you said you were gonna grow up, then you were gonna come find me;
❛ DEATH TO JULIET ❜
❝ look where that hope got him ❞

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After Clara Blackwell died from an alleged brain tumor, Reginald adopted all of her children. But he made a point of separating the Umbrellas and the Blackwells. He wanted them to understand that they were still each other's competition.

So, the Blackwells still slept and ate at the Blackwell Academy with Pogo taking care of them. They were barely able to talk to the Umbrella Academy when they weren't fighting or training.

Which was why Rebecca had no idea how she even ended up spending most of her nights in the company of Number Five. Well, the Umbrella's Number Five.

He was snarky, arrogant and a know it all who was a little bit too cocky at times. At first, those were the things Rebecca hated about him because they were polar opposites. But the more nights they spent in the garden that separated the two academies, the more fond of him she became.

Five helped her see how different and alike their families were when he would often complain about something Reginald did. Yes, Reginald. The Hargreeves siblings rarely called him dad. That was the first difference between their families. Clara actually cared about them and treated them like her own children. She didn't just use them for their powers and made a robot raise them instead of her.

But Rebecca only discovered what kind of asshole Reginald actually was when he officially started training them when they were thirteen and Clara just died. He was treating them like literal animals. She remembered the way he had one-on-one training with every single one of them. She really wished she could forget how everything went down that night when it was her turn. That was the first Five showed his vulnerable side when she broke down in front of him.

After that, they would sit a little closer to each other when they were in the garden. They also got closer and closer every day. Their secret meetings started when they were twelve ... and lasted until they were fifteen. Until the night when Five announced he was going to ask Reginald if he could time travel.

"You can't time travel!" Rebecca exclaimed in disbelief, "You aren't ready yet. So many things could go wrong, Five."

Five scoffed and scratched the back of his neck, "God, Becca. You sound just like him."

"Well, maybe he isn't wrong about this." she shot back, surprising both of them by how stubborn she was being, "I don't want you to get hurt. I can't lose you too."

Those words made him stop pacing. His shoulders dropped and he turned to look at her with an unfamiliar soft look in his eyes. No one took Charles' death harder than she had. She was the one that actually felt it happening. She felt him slipping right through her fingers and felt the exact same pain that he felt.

"I"m not going to disappear forever." Five told her quietly, his voice uncharacteristically soothing. "I will be back before you know it. I can handle myself."

"Time isn't something you can play with."
Rebecca stated in a shaky voice, "If you change just one thing in the past, it can change everything."

Five offered her an arrogant smirk, "I'm the smartest person you know. What do you think that I'm going to do to mess up the timeline?"

"Yeah, well, you are also the most reckless." she shot back. She didn't even realize how close they were standing until she met his gaze.

Rebecca has never really been in love. She wasn't like Regina who was actively trying to get closer to Umbrella's Number Seven since they were little. And she definitely wasn't like Marcel who had the tendency to sneak out in order to go on dates with random girls. Rebecca was afraid of falling because she felt the pain of losing people one too many times.

But when she saw the softness in Five's eyes when he looked at her in the way he didn't look at anyone else, her heart melted a little bit. She was not really the one to take risks, yet the knowledge that something might happen to Five tomorrow was enough to have her fears to the side.

Slowly but surely, she placed one of her hands on his cheek. Five almost flinched back, not really used to the intimacy that came with physical contact, but he stayed put. She saw his eyebrows furrow a little but the fact that he didn't pull away gave her a confidence boost.

"Can I kiss you?" she whispered, feeling his breath hitch as she looked up at him for
reassurance.

"Please."

Rebecca didn't think twice about it before
connecting their lips together. The kiss was soft, gentle and a little bit unsure. But as far as first kisses went, she considered that one to be pretty perfect. One of Five's hands hesitantly settled on her waist while both of her hands were cupping his cheeks.

They pulled away and the garden was filled with nothing but the sound of crickets and their breathing. "Come find me as soon as everything is over." She whispered with a small nervous smile on her face. "And don't do anything that I wouldn't do."

Five chuckled as she nudged their noses together. "I'm not making any promises."

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The Blackwells were all pleasantly surprised when their afternoon training was canceled the day after. Rebecca was the only one that knew that it meant that something went wrong after Five confronted Reginald.

