𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆, Valerie dragged herself out of bed with a small groan. 

She knew she had limited time until Five would come whining at her to get a move on, so she hurried to the kitchen and began to eat as fast as she could. She went through about six different containers of food, and she hoped that no one was relying on them for lunch. 

She sped back to the bathroom on the third floor and took the time to brush both her teeth and hair. She had tossed and turned a bit in bed during her slumber, and so she had to work vigorously to fight through the tangles with her hairbrush. 

She knocked on the door and waited patiently for Five to open it. Upon getting no response, she knocked once more with a little more force in hopes to catch the boy's attention.

"One second," Five's voice floated through the door, seeming rushed and restrained. "I'm just uh . . . cooking?"

Valerie scoffed. He was such a horrible liar. 

Trusting that there really wasn't a skillet in his hand (though she had no clue why he'd hide it), Valerie grabbed the door handle and opened the door. 

"I swear to God, Five, if you're taking out—what the hell?"

Five whipped around to face her as soon as she had opened the door, his eyes a little wide and his mouth slightly agape.

It was then that Valerie saw what he had been trying to so desperately hide: a bullet wound. 

He was pinching a needle between his fingers, which had a dark thread that was looped through. He was wearing a white muscle tank, exposing the top of his right arm, which he was stitching up. 

"Nothing. It's nothing," he said quickly, seeing her incredulous expression and shaking his head. "Don't worry, Val."

"Five, you absolute idiot!" Valerie exclaimed as she hurried towards him. "Is that from last night?"

"No—ugh," Five grunted softly as he finished his last stitch. 

He grabbed a children's bandaid, which had cartoon trucks plastered all over it, and stuck it over the stitched-up wound before offering her a short smile she didn't believe. 

He looked up at her as he slid his button-up shirt on and immediately reassured her, "I'm fine. Anyway, let's go."

"Go?" she repeated in confusion, her eyebrows furrowing. "Go where?" 

"The guy from Meritech. He's up to something," Five informed her as he slid his uniform jacket on, the crest of the Umbrella Academy gleaming in the light. "We have to find out what it is."

Valerie sighed. "Fine. Let me change and then we can go."

"No time," Five refused as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards the window.

"Wha—these are Alli's clothes! And they're too big for me!" Valerie groaned as he slid the window up with his free hand, letting a cool breeze into the bedroom.

Five glanced over at her, shaking his head. "Don't worry, you look cu—Fine. You look okay. Let's go."

Valerie shook her head. She was absolutely not going to wear pyjamas outside. 

Quickly, she pointed out the window and exclaimed, "Hey, look at that!"

"What?" 

Five's grip loosened as he turned towards what she had pointed out, his eyes narrowing, and she grinned. 

Valerie sped into her room, tossing Allison's clothes onto her bed and changing into another uniform. 

She really wished she could just borrow Allison's clothes, but, man, that girl was tall. She also had an adult's body, something Valerie had to wait a little longer for, thanks to time travel.

As soon as she had straightened her tie and pulled up her socks, she went back to the room to find an irritated Five.

His arms were folded, and he was leaning against the ledge of the window as he gave her a glare. 

"Doth thee has't ev'rything thee needeth, princess?" he questioned in a horrible British accent as an exaggerated smile grew on his face. "Certes, we can't leaveth unless all thy needeth art did attend to!"

Valerie scoffed, "I just wanted to wear normal clothes!" She paused as she looked down at the plaid dress that peeked out from underneath the Academy's blazer before shrugging. "Well . . . as normal as it can get, at least."

Five rolled his eyes, although a small smile came across his face as he continued in his horrible accent, "Well enow, princess, alloweth's wend!" He gave a great bow, causing Valerie to roll her eyes.

"You know what, I know you're making fun of me, but at least I know that you paid attention during the lessons of the Shakespearean times," Valerie pointed out as she raised her eyebrows.

She followed reluctantly as he went over the ledge and onto the fire escape, and she held on tightly to the railing, feeling the cool metal grazing the palm of her hand. 

