𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐒, diego hargreeves

DO WE ONLY SEE EACH OTHER AT WEDDINGS?

AMBER HARGREEVES.                                                                                                                               present day.

"we were born within an hour of each other, our mothers said we could be sister and brother and they said that when we grew up we'd get married, and never split up, oh, we never did it, although I often thought of it"

SICK NOSTALGIA ENGULFS ME and I cannot fight back when I enter the academy. Everything looks the same as it did the day I left all those years ago, not even a speck of dust lies on the lamps, like they expected us to arrive here.

Thinking of it, I had to be the last person to arrive, since I found out about Reginald's passing on the news. I hadn't had contact with any of my siblings for years, not since I met Jeremy a few years ago and he got the idea in my head that they weren't worth it. I'd believed him for a long time, a very long time, but being back here, taking it all in, the memories flood back over me.

I think back to chasing Ben around the halls when he made a snarky comment, or letting Klaus borrow my lipstick because he was bored, gossiping with Luther. 

Truth be told, I haven't always lived at the academy. I was around twelve or thirteen years old when I was finally transferred to the academy. Nobody knew I had powers, I was just the weird kid who covered her ears and was told to be quiet. 

My parents hadn't been biological either, they'd found me at an adoption centre but were more than happy to give me up when they'd heard about the Umbrella Academy paying for children with powers. 

So I lived at the academy for the next few years, learning how to use my powers, getting to meet all of the other kids who had years of family experience with them already. I never really considered myself part of the family, and they didn't either. It's not to say that I didn't get along with most of them, because I did, it was just...different. I'd lived most of my life moving around and I wasn't sure how long I'd be staying at one place. That came true when I left the academy just after I turned seventeen.

The music in my headphones is blasting into my ears when I close the door behind myself, suddenly hyper-aware of my surroundings, coming to the realisation that everyone I'd grown up with was just beyond this hallway.

The grand staircase stares at me and beckons me to climb up, and so I do. I trace my hand across the banister as I climb up, step by step, clinging onto it just in case I fall off. My head is still spinning from when I fell earlier. From when I was pushed earlier, I remind myself. It was lucky I hadn't passed out yet, though I was seeing stars every second.

When I reach the top of the staircase, the house is deadly silent and I'm certain I could hear a pin if it were to be dropped. I continue moving through the hallways despite the silence, my footsteps echoing through the house as I turn the volume of music up slightly in my headphones, feeling paranoia creep over me.

I walk through the hallways with ease, remembering it like it was just yesterday I left, and I knew all the doors like the back of my hand, coming to a stop at my room, which was right next to Luther's room. 

A small smile sits on my face, a real, genuine smile. Something about turning the doorknob and walking into my room felt so nostalgic, like I was just a child again. I had truly missed being a child, but I had separated my childhood from the academy. It's hard to associate any memories about the academy with good feelings after the way my father treated all of us.

I don't close the door behind me, instead I walk forwards and drop my bag on my bed, turning around in slow circles a few times as I look around the room, taking it all in. My desk vanity is covered in old makeup products and loose hairbands, my bed is still made and my floor is still clear.