For now, it’ll have to be enough.

___________________________

“We should have taken him to the hospital.” Allison notes as her and Diego drag Five into the Academy.

“A kid with a shrapnel wound might raise some questions.” Five retorts.

“Yeah, well, so does the murder shrine in Harold Jenkins’s attic.” Allison answers as they put Five on the couch.

“You’ll need stiches... Again.” Milly says as she get a better look at Five’s wound. The blood has dried, but some is still getting out.

“It’s impressive how you haven’t puked yet.” He says.

“It’s impressive that you haven’t died yet.” She answers, putting pressure on the wound.

“We gotta get the sharpel out.” Diego says. “I have sterilized tweezers.” Milly pulls them out, as well as some gloves she puts on. “What makes you think you are qualified to do this?” Diego asks. “The foster home doesn’t like hospitals.” She takes out some disinfectant. “You get used to stitching people up.” There is a moment of silence before Allison asks, “Can we help?”

“A towel to dry the blood?” she asks Allison, who nods and nudges Diego who grumbles as he stands up.

“Diego where are you going?” she hears Allison ask, but Milly is too busy trying to get sharpel out. Five hisses. “Sorry. Wait got it.” She holds up the sharpel, then gags at it.

“Ok now stopping the bleeding should be easier?”

“I did not like how that sounded like a question.” Five mumbles.

“You shut up.” Milly says as she grabs a cloth and puts it directly on the wound. Five hisses again.

She watches as the cloth absorbs the blood.

She then pukes next to the couch.

_______________________

Milly thanks god that Grace is somehow alive. She is much more qualified than Milly is. She still watches though. Just in case she’s going to need it in the future...

“Anything?” Diego asks Allison. They are standing just outside Fives room.

“There’s no answer at Vanya’s place. And the receptionist at her music school said she was a no-show for her lessons today.” Milly hears footsteps away from the room and then she can’t hear anything.

“Where did you learn this?” Milly asks Grace, who is now finishing patching up Five.

Grace turns to her briefly and smiles. “I was programmed like this.” Simple and quick answer. “But you feel emotions?” she asks. “Oh dear, no.” she chuckles. “Diego told me someone messed with your wires and shut you down. How are you here?” “I’m afraid I do not know.” As stoic as her answers are Milly somehow feels the emotion behind it.

Milly sighs and looks at the corridor where Diego and Allison are-.

Nope nevermind they’re gone...

Milly stands up from the chair that she was sitting in.

“It’s late, could you tell Five I’m going back to the foster home and that I’ll be back tomorrow morning?” she asks Grace. “I will, don’t worry.” She says.

Milly is almost at the door when, “Milly?” she turns around as Grace calls her. “you forgot this.” Grace holds up the first-aid kit Milly had in her backpack. “Oh... sorry.” Milly suddenly has this deja-vu feeling as she goes back to take the kit. “Very useful, great job. You’re smarter than I remember.” She says. Milly smiles.

It's just when she leaves the Academy that she realizes what Grace just said. A deja-vu feeling still lingers.

_______________________

Milly wakes up at 10am. She has breakfast and refills her first-aid kit.

She charges her phone and her powerbank, as well as her headphones. She goes to the foster home library and takes out -the picture of Dorian Grey-. She visits the toddler room, as well as the baby room. She hasn’t seen them in quite some time. They haven’t grown an inch, but she has. She couldn’t sleep that night. She has so many things to do, and to think about. God, she didn’t even process that the end of the world is in-. Well, she forgot. Two or three days. She doesn’t keep track anymore. 

She returns to her room. As the oldest, she fought for her own room (that is a closet, but it’s pretty big), and surprisingly it worked.

She opens her backpack, puts the kit in, and takes out her notebook. Some papers fall out.

The file.

She totally forgot about that.

She opens the file.

There are printed pictures of a notebook.

She starts reading.

Chapter Text

June 12^th

A controlled environment has proven ideal for the maximum impact of Number Seven’s powers.

Milly blinks. Looks at the picture, then blinks again. Her heart picks up. Number seven is Vanya. She doesn’t have powers. But again, this could all be Harold Jenkins imagination. Like... a fanfiction of some sort. But why does he have pictures of a notebook? She continues reading.

But in the face of sure, uninvited chaos, she must be trained to locate control in another form.

She takes out the next picture. Everything is crossed but one sentence.

After 12 days of success, Number Seven showed an unexpected resistance to her training.

She takes out the next picture. Again, just one sentence is clear.

I have made a secret place for Number Seven to try and regulate her behavior.

What. The. Fuck.

Milly has never stood up that fast in her life.

She doesn’t continue reading the rest of the files. She hides them under the bed, takes the 3 pictures and bolts.

________________________

“Five, Five, Five, Five, Five, Five” she calls as she runs into the house. Five, Diego and Klaus are in the entrance corridor, with a worried look on their faces.

Five turns his head to look at her. She starts rumbling, full speed.

“When we were at Harold Jenkins house I found some files and they are pictures of a diary and at first I didn’t think anything of it but when I looked at them weird stuff was written and it says that Vanya has powers and that she is out of control and I can’t read the rest because I don’t have the diary but who would keep pictures of a diary under their bed just to cross out everything but specific sentences, and it just doesn’t make-”

“Woah, take a breath, there.”

Milly stops talking and takes a deep breath through her nose.

“I didn’t understand anything can you repeat?” Five asks. He looks confused.

“Here” Milly hands him the pictures.

“We have to go!” says Diego, who is clearly frustrated.

“What is this?” Five asks. Milly focuses on him.

“I found this in Harolds Jenkins house. Under his bed.” She repeats. “I know this looks fake, but-”

“It is fake. It doesn’t make sense. We have to get Allison now.” He gives her the pictures back.

“What? Allison?”

“Yes, you stay here.”

“But this pict-”

“They are fake. Trust me.” They all starts walking to the car. Milly follows.

“How can you know that? You have to at least admit that this is weird.”

“He was in jail; he has a memorial of us in his house did you think he wasn’t mentally ill?”

“Five, come on” Diego calls, from inside the car.

“You stay here and-”

“No way in hell.” Milly steps into the car with Five.

“Drive.”

_________________

They are in the middle of nowhere when Five grabs her arm and blips into the academy.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“You need to stay here.” He says as he lets Milly’s arm go. Milly grabs ahold of his arm again, preventing him from blipping.

“Bullshit, you never had a problem with me coming with you before. Do you know something I don’t?”

“I’ll see you later.” He says before wrenching his arm away and blipping, leaving Milly alone in the house. She takes a deep breath.

_____________________

Five blips into the car again.

“Why did you bring her back?” Klaus whines “I liked her.”  Diego sighs.

“None of your business.” Five had a bad feeling about Harold Jenkins. And Milly was the only one without powers.

So, she was... useless... Yeah, useless.

They enter a pub, with a flag that says, -Irish Republic-. Luther is sitting at a table, a beer in his hands. “Look” Klaus says, pointing to Luther. Five’s leg hurt like a bitch.

“Trying a little hair of the dog, are we? Hm?” Klaus asks Luther when they reach his table. Five leans on a chair.

“Leave me alone.” Luther says.

Diego sits down next to him and speaks, “Give us a minute.”

“Okay. Come on. Maybe they’ll brood each other to death.” Klaus remarks. Five is already walking to another table and sitting in a chair, to try to ease his pain. He can hear whispering, but he can’t make out what they are saying. He looks over to Klaus, who is tapping his finger on his left wrist. Yeah, they need to be quick. Nobody knows how Allison is doing right now.

“You should have led with that!” Luther says suddenly loud enough for them to hear it. Well, he knows about Allison now... “Jesus Christ.” He stands up from the chair and starts running to the exit. They follow.

__________________________

Milly is trying to avoid Pogo with all her strength right now.

If she wants to find out what the fuck is going on with Vanya right now and if the file she has does make sense she needs proof. And the proof has to be somewhere in this goddamn house. But Pogo is a good butler, or whatever he even is, and he is actively making her life a living hell. He shows up everywhere. If she tries to look anywhere but the rooms and he is there, trying to chat with her. And it’s clear that he has something to hide. But what?

He finds a door, that she hasn’t explored before and gets in, locking the door.

The room consists of a desk, whit multiple computers, that are showing various rooms of the Academy and some drawers with videocassettes.

Jesus did Reginald Hargreaves really put surveillance cameras in his own house? Even in his room. God.

Milly doesn’t find anything suspicious in the cameras.
The she remembers. She has a date.

June 12^th

But something happened 12 days later. So on the 24^th.

She starts snooping in every drawer, until she finds a recording with that date.

She plays it.

Reginald Hargreaves is standing with Vanya in the middle of the entrance. 10 Glasses on the table in front of them.

Milly swallows.

“Number Seven, concentrate on the sound around you.” Hargreaves says.

“This is one of your designated training days.”

Vanya looks bored from what Milly can see.

Designated training days...  “Please tell me she doesn’t have powers” Milly whispers to herself.

 “Number Seven” Hargreaves raises his voice. “Your insolence is unacceptable!”

Vanya closes her eyes and then wind suddenly starts to blow in the room, and the glasses tremble.

“Please tell me she doesn’t have powers.” Milly repeats, a bit louder now.

Then all the 10 glasses start exploding, one after the other and the recording goes black.

“Motherfucker.” Milly whispers.

Now what?

“Come on! Let’s go!”

Milly snaps her head towards the window. That is unmistakably Five’s voice

“I don’t think she’s breathing.”

What?

She bolts down the stairs and meets Grace. “Oh, you’re here. I didn’t see you come in.” she says.

Five comes running, followed by Diego and then Luther and Klaus who are carrying Allison. Who has blood coming out of her neck.

What the fuck.

Milly reaches Five who is following the others to a room where they can put Allison down.

“What are you doing here?” Milly looks at him trying to say, “did you really think I would leave?” “I thought you would’ve gone home by now.” He says as Luther and Klaus put Allison down on a stretcher.

“She’s suffered a severe laceration to her larynx.” Grace says, “One of your will need to give blood.”

“I will.” everyone says in unison.

“I’m doing it.” Luther insists. “I’m afraid that’s not possible, dear boy. Your blood is more compatible with mine.” Pogo remarks. Milly raises her eyebrows in surprise.

“Hey don’t sweat it. I- I got this big guy.”

“Aren’t you drunk or high?” Milly asks.

“Master Klaus, your blood is.... too polluted.”

“Move.” Diego demands. I’ll do it.” Grace takes out a needle and Diego passes out. Milly sighs. “Whoa” “Stick him.” Pogo says, his voice has a defeated tone.

Klaus suddenly runs out the room. Milly follows him, for some reason. Call it gut feeling.

Klaus is frantically looking in through his room when she reaches him.

“Looking for Drugs” Klaus suddenly says. Milly walks up to him. “I’m done listening to you!”  She touches his shoulder. “Klaus?” he jumps. “Just go away. Go away, please.” He turns to her, but he is not looking at her. She moves to the edge of the room.

“Yeah, well, sobriety’s overrated.” Who is he talking to?

“Well, where has it gotten me?” he asks. Milly furrows her eyebrows, still not moving her eyes away from Klaus. “Where has it gotten me? Nowhere. I can’t talk to the person I love. People... still don’t take me seriously. I wanna be numb again.”

“You’re a colossal wimp.”

Milly jumps. She freezes.

“Oh, yeah, really?” Klaus seems to have found some drugs. “Yeah. Really! Life isn’t supposed to be easy. Life is hard. Bad things happen. Good people die.”

WHO IS TALKING?

“Wow, playing the dead card again, huh? You need new material, bro.”

Milly can’t breathe.

“I was talking about Dave. You know, I’m tired of seeing you wallow in self-defeat.”

“Well, then avert your gaze.”

“You’re better than that. And Dave? He knew it, too.”

“You’re right. I’m- I’m- I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

“Thank god.”

She can’t breathe.

“Psych!” Klaus yells.

Suddenly a guy dressed in black comes into view and punches him.

Everything goes black.

______________________________

“Um, guys?” Five hears Klaus speak. He looks towards him and he sees that he is carrying Milly who is unconscious.

“What the fuck did you do?” he asks walking towards them. “No idea, she followed me, and I didn’t notice and then she just... collapsed?”

“Is she breathing?” Klaus asks as he puts her on the couch. Five is already checking her pulse.

“Yes.”

She doesn’t have fever or anything. She must have passed out from exhaustion....

“The bastard that nearly killed our sister’s still out there, with Vanya. We need to go after her.”

“Vanya is not important.” Five says not looking at Diego.

“Hey, that’s your sister.” Diego remarks. Five rolls his eyes. “A little heartless even for you, Five.” That is not what Five meant.

“I’m not saying I don’t care about her, but if the apocalypse happens today, she dies along with the other seven billion of us.”

“Shit the apocalypse is today?” Five looks at Milly who is now awake. “Rest.” then he adds “Harold Jenkins is our first priority.”  “I agree. Let’s go.”

“You guys count me out.” Klaus says.

Of course.

“I never thought I would say it... but mee too. I don’t feel very well...”

Milly says. “Wasn’t going to let you come with us anyway.” Five says. The he looks at Klaus. “I mean, you know, no offense or whatever. It’s just... I kind of feel... like this is a whole lot of pressure for newly-sober me, so...” “I have to talk to you anyways.” “Yeah, I can take care of her-” “That’s not what I said. “You’re coming.” Diego suddenly interrupts. “I mean, I think we can all agree that my power’s... I mean, it’s pretty much useless. I’d just be holding you guys back.”

“Klaus, get up.” Five says.

“You can’t make me.”

Diego takes out his knife and plants it in the middle of Klaus’s legs.

“Oh, then again, a little exercise couldn’t hurt.” He says as he stands up.

___________________

“It’s not exactly what I was expecting.” Diego says, as they look at Harold Jenkins body, who was stabbed at least 20 times with knives. “That’s the understatement of the year.” Five says. “No sign of Vanya.” Klaus says. Yes. Five noticed that too... But then again....

“Let’s get out of here, before the cops come.” Diego says. Five looks at the bandage on Harold Jenkins eye. “In a minute.” He takes out the eyeball he has been carrying for years and kneels down beside him. He pulls his eye bandage away and fits the fake eye in it.

It fits.

“Come on Five, what are you...” Diego starts. “Ugh, wow.” Klaus says, as thy look at the perfect fit.

“Same eye color, same pupil size. Guys this is it.” Five exclaims. “The eye I’ve been carrying around for decades, it- It’s found its rightful home.”

He takes the eye out again and steps back. “We got the guy we needed to kill to stop the apocalypse.” “Yay! Let’s go.” Klaus says, immediately trying to step away. Diego pulls him back by the collar. “No, no wait., It can’t be this easy. Look this is the note that I got from the Commission.” He takes out the note and opens it. “The one that says, -Protect Harold Jenkins-, aka Leonard Peabody.”

“Yeah?” Diego breathes out.

“But who killed him? Who did this?”

“I have a crazy idea. Crazy, but why don’t we find Vanya...”

Five blips to the academy.

They look everywhere for Vanya.

“No signs of Vanya.”

“She’s not in any of the rooms.” Diego says.

“She’s not downstairs, either.” Klaus adds.

“Well, I’m out.” Diego says.

“Wait.”

“Where are you going?” Five asks. “Vanya’s still out there, and so are Hazel and Cha-Cha.”

“I know. I’m gonna get my things and then I’m outta here. I got some unfinished business with those fools.”

____________________________

Five! You’re back. I have to show you something.” Milly finds Klaus and Five just up the stairs.

“Come with me.” She takes a hold of his arm and drags him to the room. “I found actual proof that Vanya has powers.” They walk into the room. “There is this videocassette that I saw just before you came in with Allison.” She presses play. “I left this in so it-” Milly stops talking when the videocassette shows static. What?

Five sighs. She turns to him.

“No, I swear I saw this I don’t know what happened I swear.” Five sighs again. He doesn’t say anything else. Milly knows he doesn’t believe her.

“I feel like someone is actively trying to sabotage me...” Milly mumbles.

Five shrugs.

They step out of the room and find Klaus again.

Five asks him, “Hey, did Dad say anything about the apocalypse when you spoke to him?” Klaus sighs, “Any clues as to how it happened?”

“No. No clues. Truly terrific shave. But no clues.”

“Jeez.” Five says and starts walking down the stairs, dragging Milly with him.

Klaus starts chasing them, “You know, come to think of it, he did mention something about my potential, and how I’ve barely even scratched the surface of my-”

“How did he know about the apocalypse?” Five slows down. “I don’t know but listen. This whole jumping through time thing of yours, how did... How did you know how to do that?”

“I didn’t.” he retorts. “You’d realize that if you were actually sober.”

“Hey, I am sober. I’ve been sober for two- almost two days now.”

“Yeah, two days.” “Five.” Milly calls trying to get his attention.

“It feels like 45 years.”

“Who are you kidding, Klaus? I’ve seen you fidgeting all day.”

“Well, I guess we’re both fighting our addictions, then.” What are they talking about. Milly tries to get Fives attention again, by shaking his arm. It doesn’t work.

“I’m not an addict.”

“Yeah, you are. You’re addicted to a drug called the apocalypse.” Milly sighs.

“You’re wrong.”

“First sign. Denial.” “Oh come on.” She whispers.

Five blips himself to the other side of the room, taking Milly with her, who is still being held by the arm. “You and I, we’re not the same.” Klaus chuckles.

“I’ve seen that look in the eye of someone who doesn’t know who they are without their high anymore. Trust me. You gotta just let it go.”

Five lets go of her and smashes the Vase to his right. He walks away. “Figuratively, but yeah, that works, too.”

Milly doesn’t run after him.

What she does do is run after Diego after he suddenly sprint while saying “Out of my way, I’m going to kill Hazel.”

She sees how Diego kicks Hazel, who is talking to Five???????

Diego starts fighting with Hazel, who doesn’t really fight back for some reason?

She goes to stand next to Five. “What happened?” Five looks at her. “He wants to talk.”

Five looks back at Diego, “You know, before you kill him, you might wanna hear what he has to say.”

“Why do you sound so amused?” She asks. Five just smiles.

“I’m gonna kill you for what you did to Patch.” Diego exclaims after taking out a knife. Hazel starts to speak, but Diego launches at him. “Jesus Christ.” Milly mumbles.

“Or don’t. See how that goes.” Five says to himself.

Diego manages to stab Hazel. “That’s gotta hurt.”

Five watches as Hazel and Diego fight, sipping his... whatever he has in the drink, until he apparently he decided that he had enough. He grabs a Vase and smashes it in the back of Diegos head.

“Thank you.” Milly says.

“I draw the line at biting.” Five says. “Hazel, whatever you came here to say, I suggest you make it quick, before he comes around.”

“I left my partner, quit the commission, came to volunteer.” His eyes briefly go to Milly, who is still standing behind the bar.

“For what?” Five asks. “To help stop the apocalypse.” Five chuckles. Milly... well, she almost believed him.

“What on earth could be so funny to you right now?”

“Before I answer that, why do you wanna help us?”

“Let’s just say I have a vested interest in a doughnut shop.” Huh?

“Well, I hate to break it to you, pal, but you’re a day late and a dollar short. The fact that you’re here right now mean, whithout a shadow of a doubt, that the apocalypse is over.”

Millys head snaps to him. “Really?” Five nods. “How do you know?” Hazel asks.

“The mark is dead. I found him this morning.” “Harold Jenkins is dead?” Milly asks. Five nods again. “You were the last known unknows left in the equation.”

“Shit, really?” Hazel asks surprised.

It can’t be that easy can it? What about Vanya?

“And if you’re out, then Hellrider ain’t riding.”

“Alright!” Hazel is absolutely delighted. He sits down next to Five. Grabs the blender and drinks whatever is left there.

Milly sighs and walks away. She wants to check on Luther and Allison.

She has her own doubts. Why did Harold Jenkins need protecting? Does he cause the apocalypse or is he the reason someone causes the apocalypse? If it’s the second, who causes the apocalypse. Why the hell does she hear things?

And where is Vanya?

She walks up to Luther, who looks downright devastated. He is sitting at the edge of Allisons bed. Milly walks up to him. “I know we don’t really know each other, but uhm... how are you?” Luther looks at her for a moment then sighs. “Could be better.” She nods.

Behind them Allison suddenly gasps. Oh she’s moving.

“Allison, Oh... I’m here.” Luther is at her side immediately. “I’m here. I’m here.”

Milly wants to give them some privacy, but she also wants to know what happened. Allison tries to talk but she’s stopped bny Luther. “No. Don’t try to talk. It will cause more damage, all right?” Allison whimpers. “Allison, I’m so sorry I wasn’t there.” Milly takes a step back to give them more privacy. “It’s okay” he repeats. Allison starts to urgently try to tell Luther something, so he grabs a notebook and a pen. “here.” He says handing it to them. She writes on the pad -VANYA-. Well???

“Uh, we don’t know where she is.” Allison sighs like she isn’t understanding. Milly takes a step towards them now. Allison writes on the pad again. -POWERS-. She fucking knew that. “Powers?” Luther asks “Vanya has powers.” Milly exclaims, “It’s what I have been trying to tell you for 3 days!” “Uh... I don’t understand.” “I do.” Pogo is suddenly there. “It’s time for the last of your father’s secrets to come to light.” Allison nods at Milly. Almost like a hello and a you were right.

_____________________

Milly sees Vanya entering the house.

“Hello?” she says, and her voice is trembling.

“Vanya.” Milly says walking up to her. “Are you okay?” Vanya looks at her for a moment before shaking her head. “Vanya” this is Luther’s voice. It comes from up the stairs. Vanya looks at him.

“Is Allison...” she doesn’t manage to finish the sentence. “She survived.” She immediately sees the pure relive on her face. For some reason Milly isn’t scared of Vanya. She may have powers, but she just discovered them, she has every right to make mistakes. But by Luthers face, he doesn’t think like that. “Thank god.” Vanya says under her breath. Luther comes down the stairs.

He looks furious. Shit.

“What happened?” he asks, stopping in front of Vanya. “We got in an argument.” She says. And things got out of control. I didn’t mean to hurt her. Please you have to believe me.” “I do.” Luther says. For some reason she doubts it. “It was an accident. And I was... I was angry, and... uh, it just happened.”

“You have every right to make mistakes, you just discovered you have powers. You aren’t used to them yet.” Milly had to voice that. She needs her to know that she can male mistakes. Vanya looks at her and smiles.

“Could I see her?” she asks. Luther’s face is weird. He doesn’t look forgiving at all, and he looks like he doesn’t feel an ounce of pity for his sister. “She’s resting now. Maybe later.” “Is it okay if I wait here for a bit?” “Of course.” Again, Luther’s soft voice doesn’t mach his face at all. “This is your home.” He opens his arms, and Milly has the sudden urge to stop Vnya from hugging him. She takes a hold of Vanya’s arm. But she lets go when she starts crying “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” She sobs in Luther’s arms. There is something so entirely wrong about that. “I didn’t mean it.” Vanya cries. Milly’s heart picks up and there is a sudden gust of wind. “I didn’t mean...”

“I can see that Vanya.” Luther says. Milly has such a bad feeling about this interaction.
“Vanya groans as Luther tightens his grip on her. “Luther.” Milly asks. “You’re hurting me.” Vanya says. “Luther?” Milly asks again, louder, this time. “I’m sorry too, Vanya.”

 “Luther what are you doing?” There is another gust of wind and Milly’s heart picks up again. “Stop.” Vanya gasps and there is a sound ringing in Milly’s ears and everything starts to shake. “Luther let her go what are you doing?” Milly exclaims. She’s trying to be loud enough to be heard from someone, because she knows she can’t do anything about it. “I’m sorry.” He repeats as the ringing gets louder. Milly covers her ears. “Luther that’s enough please let her go!” she is close to screaming now. Another gust of wind, more powerful than the others come through. “Luther!” she screams. She’s getting dizzy.  Then all of a sudden everything stops, and Vanya passes out. Milly is so dizzy that she can only watch how Luther picks up Vanya and walks away with her. She sits down on the floor.

Chapter Text

Milly is upstairs trying to find Five and get out of the house when Diego and Klaus come running. “Come on you, we need to goooo!” Klaus screams. He drags her with them. “What’s happening?” She asks. “You were right!” Vanya does have powers!” Diego exclaims. “And where is she?” Milly asks urgently. “Luther locked her up!” Klaus run through the house. “Fuck to you mean he locked her up?” Milly screams. Were they out of their mind? “Bad idea I know!” Diego screams back.  “Where’s Five?” Milly changes the subject.  “Not in the house. We checked!” Klaus screams back. Milly is a little bit relieved about that, But she also wants to punch him, because she didn’t believe her. “Where is she?” Diego screams as the ceiling starts to collapse. “Mom!” Klaus screams. “Grace?” Milly screams too, now. From what she knows, Diego isn’t stepping foot outside until he finds Grace. The ceiling starts collapsing and they all fall to the floor, Milly’s fall gets softened by Klaus. Ups...

She immediately moves as Klaus groans in pain. “Are you okay.” She asks them, sitting up. The ceiling cracks above them. “Diego!” Klaus tries to wake him up. Shit, he’s unconscious. Fuck. “Diego!” they exclaim as they try to wake him up. The ceiling breaks and all of a sudden they are being moved away. The ceiling barely misses them. But Milly is focused on the same man that appeared out of nowhere. “Holy shit!” Klaus exclaims. “Who is he?” Milly asks and points to the man. “Wait you can see him?” “What’s that supposed to mean?” The man points at himself as his eyes widen comically. “Come on, no time let’s go!” They all start running, Diego leaning on Klaus for support.

They exit through the fire escape, pieces of the Academy collapsing around them.

They stop when the place looks relatively secure, Milly catches her breath. “You okay? You okay?” Klaus asks them and Milly gives him a thumbs up, still trying to catch her breath. “Hey, you saved my life, man” Diego says and Klaus answers, “Okay. Great.” Milly is still confused about the man, and she is going to ask, but her priority right now is being able to breathe. The adrenaline is wearing off. When she looks up, she sees Klaus and Diego hugging and isn’t that sweet. At least they are getting along. “Mom. Mom!” Diego screams suddenly, and they all look up to see Grace watching them through a window.

“Mom! Get out of there now! Mom!” Diego and Klaus scream. “Get out!” Milly follows.

Grace just watches them, smiling. She blows a kiss, then the whole building collapses. The moon is high in the sky and the Umbrella Academy has collapsed, fire burning in some of the debris.

Milly would really like to find Five now.

Diego immediately starts calling for Grace as he digs in the rubble. It’s heartbreaking. “Klaus, come here. Help me search.” Klaus helps Milly balance on the debris, before walking up to a distraught Diego. “Diego.”

Milly jumps as she sees the same man from before next to her. She stares at him, very confused, and misses what Klaus says. The man points to himself and Milly nods. Milly turns back to Klaus and Diego. The man gives her the creeps. He could... well, be a figment of her imagination. Improbable, but he could be.

“What about Pogo?” Diego asks, and Milly is suddenly aware that Allison and Luther are missing too. “He didn’t make it.” Oh thank god. Luther and Allison appear from the debris, relatively unharmed. “What?” Diego asks.

“Vanya killed him.” Luther says and Milly wants to hit her head on a wall, repeatedly.

“But Vanya wouldn’t-” Diego starts, but Luther interrupts him.

“No, I saw it.” Milly believes him. But there is also something very wrong at the moment.

“Just before we got out.”

“Mom. Now Pogo.” Milly really wants to ignore the man standing beside her and Klaus, but it’s getting increasingly difficult to do so.

Diego sits down and-

“Guys!” Five calls. And fucking finally. “This is it. The apocalypse is still on. The world ends today.”

“Oh come on!” Milly is exasperated at this point.

“I thought you said it was over.” Luther exclaims. “I was wrong, okay?”

“This newspaper, I found it in the future the day I got stuck. The headline hasn’t changed.”

“No, that doesn’t mean anything.” Diego shakes his head. “The time could’ve been altered since that newspaper came out this morning.”

“I think the fact that the Academy is in shambles says enough.” Milly retorts.

“You’re not listening to me. When I found it, I assumed this place came down with everything else. But here we are. The Moon’s still shining, the earth is in one piece,” “What do you mean the moon is still shining?” she asks, but Five ignores her. He does look briefly towards her though, so at least he heard her. “but not the Academy.” He finishes.

Klaus snatches the paper from him and starts reading it. “I’m confused.”

“Then listen to me, you idiot! Vanya destroys the Academy before the apocalypse.” He sighs. “I thought Harold Jenkins was the cause, but he was the fuse. Vanya is the bomb. Vanya causes the apocalypse.”

Sirens are being heard as Luther says. “We have to find her.” A helicopter light shines on the im from above. “We gotta go, now.” Diego says, standing up. “Regroup at the Super Star. Go!”

“You’re coming with me!” Five exclaims grabbing her arm and blipping away.

____________________________

“Look at the two of you.” The Handler says to Hazel and Cha-Cha. “Given a one-day assignment to eliminate Number 5, and instead, you kill a tow truck driver, a cleaning lady, and a cop, burn down 2 buildings, and bring unwanted attention to yourselves and the Commission. “What’s worse is Five is still alive, you haven’t completed the other assignment you were here for, they are on the loose and trying to stop the apocalypse.”

Hazel knows they messed up, but he can’t find himself to care at this point. The Handler eats a mouthful of chines food and says. “Makes us look like a gang that can’t shoot straight. Now, maybe I’m not seeing the whole picture, but I think- and this, it’s just a suggestion- but I do think... an explanation of sorts is owing.” Hazel stays silent. Cha-Cha doesn’t.

“Five is not working alone. He has backup.” “His family.” The Handler says, taking another bite of food. “And that stupid girl.” The Handler laughs. “You’re saying that you both are no match for a litter of emotionally stunted sibling?” “I think what Cha-Cha mean there is were certain un-” Hazel looks at Agnes and he stops speaking. “Hmm?” The Handler pushes. “unexpected consequences from said family that required us to deviate from the original plan.” The Handler chuckles. “You know, we have an old saying at the Commission.” She starts speaking in a language they do not understand. She rolls her eyes. “Of course, neither of you speak Yiddish. Fine. I’ll translate. It means -The eggs think they’re smarter than the chicken.- Do what you’re told hmm?” “Then we should have killed each other.” Hazel says. “Come again?” Hazel furrows his eyebrows.

“Both of us was sent a message from you to eliminate each other.” He explains.

“Oh.” He says, like everything makes sense now. It really doesn’t. She chuckles. “He’s good, he’s good.”

