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moonchild-things · 1 year

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Chapter Seven: Extra Ordinary

Summary: Born on October 1, 1989, Number Eight grew up with a strange power much like the other 43 children. After being adopted by Sir Reginald Hargreeves, Jemma grows up with six other siblings with peculiar powers just like her and lived a not so happy childhood. Now in 2019, Reginald is found dead, the once missing Number Five reappears after 17 years, and, oh yeah, the world is ending.

Word Count: 7511

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---

5 YEARS AGO

VANYA TRUDGED ACROSS THE BUSY STREET AS noon started to roll around. She had just finished one of her practices for the orchestra and was heading back to her shared apartment. However, as she passed by

"My name is Vanya Hargreeves, and this is my story."

For days, weeks, maybe months, Vanya wrote whenever she could. Details about her less than stellar life were typed out on her trusty red typewriter as she poured her views and thoughts on her family onto the paper. Though she tried to keep this as quiet as possible, Vanya didn't want Jemma to see what she was doing. Eventually, she sent her manuscript to a publisher who ate up her biography like it was honey.

"We were never a real family. We were our father's creation, family in name... but not in fact."

Her story became a pretty big hit within its first week of release. People bought the book excitedly. They desperately wanted to read up on the lives of The Umbrella Academy after they seemingly disbanded a few years ago. Practically everyone knew about the Hargreeves family and their claim to fame as children. However, to read more about their lives during and after they were publicly revealed as the small team of child crime fighters was interesting. Add in the fact that apparently there were eight children instead of the seven that the public knew of, and you have a perfectly fascinating story for people to read.

"In the end, after our brother Ben had died, there was really nothing connecting us. We were just strangers living under the same roof..."

Of course, after the publication of her biography, the other Hargreeves children just had to get their own copies. It was obvious to say that they weren't exactly happy to see what exactly Vanya had to say about their lives.

"...destined to be alone..."

Luther, still at the academy, read the book while he did his daily workouts.

"...starved for attention..."

Allison read it while she was on set, which proved to be a bit of a problem for her makeup crew.

"...damaged by our upbringing..."

The more violent of the siblings, Diego, used Vanya portrait on the back of her book as a target for his punching bag.

At an AA meeting, Klaus sat with the book in his hand while his ghostly brother looked over his shoulder with his mouth agape.

"Oh, my God. She wrote that?" Ben gaped at the things that Vanya had to say about their abysmal childhood. "I can't believe she would do that."

"Shh!" Klaus tried to shush him only to earn some strange looks from the people around him.

"...and haunted by what might have been."

At a bar downtown, Jemma lazily sipped at her glass of beer as her eyes were glued to the book she laid out on the bar. All the bad parts of her family were now out in the open, including some very personal things about her own childhood. She wasn't exactly happy to know that her battle with depression and alcoholism was now public knowledge. She took a long swig of her drink and sighed heavily.

"We all wanted to be loved by a man incapable of giving love."

In the apocalypse, Five had been able to find a copy of her book from a collapsed library. A copy that hadn't been badly burned during the catastrophe that had killed off the entire planet's population. He honestly wasn't surprised at how horrible their lives had turned out to be. Though he was surprised that Vanya had decided to write a biography like this. Everyone must have been pissed about that.

"Our father never missed an opportunity to remind me that I was ordinary."

Reginald Hargreeves also received a copy of his ordinary daughter's book. Of course, he hadn't bought it himself. Vanya had sent it to him. The message; 'Dad, I thought, why not? -V' was written on the first page. However, Reginald didn't even turn to the first chapter. Instead, he left the book on a shelf in the living room where it would remain untouched by the man.

"A hard thing for a little girl to hear. If you're raised to believe nothing about you is special, if the benchmark is extraordinary, what do you do if you're not?"

Eventually, the sales for Vanya's book started to become less and less and people lost interest in it. The scandalous factor about the untold story of the mysterious Number Seven had lost its edge and people, more or less, moved on. So Vanya had to move on as well. She may have pissed off her family by revealing such private information about their lives to the public, but she felt like it was her right to do it if she wanted. After all, it was her childhood as well.

---

TODAY

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit." Vanya cursed as she ran as fast as she could towards the auditorium where she should have been over ten minutes ago. She was running late for her orchestra practice and knew that she would be in trouble if she didn't hurry up. The ordinary woman eventually made it through the doors only to find that the group had already started to practice without her. "Shit."

She hurried over to her spot as quick and quiet as possible as they continued to play without acknowledging her. Though as she got out her violin she made a little too much noise which caused the conductor to stop.

Vanya looked up with apprehension and apologized in a timid voice, "Um... I'm so sorry I'm late."

"I hadn't noticed," the conductor cleared his throat. A tense silence enveloped the group as Vanya continued to get her violin situated before the conductor tapped his baton on his stand. "From the top." The beautiful music then started again as Vanya watched the first chair violin, Helen Cho, begin her solo. Something that Vanya wished she would be able to do.

---

At the academy, Allison leaned against the wall behind Luther as she showed him what she had found on the tapes that Pogo had shown her. The taped replayed the final moments of Reginald's life as he collapses onto his bed as Grace walked back towards his door.

"Play it again," Luther said.

Allison shook her head with her arms crossed over her chest, "we've watched it over and over, Luther. It's the same every time."

Luther just sighed heavily as he tried to comprehend this new piece of evidence. Now that he had seen this, he knew that there was no way their father's death was just an accident or natural. It replayed again and he tried to see if there was anything distinctive in the grainy footage that would show exactly what had happened, "er... What is she doing?" He stammered out to Allison. "The tea. Did she poison him?"

"Uh, I don't know."

Luther turned to her, "Where did you find this?"

"I was looking at old footage of us as kids, and I saw the tape just sitting there."

"Yeah, Dad must have started using the security system again." Luther sighed out and started to explain, "He was getting more and more paranoid. He thought people were out to get him. Well... I guess maybe he was right."

This proves that their father's death was no way natural and that their mom may have had something to do with it. As much as Luther didn't want to admit it, Grace may have killed their father that night. It isn't clear exactly how or why she would do it, but they needed to find out.

A tense moment of silence passed over them before Allison shook her head in disbelief. "But mom? I mean, she's not capable of..." She stared at Luther and received an apprehensive look from him. Both of them were uncertain about this. "Is she?"

---

The sizzling of eggs and a light humming came from the android who was cooking breakfast for two of her children. Allison and Luther sat at the table. They shared a look with each other as their mother continued to cook breakfast for them. Both of them were slightly unnerved by her unbothered attitude ever since the funeral of their father.

"Mom?" Luther asked, "we need to ask you some questions about the night that Dad died. Do you remember anything?"

Grace slowly turned around to face them, "Of course. Sunset, 7:33 pm. Moon was waxing crescent, dinner was cornish hen, wild rice, and carrots."

Luther cut her off, "No. no, uh... later that night. In his bedroom. Did you go and see him?"

Grace seemed to think about how to respond for a second before smiling widely at the two, "I don't recall." She then turned back to her cooking as though that was the end of the conversation.

Seeing that they weren't really getting anywhere with her, Luther looked at Allison and silently gestured for her to speak as well. Allison, though reluctant, went along with it. "Were you ever... I don't know, angry with Dad?"

Grace scrapped the pan with more strength then she should have at the question. Though she didn't respond to the question right away, which threw up red flags. "Your father was a good man." She explained after she finally turned to them, "A kind man. He was very good to me."

Her wide smile was disturbing, to say the least. "Yes, but after we all left, it must have been difficult."

"Oh, there were days. You kids kept me oh so busy, and then..." She abruptly cut herself off as she stared off into space. That wasn't good. Her behavior was beyond concerning the two suspicious siblings.

"What?" Luther asked.

"Mom," Allison said, "what were you gonna say?

"Eggs are ready!" She exclaimed with a disturbing amount of enthusiasm and placed down the plates of two eggs and one piece of bacon that looked like a smiley face. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Now, eat up. Both of you."

A few light footsteps then came from the stairs as a head of short blond hair popped out from the doorway and into the kitchen. "Morning," Jemma greeted with a small grunt. The obvious signs of a hangover were present in her slumped appearance. Though they would disappear in about an hour or two. Thank God for her fast metabolism.

She walked over to her siblings and mother and noticed the uncertain looks on their faces. "Oh, Jemma! I'll make you breakfast," Grace exclaimed and turned to make another plate of eggs and bacon for the woman.

Jemma nodded her head and plopped down on the chair next to Allison. She eyed her brother and sister as they watched their mother with narrowed eyes. "Everything okay?" She asked with pursed lips.

Luther and Allison shared a look with each other. Should they tell her about what they found? Jemma was their sister and she should get to know about what had happened to their father... However, maybe they should hold off on telling her. She was a tad bit more sensitive than the others and they didn't know how she would react to their findings. Besides Diego, she was also close to Grace so they already figured that she would not want to believe them.

"Yeah, of course," Luther cleared his throat before taking a bite of his eggs. Allison made sure to keep herself from looking at their sister lest she somehow gives themselves away before they need to.

Jemma hummed while looking at the two of them with a calculating stare. Though her suspicious looks and thoughts were broken when a glass of orange juice was placed in front of her. The blonde smiled widely, "Thanks, mom!"

---

Sirens drifted into the destroyed clothes store as red and blue lights danced across the parking lot. After someone had heard the commotion in the clothing store last night, the police had been called to check it out. Which was why over a few dozen officers were scouring the destroyed building for clues to what happened.

Among the officers were Detective Eudora Patch and, unsurprisingly, Diego. He may not be allowed there, but it seemed like the others at the scene were willing to look past it for now.

With that being said, Diego was currently looking at some of the bullet casings that had been left by the shooters. Eudora walked over to him after talking to another officer and sighed. "Do you seriously still not understand the chain of custody? If you touch it, I can't use it."

"Let me save you some time running ballistics." Diego said as he stood up with one of the casings in hand, "These nine-millimeters haven't been manufactured since 19-"

"1963. Odd, I know." Eudora cut him off, "Matching casings were found at a murder scene last night. Ishmael's Towing."

Diego raised an eyebrow at that information, "The driver?"

"Found him hanging from the ceiling. Looks like he must have known something after all." The image of what she had found at the business last night. It was quite a horrific sight to see. The older tow truck driver had been chained up to the ceiling with obvious signs of torture. Whatever had started to happen in her city, it was going to not only be difficult to find out what had happened, but certainly frustrating.

"It's a shame nobody told you to go talk to him," Diego commented.

The detective rolled her eyes at him. She honestly had no idea how she dealt with Diego without shooting him in the foot. "In the span of twenty-four hours, I've had attacks in three different places across town. Whatever this is, whoever this is, they're not slowing down. So, if you really give a shit and you've got any fresh ideas, I'm all ears."

The vigilante smiled knowing that she would now hear him out. It's a shame it took a few more shootings for it to happen, but he'll make due. "The guy's kid, in the doughnut shop?"

Eudora nodded her head, "I've got units tracking the extended family in case anyone goes after him."

"Well, this place must have surveillance footage."

"No, it doesn't exist." The detective said, "The first unit on the scene clocked two shooters fleeing the premises, wearing, get this, creepy kids' masks."

Diego stared at her for a moment with wide eyes at the tidbit of information. Weird. He chuckled, "The city is really going to shit, huh?"

Eudora scoffed at the super-powered man, "Coming from the guy dressed in spandex?"

"It's not spandex, it's leather." Diego denied before smiling cheekily, "And you used to like it. A lot, if I recall."

Eudora groaned unhappily at the reminder of that. "God, please unremember that."

Diego smirked, "Etched into the data bank, Eudora."

"And we're done." She rolled her eyes and started to walk away from the vigilante.

"Yeah, well, you go fill out your forms while I go hunt these animals down. And, Detective," Diego called out, "I do give a shit." With that, Diego made his way out of the building to start his search. Eudora couldn't help herself but smile at his retreating figure before turning around herself to leave.

Eudora's partner, Chuck Beeman, walked over to her with a chuckle as he pointed after Diego. "I still can't get over the fact that you two used to-"

"Not another word, Beeman." She grunted as she walked off, "Not another damn word."

---

After practice, Vanya was just as unsatisfied as normal. The practice was like the rest before them. No matter how hard Vanya tried to show what talent she had, she was always pushed aside. Third chair wasn't exactly where she wanted to be, but she had to deal with it. However, it didn't give her many opportunities to show what she was really capable of.

Though at the moment, she was entering the bathroom. As she approached the sinks, she found the first chair of the violin section, Helen Cho. The Asian woman was quite pretty with long black hair and clear skin. She was just about everything that Vanya had wanted to be. While Helen was chosen to be the best violin player, Vanya was, more or less, told that she wasn't as good as she believed. It may be said that Vanya most likely admired her for her talent, and wish to be like her.

"Helen..." Vanya started off sheepishly as she approached the Asian woman. "You were great today. Really, really great."

Helen barely spared her a glance, "Thanks."

Vanya continued on, "It's those runs in the Stravinsky. I've been hacking at them for weeks, and you just make-"

"Make them look easy?" Helen cut her off and sighed in annoyance. "What's your name again?"

She blinked for a second before stuttering out her name, "Vanya."

"Vanya. And how many years have you been stuck at third chair?" Vanya stared at the woman with wide eyes. Helen just sighed at the blatant confusion from Vanya, "At a certain point, it's not about practice. It's whether you've got something special. And maybe you just... don't." It was obvious that her words were affecting the ordinary woman. Who wouldn't be affected by someone saying that they weren't actually good at what they love to do? "You can put in your ten thousand hours, or... you can go find something you're actually passionate about and stop slogging away at Stravinsky like a scared thirteen-year-old. Think it over." Helen finished before grabbing her violin case and leaving.

Vanya was left by herself as she mulled over Helen's words.

---

Cha-Cha winced as she used a hair curler to cauterize the wound that she had sustained from their fight with Number Five. That little asshole had used a trowel to slice into her upper arm, and the assassin was not happy about that. She has sustained many injuries in her line of work, but she was quite annoyed with this one. Not only was it done by a kid, but it was a kid with superpowers! Powers that they were not told about. She would have definitely liked to have a heads up about that when they were tasked with killing the rogue assassin.

Hazel, lucky enough to not get any injuries during their fight, was lounged on one of the beds in the motel. He was flipping through reality shows on the television with mild interest.

Cha-Cha fixed her shirt and walked over to her partner, "I don't understand how you can watch this crap."

"You don't find it interesting," Hazel asked as he motioned to the television, "how ordinary people live their lives? They're agonizing over kitchen cabinets as if the entire fate of the universe rests on whether they choose azure blue or asparagus green."

"And your point is?" Cha-Cha raised an eyebrow.

Hazel shrugged his shoulders and munched on some snacks, "Sometimes there's beauty in the mundane, you know?"

To be honest, Hazel somewhat craved having such a simple life that normal people had. Worrying about bills, taxes, a normal job seemed to be appealing to him. Instead of having to constantly look behind his back and killing people who didn't really seem all that bad. Hazel didn't like the killing part that went into his job, but he went with it. After all, it paid well enough.

The woman scoffed and motioned around the room, "Well, then, this is the most beautiful room I've ever seen."

There was then a strange sound emanating from the other room. The two entered the bathroom and found that HQ had sent a message to them. Opening the tile in the shadow wall, Hazel opened up the small compartment and opened up the small cylinder that held the message from the higher-ups in it.

"Seven percent reduction in payment due to job delay. Further reduction every 24 hours until job completion. That is just..." Hazel groaned in frustration as he crumpled up the message. "I mean... It's only been one lousy day. Let's see 'em get out from behind their desks, get their hands dirty for once. Damn lazy bastards."

Cha-Cha tilted her head, "Are you done?" She was just as frustrated about this as Hazel. However, she was more level headed about it.

Hazel sighed heavily as he collected himself, "Yeah."

"Well, let's get back out there and kill this little shit."

---

"Jesus Christ!" Five looked up to find his blonde sister watching him with wide eyes as she came into his room. Jemma had just been heading back to her room to change clothes when she passed by Five's room. Only she wasn't expecting to see her young-looking brother stitching up his upper arm with blood dripping from a wound that he must have gotten from being shot at.

Five groaned but continued on with his work, "go away Jemma."

"Go away? Go away?!" Jemma stormed into the room with her voice rising in pitch, "What the hell Five?"

"You don't have to be concerned with this."

His monotone attitude with his own injury disturbed her. Why did he think that him getting hurt wasn't a big deal? First off, she wanted to know how he got hurt. Second, she wanted to know who had done this, so she could pay them back for hurting her brother who had just reappeared after seventeen years. "Uh, no. You're my brother and you're hurt, so I am going to be concerned! What the hell happened?"

"You don't need to know," Five rolled his eyes in exasperation.

Jemma stared at him in disbelief and came further into his room, much to his dismay. She took a loud gulp from her bottle and looked at him with hazy yet alarmed eyes. Five observed that she wasn't too far from any sort of alcohol. It had only been a few days, but he had almost always seen her with some whiskey or beer or something that contained alcohol. Though it wasn't like he cared all that much. "Does this have to do with the... apocalypse?"

Five paused for a moment and looked up at her. So she was paying attention when he talked about it the other day. Honestly, he thought that she was going to be just like Klaus and focus more on trying to get her next drink than what he had to say. Though he should have expected her to not be exactly like Klaus. He vaguely knew what Jemma had gone through emotionally while he was in the future, but she must have not changed completely since he last saw her as a kid. She was just as much as a worrywart now as she was back then.

"Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't."

