"Mum, dad where are you?"

The red haired girl screeched running through the burning building, fire and smoke surrounding her, her coppery red hair turning black with ash. She stopped to lean against a wall in a burst of coughs, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Mum, dad, please answer me..." She begged, gasping for air as she felt her consciousness slipping, she couldn't faint now she had to save her parents, she couldn't let them die. All of a sudden half of the ceiling came crashing down along with all the burning debris. Bryony attempted to dive out the way of the falling debris but it caught her, trapping her legs underneath it all.
She scratched at the ground trying to pull herself out but the last of her strength had been zapped away. All she could feel was numbness, there was no pain in her legs and the flames around her had begun to feel cold, almost freezing.

"Please..." She whispers as her vision begins to blur as she was no longer able to hold on, the last thing she heard was a loud scream and her name being called before she'd fainted.

"BRYONY!"

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Bryony laid on the bed, her hair and face were no longer blackened with ash, she was covered in wounds from the falling debris however there was not a single burn mark upon her body. In the corner next to the bed was a young boy, similar to her age sitting on a chair asleep, his curly dark hair covering most of his face as he leant back in his seat.

It wasn't long before Bryony finally awoke with a shock, screaming for her mother as she shot upwards from the bed, forgetting about the wounds that had been inflicted upon her by the debris.

"O-ouch!"

The boy had woken up with a shock as well due to the sound of her screaming, he'd bumped his head on the wall before standing up and adjusting to his surroundings again. He grunted and ran his fingers over the red mark on his head before turning to Bryony, who was now sat up staring at him in confusion.

"Why did you have to shout, I hurt my head because of you" the boy complained, once again rubbing the mark on his head.

"W-who are you and what are you doing here!?" Bryony asked, ignoring his question and lips trembling.

"What do you mean who am I, do you not recognise this emblem?" The boy questioned, pointing At the emblem on his blazer.

Bryony glanced at the emblem on his clothes, her eyes squinting as she wasn't quite adjusted to the lighting. The emblem was a badge shape, it had an umbrella, mask, skull and lightning bolt on it, all sectioned off. She tried thinking about whether she'd seen it or not but ended up shaking her head.

"I do not, so answer my question, who are you?"

The boy looked at her in disbelief before sighing and ruffling his hair with his hands, staring at her in thought before finally grinning slightly.

"Well I guess that's new, people usually know who we are" he mumbled to himself before pulling his chair closer to the bed and sitting on it back to front so he could face her and lean his arms on the back of it.

"I'm number four, but you can call me Klaus, and for where we are right now, well that would be in the umbrella academy of course" He said with a smug little grin on his face as he awaited her reply.

She screwed her eyebrows before sighing, "What on earth is the umbrella academy?"

Klaus frowned, scratching the back of his neck as he tried to think of what to tell her, "e-err well the umbrella academy is-

"What you will be attending from now on, number 8"

The colour in Klaus' face drained at the sound of the new voice, a small bead of sweat began to drip down his forehead as he slowly turned around to find an old man staring at him with a stern face.

"F-father"

"Number four I told you to come and get me as soon as she wakes up not to have an idle conversation!" the old man barked at the boy causing him to tremble in fear.

"Yes sir, sorry sir!" Klaus said back, watching out for what he had to say next.

The old man stood there watching him for a second before grunting, "What are you still doing here boy, get out I've got something to discuss with number 8 here I've no need of your foolishness in here" he snapped, thumping his walking stick down on the wooden floor boards. Both Klaus and Bryony jumped at the loud noise and she watched as the boy ran out of the room, he stopped to give her once last glance before disappearing out of sight just like the old man had told him to do.

The old man let out a sigh before turning to face bryony, his face still cold and stern as he walked towards her. "Now then Number 8 we have a lot to discuss"

Her lips parted as she wanted to speak but she was at a loss for words, she didn't know what to say nor could she say anything out of fear of the man. He didn't bother sitting on the chair next to the bed, instead he chose to stand over bryony, making her feel even smaller and more insignificant.

"Last night your house went up in flames am I right in saying so" He stated more than he asked, glancing down at bryony's wounds before looking back at her face.

She slowly nodded her head, biting her lips in attempt to hold back tears as she thought about the horrid event. She thought it'd had just been a nightmare, something like that couldn't have happened-but it did.

"Can you tell me how it started?"

Bryony's eyes widened at the question before she looked away, she couldn't bear to look into his eyes as she shook her head quickly. She couldn't tell him she thought to herself, it was impossible anyway.

"It wasn't of a natural occurrence, was it?" he said flatly, once again as if it were a known fact rather than a question.

