#⋆⁺₊✧ never before ; and ever since | reginald.

[umbradaciei]

tags .

[i-like-writing-stuff]

the other five [ five hargreeves x reader ]

request: Hello! This is my first time desperately requesting a fic because the new season is SO bad 😭 Can you write a fic where the reader finds out about everything that happened between Five & Lila and then she gets taken away by one of the Fives at the deli and promising her that he’ll treat her better than OG Five (You can also add a part where OG Five finds out about this and lives to regret it)

a/n: AU where everything in that trash season was the same, except when five made the first jump in s1 he made it in his 32 yr old body bc i will not have y/n pull a zach justice (lmao)

even if lila did 😭😭

anyways basically everyone is the same age

i like to think of the five that comforts y/n as the five that explained everything to five in the last episode because that one literally felt like the five we were supposed to get, the five that was there all the first three seasons

sorry i cant stop trashing this season you guys 😭 i’m just so disappointed

summary: after breaking up with five, you make up with… well, five

part two

“Leave me alone, Five!” You yelled in despair, pushing the man before you away, “Actually, first take me back home, you psycho! I have nothing to say to you!”

“Y/N, please, just hear me out!” Five tried to reason with you, as if anything he would say could make your heart glue itself back.

You were standing in the subway station after Five had blinked himself and you away from the family- or what was left of it, watching him at loss of words. You didn’t recognize the man before your eyes, as much as you tried. You didn’t even have time to gather all your thoughts since there was yet another impending apocalypse on its way, so your mind was completely all over the place.

Five Hargreeves was not the same Five Hargreeves you fell in love with all those years ago. He was not the same man who had stolen your heart and made you feel like you were the most precious person in the world. He wasn’t your partner anymore, he wasn’t your lover. Your boyfriend wasn’t there. You looked at this person and there was a stranger, acting as if he was the same who had hugged you, held your hand, kissed you all those many times. You were questioning everything about him now.

“Take me back!” You yelled again, ignoring his same pleas, curling your hand in a fist, “I’m this fucking close to making you ash!”

As your pure anger got the best of you, you were ready to let your powers take over for a second. Obviously you weren’t actually going to hurt him, no matter how much you wanted him to feel your pain, at least physically.

You met him six years ago, during the first time you tried to stop the apocalypse. You were also one of the extraordinary kids, but luckily enough, Reginald Hargreeves didn’t manage to adopt you- more so, purchase you. You only met Five not long after he managed to time travel back to his family in 2019 after spending all those decades by himself. Before you knew it, you were dragged into the Hargreeves family and your relationship soon after developed.

Your six year relationship that was so merry a few hours ago. Now it was crumbled, trashed.

What hurt was that it was six years only to you. Five managed to block himself seven years away from you, only in the presence of Lila.

“This is so fucking stupid,” You scoffed, fighting back the tears in your eyes, “It’s fucking over! Do you want me to spell it out for you?!”

“I want you to listen!” Five didn’t give up on arguing, “I thought I’d never see you again!”

“You didn’t want to see me again!” You screamed, wailing your hands in the air, “Fucking save it- It’s over! I don’t want to ever see you again if we survive this apocalypse! You ruined our relationship, you ruined your brother’s marriage, family! For fucking Lila!”

You hated him absolutely. The mere thought of his infidelity, of the nerve to act as if he still loved you, it was all despicable.

You grew to love all of your boyfriend’s siblings, and also your nieces and nephews, even if you and Five were not yet married. You planned to be a part of the family officially, but still wanted to focus on your careers, you wanted to adjust yourself to your old life, back to your origins.

“Y/N, please!” He tried to step, towards you, but you started stepping away.

Thoughtlessly, because of all your anger, you just walked towards the first train approaching you, fully intending to be away from him at whatever cost.

“If you don’t want to take me back, I’ll fucking find my own way!” You hopped onto the train, watching as he tried to catch up with you.

But he was too late.

In hindsight, maybe it was not the smartest idea, but you were just so devastated nothing made sense to you anymore. You spent the past six years thinking that you are set for the rest of your life, now that the world wasn’t ending anymore. You reconnected with your family, you built a career for yourself and were living happily with Five, you had literally just finished settling yourself in the new house you bought together. You couldn’t understand how he could do this to you.

You couldn’t understand how Lila could betray your friendship either, especially Diego and their kids.

You tried to make it make sense, be reasonable- it was only a few hours to you, but they were lost in this subway system for seven years.

But then again, Five was lost in the future 45 years by himself and he didn’t give up on trying to return to his family once.

Now he did, he gave up on trying to return to you.

That’s definitely another aspect that stung.

“Fucking piece of shit,” You mumbled, as the train approached its first station, “How do I fucking get out of here?”

You stumbled out of the sub, taking in your surroundings. It was yet another crumbled down station, but if you were to be at least a tiny bit fair, it was maybe a bit better kept. You looked around curiously, trying to figure out where to go from now on. Your fire-based superpowers were totally useless in this situation, so you hated to admit that you were in a bit of a pickle.

You rolled your eyes, as Five rounded the corner and stopped in his tracks, watching you with widened eyes.

“You again?” You sighed angrily, “Take me back or get out of my sight, Five.”

Five raised his brows, putting his hands in his pockets curiously. He didn’t say a word yet, as a small smile tugged at the corner of his lips. He slowly stepped towards you, not taking his eyes off you once. For a split second, you stopped as well, sending that something was up.

You took in his features, trying to make sense of what was going on, realizing that he didn’t have a coat on him. He was wearing the exact three piece suit an black tie, he was wearing the same silver watch on his left hand, but he didn’t have his coat on.

“Y/N,” He smiled, stopping in front of you, “I never thought I’d see you again, more so here.”

“What the fuck is going on?” You calmly asked, over-analyzing the man before you.

His smile didn’t drop. It was a genuine one, a smile you hadn’t seen in a while. Things between you and Five were okay a few hours ago, but he hadn’t watched you with this look since you first met. His eyes were sincere, taking in every single feature of yours, traveling all over your body.

“I take it your Five danced the devil’s tango with Lila,” He sighed deeply, raising a hand to gently brush away your tears.

When did you even start crying?

Your mind was scrambled all over the place, but at that exact moment you couldn’t say another word. You just melted into his touch, feeling warmth. It really hadn’t been that long since Five touched you, but this touch felt different. His hand rested on your cheek, as his thumb caressed you lightly. His touch was so intoxicatingly sweet, sending shivers down your spine.

“I’m so sorry I’m a literal shitface in some other timelines,” He lightly shook his head, “I’m so sorry.”

“What is going on?” You asked once again, calmer this time.

For whatever reason, you relaxed in an instant. You couldn’t tell if it was because of his gentle touch or simply his presence. Ironic, since just ten minutes ago you were ready to set him on fire.

“Come with me, my love,” Five said, grabbing your hand in his, “I’ll explain everything.”

You didn’t fight his touch, locking your fingers with his. None of you said a word, as you watched you hands fit so perfectly in one another. How could your relationship be over when you were so good together?

You followed Five through the subway station, rounding the same corner he appeared from. You watched as he turned his head to give you a reassuring smile, lightly squeezing your hand in comfort.

After a few more steps and going down a couple of stairs, you widened your eyes seeing a literal deli tucked away in this godforsaken out of order subway system. The headlights above the front entrance were lit up, writing Max’s Delicatessen. You saw inside a huddle of people as you entered, gathering everyone’s attention.

When they all turned to look at you, you literally couldn’t tell whether you or the huddle of people was more shocked.

They were all Fives.

There was music playing inside, as the deli was full of different versions of your boyfriend, whether they were customers sitting at the tables, drinking coffee or having a meal, reading the newspaper or having a chat. There were also other Fives working around, waiting tables or cooking in the back.

Nonetheless, they all stopped to look at you.

“Yeah, yeah, Y/N is here, carry on, you guys,” The Five that was holding your hand waved the others off with his free hand, “She needs a moment, stop being creeps.”

“I can’t tell if this is a dream come true or my worst nightmare,” You said, looking around the deli, as Five guided you towards an empty booth.

You sat down as the other picked up again whatever they were doing, still watching you with the corner of their eyes. Five took a seat in front of you, still holding onto your hand on top of the table, using his other hand to rub small circles on your skin.

“I am not the Five that dragged you here, in case you didn’t tell yet,” Five managed to say, “But I’m pretty sure that you did, since I know you’re smarter than he gives you credit for.”

“He did mention that this subway system is the knot to multiple timelines,” You sighed, as Waiter Five set down two cups of steaming coffee on the table.

You watched him curiously, as he looked yet again exactly like Five, wearing just a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up, with a black tie, pantsuit pants and a server apron around the waist. He smiled at you warmly, setting down two small packs of sugar and a creamer.

“I’m sorry, my love, we don’t have any Irish Capuccinos around here, since you’re the first Y/N to set foot in here,” He apologetically smiled, “I can only get you a shot of whiskey, if you’d like.”

Of course they all knew your favorite coffee.

“Make it a bottle,” You said, cracking a smile for the first time, causing him to chuckle, before walking away to attend to your order.

“I can’t begin to explain how much I missed your smile, darling,” The Five before you said, as you turned back to him, “The Handler got to the Y/N in my timeline,” He added, as sadness took over his eyes, “I missed you so much.”

“I can’t understand how you’re the same Five that fell in love with Lila,” You said, before quickly adding, “I mean- technically, you’re not, but still.”

“Everyone around here is a different version of me, from a different timeline,” He said, “I’m one of the many that didn’t go down that road.”

“Thank you, I guess,” You laughed, making him smile again.

What a sweet smile it was.

“When I lost you, I was a total wreck,” He confessed, as you couldn’t help but place your other hand on top of his, “I love you so much, Y/N, I could never hurt you like that no matter what. This is all such a fucked up turn of events, but when I saw you coming out of that train, my mind froze.”

“I love you too, Five,” You said, “But I need to wrap my head around what is going on- Everything is insane, I mean I’m right now in the middle of yet another apocalypse, I just found out that you love Lila and there’s just so fucking many of you.”

“I know, my love, I know,” Five nodded, “I wouldn’t dare to ask you accept everything so fast, I know it’s a lot to take in.”

“Can you just… hold me?” You asked, watching as he didn’t waste another second and got up to slide ne t yo you in the booth.

Wrapping one arm around your shoulders to pull you into his chest, he used his other one to caress your hair. You nuzzled your face into his shirt, taking in his scent, as you felt a wave of certitude wash over you. Five held you tightly into his arms, embracing you after years of your absence. He was grateful to have you in his arms once again.

And he was not about to let go anytime soon.

“I’ll always hold you, my love,” Five muttered, peppering small kisses in your hair.

The Five from your timeline watched from behind the window as you took comfort in his arms, but not exactly his arms.

This was only the beginning of his lifelong regret.

[air--so--sweet]

I found out from the production designer's website and an interview he did that the basement kitchen is actually the 'kid's lounge', a space the siblings created for themselves.

And I've been obsessed with it ever since because I feel it gives us more of an idea about what the umbrellas childhoods were like.

Because, okay there's the slightly extravagant things like the pool table and foozball table, but most of it is very simple. A hifi system and a collection of cassettes and CDs (I bet Luther was only allowed have a record collection as part of his special treatment as Number One), what looks like board games and some toys in what used to be the butcher shops fridges and there's another toy next to the hifi system that looks similar to some of the ones we see in Five's room.

And in the scene where Allison and Diego fight Cha Cha we see art supplies as well.

These are just basic things most kids would grow up with but the umbrellas had to create a secret place, away from their father, to have them. It's just desperately sad.

But I also find it kind of beautiful that they worked together to make a place for themselves and I like to imagine the process of it coming together. Them scavenging furniture from the unused academy rooms. One of them finds the table in storage room, or the attic maybe, and then over the next few weeks they manage to take chairs from different rooms until they can all sit at the table together. Coming home from Griddy's one night (sneaking out became a lot easier once they had a separate entrance that their dad didn't know about) they spot an armchair and a sofa left out on the sidewalk and they don't look in too bad a condition so Five jumps back with the armchair while the others carry the sofa home (Five was still getting the hang of jumping with objects, the sofa was still a bit too big for him to manage). Grace catches them stealing food to take downstairs one day and she mentions it to Pogo (who knows about the room since it's right next to his own room, but he chooses to turn a blind eye) and suddenly there's a fridge in the room and Grace makes sure it and the cupboards are always fully stocked, even after the kids are gone (we see Five make a sandwich here when he comes back from the apocalypse). Hargreeves never interacts with Grace much and doesn't pay much attention to the food orders she makes as long as she stays in budget so some extra loaves of bread or jars of peanut butter won't catch his attention.

And Hargreeves never found out about the room because There's no reason for him to go to the basement, the only things in the basement are Pogo's room (so telling that there are 42 bedrooms in the academy but Pogo is relegated to the basement) and a utilitiy room. Viktor's cell is also in the basement but it's accessed by a separate elevator so Hargreeves wouldn't pass the kid's lounge to get to it.

You can tell how important the space was to the siblings as well because of how they use it in adulthood.

It's where they all go when Five returns and where they hangout when in the academy (we see them in the living room too but mostly for family meetings).

When Viktor comes to invite the others to his concert he comes through the butcher shop entrance.

It's where Klaus gathers his brothers when he tells them that he spoke to Reginald the night before.

And, even when he was the only one left living in the academy, Luther ate breakfast there.

It's the only part of the academy they feel is truly theirs and theirs alone. It's their safe place.

[tothosewholisten]

Forever Healed | TUA insert

Chapter: 00

next chapter>>

Masterlist

…

On the 12th hour of the first day of October 1989. 43 women around the world gave birth. This was unusual in the fact that none of these women had been pregnant when the day first began.

Sir Reginald Hargeeves, eccentric billionaire and adventurer, resolved to locate and adopt as many of the children as possible.

He got seven of them, yes seven.

..

MARCH 21, 2019

I have to be at least somewhat proud of myself for lasting this long. I thought as I sat on the bus, not everyday you are born with magical powers and are destined to save the world from evil. Yes, hearing myself think that sounds crazy. But that's normal in my life.

I had reached my stop after a half an hour of sitting with my earbuds in, listening to nothing at all. I just wanted to seem unapproachable on the sketchy city bus.

My destination was a terribly designed office building, the space was so crammed and ugly it made me want to turn right back around and get on that bus again. But I didn't because I was trying to convince myself that this would be good for me, but I didn't believe my words.

I was about to have a therapy session with some middle-aged white lady who has glasses and tell her all of my life issues, starting every week at 5pm..

It's not like I had anything else going on, I haven't had work for days now. So I thought I'd give it a shot.

The waiting process made me anxious as hell, I finally got the courage to walk up to the front desk and gave the man who sat there my name. And now I have to wait for this lady to get done with some other patient.

I sat on a chair and frowned, like she is really going to be focused on "my" problems and not the 30 other people she sees today.

I swear it was only a second into me zoning out when I heard my name yelled. "Y/n L/n? It's so nice to meet you!" A woman said, when i looked up at her i saw the exact lady i was describing earlier to the closest details.

I let her lead me to a smaller room that looked way better than the lobby. It had two chairs, a water machine, some fidget items and a large window view of the city. Gloria, I learn to be the name of my therapist, asks me to sit with her.

She clears her throat, "I know this is our first session so you may not be the most comfortable sharing details. But I'd like to know a little bit about you if you're okay sharing."

“Well, I’m 29 years old and a home care nurse.” I say slowly. Hearing the words leave my mouth I knew I haven’t amounted to a lot in my years.

"Oh wow, 29? I would've never guessed that Y/n, you don't look a day over 21" Gloria complimented me i give her a tiny smile in return.

I'm not sure why that is, I get that a lot in my working field. Older women saying that they wished they looked as young as me.

"That's a great start for today's session." She smiles, "A little bit me is, you know my name already but I'm 56 years old since Monday. I have 3 children and a cat named Mr. Furball."

I regret what i said earlier because I think I already like Gloria and not just because of Mr. Furball. But the fact that she has a calming sense about her. I find myself listening to what she's saying, and I rarely do that with people nowadays.

"But I would like to hear more about your upbringing, how’d you become the fine young lady you are today?" She says.

Oh, she wants to hear about my childhood. I mean I knew she would ask but so soon, I'm worried about saying anything. So I told her that.

"I'm worried about opening up to someone about my past cause well I've never done it before." I said.

She hands me a cup of water. "That's okay Y/n, we can take it at your pace."

“I grew up in a small house with my mom and dad until I was twelve. When I was scouted by Reginald Hargreeves because of my unique abilities. And I've been there ever since I was 18 when I moved out to live on my own.” I waited for the burst of confusion I was about to get from Gloria. Not everyday one of the Umbrella Academy walks into your office.

“Oh wow…” she says, eyes wide. “You're one of those superheroes? That’s amazing wow.” She nervously chuckles “I’m sorry I’m normally not this shocked about things, and I hear a lot on the daily.”

“It’s okay” I say, staring at my hands.

She clears her throat. “I'm sure being apart of the Umbrella Academy was big but could you tell me about your life before that?”

I closed my eyes for a couple of seconds, pictured my childhood in my brain and opened my mouth.

"Well, I'm sure to this day my father still thinks that my mother cheated on him, due to his "daughter's" virgin Mary-like creation since they were just newlyweds. He held it against my mother all of her life." I took a sip of water and continued.

"I'm not sure why he turned to alcohol. But that turned out as you could expect. He turned on everyone around him and acted like a beast. He regularly attacked my mom for anything she did wrong. But what made him more angry was that his freak of a daughter could heal her mother, after every beating."

"My mom told me before I left I had made her so much happier and in her words. She didn't even question these strange occurrences; she knew her baby was special." I smiled a bit.

I could tell that Gloria was painting a picture in her head of what I was describing too.

"And by the age of 8, I was standing up to my father, even if it didn't end so well. I'd get the beating instead but by the next day, my bloody body would be as good as new. On the surface at least, I had lots of internal issues from that time. But none of that stopped my father from trying to get equal with me.." I stopped talking after that.

My eyes could only focus on my right hand as it was picking at my left hand's skin. It was a habit I picked up as soon as I started to use my powers because I knew my skin would be right back to normal in the next few minutes.

"That's awful y/n I'm so sorry." She frowned. "Would you be okay with continuing?"

I blink up at her. “Yes, that would be okay,” I said. “Then there was this one day..”

..

17 YEARS AGO

“In five, four, three, two. This is Jim Hellerman, reporting live for channel 2 News outside of the Capital West Bank at Main and Sixth. A group of heavily armed men stormed the bank not three hours ago and took an unknown number of hostages.”

That was the big news update of September 2002, I remember. Well I don’t really have to think about it much because I was there with my mom at the bank. She planned on making some deposit when we were screamed at, not to leave by a man who had his gun pointed at us along with so many other civilians. He taped us up and told us to stand in a corner.

That was the first and only time I feared for my life. Police didn’t want them to start shooting, so they didn’t come into the building. Meaning that we were on our own and could die at anytime

One of the armed men walks into the scene unfolding. Sirens blaring, people getting shoved around and threats being made to the innocent.

“Now you’ve put me in a position where I gotta do something I don't want to do. Hmm?” He said talking to another person on his walkie talkie.

My mom brought me closer to her trying to use her body as a shield if things went south. And to us we thought they were about to be.

But strangely, a girl walked up to the man. She’d looked to be around my age in a school uniform and cartoon mask. Her loose curls bounced in the wind as she skipped up to him.

“Shit!” He screams putting his device down. Not noticing the girl until a few seconds after his outburst. “Hey, get back with the others.” He told her, trying to sound intimidating but she didn’t seem to fear him at all.

“I heard a rumor.” She spoke out.

He bent a little to reach her height and get in her face. “What? What did you say?”

She leaned in and cupped her hand to mimic whispering in his ear but loud enough for all of us to hear. “I heard a rumor that you shot your friend in the foot.”

Without any hesitation he did what she commanded and shot the nearest armed man who happened to be trying to rough up my mom. We screamed as he kept shooting.

“We just heard shots from inside the bank. It’s uncertain if any hostages have been harmed in that.”

“There’s some movement on the roof. Possibly law enforcement.”

A loud crash and a boy landed down from the roof. It was crazy he wasn’t harmed at all from that high distance. He was also wearing the same mask and uniform as the girl but he had blond hair. From where he landed he jumped on one of the robbers and started beating him to a pulp, and then throwing him out a glass window.

“Looks like one of the armed robbers had been thrown from the bank.”

Another boy with brown hair runs in from the opposite doors as the girl and yells. “Guns are for sissies. Real men throw knives.” He then threw one of his knives and it curved in the air hitting a robber no where close to where the knife had originally been heading. It was incredible.

“I've been in many hostage situations like this, and it can escalate very quickly.”

The original man hops on a table pointing his gun out at the two of the before seen children plus another one. “Get back you freaks” he says walking back and forth in fear.

“Hey, be careful up there, buddy.” The knife boy calls out.

“Get back now!” The man screams.

“Yeah, I wouldn't want you to get hurt.” The girls mocking voice says.

Right before my eyes another boy teleports behind the man, sitting criss-cross on the table. “Or what?” He said calmly.

The man turns around and shoots at him but before the bullets could hit he teleports again. This time standing up with his arms crossed, clearly not impressed. But the man tries to shoot again.

“Ooh! That’s one badass stapler!” The boy laughs. The man no longer had a gun anymore but a stapler placed in his hand by the kid instead. The boy shoves the stapler into his face and the big man falls back, head hitting the floor before his body does.

“Although there’s been no activity for a few minutes, we’re gonna stay live on location to make sure we don’t miss a thing. In this hostage situation at the Capital West bank.”

The five already counted for children make way for the last and shortest one to make his move. “Do we really need to do this?” He talks quietly.

