#reginald hargreeves is a good parent

[l0stglitch]

Platonic Yandere Hargreeves x Reader

Notes- This is more of an introduction to an au I’ve created rather than an actual fic. It’s pretty Klaus + Ben centred at the moment but I will write about the others in future fics.

Warnings- Substance abuse, Bad parenting, Depression, Suicide

Pre season 1

• They weren’t always obsessed with you. As children, you and your siblings had relatively normal relationships. Well, if you ignored the uncomfortable flirting between One and Three, or the estrangement of Seven.

• It wasn’t until Five’s disappearance that the family dynamics started shifting.

• The unity from before had been fractured, and the fragile illusion of a family gone.

• From there, things only worsened.

• You had always been closest to Klaus. It was only natural- you both found joy in bending the rules, and your powers proved to be quite useful when the two of you were up to no good.

• You could see the future. Unfortunately, not on demand. You could see your opponent’s next moves in a fight, or your father coming upstairs and catching you and Klaus in his study minutes before he appeared, but large-scale events far into the future were much more complicated.

• You’d see the distant future in dreams. Cryptic visions that made little sense until the morbid events finally happened. You had woken up screaming many times, forced to watch your siblings suffer gruesome injuries in missions yet to happen.

• Sometimes your father would make you meditate. Sit for hours at a time trying to trigger another vision. Occasionally it worked. Most of the time though, you saw nothing.

• The others had never blamed you for not stopping Five. You hadn’t seen the jump until he stood up and announced his decision. By then it was too late to stop him. Your brother had always been stubborn- you knew you didn’t stand a chance at changing his mind.

• You and Klaus grew closer after that- your childish rule breaking became more reckless. Nights were spent sneaking out and stealing. Getting high and drinking dangerous amounts of alcohol became a shameful hobby of yours.

• Everyone knew, but they were all too caught up in their own grief to worry about what the two of you were doing.

• Things seemed to be slowly improving, until tragedy struck again in 2006.

• This time though, things were different. Ben’s death was raw and painful, not just for him, but for everyone involved. Five may have chosen to disappear, but Six certainly didn’t choose to die.

• You had dreamt of that strange girl for months before the mission, but never told your siblings about her. Perhaps if you had seen Ben being killed moments after you would have said something, but that vision only came after he opened the container. Yet again, you were too late.

• The funeral was cold. Usually you would’ve loved the snow, but seeing it today filled you with an icy bitterness. It was as if the sky itself was mocking you, tainting your favourite weather with the devastating reality of your brother’s death.

• Reginald had placed the blame on all of you, but you knew your siblings didn’t see it that way. Luther, Diego and Allison developed a frosty attitude towards you, and Viktor… well he’d never really spoken to you much anyways.

• Only Klaus stayed with you through it all. Well, and Ben apparently. You couldn’t see your deceased brother, but Klaus supposedly could. Unfortunately, as the two of you fell deeper into your drug use, it became harder to tell whether he was talking to Ben or just hallucinating.

• Either way, he never told any of the others he could speak to Ben’s ghost, so neither did you.

• The two of you became inseparable. You decided you didn’t need the others anymore. Luther, Diego and Allison still took their roles as superheroes with grave seriousness, clinging onto that one constant in their ruined lives.

• You had come to the conclusion that you were no use to the team, despite Klaus’s best efforts to convince you otherwise. The visions never stopped, much to your dismay, and you didn’t know what you could do to alter the future. After all, what was the point in knowing what will happen if there was nothing you could do to stop it?

• Every night you dreamt the same thing. A funeral. Not snowy, like Ben’s, but instead with a dreary overcast sky and a blanket of wet, coppery leaves scattered across the ground.

• Five teenagers standing around a grave, their identities masked by the sleek curve of their black umbrellas.

• If only you could see the number carved into the gravestone.

• You woke up in a cold sweat without fail every morning. Klaus didn’t mind you coming into his room at 2am looking for comfort. He’d shift over in his bed to make space for you, bearing a patient smile despite the sleep that still nestled fresh in the corner of his eyes.

• You never told him what you saw, so he never asked.

• As weeks turned into months, your mental health only began deteriorating more and more.

• You hit your breaking point one afternoon during a heated encounter with Luther. He’d made a snide comment about your powers, vaguely alluding to you being the reason Ben had died.

• Your day had already been hard enough, so having to deal with shit from Luther sent you over the edge.

• It wasn’t like you to start a fight. You and Klaus tended to stay pretty neutral whenever an argument sprung up between the others. Perhaps that was why it came as such a shock to everyone when you punched your brother in the face with enough force to send shockwaves of pain through your knuckles.

• Luther only needed seconds to recover before retaliating.

• You managed to dodge his first few punches, using your powers to predict his moves. Unfortunately, you weren’t fast enough to avoid them all, and after being met with a fist to your stomach, it suddenly because all too easy for your brother to strike you.

• You could do nothing but feebly cry out for help as he released his anger out on you. In a sickening way it felt right- like this was supposed to happen.

• Luther deserved to release his buried grief, and you deserved to receive it. At least, that’s what you told yourself after as you lay silently on your bed, staring up at ceiling through the fuzzy darkness of the night.

• The others noticed how quiet you became. You hardly ate at mealtimes, and spent all your free time alone in your room, ignoring Klaus’s pleas for you to open up to him.

• Pogo and Grace could only watch as you retreated further and further into yourself, until you stopped joining missions altogether.

• Of course, Reginald was less than pleased by this. He sternly told you how much of a failure you were, but other than that, there was little else he could do.

• Yes, they could’ve forcefully dragged you along with them, but even then, there was no way of making you fight. If anything, you’d just be putting yourself and your siblings at risk.

• So they simply decided to watch passively as you withered away from the inside out, becoming a hollow shell of a person.

• Ironically, it wasn’t until you died that things eventually began to improve.

• Klaus found you in the bathroom at exactly 02:56 on a Tuesday morning. The half empty bottle of pills that rested in the palm of your cold hand told him all he needed to know.

• You had killed yourself- or at least tried to. He could still feel the soft beating of your heart under the frail skin of your neck.

• Klaus held you with an almost childish desperation, his screams for help piercing through the grave silence of the night.

• It was only seconds later that the rest of your siblings came scrambling into the bathroom.

• Diego was the first to act- shoving his way over to Klaus and pulling your delicate frame out of his brother’s trembling grip. The others watched in horrified silence as he began to perform CPR.

• Time seemed to slow down as they waited for Reginald to come. Alison had ran to wake him after seeing your condition, so now all they could do was wait. The only sounds that could be heard were Diego’s laboured breathing and Klaus’s chocked sobs.

• After what felt like hours, your father finally came to the bathroom. He said nothing to anyone, silently scooping you up and carrying you down the dark hallway.

• That was the last time they saw you.

• Two days later your father announced your death to the rest of your siblings, and a funeral was held.

• It was a rainy day towards the end of November- just as you had predicted. All five of your remaining siblings stood around your grave; protected from the rain by their glossy, black umbrellas.

• Life continued on at the umbrella academy. Your suicide marked the last of the tragedies, although no one ever truly recovered from the harrowing losses.