"Oh, no." She groaned out and plopped herself down on the floor where she sat with her legs crossed. She wasn't drunk yet and barely buzzed which meant she was sober enough to properly process what was happening. It also meant she could talk a bit clearer about the topic at hand easier. She had planned on maybe getting drunk before heading back over to her apartment. However, now she had to worry about what exactly Five had been getting up to ever since he got back. "It does."

Five disregarded her and put a bandaid over his wound. "You should just go back to drowning in your alcohol, Jem."

Jemma resisted the urge to flinch at his rude tone. "No, no, no. No, I'm not going to."

"Don't you have something else to be doing?"

"Well, I was going to maybe see Vanya. She's been a bit... upset since the funeral."

"Then go check on her already." Five rolled his eyes as he started to put his uniform back on, "pretty sure you both live together, right?"

Jemma nodded her head as she pursed her lips as sadness seemed to well up in her eyes. "We do, but Vanya doesn't like it when I'm drunk so I usually stay somewhere else."

"You? Drunk?" The idea of his precious sister, one of the most innocent people who apologized every time she punched someone, being inebriated was baffling. Ever since he had read about how she had gone down a path of depression and could understand why someone who turn to alcohol for it. However, Jemma had far too much emotion and ended up being coming addicted, much to their family's dismay. Though seeing it with his own eyes was... almost upsetting.

Jemma seemingly caught onto his thoughts by the look plastered on his face. "Things've been shit, Five." She started with a sad sigh while running a hand through her short hair. "Things have gone downhill and, if you haven't noticed, we've all changed, mostly for the worst." Jemma scoffed lazily, "I mean; I'm an alcoholic, Klaus is a junkie, Diego's a brooding idiot, Luther's been stuck on the moon for nearly five years, Allison's life is falling apart, everyone hates Vanya and," She sighed before gulping, "Ben's dead." She allowed her sorrow to swallow her completely like a tidal wave and pull her down further into depression. She brushed it off though and took a swig of her drink, "and now you're telling me the world's going to end?" Five stared at his sister with a blank expression before nodding his head, "Fan-fucking-tastic." She threw her head back and downed the remainder of her drink.

"Well," he pulled on his blazer and grabbed the duffle bag that held Delores in it. "Just go back home or something, Jem. Forget we even talked about this."

"What, Five-" She watched as he opened up his bedroom window and climbed out of it without saying anything else. She huffed at his retreating figure and glared at nothing in particular. "He's become a complete ass!"

Outside on the fire escape, Five climbed down to the alleyway where he was hoping to make a quick getaway. Having Jemma find him in his room with his injury was not something he was happy that had happened. If anything, it was extremely annoying. However, he hoped that talking to her would be all that he would be running into. Yet it seemed like the universe was truly against him.

"Damn it, where's Dad's stuff?" Klus exclaimed as he rummaged through the dumpster he had thrown the papers he had taken the other day in.

Above him, Ben sat on the fire escape watching his brother wallow through garbage trying to find what he had thrown out for some money. "Can we go see a movie or something?" Ben asked though Klaus was the only one who could actually hear him, "or the ocean?"

"Shut up!" Klaus groaned, "I'm trying to find whatever... priceless crap was in that priceless box so that Pogo will get off my ass!"

Five climbed down the ladder as he watched his brother seemingly talk to air. "I'd ask what you're up to, Klaus, but then it occurred to me... I don't care."

"Hey!" Klaus laughed at the arrival of his other brother, "you know there are easier ways out of the house, buddy?"

"This one involved the least amount of talking." Five hopped down from the ladder and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Or so I thought."

Klaus leaned over the side of the dumpster and stared down at Five with wide eyes. "Hey, hey, hey, so... You need any more company today? I could, uh... clear my schedule."

Five just scoffed, "looks like you've got your hands full."

"Oh, this? No, no. I can do this whenever. I'm just-" Klaus then fell back into the dumpster and began his rummaging. "I just misplaced something. That's all. Oh!" He popped back up holding half of a glazed donut. "Found it! Thank God!" Klaus then slowly took a bit of it. Why he does the things he does is a mystery to just about everyone. "Delicious."

"I'm done funding your drug habit," Five said before turning around and starting to stock off.

"Come on! You don't- Maybe I just wanna hang out with my brother. Not you." He commented to their ghostly brother who now sat on the edge of the dumpster. "¡Mi hermano! I love you! Even if you can't love yourself!" As Klaus called out to Five, the boy had jumped into a van for a plumbing company and started to drive it off.

---

Now alone, Five sat in his stolen truck across the street from Meritech. He obviously wasn't going to give up on his mission to stop the apocalypse. Even though the prosthetic eye that he had from the future was

The young-looking assassin then remembered something, "Oh, shit." He opened up his duffle bag and gingerly pullled his life-long companion, Delores, out of it. "Hey. Sorry you were in there for so long, Delores." He paused and then scowled as if the mannequin had said something. "No, I'm not drunk. I'm working." He paused again and listened to Delores. "Yes, it's about the eye thing. This is the place it was made. Or... will be made. We just have to wait."

It appears that during his time in the future, Five had most likely gone crazy. Well, crazy enough to have a conversation with a mannequin who certainly would not actually reply. Honestly, it was quite understandable for him to be like this. After all, he had been alone for decades! He needed to have someone to talk to while living through the aftermath of the apocalypse. Either way, his mental state wasn't within question at the moment. Five just settled in with Delores to start their stakeout of the medical building to hopefully find a clue to the mystery of the prosthetic eye.

---

In the academy, Allison and Luther stood in the living room. Luther's bulky figure paced slightly in front of Allison who leaned against the couch as they discussed what they were to do with their mother.

"I don't like this any more than you do, but she's hiding something," Luther said strongly. Number One, ever the suspicious leader, wanted nothing more than to investigate Grace. She obviously is acting weird since their father's death and after finding that tape of what had happened to Reginald, there was no way Luther was just going to let this go.

"Hiding?" Allison asked, "To me, she just sounded confused."

Luther turned to her with conviction burning in his eyes. "Well, uh... You saw the tape. Grace knew what she was doing."

"Grace?" Allison scoffed, "This morning, she was Mom."

"She's a machine, Allison." Luther continued to deny any sort of emotional attachment to the android that had acted as their caretaker their whole lives.

"Who read to us and cleaned up after us and put us to bed." She insisted, "And then we left her here, alone, in this house for 13 years. I mean, no wonder she lost her mind. To be away from your kids?" There was obviously something underneath her words. A sort of sympathy that she was able to connect to with Grace. It obviously had something to do with her own daughter, Claire.

Luther sighed as his voice softened, "Hey, what happened with... Claire? With Patrick? You never told me."

"Yeah," Allison ground out, "I don't wanna talk about it."

It saddened Luther that she wasn't willing to open up to him about her emotions. They always did that since they were little. It seemed like after all this time, they had grown far apart. "It's just... when we were kids, we used to sit in here and tell each other everything."

"Yeah, and then we grew up." Allison snapped before sighing, "Things got ugly between Patrick and me. Now the court says I have to do this mandatory therapy thing before I can have visitation."

Luther furrowed his eyebrows, "What for?" He stared at her for a short moment before it finally dawned on him. He let out a breath, "You used your power on her."

"I mean, there were days where she'd have these epic meltdowns." Allison started to explain with a far off look and sat down on the couch opposite to Luther, "And no matter what I said, she wouldn't stop. She was three then, and I... I know that's what three-year-olds are supposed to do. So I said I would do it that one time. Only it wasn't just that one time." Slowly but surely, tears started to collect in her eyes. "I told myself any... parent with my power would do the same. That it wasn't wrong. I just had an advantage. I mean, from the time I was little, I used it to get everything I wanted."

"Mm-hmm."

She continued, "With Dad, with my career... But now, I know nothing in my life was real. So I'm starting over. I just didn't think it would be so hard."

"It'll get easier. Some things just take time."

"Yeah. And some things just stay broken."

Unknown to either of them, the only other sibling in the house was leaning against the wall right outside of the living room. Jemma's eyebrows were furrowed as she listened to their suspicion of Grace and Allison's situation. Of course, Jemma wasn't sure why her siblings were suspicious of their mother and wanted to question them about it. However, she knew that they probably wouldn't tell her.

Jemma likes to say that she was honest with everyone. At least, far more truthful than any of her family. Though that wasn't true, for painfully obvious reasons. Though she at least hoped that her family would be honest with her. There were many times where their father kept them in the dark about things and hide secrets from the, so Jemma had faith that her siblings wouldn't be the same. Yet her faith wasn't enough. Even she wasn't truthful about herself. Hiding her alcoholism and her depression for years from most of her family. At least, her depression had gotten a bit better, but she still had a problem with drinking.

Anyway, that wasn't what was the topic at the moment. What was the topic was the fact that Allison and Luther thought that their mother is hiding something from them. What it could be, Jemma wasn't sure, and it worried her slightly.

Before she could lose herself in her own thoughts, she sighed and plastered a smile on her face. Hiding her own suspicion would be a good idea for the moment, she thought. She would give them a little bit to collect their findings or whatever and give them a chance to tell her eventually. If they don't, then she will ask them about it. However, she can wait for a short while.

She rounded the corner into the living room with a smile as she greeted her siblings. "Hey, guys!"

The cheeriness that she displayed may have been a little too much, however, it didn't tip off Luther or Allison. Jemma was just generically a cheerful person, even when she was drinking. The first thing they would think was that she most likely was drunk. A good enough cover for her at the moment.

"Hi, Jemma," Luther said curtly as Allison quickly wiped away the tears in her eyes.

The blonde turned to her sister, "do you want to come with me to find Vanya?"

Allison tilted her head as the idea caused her to grimace. The last time she saw Vanya, it wasn't that good. After all, she had said some mean things to her the other day. "Why?"

"Oh come on, Ali!" Jemma whined and grabbed the taller woman's arm, "I've got to go to the apartment to get some clothes and I haven't seen her in a day or so, please!"

"Maybe you should go," Luther said to Allison when he thought of something, "bring her back here so we can talk about mom."

Jemma looked at Luther with her eyes narrowing slightly, "What's wrong with mom?"

Luther also narrowed his eyes, though it was more obvious than Jemma, "Why do you think there's something wrong with her?"

"I don't know..."

Allison, seeing the tension growing between Jemma and Luther, clapped her hand together to get their attention. "I guess we can go find her. I've got to apologize to her anyway."

"Okay!" Jemma exclaimed and started to pull Allison out of the living room to head out and find their other sister.

---

Vanya ventured down the slightly busy sidewalk in the Bricktown district. After practice, she had started to walk aimlessly around until she found herself in front of Leonard's shop. Imperial Woodwares, it was called. By looking through the windows she could tell that he wasn't there, but that he also did a good job with woodwork. It was slightly impressive.

Just as Vanya came to the conclusion that she should leave, Leonard himself came waltzing over to her. "You're still lookin' for Mr. Puddles," he joked.

She was speechless for a moment before finally being able to stutter out a reply, "I- I got out of rehearsal and was in the neighborhood, so I thought... I-"

He raised an eyebrow, "Came all the way to Bricktown?" Vanya was obviously a little nervous to be there, much to Leonard's amusement. She shrugged awkwardly before he smirked a little. He then gestured to his shop. "Well, since you're here, you might as well come in."

Seeing all of the things that Leonard had no doubt made, Vanya complimented him, "These are beautiful."

"Ah, thank you." He smiled and took off his coat, "Restoration antiques. It's my bread and butter. But I do play around with other things."

"Like what?"

He paused for a second and turned back to her. "Oh... I don't know. It's kind of embarrassing. Come on." He then led Vanya to the back of the shop behind a curtain. There, he showed her a few of his other carvings. Most were quite a bit more intricate than those in the front of the shop.

Vanya looked at them all with interest, "You made all these?"

"When I was a kid, my imagination was my escape." He explained with a chuckle, "And, clearly, I never grew up."

"No, it's amazing." It was obvious that he had a passion for this, just like she had a passion for the violin. "Which one is your favorite?"

"Ballerina is kind of my best. Or maybe the duck." He then shook his head jokingly. "Or the other duck. Or the other duck. But there is one you should see." He walked over to a different shelf and grabbed another carving. He then showed it to her, to her amazement.

"Is that...?" She stared in disbelief at the sight of the carving. It was of a woman playing the violin. Obviously meant to be her. It was flattering that he had made this after only knowing her for a short time.

Leonard chuckled slightly, "Okay, so I might have... stayed up last night making this."

"Wow." Vanya breathed out, still stunned, "It's beautiful."

"Thank you." He then held it out for her, "Take it."

"Oh, no. I..."

"I insist. Please. I made it for you." There was a small pause before he continued to speak. However, there was a slight tenseness to his voice that Vanya had missed. "You inspired me." Vanya continued to stare at the gift that he had given her. So she never noticed the carving of a woman, with short hair, appearing to be running, with a domino mask on.

---

"This is so bizarre. We've known each other for... two days?" Vanya chuckled as they walked along the sidewalk after exiting Leonard's shop, "I feel like you know me better than anyone in my family."

"Hey," Leonard said as the two stopped to turn towards each other. "This might be a little inappropriate, seeing as I'm your... impressionable young student, but... would you want to have dinner with me tonight? You don't have to if you don't want to."

There was a tone in his voice, a sort of disgruntled tone. Like he almost wanted her to decline his offer. Though why ask if he wanted her to say no? Once again, Vanya missed his tone and nodded her head, much to his slight dismay.

"Yeah," she agreed.

"It's fast..."

"No, I-"

"...I know, but..."

"I'd like that." Vanya finally said, settling it.

"Yeah?" Leonard asked with a tight smile.

Before either of them could continue talking, they both looked up at the sound of heels clicking on the sidewalk. Surprisingly, it was Vanya's famous sister.

Vanya blinked a few times at her arrival. "Allison?"

"Hey." Allison greeted sheepishly with a small wave. She casted a glace at the man next to Vanya with a calculating and questioning gleam in her eyes.

Vanya gestured to the woman and introduced the two to each other. "Leonard, this is my sister, Allison."

There was a tense moment as the two smiled politely at each other before Leonard snapped his fingers. "Wait a second, I know you. You were in that movie. You're in the movie, the... You were the lawyer. The tough one in the wheelchair, right?"

Allison smiled bashful at being recognized, "Yeah. Yeah, that was me."

Leonard turned to Vanya, "You didn't tell me your sister was a movie star. Wow!" He then thought of something else that Allison was quite famous for. "You were in that Umbrella thing, too, weren't you?" He pointed at Vanya, "But you weren't in that, were you?"

Vanya sighed tensely at the remindsr, "No, uh... I was sort of the fifth Beatle of the family, so..."

"I never really did like the Beatles. More of a Stones guy, myself."

They were silent for the moment before Allison cleared her throat, "Um, I'm sorry to interrupt, but, uh... could you come back to the house? We're having a family meeting."

"And you guys want me there?" Vanya asked skeptically. Most of the time she wasn't even considered for things like this. Even before she distanced herself from her family. Really the only one who included her in just about everything was Jemma.

"Of course." Allison nodded. "It's about Mom."

That certainly got Vanya to agree to go back home. She turned to Leonard, "I'm so sorry. I-"

"Oh, don't be." He cut her off, though with a sigh of relief, "We'll do a rain check on dinner. Bye." He then turned to leave the two sisters by themselves.

"Thanks."

Allison pursed her lips as she watched the mystery man walk away, "Who's the guy?"

"He's a..." Vanya tried to come up with something that would describe the man she literally just met yesterday, "just a friend."

Allison raised a suspicious eyebrow, "Friend?"

"No, it's not..." The ordinary woman shook her head as she saw the mischievous look in her sister's eyes. Though she remembered how her last interaction with her sister, she pursed her lips. "Maybe I'm just trying to not separate myself from everything and everyone."

Allison sighed and gulped "I'm... I'm sorry." She started to apologize, "I shouldn't have said those things to you yesterday. I was angry with Patrick, and I... I took it out on you. I'm really sorry. I'm, uh... I'm not good at this whole sister thing."

"I hadn't noticed."

"Ouch." Allison chuckled at Vanya's remark, "Tell me how you really feel."

"Maybe I will," Vanya said with a smirk.

The two chuckled, "Okay!"

"Hey, V," the timid voice of their other sister suddenly sounded as she walked over to them sheepishly. The blonde chuckled, "we didn't find you at the apartment, but I remembered you had practice today."

Vanya smiled slightly at Jemma. She figured that, currently, Jemma was sober. Well, sober enough to be out and about like this which was good. She even looked good with her jeans, light green blouse, converse, and bright complexion. It was quite amazing to see her like this.

"uh, yeah, I- Sorry about just leaving you at the academy..."

Jemma waved her hand, "don't worry about it!" Honestly, Jemma wasn't bothered by the fact that Vanya left her the other night by herself. She had been quite drunk so she didn't remember it completely, but she did know that Vanya had been a bit ticked. So while she didn't like the fact that Vanya had just left without saying anything, she has gotten over it.

Vanya was glad that Jemma wasn't bothered by it. So the trio of sisters started to make their way to a restaurant to spend some time together. It was far overdue for the three to finally spend some time together. Though Jemma and Vanya were used to being together. They did share an apartment together, after all. Though they were all ready to spend time together just as sisters should.

---

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#umbrella academy fanfiction #umbrella academy fanfic #umbrella acedmy #fanfiction #fanfic #male oc #multiple ocs #ocs #ben x oc #male!oc #female!oc #female oc #the academic comics

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sssmcdlove · 5 years

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"What's so bad about being ordinary?"