The blonde one replies to him. “Come on, Ben. There’s more guys in the vault.” So his name was Ben huh?

Ben sighs, “I didn't sign up for this.” Before walking into the room with more people. Large black tendrils illuminated the room as men screaming could be heard behind the door. And a beast roars but then the sound stops and Ben walks out again, this time covered in blood and guts.

He breathes heavily. “Can we go home now?” I felt bad for him.

The kids untied our hands and told us to run. And once it was clear to go my mom started to run out of the doors thinking I was right behind her.

“Now we see the hostages. They— They’re free. They’re scared clearly but they do seem to be unharmed.”

But I was behind her trying to help this older woman who’d slipped on the floor. As I was helping her, the kids walked out too.

“People are coming out now. It’s not the armed robbers. These are schoolchildren in uniforms with masks on. Jim Hellerman, Channel 2 News.”

But there was one not accounted for robber, the one from earlier who had been shot in the foot. I started to run out and call out to my mom who was outside. When the man got up from the floor, cocked his gun and shot at the kids.

Fortunately, he missed them but the bullet hit me.

Questions being asked to the children stopped when they saw my body flail onto the floor outside of the bank doors. I was shot right in the chest. There was blood everywhere and it started to leak over to where the kids were standing. They turned around to see where it was coming from..

Everyone looked horrified and there was a bunch of screaming. Mainly from my mother who was wailing as she ran over to hold me to her chest screaming for me to wake up. And that will be engraved in my memory forever after this day, I never wanted to hear her like this ever again.

Police started to rush over but in a matter of minutes, a miracle seemed to happen. At least to the city that is. There was a yellowish glow around my chest and the blood seemed to have reversed back into my body. Even the stains on my blue dress were gone. The bullet even spit out of my chest; it was truly witchcraft.

My eyes then shot open as I started to breathe in and out.

I don't exactly remember what I felt during those moments but I'm sure I left those people around me stunned. After all this was their first look at powers.

I couldn't care what the paramedics were talking about above my body. I was focused on the 6 children looking at me bewildered as well as the old-looking man with them and whatever my mom was saying at the time.

I was put on a stretcher and rushed to a hospital for evaluations after the pandemics came but they never found anything. It was like everything was perfectly reattached.

But as I was leaving I could see the news reporters zeroing in on the kids trying to get the details on how these children saved the bank from thievery.

“Our world is changing.” The man spoke to the crowd. “Has changed. There are some among us gifted with abilities far beyond the ordinary.” He said looking back at the children. But they weren’t paying attention, some were staring at my ambulance and some eyes were on the ground.

“I have adopted seven such children. I give you the inaugural class of the Umbrella Academy.”

I now realize thinking back, the seventh person he was talking about was me..

..

PRESENT DAY

My mouth felt like it was moving faster than my brain so I took a pause and chugged the rest of my water cup.

Once again Glorias eyes were wide open. As she took some notes down in a notebook I never noticed beyond this point.

"Uh once I got home I remember the house phone noise filled my house with its nonstop ring, the other person on the phone would change my life forever when he came in.”

“And who was that person?" Gloria asked.

"Reginald Hargeeves, eccentric billionaire and caring father from what the public knew.." I rolled my eyes.

"So I'm guessing it wasn't really like that" she asked carefully.

"He was never a father really, more like a hard state-national basketball coach." She wrote that down.

"I guess it was a hard decision for my parents to make well, my mother. My father was ready to give me up as soon as Reginald stepped foot in my small house."

"And I'm sure they thought there was nothing bad about the offer they were given, he promised I'd be raised in a steady environment with the best schooling and my powers would be used for the greater good. And in exchange, my parents would get a large sum of money for my absence."

"What were you doing during this?" Gloria worried.

"I think I was just sitting right there next to my mom actually. I definitely didn't understand at that point what was happening to me. Still thinking about the events of that day.”

"And then I was being taken out of my only home in the blink of an eye. I resisted the people taking me, starting with screaming and then kicking and then running. Back to my mom's arms, Reginald himself had to pull me away from her. The deal had already been struck and there was no taking me back."

Now looking back at my hands I could only see small teardrops on my palms. Gloria reached for a tissue from the other side of the room. "Thank you," I said as I wiped my eyes.

"I like to think that my mom was upset that day but the memory has already started to fade as I reached adulthood.

You know after that day I was no longer 'Y/n L/n' no, I was known by my new name.. Zero Hargeeves."

..

I decided that was the end of my story, at least for now because I couldn't place the pieces together anymore. I was full-on sobbing at that point.

Gloria decided to bring up something more light to talk about next but I don't remember what it was because I'd zoned out and thought about the cat she'd told me about earlier.

The two hours seemed to fly by because the last thing I heard her say was if I didn't have anything else to talk about then that would be the end of the session. My legs seemed to move on their own as I walked out of that building. I would come back at the same time next week and honestly, I think therapy was for the best. I forgot about how I felt about all these things for the longest time.

I started the journey back to the bus stop, stopping to look in the windows of shops.

Shops like bakeries and bookstores and other things like that. Until I came to a stop in front of a store with a TV sticking out in the window.

My eyes scanned the screen and they went wide. The lady on the news had a somber expression as someone died. I was feeling sad for the person's family, but then I read the red-blaring headline.

The person who died was Reginald Hargeeves...

...

Aug 14 update:

If you'd like to be added to the tag list for rest of the series (starts at chapter 10) say taglist in the comments!

[mortal-song]

the problem with tua's ending is that it was IMPOSSIBLE to do without retconning and defacing the themes and characterizations that have been central to the story since the very first episode. if you had to end it that way, if it really was "the plan all along," then fine. there ARE good ways to do that -- so the execution should have been much different here if that was the case. take a look at "the good place," for example. everyone ceased to exist at the end of that story as well, but it was beautifully done because it ADDED to the show's core themes rather than take away from them. tua's ending was hollow and unavailing. at some point i have to commend the precision with which someone can desecrate an entire series and certain characters (looking at five, diego and lila especially) like this.

it made no sense. diego and lila formed a beautiful (albeit chaotic) relationship built upon mutual trust and authentic love that neither of them had ever experienced before. it was something they were teaching each other and learning together. that was a new beginning to them, and it was painted as such by the narrative. at no point were there hints that things would go sideways, no build up. every time they stumbled in the past it was still right back into each other's arms. at no point did their chaos look like an ending until it was shoved in our faces for... shock value? to shake things up? i fail to understand where it came from. they were relentlessly devoted to each other and the only two people who could stand each other for long. and so what became of them was very jarring. very messy.

five's ENTIRE character has been focused on and motivated by one thing: saving the people he loves. to the point that he was willing to let his own humanity become a forgone ideal, a renounced concept, as many times as it took. to the point that he essentially INVENTED TIME TRAVEL and INVENTED THE COMMISSION TO REGULATE IT. five's stoic exterior only barely concealed the claw-grip he had on every single family member, so why forget it now? why choose to go back on that? and in what world would five hargreeves willingly wait MONTHS to return to his family? because he was SUDDENLY in love with lila, no less? forgetting the very apparent fact that his age and body are not in alignment, five had never shown any interest in romance. especially not towards lila. but they do have very similar backgrounds, and so this was a chance to enrich the mutual understanding five and lila have with each other, expand the familial connections they have, especially seeing as how both of them -- in their own ways -- spent most of their life without that sort of connection.

ben's entire arc felt so, so out of place. completely and very ironically isolated from the entire rest of the series. nothing about it was fulfilling, nothing about it offered any sense of closure or even development. jennifer made no sense even as a plot device, much less as her own character. these two brought out nothing in each other.

klaus had the foundations of a good arc, but too much was introduced in too small an amount of time and none of it really went anywhere. i can say roughly the same for allison and viktor. THAT being said, of most of the scenes i did find myself genuinely enjoying this season, THOSE three were usually at the center! in fact, i really did love the scenes with klaus, allison, and claire. so that's cool. i guess. luther? he was just kind of... there?

and ray just fucked off with no explanation? okay. and reginald? until this point he had all the qualities of a potentially VERY GOOD and nuanced villain. his arc fell flat. and let's not forget all the other loose ends, but, you know, we've been here long enough. so. onto the next point.

none of these characters got to heal. none of them ever got to revel in anything meaningful, or, rather, the things that WERE meaningful across the whole series were rendered worthless because... none of it exists anymore! none of it ever existed! this is like an "it was all a dream" ending but much worse. and these characters are so, so incredible. i can only name a few other stories that have had characters i've connected to this deeply. and despite everything i could never really stop loving them. that makes it hurt more though tbh

anyways. i know i'm about to sound incredibly dramatic but the ending made me sob my lungs out. this show was really important to me. it led me to incredible people, other incredible stories, helped me live, etc. but i honestly found myself wishing i'd just never watched this series at all. the ending was eviscerating and Just Fucking Pointless. i don't think i'm ever going to be able to rewatch it. it's still hard for me to conceptualize that it was even real, that this is all we get. there's a lot more i could say about everything, but again, i've said a lot already and i'm not trying to write a fucking novel. i'll say more of what i want to in sporadic bursts i guess.

[minnielvrr]

Day 22. Possessed

Lee: Jeongin Ler: Chan Word Count: 3.1k

A/N: it's been a while since i posted a fic hehe (sorry about that)😅 I hope you guys like this🤗💖

Tags: @itzsana-kiddingmenow, @lajanaa, @bbybumblelee, @hearted-anon, @lunalattae,

@reginald-stay09, @jungwon-is-the-one

Chan first discovered it one night, absentmindedly petting FoxI.Ny’s belly as he began drifting off to sleep. Meanwhile, Jeongin was humming in the shower, but his rhythmic tune quickly shifted into shrieky cackles.

And at first, Chan had been concerned, calling out to check on the maknae only to be waved off. Pouting at how Jeongin didn’t care for his affection anymore, he whined to the plush, brushing his fingers over its sides and ribs.

To throw a mini tantrum, he poked at where he assumed the little fox’s navel would be, digging in and wiggling his finger around. He’d do this to Innie too when he catches him later.

“He used to be so cute, all ‘Channie hyung this’ and ‘Channie hyung that’,” he complained, the featherlight brushing of his fingertips turning into harsher pokes to the doll’s torso that eventually morphed into scribbles over the soft material.

And for every stroke of his finger, Chan registered that the maknae’s laughter grew louder and louder until he was stumbling out of the bathroom. A towel was wrapped hastily around his hips, and bubbles of soap lined his broad shoulders.

Jeongin’s wide eyes and flushed cheeks made him look both surprised and completely helpless. His hands were clutching his sides tightly as water dripped on to the floor, forming a puddle at his feet.

His laughs were bordering on hysterical at this point and it was starting to alarm the leader. Their maknae had never acted like this before… and yet the whole scene felt vaguely familiar.

Jeongin’s face was beet red and he was gasping for breath as he flailed and scrambled about, his fingers scratching at his exposed torso as he attempted to get rid of the phantom sensations.

“Stop, stop stahahap!!” He pleaded, seemingly to no one. The leader was just about to rush to the younger’s side when his thumb accidentally prodded the plushie’s belly and Innie squealed loudly, flinching as he tried to cover his tummy too.

Chan paused. “No way…” he murmured, looking from the plush in his hands to the boy sputtering and giggling outside their bathroom.

Chan paused mid-poke, fingers hovering over the little plush as he quickly pieced together what was happening. He stared at the doll in his hands and then at the giggling, scrambling boy on the other side of the room.

“No way… could this actually be…?” he wondered, an impish grin spreading across his face. To test his theory, he gently kneaded FoxI.Ny’s sides, watching with brimming glee as Jeongin shrieked, clutching at his own. “This… is going to be fun.”

Stuffing FoxI.Ny under his pillow, he hopped off the bed and sprinted over to Innie whose knees had given out. Chan gently rubbed his back as the younger wheezed, his hand pressed to his chest.

“Innie, what’s going on?” He asked, doing his best to keep a poker face. He had a pretty good idea what was going on, but he wanted to hear Jeongin admit it.

“I-I’m not sure hyungie. I was taking a shower one moment and then I suddenly felt like I was being tickled all over. It was so scary, I thought it’d never stop.” Innie stammered out, breathing shakily.

He was trembling, arms wrapped around himself protectively and Chan felt like the worst person ever. He hadn’t at all intended to make his baby uncomfortable.

Standing up, he walked over to the bed and grabbed the doll. His abrupt actions puzzled Innie enough to direct his focus to Chan who held up the little doll.

He bit back a laugh, trying to look as nonchalant as possible as an excited buzz filled him.

‘Maybe just one more poke…Just one?’ He thought, his fingers twitching with barely-contained mischief but he decided to hold back. Perhaps it would be even more fun when Jeongin actually knew what was going on.

“That’s…. FoxI.Ny.” The maknae looked confused. Chan smiled a little, scraping his nail softly over the little fox’s tummy and in turn, Jeongin jolted, grabbing at his stomach as he giggled breathlessly.

“Oh.” The maknae looked even more puzzled than before, then as Chan brought a pair of wiggling fingers to hover over the doll, he shrieked. “Hyung, no! Please youhu have nohoho idea how bahad it tihickles,” he implored and Chan relented.

“Okay okay, you finish your night routine and then we can have our fun.” The leader set the doll down gingerly on his pillow and brought his hands up in a surrendering gesture.

“You mean your fun, right? You’ll just be torturing me!” Innie teased with a sparkle in his eyes.

“Hey, don’t even try to pretend like you don’t love it just as much as I do!” Innie poked his tongue out at him and shut the door to the bathroom behind him, leaving Chan to plan just how well he’d wreck his baby soon.

Innie took… much longer than usual to finish up, spending the better part of an hour hiding behind the pretense of completing his hair, skin and nail care. Chan let him, finding the younger’s nervousness endearing to the highest level.

He wondered if the other plushies around their dorm also had the same effect and not wanting to suffer the same fate he was going to inflict on Innie soon, he ventured out to find it.

He found both Wolf Chan and Leebit sitting on their dining table, sandwiched between two mugs as PuppyM stood over them with a fork taped to his hand and an unnerving smile on his face.

Chan giggled at the setup. Of course, Seungmin’s son was reigning supreme, even in their world.

He tucked Wolf Chan safely away in his hoodie, holding the other two in one hand and used his free hand to scribbled at their hips.

It earned him twin shrieks from Lixie’s room and a barrage of squabbling ensued when Minho and Seungmin began accusing everyone around them.

Chan didn’t wait around, zooming into the kitchen where he found Bbok.Ari hugging Dwaekki while Jiniret and Han Quokka guarded over their fruit basket with straws as their weapons of choice.

He gathered them all into his arms, stuffing some of the plushie in his hoodie pocket before making his way back to his room, buzzing with excitement. Every plushie he tucked into his hoodie felt like a new secret weapon.

Just thinking about his baby’s cute giggles and desperate pleas made him want to squeal with joy. He walked in on Jeongin searching the room desperately.

“Looking for this, Innie?” He called, watching with building amusement at the way the maknae flinched, then stilled. “Hyung…. I was just…”

The way he stood made Chan want to laugh. Innie looked so small and adorable, his hair still damp from the shower and the apples of his cheeks beginning to glow with a pink hue.

“You’re not running away from me, Innie~ I can find you with a simple swipe riiiight—ACK!” The moment he brought the plush out, Jeongin lunged, tackling Chan to the floor and stuffed his hands in the older’s armpits.

“Noahahahaha thihihis ihisn’t hohohow thihis wahas suppohosed tohoho gohohoho!!”

Chan gasped, giggles bubbling up as he struggled, arms wrapping tightly around the plushies he currently had on his person. Jeongin’s fingers were ruthless, digging into the centers of his pits— a spot the younger knew well to be Chan’s weak point.

“How’s that feel hyung-ah? Should I keep you giggling so sweetly for meHEHE—AH NOHOHOHO!!” While Jeongin was busy taunting him, the leader had found his doll, focusing all his effort on drilling into FoxI.Ny’s underarms.

The youngest fell back with a screech, kicking his feet and shaking his head as a wide, dimpled smile made its way to his face.

Catching his breath, Chan couldn’t help but grin, his heart swelling at Jeongin’s desperate laughter. Gosh, Innie was just too cute when he was like this

His face always lit up in the most adorable shade of pink, with little splotches of red deepening as the ticklish sensations got to him.

“What’s wrong Innie? You were so smug just a minute ago! Can’t take what you dish out?” Chan teased; eyes gleaming when the effects of his words manifested in the form of Jeongin’s pretty face being shoved into a pillow.

“Youhuhu ahahahre soHOHOHO UNFAHAHAIR CHAHAHANNIE HYUHUHUNG!” He whined, helpless through a stream of uncontrollable cackles.

“Now, be good for me, baby. Let me hear those pretty laughs,” Chan murmured, easing the pillow away with a soft, almost fond smile.

Exposed, the poor boy tried crawling away, twisting and rolling around to escape. However, the attempt only served to amuse the older.

“nahahAHAHAHA, NOHOT THEHEHERE! PLEASE HYUHUHUNG OHOHO MYHY GAHAHAD!!”

Jeongin staggered around, finally collapsing onto the floor in a fit of cackles when Chan aimed for the plushie's hips. He yelped, hands flying down to his own and clawing at the skin.

Somehow even his touch tickled, his raking fingers sending more shockwaves up his spine and frying his brain. It seemed that no matter what he did, he was well and truly at the mercy of their leader.

When twisting and turning didn’t seem to work either, Innie resorted to punching the fluffy carpet near their bed, eyes tearing up and cheeks aching from laughing so much.

“Yah keep it down, you’re gonna wake everyone up,” the oldest chided lightly, giggling at the way Innie struggled to retort but his words were swallowed by another onslaught of laughter.

“Ihihihim tryhyhyhing! Ihihim tryahahahaying!! Hyuhuhung ahahahahahahaha!!” It was even more fun knowing that while Chan knew that the rest were awake, sweet, naive Innie did not.

“Slohohow dohohohown!! Chahannie hyuhuhung pleheHEASE!!” He begged, hands clamping over his face to muffle his sounds but he couldn’t help but be loud with the way Chan’s fingers danced over the plushie’s vulnerable body.

“Okay.” And just like that, Chan let up. Jeongin gasped for breath, shooting a suspicious look over to the older. “That easy?” He asked, eyes narrowed.

“I never said this was over~ Now, how about a deal? I’ll stop if you give me a kiss, right here.” He tapped his cheek, eyes crinkling when Jeongin gagged playfully.

“No? Well then… Oh! I can finally get you to admit it with this!” Chan gasped out suddenly, eyes wide and bright and brimming with mischief.

And with that, the older’s hands were back. Chan resumed lightly, just tracing the tips of his fingers teasingly over FoxI.Ny’s sides and up his arms.

The action had Innie letting out the softest giggles, squirming from where he lay on the floor. “Nohohoho, nohohot agahahahahain!”

“Geez, how are you already laughing baby? I really can’t believe how ticklish you are.” The way Chan said it, completely matter of fact, without any teasing just made it worse. But Innie powered through. It’s not like he had a lot of options here.

The sweet sounds warmed Chan’s heart, his own smile stretching wide as he watched the youngest melt under his touch.

“Ahadmit whahahat?” Innie’s voice was growing more incoherent by the second. “That you actually really love the affection we show you!” Chan looked a little too determined for Innie to think he was bluffing.

“Ihihihi dohoHOHON’T!!” He tried protesting but the oldest wouldn’t hear it.

“Okay be that way then maknae-ah~ I’m not the one who’s gonna be tickled out of his mind.”

The softness didn’t last long, though. The leader walked over to him, and ticking the plushie with one hand he used the other to alternate tickling the same spot or a different spot on Innie's body.

“Ahhh IhihIHI HAHAHAHATE YOUHUHUHU!!” Jeongin giggled frantically, jerking away, when Chan changed spots, as if he could escape the torment.

The overlapping sensations sent the poor boy into hysterics, voice high pitched and rough as he howled with laughter. He fought weakly against Chan, but the older clearly had the upper hand here.

“FUHUHUHUCK HYUHUHUNG YOUHUH’RE KIHIHILLIHING MEHEHEHE!!” He all but wailed, Chan tsking at him to not be so dramatic.

There was no hope of the sweet torture ending and the younger boy started to feel a little light headed and buzzed, eyes dropping with exhaustion and laughter slowly dying down.

Jeongin’s resolve was broken easily. The exhaustion from the day and the older’s ruthless actions chipping away at the remains of his willpower.

“FIHIHINE IHIhi lohove youhuhur affectiohon!” He giggled out with the lasts of his breath, Innie’s laughter going silent soon after.

It was then that Chan stopped, helping him sit up and bringing an uncapped bottle of water to his lips. He drank the cool liquid in a daze, giggles still spilling out as random tingles zoomed over his skin.

He felt hyper aware now of where the leader's hands rested around his waist, flinching at the slightest movement.

Chan laughed at him, assuring him that he would be spared in exchange for a kiss and by now, the maknae was too exhausted to put up any act of disgust.

So, he leaned over and pecked Chan's cheek, huffing out a laugh at the blush that flooded the older's face.

Chan was so adorably transparent with his emotions. He leaned in again and pecked Chan's other cheek just so he could watch their usually bold eldest break down into shy giggles, hiding his face in Jeongin's chest.

“Stooop!” He whined, growing flustered from the younger’s unexpected affection.

And feeling suddenly emboldened by Chan’s reactions, Jeongin cupped his face, littering kisses on every inch of skin he could reach.

Then he sat back, still holding Chan's face up to look at him as his skin grew hotter under Innie's hands and redder under his amused gaze.

"You're so cute hyung." He told him, sending a scribble to his side as he got up and brushed himself off before climbing in bed—specifically in Chan's bed.