• It was only a matter of time until the academy officially disbanded. Despite your and Ben’s best efforts, Klaus’s dependence on drugs only worsened as he aged. It was hard watching your best friend struggle through life, ignoring your pleas for him to try and get some help.

• Becoming a ghost seemed to have some strange side effects. The first was the biting cold that came from within. No matter how warm the environment was around you, you could never warm yourself up. The second was even more perplexing. You didn’t age. You would’ve chalked it up to being a result of your death being when you were 16, but Ben wasn’t stuck as a teenager. He also wasn’t constantly shivering from the cold.

• Klaus jokingly suggested that it was because you were ‘young at heart’. You couldn’t disagree more. After Five’s disappearance, it felt as though all of your childish innocence had been stripped away from you. Not to say you weren’t content with your existence as a ghost, but sometimes you missed being able to interact with the world around you.

• Ben made it all bearable. He was your only source of human contact, so you found yourself becoming clingier than before. Physical touch had never really been your thing, but now it was all you thought about. Ben didn’t mind the constant affection you showed, as he was just as touch-starved as you were.

• The years went on, and the three of you trudged through Klaus’s messy life together.

• No matter how many times you begged him to reach out to the rest of the family, your brother never listened. It was as if being dead made you less credible in his eyes. Klaus didn’t want your advice, he just wanted your presence.

• You saw the others once, when Allison married Patrick. It was bittersweet seeing them as adults for the first time and wondering how different things could have been if you just hadn’t taken those fucking pills.

• The wedding was over far too soon. You had hoped that seeing each other again would bring the family closer, but it quickly became clear that none of them had any interest in entering back into each others lives.

• So you had to watch as Allison returned to her glamorous life as a celebrity whilst Klaus dragged you and Ben back to his grimy, drug filled motel room.

• You resented him for never trying to sort out his life, but there wasn’t anything you could say to him. Any mention of his wasted potential and Klaus was quick to remind you of how you had killed yourself. He didn’t mean to upset you, but it still stung. It stung far worse than the punches Luther had thrown at you after Ben died.

• It wasn’t until the shocking news of Reginald’s death that you could see them all again.

• Klaus was less than impressed by the thought of having to return to the mansion. It took a lot of convincing from you and Ben before he finally agreed to attend the funeral- even if only to shut you both up.

• After a particularly long taxi ride, the three of you finally reached your destination.

• Save for Viktor, you were the last to arrive. Klaus claimed it was his intention to be ‘fashionably late’, but you knew he wasn’t going to be fooling anyone.

• You found yourself in Reginald’s study, watching Klaus as he rummaged through your father’s possessions. Ben tried convincing him to just leave it, but his protests fell on deaf ears.

• “You just gotta loosen up a bit Benny-boo,” He’d replied breezily, “Me and Y/n used to pull all kinds of stunts like this when we were kids! You were always a good lookout, with your mind tricks and all that.” He’d added, motioning to where you were leant up against the wall, watching quietly.

• Ben just rolled his eyes playfully before shooting you a small smile, “Those were the good old days huh?”

• Klaus snorted, “What are you talking about? We’re still in the good old days. Us three- we’re like the three musketeers!”

• You just shrugged indifferently, “Yeah- if two of the musketeers were dead.”

• “God, what’s got you in such a sour mood? You’d think we were at a funeral or something- oh wait, we are!” He cracked up laughing, as if that was the funniest joke in the world. Perhaps it was to him- he was high as fuck.

• When Allison finally got round to checking Reginald’s study, you made no effort to warn Klaus as she crept up on him. As far as you were concerned, you owed your brother absolutely nothing. He was still refusing to tell the others of your and Ben’s presence, so it was safe to say you were more than a little pissed off at him.

• Watching him nearly jump out of his skin brought a small smile to your face, but it soon disappeared when the topic of conversation shifted to rehab. As per usual, your brother shamelessly lied about everything that had been going on and made no mention of you and Ben.

• The meeting with Allison was short lived, as Luther soon entered and ordered Klaus to leave. Of course, with Klaus being Klaus, he managed to steal a fancy looking box on the way out.

• “Do you even know what’s in that thing?” You huffed, traipsing behind him. Your brother brought the object up to his lips and gave it a theatrical kiss, “Nope!” He replied, popping the ‘P’ in an almost childish manner.

• You frowned, “So why bother stealing it? Surely you’ll get a decent amount of money from dad’s inheritance.”

• “Oh come on! Don’t start feeling sorry for that old man. He was a rotten piece of shit- we deserve this for all the pain he put us through.” Klaus almost sounded annoyed, as if he was offended by your consideration of Reginald.

• It surprised you a little how much your comment seemed to have ruffled him. “I hate him as much as you do. All I’m saying is that this stupid box might not even be worth the time- ‘specially if you’re just gonna blow all the cash on drugs again.”

• Klaus sighed dramatically, feigning upset, “Oh my dear number eight, I am offended that you would suggest that I would do something like that. Especially after what I told Allison!”

• You smiled in amusement, “Y’know, you could try and start afresh after this. Start renting out a cheap apartment. Live off dad’s money for a while whilst you look for a job- a real job. You don’t need to steal all his crap.”

•Klaus merely shrugged, “I could, but where’s the fun in that? And besides, I know if you were alive going through all the same shit as me you’d be the same.”

• You sighed, he had a good point. The two of you were birds of a feather. There was no doubt that if you hadn’t died, you would’ve ended up the same, if not worse than your brother.

• Ben cleared his throat, “We haven’t seen Diego or Viktor in years, why don’t we go talk to them instead of standing here arguing about Klaus’s kleptomania.”

• Klaus smiled, “Kleptomania, huh? That’s a big word.” You rolled your eyes, “Just ’cause you’re feeling antisocial, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be able to see our siblings.”

• Your brother turned around to face you and spread out his arms, as if offering you something, “By all means, go ahead and find them. Who am I to stop you?”

• You glared at him in silence until he finally cracked, “Alright, fine!” He groaned in exasperation, “Which one of our dear siblings did you want to speak to first?”

• The three of you ended up going to find Diego. You’d gained a soft spot for him after finding out he had been the first to try and resuscitate you the night you had died.

• The conversation between your two brothers was painful to watch. Klaus mostly ignored you and Ben, preferring to ramble about random shit that Diego clearly didn’t care about. You wanted to strangle him.

• Eventually (much to everyone’s relief) Allison came in to inform Diego and Klaus of the meeting going on in the living area. You couldn’t help but notice the way her brows seemed slightly furrowed, as if something was worrying her.

• Apart from Klaus, everyone was seated around the oak coffee table. You and Ben left him to pour himself a drink at the bar whilst Luther began the meeting. You found it slightly difficult to concentrate with the sound of glass clinking behind you, but thankfully Klaus quickly joined you, flippantly asking about refreshments. He shot you a grin as he spoke, clearly trying to lighten your mood.

• Luther looked puzzled, “What? No, there won’t be refreshments. And put that out, you know dad didn’t allow smoking in here.”

• Klaus ignored him and sat down on the couch next to Viktor. “Well the big guy’s still pretty uptight huh,” He commented, glancing over at the empty space you were occupying.

• Luther huffed, “Listen up. There’s still some important things we need to discuss, all right?”

• You frowned, not having a single clue as to what this meeting was about. Luckily Diego was wondering the same thing. “Like what?”

