In the Hands of Time (Five x reader)

Eighteen

~ (y/n)'s P.O.V. ~

I stared up at the painting of Uncle Reggie, Reginald Hargreeves. Luther had long gone in his search for his samples he sent from the moon. Klaus was somewhere as well, hopefully resting since he looked unwell earlier. 

"I remember you, Miss (y/n)." I jumped at the voice, turning quickly to see a chimpanzee in the doorway. He was wearing a suit and had glasses perched on his nose. I stared at him, confused as he walked closer to me. 

"Who are you?" I asked, and he smiled at me, resting his weight on his cane as he came to stand by me under Reginald's portrait. 

"My name is Pogo. I am a friend of the Hargreeves family, and worked as an assistant for Mr. Hargreeves for majority of my years." I nodded, slightly confused, though Five may have mentioned him once or twice.

"How do you know me?" I questioned. "I don't recall having ever met you." I elaborated as I waited for his response. For a moment, Pogo stayed quiet, shifting on his feet. 

"No, I guess perhaps we did not formerly meet. But long ago, Mr. Hargreeves did bring you to the house. You met Grace, but not me nor the other children." Pogo explained to me. In my mind, I faintly pictured a blonde haired woman, her bright smile as she had welcomed me into the house.  Though, despite having never met the other kids, I do remember the hushed whispers before Grace had led someone away. 

"That was right before my parents. I never saw him again." I said. That was the last memory I had with Reginald. He had given a promise to meet other children like me, I remember that now. But I never did because The Handler got me two days later. 

"Your parents passing, coupled with your disappearance, did create quite a conundrum for Mr. Hargreeves. We never did find you, or figured out where you had went. My sincerest apologies for your loss, Miss (y/n). It could not have been an easy burden to carry." Pogo told me, a frown pulling at his lip. I shrugged my shoulders, teeth gnawing at my bottom lip. 

"It never is." I murmured, looking up at Reginald's portrait again. "Did you know then? About me and Klaus." Pogo nodded at me. "But Klaus was never told." I voiced my assumption, it coming out more as a statement than a question. 

"We planned to, eventually, when you got older and hopefully became part of the Umbrella Academy. But after you disappeared... well, Master Klaus went through a lot as a child. We saw no worth in burdening him further." Pogo informed me. I stayed quiet for a moment, trailing my eyes over the room. 

"I wish I had become part of the Academy. Maybe then I'd have less problems." I said out loud, mostly to myself, but Pogo shook his head anyway. 

"Perhaps it seems that way, but here you are now, back into the Academy. Hopefully your time after here will go differently than it did all those years ago." Pogo gently pat my back, a movement I hadn't been expecting. I watched him begin to leave the room again, maybe to find Luther or Klaus, or maybe to spend some time for himself. 

"Pogo, wait," I called after him, and he only turned, waiting for what I was going to say. "How do I tell Klaus? He deserves to know." I asked, desperately waiting for an answer. This wasn't something I knew how to handle, and after the way the news was broken to me, having a secret twin my whole life, I wanted him to know in a better way. Yet, there was no one else I could talk to about it, as Five was the only one who knew and he didn't have time nor the experience to help me. 

"I apologize, Miss (y/n), but I have no advice for this. Truth be told, I don't think there is a right way, especially when having to tell the secrets of others. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help." Pogo gave me one last smile, one that seemed sad. Something appeared to be weighing down on him, but I had no time push further before he left the room. I scoffed as I was left alone again. 

"Some advice that was." I whispered to myself. Part of me wished now I had left with Five. It would've been easier then, using the situation as a distraction instead of facing the mound of problems that had been unearthed for me. But at the same time, I knew I needed to work through this, at least partly, and find a way to talk to Klaus about it. 

I turned away from the portrait on the wall, briefly trailing my eyes over the one of Five. As I left the room, I tried to imagine if I had lived here. From what both Five told me, and what Vanya wrote in her book, the Academy had messed each kid up differently. But then, on the other hand, I had issues now to begin with, and maybe if I had been here I wouldn't have been twisted up in such a lie. Hopefully, in the scenario of living here, I would still have my parents. I would have never had to come home to them, slipping through their blood into my grief. 

But I wouldn't ever know, and now I'd have to face what I did know. The first thing was Klaus, I have to talk to him; the second was the coming end of the world, which we're supposed to try and stop; and the third is the Commission, how they're probably going to come to for my ass after what happened with The Handler. But I couldn't fix the other two right now, so that led me back to my first one- talking to Klaus. And despite how well we both got along, how this secret wasn't mine so it wasn't as if I'd be the one he was mad at, I still found myself hesitating at the foot of the stairs, hand hovering over the banister.

~

"Luther? Do you know where Klaus is? I looked in his room, but-" I stepped into the front room, only to get cut off as Klaus was thrown in front of me. He landed on the floor with a scream, sliding quite a few feet before he stopped. Luther pushed passed me, making me hit the wall as he barged past and headed towards the front door. "Luther, what the hell?" I called after him, but he ignored me and opened the front door, then left. 

"Oh, shit." I heard Klaus murmur from inside the room, and I peeked around the corner, watching as he got up. 

"What was that about? What happened?" I asked. Klaus sighed, running a hand down his face. 

"He's drunk. He found out Dad sent him to the moon for nothing, which makes sense for the prick he was, but Luther spent his life dedicated to the Academy and Dad's rules." Klaus huffed a laugh and shook his head as he came to stand by me. "A great load that did him, did any of us." Klaus muttered.  I bit my lip, looking back to the door. 

"Should we go find him?" Klaus frowned at my question. 

"I mean, do we really have to?" Klaus countered and I shrugged my shoulders. 

"I kind of took responsibility for him when the others left. So I at least have to go. I would appreciate the company." I told him. Klaus was quiet for a moment, then looked over my shoulder and rolled his eyes. 

"Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's a good point. She'd need me to get in anywhere anyway." I stared at Klaus, confused on who he was directing the comment to. I glanced over my shoulder, but only saw the empty hall and doorway behind me.

"What do you mean I'd need you to get in anywhere? Why would I? Where'd he go?" I fired off questions as Klaus started making his way to the door. His hands shook and I could now see he was beginning to sweat. 

"Before he left he said he wanted to be like me, so probably some club or poor run down bar. I guess we'll have quite a few picks." Klaus shook his head with a laugh. "Just when I was getting sober too. The universe hates me." Klaus shot a glare to the space beside him, but said nothing else as I followed him. God, this is gonna be a long walk. I thought as I shut the door behind us. When I turned around, Klaus was already down the steps, his hands gripping the metal fencing as he regained balance. 

A new sympathy came over me as I came to his side and helped Klaus as we began making our way down the sidewalk. In a small portion of Vanya's book, she had touched on Klaus' struggles with his powers, but I hadn't realized how bad it was until I was at his side, watching him try to pull from his dependence on his drugs and alcohol. A few times, already, there were whispered arguments with someone else, most likely a ghost, but I didn't think to ask who. I didn't think it was my business unless he told me so. Besides, I had my own thought to sink in, I didn't know what else to say, and it seemed neither did Klaus, so we kept walking.