That night, he cuddled the oldest for a change, which allowed him gleeful little perks like leaning over to whisper to Chan every way he'd tickle him, all the different techniques he'd use on each of the leader's worst spots once he had Wolf Chan in his hands. He tapped over the spots for emphasis, thoroughly enjoying how each touch made the older jerk in his hold.

"I won't let you escape hyung-ah. I'm going to wring out all your squeakiest laughs and I'm going to record it. And what if I even get you to snort?”

Chan squeaked, trying to cover his ear but Jeongin wrapped his arms around him, pinning Chan’s own to his sides and rendering them useless.

"There's no escape hyungie~" He cooed in the older's ear. For once, he had hyung right where he wanted him, and he wasn’t going to let the opportunity slip.

“Maybe Hannie hyung or Binnie hyung would use it in our next song~ Just imagine it, your cute little squeals for STAY to hear! They’d love it so much!" He mused softly, smirking when Chan's ears burned and the older squirmed in his hold, breath hitching and stuttering at his words.

"What's the matter, hyung? If just hearing about it makes you this flustered, I can't wait for the real thing." He teased. Jeongin knew it was mean, he also knew how much Chan liked being teased despite how shy he got.

He gently petted the older’s hair, helping him calm down from the embarrassment. Chan eventually gave him the little plush, smoothening his hands over its ruffled fur one last time before Jeongin snatched it away.

Then the older turned and pulled him into a hug; the kind that seemed to last for ages and take away every last bit of your strength. The kind that makes your worries and fears and insecurities fade feel not as heavy anymore.

He nestled his face into Chan’s shoulder, letting himself relax completely and enjoying the warmth radiating from Chan’s embrace.

Chan didn’t speak, didn’t say anything and he appreciated that. It made him feel cherished in a way he hadn’t quite expected.

It’s was nice, he thought, how Chan could make him feel so safe just by being close. Playfulness aside, there was something grounding about being held like this, something that made him feel… protected.

Chan’s hugs were like his own quiet version of healing, an unspoken promise of comfort that Jeongin had come to depend on more than he’d ever admit.

Feeling a swell of gratitude, Jeongin gave Chan’s arm a gentle squeeze, letting his eyes drift shut as he whispered, “Thanks, hyung. I mean it.”

The next morning, a lot of things seemed suddenly much more exciting. Rested and ready, the duo now had a secret weapon against everyone else in the band.

The two plotting against Minho this way. The next day, Chan tackled Minho during one of their breaks between dance practices, hands immediately going to the younger's ribs and vibrating into the crevices.

As he did, he glanced up, making eye contact with Jeongin, twin smirks appearing before Innie pulled out Leebit and began tickling roughly over its belly.

The maknaes fingers were quick, flitting about, one hand easily becoming two as Minho gasped, his hands shooting down to his belly from where they'd been grappling with Chan's.

“Get ohohohoff!! Youhuhuhuhu’re heheavyhy and groHOHOSS!!” He squealed, back arching and head thrown back as he struggled. Minho's attempts to hold his frown were truly admirable, but ultimately useless.

He couldn't see who was tickling his stomach, feeling pretty sure that both of Chan's hands were busy at his ribs. Not knowing his other attacker only made Minho feel more sensitive.

“Fuhuhuhuhck CHAHAHAHANNIE HYUHUHUNG PLEHEHEASE!!” He begged, helplessly struggling to escape.

But he wasn't allowed the luxury of having anything more than surface level thoughts when another pair of hands began squeezing his thighs and curling under his knees. Insults and retorts rose and died at the tip of his tongue.

And no matter how hard Minho kicked out, the movements didn't so much as pause, sending him spiraling into a giggly demise. How tragic.

This was what teamwork looked like—or at least, what their teamwork looked like. Perfectly in sync, with Chan’s hands scribbling over Minho’s hips and Jeongin’s own squeezing and poking his sides.

Together, the two reduced poor, ticklish Minho to a mess of laughter. His clothes and hair ruffled beyond help and neck and ears painted a beautiful shade of crimson.

They didn’t let up on their victim until the 15-minute break was over, Minho looking like he’d run a marathon as he lay limp on the floor.

“I’ll get you back Chan-ah!” The kitten vowed from his spot, “both you and your sneaky little helper!” But his flushed cheeks and teary eyes dampened the weight of his threat.

Chan and Jeongin shared a look, grinning smugly to themselves. There was still much, much more fun to be had and mischief to be dealt before they gave away their little secret.

[em1989ts]

𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏

chapter one. series masterlist. main masterlist.

five hargreeves x reader

word count: 1.6k

book summary: five hargreeves gets lost in time and your father forces you to go after him, leaving you to get lost in a completely different kind of solitude. after decades, you meet at the hands of the handler, except you're not exactly happy to work with him after what he did. the two of you agree to put your differences aside until you save the world. how hard could that be?

author's note: this is the beginning of a story that i've been planning since august so now i'm finally writing about it! i'm more focused on uploading this for wattpad but i decided why not post it here as well. i plan on writing s1-s4 (hopefully i have the motivation) so please let me know your thoughts !! reblogs and comments much appreciated :)

On the 12th hour of the first day of October 1989, 43 women around the world gave birth. This was unusual only in the fact that none of these women had been pregnant when the day first began.

 Sir Reginald Hargreeves, eccentric billionaire and adventurer, resolved to locate and adopt as many of the children as possible.

