Author's Note: A simple idea probably written eloquently and insightfully by someone else already, but here we are. Each chapter has a sibling.
Some of these may probably be a bit harsh, but they all take place a considerable amount of years after they've been separated and before they are reunited. I take the time in which they haven't had any contact adds bitterness and nostalgy in turns, feelings that in turn resurface and face reality when they do get together again in the show's time.
Disclaimer: I obviously do not own The Umbrella Academy.
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6 years ago
Luther roamed the empty mansion - well, it was hardly empty with Dad, Pogo and Mom each attending to their respective tasks, but they were all silent, and that was what apparently defined empty today. The lack of sound.
Five and Ben's silence hurt the most, even now. They were a void, heavy and painful, encapsulated in their abandoned but attended bedrooms - Mom still made sure everything was as it had been, frozen in time, as if in hopes some day any of them would return and needed to feel the sanctuary each of their rooms was, a special feeling of Home at home. Even though the odds of any of his siblings returning seemed fainter every day, the care Mom had in maintaining Five and Ben's bedrooms in particular despite the absolute certainity neither of them would return was particularly saddening.
Luther moved on through the hall past Diego's room - no sound of knifes cutting air, no occasional clattering or quiet hum of words. Before, he'd be listening to Vanya's violin by now, no matter if the door was shut tight or not. He had found, to his surprise, how that silence in particular had disturbed him after the first weeks without everyone living there, like the sudden absence of it had made him realize how much he had taken it for granted. That could be said for everyone of them, actually. But even before he passed by her bedroom, much less approach Allison's empty bedroom right beside his - and facing the particular pain that one brought - he gazed to Klaus' empty room.
It might be unfair as Number One to think it, but Luther had discovered the feeling had not changed throughout the years living in the not-so-empty mansion. He missed the sound, the liveliness each and every one brought to home, even if he knew Dad was so often fast disapproving of any excessive... well, liveliness. And yet, this one, this one bedroom and the brother he should miss in it, he didn't. He didn't miss Klaus' theatrics (and him ignoring Dad's disapproval) or occasional bursts of loud music (and him ignoring Dad's orders on the issue) or any of his blaberrish that could only be childish, annoying blatant cries for attention. He didn't miss the feeling of disappointment Dad would bestow the very sight of Klaus and that would in turn make Luther feel a second-handed sense of failure and embarrassment - feelings Klaus himself seemed be completely devoid of. If anything, they only prompted him to be, act and behave even worse.
Dad never blamed Luther on any of it, as a failure on his duty as leader to properly command the rest of them and demand the faintest form of compliance from Klaus, but Luther still felt the lingering sting of the responsability he had decided to hold on his shoulders. He had no idea what Klaus was up to, and admittedly, he did not have much interest. It'd only further annoy and humiliate Dad, and by extent, Luther, so it was a welcome silence.
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