originally posted on another account, moved for personal reasons!
synopsis: prudence sinclair decides to crash reginald hargreeves' funeral to introduce herself to her dad, klaus hargreeves, and that somehow leads to her missing uncle/attempted assassinator reappearing to tell everyone they've got eight days to save the entire world.
warnings: Thank You For The Venom contains triggering and upsetting subject matter such as PTSD and mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression, there will be scenes of child abuse, both physical and emotional, graphic scenes of violence which are mostly canon events, assassinations/assassination attempts, drug-use, underage drinking, and addiction. there are also mentions/implications of past overdoses. There's mentions of unethical human experimentation (which goes hand in hand with medical inaccuracies because I am not smart when it comes to medical things) also canon character deaths as well as temporary character deaths! And finally, The Handler being very creepy with Five!
author's note: Hello and welcome to my first the umbrella academy fic ( the first one that I feel brave enough to publish ) I'm fairly new to writing in this fandom so please be nice, I am open to constructive criticism as I'm always looking to improve my writing skills. Please note that Thank You For The Venom is NOT CANON COMPLIANT and often diverges from canon events. It is also heavily based on the Netflix show because I've never read the comics ( although I do want to because they look awesome! ) BUT I do know a few things about the comics that I've incorporated into this fanfic the best that I could. more notes at the bottom of the chapter . . .
AND finally one last note: please do NOT leave rude comments or comment about how you hate how I'm writing certain things, if you don't like it don't read it or at the very least keep your mouth shut. I do take constructive criticism and don't mind when people comment on spelling errors because I don't have anyone to edit my work, I'm doing that by myself and even after check stuff over three times I can still miss some errors so if you want to point them out that's fine just be nice about it!
and so the story begins . . .
DANGER DAYS: THE TRUE LIFE OF PRUDENCE SINCLAIR
VOLUME 001 OF ────── THANK YOU FOR THE VENOM
OOO. YOU'RE RUNNING AFTER SOMETHING THAT YOU'LL NEVER KILL
( set during SEASON ONE of the THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY )
"Perhaps when you were supposedly assassinated for messing up the timeline, it would be best not to do anything drastic but Prudence Sinclair was never any good at doing what she was told. Which is why she was meant to be assassinated for in the first place, she had grown too hard for the Handler to control and her powers, inherited from her father, were becoming useless to the Handler so she was to be disposed of. By, some miracle, Prudence Sinclair managed to talk her way out of being assassinated.
Number Five was the Handler's best assassin, so he was tasked to kill her. It was mostly for the irony, Number Five was Prudence's uncle although he didn't know it, her father was Klaus Hargreeves. She had only recently discovered this, it subsequently lead to her 'death'. Somehow she convinced him to spare her. He didn't leave her unharmed but he left her alive with a set of rules. Rules which would be ignored two years later with the passing of Reginald Hargreeves. How could she guess Number Five would turn up, that very same day, in the body of his thirteen-year-old self, ranting about a doomsday that the Umbrella Academy plus herself need to stop?"
and now onto the chapter . . .
VOLUME ONE ( THANK YOU FOR THE VENOM ) CHAPTER ONE:
BOOK ONE, CHAPTER ONE || FUNERAL CRASHER
( season one, episode one: we only see each other at funerals and weddings, pt. i )
"Prudence Sinclair was quite certain that Klaus Hargreeves happens to be her father, given the fact that she can see ghosts just like he can, she thinks the chances of him being her father like her file said, are pretty high. Was she certain enough to crash Reginald Hargreeves' funeral, not exactly, but she does it anyway . . ."
start of episode
There's an old man standing over her, he's a trained assassin and also her uncle, the latter of those things is not known to him which is why he's trying to assassinate her with no remorse. Prudence "Prue" Sinclair, the child about to be assassinated, reckons that he'd be a little sorry about what he was about to do if he knew she was related to him. But he doesn't know because he hasn't seen his family in a very long time, there's a lot of time travel mumbo-jumbo involved that Prue can hardly understand. Of course, there was also the fact that she was kidnapped from the family before anyone knew about her.
