small | the umbrella academy

prologue-

Amelie Thomas was a 17 year old English student who had was travelling home to the small village where her parents resided after an exhausting spring term at St Anne's Sixth Form for Girls.

The year was 1996 and the girl was filled with excitement for the year ahead - she had one term left at the school where she had boarded since she was 11, and then she was let loose to the great wide world.

She was unstoppable. She had her whole life planned and nothing could get in her way.

Until now.

The train was one stop away from Fenton Green and Amelie was eager to see her parents again. Her journey had not been unpleasant, but the train carriage was beginning to get suffocating.

"Next stop, Fenton Green!" Came the announcement from the train conductor, triggering Amelie to make a move to reach for her belongings. Just as she stood up to reach for her bags, she felt it.

She had never felt something so painful in all of her life. Waves and waves of agony swept over the frail girl, causing her to collapse back on to her seat.

A man, around the age of 30, swiftly made his way through the carriage to the girl after hearing her groans of pain. He saw the look of panic on her face, his eyes then flickering down to her swollen stomach - something that was definitely not there when he saw the girl boarding the train hours before.

"I don't know if you've noticed miss, but you are heavily pregnant," the man breathed in some odd mixture of awe and horror.

"What? No I'm not, you-" Amelie was cut off by her own piercing scream, after seeing her stomach for herself.

"Someone tell them to stop the bloody train!" The man called down the carriage, an elderly woman scurrying off straight away. "Don't worry yourself, I'm a doctor," The man put a hand on the girl's shoulder, giving her a look of reassurance. "You have to trust me... for the baby,"

Amelie nodded, a cry ripping through her lips.

The doctor did all of his routine checks as he would with any patient, the remaining passengers looking on in shock as the train came to a stop in Fenton Green.

"You're going to have to push for me, Miss," the doctor said ruggedly, never having seen a birth this quick before.

After an extremely short 10 minutes, Amelie Thomas had a daughter in her arms, her head laying limp on the shoulder of the doctor.

A ruckus could be heard by the door to the carriage, but all that Amelie could focus on was the shocking blue of her daughters eyes, and the stark white of the hair that was already in the child's head.

"Amelie! What in God's name have you gotten yourself into at that school?!" Mrs Thomas screeched, seeing the state of her daughter.

"Trust me, ma'am. Your daughter was not pregnant when she boarded this train," the doctor said, still in shock.

"What a load of bollocks! What do you have to say for yourself, girl?" Mr Thomas growled, eyes like darts, shooting a glare at his own daughter.

"It's... it's true," Amelie said drearily. The girl was frail, as fore-mentioned, and she would not live to see the next 5 minutes. She was barely developed for a 17 year old, her body nowhere near ready to endure childbirth.

Amelie Thomas died on that train, leaving her unnamed daughter in the custody of her uncaring parents.

•••

"Name your price," came the wise voice of Sir Reginald Hargreeves. After hearing of this repeat phenomenon only happening on this one occasion, he needed to get his hands on this little baby girl.

"No no, just take her. We have no desire to keep her," Mr Thomas said spitefully, eyeing the child whom his daughter had birthed out of wedlock, resulting in her demise.

"I insist, how much do you want for her?"

"No, really-"

"Ten thousand pounds," Mrs Thomas said, shooting a side eye at her husband.

"Is that all?" The billionaire tested the couple, raising an amused eyebrow.

"... fifty thousand?" Mr Thomas said hesitantly.

"If that is all you wish for, then it will be granted. Fifty thousand pounds for the child,"

And the deal was done.