Part Three

Diego took a deep breath as he stepped forward. His chest was right at the tip of the knife. "Don't I?" He questioned her. "I know that we can be your family.. if you just let us."

The Handler entered the barn suddenly with a machine gun in her hands. Before she could shoot, Five wrestled the gun out of her grasp and aimed it at her now. My eyebrows furrowed as I glanced between him and a spot across from the barn. Was he always standing over there?

"It's true," Lila spoke up. "What Five said, isn't it?" The Handler just stood there with her hands in the air. "Answer me! Is it true?"

"Well-"

The Handler was shot several times in the chest. She fell to the floor as blood gushed out of her mouth. Her eyes were still open and staring straight ahead at Lila.

Everyone was so taken aback by what had just happened. When we looked to see who shot the Handler, the last remaining Swede brother was standing in the doorway.

Lila didn't hesitate as she broke into a sprint towards the briefcase. Luther noticed and shouted, "The case!"

"No!" Diego exclaimed. He stepped in front of his brother and the two men stumbled onto the ground, giving Lila enough time to send Diego one last fleeting glance before she traveled elsewhere in the timeline.

The Swede carefully made his way into the barn. He aimed his gun at Five who had his own held in the air as well. They were still for a beat, until Five slowly dropped his gun to the side. "Enough," he stated.

"Tillräckligt," the Swedish man said. He tossed his gun onto the hay on the floor of the barn, and then walked out like nothing had happened.

"I almost had her," Luther sighed. "Why the hell did you stop me?"

"Because," Diego whispered. "I love her." Luther rolled over off of his brother, allowing Diego to stand up again.

Klaus shook his head in confusion. "Who the hell was that guy?" He exclaimed. I furrowed my eyebrows. How did Klaus not find out about the Swedish brothers until now? I guess he wasn't kidding when he said nobody in this family ever tells him anything.

"Vanya!" Sissy shouted from downstairs under the barn. "Help!"

"Harlan," Vanya breathed. She quickly ran down the steps of the barn with the rest of us following after her. Once we were downstairs, we saw Harlan in a sphere of his own energy and powers. Vanya was kneeled right in front of the frightened boy as she spoke, "Whatever it is I gave you, I can take it back, okay? We just- We need to stop this."

Vanya placed her hands on Harlan's knees as her eyes began to glow white. Tiny orange particles inside of Harlan began leaving his body and going back into Vanya's through her hands.

A wave of energy whooshed throughout the air and all of the powers that Harlan possessed were suddenly gone.

Sissy instantly ran over to her son with a relieved smile. "Oh, baby!" She exclaimed as she held Harlan close to her.

I gasped softly as I remembered that someone was still here. "Zara," I spoke aloud. I turned on my heel and phased through the barn as I began to run off in the direction where I had left her. Five and Diego were close behind me as I made my way back to the front of Sissy's house. "She's gone," I said. My eyes stared at the hole in the ground. Only her right boot remained stuck in the dirt.

"You think she's still here?" Diego asked.

I shook my head as I glanced off into the distance to where the Commission workers were still laying on the ground. I had just assumed that most of them were either dead or unconscious. "Zara wouldn't stay when she's already lost," I spoke lowly. As much as both of us might hate to admit it, we knew each other too well. I had a feeling that I'd be seeing her again.

I started walking out into the field, where saw two new people approaching. As I made my way over, I hoped and prayed that they weren't here to fight us.

"Herb. Dot," Five greeted. The two of them stepped over all of the bodies on the ground before stopped in front of us.

Herb was caring a briefcase that appeared to be bigger than himself. "Hello again," he chuckled.

Dot flashed me a smile. "Hi!"

"Sup, Herbie," Diego said with a smirk.

"My man!" Herb replied. The two of them performed their own special handshake, making me chuckle softly.

"Good to see you guys," Five said.

Herb sighed, "I can't believe it. Is she..?"

"Really dead this time?" Five finished his sentence.

"Oh, yeah," Diego remarked.

"Good riddance," I muttered.

"Now that the Handler's gone, what happens at Commission?" Five asked curiously.

Dot smiled as her and Herb turned towards each other. "Just tell them," she exclaimed in excitement.

"Well, we need to elect a new board of directors," Herb explained. "But, until then, I.. I've been voted in as acting chairperson!"

"No shit!" Diego breathed. Dot clapped her hands together for her friend. "Congrats, Herbie, that's huge."

