Chapter Text
Luther stared at the place his brother had just been standing ignoring the tentacle slithering around his feet. They were slowing down, dying without their keeper.
He’d told him to hold back.
Dad wanted as little deaths as possible and he had told Ben to hold back. And maybe he shouldn't have.
It was supposed to be an easy mission, top secret, all of them in civilian clothing - Luther was the only one who had to take the ones Dad provided for them, now the blue button-down seemed to suffocate him.
He stares down at his hands. They’re red.
Ben’s blood,
he thinks and then he realizes that no. He hadn’t even time to touch his brother. Everything went south before Ben’s powers overwhelmed him.
It went bad probably before the mission even started in the morning when Ben told him his stomach was hurting, that something was wrong with the horrors.
Ben’s stomach often hurt, Dad once mentioned to Luther that he was overstating the pain his powers caused him, Luther wasn’t sure what to believe, he’d seen Ben almost falling forward in pain but otherwise… Dad was usually right about these things, wasn’t he?
This time he went with Dad’s reasoning and told Ben that it would be fine. “Just ask Mom for a painkiller later maybe?”
And then the mission happened and really Luther hadn’t thought about Ben’s complaints anymore.
It had gone fast and Dad had only given them the smallest of briefings.
Protect the pictures in the gallery ("Keep in mind their secret" - Luther had wanted to ask why that was but never gotten the chance), don't attracked any attention and get back out quickly.
So when Ben released the horrors all Luther really thought about was what Dad had said.
“Remember to hold back!” he had yelled already busy knocking out two other attackers. “Dad said to hold back and to not attracked attention!”
And then…
It’s hard for him to recall what happened between that and Ben’s scream. Luther knows he beat up people very careful not to kill too many, knows he probably felt a bullet graze his arm, knows that at some point blood got on his hands but the details don’t make sense. At some point Ben and he were the last ones standing and Ben was screaming and somehow the tentacles were climbing out of the hole in his stomach, devouring his brother and Luther was storming over. Wanting to save him somehow.
But Ben was gone by the time he got there.
A coldness went over him and he fell on the ground between the tentacles.
Slithering around his feet disconnected from their host.
Allison and Diego were supposed to meet up with Luther and Ben after they had secured the upper floors.
Klaus was outside being the lookout.
Then they heard shots and the two of them ran downstairs to where their brothers were supposed to be.
It was a mess. Bodies lay all over the place Luther kneeling on the ground in the middle of the room. There was so much blood.
Ben was nowhere to be seen.
Diego’s breath hitched as his thoughts went everywhere at once.
“Luther?” Allison asked, walking towards their brother putting a hand on his shoulder. “Luther? Where’s Ben?” her voice sounded shaky.
Diego looked around the room. Where was Ben? Did he run into another room to kill more assholes.
Did Luther get hurt, maybe?
“Luther?” he asked now too. A bad taste in his mouth because Luther was supposed to stay with Ben and Ben wasn’t there.
“I… I-I… It’s…” Luther turned around. Face pale and white with too big eyes red and full of tears. Suddenly Diego thought he knew what happened and with every word Luther struggled to get out like their tongues got switched he came closer to making it real.
“Shut up,” Diego whispered, too quiet for anyone to hear.
“I… I’m… I’m sorry…” Luther said and that was all he said for the rest of the day because suddenly police stormed the building and they were escorted.
People talked. There were journalists taking pictures. Klaus kept asking what had happened despite nobody really being able to answer him.
Later, much later Diego sees one of the pictures showing the four of them, Klaus the only one clean from blood all of them looking like little children in the snow. The headline over the picture read in bold black letters:
The Horror dead - Is this the end of the umbrella academy?
In hindsight the answer was: "Yes, it is."