( she was also kidnapped by the very same old dude that's trying to kill her but Prue reckons that's a story for another time. )
And she expects him to pull out the hunting knife and plunge it into her neck but he doesn't, he just stares at her unblinkingly so she blinks. It's not the same man, although they look uncannily similar. Of course, all old people look similar to each other in Prue's opinion, but these too look like they could be related.
It takes her a moment to realise she's looking at a television, she exhales loudly when she realises that it's not the same man, this one is much more severe looking and he sported a monocle. It's not number five, he's not here to finish her off, she hadn't done anything wrong to void their agreement. Prue was safe, she reaches up with a chubby hand to smooth over her scar that runs horizontally over her throat, she was alive.
Her chest aches, it's hard to breathe, Prue reaches for her inhaler as she becomes aware of a news anchor talking about the death of some rich dude and the sound of footsteps coming towards her.
The footsteps belong to a middle-aged man named, Carl Davenport, and he's quite possibly the grumpiest man alive but he's nice enough. He took her in after he found her bleeding out by his apartment door, Number Five must've left her there for a reason and she stayed with him, Carl was more than willing to take her in, grumpy or not. Prue thinks he must be a retired assassin from the Commission, one that Five trusts to keep his secret.
Prue should be dead but she managed to talk Number Five out of it, providing knowledge that no one should've known, and she promised to never mess with the timeline among other things. He did not leave her unscathed but he left her alive which is what Prue had asked for, practically begged for. And for the most part, the past two years, she had not done anything to mess with the timeline. Although she had come close to it but she always chickened out at the last minute. She wanted to live more than she wanted to meet her father.
Carl snorts "My god, I can't believe it!"
Prue looks up at the man standing behind her, he looks ecstatic "I outlived the bastard."
"Language," chides a soft voice from the corner of the room, it belongs to Carl's wife, Ellen or Ellie as Prue calls her. Of course, he can't hear her as she's dead and has been for several years.
One of Prue's few specialties involved seeing ghosts, it wasn't a favourite of her abilities but she unfortunately could, and there was very little she could do to stop it. Luckily, Ellie was a very nice ghost, unlike the ones that had plagued her during her childhood.
"Is Ellie here," Carl asks looking like a kid in a candy store, as he scans his front room, Prue nods.
"Reggie's dead, El." He says and he must be referring to the old guy they're talking about on television, Prue hadn't caught his name.
Ellie snorts loudly "No fuckin' way!"
"Language," Prue mutters mockingly, feeling as though she's missing something here. She looks back at Carl and asks "Who's Reggie."
"Reginald Hargreeves," Carl says.
Prue blinks "The man who adopted my dad?"
Carl nods, smiling for the first time this month. Prue hadn't realised that Carl knew Reginald Hargreeves.
"Sick bastard, that man," Carl says mostly to himself, "Glad he's dead, one more person I've outlived."
"Shame I didn't outlive him," Ellie huffs, sitting cross-legged in her chair, well, it was her chair until she died. And even in the afterlife it had remained her chair, she was almost always sitting in it and Carl never let anyone sit in it. Not even before he knew that Ellie was still here.
"He's dead," Prue breathed out, which means she didn't have to worry about him finding out about her. She looks at the television and the news anchor is talking about some stupid accomplishment that he did when he was alive, Prue doesn't listen to it.
Reginald Hargreeves was one of the biggest reasons she always chickened out of meeting her dad. If that man found out about her from her father and he learned that Prue had the same abilities as her father, it would have caused some pretty big changes to the timeline that she was certain the Handler would catch wind of. But, now that he's gone the possibility of her screwing with the timeline by talking to her dad had lowered significantly.
Nothing and no one was insignificant to the timeline but some scenarios and people raised less alarms than others. And her introducing herself to her father, Klaus Hargreeves, was fairly harmless. This she was certain of.
She knew, even at her age of only eleven ( almost twelve ) that Klaus wouldn't want her. He had a life of his own, he had problems that he needed to deal with, and he probably wouldn't want to disrupt it. It's not that she thinks Klaus would hate her but she knew he wouldn't take her in and she wouldn't ask him to, she just wanted him to know that she existed. She just wanted to meet him as her father.