He got eight of them. 

~~~~~

“Don’t do it.” 

Five Hargreeves stood in front of the mirror in his room, his back to the door. The bell for breakfast was going to ring soon, but his mind wasn’t on a healthy start to the day. Minimal morning light entered his room through the edges of his curtains, his room remaining dark and motionless. He hadn’t noticed her pass by his room and turn around after catching a glimpse of his still figure in the corner of her eye. He hadn’t noticed her retrace her few steps and lean against the doorframe. He only noticed her presence once she announced it with solemn discouragement. 

He had been contemplating for days. He knew he was ready for this. He told himself so. He couldn’t back down at this point, he had already set his mind to it. Backing down would look weak. He wasn’t weak. 

His expression was stoic as he stared at himself for a moment longer, then turned to face her at the door. 

Without her domino mask, her face remained impassive. She rarely displayed any emotion, except for the fact that her face at rest made her seem constantly angered. But as of right now, she showed no frown, no furrowed brow, not even a blink. 

They stood a few feet apart. Once he looked directly in her eyes he could see a sliver of something. He knew she didn’t want him to leave. He just thought she underestimated him, that she didn’t believe in him, that she was envious of him. But that look in her eye told him a different story. Something he’d never seen in her before, not that he ever paid too close of attention to her or anything like that. They had never gotten along. They never cared or looked out for each other, so why was she pulling this now?

She watched him intensely, almost staring through his soul, trying to reach though him to his conscious and convince him not to make the biggest mistake of his life. 

But they wouldn’t know it. Not then, anyway. 

The breakfast bell rang and the doors of the other children opened up swiftly as they filed through the hallway in a swift, orderly fashion to get to their assigned places in efficient time. 

Neither Five nor Eight moved. They stayed staring into each other's eyes trying to communicate something through their unintelligible irises. They’d played this game before. Intense staring contests in hopes of the other backing down, awarding a feeling of eminence to the victor until the next time they decided to face head to head. 

This time, her eyes weren’t challenging. They were pleading, vulnerable to his attacks in the hopes he’ll stand down and listen to her for once. His eyes were defensive. He trusted himself and that was all he needed. His stature grew colder until he walked over to her position against the doorframe. 

She shuddered as he got closer. He seemed so lost yet so certain. She could feel it in the darkness that morning that something was about to go horribly wrong. She heard it through the shadows. 

Five would never understand this interaction. Not until years later. He never knew how she could have known, especially since she hadn’t been trusted with his plans for time travel. 

He stopped in front of her less stoic, more distraught face. He looked through his angered eyes into hers. 

“Watch me.” 

~

She never went down to breakfast that day. Knowing exactly what happened after he rushed to his place behind his chair. They sat and ate, he stood up, played his cards, failed, and ran off like the scared child he was. 

She watched him though the velvet curtains that obscured her normally pitch black room from the outside world. The light was let in, casting her face in a warm haze as she watched him run off. Free. Arrogant. Until a flash of blue light took him away. 

Letting go of the curtain, the sunlight vanished from her room, leaving her in her usual darkness, feeling her usual repugnance. She knew she would be reprimanded by her father for not going downstairs. She didn’t want to face him, not while knowing her own failure.  

She could have tried harder. She could have done more. That’s what everyone would tell her. 

She could have cared more. But she didn’t. Not at this moment in time anyway. 

She could’ve made him fall into his own shadow, leaving him no possibility of escape. 

But she didn’t. 

There was no arguing with Five. His thirteen year old self was difficult. He was so prideful that there was no chance he would ever back down from whatever he set his mind to. He would never admit being wrong or at fault.

He would come to regret this. 

He would regret the fact that he never listened to his father. How he never listened to Eight as she tried to stop him, to help him for once in her life. 

Once Reginald Hargreeves realized that Number Five had lost himself in time, he did what he could to retrieve the child. He also decided to double this rescue mission as a punishment for Number Eight. 

~ 

“You will not leave here until you find Number Five and return him to this time.” 

They were in the basement. The cold, dark basement that gave each of the Hargreeves children nightmares for weeks after they’d been escorted here. Their powers tested in ways that messed with their minds and fears. 

If Number Eight was afraid, she didn’t show it. She was however, without a doubt. 

She hadn’t been down here for years. She had learned to manage her fear of the dark at a very young age. With her power, she had to, otherwise she’d be utterly useless. 

She had to control the voices echoing in the void. The whispering, screaming, threatening, comforting voices that escaped the darkness to haunt the one child who could hear them. 

Reginald opened the chamber door, made to withstand the powers of the children, and instructed Eight to enter. 

She did as she was told, but as Reginald recited his desired outcome, concern overcame her. 

As Pogo shut the door and secured it, the room was completely dark. Of course she was used to the darkness, she thrived in it, but she couldn’t handle being trapped in here forever.

During her trainings, she had been told to practice traveling through the void. The void was the term her father used to describe complete darkness, or a very large shadow. She could enter the void by disappearing into her own shadow, someone else's shadow, or shadows made by objects. 

Her father had made her practice entering one shadow, traveling through the void, and exiting through another. It had worked, but navigating in pure darkness is not as easy as it may seem. 

Once her father and Pogo had returned upstairs, the basement light was shut off. With no one around to witness. She screamed. She yelled and cried on the floor until she became tired and dull. While she lay on the cold cement ground, she figured to herself that Reginald Hargreeves couldn’t possibly leave her here. To starve. To freeze. But he did. Not intentionally. 

Reginald Hargreeves did intend to let her out within 48 hours, however when he returned to the basement with Pogo holding out a small flashlight against the window of the chamber, they noticed it was completely empty. Number Eight had vanished. Lost in darkness. Lost in space. Lost.

Just like Number Five. 

She wouldn’t be found for many years.

Her body dormant in the conditions of the void, her mind wide awake. 

Light never met her eyes. Not a drop of sunlight met her skin for decades. 

She knew she shouldn’t be alive. She hadn’t eaten, yet she could feel her skin wrinkle with time. 

Without any idea how long she had been trapped, she just assumed she was dead. 

Until she heard clicking amongst the voices. 

It was often that a shadow nearby had some sort of ambience behind it. Whether it was the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, with its smells and sounds of Paris, or the shadow behind a TV, letting her hear the yells and cheers of football fans during a big game. 

She would often linger around those noises, to feel a sense of familiarity for a normal life she’d been imagining in her head, the darkness as the perfect blank canvas. Never getting too close in fears of everything becoming too real. 

Until these clicking noises grew closer. 

The clicking of high heels against a smooth floor.

Suddenly illuminated through the flick of a zippo, a tall, well dressed woman came into view. Number Eight jumped and hid behind her hands, not expecting to be blinded by such a small flame. As she brought her hands in front of her face, she saw just how wrinkled they were, how much she had aged. 

“I’ve come to offer you a job, Number Eight.” 

☂︎

𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒘𝒐 series masterlist.

authors note: thank you so much for reading! i appreciate it sm :) if you want to be on the taglist for upcoming chapters please let me know ! also if you have any ideas for upcoming chapters or other fics my inbox is open i'd love to hear your ideas!

read 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏 on wattpad!

[ambcass]

INVINCIBLE X MALE READER BRO IT COULD BE ANYTBING HERO X VILLAIN OLS IM CRHIGN MY EYES OUT

hello everypony. this is my brother. he decided to SPAM my inbox for a fanfic for his twink. as the amazing sister I am I will write smth for him (after 1.5 weeks of this sitting in my inbox) I'll make a pt.2 if u want

"No, it can't be. You can't be *villain name*." is the same thing every guy you've dated said after you told them about your secret. The truth is, the world classified you as a villain. Everyone watching the news considered you a cold, no-good killing machine.

Being a villain with telepathy, telekinesis, fire abilities, and mind-altering powers is never a good mix for anyone! Would you kill your ex's after finding out you're a villain? No, you cared too much for them. Altering their mind until you erase yourself from their minds and everyone they knew.

This time is different. You met a dorky-looking boy with slicked-back dark hair and blue eyes on your first day at Reginald Vel Johnson High School. You two had chemistry together, and the second you stepped foot in that class, he couldn't keep his eyes off you. You were so handsome in his eyes. He told William all about you every since! Crazy how much someone can be so obsessed with someone even without mind-altering.

Did you notice at first? No. Bad as feelings as you were, you could not give a fuck about Mark. He didn't interest you in any way until one day.

You were not in a good mood that day at all. Last night you were running off rooftops, trying to escape the hero in yellow and blue. You got away by creating a firewall and going into his mind, making him forget why he was there in the first place. This stunned him and you receive plenty of time to escape. The next, you got to Chem and sat behind Mark and William's lab table. You close your eyes and rest your head on the table while using your arms as support.

"*Name*? Him? The boy behind us?" William's words caught your attention. You looked up and glared at the two. Intrigued, you pretended to sleep. Keeping out for what they were about to say. Mark forcefully turned William's head,

"Noooo. Why would it be! You're so funny! hahaha," Mark grinned awkwardly. He grabbed William's face and spoke quietly but loud enough for you to hear. "Of course it's *name* you moron! Don't say it out loud-" You cut him off.

"Will you two stop talking about me?" you asked. Mark's face turned tomato red as he sank to his chair in embarrassment. Both William and Mark would look back at you but Mark would just stare at you, smiling. "Okay. Creepy...but he's kinda cute." You smiled softly.

Time past by and you couldn't stop wondering why they were talking about you! It's not like you actually knew them. Your eyes lit up as a idea was formed. If he wouldn't tell you, then why not find out for yourself. A smirk appeared on your face. "He wouldn't mind if I just- " Focusing on Mark's mind, you wonder why he's been staring at you ever since your first day, why he's talking about you like he's got some type of crush on you.

"I really like *name* but don't know how to tell him. He seems cool and I want to be closer to him but I'm scared he will shut me out... I have to tell him how I feel eventually. Right?" You're shocked. Lost for words even. Were you flattered? Maybe. It's been a while since you've been in a romantic relationship. This might be it.

A few minutes before class was about to end, an idea came to your mind. Why not give Mark some help confessing to you? Was it wrong? Yes. Did you care? No. You focused on his mind again. First, you thought of Mark confessing to you. Then, you sent it off to his brain. Lastly, you watch everything come into play. The bell rang and you packed up your stuff. Mark was lost in a trance while William was trying to figure out what was going on.

"Earth to Mark! Hellooo? Is anyone home?" You walked past the two without saying a word but stopped at the door frame. Mark snapped out of it and sprung up from his seat with a joyous smile. William raised his brows to an overly happy Mark. "Hey, are you okay-" William was cut off,

"I think I'm gonna do it, Will. I think I'll tell him how I feel."

[twdgkidsdeservebetter]

Everything Wrong With Umbrella Academy Season 4 (Characters)

The way it felt like someone who had never seen the show wrote this season????

The characters were AWFUL and were almost entirely new characters with all their previous character development forgotten.

Allison - Honestly, I don't like Allison (after watching THAT scene w Luther), so I really didn't care what happened with her this season. I think it does suck that she wasn't able to be happy with Ray, they were nice together. Also, no rumours? Her power was one of the most interesting out of the family.

Luther - People were commenting about how childish and positive he was being this season and how it was out of character from him being so serious. Honestly? I love silly Luther, he's such a breath of fresh air. I also like to believe that because Luther was assigned the leader of the family (being number 1 and all), he's able to enjoy himself without that pressure. Also, I also love to believe that Luther is using being positive and silly as a coping mechanism as to not be overwhelmed by the sadness of losing Sloane and also his current living situation. Giving him his gorilla body back was so unnecessary and makes no sense cause it wasn't the marigold that gave him the body.

Ben - He sucked. I hate that Sparrow Ben was the one that was dragged with them because it meant that we had to deal with him sulking and being angsty the whole time. Also, the character development we witnessed 1-2 just disappeared instantly cause of Sparrow Ben. Also, his friendship with Klaus was the best thing in the show and I hate that we never get to see that in season 3.

Klaus - I was actually so happy for him being sober, even if he wasn't living the best life because of his paranoia with death and germs. So it really sucked when that immediately went down the drain the second his body got the marigold.

Diego - He deserved better. Yeah, his constant complaining about his "belly" (which wasn't even that big of a difference??) and wanting to go back to his old super spy life did affect his and Lila's marriage, but when he realised that he immediately accepted that he was at fault and was willing to improve their marriage to make Lila happy.

Lila - I liked Lila before season 4. I don't know what they were thinking honestly by changing her entire character. Yes, she and Five were stuck for 7 years together, but seriously? That plot added NOTHING to the story because in the end, Lila chose Diego and then they all DIED like 10 minutes later!!

Viktor - Honestly? Viktor didn't really stand out this season for me. Sure, he got kidnapped by Ian Hawk. I thought the idea of him trying to remove the marigold from Ben was a really cool idea but then it just didn't happen. I thought his interactions with Reginald were decent, since it's interesting to see how this Reginald thinks about Viktor compared to the original timeline Reginald.

Five - It's honestly kind of impressive how the writers were able to make the best character in the show the worst character by the end of it. They completely changed his whole character. First, his personality is duller than a door nail. He's so emotionless and so boring. Where's the excessive facial expressions and movements? Second, changing his motivations. For the past 3 seasons we have watched him with one goal in his mind; "Save the world and his siblings". So why would Five ever possibly consider both giving that up for Lila of all people. Third, giving Five a love interest was so useless and lazy. Why would he choose a girl over his siblings? Especially one literally MARRIED to his BROTHER. Fourth, him being all pouty and jealous over Lila choosing Diego (her husband and father of her kids - no shit she was gonna pick him over Five, literally have no idea why Five even thought he had a chance) to the point where he plans to just ditch his family in the middle of a big fight. Five, him fighting Diego in the middle of said big fight. THEN, Five just gives up??? Yeah, that's probably all he could do but seriously, this is Five we're talking about, the guy who survived in 45 years in the apocalypse to try and get back to his family and save the world. Do you really believe that he would just give up?

BONUS:

Jennifer - They could introduce a new character/love interest for Ben but they didn't do the same for Five so they just gave him the only other woman who wasn't his sister???? LAZY. Also, the amount of plot holes with Jennifer's character makes me queasy.

[d1ana-m0nd]

╭─► ❝The Servant: Umbrella Academy's Servant❞

Five Hargreeves × Female! Reader || Written by Diana (d1ana-m0nd)

➢ Description : It's a well known fact that Sir. Reginald Hargreeves adopted 7 children to save the world from it's impending doom. Though, the number of children will change from 7 to 8 once a close friend of his, Rita Rossweisse was on her death bed and requested him to take in her child, who fortunately was born on October 1st 1989.

➢ Word Count : 11,660

➢ Links : Masterlist && Character Profile

➢ Content Warning : In this chapter, triggering content are present: self harm (bitting yourself), panic attack, and gore, skip the triggering parts if necessary. Please read this chapter at your own discretion.

Chapter 5: Number 5

When the boy in school shorts finally woke up, Luther cornered him into spitting out the truth: why he was running around the city like a headless chicken, evading the other numbers, and why he had caused so much destruction ever since he arrived from the future. Five reluctantly admitted to Luther that the end of the world was nearing.

“When's it supposed to happen? This... apocalypse.” Luther asked — the first person in the family who showed concern for the apocalypse.

The young male looked down as he fidgeted with his fingers, “I can't give you the exact hour, but... from what I could gather, we have four days left.”

“Why didn't you say something sooner?”

“It wouldn't have mattered.” Five replied; his tone sounded like he had lost hope.

The way he acted… It concerned you, but you didn't want to butt in. You couldn't help but wonder, were you the one to blame for his state? If you hadn't stopped him or had used your intuition beforehand, you could have helped him avoid the worst-case scenario.

The larger male furrowed his brows and interjected, “Of course it would! We could've banded together and helped you try to stop this thing.”

“For the record, you already tried.” Five corrected his brother, which took Luther by surprise. “What do you mean?”

“I found all of you. Your bodies.” The brunette kept his gaze downward. You found this state of his rather unusual. He always had his chin up, and he always looked people in the eye, regardless of the size difference. Right now… he looked so small and meek compared to the front he usually puts up.

“We die?” The dirty blonde was in disbelief, refusing to believe what he just heard.

For a brief moment, Five was taken back to the time he discovered their bodies. The day he never thought he would witness; the way their lifeless bodies were lying on the ground, unmoving, and either hidden underneath the rubble or stabbed by a reinforcing bar. The hazel-eyed boy glanced at you for a brief moment, but you didn't catch his gaze.

“Horribly. You were together, trying to stop whoever it was that ended the world.” He added, not having the strength to look at his brother's devastated expression.

Number One asked, “Wait, how do you know that?”

Five took out a cloth and revealed the glass eyeball to his brother, “This was clutched in your dead hand when I found you. Must've ripped it out of their head right before you went down,” He then passed it over to Spaceboy, silently hoping that he would recognize the glass eyeball.

“Whose head?”

The boy sighed, disappointed but not surprised that this was the result. His brother knew nothing about the eye. “Like I said, I don't know.”

“Well, there's a serial number on the back. Think maybe you could try…” The dirty blonde tried to suggest that, only for Five to interrupt him. “No, that's a dead end. It's just another hunk of glass.” He glances at you, making you flinch at your spot, then looks away immediately, which raises suspicion in Luther's eyes.

Luther then returned the eyeball to Five.

Just in time, the man in black-clad arrived and then slammed the door open to the boiler room. He marched towards where Five sat with an angry expression etched onto his facial features, as bloodlust and rage seeped through his aura.

“Piece of shit! Do you have any idea what you just did?” Number Two shouted, marching right over to his ‘little’ brother.

Spaceboy stands up, alarmed by Diego's hostility. The same could be said about the boy, though he seems calm. You drew your staff and made Diego trip, causing Luther to catch him and then lift him to prevent him from touching a hair on Five's head. It seemed like Diego had no way out, but you decided to keep your staff in hand just in case things got too out of hand.

The Latino grunted as he tried to fight back against the larger man's hold on him, “Let me... Get your ape hands off of me!”

“I can do this as long as it takes you to calm down.”

Reluctantly, the male being held up inhaled deeply, and then exhaled. Once he stopped resisting his brother, he was released from air jail. “Fine.”

“Now, wanna tell us what you're talkin' about?”

Number Two scoffed, “Our brother's been pretty busy since he got back. He was in the middle of that shootout at Griddy's, and then at Gimble Brothers, after the guys in masks attacked the academy, looking for him.” He said whilst jabbing a finger at Five's direction, as though telling him everything was his fault.

“None of which is any of your concern.” The younger male hissed.

In Five's mind, he couldn't help but agree with his brother’s statement. This was precisely why he didn't want to get anyone involved, but seeing as Cha-cha and Hazel plan to get their whole family involved… He had no choice but to work with them.

“It is now,” Diego declared as he panted, "They just killed my friend.”

“As for you, Rossweisse.” The knife-wielding vigilante glared at you, making you gulp, "Why didn't you say anything about Five running amuck the city?”

You were about to say something, but your lips shifted into a straight line. You didn't want to say something out of impulsivity. The last thing you wanted to do was mess up, so you had to think of a reasonable lie…

"Because I told her too.” Five lied on your behalf, "I didn't want you all to get involved.”

You were shocked that he lied on your behalf, though you were internally grateful. However, you were too shocked to process what you just witnessed. You were warned not to interfere with him, yet he was now trying to help you? If that was the case, the world was truly ending.

Everyone went silent due to the ‘younger’ male's words, though they didn't seem to doubt it; they were just shocked over the fact that he stood up for you. Luther then turned to Five and asked, “Who are they, Five?”

“They work for my former employer. A woman called The Handler. She sent them... to stop me. Then, as soon as Diego's friend got in their way, well, fair game.”

The Latino scoffed, “And now they're my fair game. And I'm gonna see to it they pay,” Then he headed out of the boiler room with a huff, bloodlust still seething through his body.

“That would be a mistake, Diego. They've killed people far more dangerous than you.” The younger brunette tried to discourage him.

“Yeah, we'll see about that.” Diego slammed the door closed on the way out.

Luther turned to Five with a confused look, “Former employer? What's this really about, Five? And don't give me any of this ‘It's none of your business’ crap, all right?"

"Well, it's a long story.”

The small brunette paused and looked up at Luther, silently asking him if he wanted to hear the whole thing. The larger male sat down and gestured for his ‘younger’ brother to continue with his story.

The boy started with a sigh and briefly explained what he went through with “The Commission” and what he went through as he worked for them: The Commission ensured the preservation of the time continuum by manipulating events and eliminating threats. The Handler arrived in the future to recruit Five as a hitman for the Commission, though she was unaware that Five was brewing up a plan to return to the past and prevent an impending apocalypse while biding his time.

The two of the numbers remaining in the boiler room listened to Five's story and explanation of the commission. As he spoke, you began to slightly understand why Five was avoiding getting the others involved because they would get involved in his mess. Ultimately, his efforts were in vain due to how the whole academy was now involved.

“Hopefully, Vanya was not roped into this. ” You silently pleaded. Though you kind of doubted it considering how she has stopped coming by the academy, since the intruders barged into their house and her siblings hurt her feelings.

As he explained, you got up and grabbed a glass of water for the boy while Spaceboy gave him some aspirin from Diego's cabinet. Once finished, the loyal duo sat down in their respective seats.

“So... you were a hitman?”

“Yes.”

Luther's eyes widened, “Uh... I mean, you had a code, right? You didn't kill just anybody.”

“No code. We took out anyone who messed with the timeline.” Five answered briefly, his tone was monotone, but you could tell he didn't particularly enjoy the thrill of the job.

“What about innocent people?” The larger man shot back.

“It was the only way I could get back here.”

Luther was appalled by his ‘little’ brother's response. How could he treat death so lightly? “But that's murder.”

The brunette looked away, then let out a ‘tsk’ till he looked Luther in the eye again, irritation laced his gaze. “Jesus, Luther, grow up. We're not kids anymore. There's no such thing as good guys or bad guys. There's just people, goin' about their lives. But when the world ends, all those people die, including our family.”

Everyone in the room went silent. It was true, after all. People are driven by desires - as others would say, selfishness. It's rare to find people who do things out of compassion. This statement can be applied to the individualistic society they lived in; Everyone wanted to stand out in their own way, and it was rare for someone in this day and age to do things out of compassion without something in return. Nowadays, people grow up looking out for themselves just to live their lives.

As the silence reigned, Five sighed and remarked, “Time changes everything.”

ㅤㅤㅤ❲ T H E ☕ S E R V A N T ❳

Klaus just returned from the past. Not only was he more brittle than he already was, but he was bloody, as his clothes were torn up, barely holding onto his body as he had just crawled out of hell. His brain was an orchestra playing an insane melody, making his head pound and his heart weigh heavier. With a heavy heart, he returned to the place he called ‘home', the Umbrella Academy.

Number Four rushed, but instead, he made a slow beeline to the bathroom. He undressed and slowly prepared himself to take a bath. Despite the eeriness of the room, he let himself indulge in the atmosphere; The darkness mirroring the absence of light in his heart. It felt oddly homely to him. It made him reminisce about the nights he'd shared his love, with his beloved Dave in each other’s embrace. He closed his eyes and wept, feeling the overwhelming sorrow and grief of losing his lover wash over him.

Although the brown-haired male was sluggish, he started himself a bath. Once the tub was filled, he sat at the bottom and let the water run. Even though the tub was overflowing with water and bubbles, it was nothing compared to his emotional state.

The seance sighed, then wore a pair of headphones to distract himself, his way of escaping his hell. However, the more he indulged in his escapism, the more the music in his ears was swelling and distorting per second as the sounds of the past were added into the mix, bringing him back to the day he dreaded the most.

Sounds of a helicopter whirring and gunshots overlapping as he shook Dave’s torso. “Dave!”

“Dave!”

“Dave!” In an attempt to keep his lover alive, Klaus kept screaming his lover's name over and over again in anguish and desperation. However, he failed as he slowly felt his significant other's pulse fade.

That was enough to sober Klaus from his immersion. He sat up straight and wiped away the bubbles from his face in an attempt to wake himself up. As he washed away the soap suds, neither his mind nor his heart wouldn’t stop reminding him of his loss. As he scrubbed away the dirt and blood, he couldn’t help but wonder why he had to be the one who survived.

Would Dave be in the same state as he was if he lost Klaus in war?

Would he just pretend not to be in pain and forever hide his true self from the world to protect himself from their judgment?

ㅤㅤㅤ❲ T H E ☕ S E R V A N T ❳

Once Five finished filling in the missing pieces for you and Luther, you three quickly returned to the academy to do what you needed to do. However, as you were about to return to your room to digest the information you had just received from Five, you saw bloodied footprints that led to Klaus' room. Worried for the seance, you headed to his room and lightly knocked on the door that he didn’t bother to close.

