35. the Darkness Ate Us All

"You can open your eyes now, love." It is the warm and soft voice of Five that actually gets Elisa to peek again. She isn't sure, but she guesses she had her eyes closed for a minute.

Slowly, Elisa peeks with one eye, not wanting to faced with some demon. Instead of a demon of hell, she is faced with Five right in front of her. His worried eyes are right upon her, and he's hand just goes to place itself on her cheek. Being the sucker for Five that she is, Elisa leans into his touch, opening her second eye, too.

They're in the living room. Still in the living room, and all the light strokes have disappeared completely. For a moment, Elisa wonders if that was Klaus his present: the whole light show. But she doesn't ask him. She's just very glad that it has ended.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Luther presses his hand in front of his mouth, making sure he doesn't vomit on everything and everyone. In a quick movement, he stands up and hurries himself out of the living room.

After watching him speed out of the room, Klaus and Diego do a fistbump, snickering. Now that everything feels and appears to be all right, Elisa allows herself to giggle with the two their behaviour.

Five laughs, too, as he places himself next to Elisa on the couch. He doesn't hold her, though, and Elisa wishes he would. Ignoring that, Elisa checks up on Vanya who hasn't said a word since all the lights have disappeared. There's still a smile on her lips, but Vanya does look different; almost shy. Elisa frowns at her, but doesn't say anything.

When the laughing dies away, all the eyes fall on Elisa, making her eyes widen. "What?" she asks.

No one answers. They just continue staring.

"Okay," Elisa growls quietly. "This isn't fun. I want to know what's suddenly so wrong with me? We should all be staring at Klaus! After all, he's the one who made us all freak out. Why—"

"She hasn't noticed her present yet," Five states, glancing at Klaus.

"What just happened wasn't the present?" Elisa asks in a very quiet voice, almost too afraid to actually ask it. "Then what is?"

Five's eyes fall on Elisa again, and he locks his fingers with hers. "Elisa," he starts, "Look behind you."

The actual present is just behind her, and yet . . . she's so afraid to turn around like Five told her. If the whole light show wasn't the actual present, then what is Elisa supposed to suspect? Yes, birthday parties are a real nightmare. Gathering all her strength to turn around, Elisa allows herself to take a few seconds to just breathe. It does cause some more worried glances to fall on her, but at this point, she's used to it.

Then she turns around. Nothing has changed, she notices. It's not that there's a big ass horse in the hallway. Not even the wall broke down—so good. But Elisa her eyes fall on the present soon enough. Two figures are standing next to the door, fidgeting with their clothes. That's what Elisa first notices; that they're stressed out, too. But why would they be . . .

Elisa's eyes travel to the figures their faces, and she notices immediately. Her mouth opens in shock, and she swears that it doesn't even take a single second for tears to blur her vision. She knows the figures well. It's a man and a woman. And it appears they recognize her, too.

"Mom," Elisa whispers, having to stop her from starting to sob already. "Dad." Then Elisa turns to Klaus again. "Are they really here?" she asks. "Like is it really them?" Alive or dead, she wants to ask, but she keeps her mouth nicely shut. It'd hurt her too much, and if her parents are indeed alive, it'd hurt them, too.

Klaus grins as he waves to Elisa's mom. "They're here, Elisa," he tells her. "As you know, I'm well acquainted with the dead. And it seems your parents really wanted to be here on your seventeenth birthday."

With the dead, Elisa thinks bitterly. But without spending another second thinking about the fact that her parents are dead, Elisa turns to her parents again. She watches them carefully as they approach the lot.

"Ma petite," Elisa her mother whispers in awe. "You've grown so, so much." There's true pain in her voice as she speaks, and tears threaten to spill. But unlike Elisa, her mother allows them to come slip down her cheeks. "I'm so proud of you, Elisa."

"But are you really?" Elisa looks down, hating herself for all her actions. "I've done horrible things, Mamam."

For the first time since he has appeared, her father speaks up, and he says, "To save the world, darling. We've watched your every step."

"Everything?" Elisa looks at him. Now, she allows the tears to spill, too. It's impossible not to cry at this point.

Her father nods. "Oui." A soft smile lights up his face as he watches his daughter and who she has become.

Doubting to ask the question she wants to ask so badly, Elisa breathes in and out, forcing herself to calm down. "Can I . . ." She doesn't succeed. "Can I give you a hug, or would I just hug . . . you know, air."

Immediately, Klaus scoffs loudly while Five and Diego just laugh. Vanya chuckles softly.

"I haven't been training for nothing, Elisa!" Klaus folds his arms over his chest, clearly unamused by her question. "Go give your parents a hug, or I will do it. I'm not draining myself for nothing."

