December 25, 2020

[number_five]

When Five had first arrived in Darrow, he'd been convinced that he was going to be stuck there alone. After all, he'd spent 45 years on his own, and it just seemed par for the course.

But then Klaus had shown up, and suddenly he had family again. Sure, it was Klaus, but despite his brother's many eccentricities, Five cares for him, and it's been good having a chance to catch up. There hadn't been a lot of time for that, scrambling to prevent one apocalypse after another.

And though Five has been floundering, trying to figure out what the hell happens to him next and what he's supposed to be doing with his life now, things have been okay. Even if he'd become convinced that it'd just be the two of them. This isn't a result of Five trying to time travel, this is something sending them all hurtling across dimensions; maybe the rest of them show up, but odds are, they don't.

Five had been trying to make his peace with it.

That is, until seventeen days ago, when Five found his sister in the street, asking if they'd managed to make it home. And five days ago, when his other sister had knocked on the door in the middle of the night.

Suddenly, there are four of them.

They're all in Darrow, but somehow, it feels like they're still scattered.

Truthfully, Five has had the idea for a while, but it's after Allison shows up that he really decides to put it into action. He's only gotten a peek at Darrow's underworld before now, heard whispers at some of the less reputable establishments he sometimes finds a way into. But it doesn't take long before he finds an in, and gets himself hired-- anonymously, of course-- taking out high value targets from rival gangs.

It's like Commission work, but easier. He takes on a job, gets the money, comes home late and hopes Klaus doesn't notice the blood on his collar.

He's not supposed to be doing this anymore, he doesn't enjoy it, it started to turn his stomach after he took the Handler's deal. But he needs a lot of money, he needs it fast, and... well, this is what he knows how to do. He's good at it; the Commission made sure of that.

So it doesn't take him long at all before he has enough money to put a down payment on a small building on the corner of Crescent and Gerard. Three floors, a basement, a decent amount of space, even if the rest of their siblings do eventually turn up.

The invitation might be a bit much, he knows, but his siblings do turn up at the right time. Five is standing out front, his hands in his pockets.

"This has been a shitty few months... few years, depending on your perspective," Five says, "I figured it was time for a change."

He pauses, looking back at the building, then back at his brother and sisters.

"It's ours, and you're welcome to stay here if you want, but don't feel obligated. And it's not the Umbrella Academy, but maybe it can be something else."

Everything still feels scatted, but maybe this will help. Maybe the pieces will finally start to come together again, after 45 years.

[Tag in, tag each other, tag Five]

Comments

[fifthbeatle]

Vanya swallows hard. Now that Allison is looking at her with her kind, keen eyes, she wants to retreat. Not because she is afraid, but because the fear of rejection that is almost as old as she is has sparked up in her center. How can she apologize for all of the things she's done? There just aren't words, and that's what gives her the courage to keep going. Her whole life has been an impossible task that has her apologizing for nothing at every turn. This one isn't nothing. This is one that deserves to be said.

"I--" Her heart bottoms out again. She sets her jaw and tries to get strength from the floor, but looking there makes her feel worse. Like a coward. That is something she knows now that she is not. Part of the reason she knows it has to do with this fiercely loyal woman that is constantly bettering herself.

"I owe you an apology," she starts, her hands feeling kind of heavy and useless at her sides. "Hundreds of apologies. I don't even know where to start.

"When I found out about... everything, I was so angry. And Leonard--Harold-- I'm nor making excuses. I--" She takes a breath and tries again. "I never got the chance to tell you that I don't blame you for what Dad made you do. I didn't know. And when, at the cabin... And after..." She can't even bring herself to say it. She just winces a little.

"For as long as I can remember, all that I wanted was for you guys to see me. You did. You were there for me and you were brave. And I almost killed you." Twice. It's hard to say, and Vanya finds that her eyes are welling. She had to, though. If she can't say it, she can't be better from it.

"I'm so, so sorry."