#myedit #myedits #the umbrella academy #vanya #ellen page #tua #tuaedit #What's so bad about being ordinary?

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sees-ghosts · 5 years

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closed //

@seancesayshello

Vanya didn’t know why she thought it had been a good idea to come to one of these family meetings. It never ended well. Someone always started an argument over something trivial. That and she was never included in the big picture.

But here she was, sipping some cocoa Mom had made for them all and sitting there on the couch, quiet as the others spoke among themselves. Lost in thought before Allison was kind enough to say hello and ask how she was doing.

Vanya gave her an awkward smile, letting her cup rest carefully there in her lap. “Well. I’m doing alright.” Her voice timid.

“I heard you were trying out for first chair? How did that go?”

Vanya shook her head, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Diego gave a chuckle before smirking, “Aw, come on. I’m sure it went just as well as your book.”

Vanya ducked away and set her cup on the table in front of her. This is why she never came to the meetings. Diego always brought up the book.

“I shouldn’t have come,” she mumbled.

“Yeah, maybe you shouldn’t have,” Diego crossed his arms, “That way you won’t be able to get more material for the next book.”

#seaancesayshello #what's so bad about being ordinary ((vanya))

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natasharomanovs · 5 years

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hi don’t mind this post i’m just sorting out my the umbrella academy tags

#klaus: oh! daddy!#diego: if i wanted you dead you'd be dead #luther: only my father calls me number one #number 5: you know what sucks? going through puberty. twice #ben: oh you're having a bad day?#tua: misc #fucking hell it's So Hard to find quotes #thanks 4 listening #rambles from nz #mom: you seem upset - i'll make cookies!#allison: i heard a rumour...#hehe i redid these two nice #vanya: what's so bad about being ordinary?#FORGOT VANYA #AH

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pixeliis · 6 years

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#im losing my fucking mind #im sorry to any mutuals who like tua but........the writing is so bad........#im so fucking mad please dont unfollow me #first of all #LUTHER. what the FUCK you absurd monkey man.#thats your SISTER youre making out with #and dont give me that bullshit ‘oh technically theyre not related’#ANY ARGUEMENT THAT BEGINS WITH ‘’TECHNICALLY ITS NOT INCEST’’ IS A BAD ARGUEMENT #HDJKSNFNSBFNNG #and luther gets laid ONCE and suddenly hes the important straight guy #and vanya fucking hell #she had one of the most decent childhoods in tua??#like yeah she was locked in a completely silent room for hours but literally whta about klaus #the kid who was locked in a room full of dead people #wwhats so bad about being ordinary anyways?? considering the amount of stress youd be under with super powers like those #being normal would be a fucking blessing #and why did being forced into thinking she was ordinary make her depressed??#theres nothing wrong with being ordinary and the writers should have known that before anyone was put under the impression #that theyre boring too #this show has one (1) gay twink and everyone loves it #like come on.#the bad writing is RRIGHT THERE #im gonna kill god scoob #im so rabid #and im so sorry to any mutuals that r fans of tua..............i still lobe u...........

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phoenixes-and-wizards · 4 years

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some people keep saying that five is such a cold, unfeeling character, and sure he's shown that he can be from time to time, but let's not forget that he also

told luther that he was still a young man and five would hate to see him waste his life

reminded diego in his own way of what he loved best about eudora patch, and that murdering her killers would never be the way she wanted to be honored

told allison that if ever they got out of the apocalypse alive, he would be honored to meet his niece, therefore making her smile

spent 45 years in the future and what's the first thing he does upon returning? compliment klaus' skirt

was the only one to recognize that klaus had time-travelled, continuously asked him for his help all throughout season 1, and even told him about his first love, delores

shouted ben's name worriedly upon seeing the ruins of the academy in the bad future

reminded vanya that "rapists can climb" and that she should lock her windows at all times, and that she was the only one he could trust because he knows she will always listen to him, no matter how much time they've spent apart

outright said that as shitty as their family used to be, he still tried everything just to get back to them

loved delores so much that he carried her around for four decades, and as soon as he got back to 2019, immediately went to her department store display and admitted that he missed her a lot

said "pogo?" in the smallest voice ever and tried to give him a hug, despite making it pretty clear in the past that he doesn't exactly encourage being touched

was the only sibling whose room vanya didn't blow up because he was always nice to her, even though he was extremely powerful and she was, for all they knew, ordinary

always made his siblings feel like he was better than them--and knows it--but was sensitive enough to never make vanya feel like anything less than a wonderful human being

was outright called vanya's "sole confidante" and the only one she would perform her new violin pieces for

never wanted to harm vanya outright, even though he knew that she would always be the reason the apocalypse happens, and insisted that they take her with them so they could finally start treating her right instead

told vanya that her concerns and love for sissy and harlan were valid, and that no one is insignificant

simply shrugged when luther told his adult self in season 2 that vanya was the catalyst for the apocalypse, and said "fair enough" without any resentment whatsoever because he of all people knows how much crap his favorite sister went through when they were younger

pushed luther out of the way of a crumbling ceiling, despite the fact that luther could take it and he was already bone-tired from killing the board and dealing with the after-effects of paradox psychosis

was already dying of multiple gunshot wounds by the end, but one look at his family's cooling bodies gave him enough strength to rewind time so they could have another shot at going back to the present and being an actual family

and in conclusion, is basically a grumpy old man who just has so much love for his family that the idea of getting back to them gave him enough strength to survive not one but two freaking apocalypses, one after the other, and come out more or less victorious by the end

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thesevenumbrellas · 4 years

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If you've not already done so, can you do a percy jackson/tua crossover type hc? This feels very demanding of me even though people ask you these types of things, so sorry if it sounds rude.

Of course! I’ve written a couple like this but tagging on tumblr is awful so I can never find them again.

Edit: didn’t realize until after I wrote it how long this was so... my bad...

Luther is the son of Zeus. He’s raised by the half-blood camp knowing he’s part of an important prophecy. Because of that he never knew a life away from being a hero. That can make him insufferable at times, and he has a huge hero complex, but he’s also someone you want on your side.

He’s sent on a quest to fetch the rest of the seven in order to complete the prophecy.

Diego, son of Apollo. Amazing aim but he uses knives instead of a bow as a direct fuck you at the gods. He too has a hero complex but also hates the gods for abandoning him. His father barely knows he exists. After his mother was killed by a monster he spent almost a year crossing the country to get to the supposed safe place his mother told him about. Camp Half Blood.

Allison, daughter of Aphrodite. She’s the strongest charm speaker the gods have ever known. She’s also never lived her life without it. After she misuses her power against some bullies, she runs away from home. She tries to survive without her powers when the guilt of her past plagues her. This doesn’t work very well however when she almost dies from monster attacks.

Allison is kidnapped by a Cyclops wanting to cook her when she meets Diego... who also happened to have been kidnapped. They escape together and she decides to follow him to Camp Half Blood.

Klaus, son of Hades. He’s not supposed to exist. The gods don’t acknowledge him. Hades can’t help him. He’s on his own.

Klaus was orphaned at birth but he has never been alone. The ghosts are always there. As a teen her turns to drugs in order to tune out their screams. This works for a while...

... until he’s attacked by monsters one night at a club. He’s saved by Diego and Allison. He decides to follow them to camp half blood. He doesn’t fully believe their tales of gods. He knows he isn’t a hero. But he owes Ben a favor, and his ghost friend really seems to think that it’s a good idea.

Five son of... well no one knows. He’s never been claimed. He’s lived in the Hermes cabin since arriving at Camp Half Blood at thirteen years old. He thinks it’s been decades. He’s not sure. No one can remember a time he hasn’t been there. No one can remember how long he’s lived there. He still looks thirteen.

Time doesn’t matter to Five. He can’t remember a life outside of camp half blood. He can’t remember a time he didn’t look thirteen. He can’t remember how long he’s been at camp. He can’t remember when the voice of his father started to haunt his dreams, but he can ignore the orders no longer.

When Luther leaves on a quest for camp, Five knows he needs to follow. So he does. Even if the truth could mean his death.

Can a son of Kronos even be part of a prophecy? If his new friends knew the truth... would they even let him live?

Ben is a ghost. He died almost fifteen years ago. He doesn’t remember his parents, doesn’t remember ever having powers... He knows his fate though. He’s seen it hundreds of times before. If you can’t pay the toll, you drift. You drift in the earthly plane until you can’t remember anything, until you can’t think, until you’re nothing but mist and regret.

He won’t let that happen. Klaus is a beacon. He’s a lighthouse during a storm. But more than that. When Ben is with Klaus, he can almost remember what it’s like to be human. He can almost remember Camp Half Blood.

Now if only he can keep that idiot alive long enough to remember everything else. Like why can Klaus see him even when he’s drugged? And why does Ben have a portal to Tartarus in his stomach?

Vanya is the last to join their group. She’s ordinary. There’s nothing special about her. She can play the violin although not particularly well. She feels like a half blood, although just faintly. She barely even attracts any monsters. She’s nothing. A minor God’s child, left to die at the claws of any monster hungry enough to bother with someone like her.

Until she levels an entire building.

The half-bloods find Vanya by accident while hiding from a manticore. She just happens to be at the coffee shop with her high school orchestra, on their way to a performance in the next town over. They only stopped because their bus was having engine trouble.

The half-bloods are shocked when the manticore is distracted from hunting them by Vanya, a seemingly normal human girl...

But even through the protection magic... the manticore can smell her power.

And then she accidentally brings the entire building down by playing a single note on her violin.

Is she a daughter of Apollo? The music would make sense. Ares maybe? With a strength like that? Athena? One of the big three?

Vanya follows them, searching for answers. And they follow Luther, on a quest he was raised to follow all his life.

To save the world from an apocalypse that has yet to happen.

Meanwhile Hera watches from above, terrified that her affair will be revealed to the world through the existence of her only daughter.

#the umbrella academy #tua #umbrella academy #tua pjo #tua gods

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aliyah-the-creator · 3 years

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This is my very first post, so I hope I do good! Please give me some feedback, I would love to hear it.

The Umbrella Academy Life Swap:

The Hargreaves switch lives instead of powers.

• Ben ran away at the age of 13 and got lost in the dimension inside his stomach, the Handler eventually finds him and recruits him to the Commission. He works as a super powered agent that saves his victims from his sadistic partners, Hazel and Cha-Cha. Ben doesn’t come back in a 13 year old body like Five, he’s the same age as his siblings, and Ben does know about the apocalypse and has the eye. And unlike Five, Ben actually tells his siblings about the apocalypse and how he was a super powered assassin that acted as the kidnapper and lookout. When the Hargreaves were 13, Ben had tried to talk to Five out of time traveling because logically, he may not know where he would end up, but Five wouldn’t listen to him and started arguing with him. The fighting got so loud that Vanya and Klaus eventually got pulled into the argument as well and it turned into a fistfight with all 4 of them. All of them ended up with scratches and bruises on their faces, a few chunks of their hair missing, and cleaning the mansion floors and ceilings from top to bottom and every single room without using their powers as a punishment for fighting by Reginald. At 2 am, Ben woke up after a nightmare and felt bad about getting Vanya and Klaus into trouble when they didn’t even started the fight in the first place and tried to go to their rooms to apologize, but he never did because the Horror became restless and angry that it didn’t get anything to eat and wanted to make Ben feel how trapped they felt when Reginald always had them kill people, so Ben’s tentacles grabbed him and opened the portal to their world, which was the apocalypse, and trapped him there for 10 years until the Handler came and recruited him and was never seen after that day again. Because of Ben’s disappearance, Vanya and Klaus blamed Five and his ambition for time travel since it was him who argued with Ben in the first place and Five had never forgotten it. Ben hopes that Klaus and Vanya would forgive Five in time. Ben read Klaus’s book about what happened to his family when he disappeared, he read about Luther running away to Dallas to forget about the Umbrella Academy, about Diego staying at the Academy to keep fighting crime, about Allison’s death and how she’s now mute, how Klaus is trying to get sober and stabling himself, how Five became a professor at a prestigious university and a vigilante, and how Vanya took a dark path into alcoholism.

• Five became a lowly-paid physics professor at community college after he was fired for punching a colleague at prestigious university and he’s also a vigilante, but his fiancé Delores doesn’t like it though. Five met Delores at a professor’s conference in Canada where she was presenting her findings on the science of gems and geodes since she’s a mineralogy professor (someone who teaches the study of rocks and crystals) and where he was discussing the possibility of time travel. Those two immediately hit it off and are now engaged, Five proposed to her by using different types of gems to spell it out. Five uses his powers of teleportation to be a mysterious assassin and hero.

• Klaus is a dancer at a local theater and he has somewhat control over his powers, but if the ghosts get too loud, he smokes cigarettes instead of weed so he wouldn’t be high at a recital. He became friends with Leonard Peabody aka Harold Jenkins when Klaus was 23 after his family abandoned him for writing an auto-biography about him having a power that traumatizes him and what the Umbrella Academy was really like behind the scenes, it’s called “The Ghosts Inside the Umbrella Academy: the life of Klaus Hargreaves”. Harold makes him more isolated by threatening to kill himself and haunting Klaus for the rest of his life if Klaus tries to leave him. Since Klaus never had someone ,besides Ben, care for him and give him a home and food since he was living at a homeless shelter when he met Leonard, Klaus thinks that this type of friendship is normal and doesn’t think twice about it. In his book, Klaus portrays his remaining siblings as people who knew about his drug abuse, but didn’t do anything about it; he portrayed Luther as a hotheaded daddy’s boy who was treated like the Golden child, Diego as a momma’s boy with daddy issues always trying to compete with Luther for everything, Allison as his favorite sister who was taken too soon, who’s death was the final straw that tore apart their family, and who acts as a silent ghost mother since she’s mute (no one believes him that he can see her though), he portrays Five as the cause of Ben’s disappearance and as a heartless gremlin who doesn’t care about his siblings enough to see that his siblings are hurting and have real problems of their own, he portrays Ben as his kind-hearted and favorite brother who was the glue that hold their family together and who’s disappearance drove a wedge between the family, and he portrays Vanya as his ordinary violin playing sister that desperately wanted to belong with their family in any way she could, but turned to alcohol when she learned that her dream of being in the Umbrella Academy was crushed by Reginald and who had the easy life of not being exploited by their father for her powers like he was. Vanya actually confronted him about her portrayal in the book and they said some things that they shouldn’t have, but they eventually forgave each other and Vanya moved in with him and Leonard a month later. Klaus didn’t mind that Vanya and Leonard were dating, but saw a striking difference between Vanya and Leonard’s relationship and Vanya and Sissy’s relationship when Vanya came back from the 60s. With Leonard, Vanya was walking on eggshells and isolated from her brothers and couldn’t be herself around him, but with Sissy, Klaus saw that Vanya was happier and could be herself around Sissy and loves Harlan like her own son. Klaus was the one to kill Leonard with his powers by having Allison choke him to death when he badly hurt Harlan with a gun and tried to drown Sissy.

• Allison dies at the age of 17 when her throat was slit by a serial killer on a mission and now acts like Klaus’s mother by always keeping him sober enough to conjure her and giving him healthy advice, but ultimately going along with almost every crazy idea Klaus has. Since she has a slit throat she can’t talk, but she does sign language instead and like Ben, she ages like Klaus, but still wears the same outfit she was buried in: a yellow and green striped dress with a blue flora printed jacket with red heels and a pair of black leggings. She HATES Leonard Peabody because he’s manipulating Klaus into isolation from their family and she tries to get Klaus out of their toxic friendship, but Klaus always denies Leonard’s abuse. She misses her siblings so much that she’s deeply hurt that she had ignored their problems for so long.

• Diego stayed at the Umbrella Academy because he didn’t know how to be anything else but a hero, he also didn’t want to Mom behind, so he began reading and writing code to free Grace from her restrictive rules that Reginald put on her, but after his accident that had him have scars all over his body and face to the point where he lost his left eye and his face is almost beyond recognition, Diego left the Academy when he realized that there was no point in staying and became a recluse in his good friend, Eudora’s house. Unlike Luther, Diego doesn’t have the monkey body because I just couldn’t see that type of body build on David Castaneda. Diego met Eudora at a local boxing gym, Eudora was impressed Diego’s fight skilled and was shocked to know that he was Diego “The Kraken” Hargreaves because Reginald told the whole world including their city and Luther, Klaus, Five, and Vanya that Diego died in an explosion a year ago when he had his accident. Diego ,of course, was pissed that his own father told everyone and his siblings that he was dead instead of saying that he survived the mission and was just scarred for the rest of his life, but he wasn’t surprised that Reginald did that to keep up his reputation. Him and Eudora immediately became fast friends and roommates at her house since Diego had nowhere to go when he left the Academy 6 months ago and was living at an run-down and moldy apartment. They actually tried dating at one point, but because of their conflicted personalities, they decided to just stay friends and roommates.

