And Here I Am, Alone Again

by Mic_Olivyn

Summary:

In a world ravaged by the apocalypse, a young Five finds and buries his siblings amidst the wreckage of their home. About two days after he leaves, one of them wakes up.

Notes:

Now that we have confirmation that Klaus has been immortal all along, I figured my other fic deserved a follow up! Here’s the story of Klaus’s eternity, and why Five never found him the first time around.

 

No spoilers for season 3 present! (Except for immortal Klaus but come on guys we figured this out a while ago.)

Chapter 1

---

 

     It was dark. 

 

     For some reason, this didn’t really scare him. He’d woken up in plenty of compromising situations before, so not being able to tell where he was didn’t freak him out all that much. He inhaled, attempting to stretch a little, but found himself trapped very firmly in place. Dirt filled his mouth and he choked, eyes fluttering. 

 

     Okay. 

 

     Maybe now he was a little scared. 

 

     He desperately tried to move his arms, fingers scraping uselessly against the dirt that was all around him. He let out a muffled yelp, dirt filling his mouth again. 

 

     For a terrifying second, he thought it was the end. 

 

     A hand grabbed at him, snagging the shag of his coat, and he was yanked up from the dirt into the open air. He nearly hacked up a lung, dirt spilling from his mouth, and then he was shaking, fingers digging uselessly at the gravel that still covered his legs. 

 

     “Klaus. Klaus.” Hands grabbed his shoulders and he jerked, wide eyes snapping up to the face of his rescuer. 

 

     Ben was crouched down in front of him, features pinched with concern and something else. His hands quickly left his shoulders in favor of hovering in front of him for inspection. Klaus shuddered, staring down at his own hands. 

 

     The last of a faint blue glow was fading from his fingertips. 

 

     “How-“ Klaus coughed again, gagging at the gritty taste on his tongue. “H-how did I get down there? What happened?”

 

     “That’s what I’d like to know.”

 

     Both brothers looked up. Allison was crouched a few feet away, staring somewhere past them. They both followed her gaze. 

 

     All around them, the world was in ruin. Buildings toppled, fires still smoldering, piles of ash where life used to reside. 

 

     “Shit,” Ben breathed, running his hands back through his hair. Klaus whined, rubbing at his face. 

 

     “My head’s killing me.”

 

     Silence was the only sympathy he received. When he looked up again, Ben was hovering over him, hands in his pockets. 

 

     “Klaus.”

 

     “Hm?” He turned his gaze back to Allison, only to realize it wasn’t her that had called his name. Diego was perched next to her, spinning a knife in his hand. He was watching him with an odd look, eyes almost watery. 

 

     “What’s this?” He gestured at him, at the way his legs were still under the dirt. “You’re gone for- for two days and now you’re here. What’s going on?”

 

     “I mean, I’ve been known to black out from time to time,” Klaus giggled, patting his hands against the dirt. He pried himself out carefully, wobbling a little once he was on his feet. Ben moved like he was preparing to catch him, and Klaus made a point of showing that he could stand properly on his own. “Why? What’d I miss?“

 

     “If we knew, we’d tell you,” Allison huffed. Behind her, Luther was pacing back and forth, scratching at the stubble on his chin. “We didn’t know where you went, why you weren’t here. Where’d you go?”

 

     “Where’d I go?” Klaus huffed, shaking out his hands. “Clearly, somebody thought it was a laugh to put me under. Thank god it was a shitty grave, am I right?” He laughed, rubbing his hands against his dusty coat. 

 

     “Prick,” Diego scoffed. “You take a nap while the rest of us are stuck trying to figure out what to do next.”

 

     “Lay off,” Ben snapped, appearing so suddenly beside Klaus that he jumped. Diego just scowled, looking away. 

 

     “Benny boy, you don’t have to defend me.” He held a hand over his heart. “Although, I’m touched, truly. I-“ 

 

     Wait. 

 

     He snorted. 

 

     “Am I high?”

 

     “When are you not?” Diego grumbled, tossing the knife up before catching it. Allison shoved him, rolling her eyes, and Luther shot them a look before continuing his pacing. Klaus just pouted, feeling like he was missing something. 

