The Umbrella Academy Final Season: My Version

The Umbrella Academy Final Season: My Version

Part Eleven: The Squid And The Girl

Overview: As Lila, Diego, Five and Clementine dig more into Jean and Gene, Ben and Klaus look for Jennifer, who struggles to make sense of her situation while facing her demons. TW: Mature language, panic attack scenes, mention of selling human beings, mention of harassment, tell me if I missed anything!! Pairings: Diego × Lila, Ben × Jennifer A/N: Hello, things are getting kind of interesting now 👀👀👀

The next day after the van was fixed, the gang split up. Klaus and Ben went on a walk, with the former chattering the latter's ear off.

The others went back, Diego handing Viktor the keys. "You drive."

"You sure? Wanda?" Viktor asked, gesturing towards the van, knowing how much the vehicle meant to him.

"Yeah. I don't give a shit anymore," he answered.

Diego started to walk inside but paused as Viktor jangled the keys expectantly. He turned back to him and explained. "She's pulling to the right a little bit. And don't go over 40, or what's left of the muffler's gonna fall off."

Viktor nodded, a small smile on his face. "Got it."

"Welcome to the Keepers HQ, courtesy of Jean and Gene," Five said as he lockpicked the door and opened it. "This is their other property that I found."

"Huh. Maybe the workspace?" Clementine wondered aloud.

All of them got to work, going into rooms and looking in places when Diego observed, " Jean and Gene didn't give us much to go on."

"Just stay focused, darling. You'll find something," Lila assured him, before she checked the file drawers, finding them empty. "All the files are gone."

"Yeah, it certainly looks that way," Five said. "There's nothing here."

"Our targets left in a hurry, correct?" he asked.

Lila and Five nodded in reply.

"So... haste makes waste, mami," Diego said, making Lila smirk with him.

When he got out of the room, Lila immediately confronted Five, "Out with it. Why can't you blink?"

"I can blink," he argued. "Y'know, I just..."

"Won't," Lila finished. "Well, you gotta get back on that horse, kemosabe."

She grabbed his arm and mimicked his power, just as Five exclaimed a, "Don't!"

"Whoa! Where are we?" Lila asked immediately when they were back in the subway station.

"A subway station," Five replied plainly.

"Yeah, I can see that, numbnuts," Lila retorted. "But why did you blink us here?"

"Believe me, Lila, it was not on purpose," Five said warily. "Ever since the marigold, when I blink, this is where I end up."

"Neat," Lila said, as they went down to the platform.

When they reached the platform, she giggled with the excitement of a curious child. "Okay, not the MTA, not the Tube."

"Trust me, this is unlike any subway you've been to," Five stated.

"Well, where do the trains go?" she asked.

"That's the weird part," he answered. "I took a westbound train. i went one station over. When I came up, it was the exact same day, exact same time, but a completely different timeline."

She smiled, the curiosity of it all brightening her mood. "Now that's interesting."

Spotting the map pillar, she ran to it, making Five sigh like the old man he was. He felt like he was taking care of a child.

"This is helpful, innit?" She yelled.

"If I could understand it," Five replied.

She scoffed confidently and said, "I once navigated the Tokyo subway with a bullet wound in my thigh, and on my period, so. How hard can it be?"

She started trying to navigate the map, as the speaker produced the warped, weird noise again, making Five's senses perk up ominously as a train came in.

"Eastbound. Shall we?" Lila asked him happily.

"We should get back to Diego," he replied.

"Oh, come on," she said like a petulant child being denied candy. "Let's take a ride."

"I don't wanna be hopping on trains until we understand this."

"Gahh, you need to move your ass!" she said, draging him along with her as she laughed.

When the train stopped on another station, it was kind of a deadbeat one, with some of the lights broken and some flickering.

"Yuck," Lila said as Five whipped out his tiny notepad. He clicked his pen and started scribbling on it diligently as Lila trudged over to look at his notes.

"Dear diary, why do I always wear suits?" Lila teased as Five rolled his eyes, continuing to scribble. "What are you doing?"

"Leaving bread crumbs. It's a broken vending machine. Stain on the floor in the shape of Australia. Three burnt-out light bulbs."

"Hmm. Where do you reckon we end up?" she asked.

"My guess is back in Gene and Jean's apartment," Five replied, as they started going to the stairs that led outside. "Same da, same time, different timeline."