"You're draining yourself?" Elisa asks, shocked. "Klaus—"

"Do you know that my asshole brother made me hug all these weird ass, dead people that I've never known!" Diego rolls his eyes. "Please, do hug your mother and father. And be glad that you're not hugging some other person."

Before listening to the two men, Elisa turns to Klaus again. "Thank you, Klaus."

Then, of course, she rushes herself in her parents' arms. Her mother strokes the tears away from Elisa her cheeks, and cups her face. "You don't know for how long I've wished to hug you, Elisa. I've seen you struggling so much, and I couldn't do anything but watch. I felt horrible."

More tears come. "Mamam, I had you there, even when I couldn't see you. You were always there. And I knew that, deep down." Elisa closes her eyes, ignoring her wet cheeks, as she presses her cheek against her mother's while hugging. It's a strange thing not feeling any warmth while hugging, but Elisa doesn't care at all. She's hugging her parents. She wants to scream it through the streets on the top of her lungs because she's hugging her parents! After years of thinking that she could only do so if she died, she's finally in her mother's embrace again. Finally hearing her mother speak to her, and not another version of her.

Her father his arms curl a little tighter around her mother and Elisa as he listens to Elisa her words. Sobs start to leave Elisa her lips, making both her parents worry already, but the giant smile on her lips makes their worries go away.

"I had so much I wanted to say to you." Elisa sighs. "But now that I have the chance, I forgot them all."

This causes her mother to laugh, and as the sound leaves her lips, Elisa can't help but sob even more. It's a beautiful sound. And one that she forgot over the years. Now she's sure of one thing, she will never forget it again.

"I do remember one thing that I wanted to say . . . and that I should say," Elisa says quietly, taking a step backwards. Her father frowns a little when seeing her step away from them so soon, but he waits for her to say whatever she wants to say. "I"m sorry for what I did to you. I never wanted . . ."

Both her mother and father immediately get what she's talking about. Her father is the first to react, though. Shaking his head, he lifts his daughter up just like he did when she was a toddler. "We're not mad, Elisa. It's okay. It's really okay."

"You can't not be mad," Elisa tells him, resting her head in the crook of his neck. She doubts whether to dare and smell him. Would she smell anything? Too afraid to smell nothing, she doesn't. "I did . . ."

"What happened was that you didn't know how to control your abilities, ma petite," her mother tells Elisa, squeezing her hand a little. "How could we ever be mad for that?"

"Because I took . . . " Your life. The words can't leave her lips. It's as if Elisa block completely.

A ringing sound goes off in another part of the house. Since no one pays attention to it, Elisa doesn't, either.

"We've lived through you," her father reassures her, or attempts to do so at least. "And oh, you've had quite some adventures."

A chuckle leaves Elisa her lips. "I really did, huh."

Not looking as sick as he was just a while ago, Luther comes running in the living room, waving with Elisa's phone in his hands. "Elisa, it's for you." He has everyone's attention now.

"For me?" she asks, unsure of who would call her. In these last few weeks, she has gotten herself a new phone since her other one went missing. Only David, Jude, Lucas, Tess and everyone at the Umbrella Academy has her number. Plus, her friends outside of the Hargreeves family already have called her today to congratulate her. "Who is it?"

"Unknown number." Luther shrugs.

"Well, get the call before it finishes," Allison tells Luther, and he does.

He presses the phone to his ear while Elisa turns to look at her parents again. Only to realize that they aren't there anymore. Immediately, she turns to look at Klaus. And he looks absolutely exhausted. He's at the point of actually falling asleep, but his eyes do stay on Elisa. He mouths her, "I'm sorry."

"Thank you," she says again. "It meant the world to me."

"It better." He smiles weakly. "Or else I did this for nothing. I feel like I can sleep through a whole winter." Having that said, he lets himself fall down on the coffee table, closing his eyes.

Vanya, being the kind person that she is, grabs a blanket from under the couch and covers her brother with it. "Goodnight," she whispers softly.

Knowing that her parents are still here, just not visible, Elisa turns to where they were standing just a few seconds ago. "I love you," she whispers, hoping that they hear her.

"It's some Herb," Luther says to Elisa, making her eyes widen and turn to him.

"Herb?" Five repeats. "The Herb from the Commission? Why the fuck is Herb calling Elisa?"

Elisa doesn't need to hear Luther's answer because she knows already. Everything around her blurs and becomes unimportant as she realizes what has to happen.

The handler is dead. The Commission has no leader. But they need one.

And that leader is supposed to be Elisa Brookle.

End of book 1

But hey! Extra chapters up ahead! Who's ready for some chapters written in Five's point of view?!

It felt way too early to post this one already, but I didn't want to make you all wait any longer... I hope you all liked the adventure, but don't worry! There's more to come! Extra chapters and a a second book!!!!!!