 

     “I mean, I was.” He put his hands on his hips. “I don’t remember exactly what happened, but I know I took something the last time I woke up. But if that was a few days ago…” He rolled his shoulders out, shaking his head. “I need to find some shit.”

 

     “What good would it do you now?” Allison asked, genuinely curious. She shifted, one hand against the dirt. “Everything’s gone. It’s over. We lost.”

 

     “Au contraire, dear sister.” He cracked his knuckles, tapping one hand against his leg. “Now is the perfect time to get high.”

 

     “Klaus-“

 

     “Ababababa.” He waved his hands around, cutting Ben off before he could start any sort of lecture. “We can mourn the world later. We’re here, we’re together, and I know some of my little stashes are hidden well enough to survive doomsday.” 

 

     Allison gave him a look, while Diego just looked away again. His grip tightened on the knife, then he threw it, letting it swerve before coming right back to his hand like a boomerang. Klaus fixed his siblings with a wide grin, cocking his head. 

 

     “Come on,” he said with a wink. “I know how to get into the old man’s wine cellar.”

 

     He held his hand out and Allison smirked, raising an eyebrow. She reached out, grabbing his hand. 

 

     Only for it to pass right through. 

 

     Both siblings paused. Klaus’s brow furrowed, head cocking to the side again, while Allison stared up at him. 

 

     “Wait.” Her eyes grew wide. “Klaus, aren’t you dead?”

 

     “I- what?” He glanced around at the group as his brothers suddenly took interest, Luther stopping his pacing to watch them with an odd look on his face. Klaus just shrugged helplessly, a confused giggle bubbling in his chest. “Why would I be?”

 

     “You died,” Diego clarified, brow pinched with pure confusion, and regret. He stood, sliding the knife into his harness. “I saw you. You smashed through the goddamn wall.”

 

     “I mean, I don’t-“

 

     “That blast took you out!” Diego pointed a finger at him, nearly close enough to jab at his chest. “You were dead, Klaus!”

 

     “And I’m not, Jesus!” Klaus held up his hands in surrender. “I don’t know why! Just- just please, my head’s still killing me…”

 

     “Shit,” Allison whispered, hiding her face in her hands. Luther came closer, close enough that it was like he was observing him. 

 

     “You can come back to life?” He whispered, narrowing his eyes. Klaus shrugged again, still terribly lost, and his brother cursed, turning away. “Great deal of good that’ll do us now, it’s too late.”

 

     “Would somebody please tell me what’s going on?” Klaus whined, glancing between his siblings. Ben had a sad look on his face, and the others wouldn’t look him in the eye. He turned back to Luther, throwing his hands up. “Well come on then! The world’s over, what’s the point of leaving me out of the loop anymore?!”

 

     “We died!” Luther threw his hands up in the air, turning away. “We all died, Klaus! But you didn’t, apparently. You’re alive, and we’re dead, and the world’s over. We failed.”

 

     “Luther,” Allison tried, reaching for him, but their brother turned away, stomping back to where he’d been pacing. 

 

     Klaus stood right where he was, still staring after Luther. He blinked, brow furrowing. 

 

     Dead. They were all… dead. 

 

     They were ghosts. 

 

     The realization hit him like a bag of bricks tossed right at his chest. He let out a wheezy laugh, taking a shaky step back and falling onto his bottom. Allison reached for him, a mournful sadness painting her face, but he held his hands up, shielding his face. 

 

     “No no no no no,” he laughed, fingers knotting through his messy hair. “This is- it’s a bad trip. That’s it. I’ll wake up, and you’ll all be happy and healthy and wanting nothing to do with me again.”

 

     “Klaus,” Allison said, and she sounded closer. He flinched, curling in on himself. “Klaus, hey. We don’t… we never wanted nothing to do with you. Okay? You’re our brother and we love you. And hey, we’re together now.” She huffed out a shaky laugh. “I mean, of any of us to be able to come back to life, it makes sense it’s you. You’ve always been so untouchable. And I mean, you can see us, so is it really all that bad?”

