Work Text
She was born on October 1, 1989. She and her brother were born to a woman who had not been pregnant the day before. She and her brother seemed healthy but they had low body temperatures. Both were also ghostly pale. It was quite understandable that everything was in chaos considering the woman was young. Due to her young age, the girl died in childbirth. When an old man came by and asked to buy both children, the parents of the now deceased mother quickly accepted. The problem was, the girl already with a tuft of red hair would not stop crying. She was wailing. It seemed that this newborn was mourning the loss of the mother she would never know. Only the presence of her brother calmed her somewhat. The brother, the oldest of the twins by 3 minutes was given the number 4. He was the fourth child Sir Reginald Hargreeves collected. He gave the little girl the number 4.5. Through the training Reginald Hargreeves put all eight of them through, their powers were discovered. Number One was super strong. His code name was to be Space boy. Number Two could throw with deadly accuracy and could hold his breath for almost an hour, Codename the Kraken. Number Three could influence anyone’s actions using a key phrase, “I heard a rumor…” Her code name was The Rumor. Four was able to commune with the dead, he could also levitate. He was called The Seance. Four and a half was able to either kill or heal with only a touch. Codename, Pestilence. Number Five could teleport, or as he liked to call it, spatial travel. He wanted to try to time travel too. His codename was The Boy. Number Six could summon tentacle-like creatures from his chest. His code name was to be The Horror. On the twelfth birthday of the eight children, they finally received real names. Mom chose this time. Number One became Luther meaning famous in war. Two was now Diego which meant Teaching. Three was Allison, meaning truth. Four became Klaus, for victorious. Four point five was now Anabiel, named for her wisdom and courage. Number Five refused a name. Number Six became Ben, meaning within. Number Seven was now called Vanya meaning gracious gift.The names fit all of them quite nicely. But none as well as Anabiel. Similar to the angel she was named after, she was not afraid to stop someone from being stupid. Especially her twin. Their training was done together. Klaus and Anabiel shared everything. There were no secrets. Not even when Klaus would come back from personal training, shaking and more pale than normal. She knew that she could do nothing to stop him from locking Klaus in the mausoleum for hours on end. But, damn, Anabiel wanted to sock him for it, wanted to scream at him, anything to make him stop. Instead, she took to comforting her twin, holding him close through his nightmares of the horrors he saw. He knew that she disapproved when he started drinking Hargreeves’ alcohol or rolling joints under the table. Yet, Anabiel still stuck around for him. When she wasn’t with Klaus, she was probably with Five and Ben, discussing trivial matters or with Vanya, watching her practice her violin. Five was a loner, everyone at the academy knew that. He seemed to only just barely tolerate Luther, Diego, and Allison. He seemed to like Vanya, but tended to only acknowledge her when it was convenient to him. Five put up with Klaus because he was Anabiel’s twin. “Ana, I want to time travel. Can you help me persuade Hargreeves to let me try?”“Five, I think you should perfect your spatial jumps first. Still, you can’t take others with you and can only travel to places you can see.”“I think you’re right. Will you help me?”“I’ll try but I have to get going, it's time for training.”The other five didn't understand why Ana spent time with Vanya, little number seven. They tried to bring it up once though. “Honestly Ana, she’s normal. She has no powers. Why do you care about her?”“Because Luther, she is still our sister. How would you feel if you were left out of every activity and ignored?” Anabiel turned and left with a smiling Vanya by her side.Vanya was finally acknowledged now, but just barely.^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The false cover of perfection that rested over the Academy was broken in June of 2003. Number Five could easily teleport with other people and for quite a long time. But, Hargreeves still denied his wish.“Father, I want to time travel.”“No”“I’m ready. I’ve improved my spatial jumps.”“Compared to time travel, your spatial travel is trivial.”“I’ll show you, I know I can do it.” Five looked at the others, the ones he grew up with. Anabiel gave him a disapproving look but he could see understanding in her eyes. The others were ignoring the conversation, preferring to focus on their dinner.Five ran out of the dining room, out of the large gates, never to be seen again.
