Wind Chimes || The Umbrella Academy

Prologue

Edited
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"Dad shouldn't be bringing another kid in if their mom said no to his offer at first, why did he push it?" Serenity, now known as Number Zero, heard a bitter voice complain from the room Mr.Hargreeves was leading her. When Serenity heard what seemed to be a young boy's voice, she could tell she was not welcome.

"Enough nonsense, Number Two! Do not speak of my actions in a poor light. You will all understand why I was so adamant about it in time." Mr.Hargreeves said in an irritated voice to the boy as he and Serenity walked into the room. Everyone in the room looked at Serenity like she was a specimen under a microscope. Though it was not pleasant, she understood that it was probably weird for them to have a stranger live with them.

"Umbrella Academy, meet Number Zero, she will be the new member of the academy, and you will treat her as you treat one another already." He demanded of the children. All of them mumbled "yes sir" while looking down at the floor. While Serenity looked at all of them, she noticed that there were seven other children, not just the six Mr.Hagreeves had spoken of before they arrived.

"Who is that?" Serenity asked quietly, pointing at the girl at the end of the line who had bangs. Grace had only described the curly-haired girl to Serenity, so she naturally she was quite confused. Almost everyone in the room was only seven years old and had impeccable manners, but Serenity never learned the manners that they did. Mr.Hargreeves shook his head disapprovingly of her talking when not spoken to, but answered anyway.

"That is Number Seven; she isn't like the rest of you; she is just ordinary." He explained, which made Seven's gaze at the floor become more intense if possible. Serenity furrowed her eyebrows while studying the girl; she wondered what the point of keeping Seven was if she didn't have powers.

"Nobody is just ordinary." Serenity stated, looking at Number Seven, who looked up at her with the ghost of a smile on her lips.

"I'm afraid that's not true. Now, Five, please show Zero to her new room," Mr.Hargreeves demanded, then walked away from all of the children. Slowly, the grumpy children dispersed until it was just Five and Zero in the room.

"It's nice to meet you, Five." Serenity said awkwardly, holding out her hand to the boy in front of her. She only did this because she saw Mr.Hargreeves did it with her mother when he "adopted" her. The boy dismissed her action and began to walk in the direction all of the other kids went in. As Serenity followed the boy, she could hear him mumbling incoherent things under his breath.

The two children walked for what seemed like forever until Five abruptly stopped in front of Serenity's new room. Serenity nearly ran into Five's back when he stopped but caught herself before she could. When Serenity took a moment to look at her surroundings, she realized that she was standing in front of a brown door with a golden handle.

"There is your room, dinner will be served soon. I suggest that you are downstairs within three minutes of the dinner bell chiming or you will get into trouble." Five muttered before walking off to where Serenity assumed was his room. Her mother told her the other kids would take a bit of time to get used to her since they were isolated from outsiders, but Serenity knew that they would develop a liking toward her eventually.

Slowly, Serenity walked into her new room, which was very dull and threw her suitcase onto her new bed. The bedsheets were white, the walls were white, but the carpet beneath her feet was dark green. Other than the bed, there was only an armoire with a mirror on the door and a closet.

Since it was her first day living with the academy, Serenity decided to make some goals for herself. Number one being she wanted to get the others to like her, and two, she wanted to make her room more... roomy. She had a feeling that the second goal would be easier to achieve than the first.

~

Between the soft crackle of the fire in front of her and the voice coming from the radio, Serenity was trying her hardest not to fall asleep. Camping became one of Serenity's favorite hobbies after she left the academy, and since it wasn't raining, she decided to go for the week. Listening to broadcasting stations became her favorite past time while camping; it was like a hobby within a hobby. The radio station she was listening to was reading aloud some of the original Umbrella Academy comics, and it brought back pleasant memories for her, which is why she was so adamant about staying awake. Of course, bad memories filtered in with the good, but she chose not to focus on those.

"We interrupt this reading to share some breaking news regarding The Umbrella Academy. It was just reported that Sir Reginald Hargreeves was found dead in his home, we don't know what this means for the Hargreeves children or how they have been informed-" After Serenity heard those staticky words, the wind in the forest around her picked up just a little.