Prue had followed him around before, never gathering the courage to approach him. She didn't want to mess with the timeline and also there were quite a few scary people hanging around him. Not all of them were scary or bad but there was one guy that gave her the creeps and she's not sure if he's dead or alive. Prue had never bothered to find out.
A simple visit to meet her father shouldn't catch the attention of the Handler. If she goes through with it that is. It should be fine now that Reginald Hargreeves is dead.
x
thank you for the venom
010101 scene break 010101
x
The funeral for Reginald Hargreeves was today and for some strange reason Prudence was so certain today should be the day she finally talks to Klaus.
"So, let me get this straight, you want to crash Reginald Hargreeves funeral to meet a man you're not even certain is your father," Carl says, hands on his hips as he stands by the heart-shaped waffle-maker making breakfast for the two of them. He gives her a judgmental look, his bushy mustache makes him look more intimidating than he actually is.
"When you say it like that, it sounds like a bad idea," Prue says meekly, pulling apart a waffle that had long since grown cold.
"No, I think it's a brilliant idea," Carl disagrees, "That bastard deserves to have his funeral crashed but how do you know that Klaus will be there."
He made a good point, she knew by the account of Vanya Hargreeves' book that Reginald Hargreeves was definitely not father of the year. She wasn't all that certain that Klaus would go to the funeral but she had to hope. She'd much rather crash a funeral to talk to him than approach him down one of those alleyways. He'd probably go just to get his inheritance, if Reginald Hargreeves was even nice enough to give them that.
"Reginald is loaded," Prue says, and Klaus needs money desperately. She doesn't want to judge him for the type of life he leads because that would be rude and she didn't know the half of it, so why judge.
"Right, of course, the junkie would need the money."
"Don't call them that," Prue says defensively, frowning and eyebrows furrowing together. She clenches onto her fork, she hated when Carl would say mean things about Klaus.
"Forgive me," Carl says dryly.
Prue rolls her green eyes and looks at Ellie who's standing by the coffee maker, giving her husband a warning look which he completely ignores because she's dead and he's got no idea she's in the room with them.
The small kitchen becomes tense, Prue goes back to eating her heart-shaped waffle, only more aggressively. There's silence save for the sound of utensils scraping on plates, after a few minutes of tense silence, Carl slides another plate of fresh heart-shaped waffles onto the table.
"Look," Carl says awkwardly, "I don't mean to be rude, it's just I know a lot of people like Klaus Hargreeves and all they do is let people down and I don't want you to get your hopes up."
Prue frowns, he probably does mean to be rude because that's just how Carl is but he's probably sorry for upsetting Prue, although he'd probably never admit it.
"I won't get my hopes up, I've seen what he's like," Prue says, pushing a piece of syrup-soaked waffle around on her plate, "He won't want me, he can't take care of me but he's not a bad person so don't treat him like one."
Carl's lips purse together, he obviously doesn't approve of Prue's decision but he can't force her not to go. He can't see this effecting the timeline, she should be safe and besides, she'd probably chicken out of talking to him at the last moment like she's done before.
"I'm not dumb, the Handler raised me better than that, a little too good to send one of the Commission clones after me," Prue tells him, venom filling her tone at the mention of the Handler.
"I know you're not dumb, kid," Carl says gruffly, but she wasn't smart enough to figure out the truth, "I just worry about you . . . It's not like I have anything better to do, kid."
"You could be doing literally anything else," Prue points out savagely, "You're a rich middle-aged man and the only reason you don't do anything is because you hate everyone and everything. I can handle myself, Carl, I've killed people before, I was in a war!"
"Oh, don't act so tough, kid, you cried when I killed that moth last week," Carl retorts.
Ellie looks between the two of them in disbelief.
"You killed Mothman," Prue exclaims indignantly.
"That was not Mothman, kid, not every moth is related to Mothman or a tiny version of Mothman," Carl says exasperatedly.
