~ SHATTER ME ~

On the twelfth hour of the first day of October 1989, forty-three women around the world gave birth. This was unusual, only in the fact that none of these women had been pregnant when the day first began.

Sir Reginald Hargreeves, eccentric billionaire and adventurer, resolved to locate and adopt as many of the children as possible.

He initially got eight of them.

A ninth child was contractually surrendered to him five years later, the parents unable to handle her… unique abilities on their own, and the Umbrella Academy grew by one.

NUMBER FOUR

"Halyn"

LIFE HAD BEEN ANYTHING BUT NORMAL FOR HALYN ALBERTY, and her name was a testament to the special circumstances that surrounded her. It meant 'unique'- and she was certainly just that. There wasn't an air of doubt about her uniqueness, from the way she came into this world as an absolute surprise to her virgin mother, to the unique abilities that prompted her parents to ship her off to Sir Reginald Hargreeves in hope he- and his beloved Umbrella Academy- could help her gain some sort of control over them when she was but the young age of five.

The Umbrella Academy was then where she grew up, only seeing her parents on occasional weekends and holidays. While the other children- sans one- had come to see each other as siblings, Halyn lacked that familial bond, though she still cared deeply for them. They all shared a similar horrid upbringing, only being cared for by Sir Hargreeves because of their unique abilities- one's he exploited for his own fame and glory. That didn't mean Halyn didn't have fond memories at the academy, but this fondness had been tainted by fear and despair.

As it was at the academy that Halyn's life as she knew it was altered forever.

The world stared into the Umbrella Academy through binoculars pointedly controlled by Sir Hargreeves, and his unique children were idolized and adored by a mass public plagued by normalcy. The faux smiles the children wore in interviews and photo-shoots gave the world the idea their life was perfect- but it was anything but. Daily training sessions and emotional manipulation laid the foundations of their life, but the world was daft to this fact.

Sir Hargreeves was a narcissistic, controlling, and horrid old man and the Umbrella Academy did not deserve the pedestal it was sat upon.

Remnants of snow crunched under thick boots as Halyn strolled through a small forest that bordered the quaint home she shared with her family. The crisp March air was refreshing, and as she shoved her hands deeper into her jacket pockets, a true sense of peace washed over the girl for the first time in a long time. It had only been a few months since Halyn had returned, but she was still struggling to find a sense of normalcy in her life. With each evening stroll she took, however, her mind became clearer.

Upon waking up at the academy, Halyn had fled as soon as her disjointed body had allowed her to, returning to her family who welcomed her back with open arms and tears of joy. The Hargreeves she had known and cared for when she was younger had disbanded many years before her awakening, and the academy had been an empty shell of what it once was. With zero ties keeping Halyn there, the first chance she had gotten, she was gone.

And she had yet to look back.

A deep-sated bitterness sat cold in her chest at the thought of Sir Hargreeves and his beloved academy. Years of her life had been stolen from her, and there wasn't a way she could ever truly get them back. Her heart ached for her loss, but Halyn was trying her best to move on with her life. There was no way she was allowing the deranged, eccentric billionaire she despised so much control her life. Stewing on feelings of disparity and bitterness weren't going to do her any good.

Instead, in another attempt to clear her mind, Halyn drew in a deep breath of forest air. It cleared her lungs, allowing her chest to feel light and relaxed as she attempted to focus on the positives in life.

She was back with her true family.

Though they may have been the ones who gave her—loaned was a bit more accurate term, but that sounded harsh—to Sir Hargreeves in the first place, her mother had nothing but Halyn's best interest in mind. With uncontrollable abilities, she was a danger to herself and those around her. Despite her ill-feelings for him, Sir Hargreeves did help her gain control of her abilities, but he was also the catalyst to her demise.

"Halyn, Halyn, Halyn!"

A young voice flittered through the trees, and Halyn paused her walk. She turned around to greet the voice, a soft smile settling on her lips as her little nephew, Kai, barreled down the trail. His eyes were bright, a sharp contrast to the frown on his face, and when she spotted her mother following after the young boy, Halyn frowned.

Not liking the sinking feeling that settled in the pit of Halyn's stomach, she backtracked down the trail to meet up with her mother and nephew. Once near, Kai dove right into the girl's arms, and she caught the five-year-old with ease. Halyn settled him on her hip, ignoring the fact he was definitely too big to be carried like this, and made her way towards Win Alberty.

The aged features of her mother were downtrodden, and Halyn called out to her, voice soft, "Mamma, what's wrong?" Win reached out to grab her daughter's arm gently.

There was hesitation in her dark eyes, wrinkles creased deeply on her forehead, and the simple look sent another spike of panic shooting through Halyn. It wasn't often she saw her mother this distraught, and the look itself was frightening to see on Win's pretty features.

As she searched her daughter's eyes, Win sucked in a deep breath to steel herself to speak just four small words that had the power to shatter Halyn's already fragile life.

"Sir Hargreeves has died."

Update 2: I condensed some chapters so the flow was a bit better!

Update: Hey guys! I am SO sorry for how behind I am in this story. With season three recently coming out, my interest has been renewed. I love this story and Halyn a lot, so I'm hellbent on at LEAST finishing the first season. I have a lot of ideas- for this season and the rest. If you're seeing an update notification for this, thank you for your support, it really means a lot! The new chapter has ONE scene left, but the update rn is just me updating the prologue because I wasn't happy with some parts.

A/N: SnowWolf22 here with yet another fanfiction because I have no control! This time, a fanfic for my latest obsession, The Umbrella Academy! In case it's not obvious, this will be a Halyn/Five story because I'm a garbage can! But it's going to be slow-burn-

Five has also been aged up to 16, which is Halyn's age, and I'm playing with his mental age as well, but that will be revealed in a later chapter!

So I actually have all of the first episode written out, and that will encompass the first few chapters of this fic, as it turned into 73 pages and over 30k words! lmao

Important note: As you can see above, Halyn is Number Four! Five is still Five because, well, Five, and Klaus is Number Six, Ben is Number Seven, and Vanya is Number Eight. This story will also have a friend's OC in it, but her OC is Number Zero. Though you'll see her in coming chapters and throughout the story, my friend is writing her own fanfic with her OC- and Halyn will be in it- so the focus will not be on her OC- who's name is Juliet. Also, all credit for the cover image goes to my friend, and she is on dA under 'c0smical'!.

Please leave a review and tell me what ya'll think so far! This will be cross-posted on other platforms, so if you see it on Wattpad and FFnet, it's me!

Also, let me know how long of chapters you guys prefer! I write A LOT if you don't know my writing style, and my chapters tend to average between 10k and 15k words each, but I know some people have stated that's a bit long for them. Like I said, the first episode is 30k+ words and thought I have an idea of how I want to break it down, the first chapter will either be 7-8k words or 11k depending on how you guys feel!

See ya'll in the next chapter~

-SnowWolf22

P.s. just a friendly reminder if you've not watched the show, but there will be violence and cursing! There will be NO sexual themes because, ya know, Five and Halyn are minors (and also Aidan is a minor so gotta respect that!) and even if they're mentally adults- Halyn's sitch will be revealed in due time!- it's still icky to write anything more than soft romance between them.

We don't stan pedophilia in this house.