 

     He peered up at her, hands still knotted in his hair. She went to rest a hand on his shoulder, but it passed right through. Her smile turned sad. 

 

     “We can work on it,” she whispered. “Ben could touch you just now, right? It must be something with your powers. I mean, we have all the time in the world, right?”

 

     Klaus shook his head quickly, squeezing his eyes shut. 

 

     “No no no.” He held his hands over his ears. “I don’t- I don’t need them to be able to touch me. I don’t want them to touch me, I- don’t want to control this shit.”

 

     “Does it matter?” Luther huffed, glaring at them. “Our powers are pointless now. We failed.”

 

     “Would you shut up, space boy?” Diego snapped. “This isn’t a mission! It’s our lives, Luther. We fucked up, but we didn’t fail.” He deflated. “We died.”

 

     “Yeah, and we let the world down. We let Dad down. He always said-“

 

     “To hell with what Dad said!”

 

     “It’s okay,” Allison whispered, moving so she could shield him from the bickering of their brothers. She smiled the way someone would smile at their child, trying to encourage them to look on the bright side. 

 

     There was no fucking bright side. 

 

     “We’re all dead and you still can’t let go of that stupid shit-“

 

     “Dad died thinking we’d be here to protect the world, and look at us now-“

 

     “And where the hell is he now, at the end of everything?” Diego waved his hands around, glaring at Luther. “Where is he? Cuz he sure as hell isn’t here to give us another failed mission report.”

 

     “Would you two shut up?” Allison snapped, shooting them a dirty look. 

 

     “I’m not about to spend an eternity with daddy issues over here,” Diego hissed, jabbing a finger into Luther’s chest, and it made contact. 

 

     “You’re just making it worse,” she chastised, standing as well. “You two bickering isn’t going to undo any of this.”

 

     “Hey,” Ben whispered, kneeling down beside Klaus. “I’ve got your back, okay? If you wanna ditch them, I… I would get it.”

 

     Klaus just shook his head, hands still pressed firmly over his ears. His head was still throbbing, brain trying to break free of his skull. He felt like one more shout from his bickering siblings might send him over the edge. 

 

     “Are there more?” Ben asked in a low voice, only loud enough for him to hear. “More ghosts?”

 

     “I don’t know,” Klaus gasped, rubbing at his temples. “I don’t know yet. If there are, they aren’t here right now. Or the drugs are still working.”

 

     Ben was silent for a moment. Slowly, he stood, making his way to stand between his siblings. 

 

     “Look, we should make a plan,” he interrupted, holding his hands out to separate them further. “We should… I don’t know, check for survivors. There has to be somebody out there, if you were buried.”

 

     “Five.”

 

     “What?”

 

     “It was Five.” Diego didn’t meet his eyes, one hand hovering over one of his knives. He ran his thumb along the flat part of the blade. “I saw him. Still in those damn stockings, too.”

 

     “This is where he must have gone,” Allison concluded. “That day at breakfast. He time traveled.”

 

     “Klaus.” 

 

     He flinched. 

 

     “Klaus, this could work.” Luther leaned over him. “You find Five, and the two of you can time travel back. Prevent the apocalypse.”

 

     “Oh yeah?” He squinted up at his brother, cocking his head. “And what caused it, big guy? Cuz I don’t remember shit.”

 

     “I-“ Luther frowned, brow furrowing. “I… don’t know. But we fought them.”

 

     “It’s a blur,” Allison admitted, crossing her arms. Diego started playing with his knife again, and Ben shared a look with Klaus. 

 

     “Whatever took out the world, it took us until after it was gone to get here,” Diego said, tossing the knife and letting it land in the rubble. “And we were all a little too busy dying to catch what was happening. Ben? Why don’t you remember anything?”

 

     “I…” He glanced at Klaus again, then rolled his eyes. “You think I know? None of this makes any sense.”

 

     “We need to get moving,” Luther decided. “Five could be out of town by now, maybe even further.”

 

     “Woah woah woah, you’re not the boss here, Luther,” Diego interrupted. “Numbers aren’t a thing anymore, mkay? We make decisions as a group.”

