THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY
fractured || five hargreeves x reader

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: NO MATTER WHAT IT COSTS

Written By: peachyhxlland

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You trudged through the snow, each step heavy as the thick blanket of white crunched beneath your boots. The forest was behind you now, a tangled mass of shadows and frost-covered trees that had seemed endless. Ahead, you could finally see the main road, a ribbon of asphalt cutting through the icy wilderness, and the way out of this snowy hellscape. But as soon as you almost made it out, you were blocked by a black van. The van's engine idled for a moment longer before the doors abruptly swung open. You braced yourself, eyes narrowed, your breath misting in the freezing air as you watched the figures emerge.

A group of unmasked men stepped out, one by one. They were dressed in dark clothing, such as black tactical jackets, and heavy boots. "You're coming with us." One of the men, the tallest of the group, stood at the front, his gaze locking onto you with a kind of icy intensity, trying to intimidate you. The others flanked him, spreading out as if to surround you, cutting off any chance of escape.

You put on your best innocent act, raising your hands slowly in surrender. Your eyes widened, trying to appear as fearful as possible, though inside, you were anything but. "What?" you asked, voice trembling with false innocence. "Please, I just want to get back to my family..."

"Cut the bullshit!" The tall man, possibly the leader, scolded as he pointed his gun directly at you, causing you to flinch. "We know who you are."

You dropped the act, your innocent façade vanishing as you straightened up, your eyes locking with the leader's eyes. The fear in your gaze evaporated, replaced by a cold, calculating stare. Your mind raced, connecting the dots─their gear, the emblem emblazoned on their tactical vests─it was the same logo Luther had seen back in New Grumpson, Maine. Reginald Hargreeves was still looking for you, hunting you down after the chaos that had unfolded in New Grumpson.

You clenched your jaw, anger flaring in your chest, but before you could speak, one of the men next to the leader leaned closer, whispering into his ear. "Are you sure this is the one, boss?" The man asked, eyeing you skeptically. "She looks like a kid."

"Don't be fooled," The leader muttered, his gaze never wavering. "That's a demon in disguise."

Suddenly, you heard movement behind you. Your senses tingled with warning, and you spun around, realizing that more men had emerged from the cover of the trees. They weren't with Hargreeves' men. This was a different group, and they had you surrounded. The leader of Hargreeves' men snarled, his gun now aimed at the newcomers. "Who the fuck are you?!"

One of the men from the second group, another leader, stepped forward, his own weapon drawn but held with confidence as if he did not doubt who held the upper hand. "Step away from the girl," He ordered, his voice steady and calm. "We came to take her. Strict orders from Dr. Gene Thibedeau and Dr. Jean Thibedeau."

You silently scoffed. 'Great. They've also come for me.'

"Over my dead body."

The tension was thick in the air, both groups standing at a standoff, weapons raised, ready to fire. You stood in the middle, feeling the weight of both sides pressing in on you, but all you felt was boredom creeping in. This had been fun at first. The cat-and-mouse games, the little theatrics, the chase had been entertaining for a while. But now? Now it was exhausting. You had a plan to follow, a mission to complete, and none of this nonsense was helping you get closer to your goal.

You rolled your eyes, stifling a sigh as the bickering and posturing continued around you. You were so lost in your thoughts, feeling the dull irritation of yet another pointless hold-up, that you didn't notice the subtle movements from both sides.

Without warning, they opened fire.

You threw up a shield, a shimmering red barrier of energy that deflected most of the bullets. One bullet managed to sneak in through her defenses, shooting into your leg with a searing pain. You gasped, nearly collapsing as the force of the impact drove your knee into the snow. But you didn't have time to register the pain. You sent a wave of energy rippling outward, blasting several of the gunmen off their feet. Snow exploded in all directions, and the ground trembled under the sheer force of your power. Three of the gunmen were thrown into trees, their rifles scattering into the snow.

You gritted your teeth, your leg burning. The bullet was lodged deep in your thigh, every movement sending sharp pain radiating through your body. "Fuck!" You clenched your fists, summoning your powers inward.

The remaining gunmen closed in, sensing your vulnerability. More shots rang out, but you dodged quickly. Your movements are slower now but still precise. With a flick of your hand, you sent another pulse of energy, knocking one of the gunmen into a nearby boulder.

You could feel the blood soaking into your pants, the warmth contrasting sharply with the cold snow beneath you. You dropped to one knee, your breathing heavy, your fingers trembling as you focused your power on the wound.

Slowly, the bullet began to shift inside your leg as your eyes glowed brighter while concentrating. Pain shot through you like lightning, but you kept your focus, gritting your teeth as the bullet edged toward the surface. With a sharp, quick motion, the metal slug came out, hovering in the air before you, coated in your blood.

