THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY
fractured || five hargreeves x reader

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: THIS IS YOUR FAULT!

Written By: peachyhxlland

°•.☆.•°

As soon as they realized what had happened to their Ben, everyone back in the present day found themselves struggling to control their breathing. Upon witnessing what unfolded on the monitor, Five and Lila were rendered speechless. Knowing the reason for his brother's death made Five contract his fists, and the fact that he wasn't there to save him made him feel even more enraged. Gasping for breath, Luther blew out his mouthpiece. "Oh, my God."

Allison swiftly took the straps from her body and sat up, crying. She marched towards Reginald angrily. "You murdered our brother!"

"And Jennifer!" Viktor yelled as he and Luther stood up from the machines.

Diego got up, and Lila immediately took the position next to her husband. "Son of a bitch." Diego whispered, betrayal and rage simultaneously flaring up the gaze he bore.

"Children!" Reginald called out. "Whatever anger you may feel towards me is misdirected," He reminded everyone. "May I remind you that it was the other Sir Reginald Hargreeves who committed this horrible act."

"You killed two innocent kids!" Five angrily exclaimed. "Kids, old man!"

"And he had a perfectly valid reason for doing so." Reginald justified. "They would have set off a cataclysmic chain of events, leading to the extinction of all humanity."

"You are no different than the other Hargreeves!" Luther angrily yelled.

"You're both fucking psychopaths!" Diego tearfully shouted.

Abigail hurried to stand by her husband's side in his defense. "It's not his fault." She told everyone. "Reg is not responsible for what happened to your brother and that poor girl. I am."

Everyone became quiet as they all looked at Abigail. "Years ago, I synthesized a new element." Abigail began explaining. "The very essence of the universe."

"The particle we know as marigold." Reginald added.

"And at the same moment, unbeknownst to me, a second particle was created. Durango." Abigail continued. "When marigold and durango interact, they cause... a reaction, a physical reaction. Unstoppable, irrevocable. The extinction of everything we know."

"The Cleanse." Five muttered.

Abigail nodded at Five. "By the time I realized what was happening, it was too late for our world. The world me and Reg called a home."

"You couldn't have known, darling." Reginald reassured as he comforted his wife.

"Uh... I don't mean to be a dick and all, but what the duck does any of this have to do with us?" Lila asked, feeling stressed and overwhelmed by the information that the alien couple was feeding them.

"The other particle is inside of Jennifer," Reginald explained. "That's why it's imperative that none of you can come into contact with her."

"And what happens if we do?" Lila asked.

"We end the world." Five answered.

Lila pressed her lips together and nodded. "Saw that coming."

With caution, Luther raised his hand as he realized a particular issue. "Uh, guys?" He caught everyone's attention. "We... may have a problem."

°•○●○•°

After making their way out of Gene and Jean's compound, Ben and Jennifer made their way through the snow-covered forest. Earlier that day, Ben had saved Jennifer by coming to her rescue and slaying every guard that Gene and Jean had employed. After Ben and Jennifer were able to escape, Gene and Jean were unable to bring Jennifer back.

Jennifer found it impossible to keep up with Ben's very quick pace. "Slow down!" Jennifer complained as she tried to walk faster to keep up with Ben.

"We've gotta keep moving." Ben told Jennifer; his pace of walking remained unchanged.

Jennifer grew tired and stopped walking. "No." She told Ben and Ben stopped walking too and turned around to face her. "End of the line. I'm not going any further with you."

Ben became confused. "Where are you gonna go?"

Jennifer looked around. "I-I'll figure it out."

Ben scoffed. "Why did I even bother saving your ungrateful ass?"

"A good question," Jennifer argued back. "We met, what, 36 hours ago? In that time, you've killed, like, two dozen people."

"Yeah, to protect you."

"From what?" Jennifer asked, and her query left Ben unable to give an answer. "Do you even know? You couldn't even bother coming back to save your sister."

"Sister─?" Ben shook his head. "I told you already; I looked for you and her, and she is nowhere to be found." He huffed. "Look, I didn't ask for any of this. I... I didn't even know what this is," Ben thought for a moment. "But you and me, we're... we're connected somehow."

Jennifer felt the same way and averted her gaze, but she said she remained quiet. Ben sighed. "Let's just... let's get some rest, and we can figure this out together. Please?"

"And what about (Y/n)?" She asked worriedly, despite knowing you for only a few hours. "Are we going to come back for her?"

Ben stared at Jennifer. "If I found her nowhere in the compound, then I'm sure she's safe and she escaped." He tried to reassure Jennifer. "She's capable of herself, Jennifer, I promise. She kicked my ass a bunch of times."

Suppressing a laugh, Jennifer found herself slightly comforted by Ben's companionship. Ben and Jennifer heard sirens blaring off in the area, and they both noticed a police car driving by. "Come on," Ben told Jennifer. "We gotta move."

°•○●○•°

"I don't understand." Lila spoke up as she stared at Luther in confusion. "What? You just let him go?"

"Well, how was I supposed to know Ben was infected with this... whatever this thing is?" Luther complained while eating a large cookie and his mouth was full making his words slightly muffled.

They were all back in the living room of the estate and had interrogated Luther about what he had witnessed. Luther told everyone what he saw between Ben and Jennifer from the back of the van during its crash and what he saw on Ben's arm when the van was being repaired.

"Great work, Luther." Five said sarcastically. "Really great."

"The rash on his arm. What did it look like?" Abigail asked Luther.

