Thea had never regretted sharing a room with her twin quite as much as when she awoke, for the third time that week, to his incessant ramblings in a dream.

She squeezed her eyes shut and tried singing in her head to cut out his obnoxious thoughts that were practically being screamed within his mind. His dream was being broadcasted loud and clear for Thea to hear and because she wasn't actually in the dream with Klaus, it was simply annoying.

This wasn't the first time she'd developed a headache over this problem, and Thea was slowly losing her mind over her inability to disconnect from those around her.

Hargreeves had already eagerly begun her training in controlling people – a part of her ability she hadn't thought possible until a few years ago when she'd wanted nothing more than to skip training and during a tantrum, had unknowingly controlled their Father into letting them off.

Hargreeves hadn't been too pleased with her actions, but his eagerness over developing her powers seemed to soothe some of the upset of being mind controlled by a ten-year-old child.

Giving up on getting any more sleep, Thea huffed and threw the cover off her body, slipping her feet into a pair of bunny slippers and tiptoeing out of the room, though not before shooting her sleeping brother a glare.

It's not like it was Klaus' fault he dreamt so loudly, but Thea wasn't in a forgiving mood and was fed up of the constant headaches and her siblings avoiding her in case she went rifling through their heads.

As if I want to know their stupid secrets, anyway.

That, of course, was a total lie. Thea wouldn't admit it aloud, but she'd taken great pleasure in her ability throughout the years and had amassed a plentiful amount of blackmail material on all her brothers and sisters.

She had some on their father too, but sometimes she'd come across blank spaces in her memory that confused her greatly. She often wondered if there was something she was supposed to remember but had forgotten...but soon pushed it away.

The only person capable of erasing their memories was Allison, and Thea trusted her sister would never intentionally do such a thing.

It had always been thought that telepathy was Thea's only ability, and she'd been limited to using it only when concentrating on someone specifically.

However, after her rather impressive display of mind control, Hargreeves had experimented with her limits and the expansion of her abilities seemed to have opened up a hailstorm of painful consequences he wasn't able to remedy.

She was suffering migraines daily and was sometimes unable to distinguish what was said aloud and what wasn't. To put it lightly, it made Thea a very grumpy girl – something that scared her family as a powerful ability like mind control in the hands of an annoyed and frustrated twelve-year-old wasn't ideal.

The soft pattering of her slippers against the wooden stairs helped soothe her headache a little, and Thea tried focusing on the light ticking of the clocks to block out everything else.

Luckily, the Academy was large enough that her siblings were mostly spread out and with everyone asleep, Thea could bask in the silence.

She padded into the kitchen and went straight toward the cupboards, pulling out the jar that held the teabags and flicking on the kettle. She pinched the bridge of her nose to try and alleviate some of the pain but knew it was futile. She couldn't even take medication as it had no effect against the constant drilling of noise.

The kettle whistled to signal it was done and Thea poured the boiling water into her favourite mug, adding sugar and milk and wrapping her hands around the steaming beverage. She sat down on one of the kitchen chairs and kicked her feet up onto the table in a relaxed position.

She swayed her feet side to side, staring at the bunny slippers she wore. They were a fluffy pastel pink and had cute floppy ears on top that tickled her ankles whenever she moved.

Thea breathed a sigh of relief when she sipped the warm tea, basking in the sweet taste and taking comfort in such a simple action. Her life was filled with such chaos that simple moments were hard to come by.

Footsteps were heard coming into the kitchen and Thea was about to snap for them to please leave her alone but she stopped when she saw who it was.

Five.

He was dressed in the same pyjamas as her; striped baby blue cotton pants and a button-up top. His eyes were still sleepy and his dark hair was dishevelled. Thea held in a smile at how cute her brother looked in his tired state, knowing she probably didn't fare much better.

Her long golden hair fell down to her waist in a knotted mess and she knew her eyes were heavy from a restless nights sleep, though the tea was helping calm her down.

"You're an early riser," Five commented as he flicked the kettle on and began spooning some coffee into a mug.

He turned back around and leaned against the kitchen counter as he stared at her relaxed position; feet kicked up onto the table and hair flowing behind her as she tilted her head back against the chair to see him.

Thea smiled lightly and hummed. "Klaus was too loud again," she said.