“Wait, I’m not following.” Cha-Cha says.

“Of course you’re not. I never sent those messages. Five did.” Oh that made a lot more sense. “They’re fake. To throw you off the scent.” “Then you’re not mad at us.” Hazel asks almost hopefully. Almost. “I’d like to believe that your commitment to your partnership led to a strategic... choice not to kill each other. So, in the spirit of that partnership, I’m giving you a new assignment, one that’s not open to interpretation or discussion. “Protect Vanya Hargreaves... at all costs” she says, putting down 2 guns on the table.

“Then what?” Hazel asks, as he looks at Agnes. “Then you, Hazel, will be allowed to resign from the Commission and live out the reminder of your days with... doughnut lady here, in the time period of your choosing. Course, she’ll remain under my protection until your assignment is complete.”

“And what do I get?” Cha-Cha asks. “A new partner. Plus all prior offenses, fines, and infractions will be expunged from your record. Failure to comply will result in the termination of all parties.”

“Oh and another thing, Hazel.” She adds. “Kill. The. Girl.”

Hazel swallows.

____________________

Five blips them into the bowling alley, and Milly proceeds to lose her mind. “Why do you never listen to me!” she exclaims. “What?” “I fucking told you. Multiple times. I asked you to believe me. Multiple time. Why didn’t you believe me. Why can’t you listen to me.” She screams. “I hardly even know you.” He exclaims. “And stop screaming.” Milly stares at him. She is angry, furious even. People hardly notice her, they ignore her, and treat her like shit. She knows not everyone does that, but she is angry. She isn’t thinking clearly. “Fuck you.” She spits out before sitting down on a bench crossing her arms.

Everyone starts to arrive, and the bowling alley starts to fill.

“Look, I hate to be the one to say this, but everyone needs to prepare.” Luther says. “For what?” “To do whatever it takes to stop Vanya.” Allison hits Luther on the chest and Milly almost smiles. Almost. “We may not have a choice, Allison.” He says. “Bullshit.” Diego says. “There’s always options.” “Yeah, like what?” “Well I’m not trying to point fingers here but maybe if someone wouldn’t have locked Vanya up she wouldn’t have exploded. Literally.”

Luther glares at her, as Klaus raises his eyebrows in surprise. “What happened to you?” he asks. “She’s pouting, like a child.” Five says. “Oh go fuck yourself you look even younger than me.” “But I’m not.” “And who apart from us and the Commission knows that?”

Silence.

“Look, whatever we decide, we need to find Vanya.” Luther stands up from where he’s sitting. “And fast, okay? She could be anywhere.”

“Or... here.” Saya Klaus. “Look at this.” “That’s right. Her concert is tonight.”

“Hello.”

They turn around to see an employee.

“I hate to intrude, but my manager says if you’re not gonna bowl, you gotta leave.”

“Whose turn is it?” said manager says, putting down shoes. “Oh for..” Luther grabs a bowling ball and launches it on the pit. Strike.

“She’s our sister.” Allison writes.

“We’re the only ones capable of stopping this. We have a responsibility to dad.”

“To dad? No, I’ve heard enough about-”

“He sacrificed everything to bring us back together.”

“I’m with Luther on this one.” Five chips in.

“Of course you are.” Milly rolls her eyes.

“We can’t give her a chance to fight back.”

“And you’re going to what? Kill her?”

“There are billions of lives at stake. We’re past trying to save just one.” He answers.

“Hey, you know, guys, uh... maybe I could help.” Klaus suggests.

“Now is not the time.” Five says.

“No, let him finish.” Diego says and Luther looks at him weird. “He saved my life today.” Milly smiles. “Is that true?” Luther asks. “Yeah, yeah, I did... take credit for it. In fact, the real hero... was Ben.”

“Wait your dead brother?”

Nobody says anything more, they just look at him disappointed.

“Wait is this the man who just appeared out of nowhere?” she jumps out of her seat. “The guy with black hair, and a leather jacket. Like... Asian and dressed in black?”

Now, they all look at her. “Wait, you can see him.” He turns staring at seemingly nothing. “No...” she swallows as she looks at the floor. “At least not right now...”

“Seriously?” Five asks looking at her. “Oh okay, you don’t believe me again! Thank you.” She is exasperated now. “And how did you see him. Just out of curiosity.” “I don’t know. That’s what I want to know too.” “Today... listen.” Klaus continues. “>Today, he punched me in the face.” “I can confirm.” She mumbles, remembering how the air punched Klaus. Things are starting to make sense again.

“And he was the one who saved Diego in the house earlier.” Milly nods again. “Not me.”

“You are unbelievable, Klaus.” Luther says. “You want proof, is that it? All right. I- I’ll give you proof.” He says getting bowling ball. “All right, it’s showtime, baby.” Klaus throws the bowling ball behind Five. Milly pulls him aside as the bowling ball falls to the floor.

“Is there any way to silence that voice in your head that screams to be the center of attention?” Luther says. “You know, I liked you a lot better before you got laid.” Klaus exclaims and Milly’s eyebrows shoot up, and she has to bite her lip to not laugh. “Which was complete... It- It wasn’t his fault, ‘cause he was ridiculously high, right.”

Milly can’t help but snort at that. “And- And the girl, she thought he was a furry...” Milly lets out a laugh before covering her mouth. “Stop.” Luther snaps. “Okay.”

“Allison, wait.” Luther immediately follows Allison, who has, for some reason, walked away, looking rather mad. Or disappointed, Milly didn’t have the chance to look at her long enough to understand that. “Are you feeling better?” Five suddenly asks her. “Now that I screamed at you, yes. But don’t get me wrong I still have the urge to punch you.”

“Excuse me!” a woman walks with her son? towards them.  “Excuse me, It’s my son Kenny’s birthday today, and... uh... wouldn’t your son and his sister be happier playing with kids his own age?” At least she’s the sister and not the girlfriend now. “Assuming it’s okay with your two dads.” Milly’s eyebrows shoot up as she looks behind him and sees Diego and Klaus looking at each other. She smiles, trying not to laugh. “I would rather chew off my own foot.”

Milly sighs. “I apologize for him, but no thank you.” There is a familiar whoosh, and from the looks of it Five immediately notices too. He stands up and grabs a message from the commission. Milly is right next to him. “How the hell did she find me?” After a moment Five takes out the candy he received at the commission and opens it. A fucking tracker. “She’s good.” He says before smashing it on the floor. “Jesus” he whispers as he opens the capsule, with a fortune cookie?

It reads.

TIME MARCHES ON... OR DOES IT? Then in pen Rain Quail, Rm 12.

“What does that mean?” Five just takes her arm and blips away.

_____________________

“Wait here.” He mouths when they blip into a.... Is it a hotel? “Five, I’ve been waiting for you.” The Handler. Five walks in and whispers something.

Milly puts her ear on the door, to try and listen.

“It’s been a while.” The Handler says. “Three days.” “For you, maybe. But for me, it’s been a lot longer since I’ve seen those adorable little shorts.” Milly wrinkles her nose in disgust.

“Well, you’ve had time to heal.” “Luckily, for both of us, time... is the one thing my organization has an abundance of.” “Got your message, by the way. Nice packaging, but so much for Commission protocol.”

“There have been... a lot of changes since you and your friend left the Commission. By the way do you really bring her anywhere? Come in Milly, come in.”

Oh Jesus Christ. She walks in, and Five glares at her. She rolls her eyes at him. “You really did some damage.” The Handler says and she is so close to Five it looks borderline predatory.

“The briefcase were all but destroyed, to say nothing of the... highly trained personnel you killed.” Milly doesn’t understand why the Handler insists she’s here, since she doesn’t even glance at her. “After all, what is an institution if not for-”

“What do you want?” Five interrupts her.

“To be happy. To have a simple... unfettered life, to... do the work my superiors require.” She has superiors? “But... your being here,” The Handler walks away from Five and sits on the couch, “well, it complicates all that.”

“Billions of people are about to die tonight. You can change that.” There is a whine behind him and that is when Milly notices the doughnut shop employee strapped to a chair.

“Tonight, tomorrow.” The Handler says, “So little difference in the scheme of things. “Don’t you remember the Commission’s raison d’être? What’s meant to be is meant to be, or, as I like to say, que será, será.” Her Spanish pronunciation is awful.

“It’s bullshit in any language. Why did you call me here?”

“I’m gonna offer you a choice.” She looks at her. “Just him.”

“Everyone is going to die tonight, but... unlike the rest of the world... you have a way out. You can abandon your family and skip ahead to the apocalypse, take a walkabout for a few decades, wondering if I’ll come back wondering if I’ll come back and offer you a job again, or you can stay here, with your family and... die a horrible death.” She laughs.

Five looks at Milly.

“While you weigh your options just know your siblings are fighting for their lives without you.” “Shit.” Milly mumbles.

“You brought me here to pull me away.” “And you brought her here. Wasn’t part of my plan but we’ll work with that.” “You brought me here to pull me away.” He repeats. “It’s been nice knowing you, Five.”  “You brought me here to pull me away.”

Five blips, leaving her with the Handler. “Well, that plays in my favor.” She says and smiles.

_________________________

Hazel comes into the room, pointing the gun at the Handler immediately.

“Back so soon?” The Handler says. “And here I thought you were the smart one. How disappointing.” Hazel pulls the trigger, and the Handler falls onto the bed, with a bullet in her head.

He immediately walks to Agnes and uncovers her mouth. “Sorry you had to see that.” He says. “If you want to change your mind about being with me, I understand.” Agnes smiles at him. “Everyone has a past.” She says, and chuckles. He kisses her.

He unties her and they start walking away when a voice comes through.

“Hazel?” Hazel pulls the gun out of his pocket, turns around and shoots. Without thinking. As he looks at who he just shot at he wants to cry. He doesn’t. “Let’s go.” He urges Agnes out of the room and flees.

He takes out the paper with their last mission and lets it fall to the floor.

He accidentally completed his last mission.
________________________

Milly had always wondered what it was like, getting shot. Now she knows it hurts like a bitch. She doesn’t want to die. She’s only fifteen. She can’t even drive a car yet...

Her side hurts, from where Hazel shot her.

She doesn’t blame him. She surprised him, and he was scared of the Handler. But god  couldn’t he look for just one second. That would have been enough.

She closes her eyes. She just wants to go somewhere safe, see her grandmother again, she wants to survive, to live her life. There are so many things she hasn’t done yet. She still needs to go see Taylor Swift live. Honestly though, she needs to get her priorities straight.

She wants to fall in love.

She closes her eyes and for one second, just one she thinks that Five comes back to drag her with him, she hears the sound he makes while blipping and then everything goes black.

___________________

“We did it, we saved the world.” The moment these words come out of Diego’s mouth Five is gone. He knows leaving Milly with the Handler wasn’t the best idea, but it was the only way for her not to die.

But when she blips into the room to get her, the Handler has a bullet in her head, she’s not moving, Agnes is gone, and no sign of Milly. Anywhere. Just a pile of blood. There are dragging marks, but they end after a few meters, and Agnes is gone, with means, Hazel is alive. He steps on a piece of paper, that looks highly familiar. He unfolds it and stares. There is a picture of Milly and a text that reads -KILL NEEDED IN 3 DAYS MAX-. Dated, 3 days ago.

So she’s dead. Okay. That’s alright.

Now that he saw Ben, actually saw him, he wonders if Milly saw the same thing. If Klaus did it on purpose, probably not. Every time he thought that she was lying, she wasn’t. He should have really trusted her more.

Why did the Commission want her dead? 

He looks at the blood then blips back to the academy again. Luther and Allison are still holding Vanya.

“Where were you?” Klaus asks. “Nowhere.” Is Milly coming with us?” “Dead.” Now they are all looking at him. “How?” Luther asks. “Don’t know.”

“Oh man.” Klaus says and turns around. He does a double take, then stands up. “Uh... Guys?” he says, pointing to a fucking meteor.

“You see that big Moon rock coming towards us?” he asks. The apocalypse clearly wasn’t stopped. “That’s not good.” Luther says, him too standing up to take a better look. “So this is it, huh? So much for... saving the world.” Klaus says. “If only Sir Reginald could see us right now, huh?” Diego adds. Five is panicking. He is absolutely panicking. He can’t handle loosing his family too. He has to do something. But what?

“At least we are together at the end. As a family.”

Got it.

“This doesn’t have to be the end.”

“What, what are you saying, Five?” Luther turns to him.

“I think I have a way outta here. But you gotta trust me on this.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so.” Diego says, just as Luther says “no.”

“Well, then, we might as well accept our fate, because in less than a minute we’re gonna be vaporized.”

“What’s your idea, then?” Diego asks him.

“We use my ability, to time travel. But this time, I’ll take you with me.”

“You can do that?” Diego raises his eyebrows

“I don’t know. I’ve never tried it before.”

“What’s the worst that can happen?”

“You’re lookin’ at it. A 58-year-old man inside a child’s body, so there’s that. He scoffs.

“Oh, what the hell? I’m in.”

“Yeah, whatever. I’m in.” Klaus nods.

“Me too.” Luther says. “Allison?”

She nods.

“What about Ben?”

“Great, yeah, he’s in.”

“Okay, great. Luther, grab Vanya.” Five instructs him.

Luther pulls her up, then adds, “Wait, should we be taking her? I mean, if she’s the cause of the apocalypse.  Isn’t that like taking a bomb with us?”

“The apocalypse will always happen.” Five says. “And Vanya will always be the cause, unless we take her with us and fix her.”

They all form a circle and hold hands. Five concentrates as best as he can and creates a big ball of energy above them. “It’s working!” Luther screams.

“Hold on! It’s gonna get messy!” Five screams back and closes his eyes once again.

A zap and they’re gone.

End of season 1

Chapter Text

Waking up in a hospital wasn’t weird, considering she had been shot, what was weird however is that it looked like she had traveled back in time.

“Oh darling, you are awake.” Milly turns to the voice, to find a woman, in her late twenties probably. She has a nurse outfit on, but one Milly saw in history books. She has black hair, and a pixy cut. When she looks around she finds herself in a room with light blue walls, a yellow chair in the corner. Everything looked straight from a fifties movie. “How are you feeling?” The nurse asks.  “Confused...” she states, looking around the room. “My name is Jenny, I’m a nurse. We found you outside of the hospital. You were bleeding out of your stomach and barely breathing. You were shot, and we had to operate you. It’s a miracle you survived. What is your name?” She takes  file and opens it. “Milly?” she answers. “Do you know your last name?” The nurse, Jenny looks at her with such care, Milly feels 4 again. “I don’t remember.” She answers. “I mean, was 3 when I became an orphan.” It feels like important information. “That could explain why we found no record of your existence.” The nurse says under her breath. “Do you know what day it is?” she asks. “The first of April” she says. The nurse suddenly looks very worried.  She shakes her head. “It’s April 27^th  “What?” “What’s the last thing your remember?” “I was at the Umbrella Academy and-” “Where is that may I ask?” “What?” “This Umbrella Academy?” “I- Uhm... What year is it?” She doesn’t know why that question popped into her mind. She asks anyway. The nurse furrows her eyebrows. “What year do you think it is.” Milly takes a deep breath. “Like... 2019?” The nurse looks so taken aback as she asks, “Are you Amish perchance?” “What? No?” “Let me call a doctor, could you wait here.”

She comes back a few seconds later with a man around his 40s. He looks a lot stricter.

“You have woken up.” he says, not looking up from the file the nurse had in her hands a few seconds before. “Jenny here, told me you are having some memory gaps.” He states. “What year is it?” she asks again. “1963.” Milly shoot out of her bed “WHAT?” she exclaims. “Hey calm down please.” The nurse reaches for her. “How- What? But-” she can’t form a coherent thought right now. “What do you mean its 1963. HOW? From what she knows Five is the only one who can time travel. How did this happen? “Why do you think it’s 2019?” the doctor asks sternly. Milly immediately calms down. Well she can’t explain that now can she. “I think everything is a bit fuzzy. She said that there is no record of me?” Good job Milly, change the subject. The nurse sighs as the doctor nods. “We have currently no record of your existence, what orphanage do you go?” “Can’t you do like a DNA test or something?” “And how would that work, young lady?” the doctor asks. “Nevermind.” Milly totally forgot that it was invented in the eighties. How is DNA-testing so new? She wonders as she lays down on the bed again. “Do you know if all of your relatives have died?” he asks. Milly thinks about it for a moment. “I think my grandparents could still be alive.” Milly is a 100% sure of that. Her grandpa died in 1990, and her grandma has to be alive. In her twenties she thinks. “Do you know their names?” “I don’t know my grandpa, but my grandmas name is Mary. She should live here?” She answers. This is the only really valuable information she has. “This narrows down our search. Alright. We will keep you for some tests and then you’ll be on your merry way, alright?” Milly’s eyebrows shoot up. “And where am I supposed to go?” “To the orphanage.” Yeah good point. “Oh.”

“Do you have my backpack perchance?” she asks Jenny. She smiles and nods. “We didn’t find any documents, just notebooks. Is there anything that could make you remember?”

Milly shakes her head. She is not about to give a nurse all the information about the future. She hands her her backpack and Milly opens it.

The nurse leaves.

She grabs her pen and her notebook and opens it. She reads the last thing she wrote, to make sure she doesn’t actually have memory loss.

She doesn’t.

She starts updating the day of the apocalypse and when she finishes she starts to put her thoughts in order.

It’s February 1963, somehow, she traveled back in time. There is no way Five or anyone she knows can find her, so she is on her own. Great. Milly isn’t going back to the foster home, no matter what. Nobody will even recognize her. If the foster home even exists. God, she never thought if the orphanage existed in the 60s. She never needed to. She groans in frustration. She goes to put her notebook in her backpack when she realizes she has her phone.

She makes sure nobody is near when she opens it and calls the Umbrella Academy’s number. Somebody picks up. How does this phone even work in the sixties???

“Hello, this is Reginald Hargreaves speaking who’s this?” Milly immediately closes the call and put everything in her backpack. She blinks a few times. Alright... Well, Milly didn’t actually expect to call the future, but... Who is she kidding she didn’t even think about that.

She’s updating her knowledge about the 1960s when the doctor comes in again, with a man, who must be, not older than 22.

Milly furrows her eyebrows as the doctor speaks. “This man right here is the one who found you on the floor. You should thank him.” He says, then promptly leaves the room when his name gets called.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Roger.” The man says, smiling at him.

“Hello?” she answers. She is very uncomfortable right now, with the hospital gown she feels exposed.

“You’re pretty.” He says, and Milly’s face scrunches up in disgust.

“And you’re old. And I’m a minor...” the man smiles at her. “Well, I’m 18, and you are pretty, but I’m not attracted to you.” Milly relaxes a bit. But still not too much. It’s the 60s anyway.

“Can you play an instrument?” he asks, and Milly blinks dumbfounded at him. “I can play the piano and the guitar?” she answers, and then “and I took singing lessons...” The mans (boys?) smile widens. “Would you like to make some money?” Milly sits up straighter. “Tell me more...”

He does.

“My father is looking for the -next big star- and with your looks, and if you can actually sing and play the piano like you say, we can offer you a gig.”

“Well, it’s not like I have better to do.” She says, and well, she knows about -stranger danger- but right now, she needs a place to stay. “When do you get released?” She shrugs. “Is your dad coming?” she asks, “you know, just want to make sure you’re not gonna kidnap me and kill me...” the boy laughs. “You talk in a weird manner.” “Fuck you.” Well maybe she shouldn’t have said that... “And a mouth that runs faster than the brain. It’s refreshing.” “I grew up in an orphanage...” she tries to justify. He nods, but he’s smiling, which is a good thing. She hopes...

_____________________

The day she gets released Roger and Mr. Miller come to pick her up. Mr. Miller immediately scrunches up his nose when he sees her. “Well, young girl, I do not know where you bought those clothes, but we need to work on your style.” He pauses. “and hair.”

“I like my hair...” she says. “Well, we want to make you famous, so you’ll have to change.

Roger grabbed a magazine when they got out of the hospital. He laughed. “Father, how about we give her a bob?”

“Absolutely not. No. I’m not letting anyone touch my hair.” “You better have the best voice I’ve ever heard, because you have a lot to learn young lady.” Milly nods.

“Get into the backseat.” Reger says, as they step into a nice dark blue car. They drive for about 20 minutes, and Milly can’t help but feel sad as they pass the building where the Umbrella Academy would be.

___________________

“So, play us something.” “What?” “There is a piano, and a guitar, so play us something.” Mr. Miller instructs her, as she sits down on the piano stool. “Unless you have forgotten how to play it?” he asks. “Father, sir, give her a moment.” Roger steps in.

“Alright.” She says. She stands up again and grabs the guitar. She strims a few notes before closing her eyes. Let’s try to see if she still remembers how to play this.

She starts with the melody.

Look, nobody can blame her for playing something that doesn’t exist yet, but she doesn’t really know much about 60s music.

I bet this time of night you’re still up

I bet you’re tired from a long, hard week

I bet you’re sitting in your chair by the window

Looking out of the city, and I bet

Sometimes you wonder ‘bout me

When she looks up she sees a very exited looking Roger watching her, patting his dads shoulder. She smiles.

And I just wanna tell you

It takes everything in me

Not to call you

And I wish I could run to you

And I hope you know that

Every time I don’t, I almost do

I almost do

She looks up again, and Mr. Miller looks somewhat pleased. Thank god.

I bet you think I either moved or hate you

‘Cause each time you reach out, there’s no reply

I bet it never, ever occurred to you

That I can’t say hello to you and risk another goodbye

Nobody can blame Milly for being a Taylor Swift fan, really. She just loves her so much. And also, this is the only song she can really play with the guitar, so. Is this going to change the timeline? Milly doesn’t know, but it’s not her job anymore.

She finishes the song and Roger claps while Mr. Miller nods. She makes a little bow and says “Satisfied?”  “Did you write this song yourself?” he asks. “Um... yes.” What else can she answer? No, but somebody else will in the future? Nope.

Mr. Miller shakes his head. “Now the piano.” Milly sighs and sits down on the piano.

Nobody can blame her for playing this song either. She just loves how it sounds.

It’s a tad bit too low but she manages.

I’m going under, and this time I fear there’s no one to save me

This all or nothing really got a way of driving me crazy

I need somebody to heal

Somebody to know

Somebody to have

Somebody to hold

It’s easy to say

But it’s never the same

I guess I kinda liked the way you numbed all the pain

She looks up and wiggles her eyebrows like saying -you see? I wasn’t lying?-

Now the day bleeds

Into nightfall

And you’re not here

To get me through it all

I let my guard down

And then you pulled the rug

I was getting kinda used to being someone you loved

“I think that’s enough.” Mr. Miller stops her and smiles. “Well, I have to say you surprised us.” Milly stands up and smiles. “So?” Am I hired?” Mr. Miller sighs. “We really need to work on your manners.” “She’s groovy.” Roger explains. “Uhm.. groovy?” she asks, very confused. “You know... groovy.” Milly shakes her head. “Sir, how do you explain groovy?” Mr. Miller sighs, “very in fashion.” “Oh...” she still doesn’t get it.

“You’re hired.” Milly jumps up. “Really?” “I’m quite sure, yes.” “Hel- Yes!” she exclaims. Roger gives her a high five.

“Now, we need to acquire some clothing items for you. You cannot dress like that outside of the orphanage.” “Yes sir!”

“I will have to inform you of some rules about your dress code. Only dresses, for now, and they have to be in style. Colorful, I believe.” Mr. Miller informs her. “That’s cool with me.” “And please, talk respectfully.” “Okay. I mean yes... Sir.” “Better.”.

Milly is really starting to like 60s fashion. It’s the transition between woman wearing pretty flowy dresses and colorful trousers.

She loves flowy dresses.

________________

She has her first gig a week later, in a pub. Seriously, they let a 15-year-old perform in a pub. Well, she doesn’t complain, and she’s pretty sure the crowd likes her. They’re cheering. Milly will have to guess if it’s because she is wearing a relatively short dress or because she’s singing “stay stay stay”. Thankfully Roger and Mr. Miller helped her figuring out the melody, because she could not play it. She also sang Starlight on the guitar and then performed someone you loved on the piano.

Returning to the clothing, she’s a bit uncomfortable. She didn’t think yellow really suited her, and she was on a stage, with high heels and no thighs. Exposed was the right word in that situation.

(dress1)

She didn’t perform often, but she made quite some money, especially because some stupid men treater her like a stripper and threw money on the stage. She almost slipped once. That wasn’t fun. But she likes performing. Maybe someday she’ll do it for actual people and not horny men....

Every week she visited the hospital and talked to nurse Jenny, to see if they had any information about her grandma. In reality now that she thinks about it probably her great-grandmother. Because her grandma must be what now? 20? But there’s no update yet.

Early September she goes to the hospital again, this time to get checked out. Because at the end of the day, she did get shot so... She’s with Roger today, since she just had a concert, at a bar this time.

She picks up all the magazines on the table in the waiting room. One is a -Vogue- magazine, another is a -Movie Screen- magazine and the other one is a -Life- magazine. She looks at the -Life- one. On the front cover of the magazine there is a blonde woman dressed in pink, on a pink background, talking about how to lower taxes. That’s a problem in the sixties? Jesus. Now that Milly thinks about it, she better get in check with her vocabulary, because from what she knows, the language is a bit different now than in 2019.

When she turns page she freezes, looking at a picture of a man, who looks awfully similar, if not identical to Klaus. Milly blinks and rubs her eyes, but nothing, the picture doesn’t change. Apparently, he has a cult. That is so in character of him Klaus that Milly doesn’t have time to doubt of what the fuck is actually going on.

Roger sees her stare at the magazine, and he laughs “This was all over the news a few months ago. How did you miss it.” “I know him.” Roberts smile faded. “Pardon?” “I know him. He’s my friend.” “Friend?” Milly stutters, “Well, more a friend of a friend.” “Oh...” “I need to see him.” Roger stands up, “What? But he’s in like... a cult!” “Yeah, but how is he here?” “I don’t know what you mean?”

Jenny comes into the waiting room, smiling at her. “Everything is healed up.” She says, “You just have the scar, but aside from that, everything is alright.” “Thank you...” she says.

She turns to Roger the moment Jenny leaves “I need to buy a bus ticket.”

_______________________

She doesn’t want to say that she abandoned Mr. Miller and Roger the second she found Klaus, but that is exactly what she did. She still visits them once a week and gives them a bit of money since Klaus is now filthy rich. Who knew that a cult could bring you so much money. Well... she did knew it, but it’s still a lot more than she expected.

Flashback

When she arrived people immediately surrounded her and started showing her their palms. The all had the same tattoos; the same one Klaus has. It made her a little bit uncomfortable to be honest.

“Hello” she greeted the people, who took a step back. Most of them are even walking away, now disinterested. “Nice to meet you.” A woman says, kissing her head. Someone save her please.

“Umm. I was wondering if I could meet up with Klaus?” she asks tentatively. “He’s a... friend?” The woman smiles and nods. “You are a very luck lady aren’t you?” she asks, placing a hand on her back and guiding her somewhere. “He just came back and is by the pool.” Milly is really surprised by seeing how trusting they were. A random kid shows up in front of the house and they welcome her with open arms and bring her to their “leader”. Maybe this cult wasn’t so bad after all.

“There he is kid.” The woman says pointing to... yes that was definitely Klaus. With a beard. A long one. Jesus. “He handles most of the ceremonies here, so he’ll find someone too tattoo you.” Milly’s eyes widen but she nods and thanks her.

“Klaus?” she calls.

Klaus does, in fact look up. She wasn’t 100% sure it was him until that moment.

He is sitting on a pizza floating in the pool, sipping a cocktail, with one of that weird long and curvy straws.

“Wait... I know you” he says. He gets out of the pool while Milly says. “I’m Milly. I don’t know if you-” she doesn’t even have to finish the sentence.

“OH MY GOD MILLY!” he screams and practically tackles her in a hug. She did not know they were that close...

“I thought you were dead. Well... I thought you weren’t even born yet... How are you even here?” Milly takes a step back from him. “Well... I just woke up here...”

“When?” he asks, giving someone his cocktail. “Like, in April. Why? And how do you have a beard like that?” “I arrived here in 1960.”

Milly’s eyebrows shoot up. “3 years ago?” she asks shocked. Klaus nods.

“God, I was worried when Five told me you where dead.” “I mean.. I almost was... Somehow I ended up in front of a hospital.”

“That must be rough.” He then sighs and mumbles something.

“Wait, how did Five tell you I was dead? And how are you here?” “Five time-traveled with us. The itzy bitzy problem is that I have no idea where anyone is.” Milly sighs, taking all that information in. Not much could surprise her now. Especially after what she saw at the Commission.

“Anyway, I’m living my best life here” he says suddenly, the mood shifting. “Come on, I’ll show you the room you’ll be staying in.” He started to walk away. Milly blinked a few times before following him. “My room?” “Mhm. I have a room for all my siblings, incase I find them. And one extra for Ben, so you can stay there. He doesn’t mind I promise.”

They stop in front of a black door. “You’re giving me a room to sleep here?” she asks. “Of course! Come on now, you managed to somehow befriend Five, you’re practically family.” It was Milly’s turn to hug him. She was practically family. She isn’t sure she has heard better news in her life. “Thank you so much!” she says.

“Klaus, why can’t she see me now?”

Milly screams and steps back immediately. “Ben!”

“Now you can see me?”

“Oh Jesus Christ.”

“Ok, yeah I’m not doing that.” Klaus says, looking between them. “I believe you...” Milly says, as she swallows. Hard. Ben takes a step towards her and Milly takes a step back. “I want to see if I can get corporeal and touch you.” He explains extending his hand forward. Milly tries to touch his hand. It works. “What the fuck?”

“I still want to specify that I’m not doing anything. “We know!” Milly and Ben turn to Klaus.

It takes only one second longer for Milly to realize. “Wait, does this mean I have powers?” “There’s no other explanation is there?” “I’m very confused.” She says and leans on the door. “Me too.” “Me three.”

End flashback

She has been staying there ever since.

What did they figure out in a month? Well, Milly discovered that, whatever is going on with her it has to do with touch. She can touch Klaus and Ben appears. After a few hours though she can’t see him anymore, until he touches Klaus again. If she concentrates long enough he can see Ben again, without having to touch Klaus, but that lasts for about 10 minutes. She’s improving, because a month ago it lasted like one minute. Less than that even.

She wonders if that also work with other people with powers, but she can’t access other people with powers, so for the meantime, seeing ghosts will have to be enough. And it’s fucking cool.  It can get exhausting though, and Milly now sees the burden Klaus has every day. Dead people are demanding.