It was exactly three years, two months and ten days after Five disappeared. It was a bright, sunny day. Anabiel’s mood the exact opposite. Something was going to happen today. It was going to be bad. It was meant to be a simple bank robbery. But, one of the robbers had snuck up behind Ben, somehow shooting the tentacles Ben had summoned. He quickly died from blood loss.No one except for Ana believed Klaus when he said that Ben was right beside him, talking and making sarcastic comments that only he could hear.The team was already distant after Five left, suddenly less sarcastic comments or witty remarks during missions or their free time. But now, Ben, little Ben, the sweetheart was gone. Diego left first, he had enrolled in the police academy, wanting to fight crime legally now. Allison was next, she flew to Los Angeles to become an actress. Soon after, Vanya left. Most of them had never seen her since. Anabiel though, kept in touch with her. Coming to her concerts whenever she could.Klaus though, he was thrown out. Hargreeves found him high as a kite, smashing some very valuable antiques. He had nowhere to go, Vanya let him stay with her for a while. Soon though, he was sent into rehab after almost overdosing. In 2009, Allison got married. The remaining five of them were flown to Los Angeles for two days. The only reason no one died was Anabiel’s calming presence. Anabiel had bought a nice apartment near Vanya’s but was not quite moved out of the Academy. No longer full of life as it once was. Still, though, it was home. She finally moved out in 2011. She was opening her own therapy office. She had already spent most of her life solving her family’s problems, so why not do that for others. Then, a few months after, Klaus had OD once again. She was his emergency contact. After he was cleared, she took him to her flat, waiting for him to sleep off the rest of the toxins he had been shoving into his body. “Klausy, bro, you gotta stop.”“Ana, you know why I do this.”“I do, but please be more careful.”“I’ll try but no promises.”“You better promise or I’ll put your sorry ass right back into rehab.”“Fine… I promise to be more careful.” She gave him a look and reached out her hand, sticking out the pinky finger. Klaus gave a small smile and hooked his pinky finger around hers.After some pizza ordered from downtown, they went to bed. Klaus was given the ‘most comfortable bed he had slept in years’. That worried Anabiel, what exactly had Klaus been doing since he left the Academy? She had a reputation for not asking intrusive questions but also keeping secrets. He would come to her soon enough. By the next morning, he was gone again. The guest bed was made and had a note in Klaus’ handwriting that said, Best sis,
I’ll try to stay out of trouble but you know our family…
Hope to see you soon.
Love you,
Your big brother.‘Yeah, I just hope it's under better circumstances.’
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The call came in at about noon on the twenty-fourth of March. “Oh..OH...ok. I will come as soon as I can.” The man who had raised her had died.She called Vanya next.“Hey, V, have you heard the news?”“Uh….yeah.”“Can you tell the others I should be there by dinnertime, I have a few more sessions today.”“Sure, I just hope we can handle a reunion after so many years.”“Me too. Bye, sis.”“Bye Ana. See you later.”__________________________“That was a great session, Mr. Jones. I believe we have made a lot of progress. I’ll see you next week.”“Thanks, Anabiel. I feel much better than I did when I first started these sessions.”He had recently lost his wife of 47 years. He had become depressed and had lost all motivation. Anabiel got into her car and drove to the manor. Something was happening. No one was in the house. An ominous blue glow was coming from the back yard. Dark clouds were quickly rolling in. She raced out there to find her five siblings staring at a weird portal looking thing. If she looked close enough, she could make out the outline of a person.Klaus ran past her, seeming to not notice her. He threw a fire extinguisher into the portal thing.“Everyone get behind me.” Woah! Luther got big!Something fell from the portal. It was moving. The six of them stepped back. “Does anyone else see little number Five?”“No, you’re not the only one.”Five looked down, examining himself, “shit.” Anabiel ran up to Five and smacked the side of his head, then hugged him.“Yeah, you disappeared for seventeen years. I wept for you.”“Ana, I’m sorry. I should have listened to you and the old man… It was longer for me though, about forty-five years”Five then stormed into the kitchen. “Where’d you go?” asked Diego.“The future, it's shit by the way.”“Called it” shouted Klaus. Ana saw yet another rehab bracelet on his wrist. Five saw a newspaper on the side of the table, “Guess I missed the funeral.”“We were waiting for Anabiel to get here so, we haven’t said our goodbyes yet”