Luther flailed his arms around. "I dunno. It was just kind of..." He thought for a moment about how to describe what he saw on Ben's arm. "You know, it kind of looked like that thing that Klaus caught when he came from Ibiza."

His siblings groaned.

"Are you a doctor?" Diego questioned. "Or do you just play one at bachelorette parties?"

"Hey!" Luther exclaimed. "I am a professional dancer."

"Luther, was there anything unusual about this rash?" Abigail asked.

Luther shrugged. "No. It was just, you know, red." Just as he was finishing his large cookie, Luther suddenly displayed signs of stress. "And glowing." Abigail's eyes widened. "And pulsating."

Five narrowed his eyes at Luther. "You didn't think maybe that was worth bringing up?"

"I just thought it had to do with our powers coming back!" Luther frowned and tried to defend himself. "I mean, we've all been having issues. I know I have."

Lila looked at Five. "He's not wrong. I mean, I do have laser eyes."

Reginald, who was standing and listening by the other side of the room, huffed. "I've heard enough." He turned around and walked away from the room, fetching something. Abigail turned to see what her husband was taking until he came back with a rifle in his grasp.

Lila's eyes widened. "Woah, woah woah!" She yelled. "What are you doing?" She asked as she and the others who were sitting stood up in surprise.

"It's time to hunt." Reginald announced.

"He's gonna kill Ben all over again!" Viktor angrily said.

"The hosts must be eliminated before the reaction is complete." Reginald stated.

"Reaction?" Allison questioned. "You do realize that you're talking about human beings and not lab rats, correct?"

Reginald huffed at Allison but his wife tried to approach him. "Reggie, please, listen to your children. You can't just murder them both."

"She's right. There has to be another way." Luther chimed in.

"I understand," Reginald replied, not knowing that Allison took a ceramic small plate displayed near her in anger. "You've grown attached to your brother. But you don't seem to appreciate what's at stake here. We must act before it's too late."

Allison instantly threw the piece of furniture in her hand and struck Reginald directly in the back of the head as he turned around to leave. With a cry of pain, Reginald released the hold of his weapon and fell down. Luther let out an audible gasp.

"How about you shut your mouth?" Allison scolded.

Reginald turned around to face Allison. "How dare you!"

Allison took a few steps forward. "I think it's high time you realize you're not running the show here anymore, old man." She angrily told Reginald as she glared at him.

Reginald was about to take his gun, but Viktor quickly used his powers to move it away. "Don't even think about it!" He hurried to be next to Allison, although he was still a few feet further away. Reginald was restrained to the ground by Viktor using his powers.

Reginald struggled as the force of Viktor's powers was too powerful. "Do you think these childish theatrics will stop me?"

Viktor smirked as he nodded along. "Okay, well, I can step it up a notch if you like." Reginald gave a little groan and gasped for air as Viktor utilized his powers to further increase the impact. The floor beneath Reginald started to crack under pressure.

"Viktor, please don't hurt him!" Abigail begged Viktor.

"Why not?! Why shouldn't I?!" Viktor snapped at Abigail and then turned his attention back to Reginald as he continued to torture the old man. "All he does is hurt everybody else. Ben, Jennifer, (Y/n), Klaus, me! All of us!"

"Spare me the waterworks!" Reginald exclaimed as he tried to crawl away. "One life isn't more important than the entire planet."

Five recalled that he had once thought like Reginald, and that made him feel sick to his stomach. He recalled having prepared to sacrifice a helpless gardener in order to stop the first apocalypse and save the entire world.

Viktor scoffed at Reginald. "Oh, but your wife's is."

Reginald sighed. "You stuck your nose in where it didn't belong, and you allowed Jennifer to escape. This is your fault!"

Viktor, tired of feeling belittled, blamed, and abused by his father, shook his head in anger. "Oh no, no, no! This is your fault!" His powers grew even stronger. "My whole life, all I wanted was for you to see me, to make me a part of the team. Instead, you treated me like I was broken. And I believed you!" Viktor shouted as he pointed his finger at Reginald furiously while the whole mansion shook from his powers. "I thought you knew me better than I knew myself, but I know now you don't know shit! You're the failure! You're the reason this happened! And I am not gonna let you kill Ben! Not now, not ever! Am I clear?!"

Once he heard Viktor's enraged tirade, Reginald gave up trying to stand back up and resisted his powers, choosing instead to look at him in silence. As his siblings observed the entire incident and Abigail approached him with caution, Viktor was panting heavily. To offer comfort to Viktor, Abigail put a hand on him. "Viktor." Viktor looked at Abigail, and his powers slowly disappeared. "That's enough."

Reginald's lips quivered as he fixed his gaze on Viktor, who was breathing laboriously. Viktor looked breathlessly as Reginald rose again from the cracked tiles. "You and your father. Both so headstrong." Abigail remarked.

Reginald straightened his blazer and gave a sharp intake of breath. He heard the steady footsteps of one of his security, and he moved his head to the side. "You took your sweet time." Reginald sarcastically said. "What is it?"

In order to whisper something, the man came close to Reginald's ear. "Oh," Reginald blurted out as soon as he heard what his security had informed him. Viktor cocked an eyebrow. "What?" He asked, his voice still lingering with spite.

When his security left and Reginald turned to face everyone, he took a long inhale. "It seems we may have found your brother."

-•-°-•-°-☆

I managed to prepare the four chapters early before exams that's why I was able to update this week. The only thing that's keeping me from publishing was making the GIFs lol