Chapter Text

The 13^th of November is a totally ordinary day for Milly. But she should know better than that. Klaus isn’t home, so she’s left dealing with the cult alone. When she opens the television the news talk about a shooting in the city. And when they show the man Milly spits out the tea she was just sipping. That was old Hazel. Yes, he had a beard and white hair, but he was definitely Hazel. The news say that he was shot by 3 men and witnesses say that someone was with that man, before vanishing. Milly really should have seen it coming.

“Yeah, there was this poor child, about 13 or 14 that witnessed the scene. I was too preoccupied to notice where he run, but one second he was there, and the next he was gone.” The witness said in the interview.

Five.  No doubt in that.

But it until a few days later, when she actually saw him.

She was just strolling through the city in a (in her opinion) beautiful sunset dress and orange thighs, with red Mary-Janes.

(dress 2)

She walked in front of a shop named “Morty’s Television Radio” and her gut feeling told her to go in there. Not to mention she needed to develop some photos her and Roger took last week.

The shop looked closed, but the door was open. She entered.

There were two people talking upstairs.

“Hello?” she called, trying to get someone’s attention. “Sorry, we’re closed.” Milly had to stop in her tracks “What?” “We. Are. Closed.” Yeah no, definitely Five’s voice. “I’m sorry ma’am could you wait a minute?”

Milly’s heart was beating fast.

She slowly creeped up the stairs, making out what they were saying. “Beeker’s cameras is open today, but it’s two miles away. I mean, I’d have to take the bus.” Milly stared at Five. He didn’t look a day older than she last saw him. She changed though. She was a different person now. “On the other hand, Gibson’s is only ten blocks away, but I gotta cut through the park, and there’s pigeons-” “Elliot.” “It’s like five, maybe six hours.”

Milly is somewhat glad she still goes unnoticed. It gives her time to put her thoughts together and figure out what to do. Or in this case, what to say.

Then the radio speaks “Attention all units, we have a code 3-15 at the Holbrook Sanitarium.” “The hell is a code 3-15?” asks Five, walking up to a walkie-talky (turns out it wasn’t a radio). “Mhm, fugitives on the run.” The man answers, eating a spoonful of cereals. They starts to whisper and Milly can’t make out what they’re saying. “Imagine Batman, then aim lover.” Five suddenly says, and that description sounds a lot like he would describe Diego. “You get started on that film.” He says and walks away. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Milly immediately goes after him. “Five!” she says and to her credit Five actually stops and turns around. He then goes completely still.

Milly tentatively raises her hand and waves. “Turns out I’m also stuck here.” She says. That seems to unfreeze him. “Milly?” he asks. “Yep.” It’s weird again, talking to him. Once again, she doesn’t like it. “You’re alive.” “I survived. It’s um... a long story.” “I have time.” He says before stepping closer, taking her arm and blipping. Milly did not miss this part.

They blip in a park and thank god no one seems to notice them.

“How are you here. Alive. In 1963.”

Milly smiles at him. “Well, hello to you too. How I’m here, it’s still debatable honestly, but-” she stops, “Wait how do you know I was supposed to be dead? I mean-” “I saw the blood in the Handlers Hotel room.” “You came back to get me?” He nods. “Oh um.. Thanks?” “What happened?” “Hazel shot me.” She says but immediately adds, “not on purpose though. I caught him by surprise.” Five nods again. “I woke up in the hospital in April of this year.” “How did you get here though.” Five asks, analyzing her from head to toe. “It probably has to do with the fact that I may or may have not discovered to have...” she swallows, “some kind of powers I guess?” “What?” “Yeah, I know.” “Explain.” “Well, you know how I told you I could see Ben. Well, no bad example you-” “I believe you. We all saw him thanks to Klaus.” “Oh... Well I told you, but you didn’t listen.” “I know.” Milly blinks. She’s not used to Five being actually... well reasonable. “Well, turns out that I can somehow touch people and acquire their powers.” “Acquire?” Five asks raising his eyebrows. “My fancy wording is all that you got from this?” Milly retorts smiling.

“Prove it.”

“What?”
“That you have powers.”

“How?”

“Try to blip.”

“How?”

“What do you mean how?”

“I never tried this?”

“You must have, since you time-traveled here.”

Milly pauses at this. “I never actually realized this.” She thinks about it for a second more.  “It makes so much sense.” Five sighs and Milly puts a hand on his shoulder and focuses. “Do you even know how to do this?” “What do you think?” Milly snaps. She removes her hand and tries to focus on the patch of grass before her and imagine her standing on it. “It takes time to learn to travel like that it-”

Milly is then suddenly gone. Just for a split second, she is somewhere... She doesn’t have time to even take in anything when she’s standing on the grass she imagined standing just 10 seconds ago. “Ha! Take that asshole!” she says, careful not to be heard. Five just stares at her for a good 10 seconds then stands up. “Good to know that you aren’t completely useless now.” “Oh come on.”

____________________

Yes, talking with Five is weird, but not unpleasant.

“We are going to pay a visit to Diego now if you don’t mind.” Five says, and Milly furrows her eyebrows. “Diego is here too?” she asks. “From what I know, everyone is here. I saw it.” “Saw it?” “Hazel.” “Well that makes sense.” Five looks at her surprised and Milly sighs “It does not in fact make sense” “I’ll explain. Ready to go?” “I hope you know that I do not know how to get to Diego.” “I’ll teach you.” He says, “someday.” He adds.

Five grabs her arm and blips.

“I’m not trying to be a hero, okay?” Is the first thing Milly hears as they fall into the backseat of a car. Inside there is Diego, with an awful haircut and he looks... well bad, and a woman, who looks about 10 times better than Diego.

“Then why are you doing this?” the woman asks. “Because he is an idiot.” Five says, and the woman jumps and turns around. “Are you ever going to stop making these dramatic entrances?” she asks. Five shakes his head. It’s subtle, but it’s there.

“Who the hell are you?” the woman asks, eyes jumping from Five to her.

“Hi. I’m his loving brother.” Five says, smiling creepily. “I’m Milly.” She smiles at the woman then waves at Diego, who furrows his eyebrows. “Who let me to rot in the nuthouse.” Diego retorts. “Nuthouse?” Milly asks “like the asylum?” she blinks “wait are you the people who escaped form the asylum?” The woman nods proudly as Five speaks “To protect you from yourself.” Milly already likes her. She didn’t ignore her. “That’s quite sweet.” The woman says to Five furrowing her eyebrows once again. “Okay,” Diego starts. “Both of you, and I’m talking to you too Lila, out.” So the girls name is Lila. Pretty name. “Lose the crazy lady and come with me.” Milly sighs. “We have important business.” “I’m not going anywhere with you.” Diego says, turning to face forward again. Five looks defeated for about 2 seconds, then he smirks “Okay, fine.” He says as he leans out the window. Milly follows his gaze and spots the police officer. She drops her head on the seat in frustration, just as Five calls “Officer!” “Hey!” Diego is pulling him in the second the word comes out his mouth.

“What are you doing?” Diego asks, leaning into the backseat, so that Milly has to squish against the door. “I hear there’s a reward out for you two.” “He’s bluffing.” Lila says then, with a boring tone. Diego and Five tare at each other for a few seconds before Diego speaks again. “He’s not.” He looks at her for a split second and she smiles. “Fine.” Diego says finally “I’ll go with you.”

“And what about me?” Lila asks. Milly would like her to join them, after all, It could be good having another girl in the group. But also, it’s dangerous. Milly knows that by now. Five seems very conscious of this as they look at each other. “And I’m bringing the crazy lady.” Lila smiles at them. Milly already likes her.

_______________________

Five brings Diego and Lila to the - Morty’s Television Radio-, and everythings is normal. Well, that is until the shopkeeper or whatever comes out with a rifle pointed at them. “Where did you get the film?” he almost shouts as Lila and Milly put her ands up. “-The Frankel Footage- The truth this time.” He walks towards them, still pointing the gun. “You know that lunatic?” Diego asks and Five sighs. “New acquaintance. He’s harmless.” “He is pointing a gun at us.” Milly says at the same time as Lilas “Are you sure about that?”

“Are you or are you not an enemy of the people?” the shopkeeper screams. “Such an open-ended question, yeah.” Diego says and Five retorts “Really depends on the people.” Milly sighs and puts down her arms. “You move one more muscle, I will blow your brains out.” The shopkeeper threatens. “You want to take this or should I?” Diego asks, “No, I got him.” “Oh god...” Milly whispers.

Five blips infront of the man, and moves the guns trajectory to the ceiling, just as the shot echoes. “Diego immediately follows and takes the gun out of the shopkeepers hands. He gasps as Diego unloads the gun. Milly turns to Lila and whispers to her shocked state, “You get used to it after some time... Give or take 3 days, it depends on how sensible to blood you are.” “Good to know.” Lila whispers back, still staring at the scene in front of her.

Then louder, she says, almost laughing “What the hell just happened.”

__________________

They tie the shopkeeper, Elliot, on a chair, and start watching the developed tapes.

Lila is sitting on an armchair, painting Elliots toenails (weird), Diego is sitting crisscross on a table, while Five is leaning on the armchair Milly is currently sitting on.

A woman is seen on the tape.  “Is it on?” she asks. “I don’t know.” A man behind the camera responds. “What do you mean? There’s an -on- button. Just- There’s something over- that jigga-ma-thing, whatever.” It’s pretty sweet, the bantering. “I hit the jigga-ma-thing.” “Okay, well just- Give it to me. I know how to do this.” “All right here. Here. Hurry up.” “Okay, all right, lets see...” The tapes goes on when Lila speaks.

“There’s so cute.” Lila observes and Milly nods “I agree.” “I love old couples. I’m always so proud of them not murdering each other.” Milly raises her eyebrows and looks over to Five, who is concentrated on the tape. Milly looks at the film again.

“Why are we watching this?” Diego asks and Five shushes him. “I’m surprised you never got used to him doing stuff without a motive.” Milly smiles at Diego who sighs.

They focus on the tape again, where the man is. “Yeah, I... I’m Dan Frankel. And…“

“I’m Edna Frankel.“ The woman adds. “Edna Frankel.” He repeats. “We are in Dallas, Texas, to see the president. Today’s date is November 22, 1963.” Milly shuts her eyes. Shit. “Please don’t tell me-” Milly starts whispering “I’m afraid so.” Five whispers back. Milly wants to hit herself. “Well, that’s six days from now.” Lila says, the tape having her full attention now. “Where did you get this?” Milly asks Five. “Hazel.” Milly sighs defeated.

“Holy shit.” Diego says. “This is it. The grassy knoll. Kennedy’s about to get shot.”

Milly looks back at Five, who shifts his gaze to her. She whispers. “Are you talking about an assassination, or  another apocalypse.” “Both.” Five holds her gaze as Milly processes. Another apocalypse. Great. It’s not like she was just starting to process the last one.

“How do you have this?” Diego asks. “Hazel died to get me this footage.” Five answers. “It must be the key to stopping doomsday.” “Hazel?” Diego turns his attention to Five. “Long story.” “What’s doomsday?” Lila asks, “Longer story.”

“What exactly did he say to you?” Diego asks Five. “Well, he was killed before he could explain.  But whatever he wanted us to see, it’s on this film.”

“This is very exiting” the man on the tape, Dan Frankle says, before a shot can be heard in the distance, followed by people screaming. The camera falls to the floor. “Oswald.” Diego says. Five exhales, “Oh no.” He then turns around and rewinds the film. Milly looks at him, then turns around again when the whirring stops. Five moves to move the projector, or whatever that thing is called, back. “This can’t be.” He says, stepping forward to examine the film better.

“Okay, you gonna fill me in now, boys? What the hell is this shit we’re watching?” Lila asks. “No, That’s impossible.” Diego and Five are so close to the wall, they look like they are about to step into it. “Clearly, it’s not.” Five humors him.

Milly is absolutely speechless, as she looks at a blurry picture of Reginald Hargreaves.

“What... “What is it?” Elliot asks “Their dead father.” Milly fills Lila in, staring at the blurry film as Five and Diego whisper “Dad.”

Chapter Text

Five is pacing up and down, making Milly’s head spin. “Of course Dad would be involved in the assassination. I should have known.” “JFK right?” whispers Milly, mostly to herself but Five looks at her and nods, while also talking to Diego. “No, you’re jumping to conclusions.” “What else is he doing standing on the grassy knoll, holding an open black umbrella on a sunny day in Dallas the exact same moment the president gets shot.” Milly sighs. “What’s that guys obsession with umbrellas anyway?” she asks, again mostly to herself. “He had an umbrella company” Five answers, interrupting Diego. “Oh.” Milly is very pleased recently. She’s actually being listened to. It’s refreshing.

Five turns to Diego again. “It doesn’t look good, I admit.”

“No, he’s the signalman for the whole goddamn thing.” Diego exclaims. “Easy Diego. Seriously.” Five retorts. “No, it makes sense. This is what Hazel was obviously trying to tell you.” He pauses, “We have to stop Dad from killing the president.” Milly furrows her eyebrows. Wouldn’t that change the future? “Diego, calm down, all right? Dad was no boy scout, but presidential assassination? It’s never been his thing.”

“I think Diego has a point.” Milly intervenes. “I mean, who else could have killed the president. You?” Five whips his head to her and stares. “What? Did I say something wrong?” He shakes his head. “You skipped out on his golden years.” States Diego. “Skipped out?” he repeats. “You think I had it easy Diego?” and Milly knows where this argument is going.  “I was alone for 45 years. You know what? We don’t have the time for this right now. Dad’s clearly in Dallas, right? Let’s just go talk to him. Maybe he can help us fix the timeline.”

“Dallas is a big place.” Diego answers, without missing a beat. “We need to find him first.”

“Gee, if only we had some magical, old-timey way of finding people and their addresses.” Milly know he’s sarcastic, but she still answers. “Like a phonebook?” “Precisely.”

Milly is already up.

“Let’s starts simple. His name.” Five says as Diego skims through the pages. “Shit, nothing here.” Diego says after a while. “Try his company, D.S. Umbrella Manufacturing Co.” Milly shoots up. “Yeah, I know the name, thanks.” “How did I not know he made Umbrellas.” Milly exclaims, now paying full attention. “Uh....” Diego mumbles while searching “Holy shit.” He says then. Five looks at the pages. “D.S. Umbrella. Eighty-two Olive.” He nods, like he’s making sure he’s reading correctly. “Let’s go.”

They walk outside. “He okay to leave here like that?” Diego asks, when they pass a still tied up Elliot. “Yeah, he’s fine.” Five answers, and Milly doesn’t even argue. She is so used to this that as long as nobody dies, she doesn’t worry. “What about the girl?” Five asks suddenly. “Her name is Lila you know that right?” Milly asks him. “Irrelevant.” He whispers to her as Diego stops and turns around to look at Elliot. “Shit” he mumbles before going back to get Lila.

“Am I the only one who feels like they have something going on?” Five raises his eyebrows, thinks about it, then shrugs. “You’re a hopeless romantic of course you think that.” “Well I’m sorry for dreaming...” she rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling.

___________________

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay in the car?” Five asks her, again. “I can’t be the getaway driver when I can’t even drive.” She jokes, smiling. “Alright then. This is it.” He says stepping out of the car. “-D.S. Umbrella.- This is it.” Milly is not ashamed of walking behind Five and Diego as they walk up to the door. But then Five stops before reaching the door and Milly gets worried. “You okay?” Diego asks him. “Yeah, fine. Just...” he doesn’t finish the sentence. “How long’s it been since you’ve seen the old man?” Oh. Milly hadn’t even realized that. God, she feels like a bad friend. “Forty-five years.” He says and Milly puts her arm on his shoulder. “That’s a trip.” Diego says as he kneels, observing the locked door. “What are you doing?” Five asks, looking at her hand. “It’s called comfort, Five.” When Five doesn’t answer she continues talking and takes her hand off. “Also, I’m borrowing a bit of your power, just in case.” He nods and leans against the wall, next to the door.

“You know, when I was stuck out there, in the apocalypse,” Five starts, just as Diego tries to pick the lock, “there wasn’t a day that went by where I didn’t hear his voice in my head.” “What was he saying?” Diego asks, “I told you so.” Milly really doesn’t want to interrupt this heart-to-heart, but can’t they just blip inside. She blinks. Can’t she just blip inside?”

She smirks and concentrates on the spot right inside the building. “Well, if Dad’s here, he’s never met you before, so he can’t say -I told you so.-” “I’m sure he’ll find a way.” Milly blinks her eyes open and she’s inside. “Hell yeah.” He whispers as she unlocks the door from the inside. “Well, good job.” Five says, as she steps to the side to let them in. “Uh, since when can she do that?” “Long story.” Five and Milly reply.

“Right, gotta remember that.” Diego steps in too.

They walk through the house together, opening some lights to see better. The place looks abandoned. Five opens a light, but it closes a few seconds after. “Shit” says Five and Milly answers with “creepy.” “Guess Dad wasn’t much for home decor.” Diego states. Five feels the couch, then says, “Feels like a front.” “A front for what?” Asks Diego. “Does he know we’re coming?” Milly asks. Five shrugs. “Well, I’ll take the left.” Diego says and starts walking to the left. “Yell if you, uh... get in trouble.” Milly gets Deja-vu  at that sentence. “I’ll take a better look here if you don’t mind.” Milly says, turning around to get a better look at the door. “I’d rather you try not to kill yourself.” “Alright then.” Milly and Five walk through the door, finding themselves in front of a long corridor. “Creepy.” She says. “mhm.” Five opens the door to the right, as Milly tries to open the one to the left. The left one is closed. “Look at this.”

Milly turns around and is confronted with a very disturbing sight. “Mannequins.” She says, trying to hold back a smile. “Well, at least you know you have something in common?” Milly can’t help but tease. Come on, this is very funny. “Seriously?” “Sorry.” The woman on the sofa, next to the little mannequin girl does look like Delores. There is a man mannequin too, sitting on an armchair. Behind them, is a fake window, that shows the fake house porch. Everything is relatively modern, but, well not for them since it’s 60s modern. “What are you up to.” Five whispers. The light suddenly flicker, and they close.

They enter another room, full of mannequins. The pattern repats. The mannequin family is now sat on a table. But there’s a little boy mannequin too. “Five is looking at some documents on the desk, while Milly looks around. Not going to lie, the camera is pretty cool.

“Hey, did you find some-” Milly starts but is interrupted by some metallic clattering. “Did you hear that?” “Sh.” The clattering continues, and it sounds like... well like a cage of some sorts. “Don’t move.” Five whispers as he slowly and carefully walks towards the noise. Milly doesn’t think any of them would survive long in a horror movie. There’s a grunt, almost like a monkey? Milly’s eyes widen and walks towards Five, trying to make less noise as possible.

A baby chimpanzee comes out hiding out of the corners . “Hi” Five whispers, and his voice is sweet. “It’s adorable.” Milly whispers. Then she remembers the woman who got her face torn up by a chimpanzee. “And dangerous.” She whispers, her smile now less pronounced. “Pogo.“ Five whispers again, and his voice almost sounds hurt. Milly suddenly remembers that she has been here for months, and she had time to process everything that happened. Somewhat. But Five didn’t. Everything is still fresh for him. Pogo’s death is still fresh for him.

He kneels down. “Careful.” Milly whispers “It’s Pogo.” He whispers back, and the trust this guy has for a chimpanzee who doesn’t even know him is wild.

“It’s alright little buddy.” He says as Pogo walks closer and makes a soft cute little noise. Milly’s heart is going to burst. “Pogo. It’s good to see you.” Five and Pogo are now face to face. Then, suddenly without a warning Pogo screeches and scratches Five. “Fuck!” Milly exclaims, “Let me see that, god.” There is suddenly a loud noise and when Milly looks towards it, there’s a broken window. “Diego!” Five screams and stands up, still holding his neck. “Let me look, Five, he could have hit something important.” Milly says, opening her backpack and pulling out her First-Aid-Kit. “Diego!” Five calls again. Milly holds up a bandage to Five. “Put pressure on the wound, I’ll patch you up later.” She exclaims and Five, surprisingly, takes it. Milly runs to the window and promptly struggles not to scream. She does scream, when Five and her exit the room.

“Diego is down!” She’s already taking out the First-Aid-Kit. Again.

_________________________

“Are you sure Lila knows what she’s doing?” Milly asks Five, disinfecting his neck. “He’ll be fine. He’s been through worse.” He shrugs.

There is suddenly a loud gasp from the other room, followed by a scream. Milly purses her lips. “You sure?” Five just shakes his head. “Hey stop, don’t move.”

Five stops and Milly goes back to observing the wound. “From what I know, which isn’t much, you don’t need stiches. She pats the wound with a gauze, then takes out another one and some Band-Aids. “I don’t think you need Band-Aids for this.” Five says, his eyebrows raised. “I know I need them to stick the gauze to your skin.”  He nods. Another scream from the other room. “I said don’t move.” “Sorry.” “She secures the gauze to his neck, then stops.

She gasps dramatically. “Did you just apologize to me?” “Oh get over yourself.” No no, this is a huge step in our friendship.” Milly says as she removes her gloves, then exclaims. “Ha!” Five sighs and stands up. “What now.” “You didn’t deny we’re friends.” She spins around and throws the gloves in the trash can. “This is the best day of my life!” she exclaims. “You have low standards.” She just smiles.

____________

“Oh. he isn’t dead.” Five says, as he looks at Diego. “Disappointed?” Lila asks. “Oh, to see you? Always.” “So much hostility in such tiny package.” Lila looks at the gauze the says, “Did you cut yourself shaving? I could teach you to shave like a big boy.” Five sighs, “No, I just ran into an old family friend.”

“you didn’t untie him?” Five looks at Elliot, still tied up. He’s snoring. Milly struggles not to laugh. “Was I supposed to?” Oh Milly likes her.

They end up untying Elliot, to do something, Milly doesn’t quite understand. She’s observing him when a machine goes off and starts buzzing. “Five?” she calls. “Hey we got one. Hey, one of those machines you asked for is going crazy.” Elliot says, as he moves to the machine in question. “Which one?” “It’s the, uh, atmospheric radar.” He says as Five gets closer to the machine, to analyze it. “Good.”

“I don’t get it. What are you tracking? A hurricane?” “Sound waves.” He pauses, “We’re having a field trip.” is the only warning Milly get before they blip.

They land onto a corn field and Five starts walking in a specific direction. “Tell me what we’re looking for again?” “That machine detects sound waves. Let’s see how long it takes you to figure this out.” Milly furrows her eyebrows as she follows Five into the corn field. Soundwaves. “Wait are we looking for people with powers?” Five doesn’t answer, he just keeps walking. “Vanya.” “Precicely.” He whispers, the makes a gesture for Milly to be quite.

Five stumbles through the cornfield until they reach an empty stop. There, sitting on the floor is Vanya.

She stares at them confusion in her eyes.

“Hi Vanya.” Five smiles at her and Milly waves.

“Who are you?” okay what? Vanya stands up. “I’m your brother.” Five says it, like he expected her not to remember him. “I have a brother?” “oh.” Milly whispers, under her breath. That is incredibly sad. She has been stuck here, for nobody knows how long, and she didn’t remember anything. Although maybe it’s better that she doesn’t remember some parts. “Look, you can either stay here and wait for the IKEA mafia to come back to kill you,” “excuse me?” “or you can come with me.” The last part is said in a softer voice. “Wh- Why are they trying to kill me?” Vanya follows Five, and Milly walks behind her. “’Cause you’re not supposed to be here, Vanya.” Millys eyebrows soot up and she quickly interrupts Five. “Don’t you think it’s a little too early to tell her everything.” “Nothing is too early.” “In Dallas?” Vanya asks. “No. Here, in 1963.” Milly sighs. Vanya stays quiet, and then they reach another empty spot, this one, is different. It was made empty. And it’s huge. Gigantic. “The soundwave.” She says., and Five nods. “Holy shit.” Vanya exclaims.

“Yeah, pretty wild, right?” he pauses for a moment, then, “It’s good to see your powers are still intact. Let’s go.”

Chapter Text

When Milly came to the house Klaus was very surprised and confused. But he didn’t really care. She was a familiar face, and it was all that mattered. Also, having Ben get taken off his back for a little while was refreshing. It was funny seeing her struggle to get her powers in control. Klaus hadn’t seen Milly in a few days, but he wasn’t worried. It had already happened, Milly disappearing for a few days. She and Roger went on various road trips together. He even accompanied them once.

Klaus tried for months to find his siblings in 1960. Nothing came up. It made him sad, to think that he was stuck here alone, but now she had Milly and Ben, so things were doing good.

Until they were doing better.

Klaus was laying on his pink floaty with a drink in hand and a cigarette in his mouth when a voice called his name.

“Klaus?” He looked up and squinted his eyes, trying to recognize her very familiar face. It took him less than a second.

“Allison.”

Allison came running, and she took off her shoes and practically jumped in the water. Klaus had just stood up when she engulfed him in a hug. Oh how he missed hugs. “Oh, my god.”

Allison laughs as they hold each other for a not enough time.

“Oh, it’s really you.”

“Oh, my god. Oh, it’s been so long.”

“I thought you were dead. I thought I was the only one left.”

“I know. Mee too.” There was a second and he suddenly remembered. “Oh, Milly is also here!” Allions eyebrows shoot up. “What?” “Yeah, she’s here. Oh my god you missed so much!” he exclaims. “Come on, sit down, sit down. We have so much catching up to do.”

“You want to catch me up on how you ended up in a place like this?” Allison laughs.

____________________________

Thankfully Milly had opted for more subtle clothing today. Her closet was filled with colorful dresses, but today she opted for a button down and some pants.

Five, Vanya and her are sitting in a bar, while the waiter pours Five a cup of coffee. Milly kind of missed that smell. She still doesn’t like coffee though.

“Leave the pot, dear.” Five smiled at the waitress and Milly chuckles. “Thank you.”

Vanya was just staring confused at Five. “Is this normal?” she asks her. Milly nods. “Some things never change thankfully.”

Five finished pouring another cup of coffee when Vanya speaks. “You gonna tell me what the hell’s going on?”

“When you were a baby, you were bought by an eccentric billionaire.” Milly sighs. “He raised you in an elite academy with six other siblings with extraordinary powers, but in the year 2019, in order to avoid the apocalypse, we jumped into a vortex and ended up being scattered throughout the timeline in Dallas, Texas.” Milly rubs her temples. “You basically told her that everything she knows is a lie and that she doesn’t belong here.” “Isn’t that the truth?” Five looks to Vanya again. “Any questions?” she is staring in front of her.

Milly looks at Vanya and puts a hand on her shoulder, “If you want, I can give you my notebooks. Everything you need to know is in there.” She pauses. “And don’t mind him, he’s tactless sometimes, but he cares.”

Vanya nods shortly then turns to face Five. “What do you mean -the apocalypse-”?

“I mean the end of the world as we know it.”

“Yeah, but how?”

“You really don’t remember anything?”

Milly furrows her eyebrows, “You really doubted that?”

“No, nothing before a month ago.” Oh?

Then what do you remember?”

She struggles for a second. “I landed in, like, a... back alley. Got hit by a car. My head was ringing like crazy. I had no idea how I got there, where I came from.” Milly was surprised she didn’t even question what Five said. “What causes the apocalypse?” Shit. “Five,” she starts. She doesn’t know if he’s planning to say the truth or not “maybe we should-” Milly promptly closes her mouth when she sees Five struggling to answer.

There was silence for a few second, then Five speaks, “Asteroid impact.” Milly smiles sadly at him. “The big kaboom ends everything. Just like the one that got the dinosaurs, except way worse.” Five picks up the coffee cup. “Bad news, it followed us here.”

“What do you mean, -followed us-?” Vanya asks. “Eight days from now, the world ends in a nuclear doomsday. It’s a different disease, but... same result.” Vanya shakes her head. “That can’t be right.” “I saw it?” He did? “With my own eyes.”

Five takes a big breath “You were there.” His voice breaks. “We all were.” “Shit. I need to make a phone call.” Vanya suddenly stands up and runs to the phone. “Vanya.” Five calls.

__________________

“Who do you think she’s calling?” Milly asks trying to listen to the conversation Vanya is having on the phone right now. “Probably the family she’s staying with.” Five shrugs, sipping his coffee. Milly hums, “I bet it’s her lover.” Five turns to her. “What? We don’t know how long she has been staying her for. I mean, Klaus started a cult in less than a year, so I find it pretty plausible that she found a lover.” When she looks at Five again, he’s staring at her wide-eyed. “Klaus?”

Then Milly realizes. “Oh my god I never told you he’s here too.”

Five blinks for a moment, then nods, “So we have Vanya, Diego, Klaus and Luther. That leaves Allison.” “Wait you know where Luther is?” Five nods. “He works in a strip club.” “Sorry?” “I have no idea how this happened too, trust me.” Milly nods then says, “So the only person left to find is-” “Allison, yes.” He took another sip of coffee. “So Klaus started a cult...”

“Oh my god, I have so much to tell you about that.” “How about we start on how exactly you got here. From when you woke up in the 60s.”

“Well, basically I woke up in a hospital and everything was like I just time-travelled, but that’s because I did. I don’t actually remember how I did that but that doesn’t matter. The guy who found me, Robert, he offered me a job. Performing in bars. Very embarrassing, especially because old men would cuck money at me like I was a stripper. Like I’m fifteen for god’s sake.” Five purses his lips. “Anyway, a few months later I was at the Hospital with Robert for a checkup and I saw Klaus in a magazine. I immediately bought a bus ticket, and I’ve been living with him since September I think. Then one day I saw how 3 men were killed in a gunfight and there was a woman who said a Kid was there, but he disappeared. SO, I had a hunch it was you. Then I just walked into a shop to develop some photos, and... you know... By the way, I have to go to the hospital for a checkup so I’ll stay here and go in a few minutes.”

For once, Five seems to be listening intently at her. It makes her squirm a bit.

“They’re looking for a family member.” Five looks at her, “Sorry?” “The hospital... they want to know if a relative of mine is alive...” “And?” “Well, my grandma should be alive. I think.” “You know she’ll never believe you right?” “I just... I mean my life up until a few months ago revolved about surviving in the world as an orphan no one wants to adopt.” Milly sighs. “I want to remember my family. They all died when I was so young. I don’t have any memories of them. I want to know more. I want to remember them. Even if they don’t know me.”

