#Viktor rewrite

[sortofanobsession]

Will o the Wisp Viktor's pronouns Super Rewrite

Author's note: I'm still grappling with how to handle this in canon events. But I decided it feels right to post both versions and let you guys decide which one to use going forward. Literally the only thing that has changed is Viktor's name and pronouns and a few grammar mistakes.

I really would like your guys' input going forward. I might make a poll about it but I don't think this series has many readers so just send me an anon ask, or a reply. Thanks guys. Here is all 4 chapters rewritten in this post so it is a looooong one, so it is all under the cut.

Again the main ship is Diego x reader but since Viktor x platonic!reader is important at points I decided to fix it.

Series/TUA Masterlist

Establishing info:

#8-The Wisp

Her powers are that she can create a being of pure light and seemingly energy, separate from her own entity. It started as a flickering ball of light. Pogo had said the faint light was like the Will o' the Wisp in old English folklore. But she would go on to learn that most cultures had phantom lights. The name Wisp stuck, but the light didn't stay small or weak for long. Sir Reginald Hargreeves trained her to give it form and capable of independent motion. She gave it a humanoid form to make it easier to manipulate when she took it over. But more often than not, she lets it clings to her like an inverse shadow. She eventually found that she could split her consciousness and control it. Something her father would push her to explore. She can will it in and out of existence, but it still sort of radiates from her if she doesn't give it an external form. It gives her an ethereal glow when it doesn't have its own form. She can weaponize the light in multiple ways. She can use it to blind opponents. It can temporarily stun and disorient someone. She can use it as a projectile. She can also use it to fight as multiple beings, something she tries to limit because fragmenting one's psyche can be both disorienting and unnerving. 

Her siblings had stuck with the Will o' the Wisp idea and jokingly called her Will, but she preferred the name Y/N that Mom helped her pick. They initially called the light entity Wisp due to a lack of creativity. Then they got more "creative", calling it her shining stalker, bright bugger, and many other weird and rude names. She would remind them it wasn't a sentient being. It only became so when she was the conscious one controlling it. And tell them they were just jealous they couldn't be in two places at once. 

Her arguments with Diego were usually more direct.

"You're just jealous I never run out of weapons or have to retrieve them," she would tease when Diego would start to bug her about it.

"At least I can blend into a crowd," Diego would shoot back. "You stick out like a glow stick even when your stalker isn't burning its image into people's retinas."

"And yet, they still like us more," she would shrug and guide her glowing glimmer to do the same, making it seem more like a twin or a doppelganger as she does. 

She had two siblings that were drawn to her by her light. They would cling to the light as the light clung to her. Ben and Klaus. Ben, because the warm light helped cancel out the cold darkness his powers seemed to bring with them. Klaus, because despite the ghost light jokes, her light actually helped keep his ghosts and demons at bay. It would remind him he wasn't in the dark mausoleum that their father would lock him in. So it wasn't unusual for one or both of them to hide from nightmares in her room. She didn't mind. If it helped them, she'd do it, even if Sir Reginald didn't approve. That was what they had their powers for, wasn't it? Helping people, being heroes, wasn’t that what they were supposed to do? For her, part of that meant putting up with Klaus drooling or Ben mumbling in his sleep. 

Her other siblings mostly liked or at least tolerated her, other than Diego. Diego liked to argue with her almost as much as he did Luther. He often called her la bruja after the witch lights that taunt and trick people. Luther and Allison had told her he was probably just jealous that Y/N has useful powers. He is jealous that she has successfully molded her powers the way their father wanted her to. They told her she was as good at what she could do as they were, which was what pissed him off.

Luther didn't mind her as long as she followed orders and did her training. He liked her well enough, but she wasn't Allison. Allison liked having a sister with powers, but she wanted attention more, and since Luther was happy to give it to her, Allison spent most of her time with him. Y/N and Viktor got along well enough, but Klaus would usually drag Y/N and often Ben off on a whim and rarely left much time for the seventh sibling. 

Y/N and Five liked to challenge each other. It was a playful rivalry, unlike Luther and Diego. She and Five would see who could get somewhere faster, him or her speed of light Wisp. They would race, push each other, and make each other faster and more focused. They'd take turns critiquing their techniques as they trained and just genuinely got along. They could be competitive and still be companions. The competitions made them both better. They thrived due to their competitiveness but always ended the day as equals. 

A few days after Five vanished and failed to return, Viktor had come to her. Viktor was always observant, despite the neglect she suffered. Viktor had noticed how the Wisp wasn't out as much. The ethereal glow around his sister was dimmer, darker. It was less like a warm candle and more like the pilot light on a stove or a heater. A deeper, almost blue core to it. Blue as if tainted with her melancholy. And when the Wisp was out, usually in training or at their father's insistence, it was less of vibrant sunshine at high noon or a beautiful yet powerful sunrise. But more harsh like a wildfire flame at night. They had talked, cried, and missed their brother. Viktor gave their sister a sad smile the following day at breakfast. Happy that their sister's glow had warm colors back in it, but it still lacked some of the vibrancy it once had. 

The blue tinge returned and deepened after Ben died. The Wisp was now a being of blue light that clung to her as the loss clung to her soul. People found it eerie and ghost-like, a more authentic Will o’ the Wisp. But when she took it over, the Wisp was more like a vengeful house fire than a being of sunlight. It was unsettling. Sir Reginald had insisted she cease it at once. So she would will it to be different at times, but it always looked off. She would think more of the ghost-light stories, the darker ones. The witch lights, or even luz mala or La Candileja. Maybe those were more accurate these days, a bad omen. 

When the Umbrella Academy drifted apart, she had moved to a small rental home in the suburbs. She found work in a local shop. Somewhere her glowing companion wouldn't bother anyone.

Klaus would drop by when he had nowhere to crash or needed general necessities. She would check in with Viktor and Pogo every week or so, but it was mostly solitary existence. After Viktor's book was published, she would catch her neighbors staring. They would keep their distance. Although a nice older woman named Joan who lived down the street would often stop by on walks with her dog. She was a fan of Allison's movies and was always happy to hear the stories the book didn't tell. She was the only person that didn't seem to think that her powers made her weird. Or at least she didn't think they were weird in a bad way. 

But it all changed when she was notified about the death of Sir Reginald Hargreeves.

Chapter 2: Nothing Lasts Forever

She sighs as she looks up at the building she had dreaded going back to, the Umbrella Academy. It was inevitable she was back here. Nothing and no one lasted forever. Even Sir Reginald Hargreeves could not defeat death.

She wasn't surprised to hear voices as she walked through the door. “Sorry I’m late, Pogo,” She smiles and greets Pogo with a hug. As she pulls away, she relaxes her shoulders and lets the Wisp take form. "They already at it?" She asks Pogo. 

"Tensions are a bit high under the circumstances," Pogo tells her.

"Well, it is the Hargreeves Family way," she says with a sad smile. 

"Fills the quiet, I suppose," he states.

"That it does."

"Took you long enough," Diego says, stopping his arguing with Luther long enough to glare as she enters. 

"Some of us actually have jobs that require our attention, Diego," she says as she pushes past him. “I had to swap shifts and make a lot of promises just to be here. Not everyone stalks the streets like an unemployed psycho at night.” She forces a smile and looks at her less infuriating siblings. "Hi," she nods at the others. “I really am sorry I’m late.”

Luther looks like he’s about to say something but doesn’t as he eyes the cold shade and odd intensity of the Wisp as it hovers over her shoulder. 

“It’s fine,” Viktor says. “Not like you did it on purpose.”

“Thanks, V,” she says, earning a grumble from Diego. “What now?”

“Of course, you two are still pals. He made you sound like an angel in his book compared to-” Diego is cut off as the Wisp flashes before him, and he scrambles back from the white-hot intensity. He pulls out a knife and throws it at her, but it’s knocked away as the Wisp redirects it with a heated blast. She was careful no one got caught in the crossfire. Her eyes glow the same hue as the Wisp as she manipulates it.  

“Still as rude as ever, Diego,” she says, eyes burning as she glares at him. “Can’t even be civilized for a funeral. I’m sure Mom will be so disappointed.”

Diego looks like he’s about to explode with rage but is interrupted as Luther starts talking about a memorial service in the courtyard for their father. It redirects Diego’s ire and eventually devolves into an argument. The argument is mainly between Luther and Diego about whether their father was murdered. Y/N tried not to let her annoyance show as the pointless argument continued. Neither Luther nor Diego would see the other’s point. They’d just argue in circles like they always did. Their other siblings poking holes in one argument or another. She knew in the end it would just be more of the same. Everyone would be angry or at least annoyed, and Luther would probably get his way. He was Number One, after all. She was thankful when they all headed off in different directions throughout their former home. Everyone was off in their own world, and that was fine with her. No one would bother her. Luther’s choice in music at least made her smile. Not all the memories they had of the academy were bad. The ones of their father were, but they had moments of levity. Most of them at least did. She let her mind drift to better times as she looked over her collection of Y/F/Ts before the tune got the better of her, and she moved with the music. But the somewhat peaceful calm never lasts.

It's almost like she can feel the crackle of the energy in the air before the lightning starts. But it didn’t feel right. She knows it’s more than just a lightning storm. There’s extra energy to it. Something different. She makes her way to the courtyard, the others not far behind her.

 They all stare at the glowing blue mass as it hovers off the ground. She switches her consciousness into the Wisp and approaches it, earning an angry shout from Diego and a demand from Luther to stop. She ignores them both. She barely even registers that one of them pulls at her actual arm. Her consciousness primarily focuses on the Wisp. She trusts her siblings enough not to harm her body while her mind is elsewhere. Only giving her body enough attention to keep it from falling to the ground. She moves in a flash as Klaus runs up and throws a fire extinguisher at the hovering mass, or rather portal, since the extinguisher just vanishes inside of it. She refocuses her attention as she approaches the portal again. She sees something, someone. Her brothers continue to shout orders. And she continues to ignore them until she feels a strong pull as her body is thrown off balance, and out of instinct, her mind returns to her body. She blinks up at Diego. He’d pulled her body back to block it from whatever might come through the portal. She opened her mouth to ask him why he’d stopped her, but he spoke first.

“What the hell were you thinking?”

“It can’t hurt me when I’m the Wisp,” she reminds him.

“No, but it can hurt this you,” he gestures to her actual body. She hates to admit he is, on some level, correct. Her human form was vulnerable when she was in the Wisp. She still finds it annoying he doubts she can handle herself. She was confident even as the Wisp she’d be able to protect both forms. She had been trained to do that, after all. She is just about to quip back when she looks away from him and freezes. Diego doesn't notice her shift in demeanor. He continues to say, “And instead of protecting everybody, I’m stuck making sure you don’t get-"

"Diego…"

The slight quiver in her tone and the way her hand grips his arm stops him mid-sentence. Instantly has his guard up, and his grip on her tightens. She's never said his name like that. Never. He expected her to fight him. To yell at him for thinking she couldn't take care of herself. He didn't expect her to start to shake.

"Diego, look."

Again it's her tone and the way she is just staring past him that has him doing what she asked without arguments. Everything seems to finally start to register with him. He’d heard the voices of their siblings but not really registered what they had said. He took in the new figure in the courtyard. Mentally cursing his momentary loss of awareness. He knows he got too focused on her and put them both at risk. Distractions get people killed. But the look on Y/N's face catches him off guard.

"It's Five," she says.

He lets her go when she pulls away. 

After what could only be considered an interrogation from their siblings, specifically Luther and Diego, Y/N finally got a good look at her newly returned brother. She had watched as Five moved around the kitchen and knew exactly where everything was. She listens as he answers the questions they ask him. But she waits. She lets the others get their answers. She smiles sadly as he talks to Viktor. Only after does she finally speak to him. 

"I thought it was my job to push you into doing something stupid, not yours," Y/N tells him. She doesn't miss the way the corner of his lips seems to twitch as he studied her. She didn’t know it but the last time he had seen her, not only was her light gone but so was her life. He was glad to see her light again, even if it wasn't as bright and warm as he remembered.