• Luther turned to him, “Like the way he died.”

• “I don’t understand. I thought they said it was a heart attack.” Viktor returned. You had almost forgotten he was there beside Klaus, remaining silent up until that point.

• “Yeah- according to the coroner.”

• “Well wouldn’t they know?”

• “Theoretically…” You audibly groaned at that, earning confused glances from Ben and Klaus.

• “He’s making this way more complicated than it needs to be.” You grumbled, “Klaus, please for the love of god tell Luther to stop turning everything into such a big deal.” Your brother shook his head as a clear ‘no’ before taking a pull from his cigarette.

• “Last time I spoke to dad he sounded strange.”

• Thankfully, you weren’t the only one who thought Luther was grasping at straws. Diego was quick to interject.

• “Luther, he was a paranoid, bitter old man who was starting to lose what was left of his marbles.”

• Luther immediately shook his head, “No, he must have known something was going to happen. He’s been hiding something from us.”

• “That’s not exactly breaking news,” Diego interrupted with a not-so-subtle eye roll.

• You could tell Luther was getting irritated by this point. It put you on edge. Conflict always made you nervous, especially when Luther was involved. “Me and Allison found blueprints for a human sized freezer underneath the basement. We tried taking the elevator down but that level needs a key to access.”

• Klaus suddenly perked up, “I don’t know if this is related, but I did find a key in dad’s desk earlier.” He shrugged, “Didn’t look all that important though so I didn’t say anything.”

• You frowned, he hadn’t told you or Ben.

• From the other side of the table, Allison took a step closer. “Klaus, we need that key. There might be something inside that freezer.”

• Your brother nodded, fishing around in his pockets, “Yeah, yeah of course. Just give me a second..” He yanked his hand out, brandishing a remarkably ordinary looking key. “Ah ha! There it is. You think this is the right one?” Luther took the key from him and studied it for a moment, “Well there’s only one way to find out.”

• Within mere seconds, all of your siblings had deserted their positions in the living room and were making their way to the elevator.

• It was a little cramped inside, even with you and Ben not taking up any space. You found that your spirit was half phasing through some of your siblings, as they left no gaps big enough for you occupy.

• Luther was the one to put the key into the hole, slowly twisting as the others watched in anticipation. A light in the keypad flashed green, before the whole box shuddered and began slowly descending.

• It took a while for you to reach the level, and with no one speaking, the seconds seemed to drag on even longer. When the elevator doors finally slid open, no one moved.

• The space before you seemed to be a corridor, stretching ahead before ending with a heavy looking iron door. Diego was first to step out, leading the others to the end of the space. He rested a hand on the handle and turned around for confirmation.

• “Are you sure we wanna know what’s in there?” He murmured, suddenly feeling apprehensive about entering.

• “It’s too late to turn back now. We need to know what’s in that room, Diego,” Allison replied firmly, taking a step closer. He nodded with a sigh and pushed open the door. You hesitated, allowing your siblings to enter before you.

• In the centre of the room there was a large, grey cylinder next to a table holding a computer. Diego peered down at it, “I’m guessing this controls it.”

• Viktor ran a hand along the side, “Guys, there’s a button here. I think it might unlock the machine.”

• Ben’s hand came down to rest on your shoulder, making you flinch at the unexpected contact. “You ok? You haven’t said much,” He asked, voice laced with concern. You just shrugged and replied, “There’s nothing for me to say that hasn’t already been said by someone else.”

• “You think we’ll find a body in there?” He asked quietly. You laughed dryly, “What, you think Reginald killed someone and hid their body in a fancy freezer?” Ben didn’t share your amusement, “It’s clearly some kind of cryogenic freezer. What else would he have been using it for?”

• “I guess we’re about to find out.” You replied, watching as Luther helped Viktor open the heavy metal door.

• Icy cold steam came gushing out, momentarily concealing the shape that lay within. You took a cautious step closer, trying to get a clearer view of it. There was definitely some kind of body in there- and a small one at that.

• You turned to Ben, “Holy shit. If that’s some dead kid I might puke.” Your brother rolled his eyes in turn, and opened his mouth to reply, but the words seemed to catch in his throat.

• “Y/n?” Your head whipped around at the sound of your name. It had been years since you had heard anyone other than Ben or Klaus mention you, so hearing Viktor’s voice caught you off guard.

• He wasn’t looking at you though. You followed the direction of Viktor’s gaze down to the freezer and inhaled sharply at the sight. It was you. The same child who had died in 2006, lying there perfectly preserved. Your skin was unusually pale- almost dull, but not entirely corpse-like.

• Diego cautiously put his hand on your shoulder, and you noticed a faint warmth in the same spot on your spirit. “Is she alive?”

• Klaus took a protective step closer to your body and shook his head. “No guys, she’s dead. She-” He hesitated, locking eyes with you before turning back to Diego, “I know she’s dead, alright. If she were alive, she wouldn’t still look sixteen. Diego ignored him and ran his hand across your shoulder and over to your pulse point. A violent shiver racked through you, earning a questioning glance from Ben. “Are you ok?” He murmured, rubbing your back.

• “I- I can feel him touching my physical body.” You watched as Diego stopped moving and held two fingers in place. The whole room fell silent as everyone waited in anticipation to hear what he had to say.

• “She’s alive.”

• Klaus locked eyes with you, “That’s not possible. I’ve spoken to her ghost, that can’t be-”

• Allison cut him off, “What do you mean you’ve spoken to her?” Her voice was sharp and accusatory.

• “I can speak to ghosts Allison!” Klaus replied in exasperation, “That includes our sister.” From beside him, Luther frowned. “Wait. You’ve been in contact with Y/n this whole time and haven’t bothered to say anything?”

• Diego sighed in frustration, “Will you guys stop arguing for five fucking minutes. We need to try and wake her up.” You stiffened slightly, suddenly hit by a surge of apprehension. Were you even ready to wake up? It had been years since you’d actually spoken to your siblings. Memories of their past cruelty after Ben’s death came flooding back to you.

• “Hey, you’ll be ok. Klaus will look after you.” You looked up and saw Ben offering you a reassuring smile. Before you could open your mouth to reply, a wave of disorientation hit, and in an instant the world around you was black.

• For a moment everything was quiet, save for a faint ringing in your ears. Your body felt heavier than before, and cold too. Though this sensation was different to the faint chill you had grown accustomed to. This was more of a biting frost that gnawed at your extremities.

• With great effort, you forced your eyes open. It took a moment for you to adjust to the fluorescent lighting over your head, but soon the faces of your siblings

• You suddenly became aware of a hand touching your cheek. Following the arm it belonged to, you realised it was Klaus. His dark eyes stared down intensely into yours, as if he hadn’t seen you in years.

• “How are you not dead?”

• Your lips parted, but no sound escaped. Memories of old books Reginald had made you read came to the forefront of your mind, but your throat was too sore to produce any intelligible words. He had made you study astral projection a long time ago, but you hadn’t given the topic much thought since. Perhaps your father knew more about your powers than he was letting on.

• Allison’s face drifted into your view, distracting you from your thoughts. She shot Klaus a stern look before looking back down at you, “We can worry about that later. For now let’s get you warmed up.”

