'WORRY ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF
MY NEW POWERS LATER.'
—

↛ 𓅫 ↚

          SLOANE HOLDS YOUR chin with her left hand, tilting your head so that's she's able to see your wound more clearly. She holds a wipe in her right hand and dabs the antiseptic on your forehead. When Vanya's blast had sent you flying into the shelf, something glass had broken. One of the shards managed to catch you on the head. Everyone else got out with only a few bruises, and maybe some bruises to their egos as well.

You held back as much noise as you could, but Sloane pressed the wound in a way that causes you to hiss. "Oh! I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," she quickly apologized, going back in with the wipe much more lightly. "I know, it hurts. But once I'm done wiping, I just need to put a little butterfly bandage on it, and you'll be ready to fight in no time!" She was so cheery despite the current situation.

"Thank you, Slo. It's not too bad, at least compared to some of my past injuries. Just a bit of a gut reaction," you explain. She let's go of your chin and starts to dig around for the box of bandages.

"So, did you get any information on our new friends?" Sloane asks you while opening up the box.

"Just a few names," You tell her. "I didn't get to do much fighting, seeing as there were 8 of us and 6 of them. I'm pretty sure Sundance, the one in the hat, just ran as soon as the fighting started. So really, 8 to 5. Sorry to be, well, complaining to you, but I feel like I missed out on some of the action."

Sloane grabs your face once again so she can apply the bandage. "We're just trying to looking out for you, (Y/N). Maybe you can do some more the next time we see them," She suggests.

You sigh, a little dramatically. "I hope you guys know that I can take care of myself. I went through all the same training, lessons, and I have my own powers. You guys don't have to constantly watch over me."

"Well, I think we do it unintentionally. Taking over during fights, I mean. But, it's only because we love you. I'm sure you'd go to any lengths to protect any of us. We try to do the same for you," Sloane says softly as she packs away the kit she had been using to patch you up. "Even if," she continues, grabbing both of your hands and making you look at her, "Ben will never admit it. We want you to be safe."

You let both of your hands fall into your lap. You pull her in for a hug, digging your chin into her shoulder. "Thank you, Sloane. I'm happy to have you as a sister," you thank her. She squeezes you in return. "Do you have any wounds that need some patching up? I know all of us hit the walls pretty hard." You begin to look over Sloane to see if you can spot any visible bleeding or stains on her clothing, though it was a little difficult seeing as the blazer she has on is red.

"No, no, no. I'm alright. Just a little bru-"

You cut her off with a sneeze. "Geez, is it just like extra dusty in this house or something? I don't think I've ever had any allergies before." You open your eyes to discover that the room is, once again, completely black. It's a darkness you've never experienced before. Less like someone turned of the lights, and more like someone took all the light out of the world. A cold chill sweeps over your body, consuming and swallowing you whole. You're blind.

You reach out in front of you, hoping to find Sloane. When you make contact with her hand, she recoils at your touch.

"O-Oh my gosh. The room is so cold. You feel even colder. Are you alright, (Y/N)? What's happening?" You hear Sloane ask.

"I don't know," you respond. "I can't see anything, it's completely dark." You blink repeatedly, hoping that somehow that would fix the issue.

"Is this, like, some sort of side effect from hitting your head?" She touches you, but this time her hand is covered by her sleeve. You can feel her shiver. You guess you must be really cold if she can still feel you through a layer of fabric. "No," you begin, "this can't be a side effect. It actually happened earlier, right before you walked in my room. I brushed it off then because we had a little intrusion. I don't know about now though."

Sloane sighs and grabs your hand. "You have to tell us when weird things happen, (Y/N). What if you were in danger?"

"Slo, we're all children of women who weren't pregnant 2 minutes before they gave birth. We were adopted by a billionaire. I haven't been aging since I was a teenager. I think we're past telling each other about weird things."

She sighs as if she's about to start talking again, but then you hear her breath hitch. "Slo? Are you alright? I didn't think you would be that phased when you heard our family history." She pulls her hand away.

"Hey, just a quick question, have your powers ever done anything to shadows before?"

"Uh, no," you say, confused. Why would your powers ever affect shadows? You've only ever communicated with dead people. "I don't think they've ever done anything to shadows before. Why?"

"It's just that, every shadow in your room is getting longer. Not like the sun is moving, but everything is pointed at you, like you're a beacon. It's also a lot darker now, the shadows are bigger," she explains. "Your eyes, they're black too." You feel her stand up from the bed and back away from you. "Can you maybe try to stop it?" Sloane asks.

