Rain Institute

We Only See Each Other at Weddings and Funerals Pt1

30 Years Later

A young beautiful woman walked onto a stage, holding a brown violin in hand. She held the bow up to the violin and started to play. This is Vanya Hargreeves.

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Paparazzi on motorcycles are racing after a black Escalade with tinted windows, it continues to weave in and out of traffic. The SUV pulls into a driveway of Los Angeles's famed Chateau Marmont. The photographers abandon their bikes, rush to snap pictures of the woman stepping out of the Escalade. The dark skinned woman emerges, her eyes hidden behind dark glasses. Her name is Allison Hargreeves, perhaps one of the most famous people on Earth. Her bodyguards attempt to shield her from the lights and flashing cameras.

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It's a quiet suburban neighborhood. The back door has been broken and glass is everywhere. Through the living room window, we see a family, seated in the center of the room, bound and gagged. On the second story, masked intruders are ransacking the bedroom. It's a home invasion.

One of the home invaders makes his way down the hall, a shotgun held loosely in his grip. He's checking each room when a flick of motion catches his attention. He spins, gun raised...but there's nothing there. Just the darkened window. Slowly, he lowers the gun. Must have been his imagination.

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Lights flash and pulse as sweaty bodies rub against each other. The violin music blends seamlessly with the electronic music. In the VIP area, where a pale, emaciated man levitates in a mid-air lotus pose, is a man named Klaus Hargreeves.

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We are on the rocky surface called the moon. And we are not alone. A massive figure sits hunched atop one of the rocky bluffs, staring out across the desolate wasteland. The details are hard to make out: he's definitely wearing some sort of protective suit...but his body proportions are all wrong. The figure is gigantic, misshapen, grotesquely muscular. Luther. Perhaps the single loneliest man you've ever seen. A communication device on his side blinks to life. Luther scans the incoming message and his expression shifts to one of shock.

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The musician leaps into a feverish violin solo, the bow moving almost too fast to see.

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The home invasion is still in progress. One of the robbers standing over the helpless family. Behind him, a section of the darkness breaks free, glides closer. Taking on the proportions of a man, clad in a sleek combat suit and wearing a simple domino mask. The robber senses something, and starts to turn. But it's too late. The man disarms the intruder with brutal efficiency, shattering the man's elbow in the process, raining punches into his kidneys, before finally slamming him face-first through a glass coffee table. This is Diego Hargreeves, think Batman, minus the self-control.

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Allison sits at a table, surrounded by people but somehow still alone. Everyone else is laughing, drinking, enjoying being young and famous but Allison just stares straight ahead. One of her assistants leans in, whispers something in her ear. Frowning, Allison checks her phone. Her expression changes.

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A manager enters the VIP area and whispers something to Klaus, who is still levitating in mid-air. He thumps back to the ground, stunned.

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The violinist is still playing her heart out. As Vanya plays a note, the cell phone in her back pocket suddenly lights up, vibrating. Her concentration breaks; she plays the wrong note. The solo comes to a crashing halt. Vanya stands there, her face burning, knowing she just bombed the audition. Nevertheless, she manages a polite bow to the unseen judges watching from the balcony and leaves embarrassed.

. . .

The woman continues to hurry down the sidewalk, violin case in hand. Suddenly she stops short, staring at a storefront television . The screen shows a picture of a distinguished older man wearing a gleaming silver monocle. The news crawl reads 'Eccentric Billionaire and Founder of The Umbrella Academy Reginald Hargreeves dead at 63.' Vanya's heart drops and she struggles to speak.

"Dad."