• Your sister pulled you out from the freezer and held your shivering form close. Klaus noticed your chattering teeth and draped his jacket over your shoulders.

• Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Luther shift, “So… should we still go ahead with the funeral?” Your siblings exchanged hesitant glances, unsure of how to proceed, when you were suddenly hit with a vision. It was only a brief flash of something. A storm, a glowing blue light, and then finally, a face you never thought you’d see again.

• The moment had been so brief that none of your siblings realised anything had happened. It was Klaus who recognised that familiar haunted expression on your face, pulling you away from Allison and holding onto your shoulders with a concerned frown. “What did you see?”

• You just shook your head slowly, “It’s not possible.”

• Klaus gently squeezed your shoulders, “You know I’ll always believe you, Y/n. I’ll have your back no matter what.” His brown eyes stared deeply into yours, with a level of intensity that you rarely saw in him anymore. “Just tell me what you saw.”

• They wouldn’t believe you- hell, you hardly believed it yourself. Yet there was no denying what you had seen. What was going to happen. You took a deep breath and turned to face the rest of your siblings, whose sole attention was on you.

• “We need to go outside. Five is coming back.”

This took wayyy longer to write than I thought it would. This is an introduction to an au idea I’ve had in my head for a long time, hence why it’s pretty disjointed.

Also I know none of the characters exhibit much ‘yandere behaviour’ in this. I will build up to it in future works (which will include Five!!) 🙏

[kazcreates]

Six of Crows // TUA

Number One

Character: Matthias

Reasoning: This one is the easiest to determine and makes sense from both a power point of view and story-arc point of view. Matthias is a natural born leader, and sees himself as someone who needs to keep the rest of the crows in line and act as a sort of moral compass. This reflects well with the position of Number One, as the leader of the group and a somewhat self-righteous character in the beginning.

Number Two

Character: Inej

Reasoning: Although it would make sense for Jesper to be Number Two due to the metal/trajectory manipulation, Diego’s character better fits Inej in my mind. She would definitely hold a grudge against Sir Reginald Hargreeves for taking them away from their parents and for not protecting them when they were kids. She also would fit the vigilante role well, due to her pirating arc at the end of Crooked Kingdom.

Number Three

Character: Nina

Reasoning: It was a toss-up between Number Four and Number Three for Nina, due to her powers as a corpse witch, but I feel that she would fit better as Number Three with the reality manipulation/rumor ability, because of what she was able to do under the effects of Jurda Parem, and the line about her and Jesper seducing all of Ketterdam into submission.

Number Four

Character: Jesper

Reasoning: This decision is mainly based on character arc and personality. Klaus and Jesper are similar levels of chaos, sass, and queerness. As well as the fact that addiction is a big part of both of their arcs. I felt that Number Four was a better fit than he would have been for Number Two.

Number Five

Character: Kaz

Reasoning: I felt that out of all of them, Kaz would embody the 50+ year old man in a 13-year-old’s body arc the best. He and Five just remind me a lot of each other, and view themselves as the leader of their respective groups, whether or not everyone sees it that way. Plus, Kaz, due to his PTSD, is kind of stuck in the past sometimes, and I think that preventing the apocalypse would be a good mirror to his drive for revenge against Pekka Rollins.

Number Six

Character: Jordie

Reasoning: I find this one very, very interesting to explore, and for this reason, I thought about giving Kaz the role of Number Four, but no one else really embodied Number Five like he did. Plus, the idea of Jesper being able to talk to Jordie while Kaz can’t? I want to explore it. But other than the fact that he is dead, I like to think that Jordie would act as a common sense filter for Jesper, and by extension, Kaz, much like Ben does.

Number Seven

Character: Wylan

Reasoning: This was another fairly easy decision for me. The treatment of Number Seven by Sir Reginald Hargreeves is somewhat similar to Wylan’s treatment by his father. The isolation, the constant reminding that they are not special and are nothing compared to everyone else. The fact that Wylan was very much considered an outsider by the Crows for a large portion of Six of Crows. As well as the connection of both Wylan and Number Seven to music.

[cosmic-day]

Having seen the final season of The Umbrella Academy: I didn’t hate it quite as much as most of fandom seem to, but I also didn’t love it. Rambly thoughts and massive spoilers under the cut:

First of all, I don’t know how much the compressed episode count affected things, but I felt like adding  ‘could/would have worked better if fleshed out more’ at the end of every sentence in this review.

As far as positives go, I was OK with the ending. It has been baked into the show from the beginning that the Hargreeves siblings only break whatever they try to fix, and their erasure from the universe being the only thing that restores the timeline does make sense. I kind of respect the show for committing to that, rather than finding a last minute “they died but not really” cop out.

I loved Abigail’s role in it as well and think that is a really underrated bit of satisfying writing: Abigail who has been literally and figuratively fridged for three seasons gets to tell Reginald that she never asked for this and never wanted it, and most importantly gets to not only seize control of the narrative but end it. That part really worked for me.

Viktor had a decent arc and also got to confront Reginald about his shitty parenting which was also satisfying.

Unfortunately, there the positives end.

Most of the other characters got short changed. Klaus was stuck in an irrelevant subplot, as he often is, but here it felt more irrelevant than usual, and also gratuitously dark – I mean, it’s a dark show at times but this felt like trauma porn for the sake of it. Allison had some good moments, but not much of an arc. Diego and Luther were both reduced to goofy, borderline pathetic comic relief in a way that just felt mean spirited at times. Ben and Jennifer needed way more time to work properly.

And then there’s the Five/Lila of it all.

I love these guys. Not only are they my favourite individual characters, but I loved their enemies to chaotic besties arc, and I really wanted more of that friendship. The subway plot was a brilliant idea, and I could have watched a whole episode (I’m thinking the Last Of Us episode ‘Long Long Time’), following them surviving together and developing their friendship (and also maybe addressing little irrelevant details like Five being the killer of her parents). But they just had to shoehorn in a romance, by Steve Blackman’s admission, because they ‘had to have a love story’ for Five. OK, but why? Why does a character ‘need’ a romance? Also, protip, but if you do something because you feel it ‘has’ to happen, and not because you want to develop the characters in any way, it shows.

I should say I don’t particularly care about the age gap issues. Nor do I entirely agree with the argument that it’s ooc for Five, because our precious blorbo Would Never betray his brother like that. I love Five, but he’s a little shit. Also, I’ve seen many complaints that he spent decades in the apocalypse and never gave up so why is he giving up now, but maybe he gave up because he spent decades in the apocalypse. Maybe he’s just tired. Everyone has limits, and Five has hit his.

I just hate that platonic relationships are always erased, sidelined and overwritten in favour of romantic relationships because those are obviously more important and more interesting. Five’s friendship with Lila and devotion to his family are also love stories, and they’re not lesser because they’re not romantic. I also violently hate love triangles. This one was particularly annoying and not even properly resolved.

Overall the season just felt lacking. Where were the great big goofy, joyous setpieces, or alternatively, if such is your jam, the dark and deranged pieces of ultra violence set to a banger of a pop tune. Where, in short, were Footloose and Istanbul Not Constantinople. (Though I will admit Baby Shark made me laugh.)

Anyway. I wouldn’t say the show is ruined for me, but it was a disappointing conclusion and my least favourite season by far.