"I don't know if I can," you tell her nervously. The nerves hitting you right now feel exactly like the ones that overcame when Dad decided to take you to the graveyard. The assessments were traumatizing. Power experimenting was always nerve wracking.

"You at least have to try. Think of, warm things? Maybe? Or light! Just, will it into existence. Like what you do with dead people."

You nod. Right, like what you do with dead people. If these are your powers, you should be able to control them. You have experience with that already. You clench your fists and start to think of warm things. The sun. A beach. Sitting on the roof in the summer with Marcus. Warming by the fire in the winter with Fei. Coffee runs with Jayme and Alphonso. A rare smile from Ben. Sloane's hugs.

The warmth returns. First to the room, then it slowly spreads throughout your body. It actually feels like more warmth than before, like you took some from somewhere. Your vision fades back in, like the opposite of passing out. You rub your eyes and look for Sloane. She makes contact, carefully at first, scared that you could be cold again. Once she realizes that you're safe, she pulls you in.

"Please don't scare me like that. You need to talk to Dad about this, and at the very least, let the others know," she suggests, her voice muffled by your shoulder.

"I'll try. For now, don't tell anyone. I'll do it once we're done with these Umbrellas. We already have enough on our hands with the new heroes. I couldn't worry Marcus or Ben, or even Dad. Go after the Umbrellas, worry about the possibility of my new powers later," you state. Sloane nods, a little hesitantly.

"And you're absolutely sure nothing else has happened? No other random chills, darkness, or dead plants? The peonies are a little droopy, by the way." You peer over Sloane's shoulder to see what she's referring to. She's right, the flowers look a little limp.

"I'm fine, just a dull headache right now."

You close your eyes and massage your temples. When your open them, the room looks completely different. You're now lying down in the bed. "Ok, seriously, what is in the air today?"

"Five? What happened?" You immediately close your mouth. The words had come out of you, but that wasn't your intention. It was like someone was speaking out of your body. Someone rushed towards you. It was the boy from earlier, Five. That was who you called out to.

"You fainted after shadow traveling." Shadow traveling? "Are you ok?" He sounded very concerned for your well-being. Your head is moving unintentionally. You see a bright red stain on his crisp white shirt.

"Yeah, but are you?" The words are being forced out of your mouth. "Your arm is bleeding again." He looks at the injury as if it's the first time he's ever seen it. "Here, let me help you." You're moving towards a first aid kit now. God, what the hell is happening to you right now?

You are quickly pulled out of the weird vision. The room is normal. Sloane is with you. She's holding out 3 pills for you. "Ibuprofen?"

"What?"

"For your headache?" She says, more like a question than a statement. "You said your head hurts."

"Yeah. Yeah, yeah, right. The headache. I'll, uh, take them now."

Someone knocks on your door. Fei opens it in her workout clothes. "Hey, we're gonna start some midday training. Marcus said he wants everyone there." One of her birds is behind her. It looks between you and Sloane, as if it knows something is up. "You two alright?"

"We're good," you say, before Sloane can spill anything. "We should get ready for that training now, right?" Sloane nods, giving you a knowing look before leaving the room.

↛ 𓅫 ↚

THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY limps to a group of benches and tables in the middle of the park, tired, injured, and defeated. Five sits on one of the benches. Diego stands, looking out at the pond. Klaus lays on top of a picnic table. "Just gonna sit. I'm just gonna sit for a minute," Luther groans, slowly sitting down as to not affect his injuries.

"That didn't go well," Diego stated, holding his hip and leaning against the railing.

"No, not our best work," Five, leaning back to look at Diego, agrees. Klaus, with his hat now protecting his eyes from the sun, crosses his right leg over his left. His bones make loud cracking noises. "Oh, I'm cracking," Klaus says.

Allison, who is now sitting near Luther, looks over his form. "You all right?" She asks him.

"I don't know yet," Luther responds, still processing their failed battle. "I've just never had my ass handed to me like that before. It's like," he pauses to hold his hands out to Allison, trying to demonstrate his point, "Here you go. It's your ass." Allison just stares blankly at him. Luther raises his eyebrows, trying to see if Allison understands.

"Okay, I think Luther's concussed," Allison concludes. She puts her hand around his shoulders.

"Luther, how many fingers?" Klaus holds up three fingers to test Luther's vision.

"Oh my god," Luther exclaims, realizing that they had left one of their siblings, albeit one of the strongest, to fend off the Sparrows by herself. "Vanya." Allison nods and points behind Luther at Vanya, who is now also weakly walking towards the group.

"Oh. Thank god you're alive," She shouts.

"You okay?" Allison asks her as she approaches.

"Apparently, so is Ben," Klaus looks to Allison, processing the fact that their once-dead brother is now alive and well in this timeline. And everyone can see Ben, not just him and (Y/N).