Five nodded, understanding what she meant. They'd all noticed just how tired and frustrated Thea had been recently, but nobody knew how to help.

Allison and Luther mostly avoided their sister, uncomfortable at the prospect of their secrets being found out, while Diego just whined whenever she accidentally answered his thoughts.

Vanya became flustered whenever Thea would begin assuring her of her worth after a rather self-deprecating thought and Ben was just a blushing mess whenever Thea complimented him back, oblivious that the boy was thinking those things rather than saying them aloud.

Klaus was her twin and honestly didn't care she could read his every thought. They shared everything and had no secrets between them, so reading his mind didn't faze him. Thea would have felt the same way if Klaus had her powers.

None of them truly cared about Thea's telepathy because they knew she couldn't help it and saw the tole it was taking on her, but some just felt a little uncomfortable with the situation and were lost on how to offer a solution.

Five, the little genius he is, had already devised a way to combat Thea's powers and that's why the girl felt so relieved when she saw it was him entering the kitchen.

Five, like Thea, loved learning new things, especially languages. Thea was already fluent in both German and Russian, while Five knew Italian.

The boy had theorised that by thinking in another language – one Thea didn't know – that maybe her brain would automatically zone it out easier than English because it would recognise she understood nothing and therefore it became background noise.

He was right, of course, and so Thea often basked in the boy's presence whenever she could, asking Hargreeves to pair them together during training until she could learn to disconnect from everybody around her.

"Do you wanna partner again today?" Five asked, seemingly reading her own mind. He'd finished brewing his coffee and took a seat beside her.

Thea nodded gratefully. "God, please. I'm not sure how much more of Allison's thoughts I can take," she groaned.

"I get we're the only two girls training and Dad pairs us up for that reason, but if I have to hear about her 10-year plan or how she's going to marry the richest man in the world one more time, I'll commit murder."

Five chuckled at her rant, enjoying her evident suffering. Both siblings had a sarcastic and dark sense of humour and would often joke about becoming the best pair of assassins the world has ever seen when they grew up.

Neither particularly enjoyed being a part of the Umbrella Academy and saving the day. They didn't understand playing the 'hero' in the way that Luther, Diego and Allison embraced it and thought they more likely fit the roles of villains than the good guys.

"If you need help hiding the body, just give me a shout," Five drawled and Thea snorted into her tea.

She fluttered her lashes at Five and dramatically placed her hand on her chest. "Dear brother, you'd do that for me?" she asked in mock sweetness.

Five smirked and joined in with her playful attitude, enjoying seeing his sister acting more like herself than she has recently.

"Of course, love. I would commit the worst of atrocities for you," he said passionately, waving his hand dramatically.

Both siblings' eyes were alight with humour at their ridiculous acting but they were enjoying it, nonetheless.

"Oh, Five, how you do make me swoon," Thea declared. "Whatever can I do to repay such undying loyalty?"

Five put his mug down and leant across the table that separated them. He cupped her chin in his hand and adopted a serious expression – though Thea could see the mirth in his eyes.

"I would ask only for your undivided love, my Queen," he muttered.

Thea stared into Five's eyes for a moment before bursting out into laughter, the boy following shortly after. Both siblings sat in hysterics at their silliness and Thea had her arms pressed against her stomach as she felt it cramping from the laughter.

Five had a cocky grin across his face as he watched her laugh, happy he'd managed to take her mind off of her powers, if only for a few moments.

Thea's boisterous laughter descended into giggles and she wiped away tears from her eyes as she kept replaying Five's words in her head.

This was why she loved him. He never took anything too seriously and knew how to let go and have fun.

"God, you're too good, Five. I'm losing my touch," Thea muttered as she straightened herself from where she'd almost fell over in her laughter.

"You're not too bad yourself, Z. Just don't bat your lashes for any other man, you hear me? You're too good at that flirty shit," he said and Thea giggled again.

"Flirty shit? Really Five, that's the best you've got?" she mocked.

"Shut up, we're twelve."

"Wow, the great and mighty Five is admitting he's still only a child? What's the world come to?" Thea exclaimed sarcastically.

She swiftly moved out of the way of Five's outstretched hand but gasped in surprise when she felt arms suddenly wrap around her waist from behind.

"That's cheating!" she squeaked.

Five chuckled from behind her, "All's fair in love and war, Z."

"Don't try and act smart. Just admit you cheat!"