She spent the afternoon pacing around her room until Landon barged into her room. "You will not believe what happened!"

Rebecca's eyes were wide and curious as she blurted out, "What?"

"Four just told me that Five tried to get Reginald to let him time travel. And when
Reginald said no — because of course he did — Five said that he would do it anyway and just ran out of the house." Landon rambled, unaware of the way his sister's heart sank. "He hasn't been back for hours. Who knows where — sorry, when — he ended up. I am honestly not even that surprised to be ho-"

Landon cut himself off when he saw the tears in Rebecca's eyes. He knew that they were a little soft on each other but he never considered that they were that close. He mentally scolded himself for being so blunt and proceeded to wrap his arms around her shoulders so she could sob into his chest.

That was the first and last time that Rebecca allowed herself to fall in love.

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Rebecca was comfortably sitting on the couch in the Hargreeves' living room. There was a bottle of gin in her hand that she took small sips from as she stared at the portrait of Five opposite of her.

She would like to think that she stopped thinking about it. But no one ever really gets over their first love. Especially not when their face has haunted you for years.

Her brother, Marcel, was already sitting next to her. He arrived around noon which was only an hour after Annabeth who was currently catching up with Allison upstairs. Diego arrived at the Academy the first thing that morning and spent most of the day at the mini-bar, ignoring everyone. Luther came shortly after his brother and spent most of his time in Reginald's room.

The sound of the big entrance doors opening and two pairs of footsteps made Rebecca's ears perk up.

"This is so fucking weird." The sound of Landon's voice made Rebecca immediately slap Marcel's wrist to get his attention, before she was standing up from the couch to greet her brother and whoever was with him.

"Hey, mom." she heard Vanya say to the robot that was her mother figure her entire childhood. Number Seven was surprised when her mom ignored her and Rebecca stepped into the doorway of the living room.

Rebecca's eyebrows shot up in surprise and she awkwardly waved at her, "Oh... hey, Vanya."

"Hi." She greeted her with a strained smile on her face.

Landon, however, was much more enthusiastic than she was. He brushed past her and immediately scooped up his sister in a big hug. "Bexxie!"

All air was knocked out of her lungs as his much bigger body lifted hers from the ground and squeezed her so hard that she thought that her organs were going to explode. She yelped in surprise and made an attempt at hugging him back. "Hi."

When he pulled away, he gave her a warm smile ❪ one that was only reserved for three people ❫ before he looked over her shoulder and saw Marcel. The pair of brothers shared a firm hug but the reunion was broken by Allison's voice.

"Vanya?" the actress asked in disbelief, "You're actually here."

Vanya gave her sister a nervous look, "Hi, Allison."

"Hey, sis." Allison stood in front of her and surprised her by pulling her into a hug. Things have been particularly tense between Vanya and the rest of her siblings. She used to be the one left out through her entire childhood but their bond only got more tense when she wrote a book about her childhood and only spoke bad things about all of them.

Annabeth appeared on the stairs a few seconds later, with Diego right behind her. Her lips tugged into a smile at the sight of Landon and she immediately ran up to him to give him a tight hug.

Diego, on the other hand, was staring at Vanya with a scowl on his face. "What is she doing here? You don't belong here. Not after what you did."

Allison let out an annoyed sigh, "You're seriously gonna do this today?" He ignored her and turned on his heel to go back upstairs. "Way to dress for the occasion, by the way."

"At least I'm wearing black." Diego shot back but didn't look back.

"You know what? Maybe he is right." Vanya started quietly.

"Forget about him." Allison quickly shut her down, "I'm glad you're here."

"I'm glad that everyone is coming." Rebecca spoke up, her soothing voice cutting through the tension in the air like a knife, "Even under these occasions. Things were starting to get a little too dull here."

"It's a good thing I'm here then." Sharon spoke up from the doorway, surprising everyone with her presence.

Annabeth's face brightened at the sight of the sister that she was closest to. Over the years, she was the only one that she really kept in contact with despite her busy schedule.

Rebecca watched their reunion with a smile of content on her lips.

That house finally started to feel like home again.

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"How long has it been since Five disappeared?" Rebecca refused to acknowledge the conversation between Vanya and Pogo until those words left Vanya's lips.

