She with The Flowers in Her Hair| Number Five

🌷CHAPTER 4: Inside The Academy🌷

Klaus woke up to someone shaking him, he hastily opened his eyes to see his brother Ben. "What the hell Ben." He snapped at the boy, pushing him back slightly, annoyed at him for interrupting the best sleep in his life. This made him remember what happened last night. Klaus's senses seemed to have heightened as the covers were thrown towards the smaller boy, completely covering him as he bolted out looking around aimlessly hoping to see the brunette from last night.

Number Six took off the blanket and begrudgingly placed it back on the bed before following his brother outside of the room. He watched him curiously as his head looked back and forth not looking at anything in particular, he neared his brother stopping his actions with a hand on his shoulder. "What are you doing Klaus?"  The taller boy only shook his head, entering his room. Her disappearance made him second guess her existence, he sat on his bed and noticed the small paper on his desk. 

A familiar flower lay on the piece of paper, the pink petals almost looked as inviting and warm as the person he suspected left it here. He took the paper that was underneath, reading the words written in perfect cursive 'Hope you had a good night's sleep, here's a flower to calm you down whenever you need it. One petal at a time Klaus! -Ellie' Oblivious to Ben's gaze, Klaus let a smile creep up on his lips, his fingers ghosting over the petals of the flower. He snapped out of his trance as he heard his brother cough. He rolled his dark eyes at the attempt to get his attention, standing up and shoving the other boy to the door. "I'll be right down Ben. Just let me change."  He said to him before slamming his door on his face.

~~~

Reginald was the type of person that ate to survive, not because he simply wanted to savor his food. During meal times he insisted that no one talk, they just eat as a record played in the background. Grace stood next to the table just observing them. The record played on, accompanied with cutlery scratching on the plates, the children left to their devices free to do anything as long as none of them utter a word. This was a daily occurrence before training began. After a quiet breakfast, the children would disperse, all going on with their lessons. And when the clock strikes one, the books and classrooms are replaced with weapons and fighting chambers. 

Number One and Number Two would be locked inside one of the chambers, rooms that are nearly indestructible as they were forced to battle each other. The first time they were called to do so, Luther pulled his punches a hundred dials down as to not hurt his own brother, Diego on the other hand saw to it that his knives would purposely miss, actions that made their father punish them both ruthlessly. The next time training came by, the two boys would beat each other black and blue, blood quickly not fazing either of them. 

Allison needn't practice her powers, but Reginald insisted that she train in combat in order for her to become up to par with her brothers. The young girl wasn't treated any differently because of her gender and was no stranger to bruises and cuts as well. Her rumors were not placed in the backburner as she knew exactly how and when to use it, to get whatever she wanted, even with her evil father.

No one of the children dreaded training more than Ben and Klaus. Although both adept in combat, their powers were probably the most unpredictable and the hardest to control. Ben held his head down as he followed their father into his own chamber, the room scattered with dummies as he was force to stand in the middle. He waited, standing still before his father boomed for him to use his power, the mere volume enough for him to cower. The boy sighed deeply pushing through as he felt the searing pain in his chest, blue ghostly tentacles erupting from him attacking the dummies around him. 

Reginald watched through the small glass window on the door as the dummies were completely annihilated, only opening the door when there weren't any more monsters in sight. He walked inside the chamber, standing firmly in front of his son that lay on his stomach breathing heavily. He didn't bother helping poor Ben up, he'd only stick his nose higher in the air waiting for the boy to take matters into his own hands. Ben breathed letting out a grunt before pushing himself on his hands and standing up tall. His father looked around before nodding at him quickly. "Well done Number Six." He uttered stoically no sign of emotion anywhere before walking out.

Klaus on the other hand didn't stay on the property during training time. Their father would leave the others for a while to deliver Klaus to his own chamber. Reginald took the boy to a mausoleum locking him up, to help the boy fight his fear of the dead that seemed to plague him all the time.  Klaus didn't like the dark to say the least, but couldn't do anything but let it engulf him as his father left him there for hours on end. He would sit there, arms folded onto his knees that were tucked to his chest, rocking back and forth while covering his ears as the voices called out to him, pestering him on and on. He closed his eyes willing time to go faster. 

As hours had passed Klaus felt like he was sitting there for years, his legs would ache dully and be numb when he'd try standing, his arms stinging from holding them up to his ears for too long. He shot up when he heard the heavy doors shift and move, a little light seeping through the crack, spitting out his father's stiff figure. "Welcome back to the land of the living Number Four."

"Can I go now?"  He asked, on his knees almost begging, his voice hoarse from the silent crying. 

" Have you overcome your fear of the dead?"  The young boy nodded his head, trying to convince the old man that he had, despite the tears that obviously dried on his chubby cheeks. "You must become the master of your own life Number Four, or it would become the master of you." "Please! I wanna go home!" Reginald planted his feet on the floor firmer, fixing his stance, absolutely hating the crack in the boy's voice as he pleaded. "Three more hours."  He said finally, closing the door once more, leaving young Klaus inside again, but this time screaming. He sat back down in his original position, not having the strength to fend off the voices, then he dug into his blazer's pocket feeling the flower tucked in a paper towel. He took it out with the paper that was folded neatly beside it. He read the note again, proceeding to pluck one of the petals, chewing on it savoring the sweet taste, and the calm washed over him, he sighed sitting calmly on the floor not even noticing the voices that whispered to him. 

Klaus would be returned home after the three hours were up, and be subjected to more training. All the Hargreeves children except for little Vanya stood at the bottom of a flight of stairs, out of their usual uniforms and decked in green suits. At the top of the stairs stood Reginald himself, writing in one of his journals, and with a turn of his head and a mere nod, signaling for the girl beside him to blow her whistle. Vanya watched from above as her siblings began racing up the stairs, bumping into each other, shoving and pushing to get first. She snickered as she saw Number Five blink in a blur of blue and end up in front of Luther who was previously the one in first place. The blonde boy scoffed trying to keep up " That's not fair! Five's cheating!" Diego complained, "He adapted." Shaking his head, he turned slightly to see that Number Five indeed won, a smug look on his face as his father patted his shoulder, earning a smile from Vanya and a scowl from the rest of the siblings that were panting beside him. 

The children looked at their father, expecting some sort of praise but was only met by his usual hard gaze that all made them lower their heads, watching his feet as he left them. It was one thing to grow up and another to grow up in the Umbrella Academy.