Five hummed and Thea cursed her tiny height when he rested his chin on the top of her head.

"I think you're just jealous I always win our little games," Five said cockily and Thea could practically picture the smug grin he wore.

"All's fair in love and war, huh?" she mumbled.

Before Five could question her vague tone, Thea linked their fingers together to focus purely on Five and connected to his mind.

"Tell me I'm right."

Five didn't say anything for a minute and Thea wondered if her recent inability to control her powers had dampened their effectiveness. However, the boy soon spoke through gritted teeth, clearly annoyed at being controlled so easily.

"You're right, Zero."

Thea grinned smugly at his monotone voice, knowing the boy hated whenever she got one-up on him.

"Let me go, then stay still."

Five did as told and his arms robotically detached themselves from her form, allowing her to slip free. She turned to face him, not even trying to hide her shit-eating grin as she saw his narrowed eyes and clenched jaw.

She cupped his jaw in her hand and rubbed it soothingly with her thumb. "Don't pout Five, it's unbecoming," she cooed.

Five's eyes flashed angrily, and Thea giggled at his evident frustration. She kissed his cheek before stepping back and slowly moving toward the door.

"Now, I'm going to let you go and you have to promise not to kill me," she said with a giggle.

Five's eyes only narrowed further, and Thea bit her lip to stop her laughter. "Okay, guess not...running it is, then."

Thea immediately ran out of the room, knowing that soon enough Five would regain control of his body when she was too far away to maintain focus.

She sped up the stairs and soon heard Five's fast footsteps running down the hallway behind her and laughed out in joy at them both acting so childish.

"Zero, come back here!" Five shouted and spatial jumped to the bottom of the steps just as Thea turned the corner.

"Catch me if you can!" she taunted back.

Mealtimes in the Academy were always a rather tedious and uncomfortable affair. The Hargreeves children sat silently around the table as they ate their food stiffly, nobody making eye contact with their father who sat at the head upon his regal chair.

Herr Carlson was playing on the record player and the man's monotonous voice droned on about philosophical motivations and whatnot.

"...as Nietzsche once said, 'To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.' It is imperative that as human beings we..."

As she sat there listening, Thea's grip on her utensils was so tight her knuckles were white. Carlson's voice was driving her crazy and she wasn't sure how much longer she could stand it.

Hargreeves was silent as he ate, oblivious to her pain, while the rest of her siblings watched on warily, waiting for her to snap.

What didn't help matters was that she was bombarded with seven voices all at once, all thinking different things and combined with the record player it was slowly driving Thea insane.

'I give it another minute before she blows...'

'Maybe I should leave.'

'Uh oh.'

"...a machine does not improve because you cannot programme a fear of death. Our survival instinct as human beings is our greatest..."

'I don't know how to help. I hate seeing her in pain.'

'This won't be good.'

'Maybe we should tell Dad.'

The last one finally made Thea snap and she couldn't hold her tongue any longer.

"Shut up!" she yelled into the silent dining room.

Everyone watched her cautiously as she pinched the bridge of her nose trying to take calming breaths. Hargreeves opened his mouth to ask her reasoning for interrupting but found himself incapable of speaking.

Thea took a long, calming breath to centre herself, focusing on pushing the constant buzzing of noise into the back of her mind. She felt a hand slip into her own and knew without having to look that it was her twin.

Klaus watched his sister worriedly, noticing the deteriorating effect her power was having on her. He often cursed their luck for being given such mentally debilitating abilities, as neither of them could handle the responsibility that came with their skillset.

With Ben included, Klaus was of the opinion that the three of them got the short end of the stick when it came to their abilities. Sure, they were amazing and powerful, but the cons seemed to far outweigh the pros, unlike the others' gifts.

Allison, Luther and Diego faced virtually no consequences to their powers, and Five had mastered his spatial jumps without any harm done. Vanya was lucky enough to be normal while Ben, Klaus and Thea were stuck with powers that drained them both mentally and emotionally.

Thea was in constant pain and both fearful and guilty of the power she held over someone's very being; Klaus was terrified of the dead and self-medicated to escape the torment; Ben was so afraid and disgusted by the monsters under his skin that he suffered horrible nightmares and poor self-esteem.

Klaus knew what his sister was going through and felt awful that he couldn't do anything more than comfort her, but he squeezed her hand, urging her to focus in on his thoughts and to try blocking out everything else.