• 3 months after Allison’s funeral, Luther ran away to escape his father’s tight gripped and cold stare and the house that reminded him of his lovely yet dead Allison when he was 18 years old. He ended up in Dallas, Texas where he became a famous boxer named King Kong since he’s so huge and muscular, met and married a successful TV salesman named Elliott Gussman, and they adopted an African American baby girl who they named Claire Allison Gussman. Luther decided to take Elliott’s last name ,even though it was Luther who proposed to him, to cut his ties off from the Umbrella Academy and the man who turned 6 children into soldiers and who blamed the death of an innocent 17 year old girl that happened to be his adopted daughter on his 4 sons and 1 daughter instead of the person who killed her in the first place. Luther and Elliott had a happy marriage for 3 years until Klaus’s book came out that exposed the secrets of Luther’s past and made him into a hotheaded bully with daddy issues who followed Reginald around like a eager puppy trying to get a reward and a coward ran away from his problems instead of facing them. Elliott was furious at Luther because when Luther came to Dallas he lied about being from a mob family that did all types of shady businesses and that he ran away because his “family” couldn’t understand and accept him being bisexual instead of telling him truth about his abusive father who raised them to be child soldiers, how his brother Diego would always tried to be better than him to their father’s approval, how his brother Five was too smart for his own good, how he loved his sister Allison more than he should, how he tried to forget about Ben’s disappearance, how he ignored Klaus’s drug abuse, and how he denied Vanya’s problem with alcohol for so long. When Elliott read Klaus’s book about what Luther did and who he was, Elliott immediately started arguing with him about his true identity. Luther tried to deny it, but couldn’t because he loves Elliott too much to even hurt him in a way. Elliott actually threatened to separate from Luther when their arguments gotten too much, but he didn’t and instead drove Luther and him to see a marriage counselor so that they could actually talk to each other instead of just arguing. Luther and Elliott eventually made up, but because of the book, Luther is the one that’s more pissed about it and at Klaus for almost making Elliott lose his marriage to him. Btw, Claire is 6 years old in 2019 and was adopted as a baby in 2013 by the Gussman family when Luther was 24 and Elliott was 30, a year after Klaus’s book was published.

• Vanya was introduced to alcohol at 13 years old when Five and Klaus were drinking 2 cases of beer that Five stole, Klaus persuaded her to take a sip of his beer and she hasn’t stop drinking since. Besides the violin and her pills, alcohol was the thing that defined Vanya and her personality. Vanya thought that no one would care about what happened to her since she was so ordinary and isolated that she dumped all of her pills in the garbage disposal and drinks her problems away. With her new coping mechanism, Vanya’s personality changed from quiet and meek to sarcastic and drunk. Five and Vanya left the Academy for college together, but ended up separated by the time they were 20 because Vanya kept drinking her tutition away. By the age of 22, Vanya ended up being homeless because she got kicked out of her apartment for not paying her rent with the money she used to buy alcohol. She still plays her violin, but only for cash instead of at The Icarus Theatre. She also read Klaus’s book and was upset about her portrayal as his alcoholic sister who had an easy life of being ordinary and never going on missions because she doesn’t have a power that can’t be turned off willingly or that can kill somebody; she cried and drank her misery away for 3 weeks until she confronted Klaus about the book, they both admittedly said things that they regretted, but ended up apologizing to each other in the end. She also meets and dates Leonard like in the show and instead of Allison finding the truth about Leonard, it’s Five and Delores who both tried to convince Klaus and Vanya that Leonard is a snake, but they both denied it. Vanya ends up living with Klaus and Leonard when her and Klaus made up when she’s 23. In my first draft I made it Five and Delores that Vanya ended up rooming with, but I wanted to make Vanya and Klaus isolated further by Leonard manipulating both of them. When the house is attacked by Hazel and Cha-Cha, Vanya is the one that’s kidnapped and tortured by them for 2 days and is rescued by Eudora who arrives with back up this time, but is injured in the spine by Cha-Cha. Vanya takes the briefcase and time travels to October 12, 1963 where she ends up falling in love with a woman named Sissy Cooper, a widowed housewife who accidentally ran Vanya over with her car, and becoming a nanny/second mother to Sissy’s 5 year old autistic son named Harlan. Vanya stayed with them until 1966 when a neighbor reported their “unholy” relationship to the police, so to keep them safe Vanya used the briefcase to go back to 2019 with Sissy and Harlan.

—When Vanya gets back to 2019 with Sissy and Harlan, no one believes her story except for Klaus, who promises to her relationship with Sissy a secret from Leonard, and Ben, who was the only one that was worried about her whereabouts in the first place besides Klaus. Vanya tries to become sober for the sake of Harlan not being afraid of her when she gets drunk and for Sissy and her’s relationship since her late husband was an abusive alcoholic, instead of conjuring the one she loves’s ghost like Klaus did in the show. When Vanya was dating Leonard, he would constantly have her and Klaus practice their music and dance at 12am-6am to train them more and if one of them mess up, he’ll have them locked up in a dark and tiny closet with only one dimly lit lightbulb and they would have to balance on a stool on one leg for the duration of their training. Leonard would also take his anger out on Klaus and Vanya if he had a bad day at his shop, which would leave Klaus with bruises on his arms and a black eye and Vanya with scratches on her back and bruises on her neck. (Trigger Warning for those who can’t handle stories with domestic violence) When the 3 of them were 27, Leonard gotten pissed at how independent and successful Klaus and Vanya were getting in their lives by Klaus getting paid more from his dance recitals and Vanya going to AA meetings more to the point of being sober for 3 weeks that he took his frustrations about losing his control out on them by punching and slapping Klaus and choking and scratching Vanya, but thankfully a neighbor called the police after hearing their screams and Klaus and Vanya were taken to the hospital and Leonard was arrested, but unfortunately Klaus and Vanya bailed Leonard out due to dropping charges against him as an apologize.

Here are the things that I changed

• Klaus and Vanya both cause the apocalypse by combining their powers at Klaus’s dance recital with Vanya’s violin because Leonard isolated them from everyone, manipulated them to the point of denying the abuse he put them through, and because of him trying to kill Sissy and Harlan for taking Vanya away from him.

• Five and Delores tries to explain to Vanya and Klaus that Leonard only liked them to get revenge on the Umbrella Academy and it was him that kidnapped Sissy and Harlan to get them to come back to him, but Five gets stabbed in the stomach by Klaus’s new found telekinesis and Vanya makes Five and Delores’s apartment collapsed after knocking Delores out. When the apartment collapses, Allison , who’s coperal at the moment, immediately grabs both a bleeding Five and an unconscious Delores and saves them from death and takes them to the Academy to be treated by Grace. Delores unfortunately loses her right arm to a huge piece of shrapnel lodged into it that’s cutting the circulation.

• When Ben goes to the apocalypse for the first time, he finds Luther with the eye clutched in his hand, Diego wrapped in black bandages holding a woman with a long black ponytail (Eudora), Five in an Armani suit with his eyes opened, and a red headed woman in a polka dotted blouse and a black skirt holding one of Five’s hand (Delores). All of them are dead and Ben finds out that they’re his brothers by the faded black umbrella tattoo on Luther’s wrist when Ben was inspecting the bodies. The bodies that Ben couldn’t find were Allison, Vanya, and Klaus’s, but after learning about Allison’s death from Klaus’s book, Ben kept looking for Vanya and Klaus.

• Vanya gets her burst of powers when Harlan almost drown in the summer of ‘64 in the lake 10 miles away from the farm. Harlan was playing with a beach ball when it got away from him and he tried to get it while Vanya and Sissy were cuddling in the sand and a wave pulled him under the water. Sissy started crying and panicking when Vanya couldn’t get Harlan to the surface, but after a minute of silence she was shocked and relieved to see Vanya holding Harlan in her arms while she’s floating in the lake with glowing white eyes. As soon as they get to shore, Vanya gives Harlan cpr which transfers her newly found powers to him like in the canon.

• Diego doesn’t show himself to his siblings until episode 3 when Hazel and Cha-Cha attack the house because everyone thinks he’s dead and he’s a recluse. He finds out about the attack from Grace (mom) when she calls him from her bedroom phone since they talk every day so that he can know what’s going on and because of these calls, Diego knows about Ben being back, how the funeral went, and how much each of his siblings changed over the years.

• In episode 1, since the siblings’ lives are switched around, the way they found out that Reginald died is slightly different from canon. Luther finds out from the press badgering him after he won a fight, Diego finds out from Eudora when she comes home after work and turns on the Tv in a flash, Klaus finds out during rehearsal on the radio that him and his group are listening to to practice the recital while Allison is dancing in the shadows behind him when the news suddenly comes on, Five finds out from his phone on social media when one of his students sent him the news link after Five teleports to his apartment after saving a 12 year old boy from being abducted by a creep and almost killing said creep by beating him senseless, and Vanya finds out from a bar Tv when she and Leonard are on a date. She immediately calls Klaus who was immediately going to call her to tell her the same thing when he was done rehearsals.

• Just to clarify, since Vanya spent 3 years with Sissy and Harlan in Dallas from 1963-1966, she is 33 years old and Harlan is 8 years old because he was 5 when he and his mom met Vanya. Even though Vanya spent 3 years in the ‘60s, she was only gone for 2 days with Klaus, Five, Delores, Ben, and Leonard searching for her.

• When the Hargreeves all come back for the funeral, the introduction of them to each other are very different. Diego doesn’t show up to the funeral to keep up the reputation of him being dead. Vanya and Klaus show up together, but immediately split up when Vanya goes straight to the bar making drinks for her and her brothers (mostly for her though) and Klaus goes to his old room to reminisce about his past. Five checks their father’s room and office for evidence of something other than a heart attack, he is the one that thinks that Reginald was murdered by someone, and he also greets Vanya and Klaus with Delores who went with him to meet his family. Luther is trying to get through the funeral as possible by almost avoiding his siblings, but that backfires when Five calls a family meeting to talk about their father’s death and Luther sees a tipsy Vanya holding a mix of vodka and rum, Klaus talking to Delores who is laughing at a funny story Klaus is telling, and Five lecturing the remaining siblings on how their father might’ve been murdered.

• Eudora is more present in the show since she survives the gunshot wound in her spine by Cha-Cha, but she ends up being paralyzed from the waist down in a wheelchair. She helps Five with discovering how Reginald actually died and Diego with stepping out into the world and seeing his family for the first time in years. Like in canon, she is the first one to find Vanya at the motel after finding the message that Hazel and Cha-Cha left on the van when they burned down the prosthetic factory after they got drunk off of Vanya’s “special lemonade” which is just lemonade mixed with wine and vodka. Unlike in the show, Delores and Ben go with Eudora as back up in case something goes wrong and it does end up going wrong with Cha-Cha and Eudora having a shoot out with each other in the parking lot that ultimately ends up Eudora becoming paralyzed by Cha-Cha’s bullet ricocheting off a lamppost and lodging into Eudora’s spine with her laser gunand Ben wrestling with his former partner Hazel in the motel room while Vanya is escaping through the vent with the briefcase in her arms and Delores in tow.

Ben breaks Hazel’s wrist and almost beats him to a bloody pulp for kidnapping Vanya, but he stops when he hears Eudora’s screams from outside and sees her on the ground behind her car and he immediately drives her to the hospital while Hazel and Cha-Cha get away before the police show up. Delores and Vanya get on a nearby bus to escape the chaos and they talk about what’s going on in their lives and Delores talks about how Leonard treats Klaus when they’re alone, but Vanya denies any abuse and opens the briefcase. The last thing Vanya hears is Delores screaming.

• The episode “The Day that Wasn’t” doesn’t exist in my AU and is instead replaced with an episode called “Welcome to the 60’s” where Five interrogates Sissy and Harlan about the past while working on the beat up briefcase to learn more about how to time travel. Eudora and Diego talk about how their long time friendship has become into a sibling relationship and about how Diego can reconnect with his siblings again. Luther and Delores discuss how they both want a normal and ordinary life with their husband and fiancé respectively, but fail to see that things can never go back to way they were. Ben goes off on his own to find the truth about Leonard Peabody, but finds himself at Griddy’s where he sees Hazel kissing Agnes and talks to them about his problems. Agnes gives Ben advice about how he can reconcile with his family by actually giving them time to process him being a time traveling assassin and him telling Five to not feel guilty about causing a rift between him and Vanya and Klaus because it wasn’t Five’s fault that Ben “ran away”.

I’ll continue the rest of the story when I have the time. Right now I just want to post this.

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sharkneto · 3 years

Note

I know you have many different writing projects BUT now that orsumfenix has posted a new chapter, could I persuade you to ramble about how Number vs. Apocalypse would go without Holding It Together happening? Like, on the one hand, he wouldn't have knowledge of Vanya's powers & time travel mastery; on the other hand, he would be a (mostly?) *recovered* alcoholic and be able to call Rob/Sarah/Amanda on how to persuade Vanya that Leonard's a creep... enough? not enough? (-Lunarmercury on AO3)

This is an interesting question – Does Number succeed in stopping the apocalypse if there’s JT but no HIT… Huh. Obvious spoilers ahead for The Shifting Mirrors and maybe some spoilers for JT if that’s something you care about avoiding.

The immediate and short answer? No. He still fails. Orsumfenix mentioned in a comment response that they didn’t think the apocalypse was avoidable if there wasn’t explicit knowledge that Vanya is the bomb, and I agree. Without that Critical Point, it’s always going to be too late to prevent by the time they figure out there’s a problem. Vanya is too powerful and too volatile by that point – they can delay but they can’t stop it.

So, that out of the way, let’s ramble about what you actually asked about (under the cut).

It does feel like Number should have a better time of it than Shifting Mirrors Five (SM5) would have at it. He’s more stable, a bit more emotionally mature thanks to having reliable pseudo-parents behind him and unofficial therapy from Rob. He’s not as distant – geographically or emotionally – from siblings (to various degrees depending on the sibling) because he wouldn’t have fucked off to Scotland. Definitely still got pissed about Extra Ordinary, but – like SM5 – he’d make up with Vanya about that before Apocalypse Week. They’re in a good spot (just like SM5 and his Vanya). He has backup in the form of Sarah and Rob and the couple of actual friends he’s been able to make. His math is in a better spot, thanks to having Sarah (and others in the physics field) working with him to solve The Theory of Time Travel – I don’t think he’d have actually made a temporal jump because OG Five was very clear in his warnings, but that’s a thing he’s not panicking over during Apocalypse Week (as much). Everything is coming up Five!

Except it doesn’t, so what gives? For one, Number isn’t dry. He was dry, for years, but my opinion on the matter is that 2019 hit and the whole pressure of This Is The Year Of The Apocalypse hit and it’s A Lot and how Fives deal with overwhelming pressure like that – when there isn’t anything for them to really do – is to drink. It’s nowhere near as bad as SM5’s drinking but it’s still present and that’s a big mark against him in terms of reliability with siblings. It’s Fine and he knows what he’s doing, it’s Really Not A Problem (it’s a little bit of a problem). For two, Harold fucking Jenkins. I love how well Orsumfenix wrote Harold – because he is a good villain and they gave him the credit he deserved for what he did. He comes off as pretty pathetic but that’s by his design; he’s good at manipulation and he enacts his plan spectacularly (until Vanya fucking nuked him but hey, up ‘til that point he was doing great). Without knowing that Vanya is the bomb and Harold lights the fuse, he’s just a skeevy guy hanging out around Vanya, who is still so starved for attention and has all the everything going on with withdrawal from her pills and new powers that he’s got too much power of her. That’s the trajectory that they need to stop to prevent this and, until it’s too late, it doesn’t seem as important compared to everything else going on. A problem to fix after this is over.

You mention Number being able to lean back on Rob (and Sarah and Amanda, but really Rob, for this) for how to get her away from Harold, and on one hand, yes, get good advice, on the other hand, the fucking timeframe is Insane, and on the other, other hand, Number is still a Five. He’s better but he’s still not exactly subtle or all that delicate in his opinions on what’s going on. Sure, Number talks to Rob about how he’s pretty sure his sister is dating this dude who is Bad News and is turning her against the family as they’re running around trying to solve the Case Of Reggie’s Murder, but without knowing they need to break them up immediately to save the world, Rob is going to advise towards slow, steady, and understanding because Vanya is being primed to buck against anything more direct by Wonderful Leonard. (Yes, it hurts me to have to say that Rob is an active participant in ending the world with what is, in retrospect, bad advice. He doesn’t know.)

All in all, I think the week proceeds pretty similarly to how it does in Shifting Mirrors, maybe a bit smoother – both because Number is a more stable guy than SM5 and because he has less going on. Time travel is mostly down, no Henderson mission to complete, just working with the family to solve Reggie’s “murder” and still avoiding telling them about the apocalypse. Still work to bond with the sibs, still try and figure out Leonard Peabody, still have to deal with Vanya’s new powers, maybe still have an intervention by Ben because he is drinking again. Probably hit a point at That Critical Moment where he storms off to Be Mad and misses everything exploding because that’s a staple in TUA (Five leaves to go off on his own and everything Gets Worse) and I love it too much to not continue it.

That’s all depressing as shit, the inevitability of it all, so what does go right? How is Number better off than SM5? So glad I asked! Because he is in a better position to deal with the fallout of Harold and Vanya exploding. He wouldn’t be at an airport waiting on an international flight, for one, so after ignoring sibling texts, would be able to get back to probably save at least Diego and Allison (if maybe not Patch RIP) with his teleporting. Still a mad dash to figure out where the fuck Harold and Vanya disappeared off to (which means probably can’t save Luther but they don’t know that he’s dead yet), so find them in the same position as they were in Shifting Mirrors – Ben working to talk Vanya down while she spirals. Things escalate, I think siblings get injured by Vanya but maybe don’t die, probably still have to deal with the Horror – the point I’m getting to is that we still have to get to Vanya Destroys the World, because until that point there still isn’t that One Critical Fact that Number needs to stop it, which is that Vanya doesn’t only go off on the family, it’s that she is the Apocalypse.