"You would have told me it was an awful idea, and yes, it was worse than you could possibly imagine. Although, from the looks of it," he gestures to the dim and dark hue of the Wisp. "You've had your fair share of awful too." 

"If you really did read V's book, then you know we," she repeats the gesture to her illuminated ally. "We didn't take it well."

"You mean you didn't. The Wisp was always you," Five says. "You always reminded us of that."

She chuckles. "I haven't needed to remind anyone in years. It's just me and the Wisp most days. I guess even I forget sometimes. Somedays, it doesn’t feel like just an extension of me, of my powers. It keeps me company."

"I don't think I like this faded shade of yours," he tutted. 

"Shade is…" she smiled sadly. "More accurate than you could possibly know." She repeated his words back to him. 

"Well, get the Wisp back in shape, we have work to do, and we're going to need all the power you've got." 

"The Wisp is fine. And when have I ever backed down when you offered me a challenge?"

“Never, but I'm about to give you the hardest one of all," he states.

"And that is what?"

"Getting the others to work together," he tells her. "That includes Diego."

She groans. 

"He won't listen to me, and it has only gotten worse."

"I don't know,” Five smirks. “You seemed pretty clingy in the courtyard."

"That was different. That was shock," she tells him.

"So when in shock, you cling to Diego, the very person you claim to hate the most? And he just protects you so he can keep fighting you? Sure, Y/N, that makes perfect sense."

"About as much sense as you being back after 17 years of being missing and looking like you never left or aged."

"I made a miscalculation. And Diego, he cares enough to protect you, so I don't think it'll be as hard as you think. You can do it. I know you can." 

“What do you need our help for?”

“Hopefully, I won't, but just in case,” he tells her. “I just need you to trust me.”

“I always have, Five. 17 years hasn’t changed that.”

“Good.”

They had said it was time for the memorial. So they all head to the courtyard and into the rain. She hated the rain. Her powers and rain never mixed well. She grips the umbrella handle tight and lets the Wisp vanish. Her body taking on an eerie blue glow from her confined powers. She wasn't surprised that the memorial was an absolute disaster. No one really had much to say. None of them really had fond memories of their father. Luther did his best, but between the rain and the lack of wind, it was almost comical how the ashes just fell to the ground. She almost felt bad enough to attempt to help using her powers. Almost. She could try to superheat the air around her and form some kind of draft, but she couldn’t stop the rain. Any thought of assistance went out the window when Diego and Luther started to fight. What she didn't expect was Ben's memorial statue to get wrecked when their fight turned physical. If anyone had been paying attention, they would have seen the blue hue she had was now a heated red. Her eyes started to glow like embers revived from a rush of oxygen. Her fury acting like a backdraft in a house fire. The heat radiating from the confined powers started to heat the air around her. Steam began rising around her as the rain on the ground vaporized.

"That's new," Five says as he sees the steam. He watches as her heated grip mutilates the handle of her umbrella, causing her to drop it to the ground as she storms off. The heat of her powers keeping the rain from reaching her skin. She glares at Diego as she passes him. 

Klaus nudges the partially melted handle of her umbrella with his foot. 

“How does she do that and not just burst into flames?” Five asks. He had seen the Wisp become hot enough to boil water and completely melt solid objects, but not her true form, her human form. He knew he missed more than what Viktor's book had shared, but seeing how much was different still felt strange.

“Because she’s Y/N/N,” Klaus singsongs. “Will o’ the Wisp.”

“I can’t remember the last time she got that mad,” Allison says.

“Only one time I know of,” Viktor says. “When she nearly burned that pavilion down at the park.” 

“Oh yeah,” Klaus says.

Allison grimaces slightly at the memory. “I always forget how scary she can be. Like the Wisp is one thing, but she’s-”

“Hot-headed,” Diego states. 

"Really, Diego," Luther narrowed his gaze at him. 

"What? She is, and she doesn't-"

Five shakes his head. "You just bring out the best in everyone, don't you, Diego." 

Diego goes to reply but doesn't get the chance. 

"Should someone check on Y/N?" Viktor asks. 

When no one volunteers, Five rolls his eyes. "Fine. I'll do it. It amazes me you all survived so long without me." 

She startles slightly as Five blinks into her room, but she seems to recover quickly.

"You alright?" He asks. 

"Well, nothing is on fire," she states. "So it could be worse." She takes off her coat and throws it on her desk chair. The steam is still rising from it. She rolls her shoulders, and the Wisp appears in the room. Goosebumps form as her superheated skin rapidly cools as the heat of The Wisp leaves her. She rubs her arms. 

"So that means the building is fine, doesn't tell me if you are," he counters. Earning him an exhausted sigh from his sister.

"You still think he'll listen to me?" she asks him.

"Diego? Yeah, I mean, they didn't break the statue to spite you. They are just morons that don't know their own strength or stupidity." 

"Luther would wish he was back on the moon if they did. Diego too. The one place too far out of my reach." 

"Still doesn't answer my question."

"I'm fine now that I'm out of the rain, and we can stretch out," she gestures at the Wisp. "I hate the rain, and I have a headache after everything that has happened today." 

"You and me both," Five admits. "Doesn't help that your body just went from hot enough to melt your umbrella to normal temperature in less than a minute. If your body wasn’t so used to your powers, then I'd think you might have boiled your brain. So a headache after using your powers more than you probably have in over a decade isn’t surprising." 

"I think I might take a nap," she says as she lays down.

"Probably a good idea," he nods. 

"You'll still be here when I wake up, right?" She yawns. 

"Don't worry about me,” he says vaguely. “I'll be around." 

She leaves her room a bit later to find most of her siblings have gone. Viktor, Diego, Klaus, and even Five had left. None of them bothered to tell her goodbye. However, she didn’t really expect them to after everything that happened. But she was disappointed. Five was gone.

“Hey,” she says when she finds Allison in the main room. 

“Feeling better?” Allison asks.

“Well,” she chuckles. “The primary pain in my ass and source of rage headaches, took my secondary source of headaches with him when he left. So yeah, much better.” 

“You must love the quiet now then,” Allison states.

“I don’t mind the quiet. It means no one is actively trying to kill each other, or if they are it isn’t my problem,” she admits.

“True, let the city deal with them for once,” Allison agrees, laughing slightly at the somewhat dramatic way her sister drops into a nearby chair. “They’ll fix the statue. I’m sure Pogo won't let it stay like that forever. I’ll make sure Luther fixes it if I have to.”

“Thanks. I don’t doubt that.” She looks over and really studies her sister. “I didn’t really get to talk to you earlier, but I’m sorry about what happened with Claire.”

“Thanks. Hopefully, if I can show them I’m not using rumors anymore, that things might go back to normal,” Allison says.

“I hope so too,” she says. “If anyone knows how hard it can be to resist your powers, it’s me.”

“You don’t even get that option,” Allison says. “Can’t imagine how that feels.”

“The harsh fluorescent lights at work drown out a lot of glow. At least enough my co-workers can ignore it. I hope. No one has actually complained that I know of. But everyone else, like my neighbors or people at the grocery store, no matter how many times people see me, even without the Wisp, they stare. I’m just uncanny and eerie, lucky me.”

Allison nods. “I’m used to people staring because of my job, not my powers.”

“Oh, my one neighbor thinks she is your biggest fan. She is the only one that stops by to chat and actually treats me like I'm not a freak. She loves your work. And it may not be the limelight, but we survive,” She grins. “On the bright side, I’m never cold, and my heating and electric bills are low.”

"Well, I'm glad I could help you make a friend even when I'm not there." Allison shakes her head and laughs. “The limelight isn’t all that great these days.”

“Still pays the bills, right?” 

“Yeah, it does.”  

Y/N went up to her room and after being unable to really settle enough to sleep anymore. She digs deep into her powers and summons multiple small flickering orbs of light no bigger than a candle flame. She does something she doesn't often do anymore. She split her mind into six small fragments and sends them out into the world. Each one seeks the areas her siblings often dwell. The barrage to her senses as six sets of images and sensations try to form in her mind all at once is nauseating, and pressure starts to build behind her temples. But the sick feelings are drowned out as she focuses on the lights. She lets two of them fade to nothing when she realizes Luther and Allison are still at the academy, seemingly in their own world of their own issues. She lets another fade as she finds Klaus seemingly talking to himself in Diego’s car. She follows Diego and isn't surprised to find him staring off into nothingness, brooding, she figures. She caught glimpses of Five and Viktor talking at Viktor’s apartment. So she let all but one fade to nothing. Somehow she just knew Diego was going to be the one causing trouble right now. So she focuses her attention on that particular orb, on keeping an eye on Diego.

Chapter 3: Bail and Boiler Rooms

The faint glowing orb hovers just beyond Diego as he approaches a crime scene. She continues to follow him until he is busted by Patch. The image of him being tazed made her laugh, or she probably laughed. The Wisp couldn't exactly make verbal noises, and her body wasn't really her main focus. It was safe at the academy. She watches Patch take his radio and fake badge. With a sigh, Y/N didn’t let the orb fade as she pulled back most of her consciousness. She kept enough of her mind there to keep to the periphery of wherever her brother was. She was vaguely aware of how he’d seem to furrow his brow and glance in the light’s direction as he was moved. But she would shift the positioning every time and refocus on what she was doing in her primary form. She didn’t need him drawing attention to the fact she was basically sneaking around, especially once at the precinct. She was basically trespassing. But it was technically not illegal. She knew physically she wasn’t trespassing, physically her body was at the academy. No one could prove what the lights were. Not like they could catch her. The Wisp technically didn’t have a corporeal form, especially when it was just a small fraction of her powers. She makes quick work of changing out of her pajamas and grabs her coat as she slips on her shoes. She doesn’t bother sneaking out like she would have done as a child. Her father wasn’t there to scold her. She glanced at Grace up in her little alcove as she made her way to the door. Allison and Luther wouldn’t care if she left. She didn’t need to leave a note or make excuses. She knew they cared for her, in their own way, but what did it matter in the long run? She was rarely there anyway. And really, was she even really mentally there now? If Grace or Pogo had noticed, she’d have told them, but they didn’t. It was like everyone was off in their own little worlds. Ones that were almost foreign to her now. She makes her way to the police station. She ignores the staring and hushed whispers. Especially when the glow around her seems to intensify for a moment as she lets the orb that had been watching over Diego fade and her powers settle into her form. She forced a sweet smile on her face at the double-take she got as she approached the desk sergeant on duty.  

“Umm, hi, I’m here to collect my idiot brother, Diego Hargreeves. Detective Patch-”

“Is right here,” a voice calls as the detective approached. “Wasn’t aware anyone made a call to his family to collect him.”

“They didn’t,” Y/N states. “I try to keep tabs on my siblings, and I’m not normally in town, but-”

“Y/N, right?” Patch says as she gestures for Y/N to follow her. 

“Yeah,” the last of the Hargreeves nodded. 

“Not exactly the sibling I figured would be the one to bail him out,” Patch admits.

“Sometimes I surprise even myself,” Y/N mumbles. 

“I read the book, you know,” Patch tells her as they approach the hallway to the holding cells. Patch doesn’t miss the way the glow around Diego’s sister flickers, and dims momentarily, as the glowing form lets out a dry chuckle. “Then I’m not surprised you think it’s odd I’m here.”

“Maybe,” Patch nods. “But family, Hargreeves or not, are often the ones to collect their wayward siblings from lock up. From what it sounds like, you’re not unfamiliar with the process.” 

Y/N snorts a laugh again. “I’m sure some poor desk sergeant or even hospital has my number stamped on a file for Klaus.”

