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I PLACE MY HAND ON Five's shoulder as he raises his fists once more. They glow the same electric blue before fading. "Shit."

Nothing. Nothing happened.

"What? What does that mean? We're stuck here?" I ask, panicking.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no." Five mutters to himself, bringing his fists to his head as he starts pacing. Suddenly realization fills his expression. "Wait." He suddenly takes off towards the way we came from; the academy.

I follow him, our speed was desperate. Once we get there we see the whole building collapsed. The beautiful bricks that I would trace my fingers down as I walked past them are now sprinkled across the ground as fire surrounds them.

"VANYA?!"

"KLAUS?!"

"BEN!"

Our eyes scan what's left of the academy for any sign of life. Any life at all. But there's none. Next to me, Five falls to his knees. His face is full of regret. I keep searching but my vision blurs as tears fill my eyes. I let out a sob as I try to stand upright.

The Umbrella Academy logo that hung gracefully on the front gate falls to the ground with a light thud and seconds later I do the same. My knees now have scrapes on them but I could care less.

My breathing became uneven. Who knows how long into the future this is but seeing as the academy was here, scattered across the area, it must not have been that much.

It was a while before either of us felt like getting up from where we were. We didn't speak. Five simply stood at some point and walked over to what was left of a newspaper stand. I stood as well, wiping the tears from my damp cheeks.

Five pulls out a copy of the most recent newspaper from before the apocalypse. He looks at it, sighs, and then raises it for me to see. "April, 1st, 2019." It read at the top.

"2019? We would be 30 by then." I put it together as I think out loud. Five doesn't reply as he drops his hand.

He sighs once more before turning to look out into the street. It doesn't even look like a street anymore. There's no pavement visible.

☂️ ⓪ ☂️

We walk around for a little while as we look for anything that can bring us hope of leaving, never getting too far from the academy. By now both Five and I are covered in dust and dirt from head to toe.

The only thing I can hear is the crackling of fire around me. Five was standing a few paces from me when he calls out my name. "Zero, I think I found something!"

I run over quickly, desperate for a way home. Five crouches down in front of what looks like a gloved hand. My eyes quickly focus to see that the hand is holding a prosthetic eye covered in blood.

Five spreads the finger's tight grip to get a better look at the eye as I walk closer to the figure and start to remove bricks with my mind to see who the hand belongs to.

It took a few seconds but soon enough ahead was visible from underneath the rubble. Five stands to see who it is as well. Luther, now looking a lot older and bigger, was covered in dirt and dust and has a newly cut scar on his eyebrow.

I look away at once as I raised my hand to my mouth to muffle the sob that escaped my lips. I don't think I will ever get the image of my dead brother out of my head. Sadly fate had it out for me once I saw Diego just a few feet away. I take Five's hand and pull him to Number Two.

But on our way I see Allison. Five goes to Diego as I stumble to my sister. I crouch down next to her and wipe off some of the dust that covers her face before shaking her shoulders. "Allison?" My voice breaks.

I look over to Five to see him doing the same with Diego. After no movement from nether of our siblings, I go around a huge pile of the broken buildings only for my stomach to sink lower at the site of Klaus.

He lays on his stomach with his head resting on a brick. "No." I run over to him before falling to my now scabbed knees and lift him so that his upper half lays on my lap. A rainfall of tears glides down my cheeks and onto his.

I can confirm that they are our siblings once I see the Umbrella Academy's logo tattooed on his left wrist which only makes me feel worse.

I run my fingers through his hair before kissing him on the forehead. Five had gotten up and followed the sound of sobbing only to see me holding our lifeless brother. He slowly gets closer and pulls my hands away from Klaus.

He pulls me up to stand in front of him. I look into his eyes. They look heartbroken. More than I've ever seen them. I can only expect that I look the same, or worse.

After a second of looking into each other's eyes, I pull him into a hug. He returns the hug automatically by sliding his arms around my waist as I cry into his shoulder.

I feel him bury his head into the crook of my neck. We stay like that for a while. Not talking. Just standing there in each other's arms.

☂️ ⓪ ☂️

It's been 7 years, 3 months, and 12 days since we first arrived in the apocalypse. The place we decided to settle in all those years ago was what was left of the public library.

We hung tarps and fabric everywhere as if it were a giant fort as a roof as some shade from the blazing sun at least.

We have been serving off of canned food, roaches, and anything else we believe is edible. I thank dad for training us to be able to survive even in the worse cases. Our powers definitely help too.

The weather never really changes other than one day it gets hot, another it gets cold. We wear masks made out of random fabrics like bandanas so that we don't get sick from the toxic chemicals that fume everywhere.