It was still raining when the seven of them headed out to the courtyard with Hargreaves’ urn.Pogo asked, “Does anyone wish to speak? Very well...he was my master and friend. He leaves behind a complicated legacy.”“He was a monster that's what he was.”Luther clearly disagreed with that statement. After being reunited after so many years, their old arguments were uncovered. The age-old debate over their ‘father’. Diego and Luther started yelling at each other, pushing and shoving, soon it escalated to punches and kicks. Five sighed and turned around, muttering “I don’t have time for this”Klaus shouted, “Yeah! Fight! Hit him!”Vanya tried to stop the fight “Guys! Come on! Stop!”One punch, Diego dodged, only for it to his Ben’s statue. It fell off the podium and broke.Everyone froze. Klaus held his breath, glancing at the shade of Ben that always stood by him. If ghosts could cry, he definitely would be. Instead, he just had a disappointed look on his face. Anabiel ran towards the fallen statue. No one knew what to do, Ana was very close to Ben. “No.. Ben...not again.” Their hearts broke at the sound of their sister's broken whispers and sobs that wracked her body. Vanya stepped up to her and pulled her into a hug, trying to calm her sister.“Come on Ana. Let’s get you inside.”Anabiel cradled Ben’s head in her hands but placed it back on the podium. Furiously wiping the tears from her eyes, she stood and let Klaus and Vanya lead her to the kitchen. She was then given one of Vanya’s famous peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches. Anabiel just barely noticed Five in the kitchen with them. He was looking for coffee. “Seriously, there is not a single drop of coffee or any type of caffeine in this entire house. I’m going out to get some coffee.” With that, he disappeared.“Well, it seems he hasn’t changed much.”“Klaus, he was in the future. He grew up without us. It may not seem like it but he has changed.”
It was almost an hour later. Anabiel was in her room, reminiscing the years past when the house was so full of life. Vanya was in there with her. They were just enjoying the presence of each other.One second later, the comfortable silence was broken when Five popped in. He was bleeding. “Five, what the heck! Are you okay?”“Ana, just help me patch these up.”“I can do that while you tell me why a kid leaves for coffee and returns covered in blood.”“I’m not a kid. Besides, not all of it is mine.”“And your point is…?”“Fine, I’ll tell you...Theworldiseningineightdays.”“I’m sorry, what?”“The world is ending...in eight days.”Vanya stopped to exclaim, “Eight days!”>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.FLASHBACK (17 years ago) Capital West Bank“I heard a rumor..that you shot your friend in the foot.” the robber turned and did exactly that. Chaos ensued.Luther jumped in from the ceiling, grabbing hold of another guy and throwing him across the bank then out the window.Diego and Anabiel came in through a back door“Real men throw knives, guns are for sissies.” Diego took out another guy, two knives to the chest, killing him in seconds.“You know...One, the door was unlocked.” Anabiel hands were covered in a sickly green light. When one of the men tried to grab her, she used her hand to cover his face. He began to gasp. When she finally let go, he tried to claw at his face. He was turning pale, paler than her and Klaus, who was keeping an eye on the hostages. He was keeping them out of the chaos that was occurring around them. Finally, after about half a minute, the robber’s eyes rolled back into his head and he fell to the ground, dead.“Get away from me, Freaks!” the leader said, trying to be threatening.