“Master Klaus?"

“Oh… thank God, it was just you, Rosey…” A sense of relief washed over him, which was odd coming for him. He was usually the relaxed one, so why was he so tense?

"Is everything-” You hold back your tongue, recalling that Klaus was not fond of opening up. Instead, you chose different words, “- Do you need anything? It seems like you had a rough night."

Number Four chuckles, “Sure. I know Pogo probably told you not to get me any more alcohol, but can you get me some?"

You nod and leave him to his devices as another set of footsteps approaches his doorway. Unbeknownst to you and Klaus, someone else saw the trail of blood leading to his room and followed the trail to the seance's room. The lanky man was scratching his back as he picked up a random shirt and threw it on.

Feeling a familiar sharp gaze on his figure, the curly-haired male muttered, “Oh, boy…” Klaus sighed to himself. He did not want to deal with Five right now, though he knew he would have to face the little guy. He was persistent when it came to something he needed.

The boy in school shorts knocked on the door, “You okay?”

“Hey.” Klaus turned to the small brunette and paused, "Yeah, I just... long night."

“More than one, from the looks of it.” His eyes narrowed, most likely looking for any details that pertain to Klaus’ rough shape.

“Yeah.” The jittery man nodded along as he fixed his appearance.

The boy noticed his jittering and silently took note of it, then pointed at the jiggling accessories that danced along Klaus’ neck as he moved, “Don't remember the dog tags.”

The lanky man grunted and then looked down at his chest, “Yeah, they belonged to a friend.” He tried his best to keep his lips in a straight line, whilst the dog tags jingled again as he reexamined them.

You grabbed some random alcohol from the bar and then headed back to Klaus' room. On the way there, you saw a familiar small brunette male in the hallway; instead of proceeding further, you chose to keep your distance from him and listened in on the two siblings' conversation. The servant leaned against the nearest wall and hid your presence as best as you could.

“How about that new tattoo?” Five gestured to the inked drawing engraved onto his adoptive brother's body.

The taller male stiffened then tried to shrug it off by acting nonchalantly, “You know, I don't totally remember even getting it. Like I said, it was a long night.”

“You did it, didn't you?” Five smiled as he saw that hope was finally within his reach.

Although the younger brunette didn't mean to come off weird, Klaus felt unnerved that someone like Five was smiling. “What are you talkin' about?”

“You know, I can recognize the symptoms, Klaus.”

“Symptoms of what?”

“The jet lag. Full body itch.”

The seance ended up sighing in defeat. He hated how Five practically knew everything and became more of an asshole than he remembered. Weirdly enough, it felt comforting to him that Five never changed; He was still the same person he knew, despite the shit he went through.

“The headache that feels like someone shoved a box of cotton up into your nose and through your brain. You gonna tell me about it?” The younger male smirked as he slowly approached his rarely sober brother. With each step, his eyes glinted with a hint of hope that he could finally prevent the apocalypse.

The lanky male finally gave in, “Your pals, when they broke into the house and they couldn't find you, they took me hostage instead.”

“And in return, you stole their briefcase.” Five added as he paced around the room, tapping his chin as he began mentally laying down a plan.

“Yeah.” The Seance confirmed, his thoughts swirling from recalling the night. He seemed fine but he couldn't stop thinking about it. Even if he wore a smile and carelessly taunted his kidnappers, he was still scared. However, the loss of Dave hurt more than the physical torture he went through. “I thought there was money in it, or I could pawn it, you know, whatever.”

Number Four sighed, "And then I opened it."

“And the next thing you knew, you were... where? Or should I say when?” The Boy turned his head to Klaus, his eyes glinting as he felt that he was nearing what he was looking for, the very thing that would serve as the salvation of mankind, the briefcase.

“What difference does it make?”

“What diff-” Five stopped walking, his shoulder slumped at his brothers. He was caught off guard by his pessimism but he continued anyway. “Okay, how long were you gone?”

The curly-haired male breathed out a breezy yet tired reply, “Almost a year.”

“A year? Do you know what this means?”

“Yeah, I'm ten months older now.”

The younger male quickly interrupted, “No, this isn't any sort of joke, Klaus. Hazel and Cha-Cha will do whatever they can to get the briefcase. Where is it now?” He turned his head and began looking for the briefcase, eager that he finally had something to work with, though it quickly dissipated.

“Gone. I destroyed it. Poof.” He mockingly imitated the explosion with his hand.

“What the hell were you thinking?”

“What do you care?”

“What do I care? I needed it, you moron! So I could get back, I could start over-” The smaller brunette angrily rambled, then paused as Number Four began standing up. “Just... Just... Where are you going?”

“Interrogation is over, just... leave.” The Seance said, but he is the one who ended up leaving the room instead of Five.

Number Five was left by himself to ponder about his situation, the mess was unbearably stressful, putting him under a lot of pressure. He ended up sitting on his adoptive brother’s bed as he fidgeted with his fingers or played with his hair to help calm himself down. Comically, the room he - unwarrantedly - chose to settle himself in reflected his mental condition, the same could be said for the whole family, even Rossweisse herself. It was an unspoken mess that everyone became used to and chose to accept, thus causing them to end up the people they are now.

You noticed Klaus leave his bedroom, and you left your hiding spot as you hurriedly ran up to his side with the alcohol in hand, ready to give it to him. The ‘physically’ younger brother noticed your figure ran past him and called out to you, “Oi, Y/N gimme that bottle.”

At first, the servant was caught off guard but nodded, and gave the bottle of alcohol to Five. After doing so, she hurried to Klaus' side to try and make sure he was doing alright, not wanting his - seemingly - deteriorating state to get worse than it already was. Inaudible words were whispered under the young man's breath when he was left alone. The boy then began scribbling down something on the memo pad, and once Five finished, he harshly ripped it.

The curly-haired male headed downstairs with you in tow. The once shell-shocked man began gaining awareness of his surroundings. The whole academy was a mess, he just caught a glimpse of Pogo fixing Grace, whilst the chandelier from the center of the house became a centerpiece for the floor instead.

He stopped his tracks, as he examined the aftermath of what he missed out on. “What happened here?”

“A lot happened while you were gone…” You replied as you anxiously tapped on your arm, “In short, it's those masked people's fault.” The seance nodded along as he observed the damage that was left by the intruders.

“You look like shit.” A fully equipped Diego pointed out as he walked past his brother.

The lanky male mindlessly nodded, used to his siblings' assholery, “Why, thank you.”

“Where are you going, Master Diego?” You quipped, making Diego jump a little since he didn’t notice you were in the same room.

“Can I-?” The Latino cut in before Klaus finished his question. "Nope."

“What?”

“I'm not giving you a ride.”

“Oh, come on, man. You know I can't drive.” Klaus whined and slightly shook his brother’s shoulders in a weak attempt to convince him.

The Kraken tried to dismiss it but, as his stutters took over, “I don't c…”

“Okay, great.” The Seance pats Diego's back while the Latino groans. “I'll just get my things. Two minutes.”

"You're stuck babysitting him this time, aren't you?" The clad in black groaned and threw the ‘younger’ girl a questioning look.

"I wouldn't say I'm babysitting him.” She shook her head, dismissing Diego’s statement, “No one's ordered me to look after Klaus. I'm doing this out of concern, he's been acting odd since he returned.”

Number Two shook his head in acknowledgment, but he didn’t buy it. You have always been the honest type, but ever since a certain old man’s death, you have been acting weird, and not the usual weird that he was used to.

Amidst the discussion of his father’s funeral, you were the only one who was on guard and taking Luther’s words seriously. Albeit, he understands why Luther would pin you as the suspect. He knows you are more likely to kill the old geezer since you were the only number left behind, and the only number who stayed by their father’s side like the loyal dog you were. However, the Latino believed you didn’t kill their old man, but you had to know something about his death at most; Diego believed you didn’t have a motive unless you were ordered to do so. For now, he will keep you within arm's length.

ㅤㅤㅤ❲ T H E ☕ S E R V A N T ❳

Throughout the car ride, Klaus was unusually silent, which worried Number Two and Number Zero. He was downing the alcohol he swiped from home, quicker than the drugs he purchased. Diego glanced at his brother to check on him, as he silently gestured for you to talk for Klaus.

“Master Klaus, are you alright?” You tilted her head, hoping for a response, but Klaus took a swig of his drink, refusing to let out a word about his sorrows.

“Wow.” The Latino let out an empty laugh, “This is a first, my brother Klaus is silent. Last time you were this quiet, we were 12; Ran down the stairs wearing Grace's heels, tripped over, and broke your jaw.”

The lanky man kept drinking, which prompted Diego to play dumb as he shot a question. “How long was it wired shut again?”

“Eight weeks.” The servant replied.

Diego wore a pleased smile and nodded along, “Eight glorious weeks of bliss.”

“Hey, just... just drop me off here.” The curly-haired man sat up straight and gestured at a veteran bar that was close by.

His brother glanced at the bar and furrowed his brows. Despite the number of questions that were going through his head, he pulled up causing the car to screech, “You sure you okay, man?”

Unfortunately for Diego, Klaus didn’t reply because he was quick to sigh and exit the car with the drink in hand. You were about to follow him into the bar but, the man clad in black stopped you from taking another step.

“Don’t, they won’t let you in because of your powers.” You silently nodded, understanding your own powers' drawbacks.

The servant anxiously waited for her masters to return; You did your best to keep yourself distracted but, even with every distraction you did. You could not help but let your eyes drift to the veteran bar out of concern. When they came out of the bar with bruises littered across their skin, she wore a relieved smile and let out a grateful sigh. For the duration of the car ride, you did your best to pick up the pieces from Klaus and Diego’s conversation to fill in what you had missed.

“You got a big mouth, you know that?” The Kraken grunted, side-eyeing his brother.

The curly-haired brunette was chuckling to himself, “Oh, wow. What a truly shocking revelation, Diego.”

“Everything's a big joke to you, right?”

The lanky man did his best to quickly take out the drug from its packaging, despite his sluggish state. An angry brother glared at him and yanked the drug from his brother's hands. “Would you stop it? Why are you putting this shit in your body?”

You silently agreed with Diego but didn't express your thoughts about it. Everyone has always known Klaus was the type to use something to escape rather than live life as it is; he can’t bring to help himself, no matter how many times he has been sent to a drug rehabilitation center or arrested for his shenanigans. It became tiresome, but the best they could do was put a house over his roof and not enable him till he decided it was time to stop.

Though, now that you thought about it… was it a good idea to bring alcohol to Klaus earlier? Or did Five see your mistake and decide to take away the bottle to help Klaus?

Begrudgingly, Number Four looked away and blew a raspberry.

“Check this out. Hm?” The Latino proudly showed off his well-built torso, “My body is a temple. All that shit you do, it's just weakness.”

“Oh. Well, weakness feels so good.” The seance took out another drug he was hiding and tried to consume it but, his brother hit the back of his head. “What's goin' on with you? Huh?”

“Don't hit me, asshоlе!”

Diego angrily ruffled his hair, then jabbed a finger in Klaus’ direction, “Don't tell me everything's alright! Because I saw you in there, you were crying like a baby!”

“Because I lost someone!”

You and the man dressed in black were taken aback, seeing this side of Klaus was not a normal occurrence since he usually hid his emotions through escapism. Even at Ben’s funeral, he didn’t grieve as hard as he was right now… He cried, yes, but he didn’t look like the death of his brother impacted him as much as the lover he lost.

“I lost someone. The only…” He paused, then looked away, sorrow glazing his orbs. “The only person I've ever truly loved more than myself.”

“When did Klaus settle down with someone? ” You asked yourself, trying to recall when that happened.

The curly-haired man dug through his pockets and took out another stash he hid, “Cheers.” then swallowed it this time without any interruptions from Diego.

“Well, you're luckier than most. When you lose someone, at least you can... see them whenever you want.”

Number Two adjusted the rearview mirror and caught a glimpse of a familiar figure, “That's our man.”

You perked up, followed Diego’s gaze, and saw a familiar man who wore the same suit that caused the fire at the prosthetics building. Klaus glanced at the side mirror out of curiosity as his eyes widened, “Hey, I know that guy…”

“How could you possibly know that-”

“He and a really angry lady tortured me. I barely got out with my life.”

The well-dressed man went into his car and started the engine. Once the hitman began driving away, Diego immediately started the car to tail him. Fueled by his anger in his veins; He did his best to maintain both his wits and his anger, to give Detective Patch’s murderers the taste of their own medicine. Whilst you and Klaus were just there for the ride.

ㅤㅤㅤ❲ T H E ☕ S E R V A N T ❳

In Five’s bedroom, fast chalk tapping against the wall could be heard, reminiscent of a teacher jotting down important points against the chalkboard. At the moment, the boy was in his bedroom, busy scribbling down equations and solving them at his own pace. Unknowingly, this led to him vandalizing his whole room. He was standing on his knees on top of his bed whilst he was busy solving his final equation. Delores sat on a nearby chair, sometimes chipping in if needed.

“Oh, I think I’ve got something Delores. It's tenuous, but promising.” The small brunette turned to Delores.

If the mannequin could move, it would have shaken her head and wore a concerned gaze. “No offense dear, but do you think this’ll just… work?”

“It won’t ‘just work’, it has to work. This is the only solution I have that doesn’t involve the others getting endangered.”

“Well, it seems that I have to remind you then.” The mannequin’s vacant look is replaced by a (non-existent) smug expression, “You messed up your time travel, twice, thus resulting in you going too far into the future and messing up your body.” She gestured to Five’s fifteenth-year-old body.

He clicked his tongue and averted his gaze as the color red and embarrassment took over his cheeks. “Numbers have never failed me.”

“They did fail you once, which ended up with you getting this body and little time to stop the apocalypse. You sure you want to mess up - possibly - your second and last chance to fix things?”

This time, the young man was struck with reality once again. Delores was right yet again, and he hated it, this was his last chance and he couldn’t mess up. He wanted to face it head-on, which made him forget he needed time to stop and think, or things could fall apart based on one mistake. Out of instinct, he clicked his tongue with an irritated look thrown in Delores’ direction, making the imaginary woman laugh.

An uninvited guest walked into the room, taking in the mess of numbers and letters all over the room, thus making the bedroom look like scratch paper. “Who you talkin' to? What is all this?”

“It's a probability map.”

“Probability of what?”

“Of whose death could save the world.” Number Five turned to the dirty blond-haired brother and added, “I've narrowed it down to four.”

Luther approached the list of names and gestured to it. “Are you saying one of these four people caused the apocalypse?”

“No, I'm saying that their death might prevent it.”

“Oh.” Spaceboy stared at the equations littering the room with amazement, though it seemed like he was not registering what Five explained. The sound of chalk scratching on walls continued till Luther disrupted it, “I'm not following.”

“Time is fickle, Luther. The slightest alteration in events can lead to massively different outcomes in the time continuum. The butterfly effect. So all I have to do is find the people with the greatest probability of impacting the timeline, wherever they may be, and kill them.” Five explained as the gears in Luther’s head spun. Once he was able to digest the information, his eyebrows shot up as he finally understood what Five meant.

“Oh, yeah... “

The dirty blond-haired man read one of the names and asked loudly, “Milton Greene. So who's he, a terrorist or something?”

“I believe he is a gardener.” In haste, the Five got off the bed and jotted down the names on a copy of Vanya’s autobiography.

Number One whips his attention to Five, “You can't be serious. Wait, this is madness, Five!”

The boy in schoolboy shorts brought out a sniper case under the bed and opened it to reveal a sniper. Catching Luther by surprise, “You... Wh... Where'd you get that?”

“In Dad's room. I think he used it to shoot a rhinoceros.” He took out the sniper from the case and carefully examined the weapon’s build, “It's similar to the model I used at work. Nice shoulder fit and highly reliable.”

“But you can't... This guy Milton is just an innocent man.” The ape hybrid man argued.

The small brunette furrowed his brows, “It's basic math. His death could potentially save the lives of billions. If I did nothing, he'd be dead in four days anyway. The apocalypse won't spare anyone.”

“We don't do this kind of thing.”

“We are not doing anything. I am.” Five corrected.

Which prompted the dirty blond man to be more assertive. “I can't let you go kill innocent people. No matter how many lives you'll save.”

“Well, good luck stopping me.” The boy turned his back and was about to walk away.

“You're not going anywhere.” Luther grabbed Delores and provoked Five more by hanging the top half of the mannequin outside the window. Five’s eyes widened and he immediately swerved as he positioned himself and pointed the sniper at Luther.

“Put… her... down.” He used the tip of his gun to gesture to Luther to place the mannequin down.

“Put the gun down. You're not killing anyone today. I know she's important to you, so don't make me do this.” The large man insisted, gesturing to his brother to lower the weapon down. Though Five scoffed at his words, his actions were betraying him as his hands were trembling from the thought of hurting his brother or losing his ‘lover’.

“It's either her or the gun. You decide.”

Seeing his brother’s silence and hesitation, Number One quickly took the window of opportunity - literally - and threw the mannequin out the window. Five reacted swiftly and teleported to Delores’ side to save her. Meanwhile, Luther ran to the sniper and pointed it downward to avoid shooting anyone by accident.

The young man cradled his imaginary lover in his arms and double-checked if she had gotten hurt. “Phew.”

“I can keep doin' this all day.” Luther looked down at the weapon and then at Five, “I know you're still a good person, Five. Otherwise, you wouldn't have risked everything coming back here to save us all. But you're not on your own anymore.”

The young brunette sighed, then turned to his brother, “There is one way. But it's just impossible.”

“More impossible than what brought you back here?”

Five sighed as he held onto Delores tighter and looked into the matte eyes that looked back into his hazel orbs, a smile - that he was imagining - present on Delores’ face. The conversation he had with his ‘wife’ earlier rang throughout his head as he couldn’t stop second-guessing himself and his choices. He won’t say it out loud, but he was just as lost as the others; he knew what he wanted but he was not sure what he was supposed to do. With every plan he created, he felt like he was straying farther from his goal, and he didn’t want things to get worse or get his family involved, and now that they were.

He couldn’t help but question if this was a fruitless endeavor. But then again, he can’t just stand around and do nothing.

ㅤㅤㅤ❲ T H E ☕ S E R V A N T ❳

A short-haired woman in a dark navy suit walked into the motel they just checked into then walked away. As for the man who wore a matching uniform, he stared down at the room in contempt as he irritatedly breathed through his nose.

“Singles instead of doubles. What's next, futons on the floor?” He whined as he lazily placed the donuts that he purchased from Agnes’ donut shop on a nearby round table.

Cha-cha sat on the edge of the TV stand, “What difference does it make? We're only here another night.”

“Well, that's easy for you to say. I've been in every pawn shop all over town, lookin' for our briefcase.” Hazel picked a bed and gently put down his suit jacket on the bedside cabinet then turned on the lamp attached above the bed. “You've been relaxing in the library.”

“Well, at least we know somethin' on the family that can help.” The woman held up Vanya's autobiography that she had borrowed to show to her partner, “It's like a Hargreeves family handbook.”

“Let me tell you, they're a real freakin' mess.”

Meanwhile, the Latino parked outside the inn. You and Klaus watched Diego do his thing. He lowered himself as he attached something at the bottom of the hitmen’s car then connected the device to the object he attached to the car. You weren’t sure what he attached to the car but, you assumed it was a tracking device.

“I’m surprised Diego has a tracking device but can’t purchase his place.” You silently giggle, though you presume he didn’t buy it but swiped it from the academy and brought it along for this mission.

“Number Five can time travel without a briefcase, but not that well. The big oaf lived on the moon for a few years. The little girl you fought with is a 31-year-old but she stopped growing up when she turned 15; while her blood can accelerate the recovery process of injuries. The junkie can conjure the dead, which explains why he knew about the dead Russian yesterday. And the idiot in the mask can curve anything he throws, usually knives.”

Whilst Cha-cha was summarizing the information she gathered from her intel gathering, Hazel found himself zoning out. He walked towards the window to peek in case someone was listening in to their conversation or someone was having a stake out nearby. Fortunately for him, he did discover that someone did tail them, so he can stop listening to Cha-cha ramble. Unfortunately for him, Cha-cha was going to scold him later for not being careful and they would be forced to move to a different motel now.

“Well, he's the one we need to worry about right now.”

“Why?”

The hitman gestured to the window with his head tilting in the same direction, “Cause he's in the parking lot, hiding behind an ice cream truck.”

Hurriedly, the hitwoman hurried to the window to check if her partner was telling the truth. Her brown gaze noticed a green car and a slightly banged-up car. She narrowed her eyes a little to try and figure out if the person sitting in the driver's seat was someone from the academy then, they made eye contact with Diego.

“Bingo.” The one clothed in black smirked when he made eye contact with the ones he was tailing and mentally took note of the room they stayed in. When the well-dressed woman took notice of his smirk, she took the curtains from Hazel’s hold and hastily closed the curtains.

Number Four chimed in before he took a short sip of his alcohol, “You do know that killing these people is not gonna make you feel any better.”

“Yeah, but when it's done…” The Latino turned to his brother, with a small smile as Klaus was chugging his drink, “...I'm gonna sleep like a baby.”

“Sure you will.” The drunk man’s lips curled up a little, his tone doubtful.

“I feel like Diego is just here to look for a punching bag.” You internally commented knowing that neither of your masters asked for you to speak nor for your opinion.

On the temps commission side, they were preparing themselves for their getaway just in case another mess occurred. Cha-cha was double-checking her handgun: if her magazine still had bullets, and if she lubricated her gun well. Whilst Hazel sat on his bed ready to open up the donuts he purchased, someone knocked on the door catching both hitmen’s attention. They both stealthy neared the door while Hazel peeked who was at the door through the window.

“Motel clerk.” The man said in a low volume, not wanting to be overheard by the clerk.

Cha-cha opened the door a little and took the note from the motel clerk then read the note. “It's from Five.”

“How'd he find us?”

“Well, he was us. He knows all the protocols. He says he has the briefcase. He wants to set up a meeting. Come on, we're late already.”

“What about our friends outside?” Hazel gestured to the window, “Last thing we need's a tail. Manila, 1902.”

Cha-cha pointed at the ice bucket, “Let's just go with the ice bucket.”

The hitman let out a reluctant groan. Nonetheless, he grabbed the ice bucket and robotically made his way out of their motel room and went to ‘grab’ more ice then left the room. Diego was intently observing the other hitman then quickly prepared himself before heading out to the motel room the hitmen were staying at.

He eyed you and his brother, “You two stay in the car.”

“What are you talkin' about? This guy tortured me.”

“I have a plan.” The knife wielder asserted and left the car in you and Klaus’ care, as he made his way to the cartoon-masked hitmen’s room.

The lanky man spoke with a drunken smile that did not make you feel reassured, “Rosie, stay here, ‘kay?”

“Master Klaus you should really listen to Master Diego-” You tried to discourage Klaus but got shot down, “I’ll do fine.”

“Master Klaus you said it yourself, they tortured you and you aren’t in the right state of mind. We wouldn’t want you to endanger yourself in another crossfire.”

“I’m fine Y/N, trust me but, you can come along with me if you want to keep me in check?” The servant reluctantly sighed and tagged along with Klaus… again.

Number Four and Number Zero followed the direction Diego went. They saw a familiar physique at the top of the stairs ready to tackle the door down. Well, he was planning on tackling it down, till you and Klaus walked up to him.

“So, what exactly is the plan here, big guy?”

“I told you both to wait in the car.” The Kraken glared at you and Klaus, though it felt like the glare was mostly directed at you since he did expect you to keep Klaus in check.

The curly-haired male drank his alcohol and then pointed out, “Yeah, but you also told me that licking a nine-volt battery would give me pubes.”

Number Two looked mildly amused but the look was quickly wiped off as he donned a serious one then whispered. “We were eight.”

“Sorry, Master Klaus insisted we come along. I didn’t want to leave him in your care while you fight, so I decided to come along.” You said shamefully as you looked at your feet, and pushed your thumbs against the other anxiously.

As expected of the drunk man, he brazenly took a step forward ready to charge forward but you and Diego grabbed onto him before he could do anything brash.

“Uh-uh, uh-uh…” The man dressed in black grabbed his brother’s arm and dragged him back to the bottom of the stairs and pushed him in the direction of the car, as you followed their trail like a lost puppy following its owners.

“What? Come on.”

“For once in your life, I need you to listen to me, okay? Now, go back to the car. If I don't come out in two minutes, that means I'm probably dead.” The Latino placed his calloused hands on Klaus’ shoulders, despite the rough texture of his hands the gesture was gentle and warm. “So... That happens, go get help. Okay?”

The seance let out his breath hesitantly but, weakly shook his head in agreement, as he placed his hand on Diego’s forearm. “Yeah, okay, okay, okay, okay. Okay.”

One last time, Diego patted his brother’s shoulders and then headed upstairs. As for you and Klaus, this time you took the lead and guided him back to the car. The anger that was building up within Diego was nearing its explosive stage. With every step he took he couldn’t help but recall his ex-girlfriend’s smile and seeing her lifeless expression as she laid on the floor. Once he came face to face with the door, he didn’t hold back and took out all his anger on the door, wanting this whole thing to end as swiftly as possible, not caring whether he would die in the process or not.

As his foot made contact with the door, it was surprisingly easy to open. Diego looked around the room that the hitmen checked in and it was empty, the hitwoman was not there. He scanned the room and noticed that neither of their belongings were present, only the sound of horse neighing, the sound of gunfire, and the sound of a crowd screaming on television occupied their room.