[toewombs]

Luther hargreeves and loyalty

Number 1: luther hargreevesLuther grew up at number 1 the strongest and sometimes acting as the oldest of the group. He spent most of his life believing he was chosen to be the best witch makes him loyal to his farther as he was given this sense of importance by him. Luther sticks to his loyalty even if he reolises hes loyal to the wrong people because he was done right by them so he must be good in some way.In season one we see Luther defending his father’s parenting methods even after the abuse is pointed out. In fact we see in a flash back that luther was left alone in the mansion showing how he is the only sibling left “you dont have to call me by my number anymore… im the only one left”. All the other sibling left the academy but luther stayed loyal to his farther and to the academy. Luther only gave up on the fact his farther was a good man when he learns the four years on the moon where infact for nothing only so reginald didnt have to face what he had done to the only son who still stayed with him.Upon learning his farther was not the good man he always believed he was he spends time with alison in the day that never was because he new that she was the only one who stood by him all that time even if their relationship was, in my opinion, gross and insest-y she was the only sibling that had been with him after coming back and who told her daughter all about him szo she was who he forces his loyalty on. His loyalyty to alison sticks even after the day was earased becouse he has always been loyal to alison we just needed to see it instenseify in that episode because otherwise there would be no explanation for what he did to vanya.Locking vanya in that cage was an awful thing to do but deep down i can see it came from a good place. He saw someone who he never realy saw as his sister because his farther forced her out of his life hurt alison someone who he loved as a sister and as a partner (ew) so he used the powers he had to force her away again back to a position where she could never hurt his family again.In the final few episodes of season one we see luther help try to save the world even if it was through him attempting to atack vanya this si because he has a loyalty to the world and stems from his loyalty to his farther who molded him to be a superhero to save the world with his powers so he helps his family like its just another mission form his child hoodIn season 2 however luther has been lost in time. Confused he tries to return to what he knows anf find his farther only to be laughed out of the mansion. Luther seems to believe he was abandoned by his siblings and naked a life for himslef untill he was found by five. Lutyher refuses to attempt to save the world after what trying did to him but then he finds alison living near him and finds her married and moved on from him witha new husband and a new life far away from what happened in 2019 and living peacefully. WHen finding out that vanya was near he blames her for everything that happened. He thinks its her fault that he is nolonger needed by alison and goes to kill her but he cannot do it as deep down thats his sister and she is unaware of what happened and who luther is soo she is as innocent as the little boy she was with.In season 3 he falls for solane and she becomes his focas point and the person he is loyal tohe also makes an an effort to show his family they are loved witch can be seen when Viktor comes out as trans and luther offers to throw him a party to celebrate him “luther wants to throw you some big stupid party so you will feel loved”

[dazed-poltergeist]

Powers of Eden (I)

Associated fandoms: Assassin's Creed x The Umbrella Academy

Pairing: Altaïr Ibn La'ahad x Reader (Platonic), perhaps some Altaïr x Malik in later pieces

Warnings: One (1) spoiler for The Umbrella Academy

Summary: The reader, who is similar to the "The Umbrella Academy" character Five Hargreeves, attempts to travel back in time. While it succeeds, they travel a lot further back than what they would've liked..

Add. Notes: Allow me to give some background on Five, for those who haven't seen the show: The original Five Hargreeves comes from an adopted family of 9. The siblings' names are Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Ben, and Viktor, and his "parents" are Reginald and Grace. Along with his siblings, Five has superpowers, which in his case are teleportation and time travel. He used to work for a timeline related commission as an assassin. In this story, the reader/Five has no affiliation with the said Commission.

>✉️<

{ I've returned with a new piece! I'm pretty sure that I will write more parts for this, but I'm not sure how I should write a specific part related to languages without using Google Translate. So if any of you has advice related to that, I'd appreciate if you spare some for me. In any case, it looks like I managed to write something before St. Patrick's, so happy (still early) St. Patrick's Day! My so-called "spice" for this time is that I speak in English a lot more than in my mother tongue, which causes me to forget words in the latter language. }

-Eero, March 2023

Masterlist ✧⁠*⁠。

ー

When you were younger, you would practice teleporting –and on a few rare occasions, time travel– with Reginald's guidance, starting with a few small units at a time and then building up from that. On these very few occasions, he only allowed you practice time jumping to the future, and whenever you questioned him for that restriction, he would say things along the lines of "A wrong move down the line could change the whole world as we know it," "Time travel is far more complex than teleportation," and "You were not educated enough to understand time travel."

Even if what the older Hargreeves had explained to you these days was true or not, he wasn't just a prick, he was the whole cactus. Today felt like a good day to not listen to what he had told you, just to spite him. It wasn't like Reginald was going to stop you anyway; He was dead, "playing tennis with Hitler in hell," as Klaus said before his funeral.

You told Grace and Viktor about what you were going to do, even though they weren't going to know that when you meet them yesterday, the day you planned to jump back to. You strutted to the Umbrella Academy's courtyard, where after two attempts you successfully opened a way through time.

Except, when you stepped through the ripple of time and looked for signs that you actually time travelled instead of teleporting in an arduous manner, you realized that you weren't in the Academy's courtyard anymore.

You were standing on the roof of a small, sand-colored building. You could see a city around you, with a bunch of houses and towers in different shades of yellows and whites. You recognized a large building as you took in your surroundings; a blue and white temple with a gold dome acting as its roof. With the famous temple in mind, you easily concluded that you somehow ended up in Jerusalem.

Once you came out from your daze of admiring the landscape around you, you realized that a hooded man dressed in white was behind you, staring bullets into your head. You wanted to tell him about what happened to you, but given your location, you doubted that he would understand you.

The assumption ended up being correct, because he began speaking in an unrecognizable language. The only useful thing you could do in that situation was gesturing to him that you didn't understand him, which was exactly what you did. Some gears seemed to align for him, and as a response he took you by the arm and into the building below you.

The two of you landed on the floor of what seemed to be an outdoor living room. You couldn't really take in many details, since the strange man continued dragging you through the building. The room you stopped in had a collection of bookshelves, baskets, pots, and many other things, but what caught your eye was a one-armed man standing behind a table.

The cripple noticed you the moment you and the hooded stranger walked in, and began to question the latter about you. They talked for a short period of time, then the man behind the desk walked away from the table to you and the other strange man.

The two men turned to you, and tried to introduce themselves in the most simplest way they could to someone who didn't understand their language; they pointed at themselves and said their names. The now formerly hooded man introduced himself as Altaïr, and the other one with a dark robe over his similarity white outfit introduced himself as Malik. You told tell them your name in the same manner; you pointed at your torso and said "(Y/N)."

Altaïr looked at the other man and said something in his language, to which Malik chuckled and made another comment as a response.

("A name. That's a start.") ("What a funny name. You certainly weren't wrong about the 'odd person' part.")

The two began brainstorming on what they should do with you now; they couldn't let you leave the bureau, because you didn't understand their language, you likely had no idea what the surrounding world was like, and you looked like someone out of a bizarre story told by a drunk bard. All they could think of with the given circumstances was that they needed to take you in.

Malik went to one of the shelves in the room, and began looking for books that could possibly help with the language barrier. You joined him to look for documents with dates on them; you needed some year written on a recent paper, to get an idea of how far back in time you actually jumped.