You let it drop into the snow and immediately closed your hand over the wound, sealing it with a surge of energy. You groaned loudly in pain as the bleeding stopped, though the pain remained, throbbing in time with your heartbeat.

Suddenly, an explosion rocked the clearing.

You turned just in time to see a vehicle parked near the treeline burst into flames. Bullets had struck it moments earlier, and now it was a fireball of twisted metal and burning fuel. The shockwave hit you hard, throwing you backward through the air. You hit the ground with a grunt, the snow doing little to cushion your fall. Your face stung with the heat of the blast, and when you reached up, you felt the raw, blistered skin on your cheek.

Through the smoke and flames, you could see the last few gunmen, stumbling, dazed by the explosion but still on their feet. Your vision blurred from the pain, but you summoned the last of your strength. Your eyes flared with energy, her hands crackling with power. You sent a final, devastating shockwave that rippled across the clearing, lifting the remaining gunmen off their feet and slamming them into the wreckage of the burning vehicle.

You stood in the aftermath, breathing heavily, your leg throbbing and your face burning. The snow around you was littered with debris and ash; the once-pristine clearing is now a field of bloody corpses. You looked at the bullet you had pulled from your leg, half-buried in the snow, before turning your gaze to the burning wreckage.

The adrenaline from the fight began to subside, leaving you trembling. Your leg throbbed painfully where the bullet had been, and the burn on your face stung every time the cold wind touched it.

You stared at the bodies of the gunmen scattered across the snow, their lifeless forms twisted in unnatural ways. Your breath came in short, ragged gasps as the weight of what had just happened crashed down on you. Your hands, still crackling faintly with residual energy, began to shake uncontrollably. Your heart raced, faster and faster, until you felt like it was going to explode in your chest. You stumbled backward, your eyes wide, your gaze darting around as if the world were closing in on you.

Everything you have done began to sink in.

You wiped your face, trying to push the thoughts away, but your hands were still stained with blood─your own and theirs. Your mind began to spiral, faster than you could control. "They're dead. They're all dead," You whispered to yourself, your voice quivering. "I killed them... I─"

Your voice broke, and you clutched your head, sinking down to your knees in the snow. The cold seeped through your clothes, but you barely noticed. Your thoughts were a storm, swirling out of control.

"They had no chance. They never had a chance," You muttered, your words coming faster now, more frantic. "No, they weren't part of my plan. They had to go... I had to kill them."

You let out a strangled sob, your hands tangling in your hair as you rocked back and forth. The world seemed to spin around you, the trees warping into strange, shadowy figures that loomed over you. You could hear voices─whispers that weren't real, echoing in your ears.

"Stop it... stop it!" You cried, pressing your hands to your ears, trying to block out the noise. But the voices grew louder, mocking you and taunting you with failure.

"You're a monster," one of them hissed.

"You killed them all!" another whispered, colder, sharper.

The voices. They were familiar. It was as if they were the same voices from your family.

"No... no, I had to!" You shouted, your voice cracking with desperation. "Shut up!"

But the voices wouldn't stop. They filled your head, drowning out everything else. You stood up abruptly, pacing in frantic circles, your eyes darting from shadow to shadow as if the gunmen were still there, still watching you.

"They're gone. They're gone. I killed them." You mumbled, clutching your arms as if to hold yourself together. "But they won't stop─they won't leave me alone! Why won't they leave me alone?!"

The world appeared to quiver around you as you moved around in circles, your vision becoming hazy. Tears streamed down your face, mixing with the soot and blood. Angrily, you tried to wipe them away, but all it did was spread the mess and make your hands tremble even more.

You could feel your mind slipping, unraveling at the edges, and there was nothing you could do to stop it. You looked down at the bloodied snow beneath you, your vision blurring with tears. The fight, the blood, the explosion─it was all too much.

You started to laugh─soft, broken laughter that quickly spiraled into something darker, more manic. The sound echoed off the trees, high-pitched and ragged. The manic laughter that had just escaped you was still echoing in the cold, empty air.

"You're hurting yourself just for this stupid plan."

You looked behind you and saw your kinder, softer, and present version of yourself─the version you tried to bury beneath anger and hatred. The version you tried to lock away to take over this body. You scoffed. "I don't need your pity. And for the record, this wasn't part of my fucking plan."

"We can just go back to our family. Help them stop this upcoming end of the world again."

You angrily walked towards yourself and clasped her face tightly, causing her to wince. "We will go back to our family, you hear me? The family we have always wanted." You chuckled. "Have you forgotten our dreams? The lives we tried so hard to make and have? We could have that."