She answered from her spot on the couch without looking away from Five's portrait, "Fifteen years, four months and fourteen days." She shrugged. "But who's counting?"

Pogo sighed, "Your father insisted that I keep track."

"You wanna know something stupid?" Vanya asked, looking at the back of Rebecca's head. "I always used to leave the lights on for him. I was scared that he would come back, it would be later, and the house would be dark and he wouldn't be able to find us so he would leave again. So, every night I would make a little snack and make sure all the lights were on."

Rebecca swallowed, her face falling. Vanya was aware of the relationship Five and Rebecca had. She made it clear that Five told her in the book that she wrote. All those years, Rebecca thought that she, Five and Landon were the only ones that knew.

"Oh, I remember your snacks." Pogo chuckled in amusement, "I'm pretty sure I stepped in half of those peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches." He sighed, "Your father always believed that Number Five was still out there somewhere. He never lost hope."

A part of Rebecca found it depressing that Five never got an actual name. His siblings only got named after he disappeared. He was always just a number.

"And look where that hope got him."

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Landon was not as familiar with the Umbrella Academy as Rebecca was. He did not spend his days exploring every corner of it and he only caught a few glimpses of the room that interested him the most when he and his siblings were training there.

Reginald's office.

When he walked inside, he definitely did not expect to see Klaus looking through his father's things.

"Klaus?" Landon spoke up, "When did you get here?"

Number Four jolted in surprise, the top of his head hitting the table above him and making him hiss in pain.

"Landon! Hi!" Klaus gave him a dopey smile as he stumbled to his feet.

Landon sensed the nerves radiating off of him and smirked to himself knowingly. "What are you doing here?"

It was no secret to their siblings that he and Klaus always spent a little too much time together. They always messed around during training despite Reginald scolding them and were attached to the hip in more ways than one. The fact that Landon was an empath made it easy for him to pick up on the feelings that Klaus had for him. Which is how they got into a relationship when they were around sixteen.

That relationship came crashing down when Klaus ran off and Landon started chasing his football dreams.

"I almost didn't recognize you." Klaus gasped and it did not take Landon long to realize that he was high. He also reeked of alcohol, which was something he realized when he got pulled into a hug. "How have you been?"

"I'm good." Landon said shortly and looked at the bracelet around his wrist, "You just got out of rehab?"

"No. No." He covered the bracelet with the sleeve of his jacket. "No. No. No. I'm done with all that." A sigh left his lips. "I just came down here to prove to myself that the old man was really gone. And he is! He's dead. Yeah! You know how I know? Because if he were alive, not one of us would be allowed to set foot in this room. He was always in here, our whole childhood, plotting his next torment, right?" Klaus sat down in the chair behind him. "Remember how he used to look at us? That scowl?" He pointed to Reginald's portrait above his head. "Thank Christ he's not our real father so we couldn't inherit those cold, dead eyes."

He widened his eyes dramatically and stuck his tongue out, making Landon snort out a laugh. He really missed that.

"You did?" Klaus asked, a small smirk making its way to his lips.

Landon's eyes widened comically. He didn't realise he said that out loud. His shoulders dropped in defeat and he shrugged before admitting, "I did."

"Get out of his chair." Luther's harsh voice rang through the air before Klaus got the change to respond.

"Oh, wow, Luther!" Klaus gasped as he got up, "Wow, you really filled out over the years, huh?"

"Klaus."

"Save the lecture!" he blurted out and grabbed Landon by the wrist, "We were already leaving."

Before the two managed to get out of the room, Luther grabbed him by the shoulder and ordered, "Drop it."

Klaus gasped, "Ex-squeeze me?"

"Do it. Now."

The two stared at each other for a few seconds before Klaus looked at Landon for help, but he merely raised an eyebrow and gave him a pointed look which made him sigh in defeat.

"All right. All right." He turned around to empty his pockets and drop the things he stole to the ground. "It's just an advance on our inheritance! That's all it is. No need to get your little panties in a bunch."

He dramatically walked out and the sight of Allison in the doorway left Landon no other choice but to follow him. He did not want to experience the uncomfortable tension between Allison and Luther.

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"Um, I guess we should get this started." Luther announced as he stood up from the sofa in the living room, finally breaking the five minutes of awkward silence.