"They are if you just believe," Prue says
Carl gives her tired look then after a pause he says "At least wear something . . . Normal, as much as I'd love for dear ole Reggie to have the worst funeral in history, I'd love it more for you to blend in."
"My fashion sense is normal," Prue says defensively.
Carl stares at her "Aggressively eighties clothing is not normal, please don't wear Ellie's old clothes today. There's a black dress with a white collar somewhere in your closet, wear that. And please, Prue, try not —"
"To be seen by anyone until I'm sure that I want to meet him. I know. I've got this. I've totally got this, Carl."
x
thank you for the venom
010101 scene break 010101
x
Ben Hargreeves sees her first, she walks into the Umbrella Academy decked out in black the proper attire for the funeral taking place today but that's not why she's here. It can't be, she's not any of his siblings but he's seen her before, from the corner of his eye, in alleyways. He doesn't know why but he knows that she's here for Klaus. The girl can't be any older than fifteen, she has slightly curly hair and wide green eyes that scan everything she can see, Ben can hear her breathing loudly. Short, shaky breaths as she steps into the foyer of the large house, standing directly under the chandelier. Ben has never seen her this close up before, he thought she was older, perhaps one of Klaus' flings, but seeing her now, he knows the real reason why she's been following Klaus.
It's not hard to connect the dots, Ben Hargreeves has been telling Klaus that something like this would happen for years, with the way Klaus lives, Ben knew it would happen eventually. He didn't expect it to happen on today of all days, of course, he could be wrong and she could be a fan of the Umbrella Academy. But more than likely, she was Klaus' kid. Ben had seen her from afar a handful of times, always staying just outside of Klaus' sight, although Ben doubts that Klaus would have noticed her unless she talked to him but she never seemed to bring herself to approach him.
He moves closer to her, to get a better look at her. She looks a great deal like Klaus, curly hair a bit lighter than his and her eyes were green like his, and she had his nose. Ben's eyes widen, while he was always telling Klaus something like this would happen, it still sort of shocks him. Klaus has a kid. A tiny person just like him. He steps into the light, just an arms reach away from the child and then she does something that completely shocks him, she looks at him.
Not past him, locks eyes with him and she jumps slightly. Her eyes growing somehow wider than they already are. She was without a doubt, Klaus' child, she could see him, a ghost. He opens his mouth to speak but she beats him to it.
"Oh," She squeaks out, "Hello! Hi, um, sorry, I'm looking for Kl — kl — Klaus, uh, this was a bad idea, I'm so sorry, I'll leave!"
"You can," Ben pauses, "You can see me?"
"Yes, of course I can see you, why would I — why wouldn't I be able to see you," She spits out, her voice is raspy and she's struggling to breathe.
She can't tell that he's dead, He opens his mouth again but he doesn't speak, he can't figure out how to tell her that he's dead. What if she doesn't know that she can see ghosts.
The child reaches into her pocket and pulls out an inhaler, she doesn't use it right away. She holds her breath instead, there's an awkward silence before she exhales.
"I should go," she rushes out, her breathing still short but not as bad before. She turns on her heel to leave.
"Wait," Ben says, "Klaus is upstairs!"
She stops and turns around "How do — How do you know I'm looking — I'm here for Klaus."
"You just said you were," Ben says, "You should use that thing."
She looks wearily between him and the front door then she brings the inhaler to her lips.
"I'm Ben," He says, "I'm Klaus' brother."
When she puts down her inhaler she says "You're the dead one — sorry, that was blunt . . . I'm not good at telling the difference between the dead and the living, I — I'm Prudence Sinclair, er, Prue."
She's still nervous, he smiles at her but she doesn't return it.
"This was a bad idea — coming here, I mean. On today, of all days, it's selfish, really. I — I'm not sure what I was thinking, I'm sorry."
"It's alright," Ben assures her, "I know why you're here."
She raises a thin brow "You — do you?"
"You're Klaus' daughter, aren't you?"
She swallows thickly, she scuffs the toe of her converse against the linoleum floor "I think so."