About a month here we actually did get sick. Neither of us could really move for almost a week with how drained we felt.

Five and I tried to save any books left in the library as we could, one of them being Vanya's book. I've probably read it about eleven or so times so far.

When we first found it Five and I would take turns reading it to each other before we went to sleep.

The book caught us up on a lot we missed with our family, like how Allison had a daughter named Clair (who Five and I are very upset about never meeting), how dad sent Luther up to the moon, and how Klaus broke his promise to me after we left about not getting addicted to drugs, plus many other things.

The book was also very upsetting. Vanya had a very... how should I put this... different way of telling the story than what I was expecting. She told all of the family's secrets. Talked about us having powers to having a chimpanzee butler. I bet the public got a kick out of that.

I always put down the book when I get to the part about Ben. He died in such a gruesome way, I just...

Anyway! Onto a brighter subject!

To say that Five and I have had some trama together would be an understatement. Being around him and getting to know him more over the years has shown me that I may or may not have very strong feelings for him.

I don't act on them but seeing as we are the only beings left on earth that exist at the moment I can't help but think that he's attractive.

Over the years his face structure has become sharper, his voice is lower, he's taller, he grew out a slight stubble on his face, and his hair grew out a little past his ears.

Sure I've physically changed a bit too. My hair has grown out from what used to go past my shoulder to now my lower back. My body changed quite a bit. I blame puberty. But I believe that I look fairly the same, not that I can see myself in the mirror or anything.

Do Five and I get tired of being around each other? Oh yeah. All the time! We fight constantly. But at the end of the day, we care more about each other than hate each other.

Delores hates when we fight. She's basically become our therapist. She can be a bit judgy but I love her all the same.

I haven't told Five yet but Delores and I got engaged the other day, but I think I'm gonna break it off soon. I can see the way she looks at him; with lust. Not that I can blame her.

Five and I will be twenty-one soon... That's fun I guess.

"Zero," Five says, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah?" I ask from where I sit on my makeshift bed which is really but a lot of sand with bundles of fabric draped over it. It's not an ideal bed but it's surprisingly comfortable.

"Drink." He replies, holding our water bottle we share. "You need to stay hydrated."

"No thanks," I sigh, leaning back into my pillow as I go back to the book I was reading.

He glares at my response. "Zero," He grumbles.

I huff as I roll my eyes before lowing my book enough to see him. "What?"

"You haven't had any water today yet. Drink." He says, standing from where he sat, next to Delores, and walking to me. He crouches down and lowers my book so he can fully see my face.

I dog-ear the page and take the bottle from his hand. I raise it to my lips before letting the liquid slide down my throat.

I hadn't realized how thirsty I was until now. I took another drink before handing back the bottle as I wipe the excess on my lips with the back of my hand.

"Better?" He raises an eyebrow as he smirks slightly.

I glare at him for a second before replying "Thank you," bitterly.

"You're welcome," He replies smugly as he stands.

The sun's light dims and soon enough it's too dark for me to read any longer and Five moves to his bed which is directly next to mine.

I put my book under my pillow and turn to my side before pulling my covers higher. Five takes out our father's rifle under his bed before laying down as well.

I feel a lump of sorts digging into my side as I sift my wait to get more comfortable. I reach into my pocket and take out the glass eye that we've held onto over the years.

I hold up the eye so that I can see it more clearly. I find it beautiful, in a way. If we ever get out of the apocalypse, it can help us stop it. This eye holds a lot of hope for me. Sure it's just glass but if whoever this belongs to is the one who starts the apocalypse then we can save over six-billion people from complete destruction.

"Do you ever think about what dad would say if he saw us now?" Five asks me randomly.

I think for a minute before answering. "Sometimes. But I try not to. He was a dick. Anything he would say now would just sound like 'you should have listened to me' or-."

" 'I told you so.' " Five interrupts. I nod in agreement as my eyelids start to droop.

I didn't tell him my honest answer. If he saw me now he would say stuff like "You never experienced the full length your powers could go, Number Zero. You had so much potential." I just know he would be disappointed.

I hum the song 'I think we're alone now' as Five and I drift off to sleep.

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A/N: Two chapters in one day? Who is she?!

Anyway, hi! How are you guys? I would have posted yesterday but it was my birthday on Wednesday so I thought I might as well take a break.

If you like my style of writing I would recommend any of my other books! I write fanfictions for multiple fandoms!

Also please vote and comment! It lets me know that you are enjoying and want more updates!

Goodbye, my luvs <3 ~ @zoe_manijeh , 10.14.2021

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