“Remembering is not always a privilege.” Five says, after a moment of silence. Milly looks at the floor. “Maybe... But not knowing is killing me from the inside.” Five chuckles, “I suppose that makes sense. Very different situation, yet same outcome.” “What?” “You know... I technically became an orphan during the apocalypse.” Milly blinks. “Oh that’s even worse than me.”

“Aaand we’re done.”

Five then walks to Vanya and hangs up her phone. Milly sighs. Loudly. “What the hell?” Vanya exclaims. “We don’t have time for this.” Milly is so sick of this already. “That’s my friend you just hung up on.” “Listen to me!” Five grabs her by the shoulders

“Those people from the field are coming after us. They are never going to stop. Do you understand me? We need to stick together, find the others, figure out how to stop doomsday. Whoever this person is, They can’t be more important than the end of the world.”

“That is unnecessary.” Milly chimes in. “We need to go.” Vanya sighs and puts down the phone.

Milly stays behind.

__________________________

The hospital is boring as always. They make her lay down on the bed, take off her shirt and touch her stomach to see if there are any infections or the scar is healing correctly. Nurse Jenny inspects it for a while then smile. “I never expected it to heal so good.” she says, “It’s healing even better than we imagined. You may not even see a scar if it continues like this.” Milly thanks her as she slips her shirt back on. “And we have other wonderful news for you.” She pulls out a note. “We think we may have found the “Mary” you asked us about. We called a few people and there is this woman, who, sadly died just a few weeks ago, but her daughter, she says she would like to meet you. If you’d be okay with that. She does look like you actually.”

Milly doesn’t really know how to feel. I mean, her grandmother must be around 20 now, so meeting the daughter of a woman is weird. “She’s here...” Jenny continues and Milly swallows. “Could you get here please?” Jenny smiles at her. “Of course.”

Okay, now what is she going to say? Hi, I’m Milly and I’m you grand- No. That’s stupid and doesn’t make any sense. Hi, I’m Milly and I’m an orphan. Yeah, that also doesn’t make sense.

“Are you Milly?” Milly turns around and there’s a woman with black hair dressed in some white pants and a pink and purple button down. Her hair is tied up with a blue satin scarf. She’s smiling. “Yeah, that’s me.”

She walks to her and extends a hand, “I’m Mary, and I believe my mother was also your mother?” “Yeah...” Milly shakes her hand. “would you like to go on a walk to talk?” “Please.”

Chapter Text

“I’m sorry about your mother.” Milly says when they get out of the hospital. “It’s alright. She was quite old, 89.” “Wow, she lived a long life.” Milly furrows her eyebrows and looks at Mary. “Wait, how old are you? Wait, you don’t need to answer that if-”

Mary laughs, “You’re already making the math I see. Yeah, she had me very old. Unusual, I know. I think that might be the reason she gave you up. I’m 20 by the way.” “Sorry.” Milly mumbles, “I’m fifte-” she pauses. “Everything okay?” Mary looks at her with a look of concern. “I just remembered to have missed my birthday. I’m actually 16.” “You missed your birthday?” Milly shrugs. “It’s okay, it’s not like it would have been a big celebration...”

“The orphanage is a messed-up place I assume.” “No, not the orphanage.” Milly chews on her lower lip. “The system. People only want children as little as possible. They don’t care about the rest.” Mary bites her lip. “Then one day I’m going to adopt the oldest girl at an orphanage.” Milly smiles. They are walking through the city, entering a park. “Do you have someone who loves you at least?” she asks. Milly thinks about it for a moment. “Well, I have some friends, they’re just older. God, that’s embarrassing when I say it out loud.” Mary smiles at her. “You have someone, and that’s all that matters. And also, now you have me too.”

Not for long... Milly thought.

“Do you have a family? I mean- outside of your mom- mother.” Mary nods. “I have a husband, Gary. And a best friend, Jennifer. I love them to death.” Milly smiles at this. “They are the best people I know. Especially Jennifer. She’s kind, smart, funny, and for some reason still single. You know, it’s quite frustrating seeing her turn down so many different men. But sometimes I’m relieved, you know. It’s-” Mary stops, and she furrows her eyebrows. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this.”

Milly smiles “I like listening don’t worry.... But I have a question.” Mary nods, gesturing her to ask away. “How did you know we are actually relatives?”

Mary just smiles, a distant look on her face. “I don’t know, I just felt like I knew you, or, well, this will sound strange, but it feels like I will know you. I can’t really explain it.” “I feel it too. The -will know- part. Weird feeling.” Mary chuckles. “Yeah.”

“I feel like I’m the only one asking questions, how about you ask me something too?” Milly proposes.

“Sure. How about we sit down.” Mary gestures at a bench. “Please don’t tell me that was the question?” Mary sits down and shakes her head. “No.” she plays with the hem of her shirt than says.

"If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be?" And oh, Milly was not prepared for that question. “I mean,” Mary clears her throat, “apart from my mother giving you up...”

“I wouldn’t change that.” Milly finds herself surprised after the words leave her mouth. She thinks about it for a moment. Her family dying. It all lead to this. After everything she’s been through, after everything she needs to experience. She doesn’t think she’ll want it to change. She likes her life now.

“I like my life now... Despise everything.” She couldn’t meet Marys eyes. She wishes she could tell her. But she wouldn’t understand.

“Anyway. I wanted to ask you if you ever want children?”

Milly sees her face fall. Well shit.

Mary smiles sadly. “Yeah, I want children. I want one more than anything. But I-” she turns to Milly but doesn’t quite meet her eyes. “I’m infertile.”

“Sorry?”

__________________________

After that little hiccup her and Mary had, everything has been going well. It’s nighttime, and Milly is walking Mary back to her apartment. It’s even less safe now for women to be walking alone during the night but Milly can try to blip while Mary doesn’t have that option. It took a lot of convincing on Marys part to agree.  

But then they pass a bar. In front of said bar are lot of people, black people, Milly notes, and when she peeks inside she sees black people sitting at the bar. Protesting. A familiar figure. This is not going to end up good.

“All this for people who just want to be equal..” Mary whispers but Milly hears her. Suddenly. Everything starts. Inside the bar something happens, she’s not sure what, but chaos ensues. Policemen start hitting people and they start fighting back. “We need to get out of here!” Milly screams over the noise. “My apartment is a few minutes from here!” Mary screams back and grabs her hand, and they start running.

There are still policemen fighting Infront of her house. “You need to come in.” Mary tells her. “I’ll be okay, someone is picking me up!” she lies. “What? Who?” “A friend.” Mary looks at her weirdly. “Trust me I’ll be safer with him.” She nods, then an hugs her. “Here’s my number, call me and I’ll see you!” She hands her a piece of paper and runs into the house. A man greets her and lets her in with urgency. The front door closes.

“Okay...” she mumbles as she tries to steps away from the chaos. She needs to concentrate. She never travelled that far. “To the shop to the shop to the shop.” She says then blips.

When she opens her eyes she’s-. She blinks again and she’s inside the shop.

_______________

“Ah!” Elliot screams, almost dropping his,.. well whatever he has in his hands. A gelatine of some sort. “You came out of nowhere!” “Sorry.” Just as she says that there’s a loud bang coming from the bedroom. “Oh ew.” Milly exclaims as she sees two blurry figures in a very compromising position. “Where is Five?” she asks Elliot. “He still hasn’t come back.” She sighs. Isn’t that just great?

So Milly just sits down on a chair and waits. It’s not her fault she falls asleep.

_______________

“Good morning.”

“Jesus!” Milly shouts as she stands up, on alert. She looks at Five then puts a hand on her heart and relaxes, “You scared the shit out of me...”

He shrugs. “We need to go to Luther, he should have woken up by now.” “Sorry, you’re on speaking term with Luther now?” “You could say that.” Milly sighs as she yawns and goes to the fridge for something quick to eat. “Where were you all night. There was a protest and I’m pretty sure Allison had something to do with it.” She grabs a piece of chocolate from the fridge. She hates sweets in the morning, but that’ll do. “It was a protest to let black people into “White bars” if you know what I mean.” She grabs a glass of water. “Sounds like her, yes. Did you see her?” Milly turns to him. “No, but I had a feeling. Also, good job avoiding my question.”

Five raises his eyebrows, “You had a feeling, of course.” Milly chugs her glass of water then shrugs “Have I ever been wrong about a feeling?” She smirks at him. “Irrelevant, we need to go.” “Well, answer my question first then will you.” She pauses taking a bite of the chocolate. “Please tell me you didn’t bring Vanya to a strip club?” “Yeah no, it was a box fight. An illegal one for that matter.” “And you brought Vanya...” “I brought Vanya.” “Now we really need to go.” He walks up to her and takes her arm. Then they’re gone.

They have to barely wait a minute before Vanya comes storming out.

“Well that clearly went well, you ready to go?” Five asks, like the insensitive git he is...

“I’m going back to the farm.” Vanya announces suddenly. “What did Luther do now.” Milly whispers “Hey. Unacceptable, Vanya.” Five runs after her, Milly right behind them. “Remember we need to stick together.”

“Oh why, so I don’t end the world again.” Milly really wants to punch Luther in the face now. Like come on. She remembers nothing of her childhood, and you tell her she caused the apocalypse? The answer is no. You don’t do that. Ever. That seems like common sense to Milly. Vanya opens the car door then turns around again. “Were you even gonna tell me?”

Please don’t make this worse. Milly prays.

He makes it worse.

“You know what? In my defense, no. All right? And can you blame me? When you... get angry, shit blows up.” Yay, way to make it worse.

“Great. Are there any other family secrets you failed to mention?”

“Five-” Milly starts because she know how this ends.

“A boatload, Vanya, which I don’t have the luxury of sharing them with the-”Vanya steps into the car and closes the door, proceeding to start the car.

Five looks defeated for a moment then knocks on the car window. He sighs.

Then, slowly, the car window comes down.

“The clock is ticking on doomsday.” He says, “Just tell me that when I need you, you’ll be ready.” Okay, that changes the mood very quickly. “I can’t help you Five.” Okay, well, never mind, “I don’t even know who I am.” Okay fair. Too many emotions at once. Milly can’t handle all that.

“You’re our sister,” Five exclaim as Vanya starts the engine. “And a member of the umbrella Academy. Like it or not, that’s who you are.” Oh he was doing so well.

“Look, that’s who I was, okay? New timeline, new me.” Vanya says and speeds off with Five calling behind her. “No, that’s not how it work--”

He sighs.

“I’m sure she’ll be there when you’ll need it.” Milly says, putting a hand on his shoulder “I have a hunch. And we know I’m never wrong.”

“Never wrong?” Five says and Milly smiles.

Chapter Text

Lila rips Diegos bandage out. Diego is laying on the sofa, Lila next to him, while Five paces up and down. Milly is just sitting on the table in front of them. “So what, you just let her go?” Diego asks. “Well, Vanya had a lot to process.” Five sighs, “She’ll come around. I know she will.”

Diego turns his head to look at Five. “What about the guys that went after her?” “The Swedes?” Elliot arrives with two mugs and gives one to Lila. “Yeah, I mean, how do you know they won’t go after her again?”  The other mug is placed on the table next to Milly. “We don’t.” Five states. He walks in front of the sofa. Lila hums, sipping from the mug. “Any idea who sent them?” “Oh I have my suspicions.” Milly grabs the second mug and hands it to Five.

“But right now, our priority is finding dad and getting answers, ‘cause everything else depends on it. “Which for the record,” Diego starts, “I found him already.” Five sits down next to her. “And then you got stabbed.” Milly chimes in, earning her a glare. “And you let him go.” Five finishes. “We couldn’t even have a meaningful conversation.” Milly furrows her eyebrows. “Not that I know your dad personally, but he doesn’t seem the type to want to have a meaningful conversation with anyone.” “Not if you don’t give him any other choice.”

“He stabbed me.” Diego continues, matter of factly. “I’m surprised he waited this long, Diego. We’ve all had the urge.” Milly snorts, while Lila doesn’t hold back and lets out a laugh. “Good one.” She says and raises up her hand for a high five. Five just looks at her, then continues speaking. “Good thing I know where Dad’s gonna be tonight.” “Since when?” Milly asks immediately, giving Five her full attention. Five hands Diego a card. Diego snatches it and sighs as he relaxes back on the couch. “Where’d you get this?” he asks. “Found it at his office while he was busy stabbing you.”

Oh the file.

“Hoyt Hillenkoetter and the Consulate General of Mexico in Dallas cordially invite you to a gala.” Diego reads. “Whoa, wait.” Elliot says, scaring the shit of out Milly who jumps. “Hoyt Hillenkoetter?” he asks. “You know him?” Milly turns to him. “Are you serious?” Lila gasps, “We should go.” Diego turns to her. “Says there’s gonna be a seafood tower.” “Wow.” Milly whispers under her breath and Five sighs.

“No, Hillenkoetter is... is one of the Majestic Twelve.” “The who?” Milly asks, when Diego interrogates, “The hell is the Majestic Twelve?”

“What?” Elliot says, perplexed. “It’s a... a secret committee.” Milly watches as Lila literally feeds Diego a piece of carrot. Elliot walks to the desk behind her and Five. “Uh, scientists, military, uh, deep state.” Even Five is now interested, as he puts his mug down and stands up. “No one knows what they really do.” Elliot continues. “Wait, so they’re government?” Diego sits up grunting. “Shadow government.” Elliot states. “Yeah, Kennedy was the first president to try to push ‘em into the light, but these guys are not to be trifled with. Oh... he pulls a piece of paper out of a drawer and walks up to Five.

“Right here. This, uh... Oh, right here.” He shows a black and white picture in his hand, of men sitting at a table. He points to one of them, on the far left. “That’s Hoyt right there.” “huh.” Five mumbles. Diego sighs, now fully standing up, while Lila chugs her coffee. “I only count 11.” Lila says after inspecting the picture. “Well, that’s because they’ve only identified 11 so far.” Elliot informs them. “Who’s the twelfth?” Diego furrows his eyebrows as Milly raises them. “Your dad I suppose.” She speaks. Five nods, almost imperceptibly.

________________________

Milly cannot believe she has to infiltrate in an already secret meeting. Diego sneaks up behind a car, followed by a barefoot Lila, then Five, and lastly her. Diego changed into a suit, while Lila is wearing a red dress that they bought a few hours earlier. Five is wearing his Umbrella Academy uniform and Milly also bought a more formal dress. She also has a little purse with the basics of an First-Aid kit in it.  

“As much as I love this dress it really restricts my capacity of being able to move.” Milly whispers, adjusting the skirt. “You look fine. How do you expect to sneak in without it?” Five rolls his eyes.

“So what’s the plan?” Lila asks, “We infiltrate, we identify, we extract. Double time.” Diego hushes. “What the hell’s he talking about?” Lila turns to Five.

“Find the old man and get out fast.” He translates. “That’s what I said.” Diego laments, turning to look at them. Lila gives him a look. “On me.” He says, turning to the street again. He sneaks behind the car in front of them. “Behind you.” Lila says and Five narrows his eyes at her. “What, I can’t be polite?” she mocks him. “Cut the crap. All right? My dimwitted brother might buy your bullshit, but I don’t trust you for a second.”

“O ye of little faith.” Lila rolls her eyes. “Five, we could use some trust you know.” “No. You,” he focuses on Lila again. “Stick it up your ass.” “Prude.” Milly mumbles. Lila just laughs and sneaks to Diego.

“Whas that really necessary?” Milly asks, “I have a bad feeling.” He says, then he adds, “Do you?” Milly wants to pick on him, but ultimately decides against it. “Mixed. But she hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“You trust too easily.”

“Thank you.” Milly smiles and sneaks past Five to Diego and Lila.

Somehow, 5 minutes later they find themselves inside the building.

The first thing Five does is grab a drink. Lila follows his lead.

“I don’t see dad anywhere.” Diego points, as Milly looks around at the much more expensive clothes. She feels out of place.

“Just keep an eye out for the Majestic Twelve. I got the upstairs. Diego, try not to do anything too stupid ” Five says, then promptly disappears into the crowd. Lila starts walking to the other side of the room when Diego stops her be taking her arm and turning her around. “Trying to ditch me again?” Okay, Milly needs to get out of there, fast. “What are you talking about?” is the last thing she hears from Lila as Milly walks into the other room.

The place is filled with people dancing, and honestly, Milly doubts shes going to find anything interesting here. SO she opens the first door she can find and steps into the room.

Big mistake, as usual.

Three men are sitting in the room. 2 are playing cards and another is just looking at them.

“Oh you’re here for us then?” a man asks, standing up from an armchair and walking towards her. Is somebody supposed to seve drinks here? Now that she thinks about it, she should’ve brought a decoy. She puts the purse on the little table next to her.

Another man, sitting on a chair, playing cards cocks his head. A bit young innit?” he says with an accent.

Milly swallows. “She’ll do.” The first man says as he reaches out for her. Milly takes a step back.

“What?” the man asks huffing, “you want to get paid before the sex?”

Oh she needs to get out of here, fast.

“I think I’m in the wrong room.” She says, trying to sound as confident as possible. “You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.” The third man says, now having turned around to look at her. The man grabs her arm, so Milly, purely on instinct, not because she really wanted to do this, turns his arm behind his back, twisting it in a way, an arm should not be twisted. The man grunts in pain. “Let me go you sick child!” he raises his voice, and the other two man, stand up, leaving the cards face up on the table. “I’m in the wrong room.” Milly says, a little firmer now that she, kinda, has the upper hand. “I apologize for my mistake, but please do not assume I am an escort, please.” With that she lets go of the mans arm. She didn’t break it. She’s smarter than that.

Don’t mess with the time. She had learned that after all.

All 3 man practically charge at her. Milly forgot to get a bit of Fives powers. 

They stop to their tracks at the sound of a cough behind her.

“Gentleman.” The voice of a woman says behind her. Milly still doesn’t dare to turn around.

They huff a few times, but ultimately walk past Milly, who follows with her eyes, out of the door. Milly’s shoulders relaxe.

“Thank you.” She looks away from the door to- “Grace?” Milly snaps her mouth shut, but it’s too late. “Do we know eachother?” she asks kindly.

Milly is spiraling.

“We met at another meeting when I was still a child, I doubt you remember me.” Grace nods. “You are still a child, my dear.” She says, the corners of her mouth rising. “I suppose I am. But really, thank you.” Grace chuckles. “You mostly had it under control. Very impressive moves, I may add.” Milly feels her face go red. “Thank you. I didn’t want to offend, but I really was in the wrong room.” “Don’t worry, I belive you. I sadly have to go and also ask you to leave.”

Milly panics. “I- Of course, Yes. Sorry.” She opens the door when “You forgot this.” Milly turns around and spots her purse in Grace’s hands. “Thank you.” She nods.

Grace smiles.

“Great job.”

___________________________________

Five blipps outside one second before his dads cane could hit him. That was close, he thinks.

“Hey welcome to the party Five.” A voice behind him speaks. Milly. He turns around. Milly has a mans head under her armpit, dress crumpled and raised and eyes red. Then man puts all his weight forward and throws Milly on his back. She hisses in pain.

_____________________________

Five blips and gets behind the man, who is really to attack her, before she can even take a breath. Five kicks him on the back of the knee and the man falls forward. Five decides to just grab his head and snap it. He is unsuccessful as the man, much stronger than him, grabs hurls him the exact way he did Milly a few seconds ago.

She can just move in time for Five to land beside her. She quickly touches his shoulder and removes her hand just as Five blips to the wall. The man stands up and turns around, thankfully leaving Milly alone to stand up and slightly fix her dress, that is ridden up to her thighs. Five tries to bilp, but he struggles. “Oh shit.” So he gets punched in the face.

Milly is about to intervene when she gets literally punched to the gut by the one of the man, with a much less dramatic and shorter Deadpool claws.

Fuck, that hurts.

Before she gets punched in the face again, she blips, and wishes for an empty room. She ends up 20 meters on the stairs. The man who punched her is now focused on Diego.

“Lila!” she whisper-shouts as soon as she sees her walking up the stairs, a big smile on her face.

She looks at Diego, then at Five. “I’ll help Five, you go to Diego!” Milly exclaims but Lila beats her to it and runs to help Five. That is... well, suspicious is the only word Milly finds.

She doesn’t dwell on it though, because Diego is still getting choked.

She grabs the man who punched her and kicks him in the stomach, making him fall to his knees. She then punches his face and ruptures her knuckles. Ouch. Diego then kicks him again, but the man falls backwards, making Milly stumble backwards and shattering the window, and she falls.

Well, not really, because she’s now standing on some grass in the parking lot. She should really trust her instincts.

She briefly looks up at Diego, who is now fighting the man with the claws and dusts off her dress.

She has to look at least a bit presentable, doesn’t she?. When she turns around she finds Reginald and Grace, stepping into a car. Five suddenly appears next to hear, as his dad opens the car door. He starts speaking, in a language she can’t recognize. It looks like the last attempt, Five’s voice, desperate.  Reginald stops to look at them for a few second, but he ultimately steps into the car.

“Five?” Milly asks, concerned. Diego and Lila appear beside them. “Was that him?” Diego asks.

“Yeah.”

_________________________

“You know, I’m starting to get the feeling Dad’s avoiding us.” Five says, irritated. “Hate to be the boring one, guys, but, uh, it’s time to get the hell out of here.” She starts to walk away when, “When you say “we, who exactly are you referring to?” Five asks. Seems like he noticed what happened too. “Not a lot of ambiguity in that sentence.” Lila looks nervous and Diego also isn’t doing anything to stop Five. “Listen, I don’t know who you are or where you came from, but whatever it is, I’d advise you to return posthaste.”  Diego decides to step forward now, with a defeated voice. “She’s right, Five. We gotta get out of here.”  Milly sighs.

“I just saved your life, you kinder-shit.” Milly’s eyebrows shoot up. German. “If I hadn’t stepped in, all that would be left of you is a blazer and some bloody socks.”

“And that’s the problem. You’re too good. You ask too many questions. You know too much. And you fight like you know what you’re doing.” “She does the exact same, yet you never doubted her!” Lila points at her. She’s not wrong.

“What do I-” “She never lied. Or kept things from me.” Five points out. Milly doesn’t want to burst his bubble. “And I read your file at the commission.” He whispers and Milly opens her mouth, only to close it again. Another time.

“He’s got a point.” Diego says.

“So I know how to handle myself, and that makes me the bad guy?”

“Whoever you are, you’re in my way. If I see you again, I will kill you.” That is, in Milly’s opinion, way too harsh. Five walks away and Milly follows him. “I need a good night sleep.” Milly yawns.

______________________________

When they are back home Five and Milly are sitting on the couch. Five’s jacket is lazily thrown  next to him. “Can I ask you something?” Milly looks as he nods. “What do you need to do to become the Handler?” “Sorry?” Five looks more awake now. Milly straightens. “Well, I assume you know better than me, given I’ve worked there for 3 months and you for” she stops for a moment “however many year more than me.”

“This information wasn’t disclosed.” Milly nods. “The handler spoke german right?” She asks. Five furrows his eyebrows. “She does. How do you know that.” Milly smiles at him. “I can also speak German.” She becomes serious again. “The handler was good at fighting. She also spoke German and, let’s be honest, she was a little crazy. But she could also fight very good, use guns and all that. I think that’s thanks to all the time she passed as a handler. Or, well, time doesn’t pass there but you know what I mean. But.” Milly chews on her lip for a moment. “You told me that she kind of became your friend when you met her right? She tried to manipulate you and all that...”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Lila tried to become your friend.” Milly manages to say. “She knows German, can fight really good and I think she’s trying to manipulate us.”

There is silence for a moment.

“Do you think Lila is the new Handler?” “No.” The answer was fast. But not fast enough for Milly to think there was some hesitation in it. “Alright. But I have an instinct.”

Five sighs and grabs his jacket.

“You always do.”

Chapter Text

“No, no, no, I don’t understand. They keep following me.” Diego paces up and down as Milly stares half dead tired on a chair beside him. “Wait, who?” Luther asks. He is currently making breakfast. Scrambled egg. A fucking angel he is right now. Five is leaning on the kitchen door.

“Those Dutch sociopaths.” “They’re Swedish, you idiot. Hired guns paid to eradicate us before we do any more damage to this timeline.”

“Yeah, but why now?” Diego asks, frowning. “I mean I’m-” he snaps his fingers a few times to try and get the point across. “fine for three months until you showed up.”

“Weren’t you in an asylum?” Milly asks while yawning.

Luther speaks up. “Yeah, I was here for a year, and no one messed with me.” Diego motions with his arms in a -told you- manner.

“Even if it was my fault, which it isn’t, we only have six days before the end of the world, and the closest anyone’s gotten to Dad was that driveway at the consulate.” There is a few moments of silence. “Well...” Luther starts, then sighs, “that’s not exactly true?” Five and Diego redirect their attention to him. Milly blinks, in an attempt to wake up.

“What do you mean?” Five walks towards Luther.

“I saw him.”

______________________

“That’s just sad.” Milly mumbles when Luther finishes. A cup is placed in front of her. “Coffee.” Five says. Millys face scrunches up. “Sorry, but I detest coffee like I need water to survive.” Five shrugs.

“That’s pathetic.” Diego observes. “Yeah, well, at least he didn’t shank my ass.”

“No, bro, he shanked your heart.”

They had all moved to the couch to eat breakfast now. Luther hums.

“Elliot walks in and looks at them. “Is that my bathrobe?” he asks, looking at Luther. Ew.

“No.” Luther says, with his mouth full.

“Look, who cares what he shanked? He knows something about time-travel.”

“I’m pretty sure all powerful enough men know about time travel. I read about it.” Five turns his head to look at her. “Commission.” She clarifies.

She had to stop so many people to discover time-travel before the right time.

“Um...” Elliot interrupts. “Why don’t you just do your thing and, uh, time travel us out?” Milly sighs.

“Anyone cares to explain?” Milly shakes her head and rests it on the table. Five stands up to pour himself another cup of coffee. “First time he tried, he got lost in the apocalypse.” Luther explains, matter of factly. “Second time, he ended up without hair on his balls.” Diego continues. Milly bangs her head on the table.  “Last time I tried,” Five starts, “I scattered my family across three years in Dallas, Texas, possibly triggering a doomsday. Any more questions, Elliot?” “Uh, no” he whispers.

“You’re missing the big picture here.” Diego finishes. “Dad is a ringleader of a sinister cabal that’s planning on kill the president.”

“Why is he so obsessed with the killing of the president.” Milly whines, head still on the table. “A cabal?” Luther asks at the same time. “Ignore him” Five shakes his head.

“Look, the way I see it, we only have one option.” “Oh, yeah? And what’s that?”

“It’s time to get the Umbrella Academy back together.”

Luther stops eating. “Hell, yeah. Family meeting.” Diego snarks.

“Okay, then, can one of you get Allison, please?” Luther asks defeated. “I can go.” Is Millys immediate answer.

“You two still a thing?” Diego asks him. Luther does a head movement and Diego perks up. “Do we need to talk?” “No ,she’s married.” “Woah. Dude, that’s rough.” “I can handle it.”

“I’ll get her.” Five puts down his now empty mug. “Can you get Vanya without, uh, squeezing her to death?” Milly snorts. “I’ll try.” Comes Luther’s sarcastic response.

“I swear to god if one of you returns having made an even bigger mess I’ll commit murder.” Milly says, cheek smashed on the table.

“Oh no, you’re coming with us.”

Milly stands up straight, now fully awake. “WHAT?”

_________________________________

Milly sighs as she slumps into the couch, a cup of boiling tea into her hand. Luther sits next to her with his hand on his forehead in desperation, while Diego is playing with gun on the armchair in front of them.

“Y’all know, Yell-O used to be a delicacy.” Elliot explains, “You know, in order to make it, you gotta boil down a whole mess of hooves... You know, horses, cows, pigs, it doesn’t matter. But not everybody had a mess of hoovers just lying around. It wasn’t until, uh...” Vanya sighs, making herself more comfortable on the couch. “a couple of sassy New-Yorkers figured out how to dry it out so that the rest of us could have a... a chance to enjoy this ambrosia.”

“If we have some will you shut up?” Diego asks irritated. “Maybe.” Elliot grabs a spoon and scoops out this, definetly not Jell-O into a glass. “Luther and Vanya exchange a disgusted glance.

“How are you feeling?” he asks her. “Pretty shitty to be honest.”

“Where would you say you are on a scale of one to...” he throws his knife up and down “ending all life on planet?”

Milly is exasperated.  “Really?” her and Vanya remark.

“Diego, put the knife away, you idiot. She’s fine.” Luther intervenes. Diego continues to play with the knife. “The last time I saw this one, she had me suspended midair, sucking the life out of me with energy tentacles.” He point the knife at Luther. “I think I’m allowed a little time to process.”

“Oh, I would love to see an energy tentacle.” Elliot chimes in. Milly shakes her head at him, signaling to shut up. “I don’t remember what I did, but I’m sorry... if... if that means anything.” Vanya sits up.

“It does.” Diego says, much to Millys surprise. “Just going through a lot right now.” Right, Lila. “There’s this... girl that I like. I thought she liked me, but turns out that she’s...”

Suddenly the door opens and there’s laughter. Milly recognizes Allisons voice. She can speak again. “Oh thank god.” Luther mumbles before standing up. “Hello?” Allison calls from down the stairs. Klaus says something in French and Milly understands only the word “little”. “What? You don’t speak French.” “It’s -the little death-.” And Milly has all the confirmation she needed.

She looks at them from the railing upstairs. “Are you two drunk?” Five is there too, shaking his head at Milly in disappointment. “I thought you said he didn’t drink.” He calls. “He didn’t.”

“I know this is impossible, but... did we all get sexier?” Milly wants to bang her head on the railing. “Hey Milly!” Klaus calls and waves at her. “Hey...”

“Vanya.” Allison whispers. Vanya smiles. “I can’t believe I have a sister.” They all walk down the stairs to meet with the others. “I swear he was sober when I met him.”  Milly whispers to Five who nods.

“I missed you.” Allison says, the emotion clear in her voice. “Thank god someone did.” She chuckles, and really, there’s nothing to chuckle about that. Milly would know. They hug.

Milly touches Klaus’s shoulder and tries to lecture him when he starts speaking.

“Aw, that’s so sweet” Klaus points to Vanya and Allison and then joins the hug. “No. Jesus.” Allison protest while Vanya giggles. “Hi.” Her voice is muffled.

