Chapter Text
The first to leave voluntary was Klaus.
It was about a week after Ben’s death. It made the most sense; Ben and Klaus were practically inseparable. They did everything together; from pranking Luther or Allison (if they were feeling particularly brave) to messing with Father’s belongings, leaving him more furious and cold then he already was.
After Ben’s death, there was nothing left for Klaus. Vanya didn’t know exactly what time he left, but she knew that one day she went down to breakfast at exactly 6:00 am and Klaus’ empty seat was staring right back at her. Father didn’t mention Klaus’ disappearance, because Klaus wasn’t worth mentioning.
Then it was Allison. Vanya vaguely knew Allison dreamed of being a star. She used to tell Vanya that she was going to be on TV and in movies and in magazines. That she was going to be famous and loved and everyone’s eyes were going to be on her. That Father was going to be so jealous of Allison when she made it to Hollywood. Vanya didn’t doubt her; Allison had the ability to make people love her; figuratively and literally.
It was two weeks after Klaus’ left. Vanya caught Allison sneaking out the back door with two suitcases in her hand. Vanya didn’t stop her. The next day Father demanded Grace throw all of Allison’s remaining stuff in the trash.
Then it was Diego. Vanya never really talked to Diego. She loved Diego, like how she loved all her siblings, but she didn’t like talking to him. It seemed as though Diego never failed to mercilessly tease her about being ordinary. So she tried to steer clear away from him.
After Allison’s disappearance, Luther was a mess. She didn’t blame him; she still felt an aching pain in her heart whenever she thought about Five. Allison’s disappearance, however, seemed to ruin Luther and Diego’s already crumbling relationship. They never failed to argue with one another, even whenever Father punished them both severely. It seemed even his discipline couldn’t prevent them from hurling cruel words at one another.
Eventually, Diego couldn’t take one more minute of being with Luther and during their 16th birthday, Diego stormed out of the house while Father was away at a meeting. Vanya never knew how Father reacted or really Luther for that matter because the next day Vanya followed suit and quietly left the house.
She couldn’t stand being alone. She would prefer screaming over the painful silence. She would prefer harsh words rather than isolation. The only things Vanya took with her was a few clothes and her violin. All she needed was her violin.
After a while, there seemed to be some resemblance of normalcy in Vanya’s life. She got a job teaching children to play the violin and she was in an orchestra. She took her pills and felt tired and apathetic most days, but there was order. She had a schedule she followed and she could almost pretend that her childhood didn’t happen. That she didn’t have any siblings or an abusive father, or a robot mother.
Then Reginald Hargreeves died. And everything started to fall apart.
“Dad was a monster,” Diego muttered at the funeral, interrupting Pogo’s speech. He looked worn down and his brown eyes flashed with anger. Allison gave an annoyed sigh and Klaus laughed and Vanya stared at the ground, already knowing what’s going to happen.
“Really?” Luther demanded. He looked taller and bigger than the last time Vanya saw him. “You’re going to do this now?”
“Are we just going to pretend he wasn’t a piece of shit because the bastard’s dead?” Diego demanded. Vanya knew that tone in his voice. He was itching for a fight. “Luther, wake the fuck up. You realize he was a terrible human being right?”
“This is a funeral service, Diego,” Luther stressed. The quiet mood quickly turned sour and Vanya could practically feel the tension in the air. “We're not fighting during his funeral service. Now if we can just-”
“Why not?” Klaus drawled, lighting a cigarette. Vanya felt a pain twist in her heart staring at him. His eyes were bloodshot red and he was discreetly stumbling. He wasn’t even sober. What the hell happened all these years? “Why don’t we really talk about daddy dearest? Let all our feelings out in the open?”
“That doesn’t sound like a good idea,” Vanya softly said, ignoring the look Diego gave her.
“Vanya’s right,” Allison quickly agreed before Klaus could respond. “Can’t we just get this over with? I need to get back home.”
“To who? Your daughter?” Diego scoffed. “Aren’t you divorced?” Vanya snapped her head towards Allison’s direction. She gave him a dark glare and if looks could kill Diego would have joined Father and Ben.
“Diego!” Luther barked.
“Why are you always starting shit?” Allison snapped back, throwing her umbrella on the ground. It was if all the pent up rage everyone felt started to simmer to the air. Vanya saw Klaus sit down on the bench from the corner of her eye, a cigarette in his mouth clearly enjoying the show. “Are you that pathetic with your life you need to fuck with other people?”
“At least I worked hard to earn the life I got,” Diego said. “I never had to rumor anyone to get ahead. Tell me, Allison, how’s that A-list life treating you?”
“Enough!” Pogo interrupted. “I understand this is a difficult situation for all of you, but you're no longer 13. You’re adults and you need to act like it.”
“Are you kidding?” Allison snapped back, ignoring Pogo. She walked toward Diego and Diego started slowly walking towards her. The funeral was long forgotten. “You’re joking, right? How old are you? 11? I can't believe you're doing this now. Luther's right; of all fucking days. Diego- you're such an asshole.”
“Allison, enough,” Luther said firmly, getting between Allison and Diego.
“You don’t know anything,” Diego said coldly. “You never had to work a day in your life. You have such a strong power, one of the strongest in our family, and you use it for this? Attention? Are you really that obsessed with everyone’s eyes on you that you became a star so people would adore you? Was not being in the Umbrella Academy enough?”
“I worked my ass off to get where I am,” Allison snarled. “You could make all the snide little comments you want. You know nothing about my divorce. At least someone loved me, unliked Eudora. No one can ever love you.”
The moments those words left Allison’s lips, multiple things happened at once. Diego’s hands balled into fists and Luther held Diego back from punching Allison. Diego started screaming, but Vanya couldn’t hear over Pogo screaming and demanding them to stop. Grace stopped smiling and looked confused as Klaus laughed loudly at Allison screaming back at them. Vanya looked at the scene with a sense of dread and knew she shouldn’t have come back home. Shouldn’t have come back to her family. She needed to take her pills.
Suddenly there was a flash of blue and wind started blowing around the place. The yelling abruptly ended as Vanya turned to see a portal-like thing in the sky flashing a bright blue. Vanya froze as Klaus got up from the bench and slowly stepped away and Grace’s black dress moved frantically with the winds.
“Get back!” Diego yelled, grabbing Vanya and Grace's arms, pulling them away as the winds got more violent. Vanya felt her siblings huddle close as they could do nothing, but watch the portal get more and more erratic until suddenly a man fell from the portal.
The moment the man fell the portal randomly disappeared as if it was never there, to begin with. The winds stopped and there was no longer a flashing blue. The strange man immediately got up and scanned the area around him. He was wearing a blue suit and had a calculating look in his green eyes.
His eyes eventually landed on the Hargreaves siblings who stared at him back with mixed looks, some in awe while others in fear. His eyes landed on Vanya and Vanya felt a vague sense of deja vu. As if she’s seen this man before, even though she knew it couldn’t be possible.
“Who are you?” Luther demanded, taking the leadership role. The man cleaned the nonexistence dust off his suit and looked down at his body. He had a victorious smirk in his face.
“I told you the calculations were right Dolores,” the man spoke out loud to himself. He looked up at the Hargreeves with his smirk becoming downright vicious. He almost looked like a supervillain and Vanya felt sick.
“It’s me. Number Five.”