I know, now you’re going “But Shark! You said too many words ago that Number has the time travel equation down! He should have undone it as soon as they found out Luther was gone!” and you’re right! I did! Glad you remembered! I think he’s trying to undo it as soon as they find Luther, rewind to a couple hours before, but there’s a lot going on, he’s never actually time traveled before, he is low on jumps from saving Diego and Allison and looking for Vanya, and they’re also all-hands-on-deck to get Vanya calmed down. But it’s Fine – it’s time travel, so once things are Better he’ll undo it, he’ll save Luther it will be Fine. Except things don’t get better and he goes from I Have Time To Get This Right to The Entire World Is Ending Right Now while the siblings are dealing with both the Horror and Vanya going Off. It’s Insane enough that it gets him to move his rewind point back to The Beginning rather than just a few hours ago because things are So Fucked he needs more time. So much more time.

So. Where that leaves us, for Number with JT but no HIT vs Apocalypse Week, is A Failure But A Slightly Better And Less Traumatic Time Of It Than SM5 had. Luther still dies but the rest make it (until either a tragic accident with the Horror or Vanya’s giant explosion that ends everything does). It’s better but it’s not enough. Win some, lose some. To get it right on the first try, he needs to know that Vanya is the bomb and he needs the time building up to Apocalypse Week to work with her to get her off the pills, her powers under control, and her self-confidence better so she doesn’t fall for Harold fucking Jenkins.

Number with no HIT does get it right the second try, and I’m going to predict having a better time of it than SM5 will have because he won’t have had to watch Vanya murder half their siblings in front of him. Genuinely do not know how SM5 is going to get through that. I have been internally screaming about it all week.

Do hope this answered your question lol.

#you asked for a ramble and a ramble you received :)#curious on other people's thoughts on this if you wanna throw me a line or comment on this or whatever #was an interesting thought exercise!#thank you for adding a seventh five for me to think about lol #jt #hit #ficblogging #number

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dumdumsun · 4 years

Text

Of Starlight

A/N: Alright, this entire story has officially been written ❤️

Warnings: none that I’m aware of

Word Count: 3067

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Chapter 5: Extra Ordinary

Five years ago, Vanya Hargreeves began writing her autobiography, “Extra Ordinary: My Life as Number Seven”, less than two weeks before her sister’s novel, “One-Sided”, was announced in the papers. Those around who enjoyed her writing were buzzing with excitement, for it was the second book of her trilogy. (Y/N) was thrilled, herself, to be publishing her novel within the next month. Finally sharing her work with the world would have taken a tremendous weight off her shoulders, leaving her with only the weight on her bladder. While working herself nearly to death with her writing, she was with child for the second time, which added to her stress. Thankfully, she had a very supportive husband at the time to assist in anything she requested. It was in those times in which (Y/N) was grateful she decided to make something of herself rather than letting her past as Number Eight define her.

Once “One-Sided” was published, (Y/N) sent two copies out; one to Allison, one to Vanya. She figured her brothers wouldn’t want to read her romantic fantasy as much as her sisters, so she didn’t bother asking. Allison seemed ecstatic for the new addition, but she wasn’t too sure about Vanya, supposing it wouldn’t hurt to send it. If she didn’t want to read it, that was her decision. What she didn’t expect, however, was Vanya’s novel sent to her. After Jada was born, (Y/N) had taken time to read her sister’s autobiography. While Anthony was at work during the day, she’d multitask by reading and taking care of her newborn. She would quietly gasp at certain parts of the book before checking to make sure she hadn’t woken her daughter up. (Y/N) couldn’t believe some of the things her sister dared to put in that book. Some things she wrote were blatantly about (Y/N)’s own insecurities that she had trusted Vanya with knowing. Insecurities about her powers, her capability of being a suitable member of the Umbrella Academy. Vanya had compared it to her own doubts, stating that (Y/N) had no right to complain to her, of all people. Looking back now, (Y/N) could admit that it was a bit selfish to do that to her sister. Regardless, those had been personal and it was unloyal of Vanya to share that with anyone willing to read. Despite this, (Y/N) saw to promote “Extra Ordinary” along with her own work. Someone had to be the bigger person in this situation.

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Nostalgia wasn’t exactly what (Y/N) was overcome with when awaking in her childhood bed. In fact, she’d much rather have opened her eyes to the empty side of her king-sized mattress at home instead. She debated closing her eyes and pretending she had never drifted into consciousness, but sat up when remembering everything Five had told her the day before. If she remembered correctly, there were six remaining days leading up to the end of the world. She had promised Five to assist in preventing the apocalypse, and her drowsiness was not going to hold her back. So, she dragged herself out of bed and began looking for Five. She figured the first place to begin was his bedroom, so she stopped in front of his door and knocked. Hearing rustling on the other side, she asked, “Five, are you decent?”

“Decent enough. You can come in,” He called out, the door opening and (Y/N) stepping inside. He glanced at her over his shoulder as he fixed his white button up. “I take it you had a difficult time sleeping?”

“What makes you say that?” Her hand slid down her face, sarcasm in her tone. She didn’t need a mirror to know she had bags under her eyes. Five chuckled and moved to his vest and jacket, finishing with dressing himself. As he zipped his duffle bag closed, he glanced out the window.

“You tagging along today?”

“I plan to. I… suppose I have nothing to do.”

“Nothing, huh?” Suspicion hid amongst his words as he picked up his bag. “What is it you decided to do with your life, (Y/N)?” The question was simple, genuine, but the weight of it was suffocating. She really couldn’t go back to her normal, beautiful life after all.

“I… found my mother,” She slowly started out, carefully watching as Five curiously glanced up at her under his dark brows. “I became an author… and a mother.”

Suddenly, Five couldn’t breathe. He had anticipated this conversation, prepared himself for everything (Y/N) had accomplished while he was gone. But nothing could have prepared him for the stab in the heart at the mention of her having children. Children with someone who wasn’t him. It was stupidly selfish, he knew, to expect her to wait for him, to do anything else with her life except for the things he longed to do with her. Past the pain, however, he was happy for her. Something in him knew that (Y/N) would one day make a wonderful mother. She was patient, selfless, caring, and oh, how he wished he could’ve been the one. He didn’t even want to ask about the individual she had trusted enough to raise children with her.

His hesitancy to respond worried (Y/N) and suddenly she wanted to apologize. But for what? Her success, her marriage, her children? She had every right to those and she shouldn’t have to apologize. Her concern washed away when Five raised his brows in acknowledgement, opening the window. “Really? A mother? That’s great, Starlight…” God, that nickname… She thought. Why does everything feel so complicated now? Her feet moved her to follow him out of the window and down the fire escape. She thought it was best to not continue the conversation for now.

“Dammit, where’s Dad’s stuff?” The two heard an irritated groan on their way down. (Y/N) craned her neck to see Klaus digging through the dumpster. “Shut up! I’m trying to find whatever… priceless crap was in that priceless box so that Pogo will get off my ass!”

“I’d ask what you’re up to, Klaus, but then it occurred to me…,” Five turned to his brother. “I don’t care.” His useless comment earned an eye roll from (Y/N). Klaus glanced up at the two with a small laugh.

“Hey! You know there are easier ways out of the house, buddy? And bringing little (Y/N) along, too? Whatever could you two be up to?”

“This way of leaving involved the least amount of talking,” Five hopped off the ladder, helping (Y/N) down afterwards. “Or so I thought.”

“Klaus,” The eighth Hargreeves made her way closer to the dumpster. “Is Ben there?”

“Yes, dear, he says hi.” His hand waved in Ben’s supposed direction, (Y/N) softly smiling at her ghost brother. “So, hey, you two need any more company today? I could, uh… clear my schedule.” His eyes shifted to Five as he took a drink from his flask.

“Looks like you’ve got your hands full.” The boy falsely smiled.

“Oh, this? No, no. I can do this whenever. I’m just- I just misplaced something. That’s all.” He then fell into the trash as (Y/N) joined her traveling companion at his side. After a few seconds, Klaus reappeared with a bagel. “Oh! Found it! Thank god!” (Y/N) nearly gagged as he began to chew on it, muffling a ‘delicious’ in forced content.

“I’m done funding your drug habit.” Five spit out before walking away. She followed him and waved at Klaus, barely listening to him yelling after them as they climbed into a plumbing van.

“Why are we stealing a van?”

“Shush.”

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Once again, the two teenagers found themselves in front of Meritech Prosthetics. (Y/N) watched as Lance entered the building before sighing. “We’re really gonna sit here and spy on the man?”

“You got a better idea?” Five only kept his stare on him.

“I guess not… What’s the bag for, then?”

Five immediately turned his attention to the duffle bag he brought with them. “Oh, shit,” He muttered before unzipping it. “Hey,” He softly greeted before handing a bottle of alcohol to (Y/N). She blinked once, twice, thrice when he brought out the top half of a bald mannequin and set it between them. “Sorry you were in there for so long, Delores.”

“Wait,” (Y/N) choked. “That’s Delores?! The one you were with for over thirty years?!”

“Well, obviously,” Five frowned before turning back to ‘Delores’. “This is (Y/N), Delores. You know… the one I told you about.”

“You… talk about me to the mannequin? Should I be flattered or weirded out?”

“Oh, be quiet,” Five sighed and turned away. (Y/N) suddenly felt silly for being jealous last night. “No, I’m not drunk.”

“What?” (Y/N) frowned at the boy, who shook his head.

“Talking to Delores. She thinks I’m- Yes, it’s about the eye thing. This is the place it was made. Or… will be made,” His eyes moved up to his human friend. “We just have to wait…”

He’s actually talking to the mannequin, (Y/N) thought as she turned forward, eyes wide. So, that was what the apocalypse had done to him. She felt bad for him now. Initially, her heart warmed at the thought of Five finding someone to love, but knowing that his mind had gone somewhere far away enough for him to turn to a mannequin for comfort…

“So, (Y/N),” He started, his gaze once again trained on the building before them. “Your children… tell me about them.” Truth be told, Five wanted to know how much they had gotten from their mother. Were they just as humorous? Just as passionate? As wonderful? (Y/N) let out a heartfelt laugh as she closed her eyes.

“Where do I even begin? Michael, he’s… so intelligent. He has the highest reading level in his class and they’re thinking of letting him skip the first grade. He’s such a big help at home with his little sister… I swear, he’s a little man. He’s always trying to test my knowledge. Tries to get me to solve his ‘really hard’ math homework problems…,” She chuckled, Five looking at her with an unreadable expression. “And Jada… she’s such a character. No matter how many times I teach her the days of the week, she always gets them wrong… She wakes me up every morning, trying to guess. I say ‘Jada, if yesterday was Wednesday, what is today?’ and she just starts listing off every wrong answer… She’s a performer, too. I enrolled her into dance classes. Oh, it’s her favorite thing to do… And I’ll admit, she’s good at it. Don’t know where she got that from. Definitely not from me or her dad...”

Five tilted his head thoughtfully. “They sound… just like you. They think they know everything,” He joked with a small smile, (Y/N) playfully glaring at him. “Really, though… They sound like great kids… I’d like to meet them one day.”

“Yeah,” She smiled down at her lap. “I’d love for them to meet you… But I need to be an actual adult before I can face them again. Until then… It’s just checking up every once and awhile…”

“(Y/N), I’m so sorry,” Five frowned as he sat forward. “I- I’m going to figure this out. I promise.”

“I know you will,” She breathed and closed her eyes, her world slowly crashing down on her yet again. “Sorry, I need some air.” And with that, Five was in the car alone. Well, save for Delores. Outside, (Y/N) didn’t have much time to really be with her own thoughts before she heard Luther and Klaus’s voices nearing her. Turning to her right, she spotted the two walking side-by-side towards the van. Upon seeing her, Luther raised a hand.

“(Y/N), you need to get back to the Academy. We found something… and Grace might’ve had something to do with Dad’s death.” He gruffly explained, the young girl straightening to attention.

“Wait, what-”

“I can explain at the house, but we need both you and Five there for the family meeting. Is he in there?” He pointed to the vehicle their brother sat in.

“Yeah, but-”

“Great. Be right back.” Luther’s massive body brushed past her to get to Five, Klaus following behind to get in the back. Not waiting a second longer, she followed her junkie brother inside. When she entered the van again, Luther was trying his hardest to fit his body into the passenger seat as Klaus grabbed Delores, smirking at (Y/N) as he began to dance with the mannequin. She only watched him in disinterest. Once Luther was finally in, he turned to Five. “You okay?”

“You shouldn’t be… How did you find me?” Five’s question was answered when Luther turned to Klaus. With everyone’s attention on him, he looked up from Delores and dropped his smile.

“Hey, a little privacy, guys. We’re really hitting it off back here.” He began to caress Delores’s cheek before screaming when Five threw an object at him, Klaus using the mannequin to block. (Y/N) shook her head and moved closer to Five and Luther, the former fuming.

“Get out! You can’t be here! I’m in the middle of something.”

“Oh, but (Y/N) can be here?”

“Yes! We’re in the middle of something!” Five turned forward as Klaus joined (Y/N) at her side, poking her cheek gently.

“Any luck with your one-eyed man?” He asked her, receiving a head shake. Five sighed and turned to Luther.

“What do you want, Luther?”

Turning his attention away from the conversation between the two, Luther answered Five, “Um… So, Grace might’ve had something to do with Dad’s death. So I need you to come back to the Academy, alright? It’s important.” His request was met with silence for a split second before the time traveller shook his head.

“‘It’s important’. You have no concept of what’s important-”

“Hey!” Klaus interrupted, holding his sister at his side. “Did I ever tell you guys about the time I waxed my ass with chocolate pudding?”

And that was when (Y/N) tuned out the entire conversation between her family. She left Klaus’s side and pressed her back against the back of Luther’s seat, closing her eyes. She knew Five wasn’t going with Luther and Klaus to the house, and she didn’t need to listen to the bickering that would’ve led to that outcome. Her attention was eventually brought to Klaus swinging the back door open, huffing as he got out. She watched him slam the door closed and make his way towards the store across the street. Not trusting him in the slightest, she sent a clone after Klaus, telling it to “watch over him”. At this point, she was waiting for Luther to leave so her growing headache would subside, but it seemed the man wanted to talk some more.

“What the hell are you up to, Five?”

“Believe me, you wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me. Last I checked, I’m still the leader of this family.”

“Well, last I checked, I’m twenty-eight years older than you.” Five tightly smiled before (Y/N) snorted with laughter. The boy rolled his eyes and smiled fondly at her before Luther pulled his attention away.

“You know what your problem is?”

“Really hoping you’ll tell me.”

“You think you’re better than us,” Luther’s words wiped that sarcastic smile right off Five’s face. “You always have. Even when we were kids. But the truth is, you’re just as messed up as the rest of us. We’re all you have… and you know it.” Luther stared at his brother, as the boy slowly inhaled.

“I don’t think that I’m better than you, Number One. I know I am,” He hissed, Luther only chuckling. “I’ve done unimaginable things, things you couldn’t even comprehend.”

“Right...”

“Just to get back here and save you all…” Five stared out the window. (Y/N) sighed and grabbed Delores.

“Luther, out.” She ordered, her “big” brother turning to her with an offended look. “Five’s clearly not going with us. No use arguing with him either. So, just go and I’ll catch up-” She was cut off by the sound of a voice whooping in excitement. The three looked across the street to see Klaus running out of the store, arms full of stolen snacks, the clone following close behind.

“Hey, bitches!” He shouted as a cop chased after them, blowing his whistle. The clone turned to the officer and pushed him away with great force as Klaus was nearly hit by a car. Five’s head followed Klaus’s movement.

“I’m starting to wonder if that was the wisest decision…”

After Luther was sent out of the van, (Y/N) took over the passenger seat once again and set Delores down between them, Five quietly thanking her. “So… I’m going with the guys.”

“What? Why are you wasting your time, I thought you wanted to help me?”

“I do, and I will… But I don’t trust Luther to make decisions right now… I mean, if Mom really did have something to do with Dad’s death… Who knows what he’ll do? The least I can do is try to talk him out of it. I promise, when I’m done, I’ll come and find you.” She softly smiled, gently patting his hand. Five shook his head at her.

“You don’t have to promise me anything… I’m the one who owes you.”

“All you owe me is this,” She gently squeezed his hand. “You being here… That’s what I’ve wanted for so long. Now I have it. So, your debt is paid.” She chuckled. Five rested the back of his head against the seat as his eyes searched her face, trying to find anything that should worry him about her. But all he found was her warm smile and eyes that shone with affection. It suddenly felt inappropriate to have Delores around right now.

“Well, then, you should get going… You’ve gotta catch up with those idiots.”

“Alright. Don’t be out here forever, okay?” (Y/N) leaned in and pecked his cheek before getting out of the car and rushing after her brothers. As he watched her speed away, he tried to regulate his breathing, heartbeat increasing.

————————————

Taglist: @melinda-hargreeves @43sparrows @sapphicsyn @m00n-sh @starcurrent @alexander-hamilhoe @youcandalekmyballs @wonderlandfandomkingdom @yrdadjstcallsmekatya

#the umbrella academy #umbrella academy x reader #tua fanfic #tua x reader #five hargreeves #five hargreeves x reader #five x reader #tua five #number five #number five x reader #of starlight #umbrella academy #tua

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moonchild-things · 2 years

Text

Chapter One: We Only See Each Other at Weddings and Funerals

Word Count: 6039

Blog Masterlist | Series Masterlist | Next Chapter

A/N: Ah, my umbrella academy fanfic! Let’s go!