"This is wrong, and you know that. Ending the world just to take everything we deserve? That's selfishness. And we already have a family." You saw your other self's eyes filled with an almost unbearable sadness. "Killing all these people, causing so much pain─it won't give you what you want."

"Shut up!" You shouted, pushing your other self away with a burst of rage. "You don't know anything!"

The kinder version of yourself didn't flinch. She simply shook her head, her gaze unwavering. "How many times do I have to tell you? I am you. I know everything. I know why you're doing this. I know how much you've suffered because I suffered it too. But destroying the world and killing people won't bring you peace."

Your hands clenched into fists, your nails digging into your palms. "I don't care about peace," You snarled, your voice dripping with venom. "We've been through hell. We've lost everything. And now─now I'm going to take back what I deserve. What we deserve. And no one─no one─will stop me."

Your other self's face softened as pity filled her eyes. "Revenge won't fill the emptiness inside you. You're only making things worse."

Your vision blurred with fury, your chest heaving as your pulse pounded in your ears. You took a step forward, your boots crunching in the snow. Then another. And another, until you were standing right in front of your other self, towering over her. Your eyes blazed with anger, your breath hot in the freezing air.

"No," You growled, your voice low and dangerous. "You're wrong. This world has taken everything from me, and now I'm going to take it back─by force if I have to. I will get what I deserve."

The hallucination shook her head again, her expression heartbreakingly kind. "What you deserve is a life free from this hatred. You can choose a different path. You still have a chance to─"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" You screamed, your energy flaring out in a wild surge, causing the snow around you to melt instantly. Your other self staggered back, but her face remained firm, unyielding. You stormed forward, your fists glowing with your powers, your face twisted with fury. You jabbed a finger at the hallucination, your voice venomous. "You're weak! You're the part of me that held back, the part that let people walk all over me. Do you think I care about what you think? I don't! I care about getting what I'm owed. I've sacrificed too much to stop now. And no one─not even you, not anyone─can take that from me. No matter what it costs."

You swiped your hand through the hallucination, your powers crackling with such force that the hallucination dissipated, scattering like mist in the wind. "No matter what it costs," You repeated softly to yourself, your eyes narrowing.

As the hallucination vanished into thin air, you stood in the eerie silence of the snow-covered battlefield. Your chest heaved as the last traces of your fury subsided, leaving your mind clear but still buzzing with dark intent. You looked around at the scattered bodies of the gunmen, lying lifeless in the snow. Their blank, staring eyes reflected the orange glow of the distant flames, but you felt no guilt, no remorse. Now, they were nothing more than tools to achieve your goal.

A slow, chilling smile spread across your face as an idea crept into your mind. They didn't have to stay dead. Not if she could change that.

You extended your hands, fingers twitching as your powers surged. The snow beneath the bodies began to ripple as your power twisted through the ground, sinking into the cold flesh of the dead. At first, nothing happened. The forest remained still, the lifeless corpses frozen in place. But then, one by one, the bodies began to stir.

A dead gunman's hand twitched and then jerked violently. Another's head snapped up, and the dead eyes suddenly filled with an eerie, unnatural light. Bones cracked and joints creaked as the bodies slowly rose from the snow, their movements stiff and jerky but obedient to your command.

You watched, your heart racing with a strange sense of satisfaction as the dead gunmen stood before you, now mere shadows of the men they once were. Their faces were blank, their bodies twisted by death, but they stood at attention, waiting for your orders.

They were like your puppets.

You walked among them, studying their new forms, no longer burdened by life or will. Your mind whirled with possibilities. You could use them, control them, or send them out to do your bidding. They would follow you without question, without hesitation.

Something caught your eye as you strode forward and your soulless soldiers trailed behind you. A small red light, barely visible through the falling snow, blinked from a nearby tunnel. Your eyes narrowed as you realized it was a CCTV camera.

Your heart skipped a beat. If the camera had seen you, then someone else would know what had happened here. You couldn't allow that. You wouldn't let anyone stop you before you could take what you deserved.

With a flick of your wrist, a bolt of energy shot from your hand, striking the camera with pinpoint precision. The lens shattered, sparks flying as the small machine short-circuited and went dark. You allowed yourself a satisfied smile as the camera died. No one should see and know. At least, not yet.

After giving the broken camera one last look, you turned and began walking toward the tunnel, your army of the dead silently following behind you.

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I haven't been updating for almost a month, huh? I'm really sorry, guys! I've been busy quite lately. I hope you like this update because this is my (late) birthday gift to you hehe ♡