GHOST - Five Hargreeves X Umbrella Academy

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REWRITTEN.

Violet Hargreeves was a ghost haunted by a house that should have been a home. 

The eighth Hargreeves child, stuck physically at an age somewhere around seventeen, had been left by all of her siblings in the end. They had reached eighteen and escaped Sir Reginalds clutches as soon as they could; but for Violet there was only ever one option.

To stay.

Because where else could she go?

People would start to notice that she didn't age normally. Things would become difficult for her if she was recognised. To the media she was perhaps the most mysterious of the famous siblings given that they had never heard her utter a word - if she was uncomfortable being seen she would simply turn invisible. They knew next to nothing about her except for her abilities.

Well, for the most part.

-

When Violet Hargreeves hears of her father's death, she is disrupted by a gentle knock on her bedroom door that makes her jump out of bed, nervous, because everyone knows she likes to be left to herself.

She had peaked through a curtain of hair and the gap in the door and met the eyes of Grace, their solemn mother figure who had told her the sad news. All Violet had done was nod once and close the door softly as she left.

Although the thought made her feel like such a horrible person, she was glad that he was gone.

If she were to think of all of the memories she had with him, she might throw up. Not one of them was remotely positive. For years she had been used by their father to repeatedly heal and fix the others after training or missions or general mishaps.

And when she started showing signs of being autistic from a young age, he did his utmost to try and fix her. Make her more normal for his convenience. He would punish her for behaviours she couldn't control and only reward her when she was forced to do something that she struggled with until she was so overwhelmed she couldn't even cry. As she grew older she began to recognise the abuse for what it was, and realised that instead of treating her like a child, he was more treating her like a dog.

She was told to prioritise her siblings and anyone else before herself because she was least worth the effort. Reginald had abused her and punished her considerably more than the others for one reason: she didn't do as she was told.

Little Violet, who hated physical contact and the closeness of other poeple, was forced to fight her siblings during training - and if she refused, she would just get hurt - because she wouldn't fight back. She had to use physical contact to heal them, something that sickened her to the point of physically being sick. She had to be seen by the public and have her photograph taken and 'perform' with her siblings like they were nothing but a circus act, all for their fathers fame and benefit.

She was made to do things that, although simple to any other child, were not simple tasks in her brain. It made her panic so bad she couldn't breathe. It made her physically sick, wearing her down to the point she even fell ill more often then the others. It made her so uncomfortable that she would hide herself away in her room for hours, refusing to eat or speak for as long as she could get away with.

She 'needed to be a team player,' he'd said. Those words had been drilled into her mind since she was born.

Little Violet, who hated speaking, was forced to respond and talk and answer when spoken to. Most of the time she could not as the words physically weren't able to move past the lump in her throat, and she would be hit as a consequence. Her father claimed it was a method to teach her.

Violet needed to 'speak when spoken to.'

Growing up she had cried and screamed when people touched her; a simple brush of a shoulder in passing made her skin crawl and itch. This combined with the selective mutism made her a difficult child for Sir Reginald to fully control.

(She knew this.) And sometimes during her darker days she even blamed herself for that fact.

Violet had probably never spoken more than a word to some of her siblings.

Allison and Luther weren't very close with her at all, and she had never uttered a word to either of them. Sometimes he liked to blame her lack of communication for things going wrong during training or missions because he was a control freak at heart and Allison liked him too much to ever disagree. Besides, the two girls had nothing in common.

Diego was somewhat closer to her. He always kept an eye out to check if she was doing okay or not, and would often try to find out the reason so that she would be okay again. He didn't like seeing anyone upset. Not to mention when they were younger they shared speech therapy with Grace. (Though for Violet it was vastly unsuccessful as she didn't say her first word until she was six.)

She loved Klaus Hargreeves, she did. But he was a playfully touchy person who's excitement got a hold of him before he could properly think. He liked throwing his arm over her shoulder,  taking her hand to lead her somewhere and jumping into lazy hugs. It was for this reason she could never truly be comfortable around him despite him always meaning well.

Ben, she had loved with all her heart. He was the more understanding of the duo. Sometimes he used to read his books to her, unbothered by her silence or distance because to him her presence was all that was needed and he was one of the few who actually understood her.

Vanya had been the closest female friend she'd ever had. They had a lot in common. They were both quieter people and while Vanya was often left out, Violet was often treated the least fairly, so the two found solace in that fact. She also loved listening to her sisters music and could sit for hours by her door just to listen to her practice the violin.

And then there had been Five.

Five Hargreeves had been the only one to get truly close to Violet. They would talk, or he would and she would listen. She spoke in soft whispers or short murmurs compiled of a few words or one-word sentences, and he had never pushed her for more or belittled her for less. Five was patient and he liked Violet as she was. They would take the time to just be in eachothers company whether that meant sitting in the same room reading or sneaking onto the roof to talk so quietly only the stars could hear their secrets.

On a few occasions she had allowed him to touch her; menial things that would otherwise freak her out, but with him did not. (She had never quite figured out why, and pondering it left a fluttery feeling in her stomach.) She'd let their arms brush. If alone, maybe she'd rest her head on his shoulder. She'd even allow him to take her hand if she was feeling alright about it. Maybe they could link their arms while walking through the garden. After having nightmares or a difficult time Five would wait for her to initiate a hug; it was such a rare thing that he didn't want to force it for fear of losing her touch altogether. And he was intelligent enough to know what boundaries were, unlike some of the others.

The others all knew that Five Hargreeves had been different, that the relationship he had with her was different, that she was different and he was fine with that.

He was perhaps the only person in the world she felt like she could put all of her trust into blind. She knew him better than he knew himself and vice versa. Throughout their childhood, they had each other to make things that little bit better. He'd stick up for her when she needed a voice, and she would simply exist with him when neither of them felt like existing.

So on that fateful day when Five had left her, she had shattered like glass.