Out of nowhere, he heard an engine revving from the outside. The knife wielder lowered his guard a little as he was curious as to the source of the sound, and then he approached the railing. The vehicle that the masked hitmen used ran past the motel and shot up the place. The bullets flew out from different directions hitting everything they came across, one of the stray bullets was in the course to hit Diego, till you showed up and used yourself as a shield.

Adrenaline rushed through your veins as you stood in front of your master, willing to die in his stead. The fear of pain and the fear of death were quickly discarded as the life of the pupils of Umbrella Academy mattered more than yours, that’s what the patriarch of the household reminded you every day, so you would remember your purpose. The bullet went through your shoulder, the crimson liquid trickled down your shoulder blade as the color red bloomed onto your clothes and the searing pain followed.

For a brief moment, the pain was sharp and severe but the pain dulled down as the adrenaline took over you, making the servant dismiss the injury. However, every time you moved you couldn’t prevent your body from wincing as the sensation of the foreign object was poking in your shoulder. While Klaus came in clutch and grabbed his brother and you out of the way. The gunshots eventually died down, allowing the three to relax as you leaned against Diego’s side for support.

“Oh, man. See? You used to think I was an idiot.” Klaus giggled to himself, which prompted a small smile on your face. You were glad he lightened up a little.

Diego rolled his eyes, “I still think you're an idiot.”

The sound of tires screeching alerted Diego to the car speeding up to leave the three Numbers behind. The Latino straightened himself and placed his knives back into their rightful place as he ran down the stairs. “They're getting away!”

“You're welcome by the way!” The lanky man carefully cradled you in his arms and carried you downstairs as fast as he could without hurting your injured side.

The man clad in black groaned as he did his best to run up to the car, “Shit! Get in the car.”

The curly-haired man did his best to catch up but when he saw the flat tire he slowed down. “Oh…” You and Klaus said in unison.

Out of frustration, the Kraken kicked the wheel and groaned in frustration. He began pacing back and forth as he fidgeted with his knife by throwing it in the air and spinning it before repeating the pattern.

“Was this all part of your master plan? Hm?” His drunk brother cheekily asked, even though the look on his face said that he knew what the answer was to his question.

The frustrated male shot him a glare as warmth crept up his cheeks, “Shut up.”

The servant and the seance laughed together as the other man turned his attention to you, “For now, we need to apply first aid on Rosie, okay? She took a bullet for you.”

Diego silently agreed and went to get his first aid kit in his trunk. As he was preparing the required materials, he couldn’t help but question himself for his initial suspicion regarding Number Zero. He always knew you were loyal to the academy, though he didn’t understand if you could do things on your own accord or have to follow orders. Earlier, you protected him even though their father didn’t order you, nor did he tell you to protect him. Don’t get him wrong, he is thankful that you stepped in but, he still didn’t understand what prompted you to do that.

However, if their father had something to do with how you could easily throw away your life, then all he can say is that his ‘father’ deserved his death.

ㅤㅤㅤ❲ T H E ☕ S E R V A N T ❳

Spaceboy drove one of their father’s cars into an isolated place. While Five sat in the passenger seat with the ‘time travel machine’ briefcase seated on his lap. Luther stopped the car in the middle of the barren area. It was the perfect meeting place; The location was isolated from society, and there were more electric posts compared to the number of buildings, trees, and civilians. Through this they could avoid getting more people hurt, so Five chose a fairly good spot.

The small brunette looked out the window, an indescribable look that Luther was familiar with, yet something he couldn’t decipher so quickly. Said boy sighed then finally spoke, “You know, I never enjoyed it.”

“What?” The larger male turned to the young man.

“The killing.” Five clarified in a hushed tone, his gaze on the road. “I mean, I was... I was good at my work, and I... I took pride in it. But it never gave me pleasure.” He let out an irritated sigh, “I think it was all those years alone. Solitude can do funny things to the mind.”

“Yeah, well, you were gone for such a long time.” Luther agreed with a slight nod as his fingers drummed on the steering wheel. “I only spent four years on the moon, but that was more than enough. It's the being alone that breaks you.”

In spite of the one-sided rivalry, they put it aside to agree on one thing they shared in common. Isolation drives people insane. Wanting to change the subject, the dirty blond-haired male eyes the fake time machine. “You think they'll buy it?”

The young man shrugged and tried to sit comfortably, “Well, what I do know is that they're desperate. It's like a cop losing his gun. If the Commission finds out, they'll be in deep shit. Oh, not to mention the fact that they'll be stuck here until they get it back.”

“Well, I should hold onto it.” The ape hybrid man suggested to which Five raised an eyebrow, “Hm?”

“In case they make a move on you.”

“Okay, Luther, but be careful. I mean, I've... I've lived a long life, but... you're still a young man. You got your whole life ahead of you. Don't waste it.”

Number One wore an expression that was akin to confusion and gratitude. He did appreciate receiving advice from an elder, someone like Five who cared for him… who showed it weirdly. However, his younger brother- er- brother’s appearance does not match the wisdom he withholds. It felt and looked contradicting in his eyes, even his heart and mind did not know how to take in the advice, nor disassociate Five’s appearance from the wisdom he accumulated over the years.

In the distance, a light blue car was approaching the meeting spot. Both Numbers came out of the car and stood by each other’s side. Said car stopped a few feet away from the other car, the familiar masked hitmen came out of the car with their guns, then they slowly approached the middle of the road with Five meeting them there halfway.

The hitman carried a handgun that was pointed at Five though, the boy seemed bothered by something else. Since he merely raised a brow at the guns and gestured to the masks that the two wore. “Are the masks really necessary?”

The duo quickly discarded the masks but Hazel still kept his gun pointed at Five. Then Cha-cha finally spoke, “So, where is it, kid?”

“Wow, that's how you're gonna start.” The small brunette feigned an amused expression, he clicked his tongue then, turned to the car that Luther stood by. “You know, we can get right back in our car and call it a day.”

The well-dressed man lightly pressed his finger on the trigger, an obvious threat that anyone could pick up on. “You won't even make it halfway there.”

“Maybe.” The boy in school shorts gestured to his stronger brother, “But as I'm sure you found out in your previous foray, my brother is not your average giant.”

“He's right. You dropped a chandelier on him, got right back up.”

“By the time you took him out, he'd smash your precious briefcase to a pulp.”

Hazel quipped, “Probably us too, right?”

Discovering that they were at a stalemate, Cha-cha raised a question with a displeased look on her face. “So, how do we help each other?”

“I need you to get in contact with your superior so I can have a chat with her. Face-to-face.”

“About what?” She narrowed her eyes at the boy, suspicious of his proposition.

“Well, I don't believe that's any of your concern.”

The woman was hesitant to trust the ‘traitor’ of the commission but she shrugged it off. “Just don't tell her about the briefcase.”

“Fair enough.” Number Five nodded as he backed away slowly and returned to Luther’s side.

The woman in a bob cut headed to the nearest phone booth and began dialing down their superior’s number, while the larger brunette still had his gun directed at Five as he slowly walked backward and to his partner’s side. From time to time, the dark-skinned woman would look over her shoulder to check if Five or Luther were doing anything dubious.

“What happens now?” Number One asked.

The boy stuffed his hands in his pockets, “Now we wait.”

Only the sound of the wind whistling was heard, till an inaudible chime at the distance could be heard thus catching four people’s attention. Even if they had different goals, they all had the same question, “What the fuck is that? ”; They all kept their eyes on a bright vehicle that was heading in their direction with the music at full blast, it was playing the orchestra tune of ‘Ride of the Valkyries’.

“Is that her?” The dirty blond-haired male asked but, the brunette didn’t have an answer to his brother’s question because he was just as confused as he was.

As the ice cream truck passed by the Boy and Spaceboy, they incidentally caught a glimpse of the culprits: Y/N, Diego, and Klaus. The curly-haired man waved at his brothers as he was carelessly steering the wheel, while Diego and you were holding on for your dear lives. Ironically, the one who looked like he was the most scared - Diego - is the same person who was screaming at Klaus to go faster, and the only sane one - you - was discouraging your masters from becoming more reckless. At this point, Five and Luther were not surprised, just confused at the abrupt appearance.

The short brown-haired boy thought aloud, “What the hell are they doing here?”

Diego shouted as he closed his eyes and held onto his seat, “Go faster!”

“With pleasure!” The seance laughed maniacally as he stomped on the gas pedal resulting in the ice cream truck accelerating.

“I beg of you Master Klaus please don’t!” You pleaded as you finally understood why his driver’s license was taken away.

“It's a setup!” The hitmen began shooting up the ice cream truck and the defenseless numbers, the sound of their bullets echoing as they landed a hit on the truck. Swiftly, Luther used himself as a shield for Five as his brother hid behind him.

The colorful truck hit the assassins, they were supposed to be thrown backward and then rolled on the floor, yet they were frozen in mid-air the truck collided with their torsos but the after-effect never happened. The other stray bullets that were headed to both the ice cream truck and the two numbers were slowing down and then stopped altogether. Confused, Five came out of his hiding spot, whilst you were busy trying to process why everything froze, you tried to shake Klaus and Diego’s sides but neither of them responded. You were about to go outside the ice cream truck and check out what was going on when a new voice spoke up.

“Neat trick, isn't it?” Before Five there stood a tall sophisticated woman with silver hair: She wore a dark coat, sunglasses, and a small hat with a small veil attached to it, while carrying a briefcase in her other hand. With her free hand, she removed her veil and glasses to reveal her devilish expression that neither the sunglasses nor the veil could hide.

You froze up in your spot, your hand withdrawing from the car door. Even though you have never fought with villains by the Umbrella Academy’s side, this woman gave off the same air as the villains that the other Numbers spoke about as children.

“Hello, Five. You look good, all things considered.”

“It's good to see you again.”

You peeked from the car window, trying to hide your presence from both of them. You couldn’t help but be in awe of the small brunette. He stood before the mystery woman with his hands in his pocket, as though she was not a big threat. Though, knowing him, he was probably holding a weapon hidden in his pockets ready to charge at the woman when the opportunity came.

“Feels like we met just yesterday. Course, you were a little bit older then.” She joked then added. “Congratulations on the age regression, by the way. Very clever. Threw us all off the scent.”

The former assassin of the Commission merely rolled his eyes. “Ah, well, I wish I could take credit. I just miscalculated the time dilation projections, and... Well, you know. Here I am.”

“You realize your efforts are futile.” Five’s former superior faux a smile, “So why don't you tell me what you really want?”

The young man said, “I want you to put a stop to it.”

You felt a drop of sweat drip down your forehead as your face shifted into a look of disappointment; you expected more from Five, and that’s why you didn’t think he would resort to this. Though, you suppose you couldn’t blame him since at this point a lot of people were getting involved: the academy, Diego’s ex-girlfriend, and civilians. He probably assumed compromising with the enemy is the best solution for now.

“You realize what you're asking for is next to impossible, even for me. What's meant to be is meant to be. That's our raison d'être.”

The boy pulled out a gun and angled it to Handler’s head, “Yeah? Well, how about survival as a raison? ”

“I'll just be replaced.” The tall woman shrugged, her fake smile not faltering. “I'm but a... small cog in a machine. This fantasy you've been nurturing about summoning up your family to stop the apocalypse... is just that. A fantasy.”

Her heels clicked as she took steps to close in the distance between her and Five “I must say, though, we're all quite impressed with your initiative, your... stick-to-itiveness, really quite… quite something. Which is why we want to offer you a new position back at the Commission, in management.”

“Sorry, what's that now?” He chuckled in disbelief as he lowered his gun a little, obviously intrigued by the proposition.

“Why would they offer a job after his betrayal? ” You asked yourself, your brows furrowed at the mysterious woman.

“Come back to work for us again. You know it's where you belong.”

“Well, it didn't work out too well the last time.”

The silver-haired woman shook her head as she corrected him, “But you wouldn't be in the correction division any longer. I'm talking about... the home office. You'd have the best health and pension, and an end to this ceaseless travel.”

“You're a distinguished professional in-” The Handler looks down at Five’s uniform with a strained smile that was tempted to chuckle, “-schoolboy shorts. We have the technology to reverse the process. If Rossweisse came along with you, her blood could be of use to speed up the reversal process, and I heard she’s a good fighter, yes? She could be of use to the correctional division.”

The servant’s eyes widened as you straightened up a little, you were tempted to speak up and accept the offer so you could finally redeem yourself. But, Five’s words brought you back to reality.

The angry boy replied, venom seething through his words. “I’m the one you are offering the deal to, not her so leave her name out of your mouth.”

You slouched in your hiding spot and averted your gaze to your master. This was confusing… Why didn’t he just accept the offer? This way you could redeem yourself for your past mistakes and he would return to his proper age. It was practically killing two birds with one stone yet, he chose to discard a tempting offer. However, now that you think about it, there is a chance the commission would use that offer to their advantage but, if this was about not getting others involved anymore, it’s kinda pointless now… They need as much help as they can get to arise victorious from this apocalypse.

“I mean, you... you can't be happy like this.” The woman pointed out in a soft tone as she casually pushed the gun down.

Number Five insisted, his grip on the gun tight but the weapon was pointed downwards. “I'm not looking for happy.”

“Master Five please don’t lower your guard! ” You silently cried as you readied your retractable staff ready to intervene. Though, you were hesitating because every time you tried to help or obey an order it seemed like you always messed things up. The thought of not being of any use to the academy but, being the cause of chaos resulted in a tear running down your cheeks then another.

Tears began streaming down your eyes followed by your nose sniffling uncontrollably, you did your best to wipe your tears away with your sleeves. The irrational fear of the Monocle or the other Numbers seeing you like this was at the back of your head, you didn’t want to get caught- No, you can’t get caught. Not right now. The familiar wave of panic washed over you, more irrational thoughts flooding your mind as your rationality and sense of reality slipped. Your breaths came in short, desperate gasps that you struggled to quiet down but, it only grew louder. The feeling of your head pounding and your head spinning overwhelmed your senses that you couldn’t process what was going on anymore in the outside world; The only thing you could think of was that you had to stop, you were a mess. This is not how a servant should be acting, this is not what the patriarch of the household expected from you. Out of desperation, you dug your fingers into your skin to wake you up from your despair, whilst you used your free hand to bite on to muffle your cries.

Whilst you were spiraling in your misery, the high-ranking commission individual and the traitor were busy conversing.

“We're all looking for happy.” The cheeky woman’s smirk widened slightly, noticing that her target was faltering, and then she caressed Five’s cheek. “We can make that happen. We can make you... yourself again.”

The small brunette sighed and gestured to his siblings who were frozen in time, “And what about my family?”

“What about them?”

“I want them to survive.”

The silver-haired woman turned her head to check on Five’s siblings, “All of them?”

“Yes, all of them.” He confirmed with a firm tone.

“Even Y/N Rossweisse?” The woman wore a Cheshire grin as she tilted her head a little as though she was recalling something. “From what I recall in Vanya Hargreeves’ autobiography, she’s deemed like a servant and an outsider of the family. And the book even states you dislike her, you sure you don’t want to use the opportunity to get rid of her?”

The boy clicked his tongue, “Dislike is different from hate.”

“She may not be a Hargreeves but there are people out there who will cry for her. Heck, the others might get mad at me if they find out I abandoned her. ” He internally remarked.

Five may act like he does not care about anyone but, he is observant. He knows how close Diego is with you for your shared fear of needles, how close you were with Vanya because you always followed her around, how you always did your best to stop Klaus from causing any more trouble for himself and others, and probably Allison since she grew a soft spot for children ever since she became a mother.

“Well…” The Handler retrieved her glasses from her coat pocket and equipped them again, “I'll see what I can do.” She brought out her hand to Five, “Do we have a deal?”

“One thing.”

While time was still frozen, the brown-haired boy hurriedly grabbed the gun that Hazel dropped and removed the magazine then threw both of them in different directions. He then turned his attention to the bullet heading towards Luther’s direction then adjusted its course. Once he was satisfied with his work, he finally shook the Handler’s hand. For a brief moment there was a bright light and the sound of electricity zapping, when they disappeared time took its course.

You were so busy trying to calm yourself down that you didn’t notice that everything went back to normal. The orchestra tune of ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ continued its chime and the ice cream truck continued moving forward then, the truck collided with the assassins’ torsos, thus they were thrown a few feet away whilst groaning in pain. The stray bullets that were shot earlier finally penetrated the truck and missed Luther. The colorful truck kept moving till it crashed against the masked men’s car, resulting in Klaus and Diego being thrown back in their seats but, due to your position you were thrown forward consequently your head crashed against the dashboard which led you to pass out.

“Good God, Rosie!” Klaus hurried to your side. He carefully examined your state. You were bleeding, a large gash on your forehead as brittles of glass were lodged onto your skin with remnants of tears still present across your skin.

Panicked, Luther looked around because one of his siblings who had common sense just vanished. “Five?”

“Oh! Ow!” The man dressed in black cried out in pain.

Spaceboy frantically screamed, “Five!”

The dirty blond-haired man kept looking around for Five but, when he saw the hitmen began shakily gathering themselves despite being recently run over and getting hit in the torso. He turned his gaze to his family who were still in the ice cream truck, he noticed that they had not left the vehicle yet. They probably needed a distraction.

Luther shook the briefcase to catch the enemy’s attention, “Come get it!” Then he quickly threw it as far as he could.

The ape-man hybrid ran for the ice cream truck to assist his siblings, while Cha-cha ran for the briefcase and Hazel ran for the discarded gun. Once he arrived, he quickly scooped up your passed-out form in his arms as Klaus aided Diego to the other car. Oddly enough, they managed to assist the injured ones, while they were screaming their lungs at each other as they retreated to the car.

“No!” Hazel got a hold of the gun and tried shooting at them but there was no magazine, “Shit!” he grunted and threw away the gun out of frustration.

“Get in the car,” Luther ordered as he placed the knocked-out H/C maid in Klaus’ arms and Diego hurriedly scooted over to give you and Klaus more space.

The larger male went to the driver’s seat and hastily started the car, as his brother anxiously screamed. “Luther, go! Go! Let's go!”

When Number One finally managed to get the car working, the engines revved its excitement for their escape. When he pressed the gas pedal the tires began screeching and they finally left their perpetrators in the dust. From the back of the car, Klaus flipped off the hitman with two middle fingers, “Woo!”

“Damn it!” The man approached Cha-cha’s side to check on the briefcase but all they saw was random junk in the briefcase. The woman threw the decoy and kicked a random junk as she screamed, “Shit!”

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[theregencywriter]

Lost in Silence 1 - Theo Sharpe x Reader

A/n - Okay so I'm obviously rewatching Bridgerton (are we surprised???) and I realised there's really no fics of Theo???? I mean of course there are but not many and I feel like he's underrated so I needed to put this out there! Still not completely sure which direction to take this in so pls message or comment if you have literally any ideas but uh, yeah! Hope you enjoy <3

The air was thick with tension. Y/n’s mother paced back and forth whilst her daughter Y/n, only ten, sat watching. The cobbled streets of London were cold and unforgiving but with no more room available in the room they were forced to wait outside. Hours passed before the doctor came out, his already stained robes marred with a fresh tint of crimson blood. He romoved a glove and placed his hand onto her Mothers arm as he spoke. “The bleeding was too much. There was nothing we could do and yet we still exhausted all options. I’m sorry.”

And then began a shriek from her mouth that young Y/n could swear rattled the nearby windows, as she shrank to the floor. It was odd, Y/n would recall years later, she never believed her mother to be truly extraordinary, and yet seeing her reduced to a blubbering mess on the floor was an unbearable sight. Y/n took off, her feet taking her as if by their own volition, running down twisted streets until she was pounding on a door.

“Y/n?” Theo asked, puzzled and tired as he opened his front door. He looked at his friend, and before she replied he was holding her in a deep embrace. Though he was only two years older than her he was naturally protective of her like no one ever had been. “He’s, he’s, oh my god!” It was as if by saying out loud for the first time it would become real, concrete and solid. “He’s what? Who’s what? Y/n please” Theo begged, his already panicked face deepening with worry. “Father!Oh Father, he was stabbed by a highwayman on his way back from the countryside! He’s gone!” Theo pulled her in closer. He had known that Y/n’s father, a coworker of his own at the butchers, was going out of London to look for work elsewhere. He also knew how worried Y/n was, and heard from his father that she was seen pleading with her own for him not to go, out of fear of a robbery.

Theo held her for a while until her mother came looking, and when he looked at her though mere hours had passed the once vibrant face of Y/n’s mother was sunken and worn. Before Y/n left with her, Theo gave her a vibrant blue notebook. “For company, when I myself am not there.” He smiled, only faintly as she left.

—

Y/n fidgeted with her bow. “Is it not too garish? I thought so all night” She asked. “Nonsense Miss Y/n, it is beautiful” Her maid replied as she helped fix it into her updo. In the years that passed since her fathers death her mother had remarried to a Lord Reginald Harrington, his wealth only matched by his cruelty. They had one child together other than Y/n, an Arrabella Harrington, now nearing twelve. Her birth was scandalously close to their wedding, yet she seemed to finally snap her mother out of the haze she had been in. To say having Arrabella had saved her would be a stretch, Y/n often lay awake at night worrying what could’ve happened had her mother not fallen pregnant and found a new purpose in life.

It was no surprise to anyone then that Y/n would be treated lesser than her sister by both parents. Y/n’s mother, now Lady Isadora Harrington, saw Arrabella as a second chance, whilst Lord Harrington naturally leaned towards the child that was his through blood. Despite this, Y/n was still sent through the marriage mart each season, attending balls and accepting callers. It wasn’t that she tired of it, per se, as she did find comfort standing on the sidelines with her two friends. It was moreso the matter of feeling like an imposter, knowing if it werent for a terrible accident that she wouldnt be here. That was something Penelope and Eloise simply couldnt grasp seeing as they were born into the lavish life they lead.

Whilst Y/n wasn’t closed off to the idea of marriage and preparing for life as a dutiful spinster, any man who attempted to court her never made it past the first two weeks. There were too many differences, she supposed, in their upbringing. After the first five men came calling it was clear they wanted a wife, not a companion. Seeing how regular people saw love most definitely shaped how Y/n saw the marriage mart. In the lower classes marrying for love was more common, as there were no titles to be exchanged. The marriage mart seemed to be just that in comparison- a business exchange. 

It was after one of these balls where Y/n found herself, being undressed by her lady’s maid. It was a remarkably unremarkable one, where she was once again stood by the edge like a wallflower. “I just don’t understand miss,” Her maid, Rosalind spoke. “Is it not a great honour to attend?” “I suppose,” Y/n replied as wrangled out of the embellished dress “Yet at the same time it feels so futile. There is no use in pretending, it is simple. I am an imposter.” Rosalind looked up, puzzled as Y/n continued. “I do not feel love, or anything. It feels like business there. No emotions to be had.”

Rosalind stopped pulling down Y/n’s stockings and paused. “Miss, I have been attending to you almost since you first day at this house. You have always been so closed off to everyone, were you like that before the?” She quit her sentence but they both knew she meant the accident. “No, not really” Y/n confessed. “I used to be open and vibrant before it all. It wasn’t even the accident in truth it was the whole combined affair. Not only losing my father but just mere weeks after losing all of the people I had ever known by moving to Mayfair. Even now I feel as though I am playing a role, that one day I might return back to the old house.” Y/n was smiling as she reminisced, unaware Rosalind was done.

“Miss, excuse me for speaking out of term if I do, but you cannot return. You have no reason to. Goodnight” Rosalind shut the door behind her as she left. Y/n sat on the edge of her bed and looked up at the vast array of books on the wall to her right. Tucked away, hidden in the very top corner, was a notebook. A vibrant blue with gold embossing on the spine it seemed to shine in the candlelight. Rolling her bookshelf ladder across to retrieve it she ran her fingers across it, taking in the delicate imprints where the gold pigment lay. After Theo had given her the book, she had never written in it. She had never even seen him after he had given it, seeing as they took no callers for their mourning period and soon moved to Mayfair to be with her new Stepfather. Y/n clinched the book in her hand and contemplated.

—

As she snuck out of her family home’s side door and caressed the dim streets of London it dawned on her the severity of what she was doing. She was unsure what would be worse, to encounter a madman alone of fall victim to the quill of Whistledown writing about an unchaperoned outing. She found her way towards Bloomsbury after several wrong turns, and while some landmarks were vaugley familiar, the majority were not. As she entered the only place on a street that had its lights on, a pub, she asked one of the patrons where to find Corral Street. The patron in return said a couple of slurred words, before turning to the stage and cheering some half hearted gibberish as a woman took to the stage. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, If I may steal you from your drinks for just a moment, I find myself compelled to speak on a matter of great importance - the rights of women.” Y/n drew closer, as if entranced, and sat on the second row of benches. “In this new age of enlightenment, where minds are expanding and horizons are broadening, it is imperative that we do not neglect the rights and freedoms of one half of humanity simply based on their gender. For too long, women have been relegated to the sidelines, their voices silenced, their aspirations thwarted by societal norms and expectations. Let us not forget the brave women who have come before us, who fought tirelessly for the rights that we now take for granted. Let us honour their legacy by continuing their struggle, by raising our voices in solidarity until every woman, regardless of class or station, is granted the respect and dignity that is her due!”