"I'm so goddamn nervous!" Herb admitted. The little man with the glasses couldn't stop smiling.

"You'll do fine," Five said.

"I barely know you, but I'm so proud of you!" I added.

"Oh, thank you!" Herb replied. "That means a lot coming from you, Glitch!" My face dropped slightly. "Oh, sorry, Alexa. The Handler had us call you that."

I smirked as I thought about the woman, who was finally dead. "Water under the bridge," I sighed.

"Herb, we need a favor," Five spoke up again.

"Oh, sure, anything," Herb said.

"A briefcase. We need to get back home, where we belong," Five stated.

Herb nodded and turned around. "Take your pick."

I perked up in excitement. Five glanced at me and shook his head with a small smile on his face. "Go ahead," he sighed.

I immediately ran out into the field of bodies. My legs took me towards the middle of where all the chaos happened. I stopped in my tracks to pick up a briefcase that was in the hands of a woman with a duck mask, and then I ran back over to Five and Diego with the case in my hands. "Let's get the hell out of here," I said with a smile.

The three of us walked back over to the house, where everyone was waiting outside. It was dark and the sun was beginning to set off in the horizon.

"Everyone ready?" Five asked.

"Let's do it," Luther said with a nod.

I placed my hand over Five's as he held the briefcase. Allison was holding onto my other hand with Vanya on her side.

"Wait!" Klaus exclaimed. He ran back up to the house to retrieve a cowboy hat that was laying on the deck.

Diego leaned over and whispered in Five's ear, "Fifty bucks if we leave him here." Five just rolled his eyes and waited for Klaus to run back.

We all held hands once again. I felt like I was having déjà vu from last year when we were escaping the apocalypse.

Once Five activated the briefcase, blue flashes of lightning began to crackle around us. The case charged up and similar to last time, we were all swept away in a cloud of bright energy.

When my eyes reopened, we were all standing in the foyer of the Umbrella Academy. It felt like ages since I had been in here.

"What day is it?" Luther asked.

Five picked up the newspaper that was lying on the table we were all stood around. "April second, 2019. The day after the apocalypse."

"Wait, so we stopped it," Allison spoke up.

"My God, it's over?" Vanya asked in disbelief.

Klaus whimpered, "Did we.. Did we actually succeed at something? That's incredible!"

Five and I glanced towards each other and immediately embraced. I laughed softly as the two of us smiled. I was so glad that everything was finally over.

"Sugar," Five whispered into my ear. I furrowed my eyebrows and pulled away from him with a confused look on my face. "It's your secret ingredient."

"How'd you know?" I asked him curiously.

Five just shrugged. "Figured it out," he replied with a soft chuckle. I laughed along with him, but knew that there was probably more truth to that statement. Regardless, I didn't question him. "I don't know about you guys, but I need a drink," Five remarked. The two of us began to wander into the living room.

"Yes!" Luther exclaimed.

Klaus hugged Vanya and Diego as he laughed, "In fact, I need several!"

"I'm in," Vanya said in agreement.

Allison glanced towards the door longingly. "I should go find Claire."

"Oh, come on, one drink," Luther sighed. He grabbed her arm and pulled her into the other until she gave in.

"Why is there a painting of Ben over the mantelpiece?" Diego pointed out. We all stared at the nicely framed painting, where an image of Five should have been.

"I knew you'd show up eventually."

We all paused as our heads slowly turned to the side, where the familiar voice spoke up from the corner of the room. Low and behold, standing before our eyes was Reginald Hargreeves.

"Dad," Diego breathed.

"You're alive?" Luther asked.

The man's sent him a confused look. "Why shouldn't I be?" He questioned.

"Yeah.. Y-yeah, you're right," Luther replied. "I'm.. I'm just happy that we're home and.. together again."

Reginald shook his head. "Home?" He repeated. "This isn't your home."

"What are you talking about?" Allison asked. "This is the Umbrella Academy."

"Wrong again," Reginald stated. His eyes met each of ours. "This is the Sparrow Academy."

A group of approaching footsteps from behind us made everyone turn around to see five people standing in front of the window on the second floor. The sun that shined in casted shadows upon their faces, making us unable to identity any of them.

Then, an Asian man with with a scar across his cheek stepped into the room. His dark eyes glared at us as he spoke, "Dad, who the hell are these assholes?"

I shook my head slowly. "Please tell me that isn't-"

"Ben," Diego whispered.

We stood there in there in the Sparrow Academy's living room like statues.. right back to where we started.

"Shit."