But when they got out, they came out to flames, ashes and rubble. Everything was destroyed and Five's heart stuttered.

"You must've jumped forward, ahead of time, to the end of the world," Lila observed.

"No, no, no. We haven't jumped anywhere," Five said. "We're not moving forwards or backwards through time. We're just going to alternate versions of now.

He looked around once. "This is Gene and Jean's apartment," he murmured, looking around once more as his throat started constricting a little, his breath getting a bit shallower.

"I've been here before," he stated, hiding his panic as his heart started beating louder. "This is my apocalypse."

"Yeah. The original timeline," he said, trying not to speak too much because he could feel his lungs constricting to the point of pain. "I was, um. I was stuck here for 40 years."

"You alright?" Lila asked, a tinge of concern in her voice. "You look deathly pale."

"Yeah, it's just..." he said, pressing the heel of his palm to his chest, trying to ease the pain. "Being back here is... not very good for me."

Lila stared at him, her concern growing tenfold when his breaths got shorter. "Alright, then, let's get out of here."

She caught him just as he was about to fall to his knees, getting him to the station as he started to wheeze.

Back in the apartment, Clementine looked into the trash with Diego.

"Damn, it smells like ass," he said.

"You will too, if you just dive into it like that," Clementine stated.

Diego blinked at her for a second and shook his head with a smirk. "No wonder Five likes you."

After finding nothing, Diego looked to the side and then up, finding a weird cut on the ceiling. "Pass me that broom?"

Clementine did as he asked and just moved out of the way as a trash bag full of stuff fell. "Dude, at least warn me!"

They dug into the bag and found stuff which they took to the living room. As soon as Diego started reading a file, there was a woosh and Lila fell onto the couch, a panicked Five at her side. He was clutching his chest, prompting the other two to leave their stuff and rush to his side.

"What happened!?" Diego asked.

"I'll tell you, but first we need to calm him down!" Lila said.

"I can do it, I've had loads of panic attacks, so I know how to deal with them," Clementine said calmly.

Diego tugged at Lila as he stared at them. "What happened?"

"Five can only blink to this weird time travel subway. We took a ride on the train and somehow reached you guys' original timeline. It was all destroyed and he got a panic attack," she rushed out, swallowing at the end.

"I've never really seen him like this," Diego said worriedly.

"Tell me about it," she said, looking at them both. "Did you find something, love?"

"Yeah," he said, picking up the file he was reading. "Look at this."

The file contained details about an incident that took place in 2006. The incident that killed Ben, which they knew as the Jennifer incident. But there was no Umbrella Academy in 2006, which meant that it was one of those artifacts that Lila said they talked about.

"October 14th, 2006. What's so special about that date?" Lila asked.

"It's the day Ben died," he answered somberly. "Our Ben."

"That's a coincidence," a recovered Five said, tugging on the lapels of his coat.

They both stared at him and were going to ask if he was alright, but Clementine shook her head discreetly, telling them it was going to be pointless to even try.

So, instead, Diego said, "Let me break it down for you. We go to New Grumpson because a random dry cleaner goes missing. The whole town goes to shit because of one girl, we get T-boned and the said girl gets kidnapped by two vigilantes in a station wagon. Now, in their trash, we find a foreign document that has something to do with Ben's death. Hence, whatever's going on with the girl, it's got something to do with Ben."

'What the hell's the 'Jennifer Incident'?" Lila asked.

"That was a tragic accident," Five said, pushing his hair back, trying to ignore the urge to throw up.

Meanwhile, Klaus and Ben were starting to get tired of walking.

"Ugh, this is boring," Klaus said, slowing to a stop.

"Yeah, well, I didn't tell you to tag along with me, you moron," Ben said accusingly, turning back to look at him.

"Awwww, come on, Benerino," Klaus said, sitting down on the road. "Admit it. You missed me."

"No," he lied blatantly. "I was actually glad I got to be away from you guys. "

"Oh yeah?" Klaus said sarcastically. "Then why didn't you argue when Five paired me with you?"

"That's because you're better than Luther or Viktor," Ben said plainly.

"Ooh, does that mean I'm your favorite brother?" Klaus said, placing both his hands on his chest in happiness.

Ben only groaned and walked on a few steps as Klaus got up and jogged to catch up with him. "Okay, okay, but do you even know where we're going?"