Altaïr realized what you were doing, and found some excess paper to write down the year for you. You took the paper and thought that you wouldn't be surprised about the year, since their appearances seemed to give it away. Yet, you were very surprised, even for someone who just time travelled on purpose. You had jumped into the period of the Third Crusade.

You quickly recovered from the shock that came with that fact, and wrote down "2019" onto the other side of the paper Altaïr had given you. You gave the paper to him for both him and Malik to see. The two froze in place, and Altaïr dropped the piece of paper onto the ground. They turned to look at you again, and visibly wanted to ask multiple questions about the future from you; you could see the eagerness on their faces. Unfortunately, the language barrier was no help.

The presence of an inability to communicate with you made the two white-clothed men determined to try and teach you their language while you were under their wing.

For a change of scenery to let you process what happened, Altaïr took you back to the main area of the building, where he sat you down. He walked into a third room to get you some food, after Malik had left you two alone to find you some clothes that would help you blend in—to make it less obvious that you've come from 900 years into the future.

As Altaïr handed you some food, Malik came up to you two and placed a small stack of clothing next to your legs. He muttered something to Altaïr in their foreign tongue as he was walking back into what you concluded was probably his office.

("If they need help with the clothes, you can count me out.")

Since the building usually didn't have any visitors of your kind, majority of the spare clothes were related to what seemed to be their uniform. The clothes Malik had provided you included a pair of dark pants, some white robes similar to the ones Altaïr was wearing, and plain boots fit for running and climbing, along with a leather harness to keep the clothes in place. Those clothes obviously weren't what you were used to wearing, but they were relatively better than the ones you had on at the moment.

You left Altaïr alone into the main area to go change into the robes. Only after you had changed you realized that your clothes looked like a downgraded version of the two men's outfits. You concluded that the clothes they wore had different features based on ranks. You didn't even know what kind of organization they worked for or what their jobs were, so you couldn't put more thought into the conclusion that you had just made.

As you got back to Altaïr, you only then felt the exhaustion from the energy-consuming time jump kick in. Even if you would've had enough energy to try time-jumping again, you wouldn't have wanted to risk accidentally travelling into the Stone Age. The little "living room" seemed comfortable enough to be used as a bedroom, which was the reason why you lied down in the bundle of pillows that were sitting on the ground.

The white-clothed man briefly disappeared into another room and returned to get you a thin blanket. As you prepared to rest, Altaïr sat down to begin contemplating on the things he could try to do in order to help you adapt to a possible life in Jerusalem. Thanks to a sheer lack of ideas, he only thought of recruiting you as a novice for the Assassin Order.

Now that you had fallen asleep, Altaïr went to Malik to consult him on what they should do.The latter thought that recruiting you—a strange person who literally emerged out of nowhere and couldn't even speak their language–into the Order was an outrageous idea that should be out of question. The dark-coated man also added that they couldn't even take you to Masyaf to swear you in and train you there because of the language barrier. But even then, their morals told them that teaching you was the best they could do with the lifestyle they had.

The two decided to show you a little thing or two about being an assassin, without making you an official member, and see how it would go. Malik proposed that he would teach you their language whenever he could multitask, and Altaïr added that he could show you a move or few while he trained or when he brought you along for an info hunt. All they could do now was to wait for you to wake up and get ready for a bring-your-novice-to-work day with the two men.

ー

Personal pointers: A particular bureau for Assassins that Altaïr frequently visits in certain fanart is in Jerusalem, since Malik is the Rafiq there. Like majority of the buildings in that city, the hideout is in the color of sand and maybe a few specific spices.

[the-commissions-deadliest]

TUA OC - Bonnie Astor

Faceclaim: Ruth Connell

Name: Bonnie Astor

Alias: The Huntress (One of the 43)

Age: In her 40s (Older than The Umbrella Academy folks as a result of time travel shenanigans)

Gender: Cis Woman (She/Her)

Sexuality: Homosexual, Homoromantic

Occupation: Temps Commission Employee – Originally hired as an assassin, would later be promoted to The Handler’s second in command. Despite years of service to the Temps Commission her true loyalty lies with The Handler and not the company itself.

Personality Traits:

Positive Traits: Adaptable, loyal, caring (to a very select few), hardworking, observant, good with words and people

Neutral Traits: Ambitious, secretive

Negative Traits: Vindictive, manipulative, quick to hold a grudge, brutal, stubborn, apathetic towards the feelings and wellbeing of strangers

Abilities/Power:

TW: BODY HORROR AND MENTIONS OF BONES BREAKING

Bone Manipulation: Bonnie has the ability to claw through her skin and rip the bones out of her body to use as a weapon; not only are her bones of a higher density than the average person, once they’re removed, she’s able to control the sharpness of them thus making them effective weapons. These weapons are truly an extension of her in every way. Her body promptly grows a replacement for any bone she removes.

Regenerative Healing: In addition to regrowing bones, Bonnie’s body has the ability to heal bone breaks and skin lacerations in mere moments.

Skin Manipulation: Has the ability to soften her skin at will; combined with her naturally sharp, clawlike nails it’s very easy for her to really dig in there to reach her bones.

Contortion: Has the ability to contort her body in unnatural and unsettling ways. Consequently, is able to hide away in tiny corners and ambush her enemies.

Bonnie’s abilities don’t come without consequence, though she can heal injuries and regrow her bones in mere moments it’s very painful for her to do so and can be quite exhausting. To cope with this, she takes several different types of painkillers daily to stabilize the pain and ensure she can use her abilities in a fight if needed.

Backstory:

On October 1st, 1989, 43 women around the world gave birth simultaneously at noon despite showing no signs of pregnancy until labor began. Bonnie was one of these children, born to a young woman in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her mother didn’t have the resources to care for an unexpected child and thus when a wealthy couple offered her a large sum of money for her baby, she accepted. And so, under the instruction of Reginald Hargreeves, the couple bought Bonnie and 6 other kids to create The Phantom Academy, a sister academy to The Umbrella Academy. Based in Canada, The Phantom Academy were often referred to by Reginald as the Hargreeve's cousins. Bonnie was the Number Two of The Phantom Academy.

At first, Bonnie was difficult to train due to her hesitance when it came to using to her abilities; the young girl just couldn’t understand why she was being pressured to do something that caused her pain. Her parents would hire a nanny specifically to look after Bonnie, hoping to ease her difficult behaviours and tendency to lash out; Bonnie would become very close to this woman. Eventually, fed up with her stubbornness, Bonnie’s parents decided the only thing to do was to force her to use her powers by threatening the things/people she loved. Namely her nanny, keeping her trapped and threatening to withhold things such as food from her unless Bonnie used her abilities, essentially forcing her to trade her own bones for these things. It wasn’t long until Bonnie had become the “perfect obedient” child her parents wanted her to be. And so, much like The Umbrella Academy, Bonnie and her siblings would spend their youth successfully fighting crime in Canada. That is, until everything came crashing down for The Phantom Academy.