“Klaus. Is Ben here?” Five asks. “Oh, uh... no. No, unfortunately ghosts can’t time travel.” What? It comes like second nature by now, using Klaus’s powers. She briefly looks around when she spots Ben’s hurt face. Milly sighs. “Are you kidding me?” Ben is sitting on the chair behind Klaus. He barely acknowledge  his brother. Milly gets closer to Five and whispers. “He’s here, Klaus lied. They’re fighting.” Five briefly nods “All right, then. Let’s get down to business.” Everyone walks up the stairs, but Milly is a bit slower. “I’m sorry.” She whispers to Ben who shrugs. “Five knows.” “Thank you.”

__________________________

“All right.” Five starts when everyone is upstairs. “First off, I wanna say I’m sorry. I know I normally screwed the pooch on this whole going-back-in-time-and-getting-stuck thing. But the real kick in the pants here is we brought the end of the world with us. “Oh my god again?” Klaus says, a bottle of alcohol and a glass in his hands. There’s a moment of silence. “All of you knew?”  Klaus asks, “Why am I always the last one to find out about the end of the- oh, my god. My cult is gonna be so pissed. Five!” Milly and Ben exchange glances. “I told them we had until 2019.”

“We have until Monday. We have 6 days.” Five informs.

“Is it Vanya?” he asks and gets reprimanded by Allison. “What? It’s usually Vanya.”

Vanya promptly ignores this and looks to Five. “Do you have any leads, Five?” “Yeah, we have one.” He passes a File to Allison, who opens it. Inside is a picture of Reginald Hargreeves. “Holy shit is that dad?” Allison asks perplexed. “Yeah.”

“That’s him?” Vanya shouldn’t be so clueless now, Milly notes.

“Standing on the grassy knoll.” Diego confirms.

“Diego and I have been trying to talk to Dad about what exactly this means.” Excuse me, Milly was there too, thank you.

“So far we got nothing.” “Not nothing.” Diego intervenes. “He’s planning to kill Kennedy.” Milly sighs and Five speaks. “Maybe. But we don’t know who or what sets doomsday in motion. Cloud be Kennedy, could be something entirely independent. But if we know something changes the timeline, we have to make it right.”

“Yeah, but how are we supposed to fix it if we don’t know what’s broken?” Allison asks, and really, Milly has been trying to figure that out for the past days.

“Come on. Do the math. We know Dad’s having shady-ass meetings with some shady-ass people. We know he’s on the grassy knoll on three days to kill the president. So I think we all know what we have to do.” Diego sounds crazy from Millys perspective.

“Yeah, but the murder happens 3 days before the apocalypse. The last time it was action-reaction. No in-between.”

“We need to find dad.” “-kill dad.” Five and Diego both say. Milly sighs.

“None of us are supposed to be here, right?” Vanya questions, “I mean, what if it’s us? Has anyone here done anything to screw up the timeline?” Well shit.

The silence is deafening. “Diego has been stalking Lee Harvey Oswald.” Luther decides to speak. “And you’re working for Jack Ruby.” Diego points an angry finger at him. “Allison has been very involved in local politics.” Klaus mumbles “Okay, you started a cult.” “Thank you!” comes Bens answer. “I’m.. I’m. just a... a nanny on a farm. I don’t have anything to do with all of that.” Vanya speaks up while Klaus literally growls at Allison. ”Well, maybe you do, we just don’t know it yet.” Allison accuses.  “I may have played songs that don’t exist yet. “Well thank you for your honesty.” Comes Fives voice.

Diego whistles loudly. “Listen to yourselves. Everything in our lives is connected to Kennedy.” Oh my god really? “That can’t be a coincidence. Luther works for Ruby, Allison is protesting the government, Dad is on the grassy knoll, Klaus is..” he stops for a moment. “doing something weird and pervy but probably related. See, clearly, we were all sent back here for one special reason: saving John Fitzgerald Kennedy.” Wow the whole name.

“I’m sorry, but how are we meant to fix the timeline by changing it further?” Milly asks.

She turns to Five, while everyone starts to argue. He looks like he’s remembering things. “Five?” Milly calls. “Is everything-”

“Guys, you all die.” He suddenly says and the room goes silent once again. “I was there. I saw it. And I wanna forget it, but I can’t. I saw Russian nukes vaporize the world with all of you on it...” Jesus “in a war that never happened until we brought it here. And Hazel gave his life to save us, so you may need to shut up and just listen to me.” He takes a deep breath. “I don’t know if the things we’ve experienced here are all connected. I don’t know if there’s a reason for everything. But Dad will.” His voice then becomes softer. “We need to talk to him before everyone and everything we know is dead.”

“Okay, I’m out.” Luther stands up. “Oh my god are you serious.” Milly exclaims, to no one in particular. “Did you even hear me Luther?”

“Yeah, yeah I did. I heard a 58-year-old man who still wants his daddy to come fix everything.” Oh that’s not fair. Milly stands. “That’s not fair Luther.” “When did you become part of the family huh? Having powers doesn’t mean anything.” Milly sits back down. He then looks to Five again. “Well, you can count me out. It’s time we all grew the hell up.”

Everyone starts calling for him then, but Milly just bits her lip. She knew it was true but she still considered them her friends. She doesn’t want to think about it anymore.

Five blips away, and Milly doesn’t even look where he goes.

“He didn’t mean it.” Ben whispers then. “He’ll apologize.”

Milly just nods.

Five isn’t back yet, probably still trying to stop Diego.
____________________________

“You know, I could really go for some Tacos right now. Allison? Tacos?”

Klaus puts the Jell-O down. Klaus, Allison Vanya and Milly (and Ben) have been sitting here for what feels like an eternity.

“Shouldn’t we wait?” Allison smiles.

“You know those guys.” Klaus dismisses her, “I mean, it could take forever for them to bro it out.” He turns to Vanya and her. “Vanya, Milly, Tacos?”

Milly shrugs and looks at Vanya. “Is there any way that tacos are gonna cause the end of the world?” she smiles at Allison. “I mean, there’s only one way to find out, right?” Klaus scoffs while Allison is already grabbing her purse. “Sure is” she giggles. Milly stands up, a tiny smile on her face.

“I’ve missed you all.” Milly hears Ben say when they go down the stairs. She turns around and gives the biggest smile she can manage and waves at him. Ben smiles sadly.

___________________________

Music is playing at the hair saloon, which put Milly in a better mood. Allison groans, then chuckles as she picks up a bottle of alcohol with one hand, the other holding cigar.

“The neve of that man.”  She starts. “I mean, one thing goes wrong, and he’s on a warpath. I mean, does he know who I am? No, no. No, Ray, you know exactly who I am.” She stands behind the saloon chair Klaus is sitting in, his feet on the counter. “You just can’t handle it.” “Exactly!” Milly waves her hands around a bit. This is technically her first time drinking. Not that she drunk much. A glass of white wine was enough.

Vanya makes handguns and shoots at the mirror in front of her. “I’m protecting him.” Allison slaps Klaus’s arm. “Ow. From what?” “The end of the world for one.”

“Is the world really gonna end in 6 days?” Vanya says, her speech slurred. “Well, it did last time, and we did everything Five could think of to stop it.” Allison is somehow the least drunk of all four of them.

“Hey,” Klaus sits up, which makes Allison loose grip on his hair. Milly turns her spinny chair around and stops braiding her hair for a moment. “wouldn’t it be weird if Five grew up hot?” He stands up from the chair, a cigarette in his mouth. “Wouldn’t that be weird?”

“Why are you even thinking about that.” Milly laughs.  

“Ew.” Emphatizes Allison, so naturally Klaus mocks her. “Please, Miss-Luther was my lover.” He starts to make kissing sounds.

“You had a relationship with Luther’” Milly exclaims, now feeling very sober. “We have never even kissed!” Allison argues, holding her hand up to stop the noises Klaus is making. “Yeah, but you guys were making little sick moon-dog eyes at each other all through puberty and breakfast and all that.” Klaus takes a sip of his drink in a flask and Vanya now redirects her attention to them as she turns her chair around.

Allison, who decided to sit down, puts her feet of a stool and crosses her legs. “Aren’t we all brothers and sisters, or...?” Vanya asks, which is fair.

Klaus snorts.

“Well... technically, it-” Allison starts “-Technically?- If you have to word... use the word technically you’re already in trouble.” Klaus mocks her.

Milly leans to Vanya and says. “Adopted, It’s the easierst way to explain it. You’re not blood related.”

“Okay, can... can we focus?” Allison laughs, “I mean, clearly we’re not saving the world tonight, but maybe, maybe, we could at least try to save my marriage.” Klaus fills up his flask with more alcohol.

“No! No, because that’s like... that’s like asking a nun how to hump someone’s leg.” He pauses. “I mean, who in this room knows shit about relationships? This one?” he points to Vanya, “In secret love with some farm Frau.” “Her name’s Sissy.” “Which is an improvement on her previous love interest, the serial killer.”  “What?” “Meanwhile, I’m carrying a torch... for a soldier I haven’t even technically met yet. You are just 16 so you don’t count, and Luther is in love with his sister.” “Okay, again, we are not biological.” “Face it, the healthiest long-term relationship in this family was when Five was banging that mannequin.”

Milly bursts out giggling. “It was.”

“The only thing the Umbrella Academy knows about love...” he raises his flask up in the air as a toast, “is how to screw it up.”

Allison lifts her bottler. “Cheers.”

“How do you guys deal with this?” Vanya asks suddenly. “What?”

“I mean, all of it. The time travel. Seeing the dead, the end of the world.”

“We.. I get really high.” Klaus stumbles around and sits on a waiting chair. “Allison... Allison...” he then starts whispering “lies to herself.” Allison kicks the stool in Klaus’s direction. “And you suppress all your emotions deep, deep down until you... you blow shit up.”

“Yeah, I’d really like to not do that anymore.” Vanya notes. Milly spins around in her chair. “Well, you got six days, missy.”

“What the hell are we supposed to do with six days?” Allison has her back turned on them now.

“Party?” Klaus chuckles.

“I’m gonna tell Sissy that I love her.”

“Woah, isn’t it kind of too soon?” Milly asks, a little alarmed. “I don’t want any secrets.” Vanya explains. “Yeah.” Klaus mumbles. “Yeah.” Allison says, more confident as she slaps the comb on the counter.

She stands up, the bottle of alcohol still in her hand. “Yeah, yeah, you’re right. Yea, ‘cause, you know, if... if it’s all gonna go tits-up, the least I could do is be honest with my husband.”

“Oh... does that mean I have to face my cult? I just hate group breakups. It’s why I stopped dating twins.”  

“This family is amazing.” Vanya suddenly exclaims and Klaus cackles. “Yeah sure.” “Okay, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. “Come here, you twoooo.” Klaus encourages them as him and Allison hug in the middle of the room, “Get over here!” “I love you guys.” Klaus mumbles as the group hug gets bigger.

“You guys, I love this song.”

“Jazz, I LOVE Jazz!” Milly squeals jumping up.

While dancing in a random hair salon in the 60s, being with people she met almost a year ago, even though the time spent together was much less, Milly for the first time fells entirely at piece. Like nothing could ever get her.

She was, of course, wrong.

Chapter Text

Went they come back, Five isn’t there yet. Milly picks up some pieces of paper and starts making origamis. It was one of the few things she picked up at the orphanage. She presses her lips together and thinks.

Before everything she often had the urge to make origamis of something. The first origami she made alone, she remembers exactly, was a coffin. She doesn’t know how she learned. With her tiny, 2 year old baby hands.  She showed it to her mother, which on hindsight wasn’t such a good idea. But still, she made, flowers, masks, coffins (though she forgot how to make one after her grandma died), stars, a 3D moon, she even did a fish tank, somehow a few days ago. Though that was more cutting than folding.

She decides on a simple cube, which she than shades as a hay block with a pen she finds. It turns out... well, not good, since the shading is a bit off and it looks like splattered ink in a few places...

She falls asleep shortly after.

________________________

Of course the Handler has a daughter. Five thinks as he watches Lila walk away. Looks like Milly wasn’t so far off.

“What is it you want?” he snarls at the Handler.

“Do you like jazz, Five?” The Handler asks, taking a step forward. “I’d rather lick a cheese grater.” “Jazz is like a beautiful woman. Complex, emotional, hard to please. She doesn’t just give it to you... she makes you work for it.”

“I’m really hoping that you’re going somewhere with this.” He asks, kind of irritated. He doesn’t have time for this.

“Under my leadership,” oh here we go “the commission would sound more like... jazz.”

“What about the board of directors?”

“Well, that’s where you and your friend come in...” Five tries his best not to furrow his eyebrows.

“Nope. No it isn’t.”

“In exchange for the assassination of the board, I’m willing to get you and your family out of this timeline and back to 2019 where you belong.”

“And what about world was III that’s due to kick off in just a few days?”

“Once you and your siblings are gone, that goes away.” Five is very skeptical.

“And the apocalypse when we get back to 2019?” “That too.” The Handler gets in his space.

“I distinctly remember you telling me that the apocalypse had to happen, that it was supposed to happen.”

“Back then I was toeing the company line, but once I’m in charge...” The Handler starts mimicking jazz music. It’s insufferable, really. “We can riff.”

“Yes.”

“Exactly.”

Five takes a step, then two away from her. He has to think. “What about the board of directors, hmm? I mean, nobody knows who they are.” Also, he needs to get Milly away from this deal. She wouldn’t stomach it. He’s not even sure he would.

“Correct.” The Handler says matter-of-factly. “But once every fiscal quarter, they get together for a board meeting.” Oh.

“Where?”

“The question in when. They meet somewhere in the timeline, but never in the same place twice, the exact location and date of the board meeting is the most closely-guarded secret in the Commission.”

Does she really expect Five to find all of this information in less than 6 days? But also...

“But you know where it’s gonna be, don’t you?”

“Would I be any good at what I do if I didn’t?”

Five leans on the barrel behind him and crosses his arms as the Handler steps closer, her heels making noise.

“I need some time to think about this.” He pauses, for just a second. “but the girl stays out of it.” “Lila?”

“No.”

“Fine. But remember, doomsday is right around the corner, and the way things are going, I’m your only option.”

Five scoffs. She’s pathetic and desperate. “Not yet you aren’t.”

He then blips away.

___________________________

“Diego, this is a setup!” Luther says mouth full. “Maybe, but we should go anyway.”

“Says the guy who’s already been stabbed once this week.” “I mean, would it be so bad to see what he has to say? I mean, you can handle yourself just fine. Your dad’s human after all.” Milly chimes in. She’s holding the cube she made the night before in her hand, fidgeting with it. “Oh, don’t worry, me and him are gonna have words.” Diego threatens. “Would you tell him that he’s nuts?” Luther looks at Vanya for help, who shrugs. “I think we should go.” Milly smiles. “See.”

They are all sitting on the couch upstairs, Diego being the only exception, pacing around the room. Milly is sitting next to Vanya and in front of Luther.

“Vanya, of all people, you should hate dad the most.”  he points out, and well, he’s not wrong... “Come on, can he really be that bad?”

“Okay, well, let’s see.” Oh no. “He isolated you from the rest of the family” “kept you hopped up on pills.” Not helping Diego. “And he brainwashed you into thinking you had no powers.”  Vanya looks stunned for a moment. “Jesus this guy...” “Yeah.”

“I mean, come on, I have to meet him.” Milly snorts as she looks at Luthers horrified face. She likes Vanya so much.

“You already know how this is gonna go.” Luther points a finger in Diegos direction. “Dad is gonna play all his little mind games on us, get into our heads,” Luther is still speaking with his mouth full... “and he’s gonna turn us all against each other. You watch.” “Luther, we’re not 12 anymore.” Diego then turns to her. “Apart from you, you get manipulated easily.”

“First of all, I’m 16.” 

“Well, we are grown-ass men. And women.” Luther sighs.                                                                 . “Hey. We can handle him.” Diegos voice is softer around the edges now. “Wanna know what’s different this time?” he says to Luther. “What’s that?” Luther rolls his eyes. “You got me.” Okay that’s sweet. “We go in there as a united front. No more -number One- -Number Two- bullshit. From now on it’s... Team Zero.”

“Team Zero?” Luther asks. “Team Zero. All the way.”

He extends one of his fists in Vanyas and the other in Diegos direction. Milly smiles, though nobody fist bumps him.

_____________________

“Hey Five.” Milly smiles at him as Diego keeps the elevator open and they step in. “Hold it.” Allison walks in too, and so does Klaus and Vanya and Luther. Five looks troubled.

“Good, we’re all here.” Five says, then. “Why are you here?” he asks Milly. She smiles. “Emotional support I guess...” The elevator dings.

They get off at Tiki Lounge, the floor number Milly doesn’t remember. “All right, when dad gets here, I’ll do the talking, okay?” “I’ve got a few questions myself.” Diego retorts, as they all walk into the lounge, just to find a big round table. “Hey, we don’t wanna scare him off, alright.”  “I don’t think your dad gets scared off easily.” Milly shrugs, and Five rolls his eyes. “He might be able to help us stop doomsday, get us home.” Theres the sound of an elevator opening and Milly perks up. “No, we need to figure out why he’s planning to kill the president.” “This is a matter of life and death, you imbecile.” “Five?” “Okay, yeah, maybe we should take turns talking. Yeah?” Allison remarks. “Here, whoever has got this conch shell gets to talk.” Vanya intervenes, while Milly is still trying to get someone’s attention. Well, not someone’s, Five, because he seems the more mature on. “Vanya, we don’t have time for a debate, okay?” “Maybe I should lead.” Allison starts. “We all know I’m a better public speaker than the rest of you.” “Jesus.” Milly whispers. “Okay, Daddy’s girl.” Diego rolls his eyes. “Oh, jealous, Number Two?” god what happened to Team Zero... “Hey, no more numbers. No more bullshit. We’re team Zero.” Everyone starts slowly settling down. “Uh, Diego.” Luther smiles “you don’t have the conch.” Milly tries, and fails, not to smile. “He grabs the conch from Allison and proceeds to smash it on the wall. “Classic.” Allison whispers.

Then the door bursts open and Reginald Hargreeves steps in, book and a notebook in hand, terrifying, and sits down. Milly, who has been sitting down for almost the entirety of this conversation shivers, while the rest of them stay silent and sit down.

“Not only have you burglarized my lab, set my chimp loose, conned your way into the Mexican consulate, repeatedly stalked and stacked me, but you have, on numerous occasions, called me...”

Klaus, with a cocktail in hands sits down next to his father. “Hey, Pop. How’s it hanging’?”

“...dad.” He finishes. “My reconnaissance tells me you’re not CIA, not KGB, certainly not MI5, so...” he puts his pen down. “who are you?” No one seems to speak for a moment. “We’re your children.” Five speaks up. Reginald snaps his face to him. “We’re from the future. In 1989, you adopted us all and trained us to fight against the end of the world. Called us the Umbrella Academy. “Why on earth would I adopt seven-” “seven.” Allison interrupts. “one of us isn’t here.” “Dead.” Diego specifies. “Yeah, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba.” Klaus mumbles, and Milly figures he’s talking to Diego. “Enough of that now.” He turns around.

“Regardless, what would possess me to adopt seven ill-mannered malcontents?” Milly sighs. “We all have special abilities.” Milly touches Fives arm. “Special? In what sense?” “In the superpower sense.” Luther specifies. “Called me old-fashioned, but I’m a stickler for a pesky little thing called evidence.” And honestly, Milly doesn’t even blame him.

“Show me.”

“Everyone wants to see powers all of a sudden.” Allison scoffs, and honestly, what’s that all about? “We’re not circus animals, okay? We’re not gonna bounce balls on our noses and clap our hands like seals for your amusement.” Diego grabs the table knife and throws it. “Here we go...” Milly mumbles as the knife flies, then changes trajectory, and gets stuck on the wall behind Mr. Hargreeves’s face. He doesn’t even blink, just writes down in his notebook. Everyone perks up at this. “What are you writing?” Diego asks. “You are zero for two, young man.” Milly snorts, but Diego stands up, and Five blips to stop him. “Stop.” He whispers. “Now that is interesting.”

“Alright, uh, quick rundown.” Five speaks up and starts walking around the table pointing at everyone. “Luther, super strength, Klaus can commune with the dead. Allison can rumor anyone to do anything.” Except she never uses it.” Diego chimes in, which results in Allisons “I heard a rumor you punched yourself in the face.” Cue Diego punching himself. “Damn it.” Diego groans in pain. “Can I?” Milly whospers to Allison gesturing to her arm. She nods as Milly touches it. “And you? Reginald asks Vanya.”

“Uh, maybe we don’t take Vanya for a test run.” Luther chimes in. “Oh yeah, that’s probably not a good idea.” Klaus laughs. “It’s fine.” Vanya says and concentrates. “I can handle it.” “Last time you handled it, you definitely blew up the moon.” Come Allison and a “no, no, no, no, no.” from someone else. Milly just watches. “No Vanya, don’t.” Five sounds pretty panicked, as Klaus gets up from his seat. The fruit bowl explodes in everyone’s faces. “Ops.” Vanya smiles innocently. “That was impressive.” Luther mumbles, while Allison stirs her drink. “Look.” Diego starts, but he is immediately interrupted.

“What does she do?” he nods towards her. Milly swallows. “Oh uhm...” “She’s another one with powers, though you didn’t adopt her.” Five chimes in.

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“I can, like, absorb the powers and use then for a determined amount of time...” She looks around and tries to blip to the other side of the room. It works. “I’m still learning.”

Then Diego starts speaking again. “We know that-”

“I heard a rumor you pinch yourself on the arm.” So Diego pinches himself. “What was that for?” “Oh that’s so cool.” She sits down next to Five and Allison again.

Diego sighs loudly, then speaks again, while Mr. Hargreeves nods and starts writing in his notebook again. “Look, we know that you’re involved in a plot to assassinate the president.”

“You were recently hospitalized, isn’t that correct?” Mr. Hargreeves asks. “You still appear to be suffering from delusions of grandeur and acute paranoia.” “Am I?” Diego takes out the photographs from his pocket and shows it to him. The photographs show Mr. Hargreeves standing on the grassy knoll. “That’s you. That’s two days from now on the grassy knoll at the exact same spot the president’s gonna get shot.”

“Well... I suppose you’ve solved it. You’ve single-handedly unearthed my nefarious plot.” “He’s bluffing.” Milly says to Five who nods. “Is that what you want to hear? You fancy yourself a do-gooder? The last good man who will save us from our decent onto corruption and conspiracy? This is a fantastic delusion. The sad reality is that you’re a desperate man, tragically unaware of his own insignificance,” that’s too far. “desperately clinging to his own ineffectual reasoning.” More succinctly,” Milly can see Diegos face crumbling, every second that passes. “a man in over his head.”

Milly is over this bullshit when Diego starts stuttering. “I heard a rumor you would shut up.” And indeed, Reginalds mouth shuts. Five snaps his head towards her. “Worth it.” She says.

“Look, forget about the president. We have a catastrophic war coming in five days. We need to figure out how to stop it.” Reginald lookt at Milly who refuses to make eye contact but gestures him to speak. “War?” he asks. “Men will always be at war with each other.” “No, this isn’t just some war. I’m talking about a doomsday.” “End of the world type of thing.” Milly clarifies. She’s in a shit mood right now. “The end of the world.” Five repeats. “Well, you’re the special ones, aren’t you? Why don’t you band together and do something about it?” Milly is this close to punching him.

Klaus grunts and raises his arms. “Is he having a seizure?”

“Overdosing probably.”  Diego says. “Should we do something?” “Klaus!” Five whispers. “Now is not the time. What are you doing?” Milly closes his eyes and tries to get some of Klauses powers on the surface. When she opens her eyes Ben is nowhere to be seen. She looks around. She’s using the bit she has left. She’s sure of it. “I’m...” Klaus gurgles. Milly furrows her eyebrows.

“Out with it boy!” Reginald encourages him.

“Ben!” suddenly BEN comes out of Klaus and they both fall to the ground. Milly stands up and runs over to help, while the rest look...stunned. “Well...” Reginald starts.

“Are you okay?” Milly whispers and Klaus nods slightly. Milly looks towards Ben and smiles. He looks happy.

“I’ve seen about enough.” Reginald stands up.

“No, I...” Luther stumbles, then hits the table and rips his shirt open. “Look at what you did to me!” he exclaims, and Milly looks away, helping Klaus stand up again. “That was amazing.” She whispers to Ben. Then, “never do that to me though.” Ben nods.

Milly pays attention to the conversation when Reginald says. “You and the culottes and the not adopted one. “I have a name you know...” Milly mumbles but stands up, brushing dust of her dress. “A word, in private?”
 ________________________

“You two seem to be the sensible one of the bunch.”

Reginald says, as they are sitting on the bar. “That’s because I’m the oldest.” Five replies.

“That’s because I don’t have parents to manipulate me.” Milly is in a sour mood right now.

“you know, technically I’m older than you right now.” Five says and Milly smiles slightly.

“Cognac.” Reginalds full attention is on Five. “Just a smidge.”

“The other night you quoted Homer at me.” Oh so that’s what it was. “Why?” “You forced us all to learn it as kids. In the original Greek, no less.” Five drinks out of his glass then continues. “This world ends in five days if we don’t get out of the timeline. “Worlds ends. Paleozonic, Jurassic, and so on.” “We can do something about this one.” “Man’s greatest flaw: the illusion of control.” “Well, we cause the end of the world, we can stop it.” Milly points out. “I need your help. “Your my last sane option. Otherwise, I gotta make a deal that I really don’t wanna make.” What is he talking about?

“What do you know about time travel?” “In theory?” “In practice.” “I know it’s akin to descending blindly into the depths of freezing waters and reappearing-” “as an acorn yes.”

“What transpired when you tried traveling before?” “I botched it.” “How?” “I jumped too far forward, got stuck in the future for 45 years in an apocalypse. Then I jumped too far backwards...except this time I bought my entire family with me.”

“Maybe your appetite is disproportionate to the size of your abilities. Start small. Seconds, not decades.” “Seconds?” Oh he’s mad, this is going great.

“Look, no offense, but I need a bit more time for what I’m trying to accomplish.” “So much can change in a matter of seconds. One could overthrow an empire. One could fall in love. An acorn doesn’t become an oak overnight.” He looks at Milly, who furrows her eyebrows.

“I was really hoping you had more than that.” “I’m sorry that I can’t be of more help.” “I’m sorry, too.” “I gave you such a hard time as a kid.”

Yep, that’s Millys cue to leave. This is getting too emotional, and Milly has no right to overhear such stuff.

“I’ll wait outside.” She whispers.

__________________________

Five was not coming outside.

Reginald did, at some point, so Milly had waited. Like she always did. Nothing. She thought he didn’t hear her and has probably just blipped.

Well, he had not. Or, well, she knew he had not because of the Handler.

But lets go back a few steps.

Chapter Text

“I’m going to punch him again someday, I swear to whatever is looking down at me.” Milly wasn’t planning on returning alone. She wasn’t that good at using Fives powers, and they had worn off a while ago.

So she had to walk. Outside. Alone. In the motherfucking 1960s to make this worse.

In a Bordeaux dress, definitely not made for the cold, her blonde hair covering her shoulders the only thing to keep her warm. She took it out of the braid a couple of minutes after she started walking outside.

 Jesus she sounds sophisticated...

But it’s cold, and she’s lost. What she also is, is desperate. So when the Handler appears in front of her and offers to talk in a warmer place, she accepts.

And so here they are. In a lousy hotel room, the Handler dressed in a 50s dress, smoking another cigarette (can’t be the first one based on the ashtray next to where she’s sprawled out on the couch). Milly has acquired a cup of tea thankfully.

“You know, time here really did you good.” The Handler says, observing, her eyes moving up and down on her body. “I can sadly say the same.” Milly scratcher her forehead, totally not on purpose. The Handler smiles, but it’s forced.

“And how is it going with your, little boytoy.” Milly furrows her eyebrows for a moment before the memories come back. “Please, we both know there’s nothing romantic, we just needed a little more time to inspect the folder Five stole that day.”

The Handler sits up, taking a drag of the cigarette. “You sure? You seem pretty cozy around each other.” Milly rolls her eyes. “I suppose you wouldn’t know about friendship, would you? He’s more than forty years older than me and that is definitely a larger age gap than,” Milly makes air quotes, “half your age plus seven.”

“We could change that.”

“Excuse me?” Milly’s train of thoughts stop. “I could send you on a mission. Somewhere were time doesn’t affect your body.” She stands up and takes a step towards her. Milly stays put. “You could work for me for a while. Time won’t pass there, I assure you.”

“I’m not working for you. Not now, not ever.”

The Handler smiles. “History says you will. And you know... I’m never wrong.” “And I also have a hunch on certain things, and I’m not working for you.” “I know.” The Handler doesn’t clarify what part she’s agreeing on.

“You won’t work for me. You would work for him.” She smiles, it’s all teeth. “The big boss. The one who created the Commission. You would work more with him than for him.”

Milly scoffs. “I’m not interested in working for the Commission. Trust me.” “Oh I do...” She reaches into her pocket and takes out a piece of paper with an address. “For when you change your mind.” Milly scoffs, but she takes it. “And if I change my mind in 50 years?”

“This address will be there in all ages, all timelines, all day and all night. For whenever you change your mind.”

She pauses, “If you ever tell Five, you will die, understood?”

The Handler snaps her fingers, then suddenly, Milly’s vision goes black.

_______________________

Milly’s eyes snap open, and she realizes she’s in bed. Well, in Elliot’s bed to be precise. She isn’t sure how she got here, and honestly, she’s not sure she ever wants to know.

Milly decides it is a sunny enough day to walk around the city, so that is why she stands up and goes to the sitting room, where Luther and Diego are covering Elliot’s cadaver with a blank- Wait. Backtrack for a second. What?

“Is that Elliot?” She asks, slightly horrified even though she didn’t see the body well. Luther nods when Diego starts speaking. “His assassin wrote this on the floor with Elliot’s blood.” He gestures downstairs where “Öga for Öga” is written. Milly gags. Again, she’s sensitive to blood. “That a name?” Diego asks, turning to Luther. “I’ll look her up.” He says, then goes to get the phonebook. “I don’t think it’s a name...” Milly gags again, Jesus control yourself. Then, Holy shit I found her.” Huh? “Call the bitch.” “On it.”

Milly walks to the kitchen and gets herself a glass of water, and downs it right in one go. It wakes her up a bit.

“Hey, It’s Öga för Öga, idiots.” Oh thank god Five’s here. “Swedish for -an eye for an eye-” She turns around then stops. “Why are you covered in blood? Also, I was right.” She briefly turns to Diego, but then settles her eyes on Five. “It means the Swedes killed Elliott. “Wrong number have a lovely day.” Diego hangs up the phone. “Uh, you have some blood on you.” Luther notes, which, thank you very much. “A lot of blood, actually.” Five just walks past them, not bothering to answer questions.

