'NOW WE'RE TALKING ABOUT MURDER. DAD ALWAYS PICKS THE FUN ONES.'
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↛ 𓅫 ↚

"SO YOU'RE TELLING ME that you think you're developing a new power?"

"I mean, that's what it looks to me and Sloane."

After Fei had caught on to Sloane's vague comments, she immediately pulled you aside and demanded to know what was going on. She told you that if their youngest sibling was going through something, they should be dealing with it as a family, not hiding it until the problem goes away or keeping it from everyone else.

"Fei," you whined, "I'm not even the youngest. We were literally all born at the same time. That's our thing. And I'm not hiding my problem. I was gonna tell everyone eventually. I just wanted to wait until after we handled the Umbrella Academy. That's our number one right now." She just sighed and grabbed your hand and Sloane's.

"The team is important, more than our battles. If you don't want to tell everyone now, at least tell me what's wrong," Fei pushed. She was now walking towards your room, dragging you and Sloane with her. "It would only be a matter of time until I found out. I quite literally have eyes and ears everywhere. A little difficult to keep things from me. It can't be that bad, right?"

Now, you're sitting on your bed in between Sloane and Fei as you retell the story of what happened with the first sneeze. The disappearance of Abe, and more importantly the death of your baby's breath. Sloane helps describe what happened during the second sneeze.

"My vision was blacked out again, but this time Sloane was next to me and she experienced the new stuff," you explained, urging Sloane to speak.

She began by describing how you looked. "Yeah, her eyes went completely black, and her skin got really cold. Like, colder than snow. It felt like I could get freezer burn from it. Then the room got cold too."

"So her powers are ice related? Temperature maybe?" Fei questioned.

"Not exactly," Sloane continued. "The cold was more like a side affect from the actual powers. It stayed cold for a bit, but then something else weird happened. The shadows in this room started," she paused, searching for the right word, "shifting. Moving, changing. They looked hazy, and they were all pointing towards (Y/N)."

Fei shifted her body to face you more. "And how did you stop it?" She asked.

"Well, as stupid as it sounds, I just thought of warm things. Like happy thoughts to help me fly. Everything went back to normal. No more cold, no more weird shadows, I even felt a little warmer when I could see again."

"Oh!" Sloane exclaimed. "Those peonies," she pointed to the pot on the shelf, "looked like they were dying when the light came back. It's like
(Y/N) sucked the soul out of them or something."

Fei seemed even more confused than she did before, now knowing the same full scope of the powers as you did. "So this ability affects temperature, shadows, and living things?"

"Yeah, apparently. I guess the soul-sucking ties in to the necromancer abilities," you shrug, realizing the connection between the two. "My powers already deal with loss. Killing things and raising the dead. Seems pretty on brand."

"Have you tried experimenting with them yet?" Fei asks. "Maybe see if you can summon them without it seeming like you have horrible allergies."

You laugh at the question. "Fei, I just discovered the powers today. Plus, I don't think it's the best time to start fucking around with abilities. The Umbrella Academy is still out there, and Marcus seems pretty set on proving that we're better. I really don't want any explosions to happen in the Academy while all of that is going on." You're now standing and pacing around the room.

"(Y/N)," Sloane grabs your wrist to stop you from walking. "I agree with Fei, I don't think it's a good idea to try and repress your powers. We don't know how long the Umbrellas will be an issue."

"You've seen what happens when someone represses their powers," Fei gestures to her clawed out eyes. She initially feared her abilities, and it had dire consequences. "I mean, you repressed your ghosts too. Then Dad would just take you to the mausole-"

"Yeah, I remember. Worst week of my life. He stuck me in that ghost box and I would deal with the screams of the dead for at least 2 hours. I just blocked most of the memories. Blacked out for a lot of it."

"And then?" Fei encouraged you to continue.

"And then I learned to control my abilities," you concluded while sitting back down. "I faced my fears-"

"-and came out stronger," Sloane completed. Dad's lectures would always be stuck in your minds. "See, it's not good to try and hide a part of yourself. Maybe these abilities appeared at the right time. Embracing them can help us fight the Umbrella Academy. It'll be pretty hard for anyone to view you as small now."

"Okay," you finally agreed. "I'll try to summon them now, but I don't really know how?" Your statement came out as more of a question.

"I would assume it's the same as summoning a ghost. Just, think it and it'll appear maybe?"

"It's a lot more than that," you tell Sloane. "I need to know exactly who I'm looking for, where they are, sometimes where they died. Then I can reach for them. They don't always agree to come out either. I have to occasionally force them out."

"Warm thoughts took them away, right?" Fei asks.