“Always frustrating when they won't even help themselves, let alone let you help them,” Patch says somewhat vaguely as she signs a paper and gestures to an officer towards the holding cells. She waits until the guard opens the cell and calls Diego out. The glowing Hargreeves didn’t move into the hallway, instead choosing the lean on the wall beside the entryway. She can feel the exhaustion of the day deep in her bones. The strain of keeping the Wisp contained and dimmed to limit the awkwardness to those around her wasn’t helping. She takes a few seconds to mentally prep for dealing with whatever would come out of Diego’s mouth when he finds out she was there. She silently waits while her brother and the detective have a short talk. She pushes off the wall when she hears them approach. She steps closer to the hallway as they come into view. 

Patch gestures to Diego and tells her, “Well, this one is your problem now.” 

“Thanks, Detective,” the female Hargreeves nods. The detective leaves the siblings for what is bound to be an awkward reunion.

“I knew it!” Diego shouted when Patch was gone. Ignoring the way her shoulders immediately stiffen as she crosses her arms over her chest. “I knew I saw that demon light of yours.”

“Rude to say to the only sibling that bothered to bail you out,” Y/N grit her teeth and shook her head at his tone. “Your welcome, by the way.” Trying to mentally remind herself what Five had said, they needed to work together. 

“I didn’t ask for you to bail me out,” Diego seethes.

“And I didn’t ask if you cared,” she glares at him. “Because wow, shocker, you don’t. But Grace does, so again, you’re welcome.” 

“They would have let me go in the morning,” Diego states.

“And…you know what, yeah, they probably would have. But I told Five I would try, and-” She stops and rubs at her temples. She missed the confused look Diego gave her before he schooled his features. He had no idea that Five had asked her to do anything outside of what he’d told all of them. Let alone anything having to do with Diego. He eyed her cautiously as she continued. “It has been a very long day, and I forgot how exhausting trying to actually care for everyone is.”

“I didn’t-”

“I know, Diego, okay?” He watched as her shoulders dropped as she spoke. She looked tired. “I get it. You don’t need help. You don’t want help, especially from me,” she said, her tone almost as blue as the Wisp’s glow.

“That’s not–” he started to argue.

“Can we just go home?” She asks before flinching at her own choice of words. The academy wasn’t home anymore. Hadn’t been for years. And why was she asking him? Why did she even want to go back? Everyone she was used to caring for was gone. The ones that used to actually want her around or seek her out weren’t there. Not even Viktor said goodbye. Five was back, but he didn’t seem to have time for her. Ben’s statue was still broken and a painful reminder that no one was going to need her during the night. And she knew her siblings still felt unnerved by the Wisp these days. Or really at who she had become. What had changed? Nothing really. 

Diego watched as her brow furrowed, and she seemed to be arguing with herself. “Hold on-” 

“You can go home,” she says as she turns on her heels, she was too tired to argue with him anymore. “I’m going to go back to the academy. Try not to get arrested again. I would like to get a few hours of sleep.” 

She manages to catch a bit of sleep, but it was far from decent. And left pretty much to herself, she sat on the bed, back to the wall, and sent out her orbs. Pulling back one by one as she figured out where her siblings were. But something at the back of her mind still pushed her. So she pulls her focus back into her own body and goes to where she knows Diego lives. She uses her Wisp as a distraction as she enters the gym and sneaks her way into the boiler room he stays in. 

She is surprised when Luther finds her first. "Huh, not the brother I expected to see here," she states. 

"You here to see if he killed dad too?" Luther asks.

“What? No.” She shakes her head. "I'm here because he’s a self-destructive idiot who is going to get himself arrested again."

"For murder?" He asks for clarification. “Wait, again?”

“Yes again. And no, for impersonating a cop. As lovely as his detective friend is, I’m not sure she’ll be as happy to see me in such a short time span, even if it is to bail his ass out and get him out of her hair.”

“You bailed him out?” Luther says, shocked. “Diego. You bailed Diego out of jail.”

“I bail out Klaus all the time,” she states.

“But you like Klaus, and this is Diego we’re talking about.”

“You wouldn’t if called upon?” She tries to make this less about her. 

“He called you to bail him out?” He asks in utter disbelief. Diego hated her almost as much as he hated him. 

“Of course not, no one called me-” She realizes her slip-up as Luther’s eyebrow raises.

“Wait, no one called you to bail him out, and you did?”

“He’s still our brother, Luther,” her voice a bit quieter than it had been when she adds, “Even if he hates me.” 

“But how did you…wait, you didn’t-” Luther starts, but she is quick to change to the topic.

"Luther, do you really think he had something to do with our father's death?"

Again Luther goes to say something about the previous topic but remembers this was why he was there in the first place."Well, someone had to have done it, and Diego hated him and keeps insisting it was just heart failure."

"Because that is what the coroner’s report said. Pogo would have talked to the coroner as well. If this is some big cover-up by Diego, do you really think he’d have that power? He didn’t even have the power to not get arrested by Patch like yesterday. And for the record, we all hated Dad for something," she states.

"That's not true," Luther says.”Are you really defending Diego right now? You?”

"Luther, you are the only one that thinks that there was any good to Reginald Hargreeves. And I cannot imagine why even you think that. Luther, he left you on the moon, alone, for how long? He put you somewhere even I couldn’t find you. And I tried. Doesn’t that upset you?” She wanted to grab him by his oversized shoulders and shake him, but that seemed ridiculous, so she continued to argue her point. “Look at what he did to us, Luther. He pushed and encouraged Allison to rely on her powers so much that she now is struggling not to use them after they cost her her marriage and custody of her kid. He was downright cruel to Klaus, locking him alone in a dark crypt filled with ghosts until he passed out. He spent so many nights in my room just to survive the nightmares and hell our father made him endure. I spent so much of my life being his personal nightlight, and I will never forget those nights. Or regret them. Same for Ben. And look at Viktor. He treated Viktor terribly like V was no one. No, that implies he saw any of us as people. We were weapons, Luther. Tools. He used us. And do you even know what he did to me? I mean I know what he did to the others because I would watch it all. Just like I did yesterday. I send tiny little pieces of me out there,” she gestures to the world outside of them. “To look after all of you. Do you want to know why? Because Reginald Hargreeves pushed me to it. Got under my skin so that if I don’t know what is going on, then I’m weak. That if you, or them, get hurt it’s my fault for ignoring my gifts. I know he was doing it to not only keep tabs on everyone, to spy. And that wasn’t even half of what he did. Sometimes he pushed just to see how many Wisps I could create, control, and put myself into, knowing full well it not only left my actual body vulnerable, risked stretching myself so thin I might forget to breathe. He knew it messed with my head, my senses. Do you know how overwhelming it is to have your senses being attacked from every direction from multiple perspectives and your mind has to somehow process it all simultaneously while still attempting to fight and protect yourself? It was like my brain was on fire. It was overwhelming, and it hurt. But he still pushed. He’d tell me to move between them faster. Focus better. Fight harder." She shook her head. "And he still expected me to be at breakfast the next morning like my mind hadn't been broken apart and forced back together. Like my senses weren't screaming, overwhelmed, and overstimulated until I thought my head or sometimes my whole body would just explode. I know you cared for him, Luther, but most of us stopped caring for the sake of our sanity. I did. I know V did. And I’m pretty sure Diego did too."

"But you didn't kill him," Luther states.

"No, I didn't,” she replies, her tone even and sure. “Do you need my alibi?"

"No," Luther says. “Even if you let your emotions get the best of you sometimes, you’d have walked away, like in the courtyard. I mean, you haven’t killed Diego yet. That’s saying something. And Diego, well, I wouldn’t put it past him.”

"I haven’t killed you either, and the two of you destroyed Ben’s statue,” she counters.

“It was an accident,” he argues, “And I didn’t want any of that to happen. I just wanted Dad to have a memorial. Someone killed him, and no one seems to care but me!”

“The worst part of all of this is I do care, Luther. I do. I keep telling myself I shouldn’t, but I do. I just don’t see it, Luther. I’m sorry, but do you think dad would really go that easy? Like, without even the slightest fight? No defensive wounds? Diego is trained, but do you really think any of us are that good? This is the man that trained us beyond the point of exhaustion. That wanted us to keep training and fighting even after Ben died.” She turns to the massive form of her brother and made sure he was listening. “Did you stop to think that Dad didn’t want anyone to have his monocle? Maybe he did something with it. That he didn’t want to give Klaus the chance to sell it or give Diego the satisfaction of breaking it? Or maybe he lost it. He was old. I don’t know, Luther. Maybe it was someone, but there has to be an explanation that isn’t Diego killing him. As much of a pain in the ass I think Diego is, I don't think he did. And even if he was going to, which again, I don't think he would, it would have been as soon as you were on the moon and no longer in his way. I don’t think he’d have had the patience to wait this long." 

“Well, I’m still going to look around,” Luther says.

“Don’t let me stop you,” she waved him off. 

They settle into awkward silence. She had just trauma-dumped their childhood like she was recapping Viktor’s book and then practically spelled out the pain she didn’t let anyone see. It was almost to much for Luther’s mind to handle. So he focused on what he was there to do in the first place. He could deal with his sister later, right? She was never one he needed to worry about. She could fight like the best of them. Gave as good as she got. Sure, he knew she took the losses of their siblings hard. That was clear from the cold blue tone of her once-warm glow. But she would always seem to rally. She kept going. That was just how she was. Most of them were. He tried to shake off any doubt he had while he looks around. Though he did glance over at her as she sits down and summons a Wisp orb. The eerie blue was like the stories Pogo had originally told. Like its namesake. Her namesake. He goes back to looking as she starts shifting it between her hands as if it was a toy, a distraction. He was genuinely glad she had been using it when a knife darted through the air toward him, and she knocks it out of the air with the orb. 

"Hey!" Luther shouts. 

"I could smell you," Diego tells Luther as he makes his way down the stairs. "And she's about as subtle as a strobe light."

“You could have killed me,” Luther says with a glare.

“If I wanted you dead,” Diego replies, “You'd be dead.”

"Lovely to see you too, brother,” she says, not even bothering to stand up. “I see you managed to stay off the police radar since I left.”

“You little-” Diego spat. “You never let me finish what I was saying. And why are you still spying on me? Dad’s dead. You don’t need to fill him in on what I do anymore.” 

"Oh please," she chuckles. "As if it was just you. Klaus knows I check in on him. A lot. Luther didn’t seem to care when I told him.” Luther opened his mouth to point out he hadn’t actually said anything like that, but she kept going. “And Klaus was with you. You just happened to be doing the more stupid thing between you two." She was absolutely not going to admit she was watching out for him, more so than the others. She’d take that to her grave if she had to. 

"I'm trying to figure out what is going on in this town. It can't be a-"

"Even if it isn't what do you think you can do about it? You're not a cop, Diego. Impersonating one will not end well. I bailed you out once already.”

“I DIDN’T ASK YOU TO!” Diego actually shouts. Because she still wasn’t listening to him. It’s the same argument, just a different day. Luther actually flinched as the normally blue glow around her shifted to a heated red. Even her eyes started to change. But unlike before, or really any time he’d seen her eyes change, the Wisp was nowhere in sight. It was just her. He was starting to think when she said it made her feel like she might explode earlier, she wasn’t exaggerating. He was honestly glad her ire was at least not focused on him anymore. It was focused on Diego. He was starting to wonder how these two survived being at each other's throats all the time. Then again, Luther had also just heard her defend Diego. 

"I KNOW BECAUSE YOU HATE ME! I GET IT!" She screamed.

Diego started seeing red at that point, and it wasn’t just his sister’s heated powers. “YOU STILL AREN’T LISTENING! YOU NEVER DO! YOU-”

“Enough!” Luther says. “Whatever this is about, it can wait. Because you keep screaming at each other, one of two things is going to happen. One, people in the gym are going to notice and we all get kicked out. Or two, the Wisp is going set off the sprinklers, or melt something at least.” 

Neither Luther nor Diego missed the way the light around her nearly vanished. The rapid shift in lighting meant it took a second for their eyes to adjust. It was like someone threw a bucket of cold water on a campfire on a dark night.  

“Why are you even here?” Diego asks. “Both of you.”

“Why didn't you tell me?” Luther asks. 

“Tell you what?” Diego counters, annoyed at the vague nature of the question. 

