TRUCE | D. Hargreeves

v. | favor

v. | favor

                      KNOX MORRIS HAD no clue why she was still at the Academy. Her feet hurt from standing in her stupid heels, her head hurt from trying to keep calm, and her knuckles hurt from holding the black umbrella over her head too tightly.

Outside in the courtyard, placed under the oak tree, stood the residents and employees of the Umbrella Academy. Above, the sky had turned a dark gray, and rain poured down from the heavens, coating everything it touched in a dreary, depressed glaze. Per Allison's request, Knox had stayed behind, agreeing to join the memorial as long as she could go home right after. The day had drifted far too long, and she'd decided that going over the will would have to wait for a later day.

Knox's eyes were trained on a statue of Ben Hargreeves, the other son of the Umbrella Academy. He'd died many years ago, but even though she knew that, Knox kept a close eye on the memorial statue, waiting for it to manifest like Number Five had.

Around her, the Hargreeves children and employees stood still, solemn. 

"Did something happen?" Grace asked to Knox's left, red lips perked into a smile around her white teeth. She was dressed in one of her housewife outfits, hiding under an umbrella to protect her perfectly placed blond hair.

Allison answered with furrowed brows, eyes flickering to the android with confusion. "Dad died, remember?" When Grace said nothing, Allison glanced over to Diego, who stood to Knox's immediate left. "Is Mom okay?" She asked quietly.

Diego, one of the only people in the courtyard without an umbrella to protect from the rain, nodded his head. "Yeah, she's fine. Just needs to rest. You know, recharge."

Luther stood at the front of the group, urn in hand with a solemn look on his face. He'd been appointed as the one who would run the service, and he stood with a straight face as that overcoat of his became soaked in the rain. Knox stared at her feet as the memorial started, making sure the sharp heel of her shoes didn't sink too far into the mud forming around her.

The ashes of Sir Reginald Hargreeves hit the ground with no sound. No flash of light, no anguished crying. All he got were the stares of nine individuals who he'd never really cared for, no matter how much those individuals had cared for him. For a moment, the courtyard was quiet.

To fill this silence, Pogo took a turn speaking, forever indebting himself to a man who never loved anyone but himself. Knox's face grew hot as the creation spoke, as she had started to really understand how shitty of a father Sir Reginald Hargreeves had been. He didn't care about his children, his creations. Knox was positive he'd never cared about her.

It made her feel sick, knowing everyone was going through the motions of mourning without any sadness. For a second, Knox thought about her own father's funeral. Nearly five years ago, all the way back in Australia. It had been a different affair, with sobbing, speeches, and two years of a deep, deep depression that had nearly killed Knox herself.

The Umbrella Academy was different, though. Always different.

Before Pogo's speech ended, he was interrupted by an angry Diego. Knox's eyes flicked to her left, where the man - still dressed in all black but now soaked through with rain water - was furrowing his eyebrows and staring at the ground with pursed, angry lips.

"He was a monster," he spat out. Klaus, standing near the end of the line of 'mourners', still puffing on a cigarette, laughed with surprise. Diego didn't stop, though. "He was a bad person and the worst father. The world's better off without him."

"Diego," Allison attempted to cut in.

He didn't skip a beat. "My name is Number Two. You know why? Because our father couldn't be bothered to give us actual names. He had Mom do it."