His Only Hope

Meet the... Other Family

"Shit," you and your siblings said in unison.

"Ben," Klaus breathed with an airy chuckle as your throat contracted. 

He's back. I haven't seen him in so long.

Luther stepped forward slowly to look at him, his eyes narrowed.

"Is that really you?"

"And who are the weirdos on the balcony?!" Diego bellowed. He then ducked his head slightly in awkward acknowledgment as you glared at him, your ears still sensitive from the earlier explosions.

"They are the Sparrows," Reginald replied indignantly. "My children."

"I'm sorry, what do you mean your children?" Five asked after an awkward silence, striding toward your father. "That's not possible, old man."

"Of course it is! I think I'd know, wouldn't I?"

"Everyone else can s-see Ben, right?" Klaus asked with a smile, and you nodded, sliding your hand into his arm and taking in Ben's features. He definitely looked more... emo.

"Cute hat, Sundance."

Klaus tipped his cowboy hat at him in response, and you eyed Ben curiously. He was definitely acting... weirder.

"They call themselves 'the Umbrella Academy'," Reginald continued. "A group of scheming, perfidious malcontents who accosted me in the fall of 1963 when I was away on business in Dallas. Be warned, they claim to be my spawn."

As he spoke, you examined the so-called 'Sparrow Academy'. The one who seemed to be in charge had dark, cocoa-colored skin and a confident air about him. Then there was Ben, of course, and another man who appeared to have a disfigured face. Three women stood near them, one of whom had on a fierce outfit and sunglasses. Also worth noting, you decided, was that there was an odd floating cube above them.

When your eyes landed on the final person, however, your heart seemed to stop beating.

The same almost perfectly straight blond hair. The same deep blue eyes. Even the same mouth, tilted up ever so slightly.

Except it was a man. He looked exactly like Colleen.

You blinked hard, attempting to chase away the thought. Of course you were going to see your friends in everyone - you were worried about them. You still didn't know why the police had been at there house last night.

No, you realized with a jolt. 56 years ago.

Whatever had happened that night, you had left them on their own to deal with it.

"Claim? Look, Five, what the hell is going on?" Allison asked, drawing you out of your musings. By now, the man had noticed you staring at him, and gave you a disgusted look as you quickly glanced away.

"I don't know yet, but it's concerning."

"Is he telling the truth?" the one who seemed to be in charge asked, and Vanya spoke.

"Not the part about us being perfidious."

"No, we're amateur-fidious at best," Klaus decided, resting an elbow on top of your head.

"But we are his children. This is our house."

"Yeah, yeah," Luther said, seemingly dazed. "We, uh... we grew up here."

"Yeah, we grew up here," the one with the scarred face mocked. The others snickered cruelly, except for one pretty woman, who spoke up next.

"I... kind of think we would have noticed you," she said gently.