"Yeah. And he's a complete dickhead," Allison says.

"They're all dickheads," Diego agrees.

"Dickheads who can fight," Luther adds. Vanya makes a noise of pain as she sits on another one of the benches.

"Okay, next person to say 'dickhead' is getting a punch to the throat," Five tells his family.

"Dickhead."

"Dickhead."

"Dickhead."

"Dickhead."

Five rolls his eyes. As always, he's surrounded by a bunch of idiots. "Hey," Diego addresses Klaus, "did Dad tell you why he was calling them his kids?" He asked, referring to the Sparrows that were now living in their home.

Klaus lets out a chuckle. "He sure did! You ready?" He asks the group. "Dad was so repulsed by us back in Texas, that he adopted an entirely different group of children just so that he didn't have to raise us." Klaus explains.

"That's just peak Dad, huh?" Diego sits down on the table.

"Isn't it?" Luther agrees.

"So he just didn't want us anymore?" Vanya questions.

"Did he ever?" Allison asks.

"See? I told you we shouldn't have asked him for help in '63. And if (Y/N) was with us right now, I'm sure she would be agreeing with me," Luther says.

"Yeah, I don't think she would," Five retorts. "I think you're all missing the big picture here. If Dad didn't adopt us as kids, he changed the timeline. So who knows what else is different now," Five says. "Shouldn't you know?" Allison points at him. "Sorry, Allison, but it might take me more than 20 minutes and a traumatic brain injury to figure this all out. Is that okay with you?"

"No, actually, it's not."

"Guys, look, it's fine," Vanya interrupts their bickering. "We still have the Commission's briefcase, so worst case, we can just go back in time and fix it," she offers the solution to the group. Klaus snaps and points at her, agreeing with the idea. "Great," Klaus says.

"Okay," Five begins, exasperatedly. He stands from the bench. "There are two problems with that statement. First off-"

"Here we go."

"Time travel is a complicated thing, people," Five says.

"Yeah, we get it. Your job is so hard. Just... what?" Diego mocks him.

"And secondly...I no longer have the briefcase."

"Five," Allison stands and looks at him angrily, "where the hell is the briefcase?"

"It was on the table in the entrance at the Academy. The Sparrows appeared, and while I was overcoming the shock of seeing the woman I love in a changed timeline, and realizing that our version of (Y/N) had just mysteriously disappeared, the briefcase was taken. Mom and Dad were there too, but it was probably stolen during the battle while we were all distracted," Five explained.

"Look," Five continues, "We're accomplishing nothing by sitting around, so let's get moving," he suggests.

A few minutes later, the group is walking through the streets, attracting the attention of those around them, dressed in all black and sporting various injuries, old and recent. They had been walking in silence. Allison throws her hands up. "What are we doing?" She asks.

"Ruminating," Five replies. "Why is everyone staring at us?" Klaus questions, passing by two people who are looking at the group weirdly.

"Because we look like the damn Village People just lost a fight," Diego tells him, grabbing the hat off of Klaus' head. "Gimme that," Diego pulls it away from him. Klaus starts to clamber over him, prying the hat out of his hands. "Hey."

"Ow!" Klaus exclaims when Diego elbows him. "Guys, cut it out," Five scolds them.

"You know what?" Allison exclaims, done with her bickering brothers. "I need to go find Claire. I will catch up with you guys later." Allison separates herself from the group and starts walking in a different direction.

"Hey, Allison, no," Vanya calls out to her. "First, let's get somewhere safe, clean up those cuts, and then we'll go find her," Vanya suggests. From behind her, Luther is staring at a building. On it is a poster of the Sparrows. The posters have seemingly been plastered all over the city, a constant reminder of the new, and better, heroes that have taken over the lives they once had.

"Man, I hate those guys," Luther grumbles. "Look at 'em with their...stupid smug..."

Luther struggles to pull out an insult from the depths of his mind. Klaus is next to him, cheering him on while he thinks. "You can do it. You can do it." Klaus whispers.

"...s...s...smug...smugness," Luther ends. Klaus leans his head back and sighs loudly. "Keep working on it, big guy. You'll land one, eventually," Klaus pats Luther's back encouragingly.

"But honestly, what are we doing?" Allison asks. "'Cause we can't keep standing here and bleeding out in this park."

"I don't know, but we better gear up fast before they come for round two, alright?" Diego is staring up at the posters Luther was previously mocking, most likely still assessing their new enemies.

"What makes you think they're gonna come after us?" Vanya asks him.

"Because I would."

