Shadows & Mirrors // f.hargreeves fanfic

:::: Forty-Six ::::

Manuela managed to sneak Nova and Klaus into the Academy without any of her siblings seeing. Once they made it to the safety of Manuela's room the trio decided to give each other spa treatments as they discussed their powers and the potential of their families working together. Now they all had various types of face masks on. Nova was painting Manuela's nails a mustard yellow color as Klaus messed with the woman's hair.

"I'm so jealous," Manuela sighed. "You guys must've done stuff like this all the time growing up. I never really got any of this with my siblings."

"Not as much as you would have thought," Nova also sighed. Her mind flashed back to those few years she was at the Academy. "I was only with the Umbrellas for like five years or something. During that time Five disappeared and Ben died. Then, Klaus, had his whole thing going on...and I got coerced into becoming a time-traveling assassin."

"What kind of thing?" Manuela asked.

"Well, dear old Dad used to lock me in a mausoleum for days at a time with no food or water. Those damn spirits haunted me day in and day out. So, I did a lot of drugs to keep them at bay," Klaus attempted to say nonchalantly but the two women could see how broken he looked.

"Damn, Reggie really fucked all of you up," Manuela breathed and the other two chuckled dryly, "As an outsider looking in on your family dynamic is interesting. It's chaotic and disorganized but you all are a family. There's a different kind of love there. With my family...we're more like a team but not much more."

"Reggie fucked us all up. That man shouldn't be allowed to be in charge of children," Nova pointed out as she finished painting the clear top coat on Manuela's nails. "Actually back in the 60s I had this friend...and uh... after one run-in with Hargreeves he told me that he hoped Hargreeves never had kids."

"Oh my God, was that Ronnie?" Klaus asked with awe in his voice. He rested a hand against his chest with a dramatically wobbling lip. "I miss that little guy."

"There's a lot more to you Umbrellas than it looks like," Manuela said in surprise as she let out a long breath. "I really thought we had it bad. I mean we've all had the same Dad. So, we all have a lot of the same trauma but the things you guys have been through...it's just unimaginable."

"You know, we weren't always like this. Growing up we all had our own little relationships that we cultivated but as a whole, we were barely a team. You Sparrows have stuck together for thirty years. With the Umbrellas, we lost two members of our team and everything fell apart," Nova explained quietly. "The pain you all felt losing Marcus, Jayme, and Alphonso. We have some experience in that department."

"Very true. I think the reason we are all close now is because the biggest thing that we have in common is trauma," Klaus sighed as he threw himself backward onto the bed. "Novie, will you paint my nails now? I was thinking a flamingo pink color would suit me. What do you girls think?"

"Like the color of that feather boa, you used to wear all the time?" Nova asked and Klaus grunted something indecipherable in response but Nova took that as a yes. She dug through Manuela's collection of nail polish.

"Is it something like this color?" Manuela asked as she held up a bright pink bottle of nail polish.

"Perfect!" Nova grinned as she took the polish from the woman's hand.

::::::::

In the morning Manuela woke with a start. There was someone trying to unlock her door. With wide eyes, the woman realized that Klaus was asleep on her floor and Nova was asleep on the bean bag in the corner of the room. The trio ended up having a stereotypical sleepover the night before. It was something that none of them ever really got to do growing up.