Free Falling | [THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY]

prologue

On the twelfth hour of October 1st, 1989, forty-three women around the world gave birth.

This was extremely odd, seeing as none of the women had been pregnant when the day began.

The eccentric, yet reclusive billionaire Sir Reginald Hargreeves attempted to adopt all forty-three children for testing purposes. He got ten of them.

Number One, Luther, was gifted with the ability of super strength.

Number Two, Diego, was able to perfectly throw blades at any target he wished to hit.

Number Three, Allison, could make you do anything she wanted by simply saying "I heard a rumor...".

Number Four, Klaus, could speak to the dead.

Number Five could do spatial jumps and had the ability to travel through time.

Number Six, Ben, was able to release tentacles from under his skin.

Number Seven, Vanya, was ordinary.

Number Eight, Jinx, was able to generate fire from his hands.

Number Nine, Jill, was an empath.

And finally, Number Ten, Joy, was able to glamour herself into any person by instigating physical contact.

Together, the ten children grew up learning to use their powers against criminals.

All except Number Seven, who was usually left out due to supposedly not possessing any special abilities, making her useless in the eyes of her adoptive father.

Number Eight, Nine, and Ten were considered the least valuable of the Academy so they were usually chosen last for any missions, if at all.

Their brother Number Five was allowed to experiment with his powers on them as they were mostly expendable, according to their father.

Reginald was ready to sacrifice them should anything go awry. And one day, that it did. The three of them were sent back in time and no one heard from them again for a whole year. This would be the first incident that threw the remaining Hargreeves siblings for a loop. A stark reminder that their powers did not, in fact, make them invincible. No matter how strong they were.

The second reminder came when, not long after Eight, Nine, and Ten, Five disappeared for eighteen years after a temper tantrum at the dinner table led him to try and prove to his father that his powers were fully developed enough to travel through time unscathed. They weren't.

A grueling year went by for the other six Hargreeves siblings still left in the house. Every day they spent wondering if they would ever see their siblings again, while their father would tell them to forget about them and move on. After all, they were meant to keep the City safe. There was no time to mourn.

Imagine everyone's surprise when, a year later, Eight, Nine, and Ten showed up at the front entrance of the house for the next three years, one after another. Only, to Reginald's chagrin, they didn't show up as thirteen-year-olds as everyone had hoped. They were babies once again.

First, Number Eight arrived. He remained nameless for a while until he learned how to walk and the children's adoptive mother Grace quickly figured out he was rather clumsy and unlucky, prompting her to name Number Eight Jinx.

Number Nine showed up a year after her brother. Grace named her Jillian, after a darling girl from the neighborhood she had once known, or so she was programmed to say.

And finally, two years after her brother and sister, Number Ten showed up. Grace named her Joy, in honor of the girl's joyful demeanor.

Growing up alongside their teenage siblings was tough. They were now considered even less useful to Reginald, causing them to stick closer together than ever before.

So when their siblings moved out one by one after their brother Ben died it was both an easier and harder living for them.

Finally, they were considered good enough to send out into the City and go on missions, seeing a world they hadn't been allowed to wander into previously and had only caught glances of when sneaking out to go exploring.

Joy especially would use this newfound freedom to the fullest extent. Suddenly, there were boys at her feet, begging to go out with her. Girls from the neighborhood wanted to befriend her. News outlets begging for interviews. It was a whole new world for the girl who had spent her whole life in the shadows of her now older siblings.

And yet, Joy only ever had eyes for one special boy.

Aiden Calloway was a golden retriever in human form. A kid from a rich family, who never let the money get to his head, going so far as to rather live in his van than at home in his cushy bedroom, donating all of the allowances he got to good causes.

He was the exact match for Joy. And when he got his girlfriend pregnant by accident and found out her father wanted to experiment on the baby, he immediately let her live with him. Finally, Joy was on her own, and yet, life would take more drastic turns.

Once each of the so-called "Three J's" moved out, each of them would try to find their own way while remaining in contact with each other.

Jinx would find his way into college, studying to become a social worker in order to give kids like him a better home.

Jill would also try to find her way in college, but ultimately realize it wasn't for her, and settle for a pizza delivery job while living in the back of a boxing gym with her brother Diego.

Joy would go on to work hard to become a professional ballet dancer. She never became as famous as her sisters Allison and Vanya, but she had built a reputation for herself that served her just fine. The only thing that would throw her for a loop once more was the greatest loss she had ever experienced.