“That you were fighting the night that Dad died,” Luther clarifies. “I checked with the guys out there.”

“Well, I shouldn't have to prove my innocence to you…” Diego states then glances at their sister. “Or anyone else in this family.”  

“Yeah,” Luther admits. “You're right. But, I just thought that…”

“Yeah. I know what you thought.”

“Do you think I would bail you out if I thought you killed Dad?” She asks once Luther is finished talking. She pulls her jacket tighter around her as the chill of such a temperature shift sets in. “Do you still have that little faith in me?” Her brothers both look at her. “Especially after Five asked me to talk to you.”

“Is that what all this is about, something Five saw?” Luther asks.

“What did Five ask you to do?” Diego asks, it's been a constant question in the back of his mind since she’d bailed him out and had mentioned him. 

“To get you to help him, to help us,” she admits.

“Is that why you’re being nice to him,” Luther gestures to Diego. “Because Five asked you to? That actually makes a lot more sense than-”

“You’re both assholes,” she tells them through clenched teeth before storming out.

“What just happened?” Diego looks at Luther. 

“Did she ever tell you that using her powers made her feel like her brain was on fire and that she might explode? Or that when she splits off into different Wisps, I guess it’s like having her brain scrambled and then trying to force it back into the shell?”

“What?” Diego just stares at him like he’d grown a second head.  

“Yeah, that was news to me too,” Luther says before going to follow her out. 

"Told you he didn't do it." Y/N says when Luther finally catches up to her. 

"So is it because of Five you’re defending him or what?"

"Yes and no. Yes, Five asked me to try and get everyone on the same page. Five thinks he might need our help. I’m not sure what for, but I guess I’m team prep. And no, because Diego might be an asshole, but he is still our brother, Luther. You’re still my brother, too."

“Do you usually use your powers to follow the others around?” Luther asks.

“Not usually, or at least for a while, I didn’t. I do it from time to time just to make sure everyone’s okay.”

“Even me?” Luther finally just asks.

“Well, I couldn’t reach the moon if that’s what you wanted to know. I mean, I’m not as powerful as the sun. Space is a bit too much for me. But before that, maybe once or twice, outside of Dad’s demands. You’re still my brother, and if I have to live with these stupid powers making me glow like a neon sign, I might as well use them to my advantage.”

“Two things. One, you said it hurts to do that, to split off and have all that stuff coming at your brain, so maybe don’t push. Phones exist, you know that, right?” Luther says. “Two, seems like an invasion of privacy.”

“Please don’t lecture me. I don’t do it much these days like that’s the first time since Viktor’s book came out I’ve followed anyone but Klaus.”

“Why Klaus?” 

“Because someone has to. He needs someone to look after him, and we all know he isn’t going to do it himself.”

“Maybe you coddle him too much.”

“You find your brother passed out in a drunk tank, or worse, unconscious on a dirty mattress in a flop house with no one around that cares, and try not to worry.”

“He’s that bad?” Luther asks.

“Yes, Luther. He can get that bad, and sometimes I don’t blame him. If I could take something, a drug, anything, that could make the Wisp vanish and not start glowing like the Vegas strip for a few hours, I would, but I can’t. If I could just leave the Wisp at home and go about my day, I would, but I can’t.”

“You tried that, didn’t you?” 

“Yeah, and the only way I can manage that distance is if I split my consciousness, and that’s more of a headache than any hangover.”

“Like your brains on fire, I got that.” Luther grumbles. “You’re not the only one that sticks out in a crowd now.” 

“I know, big guy, I know.”

“But maybe just give your brain a break. You don’t have to fry your brain because of us.”

She let out a sad laugh. “I’ll try, but being back at the academy, it’s like nothing changed. I just want to know that everyone is fine. And it's dumb because Diego is right. I started it because Dad made me. I don’t have to do this anymore. But my brain won't let it go. Like I can’t sleep.”

“Maybe we work on that,” Luther states.

“Maybe,” she sighs.

Chapter 4: Discussions and Distractions 

Y/N and Luther get back to the academy. She lets out a long sigh as she rolls her shoulders and lets the Wisp form behind her. Luther had gotten so used to her doing that, that he didn’t usually bat an eye, but this time he takes a second to study the hue and intensity of the glowing form. After everything, they had talked about, and the fact they probably talked more now than they had since they were really little, he really looked at both her forms. How could she stand constantly having dueling perspectives? The more he tried to think about it, the more it seemed nauseating. Like, split-screen video games or picture-in-picture but 24/7 and beyond just audio-visual. They’ve been together their whole lives, and he is just really putting it into perspective now. He clearly sucks at being the sympathetic brother. He looks away from her glowing form and to her actual human one. She looked weary, almost drained. He wonders how much it takes out of her to have this extra entity that is constantly battling for space. It might not be a mental thing, but it clearly took a toll. Would she even tell him if she needed a break or help? Would any of them? He guessed that was kind of the situation they were all navigating now. Learning to work together again. And all it took was someone killing their dad. Maybe he was thinking too much about this.

"What?" She asks when her much larger brother just keeps staring at her.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but-"

"I know," she says knowingly. "I need to get more sleep.” She huffs a sort of tired laugh and smiles. “Wisp is more of a ragged refulgence right now."

Luther wasn’t about to admit he wasn’t actually sure what that meant. Ragged, made sense. That one he got. Refulgence? Well, that one he would have to look up. Why did his siblings have to genuinely be so much smarter than he was? But he ignored it. It wasn’t meant as a dig against his intelligence or anything like that. That she usually reserved for Diego. He knows her tone made it clear it was supposed to be, at least partially, a joke.

"Yeah," he nods. 

She gives him an amused look as he seemed to be in his head again. “Remember to get some sleep yourself, Luther.” With that, she goes off to her room. He goes to find Allison.

Y/N wakes up to Pogo telling her she had a call. She isn’t too surprised to find her boss on the line. She had given him the number as an emergency contact. She had not really expected him to use it, but then again, the guy wasn’t great on boundaries at times. For what feels like hours but is probably just a few annoying minutes, they argue about her next shift. She tells him how her family needs her and that she can’t come back yet. She can’t tell him the details. She can’t even guarantee a timeline. Eventually, her boss agrees to give her a few more days unpaid. To which she begrudgingly agrees. 

Grumbling, she goes to get something to eat. Her annoyance is clear in the slight red tint to her fluorescent facsimile.

"Whoa, looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Klaus says. She glances up at the Wisp but shrugs. 

"My boss called."

"Fun, clearly went well," Klaus gestures to the aggravated aura.

"He is not happy about having to find someone to cover my shifts. But he did give me more time off, unpaid time off, but that's not a surprise."

"Why do you still work there if your boss sucks?"

"Because I have rent to pay," she says. "And I was lucky to find that job. Not a lot of people want to hire someone like me."

"That is their loss. You're great. A literal ray of sunshine."

"I love you, Klaus, but I think you're a bit biased."

"There you are," She smiles as she sees Five. "If I didn't know better, I would think you were avoiding me."

"You?" Five says. “Nah.” 

"I've seen Luther and Diego more than you, and that's saying something."

"That's because I trust you,” he insists, “I know you can do what I asked you to without me hovering. Hovering is more your thing." He gestures to the Wisp.

"I appreciate that, but I still miss you."

Five smiles sadly. "I miss you too, but once I sort out what I need to, then we'll have all the time we need for you to get sick of having me around like you do, Klaus." 

“You sure you have that much time?” She grins.

“For you?” He pretends to need to mull it over, but he knew the answer. He had genuinely missed her. He’d missed them all, but she had always been up to any challenge he gave her. She never used to back down. She may have lost some of her edge and her warm light, but she was still his sister. “Sure.”

She studies him. "Are you okay?"

"I promise you, Y/N/N, I am not the one you need to worry about."

She narrows her gaze at him. "See, that just makes me worry more."

He chuckles. "I know, but I trust you to do what needs to be done."

"But what is your end goal, Five? I can't help you much if you don't tell me."

"I'm handling it," he insists.

"But-" 

He squeezes her shoulder. “Just keep working on getting everyone on the same page."

She snorts a laugh. "I'm not even sure they're all using the same book, let alone page."

"You, Diego, and Luther were all in the same room and walked away agreeing on something last night, right?" She nods. "Then you are already doing better than I expected."

Grace approaches them. 

"There you are, Y/N," she smiles, "you have a call." 

"I'll fill you in later, okay?" Five assures her.

"Okay," she nods before going to get the phone. She was only partially surprised to find out it was her neighbor, Joan. Someone else she had given the number to for emergencies. 

"Hey Joan, I'm sorry I didn't let you know but my trip home is taking a bit longer than I expected." She informs her only friendly neighbor. "Oh, I told Allison you were a fan…"

"There you are. I think we found something about Dad." Luther pulls Y/N to the side. 

She is instant to inquire, "What did you find?" 

“Pogo gave Allison the key to the surveillance videos. Dad had been using them again. Getting paranoid, I guess.”

“So you have video from the day he died?”

“Exact moment and before it.”

“So?” she prompts him to continue when he doesn’t elaborate. 

“Grace gave him a cup of tea, and then he died.”

“So you think she did it?” She finds that hard to believe. She was their mom. She helped raise them when Reginald Hargreeves couldn’t be bothered to. 

“You can see for yourself once the others get here.” They stand in silence for a moment while she really thinks about it. What would have been Grace’s motive? Why was he telling her now if they were going to show everyone later? Unless…  

"Please tell me you don't think what I think you're thinking, Luther."

"I'm just telling you what we found. Figured you would want a heads up, going to have a family meeting."

"Luther," she starts. 

"I'm not saying it was him, just you know how he is with Grace," Luther says.

"He would never ask her to do anything like that, never put her in a position like that. I don’t even know if that would be possible. He…no, there has to be something else going on."

"Just don't miss the meeting," Luther says.

Before Y/N turns the corner she hears Diego in Grace’s sitting area. She thought about her conversation with Luther.

“Mom, we need to talk.” 

“Okay,” Grace agrees, “but only for a minute. I need to finish this cross-stitch.” 

“Everything you did for us when we were kids... for me... why'd you do it?”

“Because being your mother is the greatest gift of my life.” 

“Is that you saying that?” 

“I'm not sure what you mean, Diego.” 

“I mean, our father, he... made you.” 

“When you think something, is it like he's telling you what to say?” 

“Your father isn't here, silly. Did I do something wrong?” 

“No, it's... it's not... Look. It's okay... if you hated him. He was terrible to you, to all of us.” 

“Don't say that.” 

“Why not? We were just tools in an experiment to him. Nothing more. So I'm saying, I would understand if... you know, if... if you wanted to hurt him.” 

“Now, now. Mr. Hargreeves was a great man. Industrialist, inventor, Olympic gold medalist. He made the world a better place.” 

“Stop it! Do you hear me? Stop trying to defend him! Mom, you gotta feel something. Look, he treated you worse than anyone. You worked for him for 30 years. He didn't even give you a room to sleep in.” 

“But I've got such beautiful views here.” 

“Mom, those are just paintings.” 

“Of course they are. What a wonderful world she lives in. Sometimes I wonder if she is lonely.”

Y/N can almost sense Diego’s frustration from where she is, but she doesn’t say anything. She just continues on her way. 

The Wisp hovers a few feet behind them all, just high enough not to heat any surfaces. But very little of Y/N’s focus is on the scintillate secondary entity. It was back to its usual melancholy tone. Her focus is on her siblings as they all gather. 

“I mean, do you really think Mom would hurt Dad?” Viktor asks.

“You haven't been home in a long time, Viktor.” 

“Maybe you don't know Grace anymore.”

“Not sure that’s fair,” Y/n mutters. “Most of us have been gone.” 

“If he was poisoned, it would have shown in the coroner's report.” 

“Well, I don't need a report to tell me what I can see with my own eyes.”

“Guys…” she starts.

“Look closer.” 

“Dad has his monocle.” Diego narrates. “Mom stands up. Monocle's gone.” 