The place erupted into cheers, and Y/n joined them, though restrained due to her latter years of education. As she rose up and looked around, confused on where to or how to find directions, her eyes fixed onto a man. Though taller and more rugged than the sensitive boy she once knew, it was undeniable. 

It was Theo.

[a-strange-echo]

My only star

Pairing: Umbrella!Ben Hargreeves x gn!reader

Word Count: 1269

Summary: During your nightly meeting, Ben wants to tell you something important, little did he know, you also have something important to tell him but you're sure he won't like it.

Warnings: a little angst but fluff in the end, mention of abuse (thanks Reginald). Beta read (for once)

Author's note: I noticed it's been a while since I posted something and I just finished watching The Umbrella Academy for the second time so I just had to write something for our favorite Benny boy. It's sort of a fix-it fic but not entirely; also I might write a little piece that comes after the events of this fic if anyone is interested. As always: English is not my first language, tell me if you see any mistake, I will correct them.

It wasn’t the first time Ben slipped out of his window to escape in the middle of the night but this time it felt different. He couldn’t really explain it, maybe it was the fact he was more determined than ever to tell his best friend what he had been dying to say for years or maybe it was simply the fact he would be able to see them after a long time. Whatever it was, Ben was sure nothing could wipe the smile of his face tonight. Except perhaps the news his best friend was about to deliver to him; although he didn’t know that yet.

He found them sitting on the edge of the roof, legs dangling above the void, head turned up toward the sky as they watched the stars, waiting for him. Ben felt his heart skip a beat. The way the light of the moon and the stars shone on their face gave them an ethereal glow; it made them look like an angel. An angel made of starlight, Ben thought. He was almost convinced they truly where one in this moment. He approached as quietly as he could, not wanting to disturbed them and whatever thought were swimming in their head. Now closer, Ben could see the reflexion of the stars in their eyes and he swore they never shone brighter.

"-Careful starlight, don’t want you to fall." Ben whispered as he put his hands under their arms to pull them back a little, distancing them from the edge.

"-Hi Benny." Y/N responded, voice small.

As he sat next to them, Ben realized their eyes were shining brighter than usual because they were wet with tears. Worry immediately seized him.

"-Are you okay, baby?"

"-Yes, I just have something to tell you." they sounded so serious and he didn’t like it; it wasn’t like them to be so serious.

"-I too have something to tell you"» he tried to cheer them up with a smile but it came out small and worried.

"-I think it’s better if you go first." Y/N said, wiping their tears out of their eyes.

"-You sure" he was nervous and he knew Y/N could tell.

"-Yes." They took his hand in theirs and placed them on their lap.

Ben took a deep breath before exhaling slowly, trying to calm his nerves.

"-Y/N, we’ve known each other a long time now and-" as he raised his eyes to meet theirs, the words died on his tongue. Their bright eyes were fixated on him and his mind went blank, any sentence of the big speech he prepared disappeared of his head. "I love you." he finally sighed with heart-eyes, hoping his eyes could translate everything he felt for them, "so much." he added after a short pause.

It was quiet only for a few seconds but it felt like an eternity for both of them, until Y/N pulled their hands out of Ben’s and covered their face with them, muttering under their breath.

"-I should have went first." Y/N said more to themselves.

"-Why? You don’t love me the same?" Ben asked, now completely scared and a little hurt.

"-No! No, no..." Y/N panicked then saw how Ben leaned away from them, body closing on himself and panicked even more. "Wait, no. I-" they took a breath in. "I do love you Ben, believe me I do with my whole being and if love could be burned, I swear my love for you would be the only thing making the stars in the sky shine."

Ben blushed a little upon hearing these words and his heart skipped a beat again. He will have a heart attack because of them one day, he’s sure of it.

"-Then what’s wrong, baby?" he placed a hand on their cheek and smiled softly when they cupped his hand with theirs and leaned in it, closing their eyes.

"-I’m leaving." they managed to get out through a cracking voice. "I found the job I’ve always wanted but it’s in another city, far from here."

"-That’s awesome!" he tried to sound as excited as he could at the moment, their last words still echoing in his head. "Now you can do what you love, what you’ve always wanted to do."

"-I know but I don’t want to leave you here, any of you actually. I don’t want to go knowing that I’m leaving you behind to endure Reginald’s abuse; knowing that I won’t be able to comfort you after a mission. I know how much you hate using your power and how much it affects you, I don’t want to know I’m leaving you to suffer alone while I’m out there, doing something I love."

"-Ho, darling. Come here." Ben said as he pulled them in a hug. He pulled them on his lap, holding them as close as he could. "You always had a heart too big for your body."

"-I’m so sorry, Benny." Y/N cried, burying their head in Ben’s neck.

"-Hey, it’s okay, I’m not mad." he smiled. "When are you leaving?"

"-In a few months, I still need to find a place to live."

"-Okay, so that leaves us enough time to part ways properly." Ben smiled in their face.

"-I guess so." Y/N smiled too before leaning closer.

Ben’s eyes dipped to their lips, his tongue coming out to lick his own. When their lips finally made contact, there was no fireworks or butterflies in their stomach. All there were was a feeling of belonging, like they belong together, but it also felt right, as if it was meant to be, they were made for each other. This kiss was like coming home after years of absence.

"-It will be okay, Y/N, I promise." Ben said when they parted, a smile playing on his lips that he just licked.

"-I’ll find a way to get you out of here. And all of your siblings if I could but you come first."

Ben wanted to say that they didn’t have to do that but he wouldn’t just let go an opportunity of leaving this hell hole. He wanted to get out as fast as he could, even bring his siblings with him if he could but he knew he couldn’t.

"-Try to fit in Klaus, he needs it more than anyone else I think. And Vanya too."

"-You, Ben Hargreeves, are way too sweet for this world." Y/N had a teasing smile on but they meant every word of it. "I’ll get you out first and I’ll see for the others later." They said as they got up, pulling Ben up with them, the time they had together coming to an end. They never had enough time together in their opinion.

"-I’ll see you tomorrow?" Ben said but it sounded more like a question.

"-Of course, wouldn’t miss an opportunity to see my boyfriend." they winked, squeezing Ben’s hands as they had yet to release them.

Ben grinned and dropped his head, trying to hide his blush upon hearing what they called him.

"-I technically didn’t ask you that yet." He responded.

"-Well I’ll do it.» Y/N grinned. "Ben Hargreeves, will you do me the honour of being my boyfriend?"

"-I will." he said, leaning his forehead on theirs.

Y/N giggled before closing their eyes and basking in the moment with their boyfriend, enjoying the simple feeling of having him so close.

"-Goodnight, Benny, I love you." Y/N said before parting from the boy.

"-I love you too, darling, goodnight." he smiled, his fingers lingering in Y/N's hand as they retreated.

[hearted-anon]

Sana week! 5 days to Sana's birthday.

For: @itzsana-kiddingmenow, titled: 'Practice it yourself!' Words: 1088 Note: I tried SO LONG to find the exact moment I was talking about here but I couldn't. Anyways, it's almost been a month since I've written anything, sorry for the inactivity and lack of finishing any requests...

T/w: Slight pinning, rough tickles Taglist: @reginald-stay09 @itzsana-kiddingmenow @hetashi-takashimaya @soap143 @jungwon-is-the-one @minnielvrr @skzdiary Lee: Jisung, a bit of Minho Ler: Minho, a bit of Jisung

“How about we go over that second verse again?” Jisung mutters, his legs automatically moving to the groove that was stuck in his brain for the time being. His hand ran through his messy hair, some of it covering his eyebrows too. Poor Jisung had been having trouble memorising the second verse of S-class, struggling on his own while the others got along with the choreography perfectly fine. 

“Go and learn it yourself then.” Minho announces calmly, copying Jisung’s actions and ruffling up his own hair, a smile widening on his face almost in a nonchalant way. Jisung’s eyes could only widen in shock at what he was hearing, standing alone as he shrank into himself timidly, hearing the members laughing their heads off in the background. With a loud groan, he clung onto the elder, giving him huge puppy eyes while his arms squished the dancer closer to him, pulling them both down like he was a pit of quicksand. Even when Minho shoved at the head that was pressed against his thigh, it still didn’t deter the quokka from making them both lay down, Han pressed on top of the elder like a weight. 

“Now you have no choice but to teach me!” The younger huffed, ignoring the fact that Lee Know was letting out strained groans and mumbling every curse in the book, arms coming around to poke along the bunny’s side teasingly, a knowing grin spreading across his face. He was thrilled to see Minho’s face beginning to contort into a smile of his own, digging his fingers into his side gently while humming a tune; he knew the elder would never be able to resist his charm, no matter what. 

“Yohou brat…you behehetter stop..” Minho hisses, but finds himself trapped under Jisung’s weight anyway, tiny snickers beginning to leave his lips at the tingling sensation on his side. His cheeks puff up in an attempt to hold his laughter back, the younger letting out his own peals of laughter when the pair of thighs began to tremble and shake under him, vibrating partially onto his stomach. The practice room was left empty, no one able to save the poor bunny after a sighing leader ushered the rest out of the room for a ‘break’ to not disturb said duo.  

“I won’t stop until you teach me that damned choreography hyung!” Sure, maybe he did sound just a tiny bit too whiny to be considered normal. Sure, maybe he sounded like a petulant child that was denied a toy at the store during grocery shopping. Despite all above that may come across as the most embarrassing thing ever, it was rare that either of them ever let their guards down. But now that they were together, it felt so easy to do what wouldn’t be considered a norm, nothing able to hold them back now. 

“Then you can suffer the consequences instead!” Minho barked, before shoving his nimble fingers, that were once so very useless and laying limp against his sides, to park themselves snugly into the younger’s underarms. They were unmoving, but instantly, Han was quick to retract his hands with an ungodly high-pitched scream, pleas for mercy immediately leaving his mouth as fast as lightning; it was almost as if he wasn’t pouting and trying to tickle the Lee Minho to get his way just a few moments ago. 

“Hyung hyuhuhung please I’m sorry!” The pitiful quokka babbled, anxious giggles spilling from his lips when he felt his body instinctively backing away, almost shrinking into himself. He shrieked loudly when his back hit the wooden floor, shaking his head in desperation when he spotted the usual Cheshire grin on Minho’s face, it was as clear as day he was planning something. What was it? He didn’t know at all. And he dreaded trying to even find out. 

The elder remained silent, his fingers tenderly swiping up and down the ace’s underarms, biting back the urge to mischievously snicker at the squeals and giggles he got from the tiny action. He was barely doing anything, but each swipe felt like another electric shock up his spine, the anticipation building up so painful that it was almost humiliating. Han Jisung, youngest member of KOMCA, known as the fourth generation ace, was brought down by a few swipes to his armpits. He could only feel his cheeks heating up at the thoughts that ran through his mind, and worst of all? Lee Know hadn’t said a word, leaving it to simply be Han’s thoughts spiralling him into absolute madness; and he wouldn’t be all that surprised if the bunny already predicted this would happen. 

“Plehehease it’s torture- WAHAHA! HYUHUHUNG!” Jisung squealed when Minho finally dug his fingers deep into the younger’s underarms, one hand kneading deep circles into the sensitive flesh while the other practically vibrated in the centre of the plushy flesh. One could only pray for Han’s life afterwards, echoes of booming hysterics sounding through the practice room walls; a mixture of consequences from his own overactive imagination and the anticipation of what was already coming. He couldn’t decide which was worse, both of the rough sensations frying his brain completely as he threw his head back with cackles. 

“Ah see? I fixed it.” Minho dryly comments, like he had solved all of Jisung’s problems with whatever he was doing right now; a word that Jisung liked to call: Inhumane torture being inflicted onto his fragile and suffering body. No matter how much the younger kicked, even landing a few tiny ones onto Lee Know’s stomach, who simply just chuckled at the feeling as if it was a normal thing to be experiencing, the fingers wouldn’t even budge an inch, arching his back in a futile attempt to relieve the sensations. 

“NOHOHO MORE! I CAHAHAN’T!” Han practically screamed, deflating akin to a popped balloon when Minho finally relented, albeit a bit reluctantly. That was a shocker, considering that tears of mirth haven’t even welled up in his eyes yet. He let out a shocked yelp when the dancer gently pulled him up and into his arms, a nose burying itself into his hair and getting a whiff of the pine shampoo that came with. Although they were both on the hard wooden floor of the room, neither of them found it uncomfortable, saying nothing about the tickle fight, or the playful banter, simply basking in each other’s presence. 

And yes, Jisung did end up learning the choreography on his own anyway. 

[drspencereidshairtie]

Season Four of The Umbrella Academy was really really something for me because I had disliked lila since the very second they first introduced her. I remember being actively relieved when the show confirmed my suspicions about her, because i had felt a bit bad at first for judging her for no tangible reason.

I never really warmed up to her, in fact i actively hated her by the end of season two (which only went on to get 50x worse in season three with the whole he's our son / just kidding / whoops he's dead / haha im pregnant by the way thing) and then of course season four happened.

I actually almost kinda liked mom!lila. I was like oh, she can be human. She CAN be likeable. Maybe, just maybe, she's not a monster. I liked her new dynamic with Diego, and i enjoyed seeing her being a stressed, caring, normal mom and having a mundane life...for about two seconds. Then the whole 'book club / not book club / let him think I'm CHEATING on him' thing happened, and i was swiftly reminded that there was a reason i didn't like Lila.

Then she gets a power. It was actually a chance for her to be interesting and have character growth beyond just being a mom and wife. They could have used her to show what it's like when marigold interacts with someone who's never before had powers; they could have had some kind of fun training montage, like they did with Klaus and Reginald in season three when he discovered his immortality; and they SHOULD have done something of consequence with it, like having her accidentally hurt someone, or damage something important, idfk but, like, literally fucking anything!!!????!!!!???!!!!??? 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Instead, they just gave her stupid useless eye lasers that she uses about three times, can't control at all, and never comes up again. And it feels like they did it because they knew Lila was a weak character that couldn't stand on her own without the context of the rest of the umbrella academy, so they had to kinda 'even out the playing field' somewhat, even if it defied any and all logic and reason.*

Which, in my case at least, was an unfortunate choice. The one thing I'd actually somewhat liked about Lila was that, despite her personality and history, she was, for all intents and purposes, just an average human. I like seeing regular people in shows about abnormal folk. They give a nice context to the chaos, even if they too are 'chaotic' characters, you know?

Just when I thought she couldn't get worse.........well. I don't think i have to explain what happened. It was so much worse because Five had always been one of my favourite characters and OH MY GOD,,,,,,, HE WOULD NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER DO THAT! HE WOULD NOT DO THAT???? And you know I'm not just saying that in a delusional 'i know him better than the writers do' fan way, because pretty much everyone is in agreement.

He LITERALLY would not fucking do that. ESPECIALLY with Lila, who he's always disliked at best and actively tried to KILL at worst, and especially not now that she's his BROTHER'S WIFE and not to mention the MOTHER OF HIS BROTHER'S CHILDREN????

Anyway, that was my final nail. I no longer just hated Lila and passively wished she hadn't been added to the show, I wanted her dead. I wanted her to be killed off, or have something happen where five returned to the correct timeline but Lila couldn't for some reason, I just wanted her gone and SOON. I think it was probably what killed season four for most people, not just me. I think that if Lila had never existed, or at least hadn't made it to season four, or hadn't gone with five and................

If that hadn't happened, I think it could have been salvageable, even despite the one million and one problems with the season.

TL;DR: I genuinely, truly, deeply believe that the main issue with season four of the umbrella academy was the overarching existence of one 'Lila Pitts.'

(Don't even get me started on her almost jeopardising everything at the last moment in the final episode. I almost broke something in sheer frustration, because OH MY GOD we literally don't have time for this the world is ending infinitely and your life is not more important than the life of a single slug muchless the lives of BILLIONS of people- deep breaths, dustyn. Deep breaths.)

[tothosewholisten]

Forever Healed | TUA insert

Chapter: 16

<<previous chapter | next chapter>>

Masterlist

Cw: severe body injuries, alcohol abuse, cursing

...

Five pulled me aside from the crowd after I told him I was leaving the academy, and with furrowed brows, he started complaining. “What do you mean you're leaving?” He whispered.

Matching his tone I continued. “I already told you Five, If I don't go, then I'll die with an unfulfilled life and my ghost will wonder why I didn't do it.” Maybe I was exaggerating, but he didn't need to know.

Five’s stare wavered when he heard my reasoning. “Fine, just come back quick. You're the only one who can truly handle all these.. morons.” I chuckled at his words and turned back to the group, who were still staring at the paper Five handed them minutes ago.

“I better go quick before they notice.” I gave Five a final smile and tried to sneakily leave the area. But sadly I'm not a ninja and my absence was immediately noticed by the one who was mainly asking questions in the group.

Klaus jogged over to my faint figure with a grin on his face. “Whatchu up to?”

“Uhh too much excitement for one day, Klaus. And also the fact that I'm in wet and bloody clothes has caught up to me. I'm gonna head to my room.” I answered while trying not to give away too much.

His eyes widen, “but you're about to miss Luther's big plan of action! Poor guy still thinks he’s in charge.”

“I think I'll manage.” I cringed inside at my sudden coldness, but I was not sure if I wanted to open up about this.

“Oh come on! It feels like I haven’t seen you for forever.” He whines.

I stopped my progression up the stairs and met him at the bottom step. “It’s because you haven’t. I've been gone for almost a year, excuse me if things have changed.” My tone was sharp, it lacked all the fun qualities I'd normally have when talking to Klaus. It’s not like I wanted to be mad at him, since I had no reason. I was just mad at my situation. “I'll see you later Klaus.”

I disappointed myself with my actions. It was just hard to talk to someone so happy, after everything I'd just been through. I had also lied to my best friend, I wasn't going to my room, just yet,

I headed in the opposite direction to the place where I knew the person I needed would be. He had no room, which I never understood growing up, and neither did Grace. But when I'd be running around with Klaus and Ben we'd sometimes run into him in a mini library, one that Reginald probably kept to himself.

Gently, I knocked at the door to not alert the reading man. “Pogo?” I said.

He put his heavy book down and stood up to greet me. “Ms, Y/n! To what do I owe the pleasure?”

We walked back over to the seating area to talk, I held my breath the whole time. There was no easy way of going about what I was going to say next. I'd never talked about this to him, nor did I to anyone else. After all, if Reginald ever caught me saying things like this there would be heavy repercussions. But, he’s dead and here I am ready to spill my guts.

“I want to go home, Pogo.”

He tilted his head at me with confusion before looking around the room. “I'm afraid I don't understand. This is the academy.”

“You know what I'm talking about, please just humor me. I want to go back to where I was born and see my parents.” I pleaded.

Finally, after I said that it finally clicked in his head. Pogo started to fidget and sweat slightly. “Ms. Y/n..

I let out a loud sigh. “Look, I-I know I sound crazy but hear me out. I don't know if the others have told you but we only have a few days left on this planet. That is if we fail to save it, and I can't take those odds.. I need to see them one last time, just to talk and ask why.”

“And if you don't get the answer you want?” His words surprised me, his laid-back persona and natural calmness were completely abandoned. “I don't know what I'd do if you came back here and told me that they didn’t receive you with open arms.”

“Well then, I can say that I finally did it.” Something I've always wanted to do for years. His response was correct though, what if they didn't even want to see me?

Pogo went on. “I remember the moment when you were brought to me, I don't know if you recall but I was the first person you saw in the academy. Except for Master Reginald of course. You were as tall as me back then.” He chuckled. “But oh so scared, you wouldn't speak to anyone but me. You even told me that you were happy to leave your parents.”

“What?” I choked on the words leaving my mouth. “What are you talking about? I remember hugging my mom tightly as he and his people dragged me off, kicking and screaming.”

“That’s not how I remember it?” He said truthfully.

“How can we have different experiences of the same event?” I asked. “That's.. that's not the only thing I can't remember. I don't even know what my house looks like anymore. If I knew I'm sure twelve-year-old me would’ve run right back and begged for forgiveness. But I'm not that old, how can I not remember a place I spent twelve years of my life?” Pogo stared at me, almost like there were no thoughts behind his eyes. “This is why I need to go. I have blank spots in my head. I just need the full story.”

Time passed and no matter how much we went back and forth during my time in the mini library it was obvious I wasn't taking no for an answer.

“Pogo. Don’t I deserve to be in control of my own life?” That shook him to his core, he almost looked guilty.

The monkey man stood up with a wobble. “Very well.” He then slowly pulled out a pen from his pocket and a piece of paper that was on the table next to him. He thought about his words before he started scribbling down what looked like chicken scratch. Once he was done, with a shaky hand and a heavy heart he handed it to me. But I couldn’t read anything? I was about to tell him to rewrite it when everything became clear. Like magic, the unreadable blurb became a cohesive sentence. It was an address, my address. I lower the paper and stare down at him.

“I don’t understand. Brownsville is only a town or two away. It’s not like I came from another state, why don't I remember this?”

“I'm afraid I don't have that answer..”

I carefully folded the parchment and placed it into my suit pocket. “You don’t understand how much this means to me, Pogo.”

“Anything for you, my girl.” He sadly smiled. Something was off with him, it was clear to see judging by his body language. Before leaving I hugged the man and whispered that I'll tell him all about it when I got back.

Then I was off. Actually, to my room this time, to bathe and change. Before leaving I stared at myself in the mirror. Would I even be able to spot my parents out in a crowd? Do they even still live there? Would they even recognize me?

I no longer was the spitting image of my mom, if that was ever the case. Maybe I was born in a lab test tube.

..

Exiting the academy was a weird feeling. I'd almost forgotten how pretty this city could be, after only seeing corporate desks and sleazy streets nothing compared to this. I entered the same metro bus I'd taken to get to my first therapy session. If only I could go back to Gloria now, I'm sure she'd have a heart attack with all of the ludicrous things that have happened since we last spoke. If I have more time and we save the world I promised myself I'd go back to her.

The bus ride was silent, I had no room for music with all my swirling thoughts. No matter how I arrived at the academy I couldn’t forget the reason why I was put there. My parents wanted the money more than me. Just as all the other parents sold off their children to Reginald's fucked up daycare.

Even if they were extremely nice to me I'd never forget the things this situation brought me or the abuse I was given in both houses, as well as the pain and grief of a boy I should've never met, terrifying and uncontrollable powers and a horrible mindset to go with it all.

I spent the bus ride looking out of the window for about an hour and a half until we had finally reached the last stop. Brownsville was a town I only heard of through word of mouth, I never imagined I would grow up here.

..

Taking a step off the bus and onto the Brownsville dirt was an anxious experience, but if things went wrong I knew I could just get back on this same bus and run away. The air felt different here as well as the people and the noises. It filled me with a sense of dread that my body ignored as it kept moving.

The area I walked into was crowded with all types of people and all kinds of food which looked way more authentic than the stuff I force-fed to myself recently. I let my nose follow the scent of chicken and the nearest person to ask for directions.

“Excuse me?” I spoke. The old man working at the stand didn’t hear me, he was too busy on the grill. I felt very out of place and proper, I even stood up straight in anticipation.

Suddenly another man came up to the booth and started ordering in a language I didn't think I knew the name of. But it was things I'd felt like I'd heard before. The worker picked up his head to the words and cheerfully greeted the man like I was just his shadow. With the same quickness that the random man had entered, he had also left after receiving his food.

I was left with the worker man with no way of communicating. I only knew one language, which was uncommon in the Umbrella Academy. Ben knew Korean and Diego knew Spanish and the others had picked up their second languages as they grew up. I was never quick to learn.

My mind went back to where I heard this language. It wasn't at the academy, and it wasn't at the commission headquarters. It hugged me like a blanket of nostalgia. I must be going crazy. All my memories are scrambled, I can't tell where my history starts and where my blanks end. But for certain I know my life started here.

Once again I was pushed aside by a herd of young adults who all spoke the same language that was causing me so much trouble. Slowly but surely I started picking up what they were saying. One girl wanted a chicken and rice meal and the others wanted to go somewhere else. It felt like someone had a live translator humming all the words in my ear.

How did I do that?

When they ran off laughing with each other I was left at a standstill. Was this like the paper from earlier? As soon as I piece things together it's like a new area of my mind is unlocked.

As soon as the third customer cut in front of me all that confusion melted away. This time the customer was an elderly lady with striking H/c hair. She looked like me, she looked like my mother. She spoke the same language I'd heard all afternoon. People were speaking it on the bus back when I was too lost to pay attention, people were walking over to the vendors speaking this language, and little children pushed past me cheering in a language that all made sense to me.

