chapter sixteen: paco's tacos

By the time they made it to the Icarus Theater Five still hadn't joined them and Nova was starting to get worried. When they entered the building Nova knew this wasn't going to be easy. Nothing was ever easy for them but right now the concert had already started.

I need to go alone. Allison wrote on her notepad.

"Allison I can't let you do that right now. She's beyond reasoning," Luther said.

"You hear the music? It's started," Diego said and Luther nodded as he let Allison go.

"You're using her as a distraction aren't you?" Nova asked.

"Our best chance to incapacitate Vanya. She'll thank us later," Luther said and Diego nodded. This plan didn't sit right with Nova but she knew they wouldn't listen to her.

"What's the plan?" Klaus asked.

"You stay out front. You're the lookout," Luther said to Klaus before he stopped Nova who was moving up the stairs. "Stay with Klaus."

"I'm more capable than you are," Nova glared and Luther sighed.

"Your eyes have mostly returned to normal but your pupils are still black. There are too many civilians in there to risk you losing control," Luther said and Nova stood back knowing he was right.

"Fine, I'll babysit Klaus," She said in an annoyed voice as Luther turned to leave.

"Want to get tacos? I saw a food truck out front. I think it was called Paco's Tacos or something like that," Klaus said and the girl only shrugged as she followed him out of the theater. "Hey, Novie, what happened to your face?"

"My face? What do you mean?" Nova asked as she went to look at her reflecting against the metal side of the food truck. Her eyes widened when she noticed the streaks of dried black tears that covered the freckles on her cheeks. "Oh, that happens sometimes if I use too much of my death powers."

"Do you hear gunfire?" Ben asked as Klaus began to eat his burrito. Nova turned confused and saw an injured Cha-Cha coming down the street.

"It's go time," Klaus said as he dropped his burrito and they hurried back into the theater.

"What about the gunfire?" Ben asked.

"Ben you can't even get shot!" Nova exclaimed.

"But you can," He argued and Nova rolled her eyes.

"It can't kill me," She argued back.

"What about Klaus?" Ben asked as they continued to run.

"He has no will to live and he's the damn lookout!" Nova said and they ducked as they ran into the main room.

"Guys it's Cha-Cha!" Klaus yelled to the others and they told him to get down.

Nova watched in awe as Klaus' hands began to glow blue and Ben appeared in the blue light to everyone. Tentacles shot out of Ben's stomach and began to impale the Commision soldiers. A crazy idea forms in Nova's head and she thrusts her hands into Ben's stomach from behind and focuses on pushing her powers through.

The tentacles coming out of Ben's stomach turned black and anyone he impaled immediately died. Once a soldier died they sank off of the tentacle leaving it free to impale another attacker.

The others watched in surprise as the three former Academy members combined their powers. Ben's screams and groans can be heard throughout the theater. Nova could feel how weak she was becoming. This was the most she had used her powers in a long time. It was draining her and fast.

"Oh god, now I wish I had eaten one of Paco's tacos," Nova grumbled tiredly once all the Commission soldiers had been killed.

"Nova!" Five called as he blinked in front of her.

"Give me a second. Don't touch me yet," Nova said as she put her hands on her knees and tried to catch her breath.

When she looked back up at Five her eyes must have returned to normal because he pulled her into a tight hug before placing a kiss on her temple.

"Oh, when did this happen?" Klaus asked the two teens as he wiggled his eyebrows. Both the teens just rolled their eyes tiredly and chuckled. Nova leaned on Five tiredly as his arm wrapped around her waist.

"Oh welcome back, where were you?" Luther asked as Diego walked back to the group.

"Honoring a memory," Diego said and Nova knew he was fighting Cha-Cha. Though she didn't know if he killed her or not. "So how do you wanna end this thing?"

"We surround her. All right? We come at her from all angles." Luther said.

"So, it's a suicide mission," Klaus said and Nova noticed Allison discreetly writing something.

"Yeah, but one of us could get through. It's the only chance we've got," Five said and the others nodded.

Nova met Allison's eyes. The injured woman gestured to the back stairwell and Nova nodded. They were going to let the boys do their thing. They had another plan.

"Are we all in?" Luther asked and everyone agreed. "Allison?"

"Me and Allison will grab her from behind. Diego, go stage left. Luther, go stage right. Klaus, Five, attack from the front," Nova said quickly and the boys went off.

We need to startle her. Stop the music. Allison showed Nova the notepad and the young girl nodded.

The two girls hurried backstage as a plan started to form in Nova's mind. She pulled the gun out of her waistband to make sure she was ready. Allison stopped confused but Nova assured her that she wasn't going to hurt Vanya.

The glass shattered and the roof began to crumble around them. Nova and Allison ducked out of the way and watched in horror as tendrils of energy grabbed each of the boys. They could see the life draining out of each of them.

