𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃
( chapter one )

☂︎︎

𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐀 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐅𝐔𝐒𝐄𝐃. She didn't age when she was stuck in her mind? How is that possible? And what was in the serum her father gave her? She had so many unanswered questions.

But unfortunately, she'd have to save them for later. It was the day of the funeral.

She went up the stairs and into her bedroom, which hadn't changed. It wasn't dusty, which meant Grace had been cleaning and dusting. The walls were a light blue shade and had posters of bands and pictures of Alora and her siblings. Paintings were stacked in the corner and her desk had old paint pallets and brushes. She reached over and picked up a photo of her and Five when they were little.

Smiling to herself, she put down the picture and went to her cupboard to find some clothes. Except.. she didn't have any, just her old Umbrella Academy uniform.

Great.

She moved downstairs to Allison's room to see if she had any clothes. Luckily, she did and Alora fitted into wavy black pants, a light pink shirt and a black jacket. Putting the hood up, she left the room and back downstairs.

"Oh my god." A voice spoke.

Alora turned around to see a woman with curly hair and dark skin looking at her. "Who are you?" She asked.

"Alora..." the woman started to tear up which made Alora's eyes widen. "It's me; Allison."

Allison was Number Three of the Umbrella Academy. Also, the only other girl with powers and the two girls were close as kids. She could manipulate and get anything she wanted by simply saying 'I heard a rumour.' which was pretty cool.

"Oh my god! Allison!" Alora sped over to her sister and crushed her in a hug. The two stood there for a moment before Allison pulled back to study the girl's face.

"You're- you're young?"

"Yeah." Alora winced. "Not the greatest, I'll tell you that. I'm so glad you're here!"

"How long have you been awake?" Allison asked, eyebrows furrowed but smiling.

"Oh, about an hour." She waved her hand in dismissal.

"An hour?! How are you even awake?"

"Long story, but basically Dad made a serum thingy and now I'm awake! Also he's dead, don't know if you heard. But I suppose that's why you're back, hm?" Alora was kind of bitter about being left alone in her mind when she could still talk to the others outside. Then one day she was patiently waiting for one of the other kids to check in. Spoiler alert: they didn't.

"I'm so sorry, Lora." Allison pulled her in for another hug.

"Alora?" A man's voice echoed through the entrance.

The girls turned to face the man, who Alora guessed was Diego with all the knives hanging off of him.

Diego was Number Two. He and Luther (Number One) were always competing. Diego has the power to manipulate the trajectory of whatever he threw. Knives, books or pillows (which made pillow fights suck).

"Why are you in spandex?" She asked, eyeing his outfit.

"Shut up." He smiled and walked over to her for a hug. Alora gladly reciprocated the action and gripped onto him, tearing up. "I missed you so much." He whispered in her ear.

"I missed you too." She closed her eyes. "So, so much."

Diego went off somewhere after asking her some questions and left Allison and Alora to talk.

"So have you been in contact with Klaus?" Alora asked, rocking back and forth on her feet. They got along really well, and treated each other like biological siblings, but like all the other's, Klaus left. She didn't blame him though, he hated Reginald the most.

"No, sorry hon." Allison smiled apologetically.

Alora heard the door open and close with a bang, but she kept taking with Allison, hoping the person would come to them.

"Hey, Mom." A light female voice spoke. "Mom?"

Allison took Alora by the arm and pulled her gently with her to meet what could only be Vanya.

Vanya was Number Eight but she didn't have any powers, so technically, according to her dad and Luther, she wasn't in the Academy. Alora never treated her any differently than the others though.

"Vanya?" Allison called out. "You're actually here."

"Why wouldn't she be here?" Alora whispered out of the corner of her mouth. And then she remembered. The book.

"Alora?" Vanya asked, wide eyed.

"The one and only." The girl shrugged, hands in her pockets as she stepped slowly down the steps. "Hi."

"Hello. Hey, Allison."

"Hey, sis." Allison greeted.

"Group hug?" Alora asked, quietly cringing at herself. But the girls grinned and pulled each other into a hug, Alora holding on a little tighter than the others.

Once they pulled away, Diego emerged from wherever he went before. "What is she doing here? You don't belong here, not after what you did."

"You're seriously gonna do this today, Diego?" Allison asked, annoyance in her voice.

Diego ignored her and walked up the stairs. "Way to dress for the occasion, by the way."

"At least I'm wearing black." He drawled.

"You know what? I- maybe he's right. I shouldn't-" Vanya started but Allison interrupted.

"Forget about him. I'm glad you're here." She smiled and moved away. Alora smiled at Vanya as the woman said, "It's good to see you."