"I... no," Ben said, scratching the back of his neck.

"Well, then, how about you stop for a minute and think about how we can find her, instead of where?"

Ben just stopped and turned and gave him a grumpy look, waiting for him to elaborate.

"Aww, look at you, Mr. Grumpy-Grumps. Anyway, look. You said you saw her in your dreams, right? So maybe you could find her that way."

"I can't do that. I've never been able to do that."

"Yeah, well, I couldn't shoo ghosts away without having to strain my powers, but now I just have to wave a hand. Maybe you got some upgrades too. Look, it wouldn't harm you to try."

Ben threw his arms up in defeat, hiding the fact that it was actually a good idea. "Fine. How'd I do that?"

"I-on-kno," was the immediate grumbled reply with a shrug. Ben's expectant, irritated face made him relent with a sigh, though. "Okay, just... close your eyes anddd... use your instincts. How about that?"

He closed his instincts, letting Jennifer's face flash in his mind, letting his nerves tingle a bit as Klaus looked around at nowhere, fiddling with the dog tags through his shirt.

Ben somehow felt like he entered an alternate dimension in his mind. It was all dark and scary, but there was a strange noise, like someone was crying. He spun around, trying to find the person who was making the noise. He followed the sound, which just felt like walking in an unending hallway, but he guessed he was making progress because he saw someone in the distance, curled up into themselves as their shoulders shook.

"Hello?" He called out, making the person look up, recognising the face, which was now streaked with tears. "Jennifer?"

He ran forward to her, kneeling to get in her eye level. "What happened? Where are you?"

"I don't know," she said, choking on a sob. "Ben, please, I need to get out of here."

The sheer terror in her voice made his heart skip a beat. "Okay, but I don't know where you are now."

Jennifer paused thinking for a minute, before perking up with a hopeful sniffle. "They said they let me into their home. They had alpacas. They gave me their milk too."

Ben squared her shoulder reassuringgly as he went into thought. "So maybe a farm?"

She nodded and let out a sudden hiss of pain, before pulling the sleeve of her left arm up, revealing a glowing, pulsating wound. It looked like a very bad burn.

"Did they do this to you? Gene and Jean?" Ben asked, his blood boiling in anger of thought.

"No. I don't know how this actually happened," she said.

"Okay, listen to me carefully. Try to cooperate with them. That'll keep you safe. Make shit up, if necessary. But make sure to stay safe. Okay?"

She sniffled again and nodded. "Just hurry, okay?"

Ben nodded, giving her a reassuring smile before she vanished and he spend his eyes.

"Oh! Welcome back, Benjamin," Klaus said. "I feast you attained good results?"

He smiled and nodded excitedly, "Yeah, she's safe. But, I think she's in distress of some kind. Still, she's safe."

"Great! So, where to now?"

"Well. I think those weirdoes took her to a farm of some kind. She said they had alpacas. Guess Luther was kinda close. Only question is, where's the farm?"

Klaus hummed absentmindedly. "Well, we'll figure something out. We always do."

Miles away, in the alpaca farm, Jennifer was looking at the little hall of fame they'd created in the garage.

Two hours ago

She'd woken up because of the burning pair in her wrist. She seemed to have a wound there, which looked like a high degree burn wound, but she somehow seemed to know that it was way more than that.

Gene and Jean had already offered her fresh clothes and a cup of warm alpaca milk, which, sure, had been comforting and refreshing, but it didn't cut out the creepy vibes that they had been giving out.

"Everything all right, dear?" Jean asked a tinge of worry in her voice.

"Yeah, it's nothing," Jennifer replied.

"Come," Gene said, making her more tense than earlier. "We wanna show you something."

They lead her to the garage, where she was expecting to see a truck. But, what she found was much more weird. Jean chuckled with excitement as Gene threw out an arm to present the room to her.

There were children's toys, telephones, old newspaper articles, a reception bell and various other tidbits. Most of the things were encased in glass while the articles were framed.

"What is all this stuff?" Jennifer asked.

"Proof," Jean replied.

"Proof? Of what?"

"That this world we live in is one big, phony-baloney lie," Gene answered.

"At first, it was... like a dream. One of those dreams where you don't know whether you're dreaming or not," Jean explained. "But then, along came the artifacts. Little tokens of proof, slipping through time and space. Proof of the many-worlds theory of quantum mechanics and such."