When Bonnie and her siblings were 17, they would be sent on a mission that would change everything. Bonnie was apprehensive about the mission claiming that they didn’t think it was going to end well with Bonnie being the most vocal about. However, their parents and brother referred to as Number 1 (whom Bonnie had been known to butt heads with in the past) disregarded her concerns. This mission ended in the death of all siblings aside from Number 1 and Number 2 (Bonnie). Infuriated that this tragedy could’ve been avoided had her parents and brother just listened to her, this caused a traumatised Bonnie to break down and to start lashing out again even going as far as getting brutally violent with her brother.

Instead of addressing her trauma and grief regarding the situation, Bonnie’s parents ultimately deemed her a lost cause, that helping her would be more trouble than it was worth. They told the world she had died along with her other siblings, that Number 1 had been the only survivor all while keeping Bonnie locked away in The Phantom Academy manor. They deprived her of her painkillers, effectively keeping her weak and in pain so she couldn’t fight back and leave. This went on for a few years until one warm summer evening, on the anniversary of her sibling’s death, Bonnie snapped and pushing through the pain, fought back and left for good; Bonnie was never seen again, being recruited by The Commission shortly after leaving.

[newwwwusername]

Fic title : Why Didn't You Say Anything Before?

@newwwwprompts Chronic Pain Awareness Month 2023 prompt : Character with chronic pain has a flare-up in their back

Rating : General Audiences

Fandom : The Umbrella Academy (Netflix)

Pairing : Five & Viktor

Additional tags : Chronic Pain, Pain, Back Pain, Number Five | The Boy Has Chronic Pain, Hiding Medical Issues, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Ibuprofen, Good Sibling Vanya Hargreeves | Viktor Hargreeves, Childhood Trauma, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Bad Parent Reginald Hargreeves, Autistic Number Five | The Boy (if you squint), Body Dysphoria (not in the trans way), but also Canon Trans Character

Word count : 884

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

Gotham's New Children

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/EVAhGdK

by skeletondust

Wayne Manor has some new neighbors.

-----

A crossover of Batman and the Umbrella Academy.

Words: 3067, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: The Umbrella Academy (TV), DCU (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman (Comics)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Characters: Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Grace Hargreeves, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, Cassandra Cain, Duke Thomas, Luther Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves, Allison Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy), Number Six | Ben Hargreeves, Vanya Hargreeves | Viktor Hargreeves, Dr. Pogo (Umbrella Academy)

Additional Tags: Crossover, Batman crossover, Dead Reginald Hargreeves, Mentioned Reginald Hargreeves, Past Child Abuse, Good Parent Grace Hargreeves

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/EVAhGdK

[lahotelbellamuerte]

𝐇𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥 𝐎𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐧 - lower floor + lobby

series masterlist ! current: lower floor ! next: the time that was before + lobby

There's a saying that every decision we didn't make somewhere in the universe we did. And that version may look like you, but isn't. Just like you they made many other decisions to make that one different than yours. But beware if you ever run into your doppelgänger. 

Many of those end up dead when their doppelgängers appear, so it's advised to stay away. Especially if you're a time traveler, we don't know where you might end up. Listen to the cosmic rules of never looking for your parents, or yourself. 

Now, the very day, the Umbrella Academy decided it was a good idea to meet their father in the 60s—it wasn't. Reginald Hareegeves had studied the bunch of adopted children and realized they weren't what he needed for his plan. So, he changed the future through the actions of his once-upon children on the future. 

Take a seat, grab a drink, and have a snack. Here we begin the story of the Hargreeves back in the present day, but not to meet what they expected. Not a relaxing return but a much different look on things. 

I invite you to check into Hotel Oblivion...

ᴀɪᴅᴀɴ ɢᴀʟʟᴀɢʜᴇʀ— ɴᴜᴍʙᴇʀ ꜰɪᴠᴇ —ᴛʜᴇ ᴏɴᴇ ʟᴇꜰᴛ ʙʀᴏᴋᴇɴ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛᴇᴅ

ᴘʜᴏᴇɴɪx ᴍᴀɢɴᴏʟɪᴀ — ᴛʜᴇ ᴏɴᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ꜱɪɢʜᴛ

the rest of the umbrella + sparrow academy as their prospective actors/actresses 

ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴏᴛᴇʟ'ꜱ ʟɪᴠᴇ ᴍᴜꜱɪᴄ:

1. ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴀꜱᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴜꜱ — ɢᴜꜱᴛᴀᴠᴏ ꜱᴀɴᴛᴀᴏʟᴀʟʟᴀ 2. ʟᴏᴠᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴍʏ ʟɪꜰᴇ — ʜᴀʀʀʏ ꜱᴛʏʟᴇꜱ 3. ʙᴏʀᴅᴇʀʟɪɴᴇ — ᴛᴀᴍᴇ ɪᴍᴘᴀʟᴀ 4. ᴍʏꜱᴛᴇʀʏ ᴏꜰ ʟᴏᴠᴇ — ꜱᴜꜰᴊᴀɴ ꜱᴛᴇᴠᴇɴꜱ 5. ɴᴏ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴅɪᴇ — ʙɪʟʟɪᴇ ᴇʟʟɪꜱʜ 6. ꜰᴇᴇʟɪɴɢ ɢᴏᴏᴅ — ᴍɪᴄʜᴀᴇʟ ʙᴜʙʟÉ 7. ʙᴏʏꜰʀɪᴇɴᴅ — ᴅᴏᴠᴇ ᴄᴀᴍᴇʀᴏɴ 8. ɴᴏ ʙᴏᴅʏ, ɴᴏ ᴄʀɪᴍᴇ — ᴛᴀʏʟᴏʀ ꜱᴡɪꜰᴛ (ꜰᴇᴀᴛ. ʜᴀɪᴍ) 9. ᴏᴜᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴛɪᴍᴇ — ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴇᴇᴋɴᴅ 10. ᴍᴀʀʏ ᴏɴ ᴀ ᴄʀᴏꜱꜱ — ɢʜᴏꜱᴛ 11. ᴇxɪᴛ ᴍᴜꜱɪᴄ — ʀᴀᴅɪᴏʜᴇᴀᴅ 12. ꜰᴇᴀʀ — ᴄᴜʀʀᴇɴᴛ ᴊᴏʏꜱ 13. ᴏʙʟɪᴠɪᴏɴ — ɢʀɪᴍᴇꜱ 14. ʜᴏᴡ ᴠɪʟʟᴀɪɴꜱ ᴀʀᴇ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ — ᴍᴀᴅᴀʟᴇɴ ᴅᴜᴋᴇ 15. ʜᴀʏʟᴏꜰᴛ ɪɪ — ᴍᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴍᴏᴛʜᴇʀ 16. ꜱɪɢɴ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛɪᴍᴇꜱ — ʜᴀʀʀʏ ꜱᴛʏʟᴇꜱ 17. ᴇɴᴇᴍʏ (ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴊɪᴅ) — ɪᴍᴀɢɪɴᴇ ᴅʀᴀɢᴏɴꜱ 18. ᴍʏ ɪᴍᴍᴏʀᴛᴀʟ — ᴇᴠᴀɴᴇꜱᴄᴇɴᴄᴇ 19. ᴛʜᴇ ᴜᴍʙʀᴇʟʟᴀ ᴀᴄᴀᴅᴇᴍʏ — ᴊᴇꜰꜰ ʀᴜꜱꜱᴏ

[queercreati]

Season 3 Prediction, Part 4:

Diego: So, um, tell me. Are you single? 