Bryony froze, did he know? How could he know, no one knew. She gulped, clenching her fists into a ball causing the skin on her knuckles to go a ghostly white. Still unable to look at the old man she slowly nodded her head, there was no use of trying to hide it she thought, he clearly already knew something and this man would not take her lying to him kindly.

"What was it?"

"I-I can't"

"Tell me" he said to her sternly, leaning closer to the bed.

"I- I can't tell you!"

"You can't tell me, or is it because if you do then you'll no longer have an excuse"

This time Bryony did turn to him, excuse, what did he mean by an excuse...? Beads of sweat began to drip down her forehead and her legs began to cramp as if she needed to move, to get out of the room and away from him.

"What do you mean excuse?"

He chuckled darkly before finally sitting down on the chair, his cold eyes staring right through her as he leaned against his walking stick.

"You know exactly what I mean miss Williams"

She flinched at the way he said her name, it was the first time he called her something remotely related to her name but it didn't seem like he did it because he felt kind, rather it was as if he was ridiculing her instead.

"I-I" Her fingers began to tremble as sweat began to pour down the back of her neck; she was hot, almost boiling hot. She took a deep breath in attempt to calm herself down, licking her dried and cracking lips.

"Go on, tell me, tell me what you are"

Her heart rate increased and well as her breathing, it became shaky and quick, she could no longer calm herself down, a loud ringing sounded in her ears. It's happening again, it's happening she thought to herself before letting out a small whimper

"Please stop... I can't control it"

He grinned before saying loud and clear, "Murderer"

He watched as the colour of her amber coloured eyes changed to a deep blood red, her hair began to float into the air, flying around uncontrollable with an uncanny resemblance to fire. His grin widened as she let out a high pitch screech, all the windows of the room shattering. He stood up and took a step back, still studying her movements. She watched him take a step back, but it was too late she couldn't stop it, her vision had blurred and her hands were burning.

"Murderer"

The bookshelf standing around a metre away from him exploded into flames, pieces of wood all flying around the room. She screeched again, the bed now exploding into flames, pieces of it flying around the room in chaos. She lands on her feet with a thump, the flames surrounding her as if they were a shield.

"I told you to stop!" She screamed at him, her voice getting louder, causing the entire building to shake. The flames already in the room began to grow uncontrollably.

"Stop what; I'm simply stating that it is your fault that your parents are dead"

She let out one last ear piercing scream, any sanity she had before completely disappearing in a fit of rage. Everything around her begins to combust, bursting into flames, a blue flame. She walked towards him, blind with rage, her eyes glowing a bloody red. Her lips tremble before slowly turning upwards into a grin, her fist raised pointing towards him.

"I'm scared, stop me" She said through her grin, the fear could be heard in her voice but her actions betrayed this, she'd lost any control she'd had.

"Am I going to be your next victim, will you brutally murder me like you did them?"

She opened her lips and a monstrous noise came out causing the older man to fall the floor, clutching onto his walking stick, a grin still on his face.

"Die, Die, DIE" she began to open her hand, the blue flames start surrounding him, the air around him getting thin as his skin itself begins to burn as if it was already on fire.

"Now" The old man said not looking away from her, Bryony heard movement In the corner of the room so she looked up to find a bunch of teenagers in masks staring at her, avoiding her flames. A knife came flying at her head but she raised her hand to it in time, causing the knife to explode into blue flames before it disappears, its ashes falling to the floor.

"Now that certainly is something" Joked the curly haired boy from earlier, she looked at him for a second before turning back to the old man to find a blonde haired woman helping him move away from her, they were a distraction.

"NO!" She screeched, the same monstrous voice escaping her lips, causing them all to cover their ears in attempt to block out the noise.

Bryony pointed her hand at them both this time but before she could cause them anymore harm, one of the others boys appeared directly behind her through some type of portal.

"Now I think that's enough of that" He said before using the side of his hand to whack the back of her neck before she could retaliate, causing her to fall unconsciously. He caught her in his arms and sighed as the blue flames burning the room began to disappear. Bryony's body temperature had decreased dramatically causing her skin to feel cold to touch. The boy  looked at her and then at his burnt uniform and frowned.

"Four take her from me I need to go and change my uniform it's burnt, oh and grab a blanket she's rather cold"

"Yes boss" Klaus said saluting to five sarcastically before walking up to him and taking her into his arms. His eyes widen as her skin touches his.

"What do you mean cold she's bloody freezing" Klaus said with more panic than intended causing the others to chuckle at him. He glared at them before letting out a sigh and glancing down at the red head in his arms again, a small smirk appearing on his face.

"Well I guess welcome to the umbrella academy number eight"