"Yeah, literal and figurative warm thoughts."

"Try thinking cold things," Fei suggests.

"What, imagine I'm in a freezer?"

"You said you needed a target in mind to summon a ghost?" Sloane pipes up. You nod. "Well, it's typically the same with my powers. I focus on what I want to move and can manipulate the weight of the object. We don't need to necessarily bring out the darkness right now. How about the plants you've been killing?"

You looked at the sad peonies. "Well, Penny is already half dead. I guess that's something I can focus on."

Your siblings nodded encouragingly. You stood from the bed and faced the flowers. Unsure of what to do with your hands, you hesitantly held both of your arms out in front of you. Typically, the movement of only one hand was required to summon a ghost, but you felt as if needed more energy to channel the new abilities.

You targeted the peonies and started to search for...something. You didn't know what, but it was worth a shot. It turned out to be a good idea, because once you reached out, you locked onto something.

"I got something," you tell Fei and Sloane, trying not to break your concentration. "It's like I have my hand wrapped around a soul."

"Plants have souls?"

"They are living things," Sloane says.

"I'm gonna try something," you ignore their comments. Now, you imagine yourself squeezing the soul, as violent as it sounds. It seems to be working. The peonies are losing their vibrancy, but your vision is slowly starting to be filled with black spots.

"(Y/N), your eyes are getting black again. Are you ok?" Sloane inquires.

"I'm fine," you reassure her. You can hear the strain in your voice, no matter how hard you try to hide it.

"I think you should stop now. You already got something out of it," Fei attempted to dissuade you, but you were already set. It was hard for you to let go of the soul. "Warm thoughts, please, (Y/N)," Fei begs.

"I'm fine," you insist, this time through gritted teeth. "I just need to push a little harde-"

You blink and the room shifts. It seems like you're having another vision, because the room looks very different. Nothing like the room you saw earlier in the vision with Five. It looked like a boiler room, or a basement. Except, someone was clearly living here. There was a place to sleep, a couple things around the room that showed this person was a boxer, or at least a fighter.

Your eyes were drawn to a poster on the wall. One of the Umbrellas was on it. Great, more visions about these weirdos. His name was on the poster, Diego. You remembered him as the one with knives, which he kept throwing at Christoper. Useless, seeing as sharp objects had no affect on him.

The room was frozen. Then, your body was dragged onto the couch.

"When does this happen?" The big man from before, Luther, is speaking to you and Five. Your arm is around his shoulder, you're helping him sit up on the couch.

"Well, I don't have the exact hour, but from what I could gather, four days," Five is saying in a low voice. Four days? Four days until what?

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Luther exclaims, throwing his hands up. So the what is clearly something terrible, if Luther is this upset over Five not telling them anything.

"It wouldn't have changed anything."

"How? We could've worked this out together," Luther insisted. Ah, a family issue. Seems like something that's typical for the people raised by Reginald Hargreeves.

"For the record, you already tried," Five sighed. You hadn't really noticed it before, but being this close to him has made you realize how tired he looked. Haunted, too. His eyes looked like they'd seen too much in comparison to his young physique.

"W-What do you mean?" Luther questioned. You wish you knew what was making this family so scared. If the issue had followed them here, it might be a good idea to try and help them instead of fight them.

Five was looking at the ground now, voice trembling slightly. "I found you all, your bodies." Your body, who knows if it's your body, moving of its own accord, wraps an arm around his shoulder. Five seeks comfort and curls closer into your side. It feels nice. Warm.

"We couldn't tell you, it was just too much." Words are being forced out of your mouth again as you explain.

"So we die?"

"Horribly. You were together trying to stop whoever ends the world."

End of the world? This threat is end of the world level serious? You're giving Five a look of sympathy. He returns it with a sad smile. You lean over to whisper to him. "What did you mean by killing people earlier?" You ask. Great, now we're talking about murder. Dad always picks the fun ones.

Five looked at you, picking and choosing his words carefully. He was clearly holding something back. Yeah, this family has issues. "I don't want you to think I'm a monster," he says, eyes glued to the floor once again.

You grab his hand in reassurance. "I will never think of you as a monster, Five." He gives you a smile. It's doing something to you. A weird feeling blooms in your heart. You can't tell if it's real or just a side affect of whatever these weird visions are. Either way, you needed to stop them as soon as possible. Now is a terrible time to become attached.

Darkness starts to bleed into your vision again. When you open your eyes, Sloane and Fei's faces are hovering over you. The back of Sloane's hand is on your forehead.

"She doesn't feel cold?"

