I've decided to post this here because I haven't put anything new on here in a long time. I mainly post on A03 now but I'm going to post this here. The Umbrella Academy quickly become one of my favourite shows and I haven't enjoyed a show this much since I was younger. I'm going to post what I've wrote once a week what I've wrote so far and when I do catch up, I'll probably post the chapter a week after I've posted on Ao3.
1
Rumours
Allison Hargreeves had made plenty of mistakes in the past. Even when she had been a child under the watchful eye of Reginald Hargreeves her mistakes had been pointed out to her; how her rumours were supposed to be quick, how her wording needed to be different. And she didn't even want to think about special training. Then of course there had been the whole debacle with her marriage and that one mistake had cost her, her whole life. Was it any wonder that she kept making mistakes? Vanya; she had failed her by making a mistake. Perhaps the only mistake she hadn't made was marrying Ray. That was something she would never regret. However this might have been the biggest mistake she had ever made.
"Allison, where is the coffee maker?" Five growled as he blinked into the kitchen.
Allison looked up from the magazine she was reading to see the boy's school uniform except it was more rumpled than usual. His tie was crooked bent at an angle that looked like Five had tried to do it in his sleep. His blazer needed a good iron and his socks had started to roll down. However it was when she saw how his dark hair looked like it had been dragged through a bush and his eyes had bags that could rival Klaus's that concern overtook her.
"Maybe Mom took it to clean it? Should you really be drinking coffee right now? It's 11pm." She said as she closed the magazine. A picture of Patrick and Claire smiling, almost mocking her stared back from the cover.
Five scoffed.
"Yes and don't tell me what to do. I'm fifty eight." He shoved his hands into his pockets.
Allison sighed as she looked at the magazine cover. They had been back for over two weeks from the sixties, after stopping two apocalypses and she still hadn't been allowed to see Claire. She reached out and traced the picture, imagining would it be like to stroke her head and kiss her daughter. She wanted to let out a sob as sadness bubbled within her. Instead knowing that she had an audience, she covered her mouth and looked down at the floor.
The sound of warping came from behind her and she heard a delicate footstep.
"Still no word about when you can see her?" He asked, picking the magazine up and inspecting the picture. His voice was gentle, so unlike Five that Allison wanted to get a camera out and record him.
"No Patrick wants to take me to court because I missed one session." Allison muttered bitterly. If only her Father hadn't chosen to die, maybe she would have had the chance to see her daughter again. Sometimes she wondered if she could blame all the mistakes on her Father, the way he had treated her as if she was a doll that he could do anything he wanted with without reaping the consequences.
Five didn't say much, only a hmm vibrated from his lips. It was another moment before he stood up, sighed and before Allison could say anything else he was gone.
She slumped back into her seat listening to the hum of the fridge that was the only distinct sound in the large kitchen. There were shuffles from above, slight footsteps. One was probably Diego walking up and down, trying to figure out where Lila could have gone. The other might have been Klaus on his nightly wanderings of which sibling he could bother for the rest of the night. Allison listened to these sounds, the house that she had grown up felt alive. Lived in, like it should have done the first eighteen years of her life.
When they had all been kids, it had only been noisy when they were going on missions and training. Chaos filling through the halls as they got ready, their powers often upbringing the devastation that they caused. The rest of the time it had been silent, them confined to their room reflecting on their studies but of course only Five and Ben had really done that. The sound that Allison did remember breaking that silence had been Vanya's violin. The classical pieces flowing through the academy like the wake of a boat.
Allison got up from her seat and walked out of the kitchen to the lounge where she saw Luther's bulking figure sat on the couch, his mouth ploughing through a sandwich that was about as big as his head. He had been eating a lot she had noticed even when they had been in the sixties. She knew that he been in them only a year but he had picked up a bad habit of eating more than he should have been consuming. Part of her thought that had to be the way he was dealing with the trauma caused to him by their Father. It had taken him thirty years to realise what sort of man Reginald Hargreeves was.
Luther had started to take a large bite out of the bread, the lettuce spilling onto the floor when he took notice of Allison watching him. He almost spluttered his food out as he did and swallowed it quickly with a large gulp.
