three; fredrick and his grandmother
Sabrina's boots hit the pavement, causing water to shoot up into the air and drench the bottom of her dungarees. The brunette was relatively careless when exiting her apartment so late at night, her ears blocked by headphones that were blasting something by Evermore. She had her hands tucked deep into her pockets and her hair tied up in two loose braids. To put it lightly, she was unintentionally dressed like a pretentious prick.
Perhaps it was stupid of her to be wandering the streets of the city so late at night, but she had come to stop caring. She could handle herself, and besides, so what if she got shot? She was bound to die sometime, why try and stop it?
She could see the luminescent sign of Griddy's Doughnuts about two hundred feet down the street, and she shivered slightly, excited to enter the warmth of the establishment. It was practically a second home to her, having gone there since she had arrived five years ago. Agnes, the waitress, was kind and sometimes gave her a free snack at the end of the day.
"Hey, fairy princess lady!" someone yelled, but Sabrina didn't hear them, they were but a muffled voice behind her music. She hummed to herself as she drew closer to the business, her eyes not resting on anything in particular. She was perfectly harmless, and a perfect object of abuse to any lingering criminals. "Hey! Look out!"
Sabrina glanced to her right, and she paused momentarily when she saw a moving shadow. She tilted her head and pulled her headphones from her ears, letting them rest around her neck. She squinted a little down the alleyway, and she felt her heartbeat pick up a little as she felt a sense of danger.
Just walk away, idiot.
Sabrina ignored the voice in her head and took a curious step forward.
Stop walking towards the dodgy shadow! You have a goddamn superpower that helps you sense of danger! Just keep walking, dumbass.
"Shut up," Sabrina muttered to herself, before pulling her hands out of her pockets and tucking a flyaway piece of hair behind her ear. "Hello?"
'Hello?' Really? Haven't you ever seen a horror movie?
Sabrina rolled her eyes and cleared her throat. "Hey, you alright there, pal?"
No wonder you've only got a single brain cell left.
She hummed softly, tapping her foot to the beat of the song that was still bleeding through her headphones.
"Hey, Princess!"
Sabrina turned her head, ready to snap at what she suspected to be a catcaller, only to pause when she saw the strange man in black strolling her way.
Suddenly, her sense of danger shot up, and she turned back to the shadow, which had now become a tall, menacing man with a few strands of hair and a gun in his hand. She pursed her lips and smiled a little, now feeling a rush of adrenaline.
"Look out!" the man shouted, pulling a knife from his belt. He skidded to a halt as he watched her take a small step forward, swinging her arms at her sides. "Hey, what're you doing?"
Sabrina watched as the gun lifted and aimed itself at her face, and she leaned forward a little, resting her forehead on the barrel. "What's your worst nightmare?"
"Frederick, come to your grandmother," a figure appeared, and both Sabrina and the criminal turned to see a frail old woman shuffling towards them. She had her arms outstretched and a sickly grin on her shrivelled lips. In her left hand there was a burning cigarette between her fingers, in her right was a snakeskin handbag. She was short but intimidating, though the most frightening aspect was the sheer amount of lipstick smudged across her face. "Come on, child. Give us a kiss."
"You know, most people are scared of spiders," Sabrina crossed her arms and snickered, before leaning over a little and snatching the gun from the criminal, who was caught completely off guard. She held the weapon up to him now, before nodding towards the grandmother. "Go on, Frederick. Do you prefer Fred or Freddie? Pretty shit name, I'm not gonna lie to you. Did she pick it out?"
Frederick swallowed.
"Hey, grandma!" Sabrina called out, and Frederick flinched. "Freddie over here misses you! Go on, give him a good welcome kiss."
Frederick winced, before turning on his heel and running back down the alleyway with his grandmother in tow. Sabrina chuckled softly to herself, awkwardly fiddling with the gun in her hands.
She then looked over her shoulder to see the man in black watching her in awe. She scoffed a little at the sight of him. "Fat load of help you were."
He straightened his posture slightly awkwardly and cleared his throat. "Seemed like you were taking care of yourself. What were you doing to him?"
Sabrina paused, averting her eyes momentarily. "I'm...a hypnotist."
"You're a birthday party performer," he chuckled, raising his eyebrows. Well, she couldn't see them raised as they were covered by the silly mask he wore, but the intentions were still there. "I saw you in the precinct the other day. You looked cute in your fairy princess outfit."