---

ON THE TWELFTH HOUR OF THE FIRST day of October in 1989, all over the world, a strange set of phenomenons took place. Forty-three women from different countries simultaneously gave birth with one strange and unusual similarity linking them: None of these women had been pregnant when the day began.

An eccentric billionaire and adventurer, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, heard of these strange happenings and searched for as many of these babies as he could with the purpose of adopting them.

HE GOT EIGHT OF THEM

The billionaire brought them all to his home and raised each and every one of them. Well, in this case, 'raised' is quite a loose term. He trained the children from a young age to master the peculiar abilities that they were born with. Due to the rigorous training with no time for fun, those children would tell you that he wasn't exactly the most caring father to them. However, these children were quite well known to the world for their strange and peculiar powers. The Umbrella Academy, they were called.

Of course, nowadays, the Umbrella Academy wasn't much anymore. In fact, they had practically disbanded years ago. Each child went their separate ways as life moved on. Number One, also known as "Luther", was stationed on the moon! Though technically he was there on the orders of his father and sending him samples from the moon. Number Two, also known as "Diego", still did his superhero duties by fighting bad guys who robbed people and hurt innocent lives in the dead of night. Number Three, "Allison", was now a famous actress and celebrity who acted in numerous movies and television shows.

Number four, "Klaus", was a junkie who constantly went in and out of rehab. You could most likely find that man nearly ODing on some sort of drug in a dark alleyway somewhere or hungover with his best friend. Number Seven, "Vanya", was a violinist apart of St. Pluvium Chamber Orchestra, though not many people recognized her talents. Unlike any of the other children… Vanya wasn't special. She was completely ordinary. The last of the children was Number Eight, "Jemma", who had a relatively normal life and lived not far from her childhood home with a boring, routine lifestyle. Though every once in a while she would meet up with Number Four and get passed out drunk with him.

Despite all of the children apart of the Umbrella Academy splitting off from the team and continuing on with their lives, one major event would bring them all back together. That event just so happened to be the death of Sir Reginald Hargreeves himself on the twenty-fourth of March.

All of the Hargreeves children traveled back to their childhood home to see what had truly happened. Each arrived and different times that day. Though one of the last out of the family to arrive home was Vanya. She took a cab through the city streets as she reflected on the unusual childhood she and her siblings had. She remembered all the times she was excluded from just about everything due to her not being like her siblings.

All too soon, the cab ride came to an end and parked in front of the large, white Hargreeves home. She took a deep breath before entering through the gate and large doors.

She surveyed the vacant looking mansion with mahogany walls and pillars in the foyer. There were quite a few memories that she shared with her family in that room. She walked further into the room and was able to spy a blonde woman sitting in front of the fireplace.

"Hey, Mom," Vanya greeted her mother but she was silent. "Mom?" She tried again but her mother continued to stare off into space and not acknowledge her existence.

"Vanya?" A different female voice called from the top of the staircase, "you're actually here." Allison descended the stairs with a soft chuckle. The beautiful African-American woman smiled slightly as she grew closer to her sister. The two of them hadn't spoken in quite a long time much like the rest of their siblings.

Vanya flashed her a tight-lipped smile in return as she stared at her significantly taller sister, "hey, Allison."

"Hey, sis."

Allison came to stand only a foot in front of the brunette woman as the two stared at each other. They drank in each other's appearance after not seeing each other in over a decade. Vanya was still pale and small and wearing monotone colored clothing that surprisingly complimented her complexion well enough. She still seemed plain and boring. Allison was tall in her high heels, black dress pants, and a blue blouse as her appearance screamed confidence. Though it would have to now that she was an actress and constantly in the public eye.

Finally, after a moment, Allison reached over and embraced Vanya in a nice hug. Just as they let go of a long overdue hug, their brother, Diego, waltzed past them. As soon as he saw his ordinary sister, he scoffed, "ah. What is she doing here?" He didn't even bat an eye at them as he continued to make his way towards the stairs to the second floor. "You don't belong here. Not after what you did."

Allison sighed deeply, "you're seriously gonna do this today?" Diego didn't respond as he continued to march up the stairs. "Way to dress for the occasion, by the way."

"At least I'm wearing black."

Vanya briefly shook her head as her brother's words echoed in her head. She glanced down at the floor before looking back up at Allison. "You know what? I- Maybe he's right. And I shouldn't-"

Allison shook her head, "forget about him." Vanya stared at her sister in disbelief. She knew that her entire family hated her for what she had done to them. Though she didn't necessarily regret it entirely. She only really regretted how her siblings had come to hate her because of her book. "I'm glad you're here." They stood in an awkward silence. It was clear that Allison didn't completely forgive her for the book, but she could forget about it for a while as they dealt with their father's death.

Upstairs in Sir Reginald's bedroom, the bulky figure of Luther dressed in thick clothing surveyed the room in search of something out of the ordinary. He looked everywhere! The windows, underneath the bed, in the closet, and anywhere that he may be able to find some sort of foul play. He just couldn't believe that his father had simply died of heart failure. Reginald Hargreeves was not a man who could die so plainly, Luther was certain of that.

Footsteps from down the hallway echoed through the nearly empty house. Though Luther's ears didn't register them as he was too busy looking around. A man, not as tall or bulky as Luther and tanner skin, came to stand in the doorway of the bedroom and lean against the doorframe. "I can save you some time," he told the other man. Luther looked over to find his brother, Diego, looking at him with slightly narrowed eyes. The stronger of the two returned the gesture with his own narrowed eyes as he turned away from the window. "They're all locked. No forced entry, no sign of struggle. Nothing out of the ordinary." Diego ventured in further to the room and got a better look at the blonde man. He couldn't help himself but gape at Luther, "oh, you got big, Luther." However, in usual Diego-style, he couldn't help himself but be annoying and a bit of a dick. "What's the secret, huh? Protein shakes? Low carbs?"

Luther rolled his eyes at the teasing as he kept his demeanor serious, "what do you want?" The slight hostility he held for his brother was quite obvious. Like the rest of their messed up family, it wasn't something uncommon to dislike the other members of the Hargreeves family.

Diego simply pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and held it out towards Luther, "the autopsy report." Though he pulled it out of Luther's reach when he tried to take it just to be a nuisance. "Ah." He then finally gave it to Luther who practically ripped it out of his hands in frustration. He most certainly wasn't thrilled about seeing his siblings once again, especially Diego.

"And you have this why?"

"Well, that's because I broke into the coroner's office." Diego plopped himself down on a chair and shrugged his shoulders indifferently. "And surprise, surprise, Dad's death was normal. Just a boring, old heart failure."

"Yeah, so?" He looked over the report to find that his brother was right. There was nothing out of the ordinary in the old man's death. However, Luther wouldn't let it go. Reports and files could be forged and faked… He just had a feeling that something was up.

"So, why are you in here," Diego asked, "checking all the windows?"

Luther disregarded his question and asked his own, "were you the first one on the scene?"

He scoffed at Luther's obvious change of the subject and diversion. If anything, it almost sounded like there was an underlying tone of accusation in his words. Diego didn't like that. He raised his head at Luther's tone, "Pogo found him."

"Yeah, I talked to Pogo. He said he couldn't find Dad's monocle."

Diego clenched his jaw and shook his head, "and your point being?"

"Can you think of a single time you saw Dad and he wasn't wearing that monocle?" Luther didn't let him answer as it was obvious, "no. Which means someone took it. Which means there's a chance he wasn't alone when he died."

"There is no mystery here." Diego denied there being any strange occurrences happening to their father. Just because some sticking monocle goes missing doesn't mean that there was something sinister going on. He slowly stood up, "nothing to avenge. Nothing to solve, nothing like that. It's just a sad old man who kicked it in a big, empty house. Just like he deserved."

"You should leave," Luther just about growled. It was no surprise to him that Diego didn't want to find out about whether or not there was foul play apart of Sir Reginald's death. To him, the old man was nothing. Diego wanted to forget everything about what their father was like, and Luther only saw that as disrespect.

Diego glared harshly at his brother and nodded his head lightly. "Whatever you say, brother." With that, Diego turned on his heels and disappeared into the winding halls of the large mansion.

---

Vanya walked through the living room of the lavish mansion. She observed all of the pictures, books, and artifacts around the room. She came across the comic books of the Umbrella Academy, magazine covers and even her own book. Though her book was tucked away on a shelf and not displayed in cases and picture frames in the room.

She carefully plucked the seemingly untouched book from the shelf and read the title she gave it 'Extra Ordinary' with a sullen picture of her younger self on the cover. She opened it to see the message she wrote to her father on the first blank page.

'Dad, I figured, why not? -V'

"Welcome home, Ms. Vanya." A gruff voice broke her out of her memories. Vanya turned to find an anthropomorphic chimpanzee dressed in a sophisticated outfit with a walking cane and glasses.

Vanya smiled, "Pogo." She approached the chimp and the two embraced in a loving hug.

"So good to see you," Pogo commented as he took in the woman who he hadn't seen in years. It was slightly strange to see the now grown adults he had helped raise as children. He wished he could have seen them again under other circumstances. Far less tragic and depressing circumstances. He glanced down at the book she held in her hand and instantly recognized it. "Ah, yes, your autobiography."

"Do you know, um," Vanya started and paused for a moment, "did he ever read it?"

Pogo hummed to himself, "hmm Not that I'm aware of."

What else was she suspecting? Vanya sighed and gazed at the painting of a young boy who looked to be about thirteen that rested above the fireplace. "How long has it been since Five disappeared?" Yes, Five. Her beloved brother with the ability to teleport! The poor boy had been missing for such a long time.

"It's been sixteen years, four months, and fourteen days." Pogo instantly replied which caused Vanya to turn to him. Pogo nodded his head and explained, "your father insisted I keep track."

"You wanna know something stupid?" Vanya asked as she allowed a sense of nostalgia to wash over her. "I always used to leave the lights on for him. Jem and I were scared that he would come back, it would be late, and the house would be dark and he wouldn't be able to find us, so he'd leave again. So, every night we would make a little snack and make sure all the lights were on."

"Oh, I remember your snacks," Pogo chuckled as he too remembered years ago when Vanya and Jemma were children. "I'm pretty sure I stepped in half those peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches." He then sighed as they both once again gazed at the painting of Five, "your father always believed that Number Five was still out there somewhere. He never lost hope."

"And look where that got him."

The sound of the front door to the home slamming open brought them out of their wallowing about the past. A chilled wind swarmed through the foyer and drifted into the living room. Pogo and Vanya shared a quick glance before they walked into the foyer to see who had entered the house.

They walked over to see a woman, just a tad bit taller than Vanya, with short blonde hair closing the front door. She swayed slightly on her feet before spinning around on her heels to face the two.

Dull blue eyes that were slightly milky and unseeing laid themselves upon the pair. The woman's small pink lips were pulled into a large smile. She staggered slightly towards the two with a giggle, "Vanya! Pogo!"

She draped herself over the two in a sloppy hug that nearly caused the trio to fall to the ground. Pogo and Vanya held the woman up the best they could and pushed her back slightly to get a better look.

Her short blonde hair was messy and her bangs swayed with each shaky step she took in front of her blue eyes. Her green blouse was wrinkled and the white camisole over her small shoulders was askew. She wore a pair of faded blue jeans and black flats. She had a minimal amount of makeup on that was almost near perfect except for the fact that it appeared to have been applied on with slightly shaky hands.

"It's good to see you two!"

Vanya nodded her head with a small smile. Though she couldn't help but be slightly disappointed in the woman's appearance. "I'm surprised you came here, Jem."

The woman, Jem, only continued to smile, "me too!" She rolled her eyes, "but you know, I can't miss out on precious family time now that Dad's dead."

Pogo smiled softly at the woman, "It's good to see you as well, Ms. Jemma."

The final child of the Hargreeves family smiled widely as her teeth appeared to be perfectly straight and bright white. She looked around the rest of the foyer and stood on her own, though every few seconds she swayed on her feet. "Where's everyone else?"

"At the moment, I'm quite sure they're exploring the house," Pogo explained with a small smile. "I suspect you'd want to do the same after not being here for such a long time."

Jemma shrugged her shoulders, "I guess, but I'd rather not be all depressed right now. I think I'd rather take a nap." She walked past Pogo and Vanya towards the stairs. The strong odor of alcohol following after her. Vanya wrinkled her nose up slightly at the stench that she most certainly didn't like. She also didn't like that fact that it was attached heavily on Jemma. She hated to see her sister like that… "Wake me up when you need me!"

With that, Jemma shakily ascended the stairs(nearly tripping every other step) and disappearing to the higher floors in search of her childhood room. Pogo and Vanya shared a look with each other.

"It's good to see that all of you have come home," Pogo tried to lighten the mood. Yes, it was wonderful to see that the entire Hargreeves family had decided to return home due to the terrible news of Reginald's passing. Though each of the children seemed to have their problems. They could only thank their father for that.

---

Allison slid open the wooden door to her father's study. The room was covered in all sorts of pictures and paintings that Reginald had collected over the years. Even though the room seemed to be untouched for some time, the room was spotless. Though there was an odd paper did seem out of place or a pile of books laid out a desk or table.

She surveyed the room for a minute as a memory from her childhood resurfaced from the back of her mind.

It was night time. And all of the children were ready for bed. The eight of them were ushered into the room just outside their father's study by their mother. "The children are ready for bed, sir. They wanted to say goodnight." Grace said as she stood in front of Sir Reginald before turning to slide open the door to reveal the group of waiting children. They waited to see if their father would bid them goodnight but they didn't get an answer from him. He only continued to scribble on his papers and ignore them. A moment passed in awkward silence and Reginald still didn't even look up from his papers while the eight children waited for some sort of acknowledgment. Though what did they expect from the man? "Okay! Time for bed now, kids." Their mother exclaimed and started to usher the kids away. "Come along now. Come along now." The children each slowly started to walk away. Their mother stopped when she saw that Allison had not moved to head to bed like the rest of the children. She placed her hands on the girl's shoulders, "come along now, Allison, your father's busy."

Allison scoffed and spun swiftly on her heels with a glare. "He's always busy."

Jemma had instantly latched onto Klaus and Ben's hand when they turned to leave and started to pull them away as they sulked. She was more than ready to try and cheer them up best she could. She didn't want to see them like that at all! Though the moment she saw the scowl on her sister's face she instantly jumped to her side. "Don't worry, Ally!" The smaller girl said, "since dad won't wish us goodnight, I say we have a sleepover!" She said with a bright smile. "It's not like he's going to check on us, right?"

Allison let a small smile slip onto her face, "I guess you're right. Okay."

Jemma squealed and skipped next to Allison, "alright, we'll do it in your room since it's bigger! I'll get my stuff and tell Vanya, she'll like it too!"

Allison was pulled out of her memory by a familiar voice as she ventured further into the room. "Where's the cash, Dad?" She was able to see the large, brown leather chair behind her deceased father's desk moving slightly as she also heard shuffling. "Where's the cash?"

Despite not hearing that voice for years, she was instantly able to recognize it, "Klaus?" She approached the desk and leaned over the side of it. "What are you doing in here?"

A head of black hair and a pair of wide blue eyes popped out from underneath the desk. "Oh! Allison!" He gushed while standing up. "Wow, is that you? Hey, come here." He pulled her into a hug, "long time. Too long. Hey, I was hoping to see you, actually, because I wanted to get your autograph. Add it to my collection!"

Allison shook her head at his behavior and looked him over. He wore a long black coat, a blue scarf loosely hanging from his neck, black shirt and pants and a hospital band on his wrist. She pulled at the bracelet, "just out of rehab?"

"No, no. No, no, no, no. No. I'm done with all that." He denied and continued on his a sullen voice. "I just came down here to prove to myself that the old man was really gone." His voice then did a one-eighty as he started to clap. "And he is! He's dead. Yeah! You know how I know? Because if he were alive, not one of us would be allowed to set foot in this room." He plopped down on the leather chair behind the desk and placed his sneaker-clad feet on the desk. The action would have most certainly earned a scolding from their father if he was alive! "He was always in here, our whole childhood, plotting his next torment, right? Remember how he used to look at us? That scowl?" He chuckled, "thank Christ he's not our real father so we couldn't inherit those cold, dead eyes!" He used his fingers to make his eyes appear bigger by pulling back his eyelids. He also tried to intimidate their father's voice, "ah! Number Three!"

"Get out of his chair," Luther gruffly demanded of his brother.

The two looked at the newcomer and gaped at their brother's appearance. "Oh, wow, Luther!" Klaus gushed as he stood up from the chair. Allison stared at Luther surprised at his large stature. Luther changed exponentially since she last saw him. Then again, she last saw him years ago! They all must have changed quite a lot since they last saw each other. "Wow, you really, uh, you really filled out over the years, huh?"

"Klaus."

"Save the lecture. I was already leaving." Klaus amended and walked out from behind the desk. Though he couldn't help himself but mutter slightly under his breath in annoyance. He smiled at Luther as he got closer to his escape. "You guys can talk amongst yourselves."

Luther placed a hand on Klaus' chest before the smaller of the two could leave. "Drop it," he demanded.

Klaus raised an eyebrow and tried to act surprised at his words. "Ex-squeeze me?"

"Do it. Now."

Klaus clenched his jaw and huffed as he pushed away Luther's hand, "all right. All right." He started to pull out a few assortments of trinkets that were obviously worth quite a bit. "It's just an advance on our inheritance! That's all it is." After a good amount of pricy artifacts fell out of his pockets, Klaus glowered at his brother. "No need to get your little panties in a bunch."