"You scared me." He said moving the sandwich down to his lap.
Allison laughed. Luther never failed to make her laugh, even back when they had been kids and she had been scared of their Father. Luther's jokes had always managed to pull her through.
"I think the sandwich would do a better of job of scaring you, why aren't you eating in the kitchen?" She asked.
They had been trying to eat regular meals together. They had only managed one last week which of course had been a disaster. Diego throwing a knife towards Five had of course been the frying pan into the fire and there had almost been a bloodbath if Luther hadn't stepped in. It had been something commission related, the two of them had wanted to out rival each other on who had the best knowledge of the Commission. Allison thought it was petty. Since then they had tried to have two more but Five had refused, locking himself in his room with a bottle of beer and a notebook.
"I heard you and Five talking in there. I didn't want to disturb him." Luther added sheepishly. His hands held tight onto the sandwich and the mayonnaise was beginning to leak out spilling onto his hands, staining his fingers white.
"Disturb him? Why?" Allison asked as she sat down next to him.
"We had an argument last night." Luther admitted.
Allison had returned late last night from visiting Vanya. They had spent the evening getting wine drunk. It had been a blurry mess but it had been something that Allison needed. She loved her brothers, she did but sometimes she needed female company. She wanted to form a bond with her sister, something that she should have done when they were kids and needed each other. It was the first right in which she needed to correct out of all her wrongs.
"About what?" Allison was intrigued to say the least.
Luther squeezed his sandwich even tighter leaving finger indentations on the bread.
"How it doesn't seem he wants to spend time with us. He's being an asshole." Luther muttered.
"Five is an asshole. There are no social skills to be found there." Allison said with an eyeroll. Although did any of them really have any social skills to begin with? Certainly not her. A tiny voice whispered at the back of her head.
Luther gave a small smile.
"I guess but wasn't the plan to try and be a family again? After every thing that's happened I thought he would at least care."
She placed her hand on his large shoulder, the fabric of his shirt felt grimy. She wanted to remove her hand but kept it there, comforting him.
"It's tough for all of us but are you going to sit here forever ignoring him?" She said with an eyebrow raise.
Luther considered her answer for a moment.
"Well I asked Klaus on what to do and he said to take the coffee maker to make him talk to us." Luther mumbled.
Allison wondered for a second if her brother's head was screwed on correctly.
"You asked Klaus. Klaus? For advice?" Allison's words couldn't hide her bafflement. Klaus was not the person you went to to solve arguments unless you wanted to get drunk or high.
"He was the only other person here at the time. I had no choice." Luther sighed.
However before Allison could even respond. Five appeared in front of them, space dissipating behind him. His eyes were locked onto Luther and Luther only.
"Where is it?" He growled. His voice cracked on the last word but that didn't seem to faze the boy.
Luther eyed him and then stood up, his colossal frame dwarfing the boy's haughty one.
"I'm not giving it back until you act like you actually give a shit about us." Luther threatened. His index finger pointed towards the boy.
Five looked like he wanted to tear Luther apart limb from limb. However he took a few careful steps towards him, straining his neck with his veins visible and pulsating.
"Luther. I'll only ask nicely one more time. Where the hell is it?" Five said through gritted teeth.
Allison knew that she shouldn't be afraid of a child, the boy barely looked fourteen but the fury and murder that she witnessed in his eyes scared her. Fear paralysed her to the spot. This was someone who knew how to murder, and how to get away with it.
"Fivey! It's here!" Klaus's voice trailed into the room.
All three of them turned to see Klaus stood in the entrance to the lounge. The coffee maker held above his head like a religious artefact. He was adorned in her leather skirt with a black tasselled crop top that she herself would have worn. And in true Klaus fashion he was shoeless.
Five blinked over to Klaus and took it out of his outstretched hands and then disappeared again to do god knows what.
Allison's legs felt like jelly and she wasn't even standing up. She lay back into the couch and looked at Luther. He was staring at what was left at his sandwich with what looked almost like guilt.
"Was that all really worth it?" She said with a huff. Her family were a disaster.