The two of them could hear Klaus' whines as they went down the stairs, and the wails only grew louder as they neared the ground.

They looked over to see that Klaus was wading around the dumpster, a pout on his face as he threw garbage bags around in search of something.

"I'm trying to find whatever priceless crap was in that priceless box so that Pogo will get off my ass!"

"I'd ask what you're up to, Klaus, but then it occurred to me" —Five paused as he began to climb down the ladder— "I don't care."

"Hey!" Klaus laughed as he waddled his way through the garbage to get closer to the two. "You know there are easier ways out of the house, lovebirds?"

"This one involved the least amount of talking," answered a red-faced Five as he and Valerie reached the ground. "Or so I thought."

"Hey, hey, hey, so . . ." Klaus leaned over the edge of the dumpster, an open flask in his hand, and raised his eyebrows. "You need any more company today? I could, uh . . . clear my schedule." He grinned as he took a sip of whatever alcoholic substance was in his metal flask.

Five's eyes roamed over the small bottle in amusement as he nodded toward him and lightly said, "Looks like you've got your hands full."

"Oh, this? No, no. I can do this whenever." Klaus waved a dismissive hand with a small chuckle. "I'm just—" There was a clattering noise as he tripped and fell backwards into the garbage. "I just misplaced something. That's all. Oh!" he exclaimed as he popped back up, a half-eaten bagel in hand. "Found it! Thank God." He gave a sigh of mock relief before biting into the bagel. He chewed slowly, a look of disgust on his face before he finally plucked up the courage to swallow. "Delicious."

"We're not funding your drug habit anymore," Valerie said sternly before she and Five turned and began to walk down the alley.

"Come on! You don't . . . Maybe I just wanna hang out with my brother and sister!" Klaus called after them. "¡Mi hermano! ¡Mi hermana! I love you guys! Even if you can't love yourself!"

Ignoring Klaus, Valerie looked to Five and lifted her eyebrows as she looked around. "Where am I running us now?"

"You're not," Five replied with a shake of the head, causing her eyebrows to furrow. He nodded towards an empty van that seemed to belong to a worker in a plumbing service to answer her silent question, and instructed, "Get in the van."

Valerie rolled her eyes before sighing and heeding his orders. While Five opened the door to the driver's seat (who left their car unlocked in New York?), Valerie headed to the front passenger seat, shaking her head as she pulled her seatbelt on. 

The tires squealed loudly as Five began to drive, pulling out of the alleyway and merging onto the normal road.

Valerie looked out the window, the buildings and scenery moving rather too slowly for her liking. She took a moment to soak in all the differences in the world that had come to be during her twelve-year disappearance; the shops and restaurants had all changed, the trees stood taller, the flowers were more vivid, and, somehow . . .  the world seemed less grey and full of life. 

But that was probably because she had gotten used to pitch-black.

 "So why exactly are we taking a car this time?" She sighed as she lifted her attention off a nearby playground and turned to Five. "Not to mention, stealing said car?"

"We need a place to hide in while we wait for Biggs to come out," Five answered with a shrug as he turned onto a busy street. "I figured a car would be the best place."

"And we're wasting our time on this guy why?" She raised her eyebrows. "He said the eyeball hadn't been manufactured yet, what more do you want from him?"

"I don't know. Something was off about him," he told her as he shook his head. "He's hiding something."

"Maybe he has an unrelated, deep, dark secret that haunts him," Valerie said seriously, though she was finding it difficult to resist the grin that was growing on her face. "Like he never returned one of his library books ten years ago, and he's avoiding paying the charge for it."

Five turned to stare at her as they came to a stop at a red light, his eyebrows raised humourlessly and a small scoff escaping his lips. "Yeah, you think so?"

"Mhm." She nodded, folding her arms. "Or maybe: He threw away his daughter's painting after she had gifted it to him, and now feels super bad."

"We don't have time for jokes, Val," he said seriously, pressing the gas pedal once the light had switched to green. "We're trying to stop the goddamn apocalypse."