"Better believe they called us every name under the sun," Gene begrudgingly said. "Didn't they, Jean?"

"Frauds, tricksters, charlatans," Jean recalled.

"Accused us of intellectual dishonesty."

"Who's 'they'?" Jennifer asked, almost laughing after their dramatic conversation.

"The faculty at Golden Mesa Community College, for starters," Gene explained.

"Our reputations were dragged through the mud," Jean recounted.

"Tenure, revoked," Gene snapped.

"And all because we dared to speak the truth about these memories. Memories of another timeline! A timeline that felt so much more..."

"More true," Gene finished.

"Where... I was teaching at Harvard and Gene was a MacArthur fellow," Jean said sadly.

"Okay," Jennifer said. She was sure these poor people had escaped from a mental hospital or something. "But, uh, what does all of this have to do with me?"

The couple started wheezing and laughing holding on to each other as they did.

"Jennifer, you're the key," Gene said as they came closer to hold her hands. She resisted the urge to run away from the garage's open door. "The way to destroy all the false timelines and restore the real one."

"We're ready, sugar," Jean almost begged. "What do we need to do, huh? How can we help you bring about the Cleanse?"

Jennifer breathed in a quick breath before she said, "You people are... you people are fucking crazy."

"Language, darling," Jean replied. "And, please that's no way to speak to your hosts."

Gene took out a revolver from his back as they both sighed with disappointment. "We were so nice to you," Jean said, making the surroundings more tense, more ominous. "Brought you into our home."

"Gave you alpaca milk," Gene announced.

They went to the front of the garage where something was hidden behind a curtain.

"Maybe seeing an old friend will help jog your memory," Jean said, making the curtain fall and making Jennifer's blood run cold. It was a giant squid. The giant squid from years ago. "I believe you two are already acquainted."

Jennifer's breath stuttered as memories of a ship and a bad storm flashed in her mind. She stumbled to her knees, for breath turning shallow as Gene and Jean walked out, leaving her alone with it.

She ran back, banging on the door as it closed. "Wait, wait, wait! Don't leave me in here with it! Let me out! Please! No! Let me out!"

Her banging didn't do shit. She understood two hours later, as she sat on the floor, hugging her knees, that it only made her look stupid. Ben's suggestion to make stuff up did give her an idea though.

But it also meant she'd have to use her traumatic childhood.

When she was six, she had lost her family to a storm. Even though the details were hazy, she remembered being rescued by some sailors, who found out to be bad people. She overheard them talking to each other about how they were going to sell her with a couple others, and when she tried to escape, they'd stuffed her in the squid that they'd made up so that they could do their business without any suspicions. They had a circus as a front for it.

But, karma was a bitch, and another storm hit. The squid flowed out into the ocean and she was only rescued when two fishermen had thought they'd caught the world's biggest squid.

It had made national news at the time. A small child rescued by two brave fishermen. Apparently, when she'd been found half-dead inside the thing, she had been muttering about something called the Cleanse.

For three years, she'd been a target for reporters, who'd harassed her, throwing questions after questions about something she hadn't even remembered saying. Thankfully, her Uncle Gary and the people of New Grumpson had had her back. But after what had happened, she didn't know what was real and what wasn't.

There was a knock on the door, making her jump before Jean entered, wearing a somber look on her face. "Well, sugar? You ready to tell us what you know?"

"I was really young back then. I don't really know what I was saying. But, if I was let out of here, maybe I could try to recall it and tell you."

Jean's face brightened up with a smile. "That's the spirit!!"

Jennifer felt victory and hope in her bones for the first time since she'd landed in that situation. Now to create some lies to tell the next day.

She also hoped she could talk to Ben again. For whatever reason, she felt calmer when she thought about him.

Another A/N: Hello, so, yk something I noticed with Ben and Jennifer was the sheer angst potential. Like, even if they both were infected, like in the show, they could've at least shown us like an angsty romance development. Something like, "hey ik there's something going on over here but I kinda fuel attached to you and wanna try this out."

Then, they fall in love, blah, blah, blah and all that. Anyways, I'm gonna give that sweet boy the romance he deserves.

TUA taglist: @auxiliarydetective (tell me if you wanna be added!!!)

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