 

     “Didn’t we already agree on this?”

 

     “We haven’t heard Klaus out, yet!”

 

     “Oh please.”

 

     Klaus ran his hands through his hair, sitting back down by his grave. Now that he was paying attention, he could see the three mounds next to where he’d been laid to rest. He stared at them for a few seconds, then glanced up at Ben. 

 

     “Where’s-“

 

     Ben held a finger up to his lips, shaking his head. Klaus frowned, cocking his head, and Ben gave him a look. It was that look, the this is not the place look. He felt like it was certainly the place, but he didn’t really feel up to messing with Ben right now. 

 

     So he shut his mouth, rested his face in his hands, and tried to tune out the arguing as it only grew louder around him. 

 

 

Chapter 2

Summary:

The Hargreeves siblings have resolved to locate Number Five, tell him what caused the apocalypse, and have Klaus go back with him to save the world.

There are several flaws in this plan.

Notes:

Wowza it hasn’t even been a day yet and I already have more of this. There might be more soon so stay tuned!

---

 

     So, little Vanya ended the world. 

 

     And somehow, their siblings had forgotten about it. So Ben saw it fit not to remind them, in the off chance they found her so that they might have the chance to just spend eternity together in peace. 

 

     A lovely notion!

 

     Didn’t exactly help them much, though, considering they had no clue where she even was. 

 

     They’d left the academy after that first day, once Klaus had broken into his hidden treasure trove in the basement and robbed the old man’s liquor stash. He was properly buzzed as they made their way off, with all sorts of things tucked away in his pockets. He’d seen the looks his siblings had given him, but what did they care?

 

     They were dead, and apparently he couldn’t die, so their arguments that he was killing himself were no longer valid. 

 

     They were honestly just wandering aimlessly, at this point. Luther had gone on and on about tracking Five, checking for signs he’d been in the area, but they all knew that was pointless. Five could teleport. What would be the point of checking for footprints?

 

     “Nothing like fitting in some sibling time at the end of the world,” he hummed, hugging a bottle close to his chest. Ben was hovering close to him, while the other three walked ahead of them. Even in death, they’d still dubbed themselves the leaders. 

 

     Whatever. He didn’t want to lead anybody, anyways. 

 

     “What do we wanna do?” He continued, taking another sip from the dusty bottle. “Go see a movie? Watch the world burn? I know some good spots where you used to be able to watch the sunset. Probably won’t work with all the smoke in the air…”

 

     “Could you not?” Luther snapped, not even bothering to look back at him. “This isn’t a laughing matter. We need to save the world.”

 

     “Uh-huh.” Klaus giggled, swirling the last bit of alcohol around in the bottle. “Sure, man.”

 

     He didn’t realize the others had stopped until he walked right through Luther. He shuddered, suddenly cold, and barely had time to recover before his larger brother was in his face. 

 

     “You think this is a joke?”

 

     “I think it’s awfully ironic.”

 

     “I can’t believe this.” Luther shook his head, face pinched with that familiar irritated frustration. “The fate of the world rests with Klaus. We’re screwed!”

 

     “Leave him alone,” Ben interrupted, shooting him a glare. “It’s not his fault you all couldn’t handle it the first time around. He’s not your backup plan.”

 

     “Why are you taking his side?”

 

     “He’s my brother. He’s yours too.” Ben stepped between them. “You need to start acting like it. We’re gonna be stuck here for a while.”

 

     The boys continued to glare at each other, with the rest awkwardly hanging back. Klaus, having finished his drink, tossed the bottle and watched it smash against the nearest wall. 

 

     “I missed you, Ben,” Luther huffed. “But you’ve spent too much time stuck with him.”

 

     “At least I didn’t leave him all on his own.”

 

     “Would you two please cut it out,” Allison quipped, crossing her arms with a scowl. 

 

     “No no no,” Diego hissed, holding a hand out with a small grin. “I wanna see him tear into Luther.”

 

     “This is just putting us behind more.”

 

     “Like we were making any progress anyways?”

