the mastermind [tua]

prologue III

Dallas, Texas
February 11, 1960

Klaus Hargreeves had arrived, marking the beginning of the end. She assumed. At that point, the girl didn't really have a clue of what was happening.

When it all started, Maeve remembered that preserving her disguise was the most important thing about the mission, albeit it meant lying to the Gussman family who had shown her nothing but kindness, acceptance and compassion. It was a good thing the assassin could turn off her emotions whenever she pleased.

Maeve also realized that she had no idea when Five Hargreeves would arrive in the Sixties. She had presumed it would be sometime in November of 1963 to assassinate JFK — respectively, to betray the Commission and leave for his idealistic ambition of saving the world — but given the circumstances of Klaus arriving in a timeline in which he definitely didn't belong, it wouldn't be much of a surprise if things were getting completely out of control.
Two years cannot be that long, right?

Wrong.
It was long; and every day, Maeve cursed her own impatience.

Dallas, Texas
1961

Allison Hargreeves. Or, in Elliott's words, "the second arrival. A black woman, curly hair, black attire. Looks scared and panicked. Got some kind of patch on her throat?... Interesting... So interesting."

By this time, the man had quit his job. His whole purpose was to figure out what was going on with the blue vortex spitting out strangely clothed and out of time looking people. To anyone from an outside perspective, it looked like he was absolutely loosing it.
He and Eleonore got into fights more frequently. And when that happened, Maeve was quick to leave them their privacy and practically fled outside.

Dallas, Texas
1962

Luther Hargreeves. Big guy, but seemingly weak and easily manipulated. Elliott and Maeve exchanged bewildered glances at the sight of the monstrosity of a man crying for "Allison" at the top of his lungs, only to be joined by a random homeless man who surely had no clue what was going on. It was a rather bizarre but equally amusing sight.

Now, it marked three months since Eleonore had left the two and moved back into her childhood home. She proposed that the girl could come with her more than once, but Maeve declined every time. It was a gracious offer, and in any other circumstance, Maeve would've begged to join the woman — a quiet, really quiet life on the countryside of Texas in the midst of nowhere? Hell yes.
But she had to focus, she had a mission to complete — and when she looked at Elliott's face slowly falling at the thought of Maeve leaving him too, her heart sank into her stomach.
For more than one reason, the girl decided to stay with the crazy man.

And they didn't mention it, but both of them knew one thing for certain; they had saved each other.
They were a team now — family, if you will.

Dallas, Texas
September 01, 1963

Diego Hargreeves. This man was definitely feeling the whole superhero vibe, she thought. Landing in a perfect pose — "like a ninja!" beamed Elliott— and instantly saving an old lady from getting her purse stolen. Also, he wore a dark spandex suit and too many knives to count.

The neighbors had started talking about the odd pair. Rumors were streaming through the city like a braided river, picking up every inconceivable new assumption and leading to the wildest speculations ever made.

People were crazy, but the team didn't care.
They were crazier.

Dallas, Texas
October 12, 1963

Viktor Hargreeves. Man, what were the odds that the only member of the squad that was of interest to Maeve arrived last. On the other side, she was never really lucky before and it seemed like fate held some grudges against the girl.
This one was wore the coolest clothing so far, as Maeve noted in her mind. Poor thing, fell out of the sky and immediately got hit by a car. Didn't die, though. Sadly, Elliott didn't get a picture of the car accident. "That would've been epic for our conspiracy wall," sighed the girl. Elliott left that without comment.

Elliott was gushing about the peculiar group of people every day over dinner. Maeve didn't mind, she was amused by his outlandish conspiracy theories and the wild, distant expression when he dreamed about taking down the government. It was one of the few times in which the sad glimmer in his eyes was barely noticeable. Most of the time, she looked at him and felt the pain of losing the love of his life. They never talked about it, but when Elliott would silently sniffle at his desk unaware of her presence, Maeve gently patted his back and asked him to take a break; and when he overslept again after pacing in the room for the entire night, the girl would cook his favorite breakfast and get fresh croissants from the bakery nearby.

Meanwhile, Elliott constantly resisted the urge to drown his sorrows in alcohol because he couldn't bear to come home drunk and possibly trigger Maeve's trauma of that day in the alley; and even though he felt the need to throw out all of Eleonore's belongings, he insisted that the girl would keep all the things that were left if she wanted.

It wasn't much, but they made it work.
And though it wasn't much, it was always more than enough for both.

Dallas, Texas
November 15, 1963

When the last — and most anticipated — member of the Umbrella Academy arrived, Maeve wasn't there.
Which was no surprise, given her complicated and frustrating relationship with the odds.

But there he was. Five Hargreeves.

That little shit.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ author's note ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Chapter 3 everybody!!!!! This is honestly just a little filler because only after Five arrives, everything goes downhill :) Maeve and Elliott are so precious together and I'm scared of having to write her reaction to his death. Well, until then we still have a lot of events happening (might even get too silly and include scenes that are not in the show but who knows) and I'm excited to start with the first real chapter apart from prologue!

I'm so glad that you exist 🤍 You make the world a better place!