☂︎︎

Alora decided to take a walk around the house she hadn't seen in years. She opened the door to her father's office.

She could picture her father, sitting there and writing in his stupid little book. One time, her and the other kids had wanted to say goodnight. Grace had knocked on the door and told him, "The children are ready for bed, sir. They wanted to say goodnight." Grace opened the sliding doors to reveal eight kids, dressed in their pyjamas, smiling excitedly; their father was finally going to say goodnight to them.

Except, the man didn't. He didn't even look up. Just kept on writing. Grace tried to play it off; smiling sweetly and ushering them out of the doorway. "Okay! Time for bed now, kids. Come along now, your father's busy."

Nothing was out of the ordinary except for a man on the floor, looking for something.

"Can I help you?" She asked.

His head shot up and he looked at her with a gasp. "Lora?"

"Klaus?"

Klaus was Number Four. He could communicate with the dead but he hated it. His fear was ghosts, which made him get into drugs and alcohol at such a young age. But he was always in a good mood and joked around a lot.

"Lora!" Klaus jumped up and brought the girl into a bone crushing embrace. He rocked them side to side. "I've missed you so much!"

"Klaus- can't breathe." Alora choked out. He let her go and sniffed.

"Why are you fifteen?"

The girl sighed. "Mentally, I'm 29. Physically..." she gestured to her body.

"Ah." Klaus nodded and went back to rifling through the desk which Alora sat down on.

Allison opened the door and looked at her, eyebrows raised. She shrugged and grinned, swinging her legs.

"Where the cash, Dad?" Klaus grunted, bumping his head on the desk.

Allison walked over and looked at Klaus next to the desk. "Klaus? What are you doing in here?"

"Oh! Allison!" He smiled and got up from the floor. "Wow, is that you? Hey, come here." He brought her into a hug. "Long time! Too long. Hey, I was hoping to see you, actually, because I wanted to get your autograph."

"Autograph?" Alora asked, spinning on the desk to face the two.

"Add it to my collection." He framed his face with his hands.

"Just out of rehab?" Allison asked, holding up Klaus' wrist, showing Alora.

"No, no." He took back his wrist. "No, no, no, no, no. I'm done with all that." He sighed as Alora hopped off the table and crossed her arms, staring at him.

"I just came down here to prove to myself that the old man was really gone." He pretended to choke up on tears. "And he is! He's dead! Yay!" Klaus clapped and jumped up and down. Alora laughed lightly, looking at Allison who was trying not to smile.

"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 waved his hands around.

"Did he sleep in here? I don't think I ever saw him leave." Alora thought aloud.

"Yeah! And remember how he used to look at us? That scowl?" He pointed up at the painting of Reginald. "Thank Christ he's not our real father so we couldn't inherit those cold, dead eyes!" Klaus stretched his eyes out with his fingers and screamed, the two girls laughing. "Ah! Number Three, Number-"

"Get out of his chair." A deep voice ordered from the door.

"There's another door?" Alora asked, throwing down the stack of papers she had picked up.

"Oh, wow, Luther!" Klaus whispered.

"That's Luther?" She asked Allison who nodded slowly, staring at him. "When'd he get so big?"

Luther was Number One and very proud of it. He was Reginald's favourite. He could lift very heavy things, which as a kid, always surprised adults with his skinny body. But now... he was huge.

"Wow, you really, uh.." Klaus looked for the right words. "You really filled out over the years, huh?" He put his arms out and pretended to show off his muscles.

"Klaus." Luther warned.

"Save the lecture, I was already leaving." Klaus grabbed Alora by the shoulders and started steered her out of the room. "You guys can talk amongst yourselves."

Luther stopped him with his arm. "Drop it."

"Ex-squeeze me?" Klaus raised his brows.

"Do it. Now."

Alora poked her head in between them. "He's not a dog, Luther."

Klaus angrily emptied his pockets while Luther stared at her. "What? I didn't change, you should be used to me by now."

"Alora.. how are you?" Luther asked, awkwardly. The two had never really got along that well.

"Fine. You look... bigger. I thought you were smaller." She smiled.

"It's just an advance on our inheritance!" Klaus hissed, still emptying his coat. "That's all it is! No need to get your little panties in a bunch!" He mocked, rolling his eyes and grabbing Alora.

"Did we even get an inheritance?" Alora asked her brother as he looked around to see if anyone was watching.

He mumbled an 'I don't know' and took a box out of the back of his leather pants, kissing it.

"Ew." Alora muttered. "What's in it?"

Klaus moved on, hiding the box in his furry coat.

"Klaus!"

☂︎︎