#imbrellaacademyfanfiction

[celestialmidnights]

Mania [Prologue]

Pairing: Diego Hargreeves/OC

By a twist of fate, a young girl is swept up in the chaos of the Hargreeves family. Ophelia Cortez was never supposed to become close to any of them. She was just a neglected girl who's family pawned her off the moment things started to get abnormal. With new abilities cultivating, Ophelia is forced to face old wounds and new flames.

Word Count: 2,300

October 1, 1984

43 women around the world suddenly gave birth at the exact same time. The weird part? Until the moment they gave birth, none of those women had been pregnant. These newborns are weird and inexplicable and special.

Sir. Reginald Hargreeves, billionaire, and adventurer, made it his mission to acquire as many of these children as he could, overall at the start he ended up with seven although as time grew on a new 'challenge' arose.

——— 11 Years Later ———

Life as an orphan had its challenges, one of which being the constant moving from home to home. By the age of 10, Ophelia had already been through five temporary home placements. The fosters she lived with were all the same. They always made false promises about keeping her around. It was never true. The promise of making a new family grew harder to believe in, as each passing home continued to give her up. Whether it be because of poor timing or her closed-off personality, Ophelia lost hope in ever making a lasting relationship.

Being tossed from most homes she had been placed in, the young girl began to form a discouraging outlook on the rest of her life. There was no point in trying to become a part of a family. Everyone would just leave her in the end. It also didn't help that the current couple she was adopted by hated her even more than she hated them.

Last year she had been given the "privilege" of being adopted by a young couple in their 20's. Amelia and James Cortez. Their public personas were perfect, but behind closed doors the two parents were horrendous. Often the two of them would make Ophelia clean and cook until she was physically unable to continue. This resulted in achingly red blisters formed from working on projects around the house. The little girl would frequently be taken to doctor's appointments with bumps and bruises, but no authority figure ever stepped in. She was told to suck it up because she was one of the lucky ones. The girl's caretakers were saints. Even though, they would continue to cause harm to the child in their possession. This treatment would be continued until it progressed into full-on verbal abuse.

Over time, Ophelia had just become used to a life full of solitude and hurt. The year-long tirade on her self esteem had slowly started to deteriorate any sort of social skills the young girl wished to attain. She had accepted the fact that she would have to age out in order to gain a semi-normal life. That was until the family had decided to get into business with an extremely wealthy man by the name of Reginald hargreeves.

Ophelia's "father" had acquired a small-scaled company, dealing with space travel from his deceased father. The man would often spend a large amount of time at his warehouse, near the Hargreeves estate. When the world had seen the birth of extraordinary children, Reginald had sprinted towards using the new technology Ophelia's father had access to.

This created the opportunity for James Cortez's family to be more involved in the family business. After being employed by Reginald, James moved his family into the warehouse near the Hargreeves estate. It was there that each member of the family had a purpose. Amelia went on to be head of the supply chain, while their 10-year-old was suddenly tasked with taking note of how many parts the billionaire was in need of. Every day, Ophelia would be expected to write a number of each item Reginald needed.

The man was usually harsh towards Ophelia. He would never use her name and only called her the rumpled little girl. After a year with Amelia and James, she didn't even raise an eyebrow at his insults. Ophelia just went about her business. This seemed to irk him, resulting in the older man continuing to antagonize her.

Reginald aimed his words towards the small child, "Why does your father insist on having you down here. Clearly, he has the means to not use you,"

straightening out his long coat.

"You, my girl are pointless. Do they make you do this so they don't have to see you?" The man chuckled.

"I mean you don't even talk. How Pathetic." Reginald stood back waiting for a reaction that never came. Unable to gain satisfaction, the man turned his back swiftly making an exit.

He did not get his reaction. It was true, Ophelia hadn't talked since she was adopted. This wasn't because she couldn't, but because she didn't want to. It was too frequently that a person's words could endanger someone. Ophelia was no stranger to this. Her silence was a weapon. No one, not even the people who surrounded her could take that away.

Over a couple of months, it became routine for Reginald to come in and make swift comments at Ophelia. She never responded. Why would she? He was just like her parents. In a way, the man was predictable. That was until he started to bring along children. He claimed they needed to start taking responsibility, and he wouldn't stand for anything less.

The first time Ophelia had an interaction with the children was when she had been cleaning up. The girl's father had sent her downstairs. Reginald had been on an emergency call for some sort of experiment.

This time he had people with him...

A shaggy long-haired boy, who had looked so sleep-deprived she could see the sunken black rings around his eyes. He seemed to be hissing at something in the corner.

Weird.

The other boy was about the same age. He looked just as tired, but his darker skin did a better job of hiding it. He seemed to curl into himself out of discomfort, making him appear two times smaller. It really was a shame. She had a feeling he would look better if he wasn't so scared.

Reginald was too busy with his project at hand to care that the kids were wandering around the area. The two children were looking around the warehouse as it was pretty enormous. While it didn't have much variety because of the white walls, it made up for in size. The shaggy-haired boy seemed to be enamored with the gadgets littering the area. He accidentally touched an exposed wire on a trinket, causing him to squeal in shock. This caused the girl to laugh full heartily. Ophelia had been too preoccupied with looking at the shaggy-haired boy that she didn't even notice the other one behind her, waiting for her to turn around.

"Hi. W-W-What's your n-n-name?" The boy struggled to spit out, startling Ophelia enough to cause her to tumble on the table next to her.

