"I'm not mad."
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Cassandra Hargreeves- or Number Eight as her father always called her- was the eighth member of the Umbrella Academy. Despite having powers, she had spent her whole life on the sidelines. She had been trained to fight, of cours...
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Klaus stood there, his hands hovering above the photo frame on the wall. He smiled softly, the first genuine smile in years.
"Dave." He whispered, his voice barely a breath as he struggled to keep his breathing regular and his tears in his eyes. Before he could do anything more, he felt a firm hand grip his shoulder and spin him around.
"What are you doing here?" Klaus mumbled, half expecting it to have been someone else.
"I figured you'd want some help." Cassandra smiled softly at Klaus, "And I thought that should be from me, before Diego comes in here and causes a scene." Cassandra teased and Klaus laughed weakly
"Do you want to talk?" Cassandra asked softly. Klaus' face was completely blank, almost expressionless but Cassandra knew better than anyone how it felt to be completely numb.
"Hey, guys," some old guy at the bar sounded, "This bar, it's for vets only."
"Yeah, I know." Cassandra responded, pulling a face at Klaus at the nerve of some people.
"You want to leave then?" The man asked indignantly.
"Um, no." Cassandra retorted, turning her back on him to face Klaus and pull a comforting smile.
"Why's that, princess?" The man asked snidely. Cassandra's soft smile faded and was immediately replaced by a thin, indignant line. Her lips pursed and her eyes flared.
"You want to say that again?" She challenged as she stalked towards him, trying to make herself taller.
"You want to leave?" He said again, dropping the princess at the furious look on Cassandra's face. A wise choice.
"No." Cassandra affirmed again, "Because he is a vet."
"Yeah?" The man said, laughing in disbelief, "What did someone as young as him fight in, then? I don't know if you know but this is a bar for veterans of foreign war."
"Yeah I know." Cassandra said, slowly in a dumb voice like one would use to speak to a child, an ignorant child.
"So what'd he fight in, hmm? Looks too young to be Vietnam."
"Umm, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Pakistan, you want me to keep naming foreign wars after Vietnam or are we good?" Cassandra snapped, listing them on her fingers as she went.
"You got balls coming in here, pretending to be one of us."
"Are you talking to him for being a vet? Or me for 'having balls', being 'transgender'? Cause either way that's a low blow." Cassandra snapped. She could hear Klaus draw in a sharp breath and hold it as she stared down the man. A few others had started to get up and congregate around them.
"I have every right to be in here, just. Like. You. Asshole!" Klaus shouted from behind Cassandra. She beamed in pride. The man did not have the same response. He rolled up his shirt sleeves, real macho, and advanced. Cassandra put out a hand to stop him and he did.
