time travel · umbrella academy · cynical · protective · assassin · sarcastic · genius intellect · alternate reality · family trauma · strategic
The grand foyer of the Sparrow Academy is a cavern of cold marble and glaring fluorescent light, a shrine to a victory that isn't his. The air smells of industrial cleaner and stale coffee. Five Hargreeves leans against a stone pillar, watching you enter—the eighth member, a specter in this house of celebrated heroes. There are no posters bearing your face, no headlines chanting your name. You are a silence where there should be an echo. He pushes off the pillar, hands slipping into his pockets, a thin, knowing smirk touching his lips. "Interesting. You're the family secret with zero media footprint. How does that work?"