[nomorerumors]

Allison breathes in and out, folding her arms to help steady herself and to keep from reaching up to touch the scar at her throat. It's faint but still there, a slight ridge of raised tissue covered up by the red and green Christmas scarf she still has on.

Being thrown into Dallas mute and hurting had made things harder, but had also helped smooth Allison's way into the life she eventually built. After fully healing she'd stayed mute as self-punishment, maybe, but it had helped her learn not to use her powers and to move on.

She'd gotten Raymond and a life because of what Vanya did, and if that twisted dynamic didn't represent the Hargreeves to a fault, then she didn't know what did.

"Thank you," Allison says, because she knows the apology is important to Vanya, and she finds that it's important to her, as well. "I never blamed you for it, Vanya. I didn't hate you, even when you ran off. I hated Leonard for manipulating you. And dad, even more. But not you."

It's funny; for years, she swore she'd hated Vanya for her book, for what now seems like something so trivial.

[fifthbeatle]

In all of her ordinary years she never could have counted the number of times she wanted to hear her sister say these things. When she came back to New York for their Father's funeral - a fated thing, as it turns out - things were starting to go well. She remembers Allison standing in her apartment, telling her she loved it. Vanya had expected to see the tells of dishonesty, but she meant it. It's incredible that they've been through what they've been through and done the things they've done to each other and how the thing that sticks out most in Vanya's mind is the way her face looked the first time she saw Vanya in her own space. The way that she showed up when no one else would.

"Dad was the worst," Vanya commiserates, swiping at a couple tears that have overflowed unnoticed until the slid down her face.

"Leonard" was the worst too, but she's not ready to go there. Unpacking the lifetime of shit their father had done to her - to all of them - is going to keep her plenty busy. Eventually she will have to face it, but not now. Now is about Allison and their family and mending the things that were born and forged broken.

"Thank you," Vanya says. "Everything is really scary now. I promise I'm going to learn to control my powers. I don't want to hurt anyone anymore."

[nomorerumors]

Reginald was absolutely the worst, and Allison doesn't think there's a Hargreeves in the house that would disagree with that.

She smiles gently at Vanya, unsure she can even understand where her sister is coming from or what she's dealing with, but the least she can do is sympathize and help. Anything, to give Vanya the support she needs when Allison had never done so before. She has a lifetime to make up for.

"I can't even imagine," she admits, "what it's like. But we'll help you however we can. Who knows, maybe even someone else in this weird little city can. Klaus is dating a Jedi, anything is possible."

[fifthbeatle]

While Vanya's not totally sure what a Jedi is, it sounds bizarre (and vaguely familiar), so the point is made. The tension in Vanya is broken. She thought it was something they shared between them, but she's starting to think it was all in her head. Reality is a new thing to Vanya and she wants to learn to live in it. No matter what it takes. As long as no one is hurt and she is with her family. Five is finishing something this place started. He's giving them an honest shot at being a family. Equals.

God, she wishes the rest of their brothers could be here.

"Is it possible you'll help me decorate my room?" Vanya posits, lifting her shoulders a bit with a sweet little smile. "You saw my apartment. I need help."

[nomorerumors]

Allison can feel her own tension melt away when she sees Vanya relax, pleased that there's at least one thing they've addressed that needed to be touched on. They'll need longer talks to work through the whole host of issues between them, but for now it's good enough.

"Yes," Allison says with barely concealed joy and relief. "I'll help, absolutely. I'm sure Five can bankroll us for some decorating."

[fifthbeatle]

For some reason, that makes her laugh. Their brother, the thirteen-year-old middle-aged man must have a credit card that says FIVE HARGREEVES at the bottom under an off-brand Mastercard logo. Their tiny, angry brother who they thought was lost to them forever, who inhales coffee and exhales condescension is going to give them a decorating budget?

"I think we should look into other financing options," Vanya murmurs, unable to keep herself from grinning. "Or aim really low." That reminds her, though: "I saw a little second-hand store not far from here. Maybe we can check it out. You could tell me whether I look better with cool tones or warm tones or... if that's all just bullshit."