"Yeah, I mean, we did break into their house-"

"Our house," Allison corrects Klaus.

"-bust up all their nice antiques and shit."

"Yeah. I don't think the crime-fighting," Luther pauses to come up with a mean name, "super nerds are gonna let that go."

"Let's just think of some place off the radar where we can lie low and not draw attention," Five suggests.

"What kind of a weird-ass place are we not gonna draw attention?" Diego asks. They immediately turn to Klaus, who is currently spinning in circles, dancing around, off in his own world. He gives the thought a few moments before offering a solution.

↛ 𓅫 ↚

  THE UMBRELLAS THUD through the revolving doors at the front of The Hotel Obsidian.

"Oh. Okay. Honestly? Okay. We don't all need to be squeezed-"

"There were two entrances, by the way."

The guests of the hotel, all dressed in varying stages of formal and casual wear, turn to look at the ruckus at the entrance. Klaus pushes through his siblings. "Oh, Hotel Obsidian. I missed you, you slutty old dame." Klaus begins to waves his hands. "Absorb her. Absorb her into your bosom. You know, 'cause back in her heyday, she played host to world leaders. Roosevelt, Gandhi, Stalin, Gorbachev, Castro, King Olaf of Norway, one of the Kim Jongs, Tito, Dalai Lama, Elvis, and not one, but two Kardashians, allegedly."

Allison rolls her eyes at him. "Wouldn't that-Where you going?" Klaus asks her, disappointed that she is not impressed by the hotel's extensive celebrity history.

"I gotta make a call," She tells him.

"Nowadays," Klaus continues, "she's just a flophouse, a party house for those of us not looking to be judged by society's rules and norms."

"You mean, a place to hide?"

"Exactly!" Klaus points at Luther. "It's perfect! And the best part of it is, she's gonna look after us, no questions asked. Never ever. Right?" Klaus begins to walk towards the concierge. Everyone in the lobby is still looking at them suspiciously. "Come on," Klaus gestures for them to follow.

"I may have questions," Diego tells Luther. "Yeah, me too," He agrees. "This place is weird," Vanya says. Klaus waves to a man smoking a pipe. The man rolls his eyes and quickly looks away.

Klaus rings the bell at the front desk, harshly and loudly. He gasps when he sees the worker. "Chet! Mon frère! It's so great to see you. I'd like my usual suite, por favor." The man behind the counter, Chet, supposedly, puts his pointer finger in the bell to stop it from ringing.

"I've never seen you before."

"See? Told you. Discreet," Klaus put his finger to his lips.

"Please stop scaring my dog," Chet scolds Luther and Diego, who are currently playing with the pug sat in the dog bed on the table. They quickly back away.

"We need some rooms, please," Vanya tells Chet.

"Super!" He exclaims, reaching under the table for something. He places a sign on the table that states
'cash up front.'

"And how will we be paying today?" He asks, looking around the group.

"Ah."

"Oh."

"Fine. Empty your pockets," Luther instructs everyone. "Come on. Something."

"Condom? Put the knife away!"

"Can't exchange those for cash."

"Why do I have a hairnet?"

"Oh. All right," Luther sighs, realizing that they were very, very low on money. He unclasps the watch from his wrist. "Ooh," Klaus says. "What does this get us?" Luther hands over the watch to Chet. He takes out a monocle to inspect the watch closely. Concluding that it seems to be worth something, he goes to the cubbies behind him to grab two sets of keys. "Two rooms," he says, placing the keys on the desk in front of them. "Mazel tov."

"All right. Well, let's Brady Bunch this bitch."

The Umbrellas make their way to the elevators so that they can find the rooms and settle down. "Uh, meet back in the bar in two hours so we can make a plan," Five tells everyone.

"I have a plan," Diego starts, rushing up in front of the group. "We attack the Sparrows, we steal (Y/N) and maybe that asshole of a Ben, and we take back our house, and then we punch Dad a bit until he admits that we're better and he loves us more. Boom! Done!" Diego is shouting at this point while his siblings move past him, outright ignoring his ramblings. "We're wasting time!"

"Relax. Don't sweat it, man," Klaus pats Diego's shoulder when he walks by. "Those shit birds are staying put for a while. I bet they're as wiped as we are."

"Really?" Diego questions.

"Yeah. I mean, kicking our asses looked exhausting."

↛ 𓅫 ↚

    BACK AT THE SPARROW Academy, the eight of you are jogging on treadmills while going over the fight against the Umbrellas. Well, most of you are jogging. Alphonso is walking due to his asthma issues and Christopher spins in the air, which is the equivalent of running for him. You run in between Alphonso and Sloane. Marcus is currently reviewing the abilities of the Umbrellas, their strengths, their weak points, assessing the footage from the security cameras.