Thea concentrated hard and tried connecting only to her twin and nobody else. It didn't quite work as she could still catch the drifting thoughts of everyone else, but it lowered the intensity significantly.

Thea took another deep breath and whispered a quiet 'thanks' to her brother before turning back to the rest of the table, including her father.

Hargreeves sat imposingly at the head of the table, his expression stern as his steely gaze zeroed in on the girl. Thea understood what his intense stare meant and hastily disconnected from his mind, allowing him to speak again.

"Number Zero, would you like to share with us all your reasoning behind interrupting Herr Carlson?"

Thea's jaw clenched at his patronising tone and she squeezed Klaus' hand even tighter than before.

"It was too noisy. I apologise," she forced out through clenched teeth.

Hargreeves looked at her with his beady eyes, his monocle in place as it always was, only adding to his intimidating visage. "There was no noise, Number Zero."

Thea's eyes narrowed at his tone and she briefly imagined jumping across the table and stabbing him with her bloody fork.

Maybe then you'd have a reason to wear that stupid monocle, old man.

"The voices were too loud," Thea corrected him.

Hargreeves sniffed haughtily and picked up his utensils to begin eating again, dismissing her explanation.

"Well then, it looks like you understand what you must accomplish, Number Zero. Take this as a learning experience to master your control."

Thea's eyes were blazing with anger as he spoke and it was only Klaus' hand in hers, and Five's hasty thoughts that stopped her from acting out.

'Don't, Z. He's not worth it. Just focus on me.'

Thea did as her brother said and glanced at him down the table, where he was staring directly at her and ignoring his dinner. When she caught his eye, he sent her a small smile and Thea felt her body relax.

Thea knew Five felt just as angry toward their father as he continued dismissing Five's wish to try time-travel.

As reluctant as she was to admit it, Thea agreed with Hargreeves on this point – she didn't think Five was quite ready yet – but she knew he didn't have to be such an asshole about it whenever the boy brought up the topic.

Thea mechanically lifted her hand and began resuming to eat her meal, not really tasting the food as she stared off into the distance.

The silence only lasted a few minutes before her grip began to tighten again as all the voices filtered back into her head.

It was a vicious cycle. The thoughts caused her to become frustrated, which broke her concentration, meaning more thoughts filtered in, causing even more frustration.

It was never-ending and Thea barely managed to get through dinner without storming upstairs, which would only cause trouble later on from Hargreeves for the 'unsightly childish' display.

When Hargreeves finally finished his meal and delicately wiped his mouth with his napkin, Thea felt like proclaiming her thanks to the gods for allowing the torture to come to an end.

Hargreeves rattled on to them all with his usual spiel of the next day's schedule before dismissing them all and swiftly leaving the room.

The dining room was left to just the Hargreeves children and Grace – who was busy tidying up in the background.

Thea slumped down in her chair and groaned aloud, ignoring the rest of her siblings. "Thank fuck that's over."

Klaus snorted at her words while Luther gave her a disapproving stare. "Language," he muttered under his breath.

"Oh, shut up you oaf, or else I'll reveal what you think about a certain someone's eyes," she shot back.

"How can they be such a deep, complex swirl of colours?" she mocked in a bad imitation of his voice.

Luther's eyes widened at her comment and pink dusted his cheeks. The others watched shocked at his uncharacteristic behaviour and glanced between the two.

Thea 1 – Luther 0.

"Whose eyes?" Allison asked with a glare toward Luther and Klaus snorted at the oncoming drama as the boy tried defending himself.

"Can we leave now?" Diego whined as he pushed the vegetables around on his plate in disgust. Thea eyed the giant knife he was using that was most certainly not an eating utensil.

"I guess so, the old man's gone," Five drawled as he sat back watching everybody in disinterest.

Vanya stayed mostly quiet as she watched all her siblings talk, though she sent Thea a small smile when their gazes met.

Thea pushed her chair back and stood, chucking her napkin onto the mostly full plate of food. "I'm leaving losers, see you later."

She left before anybody could argue and with quick steps made her way toward the grand staircase.

"Thea, wait!" she heard running behind her and paused when she recognised Ben's voice.

The boy hadn't spoken during dinner and Thea was curious about what he wanted. She watched as he came rushing up the stairs to meet her and they both began walking side-by-side.