“Oh, yeah!” Klaus agrees with a chuckle.

“She wasn't poisoning him. She was... taking it.” 

“To clean it.” 

Luther isn't convinced. “Then where is it? No, I've searched the house, including all her things. She doesn't have it.” 

“That's because I took it from her,” Diego admits. “After the funeral.”

The Wisp flashes a vivid shade of vermillion for a moment before it settles back to its usual melancholy blue. An action that earns her a few winces and nervous looks, but no one mentions it. They instead choose to focus on Diego.  

“You've had the monocle this whole time? What the hell, Diego?” 

“Give it to me.” 

“I threw it away.” 

“You what?”

“You’re a dumbass,” Y/N grumbles as she rubs at her temples. The glimmer of the Wisp changes slightly as she does, intensity ebbing and flowing with the pressure on her temples. Like angry waves on a stormy coast. She misses the glare Diego sends both of her forms. 

“Look, I knew that if you found it on Mom, you'd lose your shit,” Diego explains. “Just like you're doing right now.” 

Y/N shook her head. This meeting was going nowhere fast. She shifted her attention to the Wisp and decided to search for Five. She barely registers the continuing conversation, giving it just enough attention that she couldn't be accused of ignoring it all.

“Diego, you son of a bitch.”  

“Hey, no,” Viktor tries, “Calm down. Look, I know Dad wasn't exactly an open book. But I do remember one thing he said. Mom was, well, designed to be a caretaker, but...also as a protector.” 

“What does that mean?” 

Viktor explains, “She was programmed to intervene if someone's life was in jeopardy.” 

“Well, if her hardware is degrading, then…We need to turn her off,” Luther states. 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait,” Diego starts. “She's not just a vacuum cleaner you can throw in a closet. She feels things. I've seen it!” 

“She just stood there, Diego, and watched our father die.” 

“I'm with Luther,” Allison tells them. 

“Surprise, surprise.” Diego snarks. 

“Shut up,” Allison glares. 

They look at Viktor. “I... I don't…” 

“Yeah,” Diego doesn’t let her finish. “He shouldn't get a vote.”

“Wh... “ Luther starts.

“I was gonna say that I agree with you,” Viktor points out. 

“Okay,” Diego accepts, “He should get a vote.”  

“What about you, stoner boy? What do you got?” They look to Klaus.

“Oh, so, what? You need my help now? Oh, 'Get out of the van, Klaus!' 'Well, welcome back to the van'."

“What van?”

“What's it gonna be, Klaus?” Luther asks.

“I'm with Diego, because screw you!” Klaus glares at Luther. “And if Ben were here, he'd agree with me.”

“So far, that's three to two.” 

They look at Y/N, but she says nothing.

“Y/N?” Luther calls to her, and when she doesn’t respond, he asks, “Where’s the Wisp?”. 

“What?” Allison looks around. “Not here.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” Diego seethes. He can see the faint blue glow under her eyelids. 

“Hey!” Allison shouts as Diego grips their sister’s shoulder and violently shakes it. He fails to duck out of the way when a fist hits his chest, landing him on the floor.

“Asshole,” Y/N mutters as she gets up, flexing her fingers as she does. 

“Were you listening?” Luther asks.

Y/N glares at him. “You doubting me too?” 

She steals Klaus’ booze and takes a swig, earning a laugh from her usually inebriated brother. “Easy, Sunshine,” Klaus says with a grin. “Where’ve you been?”

“Looking for Five,” she pats his cheek as she answers. “So we can end this pointless discussion.”

“Successful mission or no?” Klaus asks with a tilt of his head as she takes another drink before handing it back to him.

“Sadly, I was rudely interrupted.” She glares at Diego.

“You are such a bitch,” Diego grits out from clenched teeth. She ignores him. 

“But did you-” Luther starts on topic again. 

“I heard you, Luther, unlike either of you fellas,” she gestures between Luther and Diego. “I can use both my brain cells.”

“You know what-” Diego starts at her, gesturing with his knife.

“No,” she begins with a sharp tone as four versions of the Wisp cage him in. He freezes. He can feel the intense heat surrounding him. “It’s my turn to vote.”

“Whoa,” Allison says in shock.

“Y/N,” Viktor moves towards her. “I don’t think that’s…”

“I’ve got this V,” Y/N slowly walks in a circle around Diego, just outside the Wisps’ blazing boundary, as it shifts, and he is enhaloed in a ring of light. It twists and coils around him. He feels like he’s surrounded by hellfire. “You want to know my vote, hmm? Fine,” the next part comes out almost saccharine sweet. “I heard your little chat with Mom. She didn’t even remember Reginald Hargreeves was dead at his memorial. She acts like he is just out of town. She has no clue what is happening. I think Mom needs a bit of a time-out or a nap. Isn’t that what she would have us do? Considering she is clearly so out of sorts.” It looked like Diego was going to take a swing at her despite the Wisps.

“That’s new,” Klaus states, somewhat in awe.

“When did she learn that?” Viktor inquires.

“Does it matter?” Allison asks. “She needs to stop!”

“Let him go, Y/N,” Luther says.

“Whatever you say, Number One,” she acquiesces and takes a few steps back before pulling back most of her powers between her open palm until it resembles a large orb she wills down in size. She keeps it there for a moment before letting it shift to its usual form and place behind her. Her everpresent coruscating companion.  

Allison sighs at the dramatics. “Are you trying to burn the place down?”

“I know what I’m doing, Allison,” she replies. 

“So it’s three to three,” Viktor says, trying to shift the focus back to the main topic before his sisters start to fight. 

“Five will have to be the tiebreaker,” Luther admits.

“A vote we’d get done a lot faster if someone had let me finish my search,” Y/N complains. 

“I’m sure he’ll be back soon,” Viktor says.

Y/N goes to leave without saying another word. 

"Hey!" Diego snaps and follows her. “What the hell was that?!”

"Something I haven’t done in a very long time.”

“You had no-”

“No what, Diego? No right? That’s funny because you can’t be serious. I have every right to be mad. Just like they do. You lied to them, to me. You hid this from them, from me! Let me guess, you don’t even think you did anything wrong, do you?” 

“I was protecting, Grace,” Diego grits out.

“I defended you,” she pokes him in the chest. "You know that?”

"What?" He glares as he swats her hand away. 

"At the gym, before you got there, even earlier today. I told Luther you didn't have anything to do with this. That it couldn’t be you. And yeah, you didn't kill him, but why hide it? Especially after he found out you were in the ring that night. I told him I trusted you, even if you hate me."

"Will you stop saying I hate you!" Diego shouts.

Her jaw dropped momentarily before closing with an audible click of her teeth, and her eyes flash red. But Diego continues his tone a touch less angry, "Does it frustrate the hell out of me when you don't listen, hell yes. Or how you never consider your own safety and choose to focus on everyone else's? Absolutely. Or when you push yourself so far past your limits you look like a shell of your usual self? Damn right it does. But I don't hate you. Never have. I hate that you won't let me explain or even help without you fighting me."

"That's rich coming from you,” she says with an eye roll. “How many times since we got here have you literally screamed you don't want my help."

"Really?” He crosses his arms. “We're going to do this now?"

"Yes, because you don't trust me."

"That's not true!"

"You don't even trust me to protect myself when I'm the Wisp. In the courtyard-"

"That is because I know you push yourself too hard when you're in a fight. You always do. And you are out of practice. And sure, in that meeting, you came out swinging, but in the courtyard? Your focus was on Five's portal, on looking after us, and you didn't even react when I touched you. Not a flinch, not a move to block. Nothing. That’s why I shook you so hard this time. Before, you were leaving just enough in your actual body to keep breathing. What was I supposed to do?"

"I knew you all wouldn't do anything that put me in danger. I knew you wouldn't hurt me,” she tells him. “No matter how much you-"

"I swear if the next words out of your mouth are that I hate you, I might-" He points his finger at  her. And it’s like the anger bleeds out of her. Exhaustion creeping in from manifesting first multiple full-formed Wisps, but then the halo ring for the first time in years. She sways on her feet slightly. On instinct, Diego reaches out to steady her, one hand on her shoulder.

"Point taken, Okay?” She nods. ”Next fight, I'll focus differently."

"Need a hand-to-hand combat refresher, you know where to find me, but it's not just that, okay? If you're going to use your little lights to follow us again, don't scramble your brain too much. I know you're going to keep doing it, just don't push it."

"You've been talking to Luther, haven't you?"

"That too, but the others might not notice when you follow them around with your little lights, but I do. And yeah, you both straight-up confirmed that. I'm shocked you didn't see me toss the monocle. I went to the donut shop crime scene right after. Part of why I was shocked you were defending me."

She punched his shoulder. "Then why didn't you tell me?"

"You were too busy lecturing me to get a word on."

"You're such a jerk."

"Just to you, Luz."

"That's a new one," she grinned.

"Well, if we're supposed to get along, I can't very well call you Bruja anymore."

When she hears the start of a scuffle, Y/N splits into the Wisp and is in the thick of it before she even knows what is really happening. Bullets flying has her transferring enough of her mind back for her body to hit the floor before putting most of her focus back into her illuminated form. Moving to immediately back Diego up and trying to draw as much of the focus on the Wisp as possible. Shoot at her in that form all they want, even if they could. The main issue was these opponents seemed smart enough not to fall for her usual tricks. Especially when she realizes that Klaus and Viktor could be caught in the middle of it all. So she resorted to some older tactics, some of the first ones she learned. Klaus had always called it the flash and crash. Use the Wisp to blind one of the attackers and tackle them from behind. She gave her brother just enough warning to shield his eyes before the Wisp turned blindingly bright, and she went for the masked assailant's knees and panting a superheated fist against the masked face. Earning a litany of curses from Diego as she did. But he was right back at it, using his powers to keep his sister out of his blade's path as he did. He fought back the instinct to put himself between her and the fight but could tell she had actually listened to his earlier advice. Flames in her eyes matched the smoke coming off almost any hit she landed. Even singed the wall when she pushed off in an attempt to get a better angle to attempt to take out the gun. But that earned her a shout from Diego when the barrel of it trained a little too close to her torso for his liking, and a bullet nicked her arm as she dodged. A grunt of pain and shock has her pulling back and ducking into a doorway. She hears her name called before an angry noise from Diego. He was beyond done by that point. Throwing blade after blade to distract and hopefully overwhelm the gunman. He missed the way Y/N tore at the fabric of her sleeve, the fabric burning ever so slightly as she did. She let the Wisp take form and allowed her to split her attention to making sure nothing worse came her way while she dealt with the injury. Most of her heat faded as she wrapped the fabric around the wound and secured it enough before pulling her powers back to her and getting back into the fight. Diego and the fight were no longer right outside the door by the time she was sure the makeshift bandage was secure, and she was ready to get back out there. She goes looking for the fight but finds Viktor hiding in the process. Viktor pulls away as violently as Y/N stops in front of V. “Shit, V,” Y/N says, willing the heat out of her left hand, so she can get a better look at her sibling's injury. “You're okay, V. I've got you. If you want I can-”

“Do it,” Viktor nods, wanting to prove that he can handle this stuff. 

“Okay, but this is going to hurt like a bitch, and it only works on surface injuries. You sure?"

"Yeah, we're wasting time," Viktor says.

"Okay, V, brace yourself.” Viktor bites down on a sleeve as she superheats a fingertip and, as fast as humanly possible, closes the small wound on Viktor’s head.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Y/N repeats before letting the Wisp take all her heat with her into its form. “Let me check.” She brushes Viktor’s hair out of the way and nods. Letting her hand rest against Viktor’s forehead to help calm them both ever so slightly. “We should-” They both startle at the sound of the chandelier crashing and running toward the foyer. They are both momentarily stunned when they see Luther before he runs off. Allison goes over to Viktor, and Diego pulls Y/N aside.  

"Let me see," Diego insists, quickly using one of his knives to remove the bloody fabric from her wound as soon as the shock of Luther's reveal wore off. 