"Be ready to catch her," Nova called to Allison who nodded.

The young girl walked up behind Vanya with her gun raised. She wasn't going to shoot the woman but she was hoping the sound of the gunshot could snap Vanya out of her trance. Nova placed the barrel of her pistol parallel to the side of Vanya's head. As she shot the bullet the music suddenly stopped and the tendrils of energy faded as the boys all fell to the ground.

A beam of pent-up energy shot from Vanya's chest and straight through the ceiling as she collapsed into Allison's arms. Nova wasn't paying attention to any of that because she was racing to where Five had fallen.

"Are you alright?" Five asked Nova as he ran up to her. His hands held the sides of her face as his eyes scanned her for any visible injuries.

"I'm fine. Are you..." Nova's question was cut short by Five's lips on hers. In that one kiss, she could feel so many emotions. She could feel his worry, fear, relief, passion, and love. There were probably more but she was too distracted to think about it.

"Uh, guys?" Klaus said shakily and the two teens broke apart to see what he was looking at.

Vanya's energy blast had struck the Moon and now an impossibly large chunk was free-falling toward Earth. Nova's heart sank as she realized this was how the world was going to end. Five pulled the girl closer to him by her waist as he watched the meteor fall.

"Well, I guess Luther was right for once. The apocalypse does have something to do with the Moon," Nova says sarcastically.

"So, this is it huh? So, much for saving the world," Klaus sighed and Nova noticed him holding Dave's dog tags tenderly.

"If only Sir Reginald could see us right now, huh? The Umbrella Academy, a total failure," Diego scoffed.

"At least we're together in the end. As a family. All of us," Luther said and his eyes met Nova's on the last part.

She knew that was his way of apologizing for the events that took place in the last 24 hours. Honestly, that was more of an apology than the girl expected so she nodded her head.

"This doesn't have to be the end," Five says quickly and Nova looks up to see his face deep in thought.

"What do you mean, Five?" She asked softly and he looked down at her with a determined look on his face. Nova had seen that look before. It was a look that meant he was willing to risk everything for his siblings and for her.

"I think I have a way out of this but you have to trust me on this," He said to all of them, and the rest of the brothers all shook their heads. At this point, they were ready to give up. "Well, then we might as well accept our fate because in less than a minute we're going to be vaporized."

"What's your idea then?" Diego asked.

"We use my ability to time travel. But this time I'll take you all with me," Five said and everyone looked at him skeptically.

"You can do that?" Diego asked and Five shrugged.

"I've done it with Nova. But I've never done it with seven people before," Five said.

"What's the worst that can happen?" Diego asked his other brothers.

"Well, you could be fifty-something-year-old and trapped in the body of an eighteen-year-old," Nova said with a shrug.

"Yeah, whatever, I'm in," Diego shrugged and the others quickly agreed.

"Five, do you have enough energy to do this?" Nova asked when she saw the tired look on his face.

"I'm going to have to if we all want to live," He said with a worried look.

"No, you don't. I'll give you my energy," The girl offered and Five shook his head.

"I can't ask you to do that. You'll die. You've already used way more energy than I have," Five said quickly and Nova smiled softly at him.

"You don't really have a say in it though, do you?" Nova said and Five knew it would be no use to argue with her. He knew that when that girl set her mind to something nothing would change her mind.

"Are we doing this?" Diego asked and the two nodded quickly.

"Great, Luther grab Vanya. Is Ben in?" Five asked and both Nova and Klaus responded yes.

"Wait, are you sure we should take Vanya? I mean she is the cause of the apocalypse. Isn't that like taking a bomb with us?" Luther said and Nova nodded.

"The apocalypse will always happen and Vanya will always be the cause unless we go back and help her. We can help her get better," Nova said as everyone linked arms.

The girl wrapped her arms around Five from behind and focused on the river of energy she felt before. In the background, she can hear him struggling to create a time portal and she pushes more energy into him. Her hands slipped under the bottom of his shirt and he gasped as her cold fingers met his bare skin. He could feel a renewed source of energy that helped him create the portal.

"It's working!" Luther yelled and Nova could feel herself growing weaker as she pressed her forehead into Five's shoulder and squeezed her eyes shut.

She could hear Five let out a groan of effort and Nova pushed one last wave of energy into him before everything went black. 

A/N

QOTC: If you could have any of the siblings' powers what would it be and why?

Personally, I would love to have Five's power. My life would be so much easier cause then I wouldn't be late for class because I could just be there in a second. Or like if I had to pee really badly I wouldn't have to hurry. Idk I'm weird though. 

Also, this is the end of season one. I'll be starting to update season two tomorrow. 

Nova's Spotify Playlist: Nova Perez's Epic Time Travel Jams

First Published: 12/23/2020

Edited: 07/25/2023

Aesthetic Change: 06/25/2024

Chapter Word Count: 1,894

Book Word Count: 39,910