The sound of heels clicking against the floor and another figure walking into the room made everyone turn to look at the doorway.

"Sorry I'm late." the blonde apologized with a beaming grin on her face.

"Regina." Annabeth sighed in clear distaste. "You're late. To a funeral."

Regina shrugged, her grin never faltering, "I had to find the right dress."

Marcel was the first to stand up and hug her which was not a surprise to anyone. Rebecca, always the peacemaker, followed him and waited until they pulled away from the hug to hug her sister too.

Regina was the only person who completely ghosted every single one of her siblings. Besides the occasional letter that she sent to Marcel who used to be her best friend, the others only saw her on tiny screens and heard her voice over the radio.

Landon gave her a short side hug while Annabeth and Sharon remained in thers spot on the couch, not bothering to pretend that they actually cared.

Vanya gave Regina a small smile, "It's good to see you."

For a second, the blonde's smile seemed a little more genuine. More soft. "You too, Vanya."

"As I was saying." Luther rudely interrupted the awkward reunion, "So, I figured that we could have a sort of memorial service in the courtyard at sundown."

"You want to do that today?" Rebecca asked with furrowed eyebrows. "I figured that we would plan everything today and have the funeral tomorrow."

"Some of us don't want to stay here longer than they have to." Diego huffed, keeping his eyes on the floor.

Annoyance flashed across Luther's face but he still nodded, "We could say a few words, just at dad's favorite spot."

"Dad had a favorite spot?" Allison could not help but ask.

Luther immediately nodded, "Yeah, you know, under the oak tree. We used to sit out there all the time. None of you ever did that?"

"Will there be refreshments?" Klaus asked, walking up to them with two glasses of alcohol in hand. "Tea? Scones? Cucumber sandwiches are always a winner."

"What? No." Luther scoffed, "And put that out. You know that dad didn't allow smoking in here."

Allison stared at Klaus in disbelief, but for an entirely different reason. "Is that my skirt?"

"What? Oh! Yeah, this." Klaus stuttered out, "I found it in your room. It's a little dated, I know, but it's very breathy on the bits."

Luther spoke up again, loudly this time. "Listen up. There's still some important things that we need to discuss, all right?"

Marcel gave him an uninterested look, "Like what?"

"Like the way he died?" Sharon suggested from her spot next to Annabeth on the couch.

Regina rolled her eyes, "And here we go. Number One at it with the dramatics again."

"I don't understand. I thought they said it was a heart attack." Venya said, confused.

"Because it was." Rebecca stated, equally confused. There were no signs of anyone breaking in and the death was completely normal based on the autopsy.

"According to the coroner." Luther said, giving her a pointed look.

"Well, wouldn't they know?"

He shrugged, "Theoretically."

Rebecca gave him a look of disbelief, "Theoretically?"

"I'm just saying." he defended himself, "At the very least, something happened. The last time that I talked to dad, he sounded strange."

"Oh." Klaus groaned, "Quelle surprise!"

"Strange how?" Allison asked, the only one believing Luther's conspiracy theories.

"He sounded on edge." He vaguely explained, "Told me I should be careful who to trust."

"To me, he sounded and looked perfectly fine yesterday morning." Rebecca chimed in, "He was just a paranoid guy. Everyone knows that."

Diego nodded and added, "He was starting to lose what was left of his marbles."

He got up to stand in front of Luther who frantically shook his head, "No. He must have known that something was going to happen." He looked down at Klaus, "Look, I know you don't like to do it, but I need you to talk to dad."

"Jesus." Rebecca rolled her eyes while the others simultaneously scoffed.

"I can't just call dad in the afterlife and be like; Dad, could you just stop playing tennis with Hitler for a moment and take a quick call?"

"Since when?" Luther glared at him, "That's your thing."

"I'm not in the right ... frame of mind."

"He's high." Landon filled in bluntly.

"Yeah!" Klaus grinned, almost proudly, "Yeah. I mean, how are you not, listening to this nonsense?"

"Well, sober up, this is important." Luther ordered. "Then there's the issue of the missing monocle."

Diego groaned, "Who gives a shit about a stupid monocle?"

"Exactly." Luther agreed. "It's pointless. So whoever took it, I think it was personal. Someone close to him." Rebecca definitely did not miss the way his eyes lingered on her. "Someone with a grudge."