“Five, what did you do?”

_________________________________

“So, I found a way home?”

“Excuse me?” “What? How?”

Milly has made herself some tea, a mixed fruits one, with a lot of sugar, and she’s really enjoying it actually. Five is in the bathroom, the door open, and Milly is sitting on the farthest chair she could find. She can barely hear him.

“All the details are irrelevant, but... I made a deal to get back to our timeline.”

“What?” Now Diego is in this conversation too.

“What about doomsday?” he asks. “Won’t happen.” Five says, like that doesn’t give Milly a thousand more questions. “And the 2019 apocalypse?” “Everything will be back to normal.” More questions now, okay. “No more questions. We gotta go.” Milly furrows her eyebrows. “Sorry?”

“We have to find the others, right?” “Yeah.”

Five grabs his jacket from where he left it on the chair. “Luther, you get Allison. Diego, Klaus. I’ll get Vanya. Now we meet back in the arrival alley in 77 minutes. You.” Five points at her. “Go there and wait.”

Milly stands up, then says, “Sorry, but I have some friends I have to say goodbye to. I’ll see you there.” She puts a hand on his shoulder, then she sprints down the stairs in her dress.

“77 MINUTES.” Five screams.

“Heard you the first time.” She laughs.

____________________________________

“Yes, hello, is Roger here?” Milly leans over the counter at the bar. “Milly, it’s nice to see you, it’s been a while.” The girl, Milly feels bad that she forgot her name, is friendly. “Sorry, but I’m very late, is he here?” The girl smiles and nods. “I’ll get him. He’s cutting strawberries.”

Milly looks around. There is a group of kids her age, they just came back from school, judging on their uniform.

“Mimi hey!” Milly turns to Roger and smiles at him. He trashes the gloves. “You wanted to talk? How about we sit down and speak over a cup of coffee, hm?” Milly shakes her head. “Sorry, but I don’t have much time.” She looks at her watch. 53 minutes.

Roger frowns. “Why not?” “I’m leaving. To...” she pauses. “Australia.” “You’re joking.”

She shakes her head. “I’m really not. My family, it’s complicated so don’t ask, is moving there and they invited me and we’re going in 52 minutes, so I have to go. I didn’t get much notice, I’m sorry. I just wanted to say goodbye.”

Milly doesn’t think she’ll miss Roger that much. He was, after all, a man in the 60s. She had to endure a lot of very sexist conversations. But she loved him nonetheless. She didn’t want to disappear on him.

“Your family? What does that even mean?” Milly blinks. “Well, I consider them my family, I’ve known them for a while...” “You mean the cult where you’ve been living in? You want to follow a cult?” “It’s not-” Milly sighs. “I’m going, whether you want it or not. Also, it’s my decision, I just wanted to say bye.” “I can’t let you leave with a cult.” “Lower your voice, idiot. And they’re not a cult, stop saying that.” “Yes they are.”

Milly sighs. She has 49 minutes. “I had fun, thank you for giving me a job.” She says, then closes her eyes and blips.

She imagines a door, the one she saw when she accompanied Mary. Her eyes open, and she’s standing in front of it. A silent victory.

She knocks.

_________________________________

44 minutes.

The door opens and a woman with kind eyes opens the door. “Hello, how can I help you?”

“Hi, sorry, it’s urgent, I’m looking for Mary. I’m Milly.”

The woman’s eyes light up. “Oh my, it’s so nice to meet you, I’m Jennifer. Come inside, have a cup of tea, please.”

Milly shakes her head. “I’m very sorry, but I need to talk to Mary right now, if possible. I need to take a plane in less than an hour.” Jennifer furrows her eyebrows for a second. “A plane.” Milly nods, then looks around. “Give me a second.” Jennifer closes the door. Milly wants to scream.

The door opens again. “Milly?” Milly smiles immediately, feeling a bit more relaxed. “Mary, hi. I’m so sorry for disturbing you and coming here unannounced-” “Don’t apologize, why don’t you come in for a moment?”

Milly shakes her head again. “I’m sorry, but you remember when I told you about my friends? Well, I found them again, and they are moving to Australia and I’m going with them, I have to leave in-” she looks at her watch. “39 minutes.”

Mary steps out and closes the door. “Milly?”

“I have to do this. I need to go with them. I can’t stay here anymore, please understand.”

“Did something happen, is that why you can’t stay here?” she’s worried, Milly realizes. “No,” she tries to speak more calmly. “No, nothing like that happened, I just need to leave. I wish I could explain, but I can’t. Maybe I’ll be able to tell you one day, I don’t know. But I need to go, I’m sorry.”

Milly isn’t expecting Mary to hug her. It’s nice. She’s never been hugged like that before. “I understand.” The older woman says. “Go with your family, but don’t forget to send me some mail. You have my address, I assume.” Milly smiles, a bit embarrassed. “I’m sorry I couldn’t meet Jennifer or your husband properly.”

“Don’t you worry. Maybe we’ll come to visit you, when things are better.” Milly nods.

She thinks about it for a moment. “I’ll show you something you can’t tell anyone, okay?” She nods. So Milly closes her eyes and imagines the alley, from Elliots window.

Then, she’s gone.

_______________________

“13 minutes to go.” Milly cheers, then realizes she’s the first one to get there. She had a bit of a problem on the way there, she blipped in a different alley, so she had to sprint there.

“Oh good, you’re here already.” Five arrives a few minutes later, then opens the trashcan next to them and takes out a suitcase. “Is that from the Commission?” she questions him, but then Luther arrives. “Where is everyone?” Klaus then appears, but it’s weird because he’s behaving weirdly. “We’re here!” he screams, running up to them. Milly touches his shoulder and looks for Ben. He’s not here? “What do you mean we?” Five asks. Suddenly, Milly sees Ben’s head exit Klaus. “Fucking hell.” She exclaims and takes a step back. “What?” Five turns to her. “Ben’s possessing him.” Just as she says this, Ben exits Klaus’s body, and he proceeds to vomit all over the floor. Milly takes another step back, almost colliding with Five, who also takes a step back.

“ I can’t believe it!” Luther exclaims. “You’re here!” “Five looks at his watch. “We’ve got eight minutes left.”

“Where is everyone?” Milly wonders.

______________________

“We’ve got a minute left!” Luther hits the trash can. Milly wants to cry. They can’t just give her hope, then crush it like that.

“It was a simple task. A simple task. All they had to do was be here. Ddidn’t have to fight a giant sea monster, no. An army of mutants? Nein.” Milly turns to him. He speaks german? Well, should she be surprised?

“I can’t believe this.” Luther says, and Five is quiet for a moment.

“Here” Five hands her the suitcase. “What am I supposed to?” she asks, brows furrowed. “We’re not going home apparently. You can.” Milly blinks for a moment, then showes the suitcase back in his hands. “Hell no.”

It’s probably the easiest decision she ever had to make.

“It was handed to us on a silver platter.” “Can you moan a little softer, my head is killing me.” “Listen to me, you useless puke bag, we just blew our chance to save the world!” The briefcase starts charging and clicking.

Five grabs the suitcase then hauls it in the air, and the, with a flash of blue, it disappears.

“We were that close.” He sighs. “ That close.”

Chapter Text

“Now what?”

“Now nothing, Luther, all right? Make your peace with god.” Five screams.

Milly is sitting down.

On the floor next to the garbage can. She already said goodbye. She did everything she could and that still wasn’t enough.

“What about Allison and Vanya?” “Screw them both. They should have been here.”

“What about Diego?” Klaus, asks, still half dead and laying on the floor next to his vomit. “He’s quite a responsible young man, no?” Five sighs. “Something must’ve happened to them.” Luther supplies.

“Screw Diego, all right? Screw everybody. I was better off on my own in the apocalypse.” “Five!” Luther reprimands. “Come on.” “You know what Luther? It’s every sibling for himself now. How ‘bout that?” Five walks to the door. Milly scrambles up. “Hell no you’re not leaving me here.” She exclaims as she follows him through the door.  

“Hey, Five! Doomsday’s still coming. We gotta think of a new plan.” “Don’t you get it, Luther.” Five says to him, still going up the stairs. “It’s all over, all right? We’re already dead.”

“Then where are you going?” “Good, point, where are you going?”

“I’m going to do the unthinkable.” “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Kudos to Luther for asking smart questions.

Five sighs. “I was really hoping it wouldn’t come to this.” When the stairs end, Five pushes the door open and closes it in their face. “Come to what Five?” Luther pounds on the door. Milly sighs and blips inside.

“Forgot you could do that.”

__________________________________

Milly wakes up to an empty room. Five had been mumbling about something the whole night, not disclosing anything. “I have a plan.” Is the only thing he said. Milly stands up from the chair and goes to the kitchen were Luther and Five are talking. She pops a mint in her mouth, from the packet she bought at the store yesterday, before going to Roger.

“Morning.” She says, getting a glass of water. Five nods at her, then turns to Luther. “Well, it’s a desperation move, but... since our brain-dead siblings are incapable of meeting a simple deadline,” he walks out of the kitchen, Luther and Milly, with a glass of water in hand, following him. “I got no choice.”

“No choice about what?” Luther asks, perplexed. “I have to find myself.” Milly furrows her eyebrows as she puts down the now empty glass.

“I just arrived in Dallas 15 minutes ago.” Milly stands up straighter. “Wait, you mean future you?”

“Should I be worried?” “Luther, if you recall, I was sent to 1963 on a job by the commission.” Five rummages around the room, “to make sure the president was assassinated.” “Wait-” “Oh! So, wait, your old self is out there.”

“Keep up Luther.” Milly says. “Did you kill him or just made sure?”

“What, just walking around in Dallas?” “Walking around in Dallas with a briefcase that can get us home.”

“Oh my god Five, you’re a genius.” Luther sounds genuinely astonished. Milly snorts.

“However, there are two significant problems with this plan. Problem number one: I’m a trained assassin,” Oh lord. “arguably the most dangerous assassin in the space-time continuum. If I know me, I’m not going to react kindly to bumping into myself.” This is gonna be a long day. Milly thinks. “Problem number two, and this is the real fly in the ointment here: you’re not supposed to exist in close proximity to yourself in the same timeline.”

Right, Milly read that at the Commission.

“Side effects can be disastrous.”

“Side effects? What side effects?”

“The big seven.”

“Exactly, according to Commission Handbook Chapter 27, subsection 3b, the seven stages in paradox psychosis are...” he sighs and raises up a hand. “Stage one;” he raises one finger, “denial. Two: “second finger “itching, three: extreme thirst and urination, four: excessive gas, five: acute paranoia six:” he holds up the other hand, counting. “uncontrolled perspiration, and seven:” he stops for a second, putting down his hands. “homicidal rage.”

“Homicidal rage?” Luther asks, almost scared.

“Homicidal rage.” Milly confirms.

He immediately backtracks. “Jeez, I don’t know. This maybe isn’t such a good idea.”

“It’s a Hail Mary.” Five exclaims, throwing his hands in the air. “But what choice do we got Luther?” “I don’t know, you already seem a bit squirrely if I’m being honest.” “Can confirm.” Milly nods at Five who sighs.

“Look, I’m gonna need you to help ,me get through this one, all right? I... I need a spotter.”

“A spotter?” “Yeah.” “What is that, like a wingman?” Milly sighs. “In case of the paradox psychosis gets to severe, I need you to help me stay on task, all right? So, whatever happens, whatever I say, we need to get that briefcase. You stay here.” He points to Milly.

She shakes her head, smiling. “I’m not missing that for the world.” She laughs.

“Okay?” “Okay.” “Got it.” Five then turns and walks to the stairs, Luther, Milly thinks, now half traumatized, still rooted on the spot. “Luther come on!” Five calls.

“Right.”

____________________________________

Milly never thought she would be back in the Irish pub. The one with the French and American flags plastered all over. It was kinda funny. She enjoyed the music after all.

Five looks a bit around before entering. “Alright.” He says. “Here I am.” They all lean to look at future Five. He’s old, grey hair, and is drinking a Guinness while writing something down. The suitcase lays on the floor in front of his legs. “Why don’t we just grab the briefcase and run?” Luther questions. “Luther, I would never let that happen. We’re trained to guard these briefcases with our lives.”  “Right.” “Plus, it’s the inherent paradox where this gets tricky.”

Milly is still focused on older Five. He’s no longer writing but tapping the pen on the paper. Milly kind of wants to read it’s content.

“I’m endangering my existence just being in the room with myself.” Five finishes. “Huh? What do you mean?” “Luther, try to keep up. If old me doesn’t travel back to 2019 like he’s supposed to, the whole thing unravels itself. I cease to exist. You got me?”

Luther looks confused and Milly rolls her eyes. “So her best chance is to talk with him.” Milly smirks.  “I’m going there.”

“What? No-”

Too late Milly thinks as she takes a seat next to old Five.

“Could I have a coke please?” she smiles at the bartender, who nods. Then she turns to old Five. “Hello, nice to meet you.” She smiles at him. From the corner of her eyes she can see Five absolutely panicking. He purses her lips, trying to hide her smile. Old Five just furrows his eyebrows at her. She looks at his notes, but they get covered with old Five’s hand immediately. The bartender puts the coke down then says. “How will you be paying?” he asks. Milly doesn’t look away from old Five. “Put it on his tab.” She gestures to old Five who raises his eyebrows and also puts his hand on his pocket, where a knife is probably hidden. “Do we know each other?”

 “I told the Handler this wasn’t a good idea.” Milly mumbles, and she see’s old Five’s hand hesitate. Old Five then nods at the bartender, who leaves. She takes a sip of her drink. “We haven’t met yet, I’m Milly.” She extends her right hand. Old Five hesitantly takes it.

“I’m very sorry to disturb you on a mission, but I’m very, and I mean very in trouble. I can’t really tell you the details, because that would ruin your mental health, and, let’s be honest it’s a lot of paperwork” Milly tries to remember every case she read at the Commission, where the suitcase was given out for others to use and then brought back to the person who had it originally. “but... Well, how can I say this. I and some friends, who for your sake cannot name may have brought the 2019 apocalypse to 1963.” She swallows, not looking at old Five. “in approximately 2 days... or less... And we tried to reason with-” No, if Milly says the Handler doesn’t want them to get out of the timeline, she’s never getting the suitcase. “Well, anyway, we would need to... um... take the suitcase for about a day?” Old Fives hand shoots out to the handle of the suitcase.

“I’m sorry, I know it’s very inconvenient, but I promise I’m going to bring it back when you are on the grassy knoll, before the president arrives.” I can give you my worker number, I work as someone who handles failed timelines and tries to find a way to fix what went wrong, while not changing the events. I sit at desk number 3904. I can give you this.” Milly removes her locket necklace. One she’s been wearing since she was born. “It’s my most prized possession.” She opens the locket. Inside a picture od two women. “My mother and grandmother. I can give this to you for the suitcase and you’ll give it back when I return the suitcase.”

“What should I take a useless necklace for collateral for a time travel object, which I cannot return home without.” Old Five’s voice takes Milly aback. She swallows, and also, she feels very observed.

“I know this very inconvenient for you, but I just want to return home. I have no motive to not give this back to you, for the Commission to give this back to you. I just need it for an hour, 2 maximum to bring me and my friends home, and to stop the stupid fucking apocalypse that seems to follow us wherever we go.” She presses her lips together. Maybe the swearing was a bit excessive. “I apologize, but” she takes a deep breath. “I know who you are.” And honestly, by the way old Five is, and was, gripping his pocket that’s the only thing Milly can come up with. If not, she thinks the only other method is being completely honest. Which entails, his family being here. Old Five puts the suitcase back down.

Step one, make him trust you, almost accomplished.

“By I know who you are I don’t mean your name. I mean that we are friends. Or, well... you never actually said it out loud, but you tolerate me, since you bring me to missions. I would guess. You will know me too, in the future, I do not know how old you are, but in about 2 year max you’ll meet me. You won’t like me very much, at first, but now you trust me. And look, I’ll be totally honest, we’ve tried everything, and I mean everything to go back home. Even murder, which honestly, that’s not even our job. You are our last chance. So, please, for the love of God, help me and my friends return to 2019 and make our lives a little less miserable.” She pauses, then takes a long sip of her drink.

“I’m not above begging, although that would attract unwanted attention.” She says, quieter this time.

“If you truly know me, what do you know.” Oh Jesus.

Milly takes a deep breath. “7 sibling, Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, you, Ben and Vanya. In that order. You were born in 1989 and then adopted from Reginald Hargreeves, and-”

“If I wanted to know this, I would have read my file at the commission.”

“Alright then,” Milly purses her lips and tries not to smile. It’s a bit unsuccessful, but still, she’s trying. “Does Delores ring a bell.”

Old Five’s eyes snap to her. Milly composes herself. “I know she’s your lover, and that you should have an eye, well a prosthetic eye, in your pocket, one you found during the apocalypse, don’t worry, you’ll find the owner, you love coffee and your favorite sibling is Vanya. You haven’t told me that out loud, but you’re the softest with her so I’m just assuming. I don’t think anything else I say will convince you as much as this. But really. I know it doesn’t seem like it, but you can trust me. If I don’t return the suitcase, you would cease to exist, and I would die too, so it’s a loose loose situation for me.” She blinks a few times. “That is unless you give me the suitcase for an hour. Not more, I promise.”

“For some reason I believe you.” Milly straightens. “If the suitcase is not returned before the president passes the grassy knoll, I will make sure you cease to exist in the future.” Milly nods, then watches as old Five reaches for the suitcase.

Then.

“Five?” Fuck.

“Old Five stops and looks up at Luther, who is smiling. Milly wants to cry. She shakes her head at him.

“What’d you call me, big man?”

Don’t you dare, don’t you dare, don’t you dare.

“It’s me.” Fuck.

Fuck, shit, fuck.

“Number One?” Milly shuts her eyes tightly. She almost had it. She almost had it.

Old Five looks positively horrified. His eyes jumping from her to Luther.

“Luther.” Old Five says, and there is a hint of recognition and relief? in his voice. “How did you...?

“It’s okay.” NO IT IS NOT OKAY

Old Five’s guard is up. She can feel it. Milly looks at how he grabs the suitcase from under him. There never getting it now.

Old Five briefly looks at her. You set me up, they say. Milly shakes her head, eyes pleading.

But it’s too late.

“Everything is fine. I can explain. But first, I need to introduce you to somebody.” NO.

“Luther, don’t you even dare-” “Promise me you won’t freak out.”

“Luther, leave.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” “Uh! Don’t freak out.” “Luther I swear to god if you dare to-” Luther moves out of the way to reveal Five, who is looking from the wall at them. “This is what I mean when I told you, you wouldn’t react well to it.” Milly whispers, scared to interrupt whatever is happening.

“Hey there stranger.” Normal Five says. Old Five is absolutely frozen in... well, probably fear.

Chapter Text

You know what is weirder than drinking with Five and Luther? Drinking with two Fives and one Luther.

“Well, this is nice, isn’t it?” Luther is trying to keep up the mood, while Milly just wants to sink into a chair and die. “The four of us, together like this.”

“No.” both Fives say.

“Somebody explain to me how I’m having a Pint of Guinness with my younger self.” “Older actually.”

“Actually, let’s not explain that, okay?” Milly’s hands are on her face. “I’m you, just 14 days older.” Oh Christ.

“I have pubic hair smarter than you. How’s that possible?” “I wanna leave.” Milly whines. Luther seems to be in a similar situation.

“I can explain.” “Please don’t, I’m begging you.” Five waves a hand dismissingly her. Milly sighs.

“You see, one hour from now, on the grassy knoll, before the president is killed, you break your contract with the Commission.” At this, Milly perks up slightly. She’s curious after all. “I already know you’re thinking about it. All those years in the apocalypse, we never stopped worrying about our family.” Aw. “Well, today, you are going to do something about it. Today, you are going to attempt to time travel forward to 2019. However, you are going to screw up the jump and end up in this twip of a body. Trapped forever, small, pubescent.”

“Five, don’t you think you’re taking this a bit too far. The less he knows the better, you said that.” Five just shakes his head. “Okay.” Old Five starts then he-. Milly blinks. Stage four.

“Even if I was to believe you what am I supposed to do about it, not jump?”

“No, no. I need you to jump. If you don’t jump, I cease to exist. What I need from you is to jump correctly.” “I’m listening.” Milly is too. “The first time through, I got the calculation wrong. That’s how I ended up in this body. But now, I know the correct calculation.” “What is it?” “I’ll be glad to tell you...” Oh no.

“in exchange for that briefcase you’re holding under the table.”

“Yeah, yeah, so you go back to 2019, as planned, but this time with the right math, so you remain a full-grown man. In exchange, we get that briefcase that you no longer need.” Luther, for the love of god, shut up.

“Timeline restored, paradox resolved. Everyone goes on existing happily ever after.” At that, Milly stops.

Putting the pieces together should have been easier than that.

If old time jumps and he remains old Five, there is absolutely no way Milly would sneak into his car for a ride home. She doesn’t have a death wish. So, essentially, she would never meet him, or well, she could also be killed by him, but she’ll go back to the orphanage, and live a boring, life. She would forget how her grandmother looked like young, she would forget her personality, her stories. She would never meet the rest of the Umbrella Academy, leaving her weird obsession unanswered. She would forget the friends she made, the Commission, which, she shouldn’t miss, but she liked working there, she enjoyed what she did. She would never get to know Roger, sing on a stage and essentially, be happy.

She wouldn’t be the person she was now if it weren’t for all the horrible things she experienced. But it was also the best time of her life.

Milly blinked a few times, and puts her hand in her pocket. Here, rests the card the Handler gave her.

“What do you think.” Five’s voice snaps her out of it. “I think... I need to Piss.”

She has a few hours.

Milly abruptly gets out of her chair, a few seconds after old Five left. “Continue without me. I need to go somewhere. I’ll find you after.” Five turns to look at her, confusion in his face. “What?” “So sorry, but I need to go. I’ll find you.” She’s already putting on her jacket. “And how do you plan on doing that?” Milly smiles slightly before practically sprinting out of the bar. “I’ll find a way don’t worry.”

________________________________________

Milly clutches the piece of paper in her pocket. If she can find a way to get everyone home safely... She’s selfish. She doesn’t want to forget. She’d rather work at the commission than forget everything that happened until now. She just needs to find a way to convince the Handler to help her. She’s in front of a house. It’s a nice house, with a big garden, flowers on every window. It looks cozy.

“Right on time.”  Milly jumps as a woman’s voice speaks right on her ear. She spins around. “Hello.” The woman smiles. She’s old. Like, really old. Grey hair, a kind smile, her face filled with wrinkles. For some reason, Milly immediately trusts her.

“Come inside for some tea, please.” Milly nods.

Again, the house looks extremely homy, a light green wall with a big yellow sofa and a... Milly narrows her eyebrows is that a modern television? She slightly shakes her head and looks at the walls. They are adorned with landscapes and postcards, and a couple is in all of them, facing the landscape.

“All the places I visited.” The woman comes into the living room, with 2 cups of tea. “I lived a fulfilling life.” She smiles kindly. “I remember when I was your age-”

“Why am I here?” Milly interrupts her, but the woman doesn’t seem bothered in the slightest. “I want to offer you a very important job at the Commission.”

“The Handler says I’m not going to work for the Commission... If I take the job, that is.” Milly is failing miserably at hiding her interest. “The Handler...” the woman sips her tea. “I really disliked that woman. But yes, you wouldn’t be working with the commission.”

“What do I have to do? I don’t want to kill anyone, or m-” “You won’t, I promise. You have to accept the job though, before I tell you anything.” “And why should I?” Milly tries to pry. She does need some information about it. “I know you. I memorized your file. This house is standing in every timeline, in every city, every day, forever. That also means that I’m always here. I know, you will like the job. It does not involve anything outside of your morals, even though, they change with time... But my point stays the same.” “I have some requests, before I accept. I mean- if I accept.”

The old woman chuckles. She takes another sip of tea. “Tell me.”

“My friends make it out alive.” “All of them.” The woman stops smiling for a second. She scratches her arm. “That wasn’t a question, wasn’t it?” She sighs and puts her mug down, now relatively serious. “They will be just fine, don’t worry. This apocalypse will happen, but you and all of your friends will make it out alive.” The woman smiles a bit then. “They will all be okay.”

Milly blinks. She didn’t expect that. She expected resistance, anger perhaps, but not that kind of understanding. “Do you accept then?”

The answer comes easy. “Yes.”

“Well, then. Let me explain.”

Milly would always regret not asking the woman’s name. Or, well...

___________________________

Milly is wondering how she’s going to find Five and Luther, and, well, Big Five now, considering she has no idea where they might be. Well, actually, the grassy knoll...

She shrugs as she imagines herself, right were Reginald was staying on the picture she saw.

________________________________

What the hell is happening. Milly thinks as she appears in front of one of the most funny and concerning scenes she has ever seen. She chuckles.

Luther is lecturing both Fives with a shotgun in his hand, and the Fives are looking all crazy.

“Then, Five kicks Luther in the balls. Milly almost bursts out laughing. She wants to have fun, right now, after everything. She watches. “Shit.” The both Fives starts fighting. It’s the silliest thing Milly saw in a long time.

She’ll stop them. Eventually...

Then the Fives both kick Luther into the stomach. Milly is giggling at this point. She’s still a sixteen-year-old girl after all.

“I’m getting really sick of this!” Luther exclaims, still a little bit bent forward. Milly laughs harder. “What are you doing? Help me!”

“Wait wait, this is just too funny.” Milly laughs. She has never laughed so much in her life.

Milly stops laughing when the Fives launch at each other and create a some sort of portal. They get both thrown to the floor, so Milly helps Five up, while Luther grabs the shotgun.

“See, found you.” She smiles.

“I’m done listening to you both. I’m in charge now.” Milly raises her eyebrows at Luther’s words. He’s aiming the shotgun at both Fives and, well, her. “Now, Luther! Shoot him!” old Five scream. “Absolutely not!” Milly screams back, at the same time that Five shouts “No! Luther, shoot him!”

They go back and forth for a few seconds while Milly tries to get Five away from old Five. Well, technically old Five is young Five he just looks older.

“Luther!” Milly exclaims. “Do you realize what you’re doing? We came for the briefcase, not murder.”

Luther points the shotgun at Five. Absolutely not. Milly moves in front of him. As much as she can anyway because he’s fighting, for some reason. “Jesus, really?” She asks them. “I’m sorry buddy.” Luther whispers. He’s not going to shoot them isn’t he? Milly is starting to doubt. “Luther, I will haunt you down forever if you shoot, I swear to god.” Milly says, as calm as possible. She’s not the target, but a little miss could very well kill her.

Luther suddenly turns around and smacks old Five with the shotgun. Milly relaxes, gripping onto Fives shoulder. Thank fuck.

“Now, open the portal!” he screams at Five. Five does.

“Give me the math!” Old Five screams, as Milly watches the portal, with the whole Umbrella Academy, in 2019.

God don’t do anything stupid and comply for once in your life. She prays silently.

“So I don’t end up looking like Tiger Beat over here.” Milly inhales sharply. If the woman didn’t lie to her, nothing should change. She would still remember what had happened. Everyone else just wouldn’t. Which, honestly, Milly doesn’t know if that’s better or worse. Well, the better, the worst.

“You stand next to the vortex, and I’ll tell ya.” Five says, keeping the vortex open. He’s struggling. “Go!” Old Five steps closer. “Closer!” Five scream at him. “This is close enough!” Old Five laments. “Now give it to me!”

“It was a typo!” Five explains. “We put a decimal in the wrong spot in our proof of the existence of a bound for the number of limit cycles of planar polynomial vector fields of fixed degree.” Jesus, and Milly thought she was good in school.

“We wrote down five-point-seven- It should be...” “zero-point-five-seven” the Fives exclaim.

Just step into the portal and get over with it. Milly thinks.

“Son of a bitch!” old Five screams. “I knew it didn’t look right. All right. I guess this is it.” “This is it. Go!”

Then a fire extinguisher passes through the portal and hits Luther straight into the face. He falls, and Milly immediately knows. Milly is frozen in place as she watches the Fives argue for the briefcase, and the portal shrinking. She doesn’t hear what they’re saying.

She learns that her response to danger is freezing in place. Then Luther suddenly kicks old Five and he goes through the portal at the last second.

Milly releases a breath she didn’t even know she was holding. Though the briefcase at her feet is damaged. Which means...

She lifts it up, inspecting the damage. Then... Five looks utterly defeated, but Milly shoves the suitcase on Fives hands and runs up to the fence. Please. 

“The fucking president!” Milly screams in frustration as she looks back at Luther and Five.

She’s going through so many emotions in so little time.

Five and Diego look above the fence. Milly refuses to. She can’t look. At one point, Five murmurs “Diego.” Then three shots get fired, and everyone starts screaming. Milly takes a sigh of relieve at a murder.

Chapter Text

Milly is exhausted, but she still watches the news with almost everyone. They think Vanya helped kill the president, but the more pressing matter, is how nothing changed. The fact that old Five went back in time with the right equation, and the fact that Five still looks like a teenager... It’s weird. Because either, they created a new other dimension, or... well, to put it simply, they’re fucked.

“wanted in connection with the deaths of several FBI agents inside the federal building at Dealey Plaza.” The TV says. Milly sighs. “A Cuban exile known as Diego...” huh? “who recently escaped from the Holbrook Sanitarium. A bare-knuckle boxer with suspected Mafia ties” the TV shows a picture of Luther. Milly stifles an exhausted laugh. “who fights under the alias “King Kong”. Allison Chestnut,” oh seriously? “a Negro radical responsible for instigating and organizing the recent riots at Stadtler’s lunch counter.” Oh so it was her. “And finally, Klaus,” “oh you’ve gotta be kidding me.” Milly murmurs. “the controversial cult leader and known tax evader. The FBI is asking the public to be on the lookout for this unidentified boy,” no way. Milly watches as they show a picture of Five, “who they believe is being held hostage by the suspected terrorist network” well at least he’s not wanted for something

“Well, it’s true.” Five breaks the silence. “Looks like I’m the only one not wanted by the FBI.” Milly points out, a bit smug about it. Five rolls his eyes.