Sparrow! Lila: Uh... 

Patch: Who the fuck are you?

Time Comission! Lila: They’re not single fyi 

Diego: And you? 

Time Comission! Lila: *Nervous laughter*

[brionysea]

the most important difference between five and veggie just slammed into my brain like a freight train: vegetable would sacrifice his children for the world. five would sacrifice the world for his siblings

[upset-hufflepuff]

Luther Hargreeves is a well written and human character with very good character development and he's SO underrated. It's 2021, y'all need to realize the villain is Reginald and stop being pissy about Luther just processing his trauma differently due to emotional manipulation x

[captainkirkk]

Thanks to @pulcheres​ for coming up with this idea, I can’t get it out of my head now

AU where adult Five - who is still grieving the fact that he didn’t get to see his siblings grow up, and realises how fucked up they became under Reginald “abusive motherfucker” Hargreeves - decides to travel back to 2002 and look after these kids himself.

Except he can’t kidnap them outright or kill of Reginald. What he’s doing is risky, but that would completely destroy the timeline.

So he applies to be the Umbrella Academy’s tutor.

He’s a pragmatic genius with extensive combat training; there’s no way Reginald Hargreeves wouldn’t respect him. Five plays the distant, methodical professor whenever Reginald is around - but when he’s gone, he nurtures the shit out of these kids.

He teaches Klaus how to banish ghosts so he has a moment of goddamn quiet. He teaches Allison about moral ethics and the consequences of actions, even if she’s too young to really take in what he’s saying. He teaches Luther how to be a brother, not just a leader. He helps Ben come to terms with the monster locked inside his chest. He pays attention to Vanya. He helps Diego soothe his anger.

He helps them all develop hobbies. Lets them be individuals. Helps them develop coping mechanisms. Gives them the opportunity to talk to someone about their problems (that’s not a robot or a monkey or a child). 

He interferes as best as he can with Reginald. Distracts him, messes up his “experiments”, subtly manipulates him into doing something else instead of torturing his kids for the day. 

It doesn’t ever feel like enough, but it’s better than nothing. And he still gets to be close to his younger siblings and help them, which is all he ever wanted.

There’s a lot the Hargreeves siblings don’t understand about their mysterious new professor. But they begin to trust him. He’s the only person who’s truly in their corner, not Reginald’s. 

Except they have no idea that their professor is really their missing brother, Five.

And Five has no idea how to tell them.

[siegrrun]

Disappointment

Reginald Hargreeves knew from the very beginning that the children were special. From the earliest stage of their lives they showed signs of extraordinary abilities and he couldn't have been more satisfied. And so he started monitoring their progress with great interest and even greater expectations.

* * * 

Number Seven is his first disappointment. He quickly learns how uncontrollable her powers are. Of course, all of the children's abilities are dangerous, there is no denying that, but hers are the most destructive out of the bunch. The most wild. The most... apocalyptic. 

It's a shame, truly, to waste such a potential, but he can't take this risk, not after she attacked him. She's too dangerous. 

So he locks her up, hides her along with her powers, away from everyone's sight. 

A Pandora's box never to be opened. 

* * * 

Number Four is his second disappointment, perhaps the greatest one as he never put any real effort, never even tried to understand and control his abilities. Too weak, too soft, too scared of his own shadow to realise how powerful he truly was. 

Reginald can only sigh watching him cry and tremble in the corner as he adds another hour to the kid's training.

* * * 

Then comes number Five, who was his biggest hope but turns out to be yet another disappointment. 

He's smart, logical and driven, focused on the task on hand in a way none of the others could manage to be. But his intellect and the quick pace in which he masters his powers make him arrogant and rash, and Reginald can sense a disaster coming from miles away. He tries to discourage the child, putting him through harder and harder training, showing him how truly unprepared, how incompetent, how unexperienced he is. 

But number Five's will is as strong as his and so one day he disappears, leaving the Umbrella Academy one member weaker.

***

Number Six has always been a mix of satisfaction and disappointment. He too is afraid of his powers, of the creatures living inside him, of himself. Scared to fight, scared to train, scared to live. But, unlike number Four, he does try to live up to his father's expectations. He never truly succeeds, but Reginald is satisfied. 

Until he isn't.

Number Six's death truly is inconvenient. He was finally getting somewhere, finally taking control over the eldritch monster inside of him.

Disappointing, Reginald sighs, turning away from his son's grave.

***

The Umbrella Academy is falling apart, the children leaving one after the other.

Number Two is one of the first, slamming the door behind him, a bag in his hand and a curse on his tongue.

Reginald's far from surprised. Number Two has always been a temperamental one, seeming to be permanently stuck in his rebellious stage. He shakes his head, not even looking up from the papers on his desk. He might have taught him to use his powers efficiently, but he could never control his temper.

***

Number Three is the last to leave. Her reluctance doesn't change anything though, she has disappointed him a long time ago. The addiction to her powers was her weakness and the greatest failure.

She showed signs of it from an early age - he still remembers the frivolous way she controlled everyone around her long before she learned to tell rumours (the phrase he thought of when he realised how much danger her power posed; a phrase long enough for him to react if used against him) - now he can't believe he's never seen it before.

She leaves in the end, doors closing softly behind her and the Umbrella Academy is no more. 

***

Only number One stays, a leader without a team, the one whose powers are insignificant compared to the others. 

Reginald sends him to a mission, after mission, after mission, more out of curiosity than necessity. He wonders when number One will finally break like the others did. 

Number One's spirit doesn't break, but his body does and Reginald's once again disappointed. What use is to him an undestructable man that can so easily be destroyed? 

Reginald Hargreeves looks out of the window. It's a full moon, he notes absently. He sighs and takes off the monocle to rub his eyes tiredly. 

The Umbrella Academy was an utter failure, a true disappointment through and through. He wonders if the rest of 43 children would be more competent, if a different set would fare any better. 

If he could, he'd try it all again. 

[oskarwing]

Free parenting tips for Reginald Hargreeves in regards of the oatmeal scene:  Don’t have a kettle whistling in the background while your daughter who can control sound is having breakfast she doesn’t like.  Don’t make her eat oatmeal if she doesn’t like oatmeal, you ass. There’s other breakfast food that’s just as good!  Make sure your child knows killing people to get out of a situation she doesn’t like isn’t actually good and don’t just say HM like you’re disappointed she made the carpet dirty!  Or ignore all that and build a robot nanny to traumatize her. 

[dogbearinggifts]

I mean, sure, Reginald said he just wanted his kids to reach their potential and that all the hell he put them through “was to prepare [them] for something greater than [themselves].” I think he even believed it. 

But it didn’t work. The shit he did to his kids—the shit he thought would result in a family of deadly effective superheroes—resulted in a collection of bitter, angry, neurotic hot messes who couldn’t give two shits about the fate of the world. The only child of his that thought he was right and believed the world needed him turned his back the second he learned it all was a lie. The one he believed had some of the greatest untapped potential turned to drugs in a deliberate bid to avoid developing his powers. 

That’s what abuse does. It does the opposite of what it’s supposed to do. It doesn’t make kids stronger; it breaks them. Doesn’t matter what the parent’s intent was. They broke their kids and now those kids are left to put themselves back together.