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While Five jumped away in a flash of blue, no word of where he was going, not that one would be needed either; Allison pulled Luther away from their other three brothers and lead him into her room, hoping it would give them the privacy that Allison wanted. After shutting and locking the door behind her, Allison turned to face Luther, telling him, “We need to talk.”
“About what?” Luther returned.
“A few things.” Allison answered, walking further into her bedroom and settling on her bed, “But, first and foremost, we need to figure out whatever the hell we’re gonna do to fix our family.”
Luther, confusion coating his features asked, “ Our family?”
“Us,” Allison started, “and Diego, and Klaus, and Five, and Ben, and Vanya. And maybe Mom and Pogo.”
Rather than point out that she’d forgotten Reginald, on purpose, like he would’ve a short while ago, Luther didn’t and instead asked in quick succession, “Where do you think we should start? And shouldn’t we be talking about this with the others? Or at least with our brothers?”
Allison shook her head, “We’ll talk with them later, or maybe just, wait until tomorrow. But, if what we’ve seen from being in the future as been any indication, we were the outsiders from our siblings. Diego and Klaus seemed close, Ben was always hanging around Klaus, and the second that Five got back he and Vanya just clicked back together again. Hell, Five and Klaus were able to work together. And what did we do with any of them?”
“Nothing helpful.” Luther muttered, albeit much more to himself than directed at Allison. Wanting things to be different between them and all of their siblings this time around, he asked, “Do you have any ideas where to start?”
“Well,” Allison started, needing a moment to pause and think through some suggestions, “I think that, it’s going to take more than just one little change to fix everything. But I do think there are some smaller things we could do with or for each of them that’ll help.” Allison paused, checking Luther’s expression to gauge how receptive he was being, and once he gave her a small, understanding and attentive nod, Allison continued, “I think, starting with Diego, if there are little ways that he could be in charge, like during training or when reporting to Reginald, or that it’s made clear that his suggestions and input is being taken seriously. It’s pretty obvious that the big issue with him last time was that there was always a competition between you and him about who was better, and it was nearly always set up that you’d come out on top.”
“Because I’m the leader.” Luther said reflexively, and a beat later, realization setting in, he mumbled, “Right. Um, how about Five? How do we help him?”
Relieved that it seemed Luther wasn’t going to argue with her, at least for now, about her suggestions, Allison continued, “I think for Klaus, it’s both easier and harder. Before none of us were taking Klaus or his powers seriously, so, now, I think being able to give him a way to talk about his issues and feel heard and listened to will help at least deter him from turning to other coping mechanisms again.”
A few seconds after she’d finished Luther gave her another short nod, understanding what she’d told him. After going through Five, Ben, and Vanya after discussing a way to help reconnect with Diego and Klaus, Allison moved onto the second topic that she needed to discuss with Luther, “There’s, there’s another thing that we need to talk about, while the others aren’t here.”
“What is it Allison?” Luther asked, concerned about the nervous expression that had flickered across her face when she’d brought up the change in topic of their conversation.
“Well um, I, we, we need to talk about Us.” Allison stammered.
A slight streak of panic and panic flooded through Luther’s system, temporarily short-circuiting his brain and eliciting him to repeat, “Us? What about Us?”
Allison, as much as she’d rather look literally anywhere else at the moment, forced herself to look Luther in the eye as she said, “If you want there to be an Us, then I need to know that you’re going to be with me, and Vanya, and Klaus, and Five, and Ben, and Diego, and take our side and not listen to everything that Reginald tells you. I, if there’s going to be a future between us, then Reginald can’t be a part of it, at all.”
“Okay, I, I can do that.” Luther declared, not looking entirely confident in himself and his words. But, knowing that there wasn’t much more time before their siblings would be expecting them back at their fath- Reginald, Reginald’s office, Luther started on something he knew needed to be discussed with someone else, “Allison, there’s actually something I wanted to talk to you about.”
Now it was Allison’s turn to look concerned as she asked, “What is it Luther?”
“Do you think that, maybe I shouldn’t be the leader?” Luther asked, not addressing Allison’s gasp of shock as he continued, “I know that da- Reginald assigned me as the leader of the Umbrella Academy, but, I know now that it wasn’t necessarily because I was the best fit for the role, but rather who he wanted to be in charge; because he could control me.”
Still a bit shocked at what Luther was saying, Allison tried to comfort him, saying, “Luther, I’m sure it wasn’t to-”
“Allison, we both know why he did what he did.” Luther hissed, cutting Allison off mid-sentence, “He never really loved us, or even liked us. Not in his own ‘special way’ like Pogo always claims. A parent that loves their kids don’t drug and lie to them for decades, or lock them away.” Luther paused, forcing himself to recollect himself and push down some more volatile emotions, before continuing, “I don’t think we have enough time right now, and we should probably be getting back soon but, maybe I shouldn’t be the leader anymore.”
Rather than question his thinking, Allison instead asked, “If you aren’t the leader anymore, then who do you suggest is?”
“I, I don’t know.” Luther replied, “That’s something I’d need a second opinion on, but we’ll need to talk about this later. We should be heading back now.”
“Right.” Allison replied, getting ready to follow Luther from her room and back to Reginald’s office, when Five appeared in a flash of blue, startling them both.
"Let's go," Five said, evidently not realizing that they were already heading back, "breaks over." before jumping away in another flash of blue. Allison and Luther, once their initial fright was over, walked back from Allison's bedroom to Reginald's office, meeting their brother's there shortly after.