“I do feel like I’m being held hostage most days.” Five finishes. “God, I hate that photo.” Diego points out. “They’re saying I instigated the riot?” Allison protests. “That’s unbelievable.” “Look, the good news is that we restored the timeline, and we stopped doomsday.” Luther says, trying to cheer up everyone. “Yeah, a bunch of real goddamn heroes. We let Kennedy die.”

Still with this Kennedy obsession??

“Yeah, and now we’re officially the most wanted people in the world. The FBI is after us, the Dallas police, the Secret Service. I mean, It’s only a matter of time before they hunt us down here.” Allison points out. “Well, where are we supposed to go?” Vanya interjects. “I have this yurt outside of Reykjavik.” Klaus speaks. “We could totally lay low there.” Everyone emits an exasperated sigh. “Folks there are a little weird, but lovely.”

“Hey, numbnuts.” Five calls out. “Hiding is not gonna make a difference here. The Commission will hunt us down wherever and whenever we go.”

Milly wonders if she should have trusted the woman. They’re still not home.

“They’ll never stop.” Diego says, looking a bit too knowing. Milly narrows her eyebrows. “I’m sorry, since when are you an expert on the Commission?” Five asks. “Since I got back from there.”

“Excuse me?” Milly says, out loud.

“Yeah, they headhunted me, offered me a job. Full time with benefits which I had to turn down.” What is with the Commission and trying to hire them? “They headhunted you? .... The village idiot.” Milly sighs. “What, am I not allowed to be headhunted?”

Oh here we go.

“Only the almighty Five needs to be in demand?”

“Diego, you’re not Commission material, all right?” Milly sits down on the stairs next to Allison. She’s tempted to shut them up with a Rumor, borrowing Allisons powers for a few.

“Who do you think it was that figured out Vanya was the one that causes doomsday and stopped it? Me.” Right, that happened too.

“I figured it all out on the Infinite Switchboard.” Milly perks up. “The infinite switchboard?” she says just as Five asks, “You were on the Infinite Switchboard?” “Hell, yeah. I made that machine my bitch.” Jesus.

“Y’all need to recognize I got shit going on y’all don’t even know about.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. You’ve got things going on?” Allison. “This isn’t helpful.” And that’s Luther.

“Look, I met the Résistance in their secret lair.” Huh? “I went through orientation...” Milly doesn’t hear the rest as she watches Vanya march up the stairs. She uses the phone. Then, she starts panting. Milly can’t exactly hear it from there, but. She stands up. “Vanya?” she calls. Five briefly looks at her, too absorbed in the conversation with Diego.

Milly walks up the stairs.

Vanya turns around. “Vanya?” She sprints down the stairs, Milly following her.

“I’m leaving.” She announces, when she’s downstairs again. That gets everyone’s attention. “I’m coming with you.” Milly says, no hesitation. “What? To go where?”” Allison asks, standing up. “Sissy’s farm. Something’s wrong with Harlan, and I need to help him.” “Vanya, we need to stick together, okay?” Luther explains. “I’ll go with her.” Milly repeats. Five shakes his head no. “That’s why I’m telling you this. Whatever’s going on with Harlan, I think I might’ve caused it.”

Shit.

“He drowned, and, uh, somehow I was able to bring him back to life. And now it’s like we’re connected.”

“How in the hell?” Milly asks.

“What does that even mean?” Luther asks.

“I don’t know. I can’t explain it, but... I know that he needs my help.” She pauses for a second. “I need your help, too. I’m scared, and for the first time in my life, I don’t wanna do it alone.”

Milly is 100% on board with this.

“I want my family by my side.”

“Look, I’m sorry..” Diego starts and Milly already wants to punch him. “We have other priorities now.” “Look, Diegos right.” Five says, “for once. We need to make our stand, here and now.”

“I’ll go with you.” “No?” Milly turns to Five. “I’m the only one not wanted by the FBI.”

“You don’t have to-” “I will. I want to help.” Vanya looks at everyone, “I guess I’ll see you when I see you.” She walks out. “You are assholes.” Milly says, then follows Vanya out. “Where do you think you’re going?” “You can’t stop me Five!” Vanya steps into the car, then Milly into the passenger seat. “Thank you.” “I’m moral support.” Milly chuckles.

Then, Klaus opens the door and proceeds to squeeze into the passenger seat. “So, so so. Ben, gone forever. Isn’t he?” Milly doesn’t want to think about that right now.

“He traded his life for mine... while he saved the world in the process.” “Pfft. Show-off. But did he... say anything about... me?” Vanya nods, and Klaus has a look, one Milly can’t decipher. “He wanted me to tell you that he was too scared to go to the light. It wasn’t you that made him stay.” Milly is about to cry. Klaus looks pretty close too. He chuckles. “Oh, that little shit-heel. All these years, and I thought it was my fault that he didn’t take his ticket to heaven.” He laughs lightly. “Look, I’m sorry, but... you should get out, ‘cause I need to-”

“Oh, no, I’m coming with.” Milly smiles. “I can’t let you face the unknown alone, right?” “Still, get out, you’re killing me.” Milly laughs slightly. Klaus slides into the backseat, when Diego and Allison open the backdoors too. “Got room for two more?” Allison asks. “What about the Commission?” “Well, might as well do some good before we die horribly.”  Diego rolls his eyes.

Then, Five opens the passenger seat. “Five, you don’t have to-” Vanya starts but Five has the determined look on his face. “I know. You owe me one, sis.”

“Oh, really?” Milly complains as Five squeezes next to her. “There’s no more space in here.”

“Guys, I don’t know what to say.” Vanya is absolutely ecstatic. Then the trunk of the car opens and Luther crawl in. The car squeaks loudly. “Anyone makes a fat joke, and I’m outta here.” Luther states and Milly snorts.

_________________________________

“Oh what the fuck is happening?” Milly looks out of the window, where snow landed and a big, no scratch that a giant ball of powers? Surrounds the whole entire field.

Vanya parks and everyone gets out immediately. “You think whatever’s going on inside is causing the cold front?” Diego asks. “Definetly.” Milly whispers. Fives answer is more sarcastic. “Well, the correlation is high.”

Then, a woman comes running out of the barn with a rifle. “Sissy! Sissy!! Vanya screams. “Get back!” Sissy. “All of you get the hell back!”

“Hey, what’s wrong?” asks Vanya. “Carl.” She whispers, like that explains everything.” “What did he do to you?” Okay, well maybe it did.

“He’s... He’s dead.” Congratulations? “Harlan tossed him aside like a rag doll, same way you sent those policemen flyin’.” Oh shit.

“What did you do to him?” oh shit. “Vanya what the hell did you do to my son?”

“We don’t have time for this.” Diego steps forward, “Where do you think you’re going?” The rifle gets pointed at Diego. “To help your son.” “Look, Sissy, I found my family.” Vanya states and Milly smiles slightly. “These are my brothers and my sisters.” Okay, now Milly is going cry. There is a moment of silence. “Ma’am.” Diego breaks it.

“Where you lyin’ to me the whole time?” Sissy asks. “Of course not. Look, I didn’t know who I was. But I do now. And we are not the monsters that they say we are. We did not kill the president. We are not terrorists. We’re not here to hurt anyone.”

“Then...” Sissy pants softly “who are you?” “The only one who can help Harlan.” Go Vanya!

Sissy lets them inside and they stumble into the barn. The sight is terrefying. Milly doesn’t even know how to describe it. A vortex of power is surrounding Harlan, who doesn’t seem conscious of what he is doing. Vanya starts to scream his name, to get his attention.

“Look, Harlan, I know you’re probably scared, but I can help you.” Milly takes advantage of the situation and places a hand on Vanyas shoulder, then on Fives. As a precaution. “I need you to listen to me, okay?” she screams. “Can you do that?” Then Vanya steps into the vortex. The rest of them watch. “Careful.” Five calls.

From the corner of her eyes Milly sees Klaus turn around and go to the exit of the barn. “Uh guys?” “What?” Diego screams back.

Milly looks and squints her eyes. “Wait is that Lila?” she asks Five as she recognizes the Handler. “Yeah, she’s her daughter.” “Huh?”

“Who are they?” “One’s the Handler and the other’s Diego’s girlfriend.” “What?” “Lila. That’s my ex- girlfriend.” “You know what? Doesn’t matter. They both look angry.” “Yeah, well our brother has that effect on people.”

“I’m gonna find out what they want You guys stay with Vanya and the kid.” “I’m coming with you, too. Come on.” Diego says. “Joining you.”

“I love the smell of that fresh country air, don’t you darling?” The Handler says as they approach. “Makes me want to vomit.”

“What do you want?” Five asks. “To watch you suffer.” Well, Lila is a direct person. “What about me?” Diego asks. “You’re not even worth my wrath.” “Easy.  We’re here on official business.” “And what business is that?” Five counters. “As the head of the Commission I’ve decided to eliminate the criminals responsible for the assassination of the former board of directors.”  Milly furrows her eyebrows. Wait- “Five?”

“Yeah, right. We didn’t kill the board.” Diego states.” Milly is still looking at Five, who looks angry.” “Uh, actually, that’s not entirely accurate.” “Oh Jesus Christ.” Milly mumbles.

“You didn’t tell them.” The Handler looks at her, then winks. “Oh, Five.” She redirects her attention on him. “Five what the hell did you do?” Diego asks and then suddenly Milly remembers. “Is that why you came covered in blood when Elliot was killed?” Five nods. “I did what I had to do to get my family home.  Until somebody reneged on our deal.”

The more time passes the more hatred Milly has for the Handler. “Somebody wouldn’t reneged on our deal if somebody could’ve met a simple deadline. Alas.” “You set me up to fail.” “You set yourself up to fail, friend. You and your brothers and sisters. Seems like the only smart person is her.” Millys eyebrows fly up. So she knows, great... “Kinda the running theme of your little life, isn’t it?” she laughs.

“Dude, I can’t believe you killed the board of directors.” Diego whispers, “You have no ideas how messed up the Commission is right now.” “Messed up? Who’s saying that?” “Everybody.” Diego speaks a little louder. “Christ, even the janitors think it’s going to shit.” “That’s not all he killed.” Lila interrupts. Milly blinks.

“What are you talking about?” Five asks. “Don’t play dumb, you prepubescent piece of shit.” Woah

“Enough. The point is, all of you are going to die today. Hmm?” “Oh this is just great.” Milly complains. Then, “wait, are you sure?” she asks the Handler, who ignores her. Because if the woman said they’ll live, and honestly, Milly is technically the Handlers boss? No? She didn’t ask.

“Well, I don’t like your chances. Seven of us, two of you.” Oh you had to challenge them. “You know you’re right. Let’s change that.” Yep. The Handler snaps her finger and suddenly hundreds of Commission workers appear. Milly sighs. “Well, that’s not good.”

Milly looks around. They’re in the middle of a field. They’re fucked.

“So what do we do now?” Diego asks, not moving a muscle. “Well, we got two choices: fight and die or run and die later. Either way, we’re food for worms.”  “Preference?” Diego asks. “I would prefer the second one.” Milly whispers. Five agrees. “Wouldn’t mind a few more minutes breathing air through the old windbags.

“All right, let’s get this over with, shall we?” The Handler raises a red neckerchiefs. “Run.” Behind them, she sees Luther, Allison and Klaus starts sprinting. Milly grabs Diego’s arm. Three out of seven. She’s collecting powers like Pokémon.

Behind them, people start screaming and running. Milly is glad she didn’t wear a skirt. They start shooting. Thanks whatever is up there that they have awful aim. “We’re not gonna make it!” Diego screams. “What are you gonna do?” Five grabs both of them and blips. Oh, she should’ve been able to come to that conclusion.“Five, I think I’m gonna puke.” “No time.” Five screams as they hide behind a tractor. “What now?” “We blink into the house, man!” Five grabs them and... fails. “Shit.” She murmurs and tries, and fails, too. “I have Vanya’s powers...” she says. “Absolutely not, you’ve never used them.” “Then how do we get out there alive?”

“Go! I’ll... I’ll cover for you two.” “What?!” They both start running as Diego stops countless bullets with his powers. Impressive, really. They barely make it inside the house and under the table as glass shatters, with the amount of bullets being fired at them. “I think I could try to-” Five shakes his head. “Give me a moment to think.”

There’s a high pitched tone. “Vanya.” The shooting stops and a blue light surrounds them. Milly, who apparently has a death wish, immediately looks out the window. “Oh what the fuck?”

There is a blue bubble, of Vanya’s powers that surround the Handler and Lila. “Five! Lila is using Vanyas powers.”  “What?” Five joins her at the window.

Then, Lila starts floating, exactly like Vanya does when she uses her powers. Milly wonders if she can do the same. But Lila didn’t have to touch Vanya to use her powers. What is happening.

“I think I should go out there...” Milly whispers. “You can’t control it.” “I never tried it.” “Exactly.” “Well, if I never try it, how am I supposed to learn. Five sighs. “Shit.” Milly gets dragged under the table by Five. Lila is really trying to kill them now. She focuses on Vanya’s powers. When she opens her eyes her and Five are under a... well, unstable bubble, but it still works. Five looks kind of impressed. “Told you.” The bubble pops, sending her directly into the wall. “You alright.” “We never speak of this again.” Milly groans.

Chapter Text

“Luther, you alright?” Five asks to Luther, who fell from the room a few seconds before. “I think I swallowed my tongue.” He says as Milly brushes off the dust that piled on her shirt. “Luther, if you swallowed your tongue, you wouldn’t be talking, you big moron. Come on, on your feet.”

“She could’ve killed us.” Milly wonders out loud. “She almost did.” Five answers, pointing to the fact that Luther fell inches away from them. “But why didn’t she. She did everything perfectly, but what was supposed to kill us?” “You have too much faith in people.” “I know. But still...” Five helps Luther up, while he asks what the hell happened.

“She must’ve redirected Vanya’s energy wave.” “Yeah, I know, but how?” “Maybe she’s like me?” Milly says, “Although I never saw her come in contact with Vanya.” “Luther watch out!” Bricks fall right where Luther was standing a second ago, just, now Five is standing under them. Milly tries to form the bubble again, but it only stops the fall and still surrounds Five. “Five!” Then Lila blips in. Oh seriously?

“What are you?” Luther takes a step back from the rubble. “Someone who wants to kill your brother.” “Well, that’s understandable. Diego can be a lot to handle.” Milly hits Luther on the arm, concentrating on the bubble as much as possible. I something moves under there, Five is as good as dead. “She’s not talking about Diego.” She grits her teeth. “Him too. But, unfortunately, they’re family, so you’re shit out of luck.” Luther goes to punch her, but she blocks it. Damn she’s good. Milly decides to experiment too. When she goes for the punch Lila stops her too, of course, then sends her flying on the bricks, which not only hurt, but also risks to burst Milly’s bubble she’s working so hard on keeping.

“How is this possible?” Milly watches as Lila uses 2 powers at the same time. Well, if she can do it...

Now she really needs to concentrate on the bubble though. She’s sitting, exhausted on the floor next to the bricks, watching. “Gotta believe in yourself, big boy.” Then, Luther goes flying out of the wall. Lila looks at her, completely ignores her and steps out the house to meet Allison. Slowly, because if she does it any faster she’ll puke and the bubble will burst, Milly starts to move the bricks, as silently as she can. She doesn’t know how much the bubble has done, but she’s not about to letting it burst without checking. She hears a few punches thrown outside and they then stop.

Milly breaks the bubble as soon as she sees movement. “Oh thank god.” She says as she leans on the rubble. “Wasn’t very helpful...” Five mumbles. “Something’s happening with Allison, and I’m about to puke my guts out, please go check.”

“You looking for me?” No she did not mean it like that!

When she goes outside she finds Allison and Luther. “Breath Allison! Breathe!” shit. Milly touches Allisons arm and “I heard a rumor you could breathe.” She punches out. Please work. Allison takes a deep breath and starts coughing. Oh thank god. Milly collapses onto the snow.  

“Allison help!” comes than Diegos voice. Can Milly have a break, please.

Luther helps Allison, than Milly stand up, muttering a thank you to her, and they’re running to Diego. How Milly’s stomach is handling this right now is unknown.

His leg is trapped under the tractor. Diego starts screaming for every one of his siblings. “What took you so long?” he asks. Milly rolls her eyes smiling. “Well, we’re here now. Do you wanna stop complaining?” Luther grabs the tractor. “Or if you prefer we could just leave you here.” Klaus remarks. “What he said.” Is Allisons response. “Does everything in this family needs to be a discussion?” That’s Vanya. Luther lifts the tractor as Diego crawls away from it. “Are you out?” “Yeah!”

“Has anyone seen Five?” “He was fighting Lila, they blipped somewhere.” Milly says, panting. “By the way, your ex-girlfriend can blink like Five.” Luther states. “Yeah, that bitch just rumored me so I couldn’t breathe. Thank you, Milly by the way.” Milly smiles “She can also use multiple powers at the same time.” “And she destroyed, half the farm with a shock wave. So unoriginal.” Klaus adds.

“If she can do everything we can, she might as well just be one of us.” Vanya says. “Yeah.” Luther chuckles, then becomes serious again. “No. No, there’s no way. It can’t be.” Luther adds. “It’s a reasonable conclusion.” Allison says. “Eh, but there were only seven of us.” Klaus again. “Maybe we need to consider that there’s more.” Vanya says.

“Actually,” Milly starts, “43 women had a kid without being pregnant the day before.” “What?”

“I mean, are we surprised?” Allison shrugs. “Dad never told us the whole truth about anything. Also, Milly here has powers too.” “No idea how that came to be, I was planned, well, as well as a teenage pregnancy can be planned.”

“But, she’s not our biological sister...” Diego says cautiously. “right?” There is a moment of silence, then they collectively decide to ignore that statement and Luther speaks again. “Okay, so, if she can mirror our powers, that means anything we throw at her, she can match, right?” Milly nods. “Yeah, but she can only mirror one of our powers at a time.” Klaus points out. “You sure about that?” Allison asks. “I could swear I saw her use two while fighting Luther.” Milly adds.

__________________________________

“She never cared about your parents. She was looking for you.” They hear Five say, as they get closer to the barn. “Why?”

“ ‘Cause your one of us.” Diego steps out and into the barn. Lila spins around. “The Handler stole you Lila. Just like our asshole father took all of us.” “No. It’s not the same thing.” “You’re right. Because he didn’t have our parents murdered.” Diego takes a step towards Lila. “Listen to me, Lila. You were born October 1st 1989, the same day as all of us.”

“Stay back!” she screams. “Hey! Hey, stop! Wait. Hey! Lila? Lila, stop.” “I trusted you.” She says to Diego. “I got you a job, I even introduced you to my mother, and then you took off on me.” “Because I needed to save the world! She’s using you Lila. The Handler.”

“You’re wrong. She raised me. She loves me.”

“Yeah, you know what?” Luther intervenes. “Love shouldn’t have to hurt this much.” Lila gags. “All right, I tried.”

“He’s right. We have to kill her.” “Okay, let’s not jump to conclusions, Five.” Milly says as she steps between him and Lila.

“Hey! Five! Five, stop. I got it.” Diego tries to reassure him. “Hey, Lila. Truth? She’s dangerous. And you’re scared of what you’ll do with all that new power. That’s why you dragged me to the Commission. Because I know what it’s like to love dangerous people.” Aw. “Difference is... they love me back.” “Shut up.” “The only thing she loves is power. Now, the minute she can’t use you, she will turn you, and deep down, I know you know that.” Lila is now pointing the knife at Diego, touching his chest. “You don’t know me, Diego.” He steps closer “Don’t I?” he pauses.

“I know that we can be your family... if you just let us.” Lila looks around and Milly smiles at her. Genuinely, she likes Lila.

Milly forgot how much getting shot hurts. Is what she thinks about when the Handler fires bullets through the whole barn. The second is that the woman lied. The third, is to check if Five is okay. She was standing in front of him when the shooting happened. He moves, so no, not dead. She doesn’t have the strength to check for anybody else. Her ears are ringing and she’s aware that the Handler steps in front of her. Her mouth is moving but she can’t make anything about. She blinks rapidly. Just stay awake as long as possible. She sees another man come in, point his gun and shoot. Something, someone falls to the floor. The man comes near her, but she thinks he looks at Five. She’s not sure. The world is blurry around the edges. Then, she feels energy around her, just before her eyes shut.

She opens her eyes again, because she’s standing now, no bullets in her body, but a Five who’s running through time. Going back in time. She’s just vaguely aware of that. Then, time starts again, and Diego is speaking. Milly stares at Five who is now in front of the barn door. The Handler comes in, but he’s faster, grabbing the gun from her, making her gasp.

Five points the gun at her. Everyone is now focused on him, and the Handler.

“It’s true isn’t it?” asks Lila. The Handler is now standing with her arms up and palms visible. “What Five said. Answer me! Is it true?” Lila persists.

“Well-” The Handler starts but is interrupted by gunshots, numerous, and now Milly can actually see the mans face. He shoots the Handler multiple times and she falls, dead. Properly this time. Nobody moves for a second. “The case!” Diego screams and Lila is sprinting. Diego stops him from following Lila. She grabs the case and vanishes. Milly sighs.

Five then steps towards the man and aims the rifle at him. He does the same. There are multiple seconds of absolute silence, where Milly doesn’t even dare to breathe. Then, Five drops the rifle to the floor. Milly is proud of him for that. “Enough.”

The guy looks around, examining each of them. No one moves. Then, the guy also drops his gun, saying something in a language Milly doesn’t understand. He walks out of the barn and everyone sighs a sigh of relief.

“I almost had her. Why the hell did you stop me?” Luther asks. “Because... I love her.”

Okay, that is pretty cute, Milly can’t argue with that.

Milly walks up to Five, then. “Well, that was... something.” Five turns to look at her, and somehow, he understands. “How do you-” “No idea. But at least I can tell you how impressive that was. Like actually.” “Thank you?” Milly smiles.

“Who the hell was that guy?” Klaus asks a very good question actually. He’s interrupted by Sissy calling for Vanya. Downstairs, (Milly didn’t even think barns had a downstairs), Vanya plummets into Harlans circle. Milly can’t hear what Vanya is saying. It’s like the bubble is soundproof, or something like that. Vanya puts her hands on Harlans knees, and, Milly has trouble understanding what she’s doing. Maybe she’s comforting him, but it’s more plausible that she’s taking her powers back.  Milly is extremely impressed.

Then, the bubble pops and Milly takes a step back.

Harlan looks around confused. That poor kid. Milly can’t help but think. He’s way too little to understand, let alone process what just happened.

Sissy goes to hug him tightly.

________________________________

Milly, Five and Diego walk to Dot and Herb. Somehow, they’re here. Milly waves at Dot. She always liked her after all. “Sup. Herbie.” Diego and Herb then perform a handshake. It’s quite ridiculous. “Good to see you guys.” Five says.

“I can’t believe it.” Herb starts, “Is she...?” “Really dead this time?” Five fills in for him. “Oh, yeah.” Diego nods. “Now that the Handler’s gone, what happens at the Commission?” Herb stumbles over his words, then Dot “Just tell them.” And “We need to elect a new board of directors. But, until then, I, um.. I’ve been voted in as acting chairperson.”

“Oh that’s amazing!” Milly high Fives Herb. When she worked at the Commission, they didn’t talk much, but he was still a very nice guy. “No shit.” Diego says, as Dot starts clapping. “Congrats, Herbie. That’s huge.” “I’m so goddamn nervous.” “You’ll do fine.” Five smiles at him. Even he looks quite pleased. “Oh, thank you.”

“Herb, we need a favor.” Five start. “Oh, sure, anything.” “A briefcase. Get back home, where we belong.” Herb and Dot nod, then turn around to look at the massacre of dead bodies. Milly doesn’t want to acknowledged that. “Take your pick.” Herb points.

____________________________________

“Everyone ready?” “Let’s do it, yeah.”

They put themselves in a circle. “Wait.” Klaus exclaims as he goes to grab his hat. Milly rolls her eyes, smiling. “Fifty bucks if we leave him here.” Diego murmus to Five, but Milly still hears it.

The briefcase click, charging. Milly looks around briefly. Bye bye 1960s. You won’t really be missed.

_______________________

They appear in a circle around the table in the Umbrella academy. Milly sighs, relieved. “Wh... What day is it?” Luther asks immediately.  Five grabs the newspaper and reads. “April second, 2019... Day after the apocalypse.” “Wait, so we stopped it.” Allison realizes. “My god, it’s over?” Vanya’s voice. “Did we... actually succeed in something?” Milly chuckles at Klaus’s words. They all laugh in relief. They get to the living room and Milly stops dead in her tracks. “What the hell?” Diego seems to notice the portrait of Ben too. That wasn’t there before. “Why is there a painting of Ben over the mantelpiece?” Good question Diego.

Then, “I knew you would show up eventually.” Reginald Hargreeves? “Dad?” “You’re alive?” Diego and Luther say softly. “Why shouldn’t I be?” Milly just blinks. “yeah, you’re right. I’m... I’m just happy that we’re home and... together again.” Luther corrects himself.

“-Home?- This isn’t your home.” Oh shit what is going on?? “What are you talking about?” Allison asks. “This is the Umbrella Academy.” “Wrong again. This is the Sparrow Academy.” Oh what??

Footsteps approach and Five grabs Milly by the arm and puts her behind Luther. He shoots him a look and Luther nods. Milly is too tired to complain.

That is until 6 people appear on the first floor, and then. “Dad, who the hell are these assholes?” BEN? What the hell happened to his hair?

 “Shit.” They all say in unison.

Five motions her to not be seen, so Milly blips behind a statue, away from all eyes.

Chapter Text

So they did accidentally change the future. Good to know... But really, this is ridiculous. Like. A new academy? Milly understands the name change, but how could he adopt other children if he managed to get only seven out of 43? They should be the same children, regardless of the change.

“I’m sorry. What do you mean your children.” Milly hears Five ask. “That’s not possible, old man.”

“Of course it is. I think I’d know, wouldn’t I?” Milly rolls her eyes. She really wants to punch Reginald. “Everybody else can see Ben, right?” Klaus asks. Milly nods, though he can’t see it. “Cute hat, Sundance.” Mean Ben, Milly’s going to call him mean Ben from now on, says.

“They call themselves the Umbrella Academy,” Reginald roars. “a group of scheming, perfidious malcontents who accosted me in the fall of 1963 when I was away on business in Dallas.” Milly rolls her eyes. “Be warned, they claim to be my spawn.”

Oh, Milly never did, that’s for sure.

“Claim? Look, Five, what the hell is going on?” Allison asks, angry. “I don’t know yet, but it’s concerning.” “Is he telling the truth?” The guy in the front asks. “Not the part about being perfidious.” Vanya states. “No, we’re amateur-fidious, at best.” Milly almost sighs. “But we are his children. This is our house.” Vanya finishes. “Yeah, yeah. We, uh... We grew up here.” Luther adds. The deformed one mocks him and the girl with glasses snickers. “I kind of think we would have noticed you.” A kind looking woman says, next to a floating cube. “Hi. I’m Luther.” Oh god, tell me he’s not flirting. Milly thinks, in vain. “Okay. None of you belong here.” Allison exclaims.

Milly thinks they should be a bit more open about the situation. Like, you know, talk with one another, before fighting. This is a weird situation for everyone present.

Milly rolls her eyes as the woman with glasses speaks again, mocking. Then, the floating  cube starts speaking in its own language, because Milly doesn’t understand a word. The sparrows chuckle. “You slay me Chris.” Mean Ben says.

Then, Grace walks in with a plate of cookies. “I wasn’t expecting company.” She says. “This is the best I could do on short- short-” she starts speaking in a robotic voice. “short notice.”

Diego says something. “Mom”, from what little Milly can understand. She really wants to come out and punch Reginald in the nose. But from where things are going, she’s gonna get the chance soon. “She’s a robot, you perv.” Another woman, with a slightly deep voice speaks. That’s kind of rude.

“It’s not a robot.” Diego starts. “hey, don’t you call her that.” Luther finishes. “Or what?” mean Ben provokes. “Come closer and find out.”

“Luther!” Vanya calls “You think I’m afraid?” “Guys chill!” People start speaking over another, to the point where Milly doesn’t understand anything anymore.

Her heart is beating abnormally fast, adrenaline coursing in her body. Then, the woman with a deep voice spits on Diego. Milly immediately knows that it has to do with her power, by the face that Diego makes. Also, the spit was black, and it absorbed in a millisecond.

“You got 30 seconds to get out of this house.” The leader? Says. “And what if we don’t?” Allison challenges him. “Then we settle this the old-fashioned way.”

Is everybody looking for a fight? Like, they just saved the world and now they want to fight? Talk for once in your life, damnit.

“Look, we just fought a literal army okay? This doesn’t need to get ugly.” And thank you Vanya for being the only reasonable one. “Let’s all just calm down, and let’s talk.”

“Pss-Benarino.” Good lord. “You look so much better alive than you do dead. Am I right? Except that haircut.” “What the hell did you just say?” And, okay, that’s a valid response. “Come on, come on. Stop with the hostility, Mr. Grumpy Pants.” Klaus tries to hug him. Milly is really holding back today.

Then they start punching each other. Five looks at her for a second, mouthing. “Don’t you dare.” Milly shrugs but stays put for now. She watches as Luther gets launched in Klaus’s direction and ends up on top of him. Milly takes notes. Okay, the normal guy, probably super strength. A match for Luther. Diego is successfully talking with the Cube, who has a similar power to Vanya, now that she sees him? It? Him, attacking Diego. Diego can handle it. She thinks as he falls to the floor. Five is fighting with mean Ben, which is fine, nothing interesting going on there. He’s not exactly winning, but not losing either, soo.

Then Diego jumps on the cube and starts punching him, while Five stares, a mixture of terrified and amused. Who that look is directed at is unclear, given that Diego starts screaming, “Who’s your daddy. I’m your daddy!” “Who’s...” punch, “your...” punch, “daddy?” Then the Cube floats into the air and starts spinning.

Vanya and the black-haired woman, the one who spit on Diego are also fighting. “I don’t wanna fight you!” screams Vanya, avoiding punches. “Did you wanna be best friends?” the woman mocks her. She punches Vanya straight into the stomach. Milly has had enough. Allison is fighting the woman with glasses. A crow watches them. Creepy.

Vanya is still on the floor and the kind looking woman and the black-haired woman and the deformed face are looking at Allison and the glasses woman. Milly blips next to them.

“Mind if I...” she touches the kind looking woman’s arm. She is faster though and Milly gets her arm grabbed and thrown next to Vanya. Milly somehow lands on her feet. She pushes some hair out of her face. “I was asking nicely!”  She touches Vanya’s leg.

