(Trigger warning: Child abuse).

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Unbeknownst to all of them, they had all actually met before. Though indirectly. 

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Luke had been there at their debut, laying on the ground next to his older brother who he had gone to the Bank with.

Staring up at them in awe.

Amazed that they were just like him.

Seeing them that day changed his life and assured him that there was absolutely nothing wrong with him. Assured him that his super speed didn't make him a freak.

He tried to follow them around after that whenever he got word that they were in the area, fighting crime. But usually his dad would find him and drag him back home, looking bitter and ground him for going near them.

His dad—one Officer Preston Quick—hated the Umbrella Academy with a passion for some reason.

One that young Luke could never figure out why.

And got livid whenever Luke even so much as glanced in their direction, which leading to many swear filled rants and unfair groundings that still haunt the red head to this day.

He practically got grounded more than Butters from South Park.

Yeah, he was that kid.

And it was fucking embarrassing.

But Luke was too young to do anything other than grin and bear it, rebelling in what little ways he could.

Like dressing up as them for Halloween every year after age 13.

Like somehow repeatedly getting posters of them that he kept hanging up on his walls even after his dad ripped them off the walls.

Like using his powers more freely and blatantly in front of his family.

He also rebelled by sneaking out even when bars where added to his window and via pulling pranks.

His favorite prank to do was sending girl's underwear and dildos to the police station in his dad's name. Because no matter how much or how badly it made his father yell at him, the look on his face would always be funny.

Though it didn't get rid of the longing feeling he whenever he saw the Academy in action.

He didn't think anything could ever get rid of that feeling.

He wasn't the only one who thought that way. 

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Darcy had found number 4 at the cemetery across the street not long after he'd been introduced to the world, talking to the ghosts.

And while she knew she shouldn't eavesdrop, she really couldn't help it because she had never really met anyone who was really like her.

Sure, she had met other people who claimed to be like her but they all turned out to be phonies. Unlike the boy in front of her, who was chatting idly with the children in the cemetery. Playing with them, none the wiser to her presence.

He came there often after that, never noticing her.

But stopped coming after they turned 16 much to Darcy's dismay.

She didn't figure out why that had happened until the next time she saw them on the news, and noticed that number 6-- the kraken-- was right next to Four yet no body asked him any questions. Almost as if they couldn't see him.

"Hey mom. Why isn't anyone asking number 6 a question?"

Her mother glanced up from her coffee, towards the TV and furrowed her brows slightly. "Because he's not with the rest of the team dear."

Darcy felt strangely heartbroken at that, though she didn't really know why.

Sure, he'd been one of her heroes but she'd never met him. So why did she feel so sad?

She wouldn't figure out until she was adult that it was because the whole situation was all wrong.

That she was sad because a 16 year old boy had died and been practically forgotten and that a kindred spirit had to deal with seeing his dead brother every day without being able to hug or high five or fist bump with him.

Which was a truly heart breaking thing, especially when it happened to someone you looked up to. When it happened to someone you had wanted to be at one point. To someone your age, someone who could have been a friend or even a brother.

So why did she still long to meet and be apart of them?

Even after they disappeared from the public's eye permanently?

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Haul, unlike the others, had been 15 when the Umbrella Academy had first debuted. Though he didn't know it since he was rarely allowed out of the attic.

On one of the few times he was allowed out of the house, he had actually been locked out of it in the middle of winter by his mother as punishment for fighting back against her.

And it was a cold winter.

So cold that his tears of pain were staring to freeze his face.

He had given up on begging his mother to let him back in at the 30 minute mark and left to look for shelter elsewhere.

Which was hard to find in the middle of winter, let alone in the blizzard he was in.

He eventually settled for underneath a tree, hugging it. Shivering, teeth chattering.

He knew he shouldn't fall asleep but he was so tired and cold, and just wanted to make time move forward. So he allowed himself to fall asleep, already at peace with the fact that he was probably not gonna wake up.

A couple of hours later, he awoke in a girl's arms. She had brown hair and her eyes were hidden behind a mask that did nothing to hide the fact that she was younger than him.

She was running her hand through his hair, holding him in her lap. And he felt warm.

"Are you an angel?" He asked delirious, too out of it to be embarrassed by what he was asking. Black dots started to cold his vision.

The girl giggled, still running her fingers through his blonde locks "no, silly. I'm apart of the Umbrella Academy."

Haul just blinked at her, confused.

"Oh. What's that?"

The last thing Haul saw before he passed out was the look of surprise on the girl's face.

And when he awoke the next morning to find her gone, thinking that maybe it had just been a dream, he was proven wrong by the blanket with an umbrella academy logo on it.

He still had that blanket and held onto the memory of that girl like it was a life preserver. Because to him, it was. A life preserver that reminded him that good people existed in the world.

Which was probably the only reason he was still alive.