And with a bit of courage and a lot of nervousness, I spoke my mother’s native tongue, for the woman to hear. I sound nasally and maybe I said some words wrong. But when the woman abandoned her tasty food to bring me over to my parent's house I knew I said the right thing.

..

Maybe this woman was my mom? No. My mom would be a bit younger if what I know is correct. My mother had me around her twenties and it's been almost thirty years since she would only be in her fifties. Maybe she was just a neighbor, but that wouldn't explain her striking resemblance.

“What’s your name?” I asked her in my broken version of the language. My shoes were now covered in mud as we strayed off a path. I started to think I was getting willingly kidnapped which led to my death. But the woman is elderly and also barely walking correctly. It was still eerily creepy when she never responded to me, just kept her same slow pace.

At the end of the mud was a street of houses that stretched to the ends of the earth, probably. Everything looked out of a commercial. It was too saturated and vibrant for this state where everything has a sad blue hue, except for Brownsville. We were not the only ones on the street witnessing the splash of color though, small children in uniforms were everywhere and so was a sand-colored school building.

My old school, my old uniform.

I almost ran into the non-talkative lady when she stopped at a house. This was it, we were finally here. After years of thoughts, cries and yells about my past life. I'd finally returned when there was no true reason to. Except for the fact that I was hurting inside, and needed to distract it with another type of pain. Family pain.

“Thank you,” I said in disbelief. I thought surely the lady was going to leave now. She surprised me when she took out the keys from her pocket and unopened the door.

She disappeared inside in a flash. “Hey-” my mouth hung open as I followed the woman in, desperate for answers. But I soon got lost in awe because of my surroundings. I was having a sensory overload, I'm sure. Memories all came back to me at once as I looked around. Nothing in the tiny house had changed since I was living there. They even had the same wall colors of the nineties.

This place was preserved in time like a memory box, but untouched by a single speck of dust. Someone had just dusted, and no way in hell it was my dad. I lost sight of the strange woman but picked up on something new, the smell of stew on the stove. Just like my mom made me when I came home from school..

An aged voice spoke out, filled with content. “Mom? Is that you, are you back?” It was barely above normal speaking voice and definitely not in English. I blinked and saw the older woman dipping a spoon into the unfinished stew. A middle-aged woman with a gentle voice and flowy clothing walked down the carpet-covered stairs and into the kitchen.

“Mama! You know you're supposed to wait.” She laughed while moving her mother away from the pot. It was straight out of a movie, about a kind daughter and her loving mother while I was just an extra in it.

I felt a wave of nausea, this was a horrible stupid idea you fucking moron. Why would you come here, you knew what was going to happen. I made my way to the door in a panic, if I let her see me I knew I'd burst into tears on the spot and melt into a sentimental puddle.

I'm not ready to face her, I told myself.

I expected my dad at least to be here, not her. So I could just yell at him and maybe get a few punches in. My wishful thinking made me not even prepare for what I was going to tell them. At the sound of the door handle shaking the two turned around to see me struggling with my back turned towards them.

“Did you invite another neighbor over? I swear I won't be able to feed every stray you bring in, Mama.” The middle-aged woman said. But her mom didn't say anything.

My breathing was heavy, I thought my heart was going to leap out of my chest and into her stew. I could hear the footsteps of her getting closer to me, I came all the way here I had to get this over with. Come on Y/n just turn around.

The woman spoke in her common tongue to greet her guest. “Hello! I’m-” The clatter of the wooden spoon she was holding in her hand made the room shake. She stared at me with an open wide mouth and tears in her eyes.

..

I was told to take a seat in the living room and was also served a plate of stew that had gone cold by now. With a cup of water in my hand, I waited for my mom to sit opposite of me so we could talk. But she was wrapping things up in the kitchen. My grandmother was elsewhere but even in her absence, she did strike a question in my brain. When did she get here? She wasn't here when I was. I didn't even know I had a grandmother or any family on my mom's side.

Taking a look at my mom I saw that she'd definitely changed also, she cut her hair and wore more modest clothing than she used to. She looked like she was still a mother who was tired from her days of raising a kid. But what kid did she raise?

Once she sat down I felt like I needed to get down to business, I was growing more restless by the moment. But she beat me to it.

“How have you been?” She asked me.

I took a double take at her question. “Excuse me? That’s something you say when you haven’t heard from someone in weeks. Not to your child who you haven’t seen for seventeen years.”

She was startled at my response. “You're right, I'm sorry.” She spoke softly.

What the hell was going on here? Had these years been a dream because she was treating me like I'd never left? We sat in silence just staring at each other, my stare was more in anger but she stared at me with whimsy.

“You look great.”

“Don’t be so surprised, I looked great seventeen years ago too.” She made me scoff at her words. We dropped the second language minutes ago, I knew she knew had to speak English and I couldn’t get my point across in anything but English.

She ran a hand through her hair. “I saw the news the other day. I'm so sorry for your loss.” She said,

“What loss?”

“Sir Reginald Hargreeves? It must've been hard.”

I laughed in disbelief before saying. “Are you kidding me?”

“What?”

“Fuck Reginald Hargreeves.”

“B/n..”

I shook my head at the cowardly woman. “Don’t call me that. There’s no need to feel bad for him. He was a horrible man, Mom. You know, One of the first things he made me do was get a tattoo at twelve that branded me to him. And then he'd make me shoot bullet holes everywhere in my body every day. Father of the fucking year.”

“Please don't curse.” She pleaded.

“Are you even listening?” I asked back.

My mom looked down at her glass of water. “Of course I am! Something about a tattoo right B/n?”

I stood up in my chair slightly, repulsed and almost in shock by the way she said that name. After The Handler, I grew to hate a name I forgot I was even called. I wanted to flip the table and walk away but I grounded myself with a simple shout. “You're not listening. You don't get to call me that, that’s not my name. My name is Y/n. Do you know why? Because it was changed by the academy. Just like every other aspect of this bullshit fake life, I thought I had!” Maybe that wasn't a simple shout. It felt good though.

“Please calm down.” She tried to grab onto my hand. I slapped it away but it did make me sit. God, I'll never move on from my submission.

“I didn't come here for lunch. I came here for answers, so start answering,” she sat back down as well and I took a sip of the water given to me. “Why’d you do it?”

“Do what?” No way she was this dense.

“Oh my god. I mean all of this?” She had no response. “Why’d you give me away when the first man offered? Why’d you never get back in contact with me? You never sent any letters. Why didn't you visit? You didn't even tell me you loved me before I left..” I could feel salty tears drop to the corners of my mouth. “Don’t you understand what that did to me?”

She gulped down nerves as her heartbeat quickened. “It wasn't an easy decision, it was complicated.”

“I'm sure it was.” I rolled my eyes.

“Please just hear me out.” Her weakness was starting to show, her posture became smaller. Like she was trying to crawl back into her skin and away from this situation.

“Your father and I thought It wasn't easy to keep up with a daughter as unique as you..” She tried to justify.

“Speaking of the devil, where is he? Probably six feet under right?” I hoped so.

“He’s.. he's at work.” She turned to the clock on the kitchen wall. The same clock she'd always help me work with when I couldn’t figure out how to tell the time.

I couldn’t believe this. She’s still with him? The man who abused her, the man who hated her and married her out of convenience. “Why would you do that to yourself…? Why are you still with him, you're supposed to cut people out of your life when they hurt you. You had all this time to do it.”

“It’s complicated.”

“Not as complicated as when you gave me away right?”

“We had just gotten married, we didn't know what to do with a kid. You were special, you had superpowers! You weren't meant to stay here, you would’ve had a mundane life, and you would’ve wished to join those kids.” That was the first time I thought she was speaking her mind, but she had it all wrong.

“That’s what you actually believe? I would’ve been bored here?”

“You were made for something more. I always knew that. We thought Sir Reginald gave you a lovely home. I’ve watched you on TV all these years. You looked happy, you have siblings, you had everything I ever wanted growing up.”

“You’re basing my experience on what you saw on a TV? I can’t even think of them as my siblings. I met them when I was twelve!” I wanted to get my brains bashed again. Maybe I wouldn't have to remember this conversation.

“Well, I'm sure he had his reasons for what he did?”

“No! That’s not the truth, Reignald was an abusive asshole who only wanted us so he could use us. I joined late so I got all their childhood trauma at once. He was cruel and sadistic, Mom. Every day I wanted to go home, I wanted to come back here to you guys. Why would you give me up with the possibility of me having a happy life? Why couldn’t I have had a happy life here?”

“It was too much for us to handle at the time.”

“Oh yeah, I bet the cash he gave you made the time go by better.”

“Stop insinuating that we’re bad people!” She raised her voice. “We did the right thing.”

“I needed a mother! My mother! But you didn't even call.” I went higher than her; it was in my nature to be competitive.

“You want the truth?”

I cried out in agony. “That’s all I've ever wanted!”

“When you were shot in the stomach at the bank and came back like nothing was wrong. You scared me, I was scared of the possibilities that could happen. I had no idea you could do anything like that. I was scared of your powers at such a young age that I couldn’t help you control. I told your father, he was scared also and then we were approached by Reginald and we made the decision we thought would suit you best. We didn't want to confuse you so we never reached out.” She looked away.

“How did I scare you? I only tried to help you whenever he would hurt you. I’d be there to pick up the pieces. The reason why you have no scars on your face it’s because of me, why would I ever push someone to be scared of me? My powers are to heal people, not to hurt them. Why would anyone think that I’m dangerous?” I don't think I believed that at all. I know what I've done, it wasn’t something that reappeared in my head. If I told her I'd only prove her point.

My mind was racing back to memories like The Handler, who said I was a killer. My old boyfriend, who said I was crazy. The people I’ve killed even when I thought I was just protecting the world. Maybe I wasn’t so perfect. Maybe I was losing it, but that was only because of the situation I'd been put in.

“Because of this! Because of what you’re doing, you’re freaking out. You need to calm down B/n. You always hide your father's temper.” Now she was trying to blame me?

“I have my father’s temper? What about your selfishness? Even after I moved out you never thought of contacting me, Mom. It's almost been thirty years, I'm twenty-nine!”

Instead of responding, she checks the time again. “I'm so sorry Y/n. I don't know what else to say. I had no idea this would happen.”

As my anger rose, so did my blood pressure. “And now you're dropping the subject altogether. I don't even know you. I can't tell if you're being serious.”

“Then let's get to know each other. There’s so much I've always wanted to ask you.” She sounded so oblivious like we were just screaming at each other a couple minutes ago. But she wouldn’t stop staring at that damn clock.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

As soon as I say that she never looks at the clock again. “Nothing! I'll warm up your stew.”

My mom called over my grandmother and whispered something to her so quietly it sounded like the steam of the stew pot. Whatever she said it sent my grandmother running towards the door and out of it. “What was that?” I asked while getting up to meet my mother in the kitchen.

“I just asked her to grab some more vegetables for dinner before the store near here closes, we’re gonna have some pasta.” She stares at me. “Should I set a plate for you.. Y/n?”

The mention of dinner had me looking out the window. It was getting dark, just how long were we talking? I've been on my journey to Brownsville for almost the full day. Who knows what I've missed at the academy?

“I'm not sure if that's such a good idea, I have to get back to the academy..”

“Oh! Do you still live there?” She asked.

I blinked at her with confusion before realizing what I said. Everything has been so hectic recently that I didn't even know where to start with my explanation. “No it’s just, everyone is still together. From.. the funeral? Yeah, and we’ve just been with each other for the last few days. Grieving.” I tried to make myself seem as sad as possible but it wasn't working. We were together because the world was about to end, not because Reginald made us all sappy.

But now it was my time to ask a question. “What’s with pasta? You never made that before.”

She looked delighted to tell this story. She almost looked like Grace who would be ecstatic anytime we said her cooking was good. “It’s become one of your father's favorites since we need quicker meals to deal with- his new job.”

I folded my arms. “Which is?”

“He’s the head of a company which has produced books since a couple of years ago. I think he was even in charge of that book, that girl made. What’s her name again?” She counted different names that start with a v on her fingers until she landed on the right one. “Vanya! That’s her name.”

To think my dad published the book that helped drive a wedge into my family even more than there already was.

“I never read it myself but I heard great things from him.” She said, “What's with the name Y/n? Did Sir Reginald choose it?”

She made me think back to the currently dead Grace. “Something like that..”

My mother nodded in my direction. “It suits you. Better than what I picked out to be honest. But uh my mother, I mean your grandmother will be back soon, would you want to help me with the dough?”

I didn’t want to, my mind was focused on what I could have missed at the academy. Like if they went after Harold Jenkins themselves and someone got hurt. I was desperate for a feeling other than sorrow, maybe I needed a distraction. “I guess it could hurt.”

Despite how angry I still was with her, I helped her make dinner for a man I also hated. And as she gave me a demonstration on how to roll and make spaghetti out of the dough we started to talk once again. Since I no longer felt the pressure of sitting down at the living room table, the words started to flow out. She even answered my questions with her thoughts. She also handed me some wine as we kept talking. I'm not a drinker anymore but who am I to say no?

We laughed, we got angry and we got a bit sad, there was a perfect balance. It felt like I was talking to Allison, like the time when we stole Grace's dresses. We were never the closest but we could have civil conversations that led to great memories that lasted in my mind. It felt nice to talk to someone who wasn't superhuman or crazy. She was just a regular human being existing, I think I forgot how to one by now.

Once the pasta was in the water we took a seat on the couch. It was just as hard and lumpy as I remembered but nonetheless comforting. She handed me some more wine as we kept talking.

..

After some time the doorbell rang unexpectedly, it was weird because G/n, as I discovered was my grandmother's name, had a key. And so did my father who I was very scared to see. My mother got up and swayed towards the door to open it, slightly drunk and still raving about the score she got on Thanksgiving food last year. I was drunk too, I think, but I'd felt this lucid all day so I wasn't sure.

The person at the door made my mother almost drop her glass as she tried to usher them outside. It wasn’t G/n and it wasn't my father, so against my better judgment I went to see what was going on.

“This isn't a good time” she whispered.

“I thought you wanted me to come over for dinner?” The voice said it was a man.

As I walked to the door I smirked, did my mom have a secret lover? That’s something I would’ve never expected but made sense since she told me my father was never here. Once I opened the door back up I was excited to see what mysterious my mom’s life really held.

When I saw him I almost dropped my glass too. This wasn't some fifty year old man that I expected to see, it was a man who looked exactly like my mom. Like me. This man could’ve been my exact copy, the same look in his eyes and the same scowl id paint my face with if someone was pissing me off.

“What the fuck?” I yelled to no one in particular.

My mother looks at me in fright, completely sobered up. “Y/n.. Honey.”

As I downed my last drop of red wine I thought my body was going to give out, I felt betrayed and unwanted, clearly I was. “I was always the problem, wasn't I? I knew it.” I then addressed him directly. “How old are you?”

“What?” The stranger asked me. I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes, this kid didn't know how old he was. “Okay, easy math twelve minus twenty-nine is seventeen. You're around seventeen right? You're in high school or something?” I found myself not caring for the answer I could see his uniform on. He went to the same school I did.

He gulped while staring at my mother for approval. “Yeah..” he said quietly

“You got busy didn't you?” I laughed at M/n. It wasn't funny actually but that's all I could find myself doing at that moment, that or throwing something. “Probably didn't even wait a couple of months.”

“It’s not like that..” I found my supposed mother glancing back and forth between the both of us like she had to choose. “We just got so lonely.”

“So you didn't contact your daughter you already gave birth to. You just decided to start again? Have another kid and forget about me?”

The boy looked up at me surprised. “You're my sister?” He turned to our mother. I looked at the two of them. She didn't even bother to tell him? “You just love a mystery mom. Not even bothering to tell either of us is a new low.”

We left her at a loss for words. I'm sure she was thinking that the two carbon copies, twelve years apart, would never meet as long as I stayed out of her new perfect life with her perfect son.

By now the sky had turned a very vibrant shade of dark purple. There was nothing left to do here, it was time to leave. I entered their home once again to grab the huge bottle of wine they were probably going to enjoy with their meal. Turns out that I needed it more.

“Where are you going?” My mother called out.

I took a swig. “Oh, I'm leaving,” I said cheerfully. “I'm also taking this bottle here, it's very good. Thanks for the stew.” The thank you was more of a fuck you honestly. She was able to tell right away when she blocked my exit.

“Please, we can talk about this in the morning. Just stay with us.” She made everyone tense. Even my little brother looked anywhere but at us, he was trying to stay out of this.

I stepped up to the woman who had a similar height to me and she immediately backed up. She was scared of me, what bullshit. “There’s no need. I've never known this place as my home and you made that very clear today. This was a waste of time.”

Without another word, I walked out of the house. Secretly hoped it would catch on fire in an instant but that never came. And I limped all the way back to the muddy grass to get to the bus stop.

In the span of a whole day, I solved years of questions. With a simple answer, I wasn’t wanted. And my whole day was made worse because of it. I laughed as my hands went to tug at my hair. The outcome of this situation was hilarious to me, Pogo knew what would happen all along..

The bus didn't arrive until almost forty minutes after I arrived at the stop. Luckily I had my now empty wine bottle to keep me company. I knew I was going to make a pitstop before returning to the academy and getting more.

..

Once I'd gotten my fill, the bus ride home was filled with silent whimpers and bursts of excitement, my head was killing me. It could’ve been from all the alcohol mixed or because of stress, but I was practically up in the clouds. To the point where I almost missed the right stop.

I stepped off the bus after handing the driver an extra case of beer. I felt like I wanted to go dance, just like I used to with Klaus when we'd get this drunk. I planned to ask him to take me. I know he wouldn’t mind, right?

But when I got inside the academy I couldn’t find a single person where I left them. Of course, it’s been hours but weirdly I expected everyone to stay there. I was too wasted to go running around the huge mansion, I'm sure they’d turn up in the morning.

Without taking off my shoes or shredding myself of my clothes I went right to bed. I hoped when I woke up that this was all a dream..

…

.

“Y/N?”

.

“Wake up”

.

“Please.”

.

“Allison is..”

.

“Just get up, please”

An odd voice rang in my ears that sounded almost like Ben. But when I woke up I only saw Klaus, who stood over my body with tears in his eyes. It took a moment for me to adjust to my surroundings as well as my horrible headache.

He put his hands on my shoulders and shook me hard, it wasn't like him to be so tense. “Are you? Are you drunk?” He asked me while letting go.

I rose from my soft bed and rubbed my eyes. “I guess so,” I replied.

Soon another body entered my room, it was Five. He was equally as tense, he looked like he was about to explode. “She’s awake, good. We need to go before it's too late.” In the blink of an eye, I was no longer in my room but in the medical center of the academy. Had I forgotten a check-up? An important date? When I woke up earlier I had no idea what Klaus was saying. Just what happened in my absence, I was gone for a day..

When we reached the room everyone who wasn't in my room was surrounding the operating table. As I took a look around the room my vision was playing tricks on me, because when I noticed Pogo I saw someone else with him.... Grace? With blood on her white coat. Whatever was going on here felt like a terrible nightmare of my creation.

I opened my mouth to speak but was cut off when everyone noticed I was in the room.

“Where the hell have you been?” Someone yelled at me. I couldn’t tell whose figure was closing in on me since everything around me was so blurry. Suddenly everyone was near me when he lunged, they held him back.

“You need to calm down Luther.” Diego’s wavering voice said.

He huffed. “How can I calm down? Allison can die any moment and the only one who could save her was too busy getting her beauty rest.” He continued to yell in my face.

“Stop this behavior at once!” Pogo shouted. But that didn't stop the man, no matter how much everyone in the room protested.

I took a step back as I continued to hear his sorrows. “What the fuck is going on?”

Klaus spoke up from behind Luther. “Harold Jenkins got to Allison when she went looking for Vanya.”

It clicked in my messed up head who was on the operating table, my breathing started to shorten as I looked at her wounds after pushing Luther out of my way. Allison’s eyes were wide open as she was trying to cling to life. Her whole throat looked like someone took a chainsaw to her body, it was cut open and mangled with blood spurting out.

The image shook me to my core, it did with everyone else in the room too. “Oh god,” I whispered. Despite being heavily intoxicated my brain switched into a state of sobriety just for her. There had to be something I could do so I couldn't lose another person. “How long has she been here?” I asked the crowd.

“You came in a minute after us.” Five spoke.

Okay, at least maybe ten minutes. Not unsaveable. When my hands touched her delicate sliced skin I was brought back to my days of healing people on missions. But with the added alcohol, I asked for a bucket and then got to work.

“She suffered a severe laceration to the lungs..” I talked to myself as I worked, but the solution was nowhere in sight. “Blood! We need someone’s blood.”

All of the men said they’d do it at once but Luther was the loudest. “I'll do it.” He said while lifting his sleeve.

Pogo gave him a sad frown. “I'm afraid that's not possible, dear boy. Your blood is more compatible with mine.”

“Pogos right. I need someone else.” I snapped at the crowd to start speaking.

“Hey, don't sweat it. I—I got this, big guy. I love needles!” Klaus moved next to me with his arm out ready to give out his blood.

“You got too much shit in your blood,” I told him. “You're too polluted.”

Diego took that as his sign. “Move.” He said to Luther, still slightly pissed off at his outburst earlier.

Once I brought out the syringe the poor guy took one look at it and with a loud squeak fainted. Everyone looked around at each other desperate for something to do. But I had a new idea.

“Y/n stick him,” Pogo told me.

I looked around the room. “No need, I have a new plan. Pogo go grab the box of serum now.” There was no time for manners in times like these.

“What box? What serum.” Luther asked.

Once Pogo handed me the box I used days before to heal myself I answered his questions. “Don’t worry, it's not the monkey stuff. It’s me, it's my blood along with other properties mixed into a healing serum. I just thought I'd be best equipped to get my blood but since I just downed like thirty beers. This is the next solution, it should heal her, I tested it on myself a few days ago.

“Where the hell has this been?” Five looked at the monkey man.

I prepared one of the vials into a syringe. The golden liquid seemed to just glow in the darkly lit room, this just had to work.

“Master Reginald had worked on it up to the day that he died,” Pogo answered.

“Full of surprises,” I said sarcastically, I brought the string up to her cut flesh and held her hand with my other free hand. Please let this work. “I'm so sorry,” I whispered before sticking it into her skin. I knew that this was going to hurt immensely like it did for me, but it would be worth it in the end. As the liquid dispensed into her veins and there was no sign of her in pain I took a sigh of relief. That was until her whole body started to shake, she was spazzing out.

“What’s happening?” Klaus cried out.

“It’s okay! It’s how it works.” I reassured the crowd. It was one time though, I wasn't so sure what was happening. But no matter how twisted Reginald was, if he was here he’d come to the same solution.

Her body stopped shaking after a few moments, and the blood flowing from her open wound stopped. The cut started to reverse slowly but the serum did work. I then placed a cloth and bandage over her throat to suck up any blood left. “Give her time, she’s a fighter. In the morning I’ll tie her throat up” I concluded.

A hush fell over the whole room, they looked at me with the same awe I found myself feeling. I did something useful with my powers for the first time in a while that did not cause anyone to die. It felt amazing, even more than my buzz. It gave me a moment of purpose that I didn't want to lose.

Suddenly I had more questions. “You guys went after him? What was your plan?”

Five looked down. “Well, a few of us stalked his house for clues but we'd left before this happened. Allison found where Harold Jenkins had Vanya but she headed there by herself. We found her like this.”

I looked back at the woman on the table, Allison didn't deserve this. “Wait, where’s Vanya now?”

“We have no clue,” Diego said.

This couldn’t be any worse, one sister was on the brink of death and the other was nowhere to be found. Just what has this Harold Jenkins done to the Umbrella Academy?

Pogo tried to get us to relax a bit. “You all should try and get some sleep, converse in the morning.” I wanted to take him up on the offer but I know that the others wouldn’t. He should’ve known, no one here ever rests. We had one last mission as a group and it was how to stop the apocalypse and clearly time was ticking.

…

Taglist

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I am back with the next chapter! Were you able to guess what the chapter was about?

We're ramping up to the end. And when we get there I will give you some more backstory of.. well you. Powers and maybe if you have any like other questions I will do a short qna and start season 2!

[stellar-collective]

Ollie did his best to disguise his shock at the invitation. He could somewhat wrap his head around Phoenix being willing to run a mission with him since they’d done it once before (albeit with Ollie having no idea) but this? He certainly wasn’t complaining, seeing as moments ago he thought he might never see Phoenix again due to their infrequent visits to Agency headquarters, he was just confused.

“Reginald’s address is technically classified, so I’ll come get you,” Phoenix was saying as they turned and continued down the hall.

“What’re we watching?”

“It’s Reginald’s choice, so probably a John Juniper flick. Ever heard of him?”

first ~ prev ~ next

good old impulsive Agent Phoenix lol