They all look at her a bit too long. The black haired woman mumbles something. “Show yourself coward.” She screams. “What?” then she gets punched in the side. Ouch. She blips away. “What is your problem I barely touched you!” Milly exclaims, sitting up. She checks on Vanya, who is slowly standing up. “Show them Vanya!” Milly groans. Vanya starts to float and the kind looking woman lifts her up and smashes her against the first-floor wall.

“Vanya!” she calls.

Telekinesis, maybe, Anti-gravity, or something like that, is her power. If she understands it maybe she can use it. “Show yourself.” The black-haired woman tries to spit on her, but Milly moves faster. “Listen, what the hell-” then the kind looking woman starts to lift her up. Alright then. “I can do that too!” Milly screams as the kind looking woman starts to float at Millys hand movement. She shrieks and the deformed guy starts to look serious. Anti-gravity it is. Milly thinks as she plummets down to the floor. She’s more gentle with the woman, still, the power wobbles a bit before putting her down.

Milly blinks away. What the hell was that...Five and Allison get transported next to her. “Hi, we have a problem.” “Weren’t you supposed to stay hidden.” “Not good at following orders.”

Milly blips away.

She finds Luther and the leader guy fighting. Or, well, Luther is on the floor, looking pretty beat up. “We done here?” the guy asks. “Nope. I don’t run from a fight.”

“Luther!” “Vanya!” Luther screams back.

Milly runs to help Luther up. “Are you okay?” she asks.

Now the attention is on her. Mean Ben goes, incredibly stiff. “You again.” The spit woman says. “What is it with me that bothers you so much.” Milly exclaims. “Show your true form.” “WHAT ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT?” she screams. “Milly come on!” Luther drags her out of the room. Milly just blips back in, in a more hidden corner. Vanya gets thrown into the coffee table.

“Vanya, get out of there!” Five screams. Where did he come from? The whole sparrow academy surrounds her. She starts to glow. Milly creates a bubble with Vanyas powers as she watches everyone else getting thrown to different parts of the room.

When it’s over she immediately blips to Vanya. “Come on, hey, let’s go.” Milly tries to help her up. “Vanya, come on!” Milly urges her. She’s too stressed to blip two people at this point. The whole sparrow academy is standing up and surrounding them again. “It’s over!” the man with super strength says. Milly looks up at him. “Go! Don’t come back.”

Milly screams back. “As much as you don’t like it, this was their house too, asshole. Reginald made you in stupid machines, following orders and fighting, and it seems that it’s the only thing you are capable of doing. You have no idea what we’ve been through!” The leader just stares at her.

“You coward, show yourself!” “I don’t fucking know what you’re talking about, stop it!” She and Vanya walk out, but Milly makes sure to slam the door behind them.

_______________________________

When Vanya and her walk to the others Milly takes out her first-Aid kit from her backpack, that somehow survived the whole ordeal. She has calmed down a bit.

Everyone is already there, sitting on benches, looking hurt. Milly throws Luther some disinfectant for his wounded face, then moves to sit next to Five. I’ve never had my ass handed to me like that before.” She hears Luther say. Milly takes out her notebook and a pen. She starts writing down everything she remembers. The powers, how they looked like... The page gets titled. -The sparrow academy-.

“thank god you’re alive!” Vanya says. “Apparently so is Ben.” Good point Klaus. “And he’s a complete dickhead.” Good point Allison... “They’re all dickheads.” Diego states. “Dickheads who can fight.” Luther observes. “Okay, next person to say -dickhead- is getting a punch to the throat.” Five exclaims. “Dickhead.” Milly doesn’t miss a beat. Everyone else follows with their -dickhead-. Luther throws back the disinfectant, and Milly takes out a gauze, puts some disinfectant on it, then hands it to Five.

“Hey, did Dad tell you why he was calling them his kids?” Diego asks Klaus. “He sure did! You ready? Dad was so repulsed by us back in Texas, that he adopted an entirely different group of children just so he didn’t have to raise us.” “That’s fucked up.” Milly whispers, though, she had already guessed something like this could happen. “That’s just peak Dad.” Diego observes. “Isn’t it.” Comes Luther’s reply. “So he just didn’t want us anymore?” Vanya asks. “Did he ever?”

“See? I told you we shouldn’t have asked him for help in ’63.” “I think you’re all missing the big picture here.” Milly frowns at Five’s words. “If Dad didn’t adopt us as kids, he changed the timeline.” Oh, right, that. “So who knows what else is different now.” “Shouldn’t you know?” asks Allison. “Sorry, Allison, but it might take me more than 20 minutes and a traumatic brain injury to figure this all out. Is that okay with you?”

“No, actually, it’s not.” You have got to be kidding me. Milly sighs and closes his notebook, putting everything back into her backpack. “Guys, look, it’s fine.” Vanya interrupts. “We still have the Commission’s briefcase, so worst case, we can just go back in time and fix it.”

Five stands up. “There are two problems with that statement. First off-” “here we go...” “Time travel is complicated, people.” “Yeah, we get it. Your job is so hard. Just... what?” Diego rolls his eyes.

“And secondly...” Five raises his voice. “I no longer have the briefcase.” Figured. Allison stands up. “Five, where the hell is the briefcase?

______________________

Milly is very thankful her clothes look partially normal right now, especially because of all the glances people are throwing at them. They’re currently walking in the park, aimlessly. “Why is everyone staring at us?” Klaus asks. “Because we look like the damn Village People just lost a fight.” Milly snorts. “Okay!” Allison exclaims. “You know what? I need to go find Claire. I will catch up with you guys later.” Hey, Allison, no.” Vanya calls. “First, let’s get somewhere safe, clean up those cuts, and then we’ll go find her. “Man, I hate those guys.” Milly looks up, to find two giant billboards of the Sparrow Academy. “Look at ‘em with their... stupid smug...” “you can do it.” Klaus whispers. “smug... smugness.” Luther punches out. “Keep working on it, big guy. You’ll land one, eventually.” Klaus pats Luther on the shoulder.

“But honestly, what are we doing?” Alison asks, “ ‘Cause we can’t keep standing here bleeding out in the middle of this park.” “I don’t know, but we better gear up fast before they come for round two, alright.” Diego answers. “What makes you think they’ll come after us?” Vanya asks, “Because I would.”

“Yeah, I mean we did break into their house...” Klaus points out. “our house.” Allison corrects. “bust up all their nice antiques and shit.” Klaus finishes. “Yeah. I don’t think the crime-fighting... super nerds are gonna let that go.” Luther frowns. “Let’s just think of some place off the radar where we can lie low and not draw attention.” Five suggests.

“What kind of a weird-ass place are we not gonna draw attention?” Diego points out, as Klaus spins like a mad-man. Try all turn to him, and apparently, he has an idea.

__________________________________________

-The Hotel Obsidian.- Reads the inscription. Milly looks around, but no, she has never seen this place. Or, a more probable explanation is that she never paid enough attention to the rich part of town. Could be because of jealousy, or other reasons...

“Oh, Hotel Obsidian. I missed you, you slutty old dame.” Klaus breathes in. Okay, so apparently it existed in their universe too. Good to remember. “Absorb her.” He instructs, “absorb her into your bosom.” Milly sighs, tired. “you know, ‘cause back in the heyday she played host to world leaders.” Klaus explains. “Roosevelt, Gandhi, Stalin Grobachev, Castro, King Olaf or Norway, one of the Kim Jongs, Tito, Dalai Lama, Elvis.” As Klaus explains Milly notes how observed they are. By everyone. None included. “and not one but two Kardashians, allegedly.” He continues. Allison rolls her eyes and leaves. “I gotta make a call.” She says. “Nowdays, she’s just a flophouse, a party house for those of us not looking to be judged by society’s rules and norms.” Klaus goes on. Milly feels pretty judged...

“You mean a place to hide.” Luther chimes in. “Exactly.” Klaus points his two pointer fingers at him. “It’s perfect! And the best part of it is, she’s gonna look after us, no questions asked.”

Milly wonders if that is still the case. Again, she feels pretty judged. “This place is... weird.” Vanya notes. Milly nods in approval.

Klaus immediately starts to chat up the receptionist the second he sees him. “I’ve never seen you before.” The receptionist answers. “See? Told you. Discreet.” Milly is not sure Klaus remembers they have never actually been here. Probably. “Plaese stop scaring my dog.” The receptionist exclaims to Diego and Luther. “We need some rooms, please.” Vanya chimes in. “Super. And how will you be paying today?” he grabs a sign that says -cash up front. Milly sighs. After a few seconds of silence Luther takes off his watch. “What does this get us?” he asks the receptionist. He takes out a little binocular to look better at the watch. Milly has to hold back a giggle. He then turns and gets two keys. “2 rooms.” He says. “Mazel Tov.”  Klaus grabs the keys and they’re off. “Uh, meet back in the bar in two hours so we can make a plan.” Five instructs. “I have a plan.” Diego retorts. “We attack the Sparrows, and we take back our house, and then we punch Dad a bit until he admits that we’re better and he loves us more. Boom! Done! We’re wasting time!” Milly sighs. She’s thankful that nobody is actually paying attention. “Don’t sweat it, man. Those shit birds are staying put for a while. I bet they’re as wiped as we are.” Klaus tries to encourage him, as they all make space for him on the elevator. “Really?” Diego asks. “Yeah. I mean, kicking our asses looked exhausting.”  Somehow Milly doubts that.

_______________________________________

“Big one is strong but slow, possibly stupid.” Marcus says. Sparrow academy is running on the treadmill in sinc. They need to be on their best game. “Some sort of... simian hybrid.” He finishes. “Who took the little jumpy guy?” Sloane asks. “Me. Just gave him a spanking and sent him to school.” Jayme jumps in. “Hey-oh!” Alphonse cheers and high fives Jayme. “The skinny one is their weak link.” Fei states. “Unless hiding behind couches -Where is my daddy- is his superpower.” Ben mocks.

“Talking about people hiding.” Alphonse chimes in. “The girl.” “The one with the force field?” Chris asks. “No, you know which one.” “Shapeshifter.” Jayme states. “I don’t know. She used my powers. And the boys one.” Sloane says, carefully.

“Enough!” Ben stops the machine. “Ben” Sloane sighs. “Enough post-gaming. They disrespected us, Marcus. We need to be out there finding these freaks and taking ‘em out.” “Oh, you mean like this?” Marcus plays the footage of when the girl with the  force field pushed them to the other side of the room. “Look! There. Milly is also using her powers.” Sloane points to the far-right corner of the screen. Nobody says anything for a while.

“Can someone explain how you got your asses handed to you in 30 seconds?” Marcus is now standing in front of them. “Do you have any idea what would happen to our reputation if anyone had seen that?” Nobody answers, having closed the treadmills. “I mean, we haven’t faced decent enemies for years. This, could be good for us. Good for business. But only if we’re smart with our next move.” Fei sighs., hands on her hips.

“You summoned, number one?” Father walks in. “Sit.” He instructs him. “You spent time with these people. What’s your assessment?” Marcus asks. “Unimpressive. Neanderthals on as day pass. Cried too much, showered too little. The only thing they lacked more than grit was any regard for one another.” “No loyalty.” Ben states. “We can use that.” “Good. Give a full report to Christopher.” Dad stands up.

“Still, I wouldn’t underestimate the Umbrella Academy. Yes, their skill are lacking as their hygiene, yet somehow, they saved the world in 1963. Had they not, none of you would be standing here now. Perhaps I misjudged them.”

“Dad, Is she a shapeshifter?” Jayme bursts out.

He raises his eyebrows, then furrows them. “No.”

The silence is deafening.

Chapter Text

“It’s not too small...” Allison says. They’re inside their room and, well, it’s gigantic. “Not too small? It’s enormous.” Milly practically squeals as she runs up to the beds and claims the top bunk. “It’s definitely ugly.” Vanya notes. “You guys have never lived together with 30 other people in a cramped space, and it shows.” Milly starts to relax. Just for a bit. She’ll think about the stressful things later. “Last night I was sleeping in my own bed next to my amazing husband.” Allison almost whispers. “I kissed Sissy goodbye a few hours ago.” Vanya responds. Ah, love. “give or take 50 years.” She adds.

“I’m glad you finally found somebody to treat you right.” Allison smiles at Vanya. “She saw me for who I really am. I’m not ready to give that up.” “I feel the same about Ray.” Allison shakes her head slightly, “We better not have left them just to die in some superhero turf war.” There is a moment of silence, then Vanya. “You need to go home. Hug your daughter.” More silence. Then, Allison sits up on the bed. “What is Diego’s right and the Sparrows attack?” Milly sighs, but it’s Vanya that talks. “We fought the entire Commission. I mean, we can handle, what? Seven jerks in uniforms? They just caught us off guard.” “I’ve already written down all their powers.” Milly adds. “Yeah.” Vanya sits up too, careful not to bump her head on the bed Milly is now also sitting on. “You should go to the airport. And get back to your real life. I would if I could.” Allison stands up and opens her arms. Vanya hugs her back, obviously. “Thank you. You’re a good sister.” And then Allison leaves. Vanya lays back down.

________________________________

Milly was sooo glad Vanya brought her with her. She loves being included. What she loves less, is staring at what she has learned is Markus, aka Number 1 exercising shirtless on a roof, and proceeding to throw a sweaty towel down the building. To the numbers of fan stranding there, cheering him on. At least someone is having fun. Also, not her fault she has binoculars in her backpack...

Markus sees them. She can tell. By the way his face contorts especially. They are also the only ones not cheering.

And that brings them in a bar. With a not shirtless Markus, and 3 teas.

“I’m glad we’re doing this.” He says, removing his gloves. “Whatever happens between our two families, the Number Ones should orchestrate it.” Milly snorts at his stupidity. “I’m Number 7, actually.” Markus opens his mouth, raises his eyebrows, then says. “Well, then somebody screwed up.” Is that a compliment? Milly is starting to like the guy. “My brothers think you’re gonna come after us.” She states. “I don’t want a war. We’ve lost enough.”

“Then you shouldn’t have attacked us in our own house.” House, not home. That says a lot. “Look, this isn’t personal, but we’re the only superhero game in town we have this place under complete control. But if your people start taking shots at us, it will give the sheep ideas.” “We won’t. That’s-” “And I’m just supposed to take your word on that? For your whole family?” Milly almost rolls her eyes, almost. This is getting on her nerves. “You’re not even their Number One.” Milly sees the second something snaps in Vanya. She makes eye contact with Markus, then raises her eyebrows. “I’m sorry but I can’t risk that.” He continues, breaking off the eye contact. “So if you came here to beg me not to make the next move...” he grabs his gloves.

Vanya speaks, low and threatening. “I came here to tell you mine. Tomorrow morning, when your busload of fans show up, I’m gonna be there, on your front lawn, and I’m gonna call you out for a fight, just you and me.” The lights flickers, and Milly can barely contain how proud she is. Markus’s confidence is wavering, but he still scoffs. “Why?” he asks. “Because your team is good.” Milly can feel the energy around them. “Better than mine, maybe. Markus is looking around, more concerned by the second, with the low rumbling, the flickering lights and the energy pulsating. “But I don’t think you’re better than me, Marcus.” She pauses. “I ended the world, twice.” At this, Marcus stops and stares. Milly nods in support. “And you?” The teacup shakes. “You’re just meat in spandex. And I bet you don’t want the whole world watching when I prove that to you. Vanya cocks her head.

“What do you really want, Vanya?” “You have something I need, and I want it back. A black suitcase. That’s all.” Marcus nods and Vanya stand up and walks away. Milly doesn’t follow her.

“Hi.” She starts. Marcus frowns. “Hello.” “I have some questions.” “I don’t want to talk to you, Milly.” She stands up and points a finger at him. “That, that! How do you know my name? Why does your sister think I’m a shapeshifter?” “She doesn’t think that anymore.” “Okay, then why did she?” He sighs. “Why don’t you come to the academy tomorrow morning, then we can talk.”

“You know me?” “Not you. The other you.” Milly pauses, frowning then sits back down. “Does that mean the other me is somewhere here. Shit I hadn’t even considered it.” “Not anymore.” At that, Milly stops. “What do you mean not anymore?”

“Academy, tomorrow, 8am.” With that he stands up and leaves. Milly sighs, then lets her head fall on the table, almost spilling her cup of tea. Thankfully, Vanya paid.

There is a noise, and Milly snaps her head towards the crow that is now flying away. “Shit.” She whispers under her breath. She hopes it’s not the crow, but she knows she’s probably wrong.

________________________

8am sharp. She stares at the digital clock on her wrist. Then she looks up and stares at the familiar door, that she would have only dreamed of entering only a year ago.

Technically it’s the exact same, unless you see the little sparrow engraved where the Umbrella once was.

For some reason Milly doesn’t feel nostalgic.

She doesn’t even have to knock when the door opens, and Jayme points a butter knife at her. Milly takes a step back. “Why are you here?” she asks, taking a step forwards.

This time, Milly doesn’t shy away. “I’m here to meet Marcus?” she asks, then adds, “your sister, Fei, I think, overheard us, ask her.”

“I wasn’t even there.” Fei peaks around the door, crow on her shoulder. Milly waves at the crow. “Yeah, but he was.” The sparrow narrows her eyes. “Perceptive.” Milly shrugs. “You have to be. Where is Marcus. He told me to be here.” Jayme, who still has the butterknife pointed at her, rolls her eyes. “Somewhere. Definitely not here.” Milly sighs. This is just great.

“What’s your name?” Jayme asks suddenly. “Milly? But you know that already. From what Marcus told me.” “Last name.” “No idea.” The knife drops down a little bit. Just enough to indicate that she is taken aback. “You don’t know?”

“My mother died when I was 3 and my grandmother too, so...” There is an awkward pause. “Dad told us you aren’t a shapeshifter, but how do we know that for sure?”

Milly bites the inside of her cheek. “Well, I suppose you don’t, not really, since I’m not the person you know, so there is no way of being 100% sure. I don’t even know how she is like. The other me.”

“Good answer.” Jayme lowers fully the butter knife and lets her inside. “We just finished breakfast. You’re lucky dad isn’t here.”

“Guys!” Fei calls. “We have a visitor.”

“Well, I was just here to talk to one of you but he’s not here... Um.” Everyone is staring. Great. That’s definitely embarrassing. “hi, again?” she looks around and finds Sloane. She is the person she trusts more of all of them right now. “Sorry for picking you up the other day Sloane.” She stands up. “How do you know my name.” The tone isn’t mad, it’s just, suspicious and scared? “You’re literally on every building and a google search away.” She shrugs. Sloane’s face goes through a few emotions at a time, then bursts out laughing, sitting down again. Milly smiles, and the tension eases slightly.

“Why are you here?” mean Ben asks. “I was supposed to meet w-”

“Yes, I gathered that, but why?”

“Because you know me. That much is clear, just as I know you, but, you know, you’re different, and probably so am I. So I’m curious about how I’m like.”

“Was like.” Christopher mumbles, and Alphonso hits him. Milly perks up. “Oh cool, I can understand you now. Also, the fact that I died explains things. I died, right?”

“You were murdered, yes.” Fei jumps in. Milly sighs. “Well, I almost died twice in the past year, so I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“You what now?” asks mean Ben. “You know, stopped two apocalypses kind of thing, got shot, twice and found out I had powers. That stuff. Now, I want to talk to you, and you can talk to me if you want. Any volunteers.”

“Why would we even help you?” snaps Ben. “Oh, I don’t know, mean Ben, but I thought you knew me, and you were all pretty confused when I showed up here with 6 people who called themselves -the Umbrella Academy-. I personally would have questions.”

“What did you just call me?” “Mean Ben. Because you’re the meaner version of my friend. So sue me, if I have questions, asshole.” Milly wants to storm out and never return.

Mean Ben stares for a moment, then turns to the others. They seem to have a silent conversation, then he turns around again. “Fine.” She smiles. “Sloane, that’s your job.” Milly’s smile widens. “Good, she’s the one I like the most for now.” She says that out loud just to get a reaction, but she just sees Jayme smile? Well, that’s new.

___________________________

Milly dangles her feet on the couch next to Sloane in silence. “So, Marcus said he would explain, but I don’t really know what there is to explain.” Sloane says. Milly shrugs. “Honestly, I don’t either. It’s just a bit weird, knowing that other me was friends with you. Or, well, knowing that I knew I had powers before that.” Sloane frowns. “You didn’t know you had powers?”

Milly shakes her head. “No, I thought I was normal, and when I discovered it, I thought it was too late to do anything about it. It wasn’t, so I started training them a little bit. I can manage using them pretty easily now. The more I understand, the easier it is.” Sloane nods.

“What was other me like?” Milly asks after a few second of silence.

“Tired. We didn’t really get along well, but she was always tired of doing what dad wanted, and she was overworked. She just wanted to escape, at least that’s what Ben told me.” Milly hums.

“I’m sorry, I can’t give you much, but I don’t really know what to tell you. I mean, dad adopted you when your grandmother died and has been training you since then.” “Since I was 3?” Milly asks, perplexed. “Yes.”

“Wow, I must have been messed up.” Milly whispers this mostly to herself, but Sloane hears it. “You were a happy child. A not so happy teen, but...” she trails off.

Milly sighs, then stands up. “I don’t think I want to know. I died, and that’s it, right. A funeral and whatever. I think I should just... go.” Sloane looks at her, really looks, then nods.

Milly sees herself out.

Chapter Text

When Milly returns to the hotel, she sees a missing poster of the receptionists dog, and she does a mental note to try and find him. Nobody is in her hotel room, thankfully, so she has time to research more about the sparrow academy on the computer they have in their room, so she can update her notebook. She’s interrupted by Diego, a few minutes in, ordering her to come to breakfast with Klaus, because they have a problem.

Turns out, the problem is Diego’s pre-teen son, who Lila dumped on him hours before. He’s around 12, which feels too close to Milly’s age right now. She’s very weirded out.

“That little delinquent is your son?” Klaus almost laughs, a plate of breakfast sitting in front of him. Milly isn’t hungry, so she has nothing. “Allegedly, my son.” Diego clarifies. Klaus laughs. “That’s so funny!”

Five joins them with a drink and a mug in hand, and Milly doesn’t even know when he arrived. His usual clothes are replaced by a button down with a vest and a hat. It makes Milly smile for how ridiculous he looks. He puts down the mug in front of her, and whispers “Tea” before asking “Wait, who’s... who’s the mother?” Milly blinks a few times, looking at the mug.

“Lila.”

“Excuse me?”

“I thought it was obvious...” Milly shrugs, taking a tentative sip of tea. With sugar. She smiles a little wider.

“Woah, Lila’s here?”

“Was. She dropped him off in my lap last night then bolted.” Diego doesn’t meet their eyes.

“I don’t much care for that one.” Klaus notes. Diego points a finger at him. “Don’t.” “Well, technically, she’s family.” Five retorts.

“She was trying to murder us, like, yesterday.” Klaus reasons. “Yeah, like I said, -Family-.” Milly snorts. “Diego, is she coming back?”

“Well, she goddamn better be because” Diego raises his voice “we got more important things to be dealing with right now!” Milly sighs. “Shh.” Comes Klaus.

“Where’s Luther?” Milly turns around to find Vanya, with a haircut. She looks nice.

“Who cares?” Probably out for... a run.” Diego looks at her up and down. “Nice haircut!” Milly smiles at her, and Vanya smiles back. Needless to say, they’ve all noticed the haircut. “Love the haircut.” Klaus agrees. Five nods.

“So we, uh, talked to Markus last night.” Oh no. “Who’s we?” Five raises his eyebrows. “Me and Milly.” A murderous glare comes her way. She hides behind the mug. As she takes a long sip. “You talked with the enemy?” Diego accuses. “Somebody had to do something.”

“Who elected you, Vanya?” “Diego.” Milly starts but stops at the face Vanya makes.

“It’s, uh, Viktor.” Oh.

“Who’s Viktor?” Diego asks.

There is a moment of silence, where Viktor waits and Milly smiles. “I am. It’s who I’ve always been. Uh, is that an issue for anyone?”

“Nah, I’m good with it.” Diego murmurs, he looks confused. “Congratulations!” Milly gives him a high-five. “Yeah, me too. Cool.” Klaus jumps in.

“Truly happy for you, Viktor.” Five adds. “But, last time I checked, you don’t speak for this family.”

“Okay, well, it’s fine, okay? Marcus totally gets it.” “He does.” “He doesn’t want a war any more than we do.”

“What are you talking about? He tried to homicide us!”

“In all fairness, we did technically break into their house.” Milly shrugs, sipping her tea, still smiling.

“So did Lila, and you had a kid with her.” Klaus defends.

“That’s not the point!”

“Listen, we made a deal.” Vanya interrupts. “He’s gonna give Five’s briefcase, then we’re gonna get out of the timeline. We’re gonna meet later today for the, uh, the handover.”

“Oh, thank god!”

“That’s a rookie move. Dude is playing you.” Diego whispers, loud enough for them to hear. “Oh, really?”

“Yeah, but maybe we can use this. And we turn it back on them, and we wipe them the hell out.” Milly sighs. “Diego, stop, please. And you’re not gonna do anything today.”

“Except bond with your spawn.” “Alleged spawn.”

Milly thinks back to this morning, when Marcus wasn’t at breakfast.

“I will get the briefcase, and then we will all go back and fix the timeline.” “I’m coming with you.” Milly says immediately. “Hey, we’re not going anywhere! This is a perfectly acceptable timeline.” Sorry?

“Yeah, why don’t you tell that to Allison, who’s upstairs grieving her daughter, who doesn’t even exist here!” Wait what?

“Not to mention, we’ve been replaced by a bunch of blobs and cubes and birds and shit!” Milly wonders who else is dead in this timeline.

“News flash, geniuses! It’s not about us! Take a look around. If you hadn’t noticed, there’s no doomsday. There is no apocalypse. The sun is shining. The birds are doing whatever the hell birds do. That’s all that matters. We’re done messing with time.”

Funny, considering that’s literally Milly’s job.

“And I’m officially retired.” He stands up and walks away.  

Because Milly is used to funny feelings that turn out to be justified, she follows him, leaving an empty mug on the table.

“Five!” she calls. He sits down on another table, takes a sip of his cocktail, then raises an eyebrow.

Milly sits down next to him, and sighs. “Please tell me you don’t want to leave this timeline too.” Milly sets down her backpack and opens it, getting out a newspaper article Sloane gave her and a book she found on the shelf.

“I’m dead in this timeline.” That is apparently enough to gather Fives attention, as he straightens up. “What? Why?”

Milly gives him the newspaper. “Turns out, they are familiar with me.” Printed on the front page in black text is.

PUBLIC FUNERAL OF NUMBER 8 ON THE 4^TH OF JULY: Everything that you missed.

Underneath, a photo of Milly, and a casket.

Five does a double take, then snatches the newspaper from her.

“2018...” he says after a while. “Yeah, I know. What worries me more, is the fact that I was apparently number 8, which clears the reason why they looked furious when they saw me. Don’t ask me how it happened, because I don’t know, and I’m not sure I even want to.” Five nods, as he puts down the newspaper, face down.

Milly gives her the book too. “How it happened was not disclosed, and the sparrows don’t want to tell me.”

“You talked to them?” Milly swallows.

“This morning I was supposed to meet Marcus so we could talk.” She pauses for a second, then meets his eyes. “The others don’t know where he is. It’s like he disappeared into thin air.”

Five sighs.

“Also, what worries me is Allison. Scratch that she lost her daughter because she doesn’t even exist, she should still have fallen in love and had a child. That was written in her file at the commission.”

“In the what now?” Milly waves him off. “What is important here, is the fact that I died, and Claire doesn’t exist anymore. What if, and now, I know this sounds crazy, but you have to let me explain, what if I’m not the only person who is dead in this timeline.”

“Look, first what you are saying doesn’t make sense-”

“Oh but it does!” Milly interrupts, “Reginald shouldn’t have been able to adopt other children, that’s how it works. He would have to know your mothers to avoid that, but he didn’t. Also, the number of woman that got pregnant that day is different! Where we come from, the number was 43, but here it’s 16. That’s a hugedifference.”

“Please. I don’t want to solve mystery’s right now. We have done enough. We have had enough problems in the last two years. Just leave it.”

Milly sighs.

Then, suddenly, the lights flicker, and the power goes off. It comes back after a second. Five doesn’t look even remotely bothered.

“I’m just saying, what if we caused something because we’re not supposed to be here.”

“Time travel is complicated. But you have watched too many movies, because it’s not that complicated.” He stands up and grabs a plate. Milly gathers her things in record time and follows him. “Says the guy who looks 16 because he got a comma wrong.”

Five scowls.

Then Klaus comes along, and the conversation changes.

“Hey. What do you say we get outta here, huh? Take a little... road trip.”

Milly furrows her eyebrows and Five asks, “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about a sojourn to the countryside. You and me, the wind in our hair. Thelma and Louise on the open road. You know they die in the end, right?” Milly rolls her eyes smiling. “Holding hands, living our best life, my little cherub!”

Milly can’t help to admire their dynamic. A lot has changed in 2 years.

“Listen to me.” Klaus whispers. “I nearly died from Luther’s sleep farts last night.” Oh ew, Milly was not supposed to hear that. Yet, she still follows Five and Klaus around, as Five piles his plate with much earned food.

“we need to get out of here, get some fresh air!”

“Okay, I’ll bite. Why me, Klaus?”

“Because you said... you said you’re retired, and that’s what retired people do. And don’t you deserve some fun?”

Five stops. “There’s no lobsters.”

“Excuse me?”

Milly turns to the indeed empty lobster tank.

“There were three lobsters in that tank a minute ago.” Milly’s eyebrows fly up. She hadn’t even noticed them. Klaus doesn’t look that moved. “Yeah, well, you know, maybe Chet blended ‘em into a morning smoothie.”

Five observes the tank for a few seconds, then decides to ignore it. “You’re an idiot, but I’m in.”

“Whoo!” Klaus cheers, then, “Milly, want to come with? The more the merrier?”

Milly nods enthusiastically, but mentally, she’s still thinking about the empty tank.

Because that feeling in her stomach tells her that she’s right. That she’s missing something. What, is still up for debate.

Milly looks at her Theorema watch. “I have to get changed, I’ll meet you in the car in 30 minutes.” Milly announces and taps Five’s shoulder. Then, she sprints up the stairs.

__________________________

When Milly meets them in front of the car Five raises his eyebrows. “You have lipstick on your cheek.” Milly’s eyes widen in embarrassment as she wipes it away completely.