"It's a bad scratch," she tries to downplay the fact she barely missed getting shot in the side. She pulls away. "I can take care of it." 

"It's a gunshot wound," he corrected.

"Wait, what?" Viktor says, coming over to look at his sister's arm. “Why didn’t you say anything?” 

"I'm fine," Y/N assures them as Allison joins them. The siblings don't miss the grumbled curses from Diego before he storms off. "If I could, I'd have done the same thing I did to your head." 

Allison looks at Viktor's injury and adds, “You should put some ice on that.” 

Viktor nods, wincing slightly as he does but focuses back on Y/N. "But that doesn't work on skin that's used to being superheated, does it?”

"Nope," Y/N replies before hissing in pain as Viktor carefully wipes away some of the ash from the burned sleeve to keep it from getting into the open wound. 

"Sorry," Viktor winces.

"It's okay, V at least I could help you, although it probably hurt more helping than if I had left it. If I had known the fight would be over that quick, I’d have-"

“Diego?” Allison asks when he returns, and he is still furious. He tosses a first aid kit onto the table toward his siblings. 

“What are you still doing here?” He says to Viktor. 

“I'm just trying to help,” Viktor admits, reaching for the kit to attempt to help the sister that had helped them. 

Y/N recognizes the look Diego has. “Please, Diego,” she cautions him.

He ignores her and continues to focus on Viktor. “No, you could've been killed. Or gotten any of us killed. He is a liability.” He looks between his Allison and Y/N. 

Viktor looks at Allison. “Allison?” 

“I think what he's trying to say is that this kind of stuff is dangerous,” Allison says. “You're just…”

“Not like you,” Viktor finishes for her. He sets the first aid kit back down.

“V, it's…” Y/N tries to say something at the same time Allison says. “No, that's not what I... Viktor, wait.” But Viktor is already leaving.

“Let him go,” Diego tells them. “It's for the best.”

“Says who?! You?!” Y/N snaps. "I miss the meeting where you became Number One or something?"

“You know I’m right,” Diego attempts not to lose it. He knew she and Viktor were closer than he was with either of them. He also knew she was exhausted before getting shot. So he tried to keep his wits about it.

“He’s injured, Diego! And you just drove him away! What if he-”

“You’re injured too, and unlike him, you still have an open wound.” He retorts.

“He needs our help!” 

"He’ll survive. He is safer as far away from all this as can be. And you!” Diego finally shouts. What happened to your two brain cells huh? You still using them," he turns on Y/N. "When I told you to be more aware of your actual body in a fight I did not mean for you to just throw yourself at a gun!"

"I am just as trained in this as you are. I had it covered."

"You got shot!" 

"Would you prefer I left my physical self unattended while those assholes shot through the walls?"

"No!"

"Then pick a fucking lane, Diego! You can't have it both ways! And I sure as hell am not backing out of a full-on assault of my own home just because you want me to! So quit yelling at me!"

She rubbed at her temples as the last bit of adrenaline seemed to fade from her system. She stormed off, taking the first aid kit with her so she could patch up her arm.

Y/N isn’t sure how long she sits in her room. Too exhausted to keep track but too on edge to actually sleep. She wasn’t sure what to do. Her head hangs low as she sits on her bed and leans against the wall. She looks up when through the Wisp that hovers near the center of the room, she sees shadows move outside her door. She sighs as she hears a knock on her doorframe. “It’s open,” she greets. 

The door opens, and Luther asks, "How's the arm?" 

"I've had worse," she assures him. He gives her a skeptical look. "We dealt with enough dicey shit as kids that we both know this is nothing."

"Didn't seem like nothing to Diego from what I hear," he counters.

"Diego was acting like I took a fatal hit," she grumbled. "Though I'm not the one that took a whole ass chandelier." She narrows her gaze at him. "Are you okay?"

"Barely a scratch," he deflects. 

"Luther, I'm not going to push, and you don't have to tell me anything, but…" she saw him physically flinch like she burned him as she spoke. "Is this…is this why you were worried about me checking in on you with my powers?"

"A bit," he admits.

"Because you know I don't care, right? Like, I know what it's like to be the one that gets stared at and whispered about for being…well, a freak. Not that I think you're a freak. I know that you guys think the Wisp is freaky. I know you guys think it's even more unnatural than most of your guys' powers. Ben always got that. Polar opposites powers wise, and he at least could hide his but-"

"You're not a freak,” Luther says, rather bluntly, “Okay?"

She rolled her eyes at that.

"No more than the rest of us ever were,” he adds. “Or at least when we were kids. This is not coming off right," he groans and moves to stand beside the glowing form and gestures to it. "This was never a bad thing, especially not when we were little. You literally lit up a room when you walked in. Always warm, and so…" he frowned at the way her shoulders seemed to shift, and it was like he was watching her close herself off. He groaned again and moved to sit somewhat carefully next to her on the bed. "No one came back from losing Ben, well, you know that, right? You are just the one that has a big flashing, what you call, a neon sign, of what's going on in your heart. It's like a mood ring on steroids. You get mad and glow red. And so bright it's like staring at the sun and standing too close to a forest fire. It's just tough sometimes because it's always blue nowadays. And we know there's nothing we can do to change that. Nothing I can do. I can't bring Ben back. I can't take away the pain of the shit dad put you through. And I can't make Diego less of an asshole." That earned him a laugh and made him grin. "So yeah, it isn't always easy to know there isn't anything I can do. We aren't kids that can just pull pranks or make stupid jokes to make ourselves feel better anymore. But the Wisp doesn't make you any different, any freakier than we were when we were kids. And as you keep pointing out, you're still my sister. Still the same person that refused to listen to half my orders if you think someone needs you."

"Exactly, you're still my brother. You're just even more so my big brother." She grinned. “Really big, big brother.”

"We're the same age, Y/N," he deadpans. 

"Sure, Number One," she shook her head.

“Fine, then as your big, big brother, I say you get some sleep. You look like a strong breeze could take you out.”

“Wanna fight me on that?” She grinned. 

“I would, but you’re injured, so I’ll take the L on that one,” he chuckles.

“Fine, I’m kicking you out,” she conceded. “But only because you asked so nicely.”

“Deal,” Luther stands and heads back to the door. 

“Luther?” she calls before he closes her door.

“Yeah?” 

“Glad you found your other brain cell. You were a badass from what I hear.”

He huffs a laugh. “Sleep, or you might lose yours.”

[velvet4510]

the fact that Luther, Allison, Klaus, AND Viktor ALL found their soulmates in different timelines/time periods through their time traveling is just SO juicy and could’ve been such a point of emotional conflict in this last season??? If all the timelines need to be destroyed but that would mean erasing the people they fell in love with?? erasing Sloane and Ray and Dave and Sissy?? Characters who actually were important to the seasons they appeared in, and who were so crucial to the Umbrellas’ character development?? Why not honor them and those incredible relationships in the swan song??

Instead, they did … that.

[oncemore-butwithfeeling]

Once More (but with feeling!) S4 Rewrite Fan Script Episode 1

We Only See Each Other If The World's Ending

Hope you all enjoy!! Let me know what you think!!

[stxrr-strxckk]

I wish all of season 4 was about Ben scamming people out of crypto, Viktor being a lady killer bartender, Klaus being sober (the ENTIRE season without some bullshit making fun of him for being BETTER and then making him lose his sobriety), Five having that shitty mustache, and Diego and Lila raising their kids together as a TEAM with no cheating. And also Allison with Ray and Claire and Uncle Klaus just being a happy family.

[sholmeser]

insufferable…

[yellowmagicalgirl]

I just finished The Umbrella Academy season 4. And, well, I didn't like it, so let me outline a fix-it that I'm not gonna write.

Preferably the end of the last episode just doesn't happen and we get a different way to merge all the timelines together while still letting all the Umbrella siblings + Lila survive and keep their memories. Put Sloane in there, too, because she and Luther deserved to be happy together. Maybe even the other Sparrows as well.

But if we have to be relatively canon compliant, then Viktor should have been the only one erased.

As Diego said, Viktor was the bomb, and he would always be the bomb. It was always Viktor ending the world, although each time is in a more indirect way.

The Moon

The catalyst for the bombs

He empowered Harlan, and Harlan used that power to kill the Umbrella kids' moms, thus causing the Kugelblitz

But Viktor could also take Marigold away from the others. We literally saw him trying to do so in this episode. He could have saved his siblings this time. Five and Lila could have gotten everyone to the subway. Maybe one of them would have had to stay behind in the doomed timeline, unable to go for one last jump, or maybe Viktor could have taken the Marigold mid-jump.

If season 4 has to end with the Cleanse consuming whomever has all the Marigold, then ideally the Cleanse still comes for the Academy. It doesn't find six siblings and their wife/sister-in-law. It finds one man playing a white violin as he ends this world and makes way for a new one, hoping that his family will be happy in it.

And they are. The next scene is in a park. Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Five, and Lila are all there. So are the Sparrows, even if Christopher is only recognizable by context clues.

The first time Viktor ended the world, he was angry with his family. The final time, Viktor saves them.

[burningfunobject]

Complete word vomit but like what if viktor decides that whatever the 'arcane' is too dangerous or comes at too high a cost and starts The Glorious Evolution from there?

Maybe he feels responsible for whatever the weird magic orb thingys are and decides that all of this mess (not just with the hex core but also with zaun and piltover) was due to human error so now he thinks he has to help people by getting rid of their 'flaws' like they're ability to make the kinds of mistakes he made in s1.

We know he already doesn't want the hex core to be around anymore so why would he suddenly become infatuated with it?? Like sure maybe it has an influence over him, but I seriously doubt it would last all season

Plus viktors whole Thing is helping people why would he stick with the hex core and all it's bs if it means either vaporising people or shimmer? Viktor is smart that's like the first thing we know about him I feel like he'd find a way out of the hex core's thrall

Idk I just don't really want to watch hex core bs for like a quarter of next season, I'll still probably like it tho

[pluviophiles]

umbrella academy season 4 ending - rewritten (PART 1)

since we were absolutely robbed this season, i felt the need to publish my own little version of the tua s4 ending. im sure it's riddled with plot holes, but it does give me a bit of satisfaction after watching whatever the tom fuckery happened in the last season.

warnings : tua s4 spoilers, wordbuilding, unpolished writing

... as luther, diego, allison, klaus, five, viktor, and lila are slowly engulfed by the monstrous blob, there is a blinding flash of gold. the scene cuts to black. [after a short pause] hard cut to BEN sitting on the subway - the very same scene we saw in s3 post-credits. it plays out the same way we've seen before, yet continues even after ben looks up from the book in hand. the train slowly comes to a stop, presumably having arrived at a station. cut to the subway door, which slowly opens. enter KLAUS, and then DAVE. the two of them converse, cheerily, hand-in-hand. klaus walks straight past ben, and the audience realizes that, in this timeline, the umbrella siblings are complete strangers. the two of them sit down several feet away from ben. as klaus reaches for dave, the audience can see a newly-inked tattoo on his forearm - a marigold. the camera pans back to ben, zoomed further in. now, the audience can see that, on the side of his glasses, there is a small, bedazzled marigold design. a flash of recognition can be seen in ben's eyes. he scrunches his eyebrows together, as if trying to piece together two foreign pieces of information. the camera pans again, revealing JENNIFER in the seat across from ben. JENNIFER ben… is everything alright? ben shakes his head slightly, unsure of himself. BEN it's nothing. [he clears his throat, and with more conviction, repeats, ] it's nothing. jennifer is clearly unconvinced, but decides to drop the subject for now. cut to the subway door once more, and the rest of the umbrellas file in, one-by-one. first, ALLISON, with CLAIRE and RAY. the three of them sit down in one far corner of the car; a happy family. as the light shifts, allison's necklace glints and shimmers. (design? a marigold.) then, DIEGO and LILA with their three kids. as they sit down, GRACE shyly pulls out a marigold flower, handing it to her parents. GRACE [incoherent] ...for you. diego takes it with a huge grin on his face and tucks it behind lila's ear. the latter bends down to plant a kiss on her daughter's forehead. after them came LUTHER. he was by his lonesome, but sat down near a beautiful woman - SLOANE. clumsily, he brushes up against her, and quickly offers awkward apologies. they fall into a comfortable conversation. the audience can see that here, he has a watch similar to the one reginald originally gifted him, with a marigold in its center. VIKTOR comes in, trailing behind SISSY and HARLAN. the two of them are now married, with matching stones set on their fingers. viktor is donning dark blue jean jacket, an embroidered marigold at the top. the last one to the party is FIVE. however, here, he is no longer a teenager. instead, he has gotten to live his life like the rest of his family, and is now at the ripe age of 35. he sits down with his partner, who the audience recognizes as DELORES. hazily, he wraps his arm around her. he's wearing a suit as per usual, with the addition of a marigold brooch. each of the seven siblings seem to be in their own bubbles, suggesting that they finally reached contentment. still, they are connected together by the marigold, even if it is no longer inside of them. in this timeline, the umbrellas were almost the opposite of dysfunctional. perhaps the problem was never them, but reginald. for, here, the seven of them flourished.