"No. She seemed a little spaced out earlier, blamed it on a headache. Do you think this is another side affect?"

"Guys?"

The two stop their fretting and help you sit up.

"Are you alright? And don't try and blame it on a headache this time. We know something else is up," Sloane scolds found.

"I really don't know anymore," you groan, massaging your temples. The headache is actually hitting you pretty hard. "I wish I could explain but it was so weird, like I was having a fla-"

"Fei, I've been looking for you."

You simultaneously turn your heads and see Ben standing in the doorway. "Is everything alright in here?" He asks, confusedly glancing at you lying down and Fei and Sloane hovering over you.

"We're totally fine. Just some, uh, girl talk."

He nods suspiciously. "Okay...Well, I wanted to let you all know that Marcus has called off the meeting today. He left, quite suddenly, might I add. Said he had some 'important business' to attend to, whatever that means." Ben sounded annoyed. Of course he would be, especially if Marcus had started keeping information from him. "I also needed to talk to Fei after dinner," he adds, "So if you would be so kind as to give us a quick moment alone."

"We'll discuss this later," Fei whispers to you before standing up to join Ben.

"You alright, (Y/N)?" Ben asks. You nod at him silently. "That's good, can't have one of our best out of commission." He smiles, though something about his smiles always look like a smirk, a hint of sarcasm and malice behind them. He exits with Fei.

You stand up from the bed and go to inspect the peonies. They're dead now, withered and crumpled. It looks like someone took a laser to them. "I think we should stop testing on my plants. I spent a lot of time raising them, I'm sure we can find an old garden somewhere that no one would pay any attention to."

"What happened just then?" Sloane completely ignores your comments about your mini garden.

You pick up the pot and move it somewhere to be thrown out later. "I'll handle it. For now, we should eat dinner and then I wanna see what Ben and Fei are talking about."

"(Y/N), please. You passed out, this can't be nothing."

"I'll talk to you about it tomorrow, I promise!" You're already rushing out the door.

↛ 𓅫 ↚

          AFTER EATING PAD THAI for dinner, because Marcus wasn't here to complain about anything, Ben and Fei snuck off. You waited a few moments and excused yourself before following them out.

Once you're in the hallway, you slow your steps down to a tiptoe so that Ben and Fei are unable to hear you moving behind them.

"...just worried, y'know? It's not really like Marcus to just up and leave."

"You said he looked scared?" Fei inquires.

"Not scared, per se, just nervous. He jumped a little when I called him out. He was clearly planning on leaving without anyone knowing where he was."

"I agree that it isn't like him to be anxious. He's the leader, he knows it all. He's always confident. But it can't be anything that bad, right? He's not going to sell us out or anything. He knows better."

"I'm just worried. I want to know what's happening, and you're the only person who can help with that. The only person I can trust too, Number Three."

"Your plan is to use Fei to spy on Marcus?"

The two of them jump when they hear your voice.

"Jesus," Fei sighs. "Forgot how sneaky you are. Being stuck as a teenager does have a few perks."

"I'm also just exceptional at eavesdropping," you smirk lightly. "Am I right? You want to spy on Marcus to figure out why he's acting to weird?"

Ben groans. "Yes, that's what I was trying to ask Fei before you walked in. Now, can you please let us get back to what we were doing?" You laughed and stood between the two of them.

"Go away? I'm totally helping you guys." You placed your hands on their shoulders. "Come on, just some bonding time with your favorite sibling. It's a little boring over here, no offense to my fun ghosty friends. Chess gets old once you start being able to beat all the old chess masters with new strategies."

Ben ponders it for a moment before agreeing. "Fine, you can join us. Not that you'll be able to do much, but having another person with half a brain could be useful."

Ben leads all of you to the roof of the Academy. You've actually been up here with Marcus quite a bit. Not when he's doing his workout for all the adoring fans, but when it's late at night and you can't sleep. When there's no need to keep a strong public appearance and you can just laugh and talk about stupid shit. You hope he's ok.

"What were you doing before?"

"Hmm?" Your feet dangle off the edge of the roof. Ben comes over to sit next to you.

"In your room, with Sloane and Fei." Fei is standing near the door, resting a bit, you assume. Every use of power comes with a price. "I know it wasn't just 'girl talk' or whatever Sloane called it. You were sitting in bed and Fei was messing with her hands. Sloane had that small crease between her eyebrow. They were both clearly worried about you."

"I'm fine, Ben. Just had a...little moment. That's all." Your convincing clearly didn't work. He merely scoffed and rolled his eyes at you.

"'A little moment' doesn't mean passing out. That's what it looked like to me. You passed out and they put you on your bed. So please, tell me if something is happening."