"Totally worth it! Fivey's a gremlin!" Klaus called as he headed back up the stairs.
Allison ignored him and looked back at Luther.
"No. Sorry Allison but can I just be alone right now?" Luther said without looking at her. It hurt. She wanted him to look at her. To make sure that he was okay.
"Okay." Allison whispered and stood up, heading back towards the kitchen and her lonely magazine.
God she needed to get drunk again. Properly drunk this time and not to give a shit about anything. She began to ransack the cupboards looking for any sort of alcohol she could find. She wanted to laugh, she felt like Klaus. This was how he dealt with his emotions wasn't it? It was a selfish thought but she had always thought she had been the most level headed when compared to the rest of the family but that was some sick fantasy. She was just as screwed in the head as the rest of her siblings.
It took her a good five minutes before she finally found a thirty year old wine bottled covered in a thick layer of dust. She cleaned it and found a bottle opener to open it up with. She half thought about getting a glass but was the point? She missed her child. She wanted her child. It hurt like she was a missing a limb. A stupid thought ran through her head, Five looked like a child why couldn't he act like one? With that final thought she opened the bottle and drank it dry.
The next thing Allison knew her head was throbbing, like it wanted to explode. She started to open her eyes and her vision was bleary. The table in front of her barely even a shape.
"You drank wine without me? Why wasn't I invited to the party?" Klaus's voice filled her ears and he was the last person she wanted to deal with right now.
Her vision cleared up enough for her to be able to make out Klaus sitting cross legged on the kitchen table. He was wearing yesterday's clothes and was inspecting the bottle of wine.
"There wasn't any party." Allison muttered clutching her throbbing head.
"Care to lament why you got drunk?" Klaus questioned as he placed the bottle back down on the table.
Allison didn't want to answer at first especially because she was not in the mood for another Scorpion and Frog story when her head was hurting.
"Does it matter?" She said as she got up from the chair. Her vision wavered a bit and she clutched onto the chair to give her a bit more balance. She was still a little bit drunk she realised.
"You look like shit," Klaus's voice chimed in but it was missing it's usual singsong.
"Allie, is something wrong?" He asked.
Klaus using her nickname? He was being serious. Everything was wrong she wanted to scream at her brother. She wanted her daughter beside her but she was halfway across the country with her sorry excuse of a ex-husband. She wanted Ray's loving embrace back, he was her backbone. He would know exactly what to say to console her, to help but who knew where he was? Part of her had thought about searching for him, to see if he was alive. She wanted to talk to him but she hadn't even done that. Maybe a coffee could clear her head and sober her up.
"I need a coffee." She muttered rubbing her temple.
"Good luck with that mon soeur. Five still has the coffee maker so you may have to ask him to use it." Klaus said with a shrug.
He leaned back onto the table and lay on it, beginning a conversation with someone else. Allison could only imagine it was Ben. She might have said hi if her head wasn't threatening to explode.
"Where is he?" She asked Klaus.
"Either his room or the lounge." Klaus answered passively before going back to his other conversation. Allison took a few tentative steps forward as she made her way to the lounge. She hoped that Five would be there and her prayers were answered as she saw him sitting on the couch. He was engrossed in his notebook, his eyes scouring over the equations or whatever they were at top speed. He didn't even notice her presence. She watched him and truly looked at him. He looked so young, down to the fluffy black hair and chubby cheeks of childhood. If she forgot for a second that he was really a grown up, he truly did look like a child.
She was reminded of Claire and almost let out another a sob. She wanted her baby back with her, by her side so that she could see her grow up. A thought crossed her drunken mind, Five was a child. What if he was really a child in mind and body? If she wasn't still clearly drunk and thinking straight, she would have never have done what happened next.
Five looked up at her.
"Allison-wha-,"
But it was already too late as the words left her lips.
"I heard a rumour that you were really thirteen."
The words floated towards him, passing through his hair. It was when his eyes turned white and Five's new reality set in was when she realised what she had done.
She gasped.
"Five! No I-," She covered her hands with her mouth.
The boy didn't reply, instead looking at his surroundings before a heart wrenching scream left his lips.