(PART 2 SOON TO COME)

[swearwolf-does-stuff]

TUA S4 REWRITE

bcs what the sweet fucking jesus christ was that shitshow

tw: death, end of the world/apocalypse

PREV

Ray left bcs he found out about what Allison did to get her ‘perfect’ timeline (aka working w evil dad to the point where they almost killed her entire family and only switching up, not after finding out he killed Luther but, at the very end; uprooting him from his original timeline, inserting him into Claire’s life by taking away her actual father, etc etc)

E1

Five isn’t CIA

He joins the Keepers bcs he’s him and can sniff out an impending apocalypse like no one else

Lila is the secret CIA agent, hired solely for local cases bcs she’s good enough that she gets to have conditions and she’s keeping the job away from the family, partly for their sake but mostly bcs she needs something that’s just hers beyond the mundanity of normal life

Diego is a PI instead of a mailman bcs he’s still highly skilled and that’s still a normal people job

Luther finds Sloane, only for her to be very different

She’s still sweet and kind but she’s different too, having been raised in a brilliant household in a shitty neighbourhood, harder, in a way

He’d been trying to find her forever and had almost given up when he bumped into her on the street

When he tries to help her, instead of blaming her for the whole thing or swearing, they have their little meet-cute

They get to know each other better, the normal way, and Luther’s just glad that she’s Sloane - he doesn’t expect her to be the exact same bcs he still likes her for who she is, now and then

He’s still living in the same shithole but it’s their shithole (legally speaking, Reginald gave it to him to get the place off his hands) and they’re making it a home

He’s still a dancer bcs there’s nothing wrong with it if he enjoys it and she’s a bartender

When Ben gets out of prison, he knows Sloane will be there (hell, it’s the whole reason he chose Luther as his parole home, bcs that way he gets a version of his sister back bcs the Sparrows, as disjointed as they were, were still a family) but he’s still taken aback

When they find out Viktor’s been taken, Sloane comes with and finds out the Umbrella family secret and Luther has to explain the whole thing to her in Diego’s van (with the other’s (Five’s) input) and it’s batshit but she believes it when she gets her powers bcs yea Ben’s that much of a shit (she’s still confused about being Ben’s alternate sister even tho Ben’s Luther’s alternate brother but wtv yk)

E2 - same

They find Jennifer only for Jean & Gene to take her

E3 

Reginald unlocks their memories of og!Ben’s death

Upon finding out about marigold and durango, Five reminds them of other!Reginald’s marigold removal device from the end of existence

If that Reginald could remove marigold with that timeline’s tech, then this Reginald, with Abigail and the whole companies help, should be able to make something to remove the durango from Jennifer’s body

In the meantime, they’d track down Ben to use Viktor to remove the marigold from him to keep Jennifer inert for the time being

Bcs Sloane joined Luther w visiting Reginald, she joins Viktor as backup

E4

As a backup plan, Lila and Five try to see if they can travel back in time to stop og!Ben from dying in order to stop the whole situation from ever happening but get lost (and also realise it’d cause a grandfather paradox bcs if they go back in time to stop the Reginald from killing that Ben and Jennifer, then Jennifer would have never respawned into their world the way she did in order to cause the series of events that led them to go back in the first place)

E5

Five and Lila get stuck for 7 years and stay themselves bcs jesus fucking christ he’s bodily way too young for her but at the same time actually way too old for her, oh yea and he’s her brother-in-law

They don’t stay in strawberryville bcs Lila’s whole thing is that she wasn’t cut out for normal domesticity??

Instead when they drop something off the ledge by accident, they find the book (left by one of the other FIves which they use to figure their way around)

Upon finding the book, flatulence ensues bcs here’s another Five

He leads them to the diner (no one stays long to help mitigate the paradox psychosis) where they find out the timeline’s broken

Bcs the common denominator isn’t the Umbrellas but in fact the powered people (og timeline without Ben, Sparrow timeline w all them, new timeline w Ben and Sloane), the powers themselves had to be problem

He realises the only way to stop the eternal apocalypses is to destroy the marigold and durango

Viktor leans into his powers

Also yea they have landlines but they have mobile phones bcs I say so so he just called them on the way to their location instead of calling and then going

Borrowing Abigail’s violin, he brings the White Violin back and knocks out Ben and Jennifer for long enough to separate them

Viktor siphons the marigold from Ben’s body but they think it didn’t work bcs he’s still obsessive about being with her

Turns out he’s still whipped, that’s just him atp tho lol

E6

Device made, they set it up to remove the durango from Jennifer when Abigail (disguised as Sy (bcs Gene and Jean deserve to see the bullshit through)) leads the Keepers to Hargreaves HQ

Big fight scene as they remove the durango but it’s still volatile bcs of all the people w marigold in them around it but it’s in a secure jar thingy like the marigold originally was

Knowing that the reaction causes the end of the world, Five blinks to the subway with it and leaves it in a dead timeline while the rest of the squad handle the Keepers

Five tells Reginald about the marigold-timeline situation and he takes the marigold from them sans Five and Lila bcs they need to discuss a way to get rid of the marigold bcs in order to remove it from their timeline some needs to blink down and send it away then, once it was away for long enough, the other timelines should break down and everything should go back to normal

Abigail volunteers bcs Reginald’s finally changing but they don’t know how to send her except she took Gene and Jean’s briefcase artifact and fixed it in case he hadn’t learnt his lesson and she needed a redo

It’s bittersweet bcs yea he’s a prick but he really did love her

L: “How do we know if it’s worked?” F: “We don’t.” A: “What, so we live the rest of our lives looking over our shoulder?” F: “Don’t look, then.” L: “How the hell are we supposed to do that?” F: “It's pretty easy, Luther. You just look forward instead.” D: “Seriously, dude?” F: “Seriously. Look, none of us can cause the apocalypse anymore so now we get to live. And I actually get to actually retire, properly this time.”

They use Reginald’s machine to show Sloane Ben’s timeline and Ben the Umbrella’s timeline (especially Klaus’ memories)

They don’t immediately bring in the rest of the Sparrow’s to their insanity bcs that’s just them at this point but they keep an eye out to watch out for them

When they find out the Sparrow’s had memories leaking through of their timeline, they brought them in and shared their memories to get a better picture of their family bcs goddamn it the Sparrows deserves better so yea this time they get parents and families and each other

Klaus is still immortal bcs God and the Devil both don’t want him in their realms bcs he deserves a life where he’s not so afraid of dying that he becomes afraid of living

MISC

No fat-shaming Diego

No bodyshaming Luthor

The chimp serum og!Reggie used to save Luthor only worked bcs it interacted with the marigold in his system

When they got to the new timeline sans their powers, bodily, Luthor went back to normal bcs there was no marigold

Two pathways: either the chimp stuff works its way out of system after those idk 6 years or wtv or it remains and gets reactivated by the marigold

If the latter then Sloane helps him love his body again bcs there’s nothing wrong with being different and she loves him with either body

Personally, I’m sticking w the first one bcs it was never his choice in the first place and I don’t like that it got forced on him again against his will

Jennifer ended up in the giant squid bcs of og!Reg

Basically, in the original timeline, he fed her body to a giant squid bcs that way the durango would never be able to reach the marigold in the kids’ bodies

When the timeline rebooted to the Sparrows, bcs Reggie was doing things differently to the Umbrella timeline on purpose, he handled Jennifer himself, which is why the Jennifer incident never happened in that universe and Ben was still alive

When the timeline rebooted again, the durango basically respawned in the same place, in tiny Jennifer stuck in a giant squid - it was just sheer luck that she got fished out that time but that’s why she never got claimed as a child (bcs she was like the Umbrellas, born in a different timeline but brought into the new one bcs the new universe was made by the marigold in the Umbrellas’ bodies that matched her durango in hers which dragged her through)

When Ben shares Klaus’ memories of og!Ben (bcs og!Ben didn’t get mind wiped, he still remembered og!Jennifer), he learns more about og!her bcs she deserves some closure on her past

og!Ben convinced Klaus to help him by claiming he had a crush on a girl who died but he didn’t know much about so he and Klaus did some research into missing asian girls about their age until they found what they were looking for

Bcs durango is the byproduct of marigold, she was born the day after the Umbrellas, also via immaculate conception - her parents literally referred to her as their little miracle

She really was called Jennifer Grossman (her parents were both Filipino but her dad was adopted, named Simon ‘Sy’ Grossman, and raised in the US - he met her mother when he went back to the Philippines to learn more about his culture, later he brought her over to the US and then Jennifer was born)

She was funny, smart, sarcastic so it wasn’t long till young og!Ben really did have a crush on her but Klaus couldn’t summon her (bcs it’s hard to summon someone from the depths of the ocean and his powers weren’t as strong then either)

She was taken from her home a week before the incident and her parents never stopped looking for her

Sparrow!Ben might have got a closer look into Umbrella!Ben’s mind but he was still himself, if less dickish over time

[justherefortua]

rewrite while changing as little as possible

this is my crack at tweaking some things while mostly working within the bounds of canon, with only 6 episodes, keeping most of the scenes, setting, side characters the same… What would you have changed about my or the original plot’s plan?

Spoilers for all of season 4 under the cut

- first of all. squids. tentacles. body horror with the black goo thingy. fleshy goo monster. decaying the earth. eating the earth up. The antagonist of this season should be THE HORROR, the extra-dimensional creature inside of Ben Hargreeves. This will save money on reshooting cgi scenes plus make it specific to both sparrow and umbrella ben for a Ben-centric season, rather than anyone with Marigold + Jennifer destroys the world

- Maybe it’s made of Durango or something, the antithesis of the Marigold, but Ben’s power is to keep it sealed, and occasionally hold power over it. Maybe it is Durango. Whatever it is, it was made when Abigail made the Marigold, and it seeks to consume and make everyone like it. It exists across all the timelines and over the seasons has become smarter and smarter. Not even Reginald and Abigail can understand or control it—maybe it destroyed their original planet, and snuck into the Reginald marigold release thing and got into Ben somehow. To tie in Season 3, The Hotel Oblivion was maybe built to nerf it/hold it? (I heard this was true in the comics since the hotel was used to keep villians? This could be hearsay, haven’t confirmed.) When Hotel Oblivion got used with the reset button, the protections went too which is why the Horror has more influence and was able to alter the new timeline to have the Keepers and Jennifer to set up the conditions for the Cleanse aka its takeover of the world and all the timelines.

- Jennifer as an agent of the Horror, unknowing or innocent maybe. Or knowing—she already wasn’t normal in that tv squid moment and in the shipping container and as a girl being Truman Showed by everyone else around her. A culmination of everything it’s learned about human nature, a lure of sorts for Ben and the rest of the Academy who generally like to save people. An eldritch horror of a regular girl? That would be so cool, just a normal girl with a normal life until it all turns upside down with the introduction of Hargreeves and Marigold and all that stuff. The acting direction could be good to have her be just a little bit off…

- instead of just Five and Lila, EVERYBODY should get in that subway. The subway is so cool. The other timelines are so cool. No one would be mad at a montage if it’s a family bonding montage. It leaves imagination for the family to grow closer together over a short period of screen time. This could be a whole season in itself and would honestly be a wonderful callback to other seasons and possibilities for the final season.