"Right," Valerie mumbled, "but not making jokes isn't going to stop the apocalypse."

They soon came to a stop in front of the building that they had visited only a day before, and their gazes quickly settled over the entrance.  

Despite it being early morning, the sidewalks had quite a few people wandering on them, many coming out of the Meritech Prosthetics building. Although, none of them, unfortunately, were the man they were searching for. 

"So now what?" Valerie questioned, leaning forward and peering out the windshield.

Five sighed. "We just have to wait."

—♫—

Quite a few hours of no sightings later, Five was anxiously looking out the window as he played with the prosthetic eye in his left hand. 

Valerie had become terribly fidgety; she didn't like being in such a confined space for so long, and her legs were aching for action. She had resorted to watching as she made her hands vibrate so fast that they looked like they were still.

So, yeah, they were not having fun.

A few boys kicked a ball around on the sidewalk in front of the car, shouting joyfully as they did so. Valerie's attention drew to them, a small smile growing on her face as she watched them play.

That had been the one thing that she had missed when she transferred to the Umbrella Academy. Fun.

While her birth parents didn't particularly like her (raising a child that could run at superhuman speeds was pretty difficult), they were most definitely not as strict as Sir Reginald Hargreeves. She was allowed to go outside and play by herself, as long as she promised to try to not use her speed.

But once she had moved to the Umbrella Academy? Hardly any fun at all. 

Although, they did get a half-hour every Saturday that was dedicated to fun, and she and Five would always sneak off and play around whenever they found time to, but it just wasn't the same. The Umbrella Academy had definitely given her a different childhood than most.

As the boys passed, Valerie looked over to Five, whose face seemed to be screwed up in pain. He was clutching the eyeball in his hand so tightly that she was worried it would shatter, and his eyebrows were knit so tightly together that she could hardly see the skin between. 

"Five?" Valerie shook his shoulder, but to no avail. She slapped him across the cheek as she exclaimed, "Five!"

"Ow!" he groaned as rubbed his cheek and looked over toward her with furrowed eyebrows. "The hell was that for?"

She studied his expression for a moment, but when she couldn't make anything of it, she softly asked, "Are you all right?"

Five quickly shook his head, swallowing. "It's . . . I got lost in my thoughts. Have you seen anything?" He hastily turned his attention back to the entrance of the building, which was empty.

"No." Valerie shook her head with an exhale. "I'm starting to think that—"

She was interrupted by a knock at the window. With a small yelp of surprise, she looked over to see Luther standing next to her door, his fist against the window as he stared at the two of them.

Valerie leaned over and nudged Five's arm, nodding towards the giant man who was waiting. "Five, unlock the doors."

Luther slid the side door open once it was unlocked, grunting as he tried to fit into the seat behind them. After a few moments, he had managed to settle down, panting slightly. 

Luther looked between the two of them, his forehead creased in worry as he analyzed them. He squinted his eyes at Five as he asked, "You two okay?"

"You shouldn't be . . ." Five groaned, closing his eyes in frustration before questioning, "How did you find us?"

"Uh . . ." Luther nodded his head towards the back.

The two shifted their farther back to see Klaus, who was rummaging through all the random trinkets and items that sat in the back. He'd examined one as he picked it up and, after seeming to deem it not worthy, throw it to the side.

"Get out!" Five shouted, picking up a random ping-pong ball and throwing it at Klaus. "You can't be here! We're in the middle of something!"

"What, kissing?" Klaus grinned as dropped the book that he was holding and clambered towards them. "Just kidding. Unless you were, then I was not kidding. Anyway, any luck finding your one-eyed man?"

Five, whose face was somehow redder than Valerie's, whispered, "No."

"No to which one?" Klaus teased, suggestively wiggling his eyebrows. "The kissing or the one-eyed man?"

"Shut. Up. Klaus," Valerie said through gritted teeth as she stared daggers into him, only causing him to giggle.

Luther's eyebrows furrowed as he glanced at Klaus. "What's he talkin' about?"

