Number One (a UA fanfic)

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A/N to my Indonesian wattpad readers, I post my original story @suhaa_alhasnah it's all in Indonesian. Please read and follow me.

One thing always confuses Luther: why is he still in the Academy?

Diego has left. Allison has left. Klaus has left. Five is missing. Ben is dead. Vanya has left too. Everyone has left, so why is he still here? Why is he still loyal to he who won't even call him by his name? Who won't even bother to name him and all his siblings? Why is he still loyal to he who only uses him for what he's got?

A part of him told him to leave this shithole. Why should he even stay? There's so much in the world that he hasn't tried, he hasn't done. Doing repetitive things, even with the praise he gets, can only do so much to a person. Of course, Reginald praises him- he's the only member who stayed loyal.

Luther doubts if he should try to leave. What's at store for him? How will he fare? How will he survive? He needs to work to eat and true, he doesn't know how. He doesn't know how jobs work. He doesn't know how friends work. He doesn't know how living on his own work. He doesn't know how to function as a real living human being.

Strongest as he is, dead as he is. How can you be alive when you feel nothing? How can you feel alive when you don't actually have a name? How can you tell you're alive when you got no new stories to tell? How are you still alive when you're trapped? That's not going to be him anymore. He's going to truly live.

With certainty, Luther knows he needs to pack his things first. Jumpers, shirts, trousers, shoes, you name it- he got them all in his bags. He has superhuman strength, why should he feel troubled by carrying a few bags? Ben's dead body was a lot heavier, yet he can carry it with ease.

With one last longing glance at his childhood room, he finally turned around and closed it, no longer looking back. He's made up his mind- he will leave, therefore he will live. He can't keep on being a ghost anymore.

"Master Luther-" he turned his head to see Pogo with his cane. Luther always wonders- where does he come from? How can he be so intelligent? How can he actually speak and walk and think? Don't animals not do that? "Where are you going?"

"I'm leaving this house," Luther answers honestly. "I can't keep living as an undead anymore. I need to live somewhere beyond these walls. I need to actually be recognised as Luther, not Number One of the Academy."

"I wish you luck, Master Luther." Luther walked closer to the monkey and gave him a hug- a soft, genuine hug. A hug he had so long not given to anyone else, not even Allison.

"Thank you, Pogo," Luther mumbled as he departs from the hug. He grabbed his bags again and walk closer to Reginald's study. The old man himself was writing things on his study, and Luther felt a tug on his heart.

Should he really leave? Look at Reginald, truly lonely and tired. Luther can really see the wrinkles and lines that had been on his face, how close he needs to be to see his handwriting despite the fact that he wears a monocle already.

This alone raises so many questions in Luther's heart. How can he live so alone, so distant from society? What made him know that 43 children can hold powers impossible to the human mind? How can he isolate himself so far from the rest of humanity?

"Dad," Luther calls. "Can you hear me?"

"Speak, Number One."

The name Luther still hates. It reminded him that he's not exactly seen as a human being by Reginald. No, Reginald only sees him as an ornament that can come to use at times of need. Luther hates being unseen. Luther hates being alone. Luther hates being so invisible. That's going to change.

"I want to move out," Luther announced. Reginald dropped his pen, facing Luther for the first time since he got here.

"Why?"

"I want to really live," Luther explains. "I don't want to be an undead anymore. I want a life and I won't get it here."

"You're the best soldier-"

"I'm also a human too, Dad!" Luther snaps. "That's it, that's the problem! You don't see me as anything else but a soldier! You won't even call me by my name! You won't even name me- you had to ask Mum to name me, and Mum isn't even human! You're literally the only other human in this house I can come to contact and you won't even call me by my name."

"Very well, Number One." Reginald looks down, holding his pen. "Leave the Academy if you so wishes to. Leave this house if you must. Leave the place that had been your home for your life. The Academy will always haunt you."

At that moment, Luther glanced at the tattoo resting on his wrist. A black umbrella tattoo, forever there to remind him what he had been a part of- and he hates it. He hates the tattoo- just another way to show that he had only been a brand.

"I'll remove this tattoo," Luther announced. "This Academy will no longer haunt me. I will no longer be known as Number One of the Umbrella Academy. I will be known as Luther Hargreeves- as I should be. I will matter more than just because of powers."

"Very well, Number One," Reginald continued writing. "You're dismissed."

"I have a name," Luther spat before leaving the academy he had called home for years since he was a babe.

Only when he stepped outside does he realise that he doesn't actually have any place to go. Allison- no, she's getting divorced. Diego- no, he doesn't actually have a house, same with Klaus. Vanya- no, she hates his guts.

Where will he go?