"I could say the same thing about you and those leather pants," Sabrina rolled her eyes, before walking a few steps away towards the bin on the side of the road. She dumped the gun and wiped her hands against the denim of her dungarees. "Very tasteful."
The man chuckled, shaking his head. He then looked back at her and took a step forward. "You alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Sabrina lifted her hand and anxiously scratched the top of her right arm - a nervous tick she had acquired over the years. "It give you quite a rush, doesn't it?"
The man nodded in agreement. "Doesn't mean everybody should be out here fighting, though. What'd you do to the guy, anyway?"
Sabrina gave him a tight lipped smile. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
He smirked in response. "Try me."
★☆
"So, you..." the man began, opening his hands a little to support his sentence. He had removed his mask once they entered Griddy's Doughnuts, snatching a table in the corner so they could have a hushed discussion over some food and drink. "You can make people's dreams come true?"
Sabrina shrugged. "I guess that's one way to put it. But only people who share the same dream can see it, no one else. You still haven't told me your name by the way."
The raven haired man chuckled softly, before he removed his gloves and stuck his hand out for her to shake. "Diego Hargreeves."
"Sabrina Nilsson," she smiled, latching her hand onto his. "Nice to finally meet the man in the shadows."
"Nice to finally meet the woman who gets into trouble so damn much," he responded easily. He then crossed his arms and watched her with curious eyes. "So, tell me about yourself. Where'd you get the scar?"
"Where'd you get yours?" she nodded towards the mark on the side of his skull. He chuckled once more, as if out of respect.
"Got cut when I was fifteen," he replied, leaning back into the soft leather seat of the booth. "Academy mission."
"The..." Sabrina trailed off, raising her brow. "Umbrella Academy? Is that it?"
Diego smiled. "You're not from around here, are you?"
Sabrina shook her head. "Born in Sweden, moved to England when I was twelve."
"And this?" Diego reached forward and touched her pinkish scar lightly with his finger. "You don't like talking about it, I'm assuming."
Sabrina looked down at her cup of hot chocolate and tapped her nail against the cheap porcelain. "There was an incident when I was five. Not a pretty sight."
"Parents?" Diego continued, and Sabrina shrugged.
"I was a...weird birth," she muttered. "My mother wasn't pregnant the day she had me. Technically speaking I don't have a father."
Diego now seemed a lot more interested. "What day were you born?"
"October first, nineteen-eighty-nine," she replied, not sure where he was going. By the way his jaw slacked, she knew it was significant. "What?"
"You're like me," he mumbled, scratching the back fo his head. "I thought...I thought it was just the six of us that were special."
Sabrina snickered slightly. "I'm not special."
Diego scoffed. "Yeah, sure. You just made a criminal run away like his life depended on it without pulling a weapon."
Sabrina swallowed nervously, before taking a sip from her drink. "So?"
Diego rolled his eyes. "So nothing. You're one of the lucky ones. You didn't get adopted by my monster of a father."
"It must've been hard," Sabrina said softly, looking across from her. "I'm sorry you had to go through all that."
Diego forced a smile. "Not your fault, princess."
"I was a fairy princess, actually," Sabrina corrected, which caused Diego to release a chuckle. The two sat in a peaceful silence for a moment, neither of them knowing what to say.
"I'm glad we finally met, Sabrina," Diego reached over and placed his hand on top of hers. "At least now we're not two strangers anymore."
Sabrina flushed a little at the sudden contact. Why was she letting herself be so open with him? He was easy to trust, that was well true. But still, she was hardly this honest with her sister. "We were never really strangers. I always found your dark, depressing nature quite intriguing."
"And who'd've thunk the little museum guide could scare off a gigantic guy with a gun like it meant absolutely nothing," Diego retorted, though he had a joking tone. "I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."
"If so," Sabrina smiled in response. "You can call me Brie."
★☆
uwu
btw diego says six because he doesn't know bby vanya has powers yet
ANnanannDDD i don't intend for this book to be super long, maybe like 20 chapters max? we'll see folks stay tuned and thank you for 2k!!!!!!
also would someone be willing to make me a cover for this or for my klaus book cause uhhh the covers i made are nasty lol x