 

     Klaus laughed, sharing an amused look with Diego. Clearly, this only pissed Luther off more, because his brother shoved Ben out of the way and stalked over to him. 

 

     “You need to take this more seriously,” he threatened, pointing a finger at him. Klaus blinked up at him owlishly, mouth splitting with another wide grin. Luther growled, shoving him, and he actually managed to knock him back a few feet. The grin quickly fell from Klaus’s face, eyes growing frightened.

 

     “Hands off,” he breathed, gaze flicking down to the slight glow of his hands. He shook them out like they were dirty, hoping to extinguish the light. Luther looked back up at him, face hardening, and in an incredibly impulsive move threw a punch. Klaus ducked, yelping, and his fist made contact with the crumbling building behind them. 

 

     “Luther-!”

 

     Klaus let out a breathy laugh, standing back up. He held his hands up, the previous blue light successfully extinguished, and he grinned. 

 

     “Try that again, asshole-“

 

     A loud rumbling met his ears. He hardly had time to process it before something crashed behind him. He yelped, turning just in time for some of the support beams to come falling down. 

 

     One slid right through his chest like he was nothing but butter. 

 

     “KLAUS!” Allison appeared at his side, with Ben following close behind. He heard Diego screaming at Luther in the background, but it was quickly being drowned out by a ringing in his ears. He coughed, tried to take in a breath, and failed to get anything into his lungs. 

 

     Well, if he even had lungs anymore. 

 

     “Hey hey hey.” Allison held out a hand, but it passed right through him. Tears were welling in her eyes. “Shit. It’s- god, that looks like it hurts.”

 

     “Yeaup,” he rasped, choking on the warm liquid in his throat. 

 

     Luckily for him, he didn’t have to see any of that spill past his lips, because he was out before Allison could say another word. 

---

 

 

     There was grass. 

 

     It was cool against his skin, not itching like he was used to. He ran a hand through it, staring idly at the sky. 

 

     It was gray, but not in a gloomy, rainy way. It was simply as though the blue had been drained out of it, leaving behind the shapes. He hummed, turning his face and feeling the grass tickle his cheek. 

 

     This was nice. Really nice. 

 

     They didn’t have grass in the apocalypse. 

 

      Wait. 

 

     He sat up, looking around. There wasn’t any color in the landscape, but it was covered with luscious vegetation. There were fields of flowers surrounded by forests of tall trees, with a gravel path a few meters away. 

 

      Huh. 

 

     “This is certainly an improvement,” he mumbled, crawling up onto his feet. He brushed himself off, shaking out the nonexistent dirt from his coat. 

 

     On a whim, he started walking. The grass crunched under his feet, but it hardly made a sound. It was quiet, with the exception of the soft wind blowing past him. 

 

     To fill the void, he hummed an off-tune Queen song to himself, tucking his hands in his pockets. They were empty- no drugs in the afterlife, what a bummer- and the holes were missing. His coat was in perfect condition, far better than when he’d first found it in that dumpster all those months ago. 

 

     He held out one of his hands, turning it over. His skin was a light gray, matching the grayscale theme around him. His black outfit stood out simply because it was so dark, contrasting the light terrain. 

 

     “You can go now.”

 

     He turned, only now noticing a little girl standing a few feet away. She was seated on a bike, one foot propping her up against the ground. 

 

     She looked about as pleased to see him as everybody else he’d ever met. 

 

     “Oh?” He held a hand to his chest. “Why danke. Hadn’t realized I was waiting for permission.”

 

     “You have to go now,” she clarified, lips tugged in a tight frown. “I don’t want you here.”

 

     “Yeah?” He rested his hands against his legs, crouching down dramatically. “Am I harshing your vibe? I’ve been told I’m good at that.”

 

     “I don’t like you,” she said simply. “So I don’t want you here.”

 

     “What’s the point?” He huffed, rolling his eyes. “The world’s over. What do you want me to do, wander around for the rest of forever? Stuck with my siblings who can’t stand me?“

 

     “They are annoying,” she admitted. “But they’re welcome here. You aren’t.”