Allison only watched highly amused by the scene in front of her. Klaus then left the study and left the two of them alone. However, once Klaus slammed the door closed and got out into the hall he smirked widely. He pulled out a black and gold box out of the back of his pants and smiled widely at actually snagging something from the old man's study.

He kissed the box happily and started to make his way towards the entrance of the house. The plan of selling the extravagant box to get money for drugs was a go. As he started to make his way towards the stairs, Jemma popped out from around a corner.

As soon as Jemma got a glimpse of her brother she smiled happily and made a beeline for him. Klaus grunted as the woman threw herself into his arms in a hug. She laughed happily, "Klaus!"

"Ah, Jem," Klaus fondly greeted his best friend.

Jemma pulled back from him and looked up at him with half-lidded, electric blue eyes. Klaus sighed inwardly as he knew she was either drunk or on the borderline of being drunk. Her eyebrows furrowed as she saw the box in his hands as she tilted her head. Her blonde bangs sweeping over her eyes like a silk curtain. "What's that?"

Klaus looked down at the box before trying to hide it behind his back, "oh, this?" He waved it off dismissively, "it's nothing important really."

She stared at him bordley, "it's dad's, isn't it."

"Yeah," Klaus didn't even try to deny it.

Jemma stared at him before starting slowly as it seemed like she was trying to understand his intentions. "And you're stealing it to sell for money that you'll use to buy drugs."

"Ah, look at you!" Klaus exclaimed, "you know me so well."

The blonde shrugged her shoulders, "’Course I do, you're my best friend! And I won't tell." She pressed her finger to her lips in a sign that she'd stay quiet. "Our little secret."

Klaus laughed, "you're the best, sis."

Jemma giggled and started to walk past him, "Thanks, bro."

The two then parted ways. Jemma left to go to her bedroom for a well-deserved nap while Klaus went to sell the damn box for drugs. Meanwhile, in their father's study, Luther approached Allison who was leaning against the mantel behind the desk.

Luther sighed out amused, "so, Klaus is still Klaus, in case you were wondering."

"You know, after all these years, I find it strangely comforting." Allison laughed lightly.

Luther nodded his head as he thought of something else that would most certainly amuse them both. "Did you see Diego? With his stupid outfit?"

Allison scoffed in amusement as she remembered the outfit that Diego was wearing. "Oh, I know."

"Do you think he wears that thing in the bathroom?" Luther couldn't help himself from asking.

"Like in the shower?" Allison asked surprised.

"Yeah."

She exclaimed, "yes, absolutely!"

The two allowed the image of their brother wearing the ridiculous outfit while showering entertain them for a moment before silence embraced them.

Luther coughed lightly, "I, uh I wasn't sure you'd come."

Allison nodded her head and looked away from him. "Me neither."

"You look great." Luther couldn't help himself but compliment her. He could never stop himself from doing that, ever since they were kids.

Allison stared at him for a moment before smiling softly and whispering, "thanks."

He pursed his lips as he asked a question, "where's Patrick and Claire?"

A dark look passed over Allison's features. He realized that he probably asked the wrong question. Something most certainly happened while he was gone."Patrick filed for divorce eight months ago." Luther gaped at the news as Allison looked at him with slight annoyance before she realized something, "of course you don't know, you've been gone."

Luther waited a moment before asking a question that he wasn't sure would make the atmosphere worse. "What about Claire?"

"He got custody."

"Shit." Luther swore as silence washed over them, "well, you could always do your, uh, you know rumor thing."

Allison scowled harshly and shook her head as she snapped at him. "Yeah, I don't do that anymore."

Luther swallowed as he saw the look on her face. Something happened, he knew. Something terrible. He should have been there to make sure that she was alright! However, he had his obligations to the Umbrella Academy and their father. "What happened?"

"Same thing that always happens." Allison huffed out as she pursed her lips. "I made a wish, and it came true, and I couldn't take it back."

---

All of the siblings sat in the living area as the crackling of the fireplace was the only sound heard in the silence. Though every once in a while the clinking of glasses could be heard from the bar as Klaus got himself a drink or two.

Allison sat on a chair sipping sparsely on her glass of alcohol as she stared off into space. Diego sulked on a chair not too far from her with his arms crossed and head turned so he wouldn't have to look at anyone else. Luther sat on a couch that faced Vanya who sat in the middle with Jemma next to her on the far right of it and closest to Allison.

"Um…" Luther started as he stood up, "I guess we should get this started. So, I figured we could have a sort of memorial service in the courtyard at sundown. Say a few words, just at Dad's favorite spot."

Allison interjected inquisitively, "Dad had a favorite spot?"

"Yeah. You know, under the oak tree." Everyone stared at him in confusion. "We used to sit out there all the time. None of you ever did that?"

"Will there be refreshment?" Klaus asked as he walked over to the group with two glasses of alcohol, a trophy in his hand and a cigarette in his mouth. He handed Jemma a large glass of alcohol who nodded in thanks and instantly started to gulp the liquid that burned her throat. That action from the blonde gained a few stares from the others in the room. "Tea? Scones? Cucumber sandwiches are always a winner."

Luther stared at him in bewilderment, "what? No." He gestured to the cigarette, "and put that out. Dad didn't allow smoking in here."

Allison stared at the obviously hyperactive man who walked around the living room with eyebrows furrowed. "Is that my skirt?"

"What?" Klaus looked up at his sister before nodding his head, "oh, yeah, this." He gestured to the black skirt that reached down to his ankles. "I found it in your room. It's a little dated, I know, but it's very breathey on the bits." Jemma snorted loudly at his words which earned her a cheeky smile from her best friend.

"It looks great on you!" Jemma cheered as Klaus posed.

"Listen up," Luther cut off any jokes and fun that Jemma and Klaus could try to have. "Still some important things that we need to discuss, all right?"

"Like what?" Diego called out.

Luther looked at all of them, "like the way he died."

Diego sighed in frustration while shaking his head, "and here we go."

Jemma's eyebrows furrowed as she allowed herself to breathe from her drink. "I don't understand."

Vanya nodded her head as she agreed with her sister, "I thought they said it was a heart attack."

Luther nodded her head, "yeah, according to the coroner."

Jemma rolled her hazy eyes at his tone, "well, wouldn't they know?"

"Theoretically."

"Theoretically?" Allison's voice was dripping in confusion much like everyone else's thoughts.

The large man nodded his head, "I'm just saying, at the very least, something happened. The last time that I talked to Dad, he sounded strange."

Klaus slouched in his seat on the couch as he gargled the alcohol in his mouth. "Oh, quelle surprise!"

Jemma pursed her lips with furrowed eyebrows. Her father was a strange man, no matter what. To suggest that he was acting even more abnormal than usual must of meant something. "Strange how?" She asked around her glass that rested against her lips.

"He sounded on edge." Luther revealed, "told me I should be careful who to trust."

Diego shook his head, "Luther, he was a paranoid, bitter old man who was starting to lose what was left of his marbles."

Luther clenched his jaw, "No. He must have known something was going to happen." He then turned to Klaus who was giving Jemma the rest of his drink. "Look, I know you don't like to do it, but I need you to talk to Dad."

Klaus scoffed, "I can't just call Dad in the afterlife and be like, 'Dad, could you just stop playing tennis with Hitler for a moment and take a quick call?'"

He stared at him with his eyebrows pulled together in confusion and frustration, "since when? That's your thing."

"I'm not in the right… frame of mind."

Jemma to a swig from her cup as her words came out slightly slurred, "he's high."

"Yeah! Yeah! See, Jem gets it!" He shouted excitedly as he pointed at the blonde, "I mean, how are you not, listening to this nonsense?"

"Well, sober up, this is important."

"Who cares!" Jemma shouted loudly with a roll of her eyes, "daddy's dead! Yay! Woo!" All of her siblings stared at her in bewilderment. Well, Allison, Luther, and Diego did due to them never seeing the blonde act like this before. Vanya just sighed as she was all too familiar with her behavior and the telltale signs of Jemma becoming drunk. Surprisingly, Klaus also sighed at her behavior as disappointment peaked through his high state. "Now, I say we mourn dear old dad, drink and try not to kill anyone. 'Cause I am down with some more drinking!" Allison pulled the glass of strong alcohol from her sister's hands before the short blonde could let her pale lips wrapped around the glass. Jemma whined once it was taken from her and reached out for it. "No! Ally!"

Luther shook his head at her antics and continued on in a serious tone, "then there's the issue of the missing monocle."

Diego scoffed with his arms crossed, "who gives a shit about a stupid monocle?"

"Exactly." Luther exclaimed, "it's worthless. So whoever took it, I think it was personal. Someone close to him. Someone with a grudge."

"Where are you going with this?" Klaus asked in exasperation.

"I may be slightly buzzed," Jemma interjected once she got over the fact that Allison wasn't going to give back her drink. Her bright blue eyes were narrow and hazy but still held a growing amount of betrayal and hatred. "But it sounds like you're accusing us of killing him."

Luther grunted softly as she basically figured out what he was getting at. How could he not? He had been away for years while the rest of them were here on Earth with some pretty good motive to go after their father. He will admit that their father wasn't the nicest man there was, but he deserved their loyalty and respect. Which is something that the others would rarely ever give Reginald!

The others stared at him with wide eyes that were slowly filling with betrayal. "You do?" Klaus gasped.

"How could you think that?" Vanya asked softly in surprise.

Diego shook his head as he passed by him. He hit him on the chest, "great job, Luther. Way to lead."

Luther quickly tried to amend what he meant, "that's not what I'm saying."

"You're crazy, man." Klaus exclaimed as he stood up from his seat "You're crazy. Crazy."

Luther watched as the rest of his family stood up and started to make their way out as well. "I've not finished."

"Sorry," Klaus apologize even though there was no tone of a sincere apology in his voice. "I'm just gonna go murder Mom. I'll Be right back."

Jemma jumped up from her seat with a now empty glass, "Oh, I'll come help you, Klaus. Might as well as kill Pogo while we're at it!" She sent one final glare at Luther before following after the rest of her siblings.

"That's not what I was saying. I didn't-" Luther tried to explain himself but the damage had already been done. His siblings knew that Luther had a strong sense of loyalty to their father. However, for him to think that they would be willing to go so far as to kill the man was absurd. Yes, Reginald would never receive the 'greatest father' award but that didn't warrant one of his children committing murder against him! "Allison," he called out to her, but she also left the living room along with the others without sparing him a glance. Soon enough he was left alone in the living room. "Jeez. That went well." It most certainly didn't.

---

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paperpocalypse · 4 years

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shoulder.

50 Wordless Ways to Say “I Love You”: 22. Listening to them while they vent.

Pairing: Five Hargreeves x Reader

Word Count: 1,554 words

Warning: Swearing

Griddy’s Doughnuts, eleven past eleven on a muggy summer night, is probably the closest you’ll ever get to the twilight zone. And you kind of like it. The white, circular ceiling lights, the generic posters of steaming pancakes and coffee, the almost-emptiness of the place – it’s so different from the bustle of city life that you feel like you’re suspended in time, existing only to drink milkshakes and eat donuts.

There are two other reasons why you go to Griddy’s, though. For one, your friend Martha. She’s an adult, which your grandmother doesn’t like because you’ve been here for four years and still haven’t made any friends at school, which would be more normal. But you’ve always been better at talking to adults than people your own age, and Martha is so nice that you don’t really care how old she is. Plus, she lets you bring leftover donuts home for free.

Reason two is more like six.

“Five! Hey!”

… Though it seems like tonight, only one of them is stopping by.

(Not that you mind his company at all.)

Martha is still in the bathroom, so you skirt behind the counter, grabbing a napkin as Five walks in and seats himself at the corner barstool.

“Where’re your siblings?” you ask, opening the donut case and grabbing an apple fritter.

Five gives you a closed-lipped smile that’s all business and no pleasure. “Sleeping,” he says. He picks up a butter knife and examines it. “It’s been a long day.”

“Yeah,” you grab a plate and put the fritter on it, “I saw it on the news. Lincoln Memorial in D.C., right?” Sliding the plate toward Five, you lean your elbows on the counter and crack a grimace. “It … looked pretty bad.”

“I’m talking about what happened afterward. D.C. was fine.” Five puts the knife down in favor of the donut. He stares at it, frown set deep onto his face, and takes a bite.

Judging by what you saw on TV this afternoon, you wouldn’t necessarily say D.C. was fine, but your definition of the word is pretty different from his. Nobody had died, so you guess in that respect it was fine. You knit your brow. “What do you mean, ‘what happened afterward’? Did any of you get hurt?”

He grunts. “Not on the mission. Dad wasn’t happy with how we did things in D.C., so he had us do extra training once we got back. Klaus threw up on the stairs.”

You gape. “… Is he okay?”

“He’ll be fine.” Five tears off a chunk of his donut and pops it into his mouth, tasting it carefully. “It happens more often than you think. And anyway, I’m more concerned about …”

He looks over your shoulder, chewing quietly. You lean in just a little closer.

“About …?”

“You mind getting me a cup of that?” he asks, gesturing to the coffee machine behind you.

You follow his gaze, bewildered. “You want caffeine right now?”

“I have work to do after I’m done here.”

That’s probably the vaguest explanation you’ve ever heard. Not that you’re surprised; Five has shared several things about his life with you, but some topics he likes to keep to himself. Briefly, you wonder if you’ll ever completely understand him. You hope so.

In any case, you pour him a mug of coffee.

“Thanks,” Five says when you hand it to him, dipping his fritter into the brew.

You walk around the counter, sitting down next to him. “You’re very welcome. I hope you won’t regret it.”

“I rarely regret anything.” His donut is now half-gone, and you know he means what he says. Exhaling, he looks into his mug and then at you, seeming to contemplate whether he should continue before doing so. “I’m talking about my sister. Vanya.”

Vanya. You search your memories and find her – quiet, doe-eyed, brown hair with bangs. She came in with Five a few months ago, just the two of them, and they didn’t stay for very long. When you had chatted with her, she proved to be very sweet but painfully shy, unused to being out and about. Five had gotten her a plain glazed donut.

“Yeah, she came here with you once.” You tilt your head, eyes narrowing in thought. “She doesn’t have any powers, right?”

Five nods his head once, slowly. “She’s … the black sheep of the family. To put it lightly. Anyway, after dinner today, she showed me this piece she’s been working on for weeks – a violin concerto by Bach.”

“Oh! Good for her.”

“It’s the closest thing she has to a special ability,” he states, not unkindly. “Vanya’s been playing for three years now, and she’s mentioned wanting to play in an orchestra. I figured that since nobody really knows about her, and she’s ordinary, it wouldn’t hurt for her to go out once or twice a week to rehearsals – as long as we had a guard or something to watch her, of course. So I went with her to ask our dad about it.”

You have a feeling how it had gone. “How’d he take it?”

“What do you think?” He smiles tightly, folding his hands. “He said no. It’s too much of a security risk for the academy. And, furthermore, she wouldn’t have time outside of studying and helping out with our training.”

Five grabs his coffee and takes a gulp. You bite your lip, thinking of the small, timid girl that didn’t know how to order a simple donut. What did she do while her siblings were out fighting criminals and doing interviews? Watch them? Stay inside, playing her violin that no one listened to except for Five?

“That sucks,” you murmur, slumping down to rest your chin on your arms. “I’m sorry.”

He puts the mug down with a hard clink. “It’s all bullshit, but what can we do? Vanya just accepted it like she usually does.”

“I wish there was a way to convince your dad.”

“Not unless Allison rumors him. But she wouldn’t do that for Vanya.” Inspecting the last bit of his fritter, Five picks it back up and finishes it in one swallow. “Like I said, black sheep.”

He wipes his hand with a napkin, placing it to the left of his plate before looking over at you, pensive. You stare back, fingers busy with the napkin crushed between them, then give him a small smile. Some of his irritation softens.

“… I’m sorry to interrupt, kids, but it’s almost midnight.”

You jump at Martha’s voice. Holy crap, how long had she been there?

The woman glances down at you, eyes crinkling from a grin as she takes Five’s plate. He looks a little miffed by the interruption. “Don’t worry, I know how customers like their privacy. I just wanted to tell you that I can drive you back, hon,” Martha continues, directing the offer to you. “Though Agnes is going to be late for her shift, so you’ll have to wait about a half hour or so.”

“No need.” Five knocks back the rest of his coffee and stands up, handing her a five-dollar bill. “I’ll walk [Y/n] back.”

“Will you?” She takes a moment to gloss over his uniform. “Well, aren’t you a dear. Would you mind going with him, hon? I don’t want you going back later than you have to.”

Five quirks an eyebrow at you when you turn to him. Your face warms unexpectedly. “I … guess so,” you answer as you leave your seat, suddenly awkward for reasons you can’t explain.

“Then that’s settled. I trust you Umbrella kids can keep your charges safe.”

“Of course.” He straightens his tie, nodding at Martha and you before turning to go.

Martha catches your arm. “Here’s something for the road.” She hands you a small paper bag, speckled with grease. You take it gratefully, about to thank her, but then she leans in and your words die on your tongue when she whispers, “Make sure to take his arm when he offers it, hon.”

Discreetly, she winks at you. Your cheeks burn hotter, much to your horror.

“[Y/n]? Are we going or what?”

“Y-Yeah, coming,” you answer, giving Martha a quick hug over the counter and hurrying over to Five, who’s holding the door open. “Bye, Martha.”

“G’night, you two.”