"Big one is strong but slow, possibly stupid. Some sort of...simian hybrid," he states, referring to Luther's out of place physique.

"Who took the little jumpy guy?" Sloane questions.

"Me and (Y/N). Just gave him a spanking and sent him to school," Jayme brags about your victories.

"Hey-oh!" Alphonso exclaims while holding both his fists out. You and Jayme both give him a fist bump.

"Yeah, that little freak, they called him Five, was looking at me weirdly. All of them kept staring at me and Ben, something about missing him and wondering why I was a Sparrow. But Five was straight up making heart eyes at me. He refused to even fight me," You add.

"Maybe his dad also gave him whatever weird anti-aging stuff is in your blood," Alphonso suggests. You shrug. "I just wish I was there to watch you beat him up," Fei looks to you from behind Sloane.

Christopher interrupts your cheering and asks the group for any other weak points they managed to find. "The skinny one is their weak link," Fei concludes. "Unless hiding behind couches shouting, 'Where's my daddy?' is his superpower," Ben agrees, mocking how Sundance immediately ran from the fight. You really had no clue where he disappeared to.

Grace walks in but sees that you all are busy talking. If you were being honest, some of your siblings were a little rude to the robot. She places the green juice on a table instead. You nod a greeting, or maybe a thank you to her. She merely smiles back at you while she removes the cups from her tray.

Ben slows down his treadmill. "Enough post-gaming," he complains. "They disrespected us, Marcus. We need to be out there finding these freaks and taking 'em out." Ben always tries to take charge, his anger and his ego clouding his judgment. He's been like this every since Dad demoted him to Number Two, wanting to prove to anyone that he could handle it.

"Oh, you mean like this?" Marcus questions. He stops the upbeat music you were listening to, slowing down his treadmill, and flips the TV to show footage of Vanya's blast. It was played in slow-motion, just to add a little salt to the wound. You can still feel the cut on your forehead throbbing. She did get you all really well. Everyone else slows their speed so that they can listen to Marcus.

He walks out in front of you all. "Can someone explain how you got your asses handed to you in 30 seconds?" He demands. "Do you have any idea what would happen to our reputation if anyone had seen that?" Marcus starts shouting the last words. No one is running anymore. You flinch a bit at the loud noise, patting Sloane, who is now looking down ashamedly, on the shoulder.

"I mean, we haven't faced decent enemies for years. This could be good for us. Good for business," Marcus determines. "But only if we're smart with our next move." Fei sighs deeply. You're stopped when someone clears their throat.

You look and see Dad standing at the entrance. "You summoned, Number One?"

Marcus sighs. "Sit," he instructs. Dad sits slowly in one of the chairs by the table. "You spent time with these people," Marcus starts, "What's your assessment?" You all look to Dad.

"Unimpressive. Neanderthals on a day pass. Cried too much and showered too little." Alphonso turns to you and Jayme to chuckle at Dad's demeaning description. "The only thing they lacked more than grit was any regard for one another."

"No loyalty. We can use that," Ben turns to Marcus.

"Good. Give a full report to Christopher," Marcus directs. Christopher complains about always being the one to hold all the information.

Dad stands slowly. "Still," He stops Christopher, "I wouldn't underestimate the Umbrella Academy. Yes, their skills are as lacking as their hygiene, yet somehow, they saved the world in 1963. Had they not, none of you would be standing here now." Marcus stops walking away to listen to Dad's warning. "Perhaps I misjudged them," Dad concludes.

Christopher tells him to get it moving. "Yes, yes. I'm going," Dad grumbles. Marcus sighs deeply.

"You guys go get cleaned up. We'll need to start planning a course of action. Their inability to trust one another is definitely a big advantage we have over them. We can meet back here later tonight."

You walk away to grab a towel but are stopped by a hand on your wrist. Sloane pulls you in to whisper in your ear. "Hey, we also need to discuss your uh, problem, ok? Maybe tonight if you can get it in there while Marcus and Ben are bickering." You nod and pick your towel up.

Fei catches up to you in the hallway.

"So," she begins, "What's the problem Sloane is talking about?"

AUTHOR'S NOTE . . . !
this had 1600 words of me coming up with stuff so that's why it took so long. anyway hope you're all having fun trying to figure out what the hell is happening with eight. and is that a flashback to book one? that's crazy!

QOTD!
favorite song from this season's soundtrack?

AOTD!
either quando quando quando or house of the rising sun, not the jeremy renner version though why does that exist dear lord. also, i actually listened to that it before the umbrella academy, so it was cool to hear.