 

     He scoffed. 

 

     “So they can ditch me whenever they want to?”

 

     “I suppose.”

 

     “And you’ll never make an exception for me?”

 

     “Do you want me to?” She cocked her head. “I thought eternal peace was overrated.”

 

 

---

 

 

     Klaus sucked in a harsh breath, eyes fluttering open. He was on the ground, but there wasn’t any grass. The sidewalk was hard, hot, and grimy. 

 

     It was like he was in hell, except this was real. 

 

     In fact, hell was probably an improvement. 

 

     He groaned, rubbing at his face. He wasn’t by the collapsed building anymore, but he was near a couple considerably more stable looking ones. 

 

     Ben was sitting next to him. 

 

     “It was only a day this time,” he informed him, glancing over at him. His face was conflicted, half relieved and half worried. “You’re getting faster at this.”

 

     “Oh, lucky me,” he mused, glancing down at himself. There wasn’t a gaping hole in his chest, but he could feel one in his coat. It was too breezy for his liking. 

 

     Not that there was really any wind. 

 

     “They feel really bad,” Ben offered, propping his chin up with his hands in his cross legged position. “Luther freaked out.”

 

     “I’m flattered.” He blinked a few times, looking around. “Where are the little devils?”

 

     “Looking around, trying to see if they can spot Five.” He turned to look at him again. “Do you go anywhere, when you’re gone? Or is it just like sleeping?”

 

     Klaus considered the question for a moment. 

 

     “Sleeping,” he decided, patting down his pockets. “There’s nothing there.”

 

     Ben nodded thoughtfully. 

 

     “I was the lookout this time,” he joked. “Tasked with watching you to make sure nothing happened.”

 

     “What, to make sure I didn’t come back?”

 

     “To make sure you didn’t get hurt worse.”

 

     Klaus hummed, fishing a blunt out of one of his pockets. He held it out. 

 

     “You got a lighter?”

 

     Ben gave him a look and he shrugged. He stood, stretched out his sore, stiff limbs, and trudged his way over to one of the still burning fires. He held his prize out over the flames, before bringing it back to his lips and sucking in a greedy breath. 

 

     “They find Vanya yet?” He asked, finally taking it from his lips and letting out a short cough. Ben was frowning, but he didn’t comment. He just shook his head. 

 

     “No. I’m worried what’ll happen when they do.”

 

     “Well they don’t remember anything, right?” Klaus sat back down next to him, using the desecrated remains of a bench as his seat. “What’s to worry about?”

 

     “What if seeing her makes them remember?” Ben rubbed his hands together anxiously. “I’ve been cautious to even bring her up.”

 

     Klaus snorted. 

 

     “And they haven’t brought her up yet either,” he chuckled. “Because why would they? I’m sure if we hadn’t been together in the end, they wouldn’t go looking for me.”

 

     Ben scowled, but didn’t correct him either. 

 

     “You made Luther corporeal.”

 

     “And learned my lesson real quick.”

 

     “You never did that before the other day,” Ben continued, undeterred. “You think your powers are getting stronger? I mean, was that an accident?”

 

     “Nah, I wanted him to gut me like a fish,” Klaus scoffed. “Ben, c’mon. Listen to yourself.”

 

     “I’m just worried.” He gave him a look. “We haven’t run into any other ghosts yet, so it’s not a huge deal. But what if we find some and you do that by accident again? I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

 

     “I’m touched.” Klaus took another drag. “Don’t worry, Bennerino. I’m unkillable, remember?”

 

     “You come back,” Ben countered. “You can still be killed. And it still hurts.”

 

     “Don’t act like you care all of a sudden,” Klaus teased. “You may be better than the Big Three, but you’ve watched me do stupid shit for years. You have to be numb by now.” 

 

     “You do pull a lot of stupid shit,” Ben agreed, uncrossing his legs. “But that doesn’t change the fact that you’re my brother. I still worry about you.” He sighed. “We’re at the end of the world, man. We’re all we have left.”

 

     Klaus didn’t respond for a moment, twisting the blunt around in his fingers. He pursed his lips, brow pinching