As the two of you pass by the windows of Griddy’s Doughnuts, you look through and see your friend wave, dishcloth in hand and a beam on her face. Her words run through your mind as you wave back. What a weird piece of advice. People don’t offer their arms anymore, and as you sneak a glance at your companion, you wonder if Five would even be the type to do so.

After a few minutes, you find that he isn’t. But he also doesn’t move away when you walk close enough for your hands to touch, and when you reach up, hesitantly, to grasp his sleeve when a car passes by – continuing to hold it until you reach your apartment – he doesn’t say a word. He says goodnight to you, voice softer than you’ve ever heard it, when the two of you stand at your door, and he makes sure you get in safely.

And for now, that’s perfectly enough.

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sees-ghosts · 5 years

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Like for a starter from Vanya!

#((like for a starter))#what's so bad about being ordinary ((vanya))

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shelby-love · 4 years

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HARGREEVES SIBLINGS

What Brings us Together: Funerals

Requested: yes [x]

Prompts: none

Warning(s): none

Word count: 3.5K

Author’s note: I hope this is what you wanted. You didn't specify what kind of interaction we should have w our siblings so I just went off what was most realistic. Luther is a b of course, that's just how he is at the beginning lol. Don’t think I hate him though! p.s. so is diego we know he wasn’t really nice to vanya in the beginning :(

You sighed heavily through your nose, gathering your brows in distaste at the building standing tall in front of you. The Umbrella Academy looks as imposing as ever, making you remember just how much it once scared you when you were a kid.

Time went by and you became an adult. Someone with common sense, living an ordinary life far away from your once bright future that suggested money and luxury. Of course, when you’re informed of your father’s passing through a TV screen, it’s mandatory to show up and pay your respects.

You snorted at the rogue thought. “Bastard.”

Seeing your siblings after so many years of being apart made you feel anxious. Your father and his ashes weren’t the cause of your sweaty hands. It felt weird. Too weird.

But you ignored the feeling and called out your inner adult, placing one foot in front of the other and walking straight through the two-winged doors.

Your eyes fell on every surface of the academy, sweeping over every object while doing so. The number of memories, good and bad, that this place held was uncountable. But life, alas, is too short.

Your father a true example.

You gazed at the portrait with no emotion, looking at the picture of your father and siblings with a crooked smile of sadness. The tips of your bare fingers flickered with energy, and you fought the urge to curl them into a fist and punch a wall.

But your father's voice rung through your head, what you've been taught all your life bucking into instinctive actions. "You must know self-control Number Eight. You lack of it will be your downfall. Now put your gloves back on!"

You were 4 when those words big words started to leave his mouth, and you never heard the end of it. Not until he died.

You uncurled your fists, took a deep breath and felt the energy cave in.

"Y/N? Is that you?"

The sudden sweetness of a voice that belonged to your sister travelled into your ears, so quietly you almost didn't hear her. Your eyes widened slightly, and when you turned around – for a moment you didn't know what to do. The girl had turned into a celebrity, and you wondered if that had changed her in any way.

"Allison?"

She took a few sharp steps your way and wrapped her arms around you, pulling you in a bone-crushing hug you returned immediately.

"You're not wearing your gloves," she took note, looking tentative to touch you for a second after pulling away.

"I don't need them anymore," you stated proudly.

Your father graced you with leather gloves at the age of 4, telling you to never take them off. That in a way, you and the powers you possessed were a danger to your siblings. The dark leather gloves weren't comfortable, in fact, they felt suffocating every time you wore them. Because that's how silencing your powers feels like. Suffocating. For a second too short, you had wondered what Allison felt like. Not being able to use her voice for what it was made for.

"Well, I'm happy for you," said Allison, wrapping an arm around your shoulders. "You never really liked them."

"No," you agreed with a mumble. "No, I didn't."

The two of you walked out of the hall and into the living area, legs paired with pace.

"Where is everyone?" You asked her quietly, your eyes inspecting an antique you knocked over as a kid more times than you could count.

"Diego is here, somewhere," she mused, and you raised your brows ever so slightly in surprise. "He has this weird hero complex, so he's out saving the world, I guess. Apart from us three, no one’s here yet."

"Do you know when he'll be coming back?" You wondered out loud, watching her give you an odd look a second later. "I haven't seen him in years, Allison. He's my brother."

A part of you wanted to tease her about Luther by saying that not everyone is into what they were, but you withheld it and instead locked your eyes onto your other brother.

Number Five.

"I missed you Y/N."

You smiled at her quiet voice, "Missed you too Ally."

***

"You know if I was murdered, and if one of my sons...adopted sons... happened to be able to commune with the dead, I might think about, I don't know, I don't know...manifesting!"

You attempted to stifle your laughter as you watched Klaus prance around your father's ashes in an attempt to talk to him. He wasn't sober, so you doubted it would work.

But it was pleasantly nice to see him try at least.

"I don't think he wants to talk," you interrupted him mid-vent.

You watched as his pacing stopped, his demeanor switching from crazy to collected in the seconds it took your voice to be heard. Klaus turned around slowly, beaming from one ear to another. "It's you! You're alive!"

His scream of joy brought a wide smile to your lips, and you rushed to his arms. Both of you screamed like little kids, telling how much you missed each other and how tragic life has been without one another. Making jokes on your dead father's account was overly present too.

"And you're high!" You squealed in delight, ruffling his crazy looking hair.

Klaus pulled away at that, swaying in a matter that looked like he was stretching before a run. He pointed his thumb at the ashes, "Dad's too stubborn. He won't talk to me."

"Did you try begging?" You asked amused.

"I-I guess…" He mumbled before groaning. "I'm too sober for this!"

Then his eyes snapped to you and a pout drew on his face. Klaus went to stand in front of you, grabbing your hands in his and placing them on his chest. "Y/N…"

You rolled your eyes but didn't remove them, "Yes, Klaus?"

"I was just wondering if you," He said gingerly. "You know…"

This time you did pull your hands away but placed them on his face. Teasingly you squished his cheeks like you used to when you were kids. "You want me to give you money, so you can go get high because your childhood trauma of being locked in a mausoleum catches up to you every time you're sober? Of course, I will. How much do you need?"

It took him a second to process your words. "Oh my God really?" Klaus whispered, almost as if he didn't believe that was happening.

"I tried it your way when I left -" you explained, pulling out your wallet and glancing at his stunned expression. "- to suppress my powers. It didn't work, and I continued to suffer. If that's what it takes for you to not suffer from them, I'll gladly help."

You handed him a wad of money but when he tried to take them you pulled away, "Just…be careful Klaus."

"Yeah of course I will," he replied absentmindedly before he turned his head to the side. "Shut up."

You furrowed your brows, "Did you say something Klaus?"

"Oh no, no, no, no, no," said Klaus quickly, a little too quickly. "I didn't say anything."

You hummed but swore you had caught him swing his leg at something too.

"Well, if that’s all…" you murmured, "I'll leave you to it then, I gotta go see Mom. Don't say hi to dad from me, okay? Don't you dare Klaus."

The sibling only saluted, turning around to get back to trying to reach your dad, securing the money into a pocket in his skirt.

"Hey! Wait!"

You stopped and turned back around. Klaus waved his hands at the big lone fireplace. "Can you do that thing, please?"

By that thing, he meant to say start the fire. You shrugged and walked back to the fireplace. The amount of time you lit it up for your siblings was infinite. It felt weird to do it now even though you light your fire at home with your powers all the time.

Fire comes out of your hands quickly and with ease in the shape of a golden ball, igniting the lone fireplace within seconds. You watched the inferno you created in a daze, only breaking out of it when Klaus came to stand in front of the fire to warm up.

"Love you Klaus."

"Awww I love you too sis."

You shook your head, turned and left the room.

***

"Heard you came from the moon." You mused, "Thought I'd stop by and see for myself."

When word spread that Luther was on the moon, you didn't quite believe it. Then you found out that he too came back to send your father off to the lands of the dead, and you just had to see him and ask for yourself.

It was no surprise to find him in your dad's office of all places, although at first glance he did look like an intruder. You felt yourself stiffen at the sight of a big man in a coat, looming over your father's desk imposingly. Power surged through your veins, and it took everything in you to stop it from overflowing in fear.

When your brother met your face, you exhaled in relief and a single candle lit in the room as a result.

Luther seized it, looking impressed. "You've gotten better."

"Cut the crap Number One," you snapped suddenly, the tone mainly coming from the fact that your powers activated because of the fear that came from seeing a completely new version of your brother. "First of all, what happened to you? I thought Diego would turn out like that, not you."

He shrugged his massive shoulders.

"Second of all," you began. "What are you doing in dad's office?"

"Nothing," he said quickly.

Luther might look big and dangerous but the creases in his face give you all the answers you need. "You haven't changed a bit," you mused, leaning against the door. A part of you still felt young and that made you respect your father's words a little more by staying put. "Save for the…" You pointed to your torso for reference.

Luther noticed the way you eerily stood at the doorstep, contemplating whether to enter and break his word. "He's dead you know."

You shot him a look, "I know that."

"So, why don't you come in?"

You contemplated to come in, but in all honesty - nothing was of interest. You would much rather like to interrogate Luther and his whims.

"Is Allison really the only person you care about?" You asked him instead, the bubbled feelings you've been holding inside threatening to spill. It was rather hostile, the way you two met after years of not seeing each other. A big part of you felt angry at him for not calling you when things obviously went wrong somewhere. His body wasn’t a result of something natural, and you knew it. "I mean this as a sibling. Let's ignore the weird thing you two have for each other."

"We don-" he started, your seizing eyes stopping him mid-sentence. "Is it that obvious?"

You sighed, "Look Luther, I'm just trying to say…"

"No, you're accusing me."

"Of what?"

"You left. All of you."

You snorted, "You really want to do this right now?"

"I don't see why not."

"You're looking for something," you said instead, completely ignoring his words. "I won't help you find it nor will I try to lie if you ask me if I have it."

His ears perked, "Dad's monocle."

You chuckled, "That lame thing he always wore?"

Luther nodded.

"Why do you need it?"

"You said you wouldn't lie."

"I'm not lying Luther, I just asked you a question!" You told him. A thought washed over you when his eyes pinned you in, and you could barely even grasp it. "You think I killed him, don't you?"

"I didn't say that." He tried to reason, although he didn't move from around the desk to try and soothe you.

"You didn't have to," you said quietly, feeling tears gather in your eyes. "I see the way you look at me, brother. Ever since I hurt her-"

"Don't talk about her," he stopped you.

"Why the hell not?!" You exclaimed, "She's my sister you know. Our sister. You keep forgetting that."

Luther stayed silent after your outburst, probably contemplating whether to apologize, but you cut him from speaking before he could even start. "We were 7 Luther. I didn't know what I was doing. You think I wanted to take the air out of her lungs? She was going to rumor me Luther. I was scared."

It didn't really matter how much you repeated it to him, he never understood. His love for her goes beyond siblingship, as weird and disturbing as it was. Whoever hurt Allison became a monster in his eyes. "But anyway. I didn't steal that ugly thing. You can cross me off your list."

You looked around the office, ignoring the way Luther stood silently. The lack of light was obviously making it difficult for him to sniff around. You raised your hands in the air, watching as the tips of your fingers turned into flames. A satisfying sight, but a sight you didn't want to look at currently. With a swipe of your hand, you controlled the small blazes until they broke apart and landed at the candles, lighting up the room, so Luther can see. "Hopefully this helps."

You walked away from the office after that, not daring to look behind yourself in fear of breaking down.

***

You stomped across the academy, anger flowing off you in waves. Having your emotions tied to your feelings was never fun. The chandelier above you swayed under the wind that came from your anger and candles burnt out, the fire that came within them disappearing into your body.

"Y/N?"

Suddenly, the wind stopped, but your lip started to tremble instead. "Vanya?"

When you turned around, she stood awkwardly at the door. With hands in her pockets she glanced between the shaking chandelier and you.

It was obvious that she was uncomfortable, at least until she saw your relieved smile. "Is that really you?"

She smiled, "I-I guess."

You outright laughed, the outcome of Luther and yours argument disappearing from your mind completely when you hugged her. "I missed you so much."

"You did?" She asked surprised.

"Why wouldn't I?" You asked her, confusion crossing your features. "You're my sister. Come here."

You brought her into the hug again, feeling her hug you tighter this time.

"You're not mad at me?"

Remembering what she was talking about had you cringing ever so slightly in discomfort. You scratched the back of your neck, "I mean… I was. But not anymore, Vanya. I'm all passed that now."

"You are?" She asked, hopeful.

"I am," you nodded in confirmation. "We're here to say our goodbyes to Dad. You have every right to be here, no one can tell you otherwise."

Vanya stayed silent, so you quickly added, "And the book was good. Exposing, but good. I like your way with words."

She snorted, "Yeah I thought you would."

Beaming, you slung an arm around her shoulders just like Allison did when you first came. Unfortunately, in your dysfunctional family, no one has peace for long. Diego came striding down the stairs in his black spandex suit, looking as he just came out of an action movie.

Seeing you had his smile growing by a mile, but upon glancing at Vanya the easy smile vanished and was instead replaced by a scowl. "You're still here? I thought I already told you. You don't belong –"

"Diego," your hand raised in the air to halt his mouth. "Now's not the time."

He let out a humorous laugh, walking up to you to give you a kiss on the cheek. You didn't fight it, instead letting him kiss your cheek and squeeze your shoulder as a greeting after not seeing each other for years. "Good to have you back sis."

"Enjoy it while you can," you said. "Because I'm leaving the moment dad's ashes are spread."

"Oh, I bet," he mused. "I'm leaving too. You should go now Vanya, save us the trouble."

"Okay Diego that's enough," you interrupted, standing closer to Vanya this time round, hoping she sees your support through mere change of standing. "Why don't you run along and go save lives? I heard that's your life's call."

He rolled his eyes before glancing at your outfit. "That's an awfully bold color for a funeral."

"That's because I'm not dressed yet," you rolled your eyes. "Now, if you don't have anything nice to say, I suggest you leave before I boil you."

Knowing you don't give out empty threats, Diego nodded grimly and disappeared upstairs, not giving Vanya a glance of acknowledgement. "You know, maybe he's right… I should just go."

You shook your head immediately, "Absolutely not. Look Vanya, your book might've not been the best thing that's happened to us, but it certainly isn't the worst. He's just being snappish. That's Diego's factory setting."

She laughed, this time giving you a smile. Not a fake smile, but a real one.

You felt victorious as you wrapped your arm around her again, leading her into the living area for a catch-up.

***

"Does anyone else see little Number Five, or is that just me?"

You and Klaus held to each other like little kids, not believing what, or who, stood in front of you. The little carbon copy of your long-lost brother swore under his breath, shocking you to the bones with the word ‘shit’. "I'm not high, am I?"

"I-I don't know," said Klaus awkwardly, "Do you feel high?"

"Klaus she's not high," Diego interrupted, standing in front of the group with Luther.

"You never know with her," Klaus tried to explain.

"Five is that really you?" You asked, ignoring the bickering that went all around you.

"Of course, it's me!"

"Oh God Klaus they even sound the same," you whispered, clutching Klaus' hand tighter.

"Look I don't have time to explain this all to you," the boy sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose like an old man.

"The hell you do," Diego mumbled, eyeing him with menace.

Number Five (if that was even him) rolled his eyes and tried to push through and walk right past you. No 30-year-old - despite how shocked and curious they were - tried to stop him.

Save for you of course.

A lone vine flew from the wall under your command, wrapping itself around your brother's wrist in a vice-grip. Five eyed it nonchalantly, as if the sight amused him rather than intimidated him. "You do know I can walk right through that?"

You dared him with your eyes and mocked him with your mouth, "You do know that you've been gone for 17 years? I've evolved little man."

He bunched his brows together, almost as if he didn't believe you. To test his theory out, he urged his body to travel through space. You all watched as he walked straight through the air, coming out on the other end in a different part of the yard, not being able to move due to the vine's grip despite having travelled through literal space.

"Cute!" Five called out, walking back toward you using his power. "Now let me go."

"And why would she do that?" Luther asked, the inner Number One in him surfacing.

"Because I've got work to do."

"Five you're a kid literally," Allison objected, gazing over your brother's tiny body.

"You don't understand…"

"Maybe he needs a nap," Klaus mumbled next to you.

"I don’t-"

By not literal smoke was almost coming out of his little ears, his face reddened from anger, and he looked annoyed beyond understanding. "They're too young… I knew it."

You creased your brows, not understanding why Five was mumbling weird things into his chin. "You alright Five?"

He glared at you, "I will be… Once you get this thing off me."

You shrugged with a sigh, mumbling an okay and hauling the vine away from Five who shook his head in irritation. He wrapped a hand around his sore wrist, massaging it with his thumb to get read of the soreness. "Can't say I missed you and your crazy plants. Although you would've been a great addition to my adventures."

"What adventures?" You asked confused. "You’re 13."

Five sighed, brushing you all off with a sway of his hand.

Klaus was the first one to dash back into the house mumbling something about not being able to handle the weather, Allison following behind him carefully. Luther, who looked like a lost puppy, followed after your sister until it was just Vanya, Diego, Five and you left.

"I'm going to head inside," said Vanya awkwardly, disappearing inside quickly.

Diego gave Five a sideward glance but shook his head and left too.

"Elemental manipulation is exactly what we need to fight it."

You rolled your eyes, not quite believing that he forgot how elemental manipulation isn't your favorite thing. "Fight what Five?"

"The apocalypse."

"I'm glad you're back bro, seriously I mean it," You told him sincerely, "But you're crazy. I'd say get some help but…"

MASTERLIST

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