"Does it matter?" Five waved a dismissive hand in response, his face slowly returning back to its fair tone. "It's Klaus."

Valerie turned to Luther, cocking her head to the side as she asked, "Is there a reason you're visiting, Luther?"

"Um . . ." Luther sighed, his gaze shifting between the two in front of him. "So, Grace may have had something to do with Dad's death. So I need you guys to come back to the Academy, all right? It's important."

"'It's important,'" Five echoed mockingly before a scowl grew onto his face. "You have no concept of what's important."

"Hey!" Klaus suddenly interjected, a small grin on his face as they turned their attention to him. "Did I ever tell you guys about the time I waxed my ass with chocolate pudding?" He gave a loud laugh, though he shuddered simultaneously. "It was so painful!"

Luther sighed, his eyebrows knit tightly together as he questioned, "What are you still doing here?"

Klaus' expression feigned offence as he stared at them. "What? I need an excuse to hang out with my family?"

"We're trying to have a serious conversation," Luther told him as he raised his eyebrows.

"What, and I'm incapable of being serious?" Klaus brought his hands to his chest, pretending to be shocked by this information. "Is that what you're saying?"

"Sorry, Klaus, Luther's got a point," Valerie sighed as she nodded towards the passenger door, "you should get out."

"What?" Klaus breathed out. After a moment, seeming to realize they weren't going to change their minds, he huffed and yelled out an angry "Fine!" as he climbed out and slammed the door shut behind him.

"What the hell are you two up to?" Luther questioned, glancing through the windshield to watch as Klaus made his way towards a convenience store across the street.

Five shook his head, his eyes shifting towards the ground for a moment as he muttered, "You wouldn't understand."

"Try me," Luther challenged as he shifted forward in his seat, his eyebrows lifted. "Last I checked, I'm still the leader of this family."

"Well, last I checked, I'm nine years older than you," Five rebutted, the sweet smile that Valerie both loved and hated appearing on his face. 

"Last I checked," Valerie mumbled to herself, "who the hell cares?"

Ignoring Valerie's insert, Luther's eyebrows furrowed as he stared at Five for a moment before shifting forward. "You know what your problem is?

"Really hoping you'll tell me," Five jeered, his lips twisting into an unmeaning smile as he leaned back in his seat.

"You think you're better than us." Luther ignored Five's sarcasm as he continued, "You always have. Even when we were kids." He sighed, shaking his head as he continued, "But the truth is, you're just as messed up as the rest of us. We're all you have. And you know it."

"I don't think that I'm better than you, Number One." Five shook his head as he scoffed slightly. "I know I am."

Valerie rolled her eyes at his words, folding her arms as she leaned back in her chair. Luther seemed to be feeling the same way, letting out a chuckle of amusement as he shook his head.

"I've done unimaginable things, things you couldn't even comprehend," Five continued as his eyes drifted out of his window. "Just to get back here and save you all."

"Whoo!"

Their attention was turned to the convenience store as Klaus burst through the door, a heap of stolen goodies in his arms. A grin was on his face as he sprinted across the busy street, but it seemed he didn't care about the cars passing by as he ran away from the security guard that was now following.

"Stop! Hey!" the security guard shouted, a hand stretched out towards him. "Stop right now!"

"Hey, bitches!" Klaus yelled at the van, though he didn't have the time for any other greetings as a car nearly ran into him. "Out of the way, asshole!"

An irritated smile now playing upon his lips, Five drawled, "Now I'm starting to wonder if that was the wisest decision."

Valerie watched Klaus run for a few moments before she sighed and turned to Luther. "I'll come back to the Academy with you."

Five's head whipped around to face her, an incredulous expression coming over his face. "Seriously, Val? This shit is way more important."

"Family comes first," Valerie said with a tone of finality as she unbuckled her seatbelt. She looked up at Five, who looked to be very offended, and gave him a small smile as she promised, "I'll run back here as soon as we're done talking, okay?"

Five stared at her for a moment before giving a small nod and sighing. "Okay."