“Or what?” Five popped in behind him. The lead tried to shoot at him as he popped away and returned behind him. “Wow! That’s one badass stapler.” Five somehow replaced the guy’s gun with a stapler. Anabiel was checking over the hostages, hands now glowing in a soft yellow color, healing those that needed it. After making sure they were all safe, she told them to leave the building in a calm and orderly fashion. Needless to say, they all ran out like madmen.Now, it was Ben’s turn. “Do I have to do this?”“Yes, Ben, there are still some guys in there.”Ben turned and sighed, but entered the room nonetheless. Screams and unearthly screeches came from the room. People were thrown against the wall with bloody splats. The tinted windows of the room almost cracked from the sudden pressure against them. The creature gave one last roar and retreated, allowing Ben to leave the horrific scene.A bloody Ben shakily asked, “Can I go home now?”Anabiel came to his aid, not caring that he was getting blood on her. She healed what she could, cleaning him of most of the blood. “Almost, just stay by me.”“Ok, Ana. Thanks”The seven of them exited the bank from the main doors. The building was surrounded by police cars and news trucks. Together, they stood on the steps of the bank, in number order. Hargreeves’ was there in an instant, before any newscasters could begin to bombard them with questions.“I have adopted seven children who were born with special powers. This is the inaugural class of the Umbrella Academy.”_________________________________________“Maybe Klaus can summon him” There goes Luther, trying to please his dad even after his death.“I’m… not in the right frame of mind for that Boyo.”“Anabiel can help with that then.”“No, he’s high. Can’t you tell?” Said Diego spitefully.________________---“You know, if I was murdered, and if one of my sons adopted sons happened to be able to commune with the dead, I might think about, Oh… I don't know, I don't know manifesting! Do the whole big angry ghost lecture.”“Klaus you and I both know that it's not going to work.” He turned quickly from his spot next to the urn, knocking it over.“Ben! Buddy! You finally decided to leave your statue alone to visit little old me!”
__________________(Two weeks before the Umbrella Academy’s introduction to the world)“Today you will be doing collective training. You have precisely thirteen minutes to change into your uniforms and meet me at the main stairs.”“Yes, Sir Hargreeves.” came the reply from seven of the eight children.-------------“As much as you must strive for individual greatness, and strive you must, for it won't come to you of its own accord you must also remember that there is no individual stronger than the collective.”“Five cheated!“No, he adapted.”The race to the top was won by Five who simply teleported to the top, then came Luther, followed by Ben who used his small size and agility to weave through his siblings. Next came Diego, and Allison in a close tie. Klaus was in sixth place, not really wanting to participate. Lastly, was Anabiel. She wasn’t slow, quite the opposite. She had a long-standing grudge against Hargreeves. She was protesting his training in any way possible.The doorbell rang at about eleven o’clock. Grace calmly opened it and welcomed the unknown man inside. She rang a silver bell, signaling for the children to gather in the parlor room. Anabiel was first because she lost the training exercise. The tattoo was an Umbrella inside of a circle. Hargreeves claimed that is was a mark of pride. Ana knew differently. It was a brand. To tell them that they will always belong to him. As her tattoo was finished, she was ushered out of the was, Klaus was next. Grace offered her a damp towel to wipe her face and to clean her newly tattooed forearm but she refused. Using her power to heal it, hands glowing a soft yellow. After Klaus finished, she offered to heal it but he denied. Too busy watching Allison with worry filled eyes. She tried to hide her pain but soon, she was crying. The moment the tattoo artist finished, she ran into Klaus’ arms, sobbing. Anabiel gently took Alison's arm and healed it, wishing that she could heal emotional scars too. Diego would definitely have Trypanophobia for the rest of his life. Ben, sweet, little, Ben shook the whole time. He never wanted this. He gratefully took Ana’s offer of healing. Luther took the pain, trying to hide it, to show off his absence of fear to his siblings. Five just sat in the seat, watching the man as he worked. It seemed that Five didn’t mind the pain.