"You think," Ben echoes, he's sure of it.
"Well, my mum isn't sure and it doesn't say he is on my birth certificate but it does in my file," She mumbles, "I have his powers, I can see ghosts and I can move things with my mind, and stuff like that."
"You look like him," Ben says, "You have his eyes and nose."
Prue smiles slightly "I do?"
Ben nods "I think he's upstairs somewhere, I can lead you to him."
Prue inhales sharply, this is her last chance to chicken out, she could just run away now. It's not like Ben could do much, he could tell Klaus but would Klaus care? Probably not. She can leave now and nothing bad would happen.
She nods her head, not particularly aware of doing so, she smiles uncertainly at her uncle or rather the ghost of her uncle.
"Sure, that would be nice."
Ben gives her a soft grin and starts leading the way, Prue remains frozen in place. This is happening too fast, what if the Commission catches wind of this, what if the Handler does and she sends the brothers after her or even worse, Cha-Cha and Hazel?
"Aren't you going to follow him," questions her own ghost, his voice filled with acid. Prue is so panicked that she doesn't even register that he's not yelling at her, cursing her out for murdering him despite not knowing what murder or death was at the time.
Prue nods, it takes all her strength to start following after Ben. This was going to be the worst decision of her entire life, wasn't it? Prue just prays to whatever higher being was out there that nobody from the Commission comes to kill her for good this time. She lied to Carl, she definitely doesn't have this.
end of episode
thank you for the venom, episode one
continue watching? ⇨
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
WORD COUNT: 3,123
HELLO! I hope y'all enjoyed the first chapter of this book! This book is part of an AU that I'm working on so far it's the only full length book I have planned outside of the sequels! But I have many one-shots about this series and the other ocs involved planned for the future!
This is a found family fic/oc centric fic, the main focus of the Thank You For The Venom trilogy is not romance, in fact there are only background ships such as Diego and Eudora & Hazel and Agnes & Klaus and Dave, also PAST Klaus & Fem!OC and and background Klaus & Fem!OC! And for season two Allison & Raymond, Sissy & Vanya. Prudence will not end up with anyone, BUT you do get enemies to friends between Prue and Number Five sooo like that's pretty cool, their relationship dynamic and how they progress from wanting to brutally kill each other, to brutally killing anyone who tries to kill the other is my absolute favourite thing and I'm so excited to share that with you lot!!
Also as I mentioned above, the Thank you for the Venom trilogy is heavily based off of the netflix show because I've never read the comics ( although I do want to because they look awesome! ) BUT I do know a few things about the comics that I've incorporated into this fanfic the best that I could like how Diego can breathe underwater ( he's the Kraken baby ) and the fact that Klaus has telekinesis ( the show has briefly hinted at it but I will probably put it on full blast because I love the whole idea of telekinesis ) and a few other things that I can't think of at the time of writing this note! ALSO Prue is lowkey based on Eleven from Stranger Things, like the fact that telekinesis is her main power which is one of the reason I almost picked Millie as her as the face claim for Prue but Malina ended up winning in the end because more resources and I think she looks more like Robert than Millie. Even though her powers/backstory ( sort of ) are based on Ell, she did inherit her powers from Klaus so my girl can also see ghosties!
For those interested here are the face claims for the OCs of this story! If you don't like having a face claim for the characters you read about feel free to completely ignore this list or imagine whoever you'd like! This list is mostly for me who LOVES having face claims for their OCs has it helps me imagine them and their story better, I just thought I'd share because I've had readers ask me for face claims in the past!
THE CAST OF THANK YOU FOR THE VENOM: SEASON ONE
Malina Weissman as Carrie "011" White
Winona Ryder as Ellen "Ellie" Davenport
David Harbour as Carl Davenport
Jesse Mei Li as Xiaolin Jenkins née Huang
Alexis Bledel as Donna Sinclair †
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I hope you're looking forward to reading more! Please follow or favourite this story if you've enjoyed it because I would really appreciate that AND if you could please let me know what you thought of it as your thoughts/feedback means a lot to me!