"What's up?" she asked.

'How do I say this without it sounding blunt? Oh god, what if she takes it the wrong way?'

Ben bit his lip as he resolutely looked away from her, but Thea noticed the slight pink on his cheeks and knew he was nervous by his thoughts.

"Can you come to my room? I have something to show you."

Thea raised a brow but saw nothing wrong with his question. "Sure," she agreed with a shrug and they both turned to make their way toward his room.

Reaching the door, Ben let them both in and Thea went to sit on the boy's bed, making herself comfy.

"This better not just be a scheme to get me in your room, you know," she teased as she watched Ben rummage through his drawer.

Ben jumped at her words and cursed as he hit his head on the drawer above him. He turned to glare at her as she laughed, finding his clumsiness endearing.

'Her smile's so pretty...' Thea politely ignored his thoughts, feeling guilty for invading his privacy. Though, she felt heat come to her cheeks at his sweet compliments.

"No, no...I wanted to give you this," he rambled before practically shoving the device in her face.

Thea leant back to properly inspect what it was he was showing her and recognised it as a portable cd player.

She looked back up at Ben in confusion as to why he was showing her his music, but the boy huffed before moving to sit beside her and offering the headphones that were connected to the cd player.

Thea took the earbuds and pushed them into her ears, staring at Ben expectedly.

"I thought that maybe - you know, that listening to music really loudly might help drown out all the voices..." he spoke unsurely.

Thea's brows rose in surprise at his thoughtfulness and she smiled brightly at the boy, pulling him into a grateful hug for his brilliant idea.

"You're a genius! How did I not think of this?" she asked in disbelief, kicking herself for not having come up with such a simple solution.

"Well, I know you have a record player but I don't think that'd help unless you played it really loud...but Dad wouldn't like that," Ben mused, and Thea nodded her agreement.

The old man was a stubborn bastard that didn't enjoy anything remotely fun. Especially loud music.

Thea pulled back from the hug and smiled up at Ben happily, "You're always thinking of everybody else. That's what I love about you," she said honestly.

Ben blushed brightly at her blunt honesty and Thea giggled at his cute expression. Neither of them really understood the significance of her words or the feelings that would develop between them both through the years, but for now, they both enjoyed the calm serenity they felt with one another.

Thea lay down on Ben's bed and patted the space next to her, inviting him to do the same. When the boy was beside her Thea turned on her side, so they were face to face and offered him one of the earbuds to share.

Ben smiled shyly and shuffled closer so they could both listen to the music together. He pressed play on the cd player and they both listened to the beginning acoustics of the song.

Thea laughed when the lyrics started playing.

"Although loneliness has always been a friend of mine,
I'm leaving my life in your hands.
People say I'm crazy and that I am blind,
risking it all in a glance."

"Backstreet Boys, really? I didn't take you for that kind of guy," she teased.

Ben blushed and tried explaining himself. "It's catchy, ok?" Seeing her giggles he playfully shoved her, "Shut up, like you can talk."

"Hey! I have great taste in music!" she protested.

"Oh yeah, because Spice Girls are the peak of good music."

Thea shoved the boy back for his sarcastic comment. "Don't diss my girls, they're empowering, you wouldn't understand, being a Backstreet Boys fan, anyway," she sniped.

Ben and Thea stared at each other before bursting into giggles at their childish argument. Thea moved to lay her head on his chest, focusing in on the music playing through the headphones.

"Every little thing that you have said and done,
feels like it's deep within me.
Doesn't really matter if you're on the run,
it seems like we're meant to be."

Thea hummed the tune under her breath and listened to Ben's heartbeat alongside the music, finally able to disconnect from all the voices throughout the house. She could only hear the harmonisation of the singers and the thumping of Ben's heart.

She linked their fingers together and simply enjoyed the warmth and comfort he offered.

"Maybe this song's not too bad," she whispered.

"I don't care who you are, where you're from,
what you did, as long as you love me."

That's it for the flashback chapters and this story! Thank you for everybody who has left a favourite, review or even just spent their time to read this story! I honestly really appreciate it, thank you truly!

I know that there is supposed to be a season 2 of The Umbrella Academy on Netflix and if that does follow through, then I'll definitely be uploading a sequel to this story and continue Thea's journey!