"Where are you going with this?" Klaus asked in confusion.

"It's obvious." Regina said while glaring at Luther, "He thinks that one of us killed him."

Marcel ran his fingers through his hair, "If he is right then it could be any one of us. He tortured all of us so we all have a reason."

"How could you think that?" Vanya asked Luther in disbelief.

"Great job, Luther." Diego said sarcastically, "Way to lead."

"That's not what I'm saying."

"You're crazy, man." Klaus shook his head, "You're crazy. Crazy."

Luther watched as Diego left the room, Annabeth, Marcel and Sharon soon doing the same. His mouth fell open, "I'm not finished."

Klaus stood up and turned on his heel to follow them, "Sorry, I'm just going to go murder mom. I'll be right back."

"That's not what I was saying!"

Everyone was out of the room in a matter of seconds. Rebecca was the only one left on the couch, watching Luther stare at the doorway in defeat.

"You sure know how to clear out a room." She muttered sarcastically, receiving an annoyed look in return.

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After the Blackwell siblings left the very short meeting, they all made their way towards their own house. The atmosphere was instantly a lot brighter as everyone went to their old bedrooms.

Landon felt nostalgia when he stepped into his mother's old office to see Rebecca sitting at her table.

"It's been a hell of a day, right?" He commented, making her lift her gaze from her computer.

She nodded with a strained smile, "It's definitely the most interesting day I had since the last person I was mentoring left. I don't remember the last time that I was in a room with that many people."

The nostalgia was soon replaced with guilt and Landon couldn't help but look at his feet in shame. Leaving Rebecca behind was the hardest thing that he had to do. But if he hadn't, he would be holding himself back.

"You could always visit me in Spain."

"Someone has to stay here." Rebecca was quick to shoot his offer down, like she had done many times before. "I can't leave. It would mean that everything that mom built would be for nothing. I can't let that happen."

"I wish that we were all as selfless as you." Landon smiled fondly, "You have always been the best of us."

Rebecca instantly shook her head in disagreement, "No. No, that was Charles."

His smile turned sadder and he nodded. "I can't argue with that, sis."

Something like thunder was heard outside and Rebecca immediately snapped her head in the direction of the window to see a big ball of blue light in the garden that was separating the two Academies. She shot up to her feet and she and Landon quickly ran outside with the rest of their siblings.

The Hargreeves siblings came there at the same time they did and they were all staring at the light with wide shocked eyes and months agape.

"What is it?" Regina asked loudly.

Vanya grabbed her by the wrist and said, "Don't get too close."

"Yeah, no shit." Diego yelled back, not realizing that she wasn't even talking to him.

Rebecca squinted. "It looks like a temporal anomaly."

"Either that or a miniature black hole." Luther added, "One of the two."

"Thanks." Landon grimaced, "That is so comforting, Luther."

"Out of the way!" Klaus exclaimed, a fire extinguisher in his hand that he threw into the light without thinking.

Allison looked at him like he was crazy, "What is that gonna do?"

"I don't know! Do you have a better idea?" He shot back.

The light expanded for a second and let out a loud noise, making both families stumble back in surprise.

"Everyone get behind me." Luther said, grabbing Klaus by his forearm and dragging him behind him, before standing in front of all of them.

Diego stood next to him, "Yeah, get behind us."

Regina rolled her eyes, completely unamused by their hero complexes.

"I vote for running!" Klaus said, holding onto Landon's shoulder. "Come on!"

No one moved and a second later, a body went right through the ball of light and dropped on the ground in the middle of the garden.

The ball disappeared and they all took hesitant steps towards the person on the floor. Rebecca pushed Marcel and Landon aside so she could see better and felt like all air was knocked out of her lungs.

That wasn't possible.

In front of them stood Five. He looked like he had sixteen years ago. He looked just like he did the day he left.

Five stood up, stumbling a little in the process. He squinted at the people in front of him and his mouth fell open a little bit when his eyes landed on Rebecca.

"Does anyone else see little Number Five, or is that just me?" Klaus whispered under his breath.

Five looked down at his body, his eyes going wide.

"Shit."

"What the fuck?"

a/n: this chapter is way longer than I thought it was gonna be

rebecca and five are so "peter" by taylor swift coded oh my god