- AT MINIMUM, I think just adding Diego to the getting-lost-in-the-subway-for-seven-years plot would be amazing. He wants to live larger than life, be cool and rugged, and gets monkey’s pawed. Yeah you’re child-free with your wife doing cool action macho survival things every day but guess what? Subway Rats. He and Lila could hit rock bottom, let out all their anger, and then progressively make up over that 7 year montage and resolve to appreciate their kids, the in-laws, and the life they’ve built together. Alternatively, they could decide that their relationship really doesn’t work out and split up. Either way, it’ll be a mutual decision.

- As for Five, he won’t be going through an apocalypse alone and that is interesting in itself. He could bond more with Diego, find himself losing hope and finding it again, suffer complete burnout but be supported, finally work through Apocalypse-Commission-Handler trauma with Diego and Lila. Face the same choice of going back to The Cleanse (of course Diego and Lila are going back for their kids) or staying in safe Strawberry Land away from everything or until everything ends, true retirement. In the end, I think he chooses family.

- For Lila, I think she’s pretty good and principled towards her family aside from THE THING in the scenes we see her in, I’d like to know more about her family, her relationship with her kids, and develop her relationships with the siblings more as well. We got some moments with Allison as fellow moms, but what about Luther, Ben, and Viktor? I think she needs more specificity on how jarring the switch from assassin life is to family life is. Maybe she can open up in that 7 year montage somehow.

- In at least one of the numerous moments that Klaus died and could have went to the void. A moment with Umbrella Ben is all I ask, acknowledging that Klaus is with Allison and Claire now but also seeing how Klaus has essentially locked himself in and is very afraid of the world. 😭 he’d be so proud of Klaus though. ):: i know he’d punch Quinn in the face so hard 🙏 I’ll leave the aus where he’s totally back for the other than very close to canon rewrites

- Because I actually liked the Five Restaurant scene, I think it would be really meaningful for all those Fives to see a complete whole family and band together to help our Five and our family. Bonus if some of the Fives get hugs and tears and breakdowns because of the horrible apocalypses their siblings and families had to go through.

- this is just an overall thing but I think to help their motivation to save Ben everyone should at least elaborate on their past relationship with him, get to know Sparrow Ben as somebody other than a snarky guy, or make an appeal to him at the end when they’re trying to negotiate, even if it is a mix of Umbrella Ben nostalgia… ok this is getting into wishful thinking territory but i think it would have helped LMAO

- Methinks. I actually liked Luther a lot this season, with the stripper job he seems passionate enough about (yeah my man! own that!) and the run down Hargreeves Boy Home he lives in. (he never left the house… 😭) I feel he should have been given more to do. Maybe bonded with Derek and the non-Keeper people in the CIA, i bet they wouldn’t turn down someone with his powers. Maybe followed Klaus along and absolutely tear the motorcycle bike gang to bits for their not safe or consensual sex work shenanigans in comparison to his job. Maybe bond with Diego’s kids since he and Sloane never got to have kids themselves, a parallel he sets up first episode. Actually help Lila with childcare since she seems to be struggling;;

- Viktor and Reginald were fun. You could also add Luther here and it’d be fun too since they’d both advocate for Ben—Luther in particular was the most inclined to accepting Sparrow Ben.

- actually, Luther and Abigail bonding (she’s very nice and he likes validation) and pulling off a double cross with the Gene skinsuit thing would be a good idea until she double crosses him again with helping along the Cleanse instead of trying to stop it. Betrayed by your dad and your mom YAY

- I realize I didn’t suggest stuff for Allison but I liked her this season with Klaus and Claire, all she needed was to get more one on one scenes with siblings or lila, and that pretty much goes for every sibling i just need them hanging out with other siblings ❤️ actually ideally Sparrow Ben I feel like she’d call him out on stuff and be the one to level with when it came to big mistakes, lashing out, being selfish—and afterwards trying to say sorry and be better moving forward. Maybe she rumors him to stop seeing Jennifer to give more plot room for the siblings while keeping the “I can’t stop thinking about you let’s MERGE” idea but he finds a loophole like the sneaky little weasel guy he is (i love him) or Allison let’s it go in order to let him help her when she’s in danger or something idk

- I also like the keepers, very fun seeing everyday people and places repurposed to just have a bunch of guns. Gene and Jean were great, and Sy, guy pretending to be Jennifer’s dad. Fake Jennifer? Amazing. Bud I loved, what a guy!

- I realize I didn’t suggest stuff for Allison but I liked her this season with Klaus and Claire, all she needed was to get more one on one scenes with siblings or lila, and that pretty much goes for every sibling i just need them hanging out with other siblings ❤️ actually ideally Sparrow Ben I feel like she’d call him out on stuff and be the one to level with when it came to big mistakes, lashing out, being selfish—and afterwards trying to say sorry and be better moving forward. Maybe she rumors him to stop seeing Jennifer to give more plot room for the siblings while keeping the “I can’t stop thinking about you let’s MERGE” idea but he finds a loophole like the sneaky little weasel guy he is (i love him) or Allison let’s it go in order to let him help her when she’s in danger or something idk

- The Cleanse. Sparrow Ben and Jennifer have morphed into Goop Monster. The horror has almost won. It is all powerful, it has taken over everything else. It is just the Hargreeves and them in the former wreckage of the mansion, filling with goop. It fills with goop up to their necks and gets into their brains. All it needs is their Marigold, but they have to give it willingly. Taunt all of them with visions of their birth parents, the normal lives they could’ve had but even better, Luther with Sloane and dog and kids, Diego with Lila and his kids, Allison with Claire and Ray and her hairstylist crew, Klaus with Dave, Five with Delores, Viktor with Sissy and Harlan.

- Instead, family chooses their siblings and also the world. They use their powers at the same time and hold hands with Viktor or something at the center because he deserves to save the world instead of end it, combining Marigold or something in a blast that whites out the screen and presumably saves the world.

- Same sequence of the alternate timelines being destroyed. Same park scenes with all the cameos from previous seasons and the post credit marigold sprouting, except Sparrow Ben and Jennifer are also walking in the park at the end because they are technically also victims of the Hargreeves and the original Marigold fiasco. Boom. They sacrificed themselves. 🙏 RIP the end

OPTIONAL SELF-INDULGENT ALIVE ENDING (because I want them to be happy)

- Umbrella Ben and the family in the void and they get a tearful reunion and group hug.

- Klaus and Little Girl on Bike have some banter before she’s like fine. An exception for you all. She holds out the marigolds since her whole thing is flowers in her bike basket. Klaus gets to save the family yaaay

- Replace the marigold cutscene with a scene of all of them joining the family reunion in the park with Lila’s family and the kids

- Open ending to if they find those perfect lives or not in the reconstructed timeline, (Sloane Sissy Dave Ray etc) but at least they are together 👍

Things That Should Be More Well Thought Out And Go Through Sensitivity Readers And Be Addressed But I Dont Feel Personally Qualified to Address:

- luther and allison after that scene in s3. also the murder stuff but mostly that. delicately executed apology instead of willfully ignoring it

- klaus after suffering very bad relapse and sex trafficking during his arc and also being buried alive🙏 thats a lot.. to handle

- I feel adding Diego to the 7-years-montage plot would make it so that he and others appreciated a healthy weight for him in comparison to going through malnourishment to at least divert the fatphobic jokes a bit?? idk or we could just cut those jokes in general there’s nothing wrong with having a dad bod

- probably other stuff but thats the big ones that stood out to me

[pookiebeary]

Im back.

And it's because Umbrella Academy season 4 burnt my desire for writing fanfiction again.

That's right, IM REWRITING SEASON 4 AND FILLING THE PLOTHOLES MYSELF

[mychemical-gremlin]

Im taking notes for my tua s4 rewrite, (taking notes is a strong statement lol) and I described Ben's powers as "octopus with vengance"

So yeah, I'm making a rewrite fic

2 questions:

Should I write a season 5?

And/or should I animate the whole thing to make it as close to the original as I can?

I need opinions

Please add nuance if necessary, I want opinions!!!

[velvet4510]

Instead of yet another stupid apocalypse, you know what the final “battle” of Season 4 actually should’ve been?

The Umbrellas (including Ben) vs. Reginald.

No Cleanse.

No Keepers.

No durango.

NO REGINALD REDEMPTION.

None of that nonsense.

We should’ve had all of the Reginalds merge. So in the end, he remembers all the events of the previous seasons. Including the original timeline. He is the Reginald who raised and tormented and abused the Umbrellas.

The same should’ve happened to Ben; the Umbrella and Sparrow versions merge, and he has the memories of both versions. He is the Ben they once lost.

We should’ve learned the full extent of Reginald’s alien powers. It should’ve turned out that he is in fact a one-man army when he wants to be.

We should’ve seen Reginald’s plan backfire - the “tools” that he created in a selfish plot to get his wife back rebel and take back their autonomy from him. All his years of child abuse come back to haunt him as he is given no choice but to acknowledge that the Umbrellas are actual people, that they have found the real meaning of love in each other and his efforts to control them have truly failed. That there is more to these people than his own selfishness. All of his teachings come back to haunt him as their powers are used against him.

We should’ve had the siblings - plus Lila since she’s part of the family and also hates the man who abused her beloved Diego - finally face off against Sir Reginald Hargreeves. Both a physical and verbal battle.

Luther uses his super strength. Diego uses his trajectory tricks. Allison uses her rumoring for mental torment. Klaus conjures ghosts as backup. Viktor’s energy blasts bring Reginald’s worst fears to life. Five’s teleporting and time manipulation make their victory inevitable. Lila’s mirroring only doubles the effects.

And, through teamwork, the family win the battle and kill Reginald. (In Guardians of the Galaxy-type fashion.)

Together, the traumatized children finally conquer their abuser together.

Maybe they kill Abigail too, or maybe she sides with them and expresses disapproval at the atrocities that Reginald committed because of her.

Maybe Reginald is holding Sloane prisoner on the moon in Abigail’s place, and the final battle also operates as her rescue.

But definitely, the climax needed to be a confrontation between Reginald and his “marigold” children.

At least that would’ve been an actual emotional payoff to the 3 seasons of buildup and character development.

[oncemore-butwithfeeling]

Once More (but with feeling!) S4 Rewrite Fan Script Episode 1 TRAILER

'We Only See Each Other If The World's Ending'

Get ready!

For one last dance! (Whether the Hargreeves want it or not...)

Banter!

Nostalgia! (sort of)

Optimism! (also sort of)

Daddy issues! (this one's a given)

And maybe they can avoid another apocalypse...

But what do the Hargreeves have to say about it?

And, well, let's just say they've garnered quite the reputation...

Episode 1 coming soon!

On September 21st!

[palindrome17]

HELP ME RE-WRITE THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY SEASON 4!!

Hey guys! If you could, please boot this however you can cause this would help me greatly.

I’m currently re-writing season 4 and I was wondering how to make it better!

What things would you like to see or have explained better and give some ideas. I’d love to incorporate as much as I can! Please comment and I’d love to workshop things.

I do have a general gist of what to include but would love to have an audience feedback.

I do want to give this re-write justice :)

Thank you ❤️

[neahtrix]

If I were to host a community redo of S4, who would be interested in helping? I’m going to try make it so that anyone who occupies this fandom can participate; from fanfics to fanart, theorists to analysts.

Depending on how many people are interested depends on whether or not this happens but I’ll try make a discord for those who want to help.

I’ll make a bigger more detailed post and maybe a secondary blog for it if it happens but for now…

//EDIT//

@island-ofthelost has already organised an event like this, I recommend checking his out instead!