Like a deer caught in the headlights, she was unable to move from her spot. Ophelia hadn't talked to someone other than her parents in over a year, let alone a kid her age.

The young boy tried to help her up,   "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." He looked down apologetically at the small girl.

Ophelia returned the sentiment with a tight-lipped smile. She didn't know how to react, and this small interaction was making her get major anxiety.

"My n-names Diego." He said waiting for her to give him a name back. It never came.

This confused him, "Can you talk?"

Ophelia shuffled awkwardly, suddenly embarrassed by the joking tone in his voice. She blushed and shook her head side to side.

"Oh... that's okay. I sometimes have trouble talking too." Diego tried to make the girl feel more comfortable.

Ophelia pointed to an area on her shirt. Diego's eyes landed on a nameplate.

"Ophelia. I like that name. My sister's name is Allison, and I think you have a better name than her. She thinks she's the best. She's not though." He huffed.

A chuckle came out of Ophelia's mouth, catching her off guard. Diego smiled at her with a chestier grin, spanning across his face. The two kids continued to stare at each other until they were interrupted.

"NUMBER 2 GET BACK HERE. I AM NOT ENTERTAINING A CIRCUS. GIRL I WILL NOT HAVE YOU DISTRACTING HIM. GO ON." Reginald yelled at both children.

Diego looked back and forth between them contemplating his next words, "Bye Ophelia. I have to go. See you later maybe."

Diego didn't leave until she nodded. Running towards Reginald, he bid her a wave goodbye and smiled on his way out.

Ophelia turned to finish up the days work much giddier than she had started it. For communicating with someone her age for the first time in years, interacting with him wasn't so bad. Not at all. It should have brought her a longer amount of joy, but it only left her with feelings of sorrow and loneliness.

James and Amelia had heard about this incident from Reginald the next day. They took it out on Ophelia, removing her from the warehouse duties. Instead, she was placed inside a room with no one to talk to. Her parents said it was for her own good. It wasn't. Ophelia knew for some reason her parents didn't want her out talking to people. With each passing day, the girl grew more resentful towards her parents, building until there would surely be a break down to follow.

She never knew why they hated her. Until the day abnormal abilities started to make an appearance inside her. Ophelia had been having pain in her head for as long she could remember. There seemed to be no sense of relief from it, and Amelia and James always seemed to make it worse.

On a Saturday evening, Ophelia's father decided to visit her. He had a particularly bad day at work, making it why he came to see her that day. He never went unless there was a need.

The man had stepped into the room where Ophelia was. He seemed moodier than normal. The tirade of verbal insults started almost instantly. His face growing red, the man began to move towards the 10-year-old. Ophelia tried to back up, but there was nowhere to hide in the small room. James grabbed her arm and threw her down on the floor and began hitting her consistently. She didn't know why this was transpiring. He never went this far, but there he was beating her to the point where she had begun to lose consciousness. Ophelia was sure she would die that day, but the universe had other plans for the youthful girl.

There was a sudden buildup in her mind that burned almost like a ray of sunlight. Suddenly, the scenery of the room began to change. No longer inside the room, Ophelia's father began to panic.

"DID YOU DO THIS? STOP. WHAT ARE YOU DOING? STOP OPHELIA. NOW YOU DECIDE YOU'RE GOING TO BE SPECIAL." The man cried out at his daughter.

"Did he know there was a possibility she had abilities?" Ophelia thought to herself.

This must have been the justification for why they kept her away from people. The reason why they disliked her from the beginning. She didn't show any special abilities when born. Ophelia was created on October 1, 1984. She assumed they knew that Ophelia didn't possess any inclination for extraordinary abilities until right at this moment. For some reason, the abilities didn't kick in until now. All these years, and this is what caused their tirade. How pathetic.

Ophelia had no idea how to control what was happening. It was some sort of reality manipulation ability, but she couldn't figure it out in time for her father not to take advantage of her confusion. Before she could even process what was being done, Ophelia had been knocked out.

——— 3 Months Later ———

Over the next three months, Ophelia began to grow more resentful of her parents. After the Hargreeves incident, her parents made it impossible to have outside contact with the world. Currently, she had no ability to go anywhere but her room. They were scared of her. Whenever they would try and talk to her, she would temporarily blind them or manifest a nightmare inside their heads. They kept her under medication to ensure she wouldn't be able to truly master her abilities. There was no telling what she could do if given the chance.

After the first month, Ophelia started going a little crazy. In order to keep her mind active, she began avoiding reality through illusions. It was her only escape. She was only able to create small illusions and mimic physical sensations. If it wasn't for being trapped in her own home, Ophelia would be pretty excited about it.

The small amount of joy was short-lived, as the couple had planned on selling her to Reginald Hargreeves. This had been their plan all along. Her for an exchange of money. They must have been planning on doing it since she was adopted, but the couple was unable to fulfill their intention when she didn't display any special abilities. Now they were finally getting a return on their investment.

Ophelia wasn't heartbroken at being given to the Hargreeves. When a person already lived with monsters, anything seemed better.

At least she would have kids her age to interact with. Yes, Reginald was an unkind man, but it wasn't anything she wasn't used to. There was no point in fighting. What was done was done. She would have to accept becoming a member of The Umbrella Academy if she still wanted a shot at a decent life. Ophelia could only hope it would be better than her current environment.

————-

This is my first time writing fanfiction in English. I learned to write in English three months ago so I’m not sure how well everything flows. It’s only for fun and practice. Hope you enjoyed reading. I might continue but it’s up to how I feel about it.