You don't know why it was so hard to share this with the rest of the family. Maybe it's because you didn't want to feel like a burden. Maybe you didn't think it was important. Maybe you wanted to keep them as your little secret. But the visions, you should probably tell them about that.

"Ben, I think I might be developing new abilities."

"You're what now?"

You nodded. "Yeah, that's the issue. We were trying to figure them out when you walked in. They seem to affect temperature, life, and shadows. That one is more prevalent. The temperature thing is a side affect."

"Shadow powers?" He questioned. "Kind of...cool. Yeah, cool."

You smiled softly. "I wanted to wait to tell everyone. Figure out how to keep them down while we fight the Umbrellas."

"Keep them down? (Y/N), this is great! This makes you stronger! We don't need to focus so much when we can easily take them now." He's stood and and taking you with him. "But, you still passed out from them?"

"That was a little different," you begin. Now to explain the weird visions. "I've blacked out twice now. Each time, I see some sort of vision. It's kind of similar to experiencing one of Jayme's visions, but it feels a lot more real? At this point, I know when I'm experiencing Jayme's powers. It all seems a little too good to be true."

"What makes them feel real?" Ben asks.

"I don't know. Some gut instinct. It sounds weird, but these visions feel so much like memories. They're all my body moving without me doing anything. I'm kind of replaying moments in my head. And uh, funny story, I keep seeing one of the Umbrellas."

"Hopefully not the big one?" He jokes slightly, a weird thing to get out of Ben but welcome nonetheless.

"The small one, actually."

"The powerful one or the blinky one?"

"The blinky one," you confirm. "And in the two visions he was very, gentle with me? You know how he was giving me heart eyes earlier? Those were definitely genuine. He wasn't like, fucking around or anything. The visions were short but I could sense he had some sort of romantic feeling for me. It was weird, I started feeling like I was returning them."

"You were in love with the enemy?" Ben asks incredulously.

"Some version of me, yes. It has to exist out there. All I know is that these memories seem to be coming back to me in small increments."

"Well, this might be useful," Ben says.

"What do you mean?"

"If you're having flashbacks and you were close to them, we can use that to find their weak points. Have you found any useful information?"

You thought about the two short moments and what you had learned. "Well, they have dealt with the end of the world before. Five, the blinky one, said he saw all of his siblings dead. But he somehow made it back. They must've stopped the apocalypse if we're here now."

Ben nods, taking in the information. "Oh!" You exclaim. "The big one was surprised because Five hadn't told him. Bad communication seems to be their thing. Five also mentioned killing people. He's a pretty skilled fighter, so being an assassin is a possible occupation. Seeing how bad they worked together, it's plausible their Academy split up and took on different jobs."

Ben is still nodding. "Good, we can use that. You've done a good job, (Y/N)."

He pats you on the shoulder in a very older
brother-y way. It's sweet.

You're still a little concerned that Ben had no other issues with these flashbacks. They're completely unexplained too, something that just happened out of the blue. What if the Umbrellas are actually messing with you? You still haven't seen the powers of Sundance, they could be similar to Jayme's.

"Hey guys." Fei pushes herself off of the wall. "My bird is coming back. We got some information." She joins the two of you and stands at the edge of the roof. You hear wings flapping and see a small, black bird approaching the three of you. Fei turns around so that the bird can fly into her back. She absorbs the bird again, gaining all of the information its just learned.

"What's up? Is he okay?"

"He's making a deal with them."

Ben nods. "I'll handle it," he tells us. Fei goes to walk back inside.

"I'm going to sleep. Unless you're planning something or you need to tell us anything, I suggest you do the same." Fei nods one more time before going through the doorway.

You look up at Ben. "You have a plan?"

"Yeah," he says, looking back out at the city. "I do. I'm calling a meeting now. We can meet early tomorrow morning. Make sure the rest of the family knows."

You nod and follow Fei through the door. So, the scheming begins.

AUTHOR'S NOTE . . . !
sorry this one was a little shorter than the last two. i'm so not used to writing stuff with this little reference. but, i hope you're enjoying whatever the heck is going on with eight and little sibling sparrow moments. i know ben has some softness hiding under that stupid little haircut and weirdly short shorts. thank you for 3k followers, love you :)

QOTD!
favorite quote from this season's?

AOTD!
as always, klaus and five deliver some golden lines. ones i will be quoting a lot is "protecting our honor bro" and calling people sentient stds because that is a wonderful flavorful insult. thank you five hargreeves for your funky old man humor. also "NO TWINE NO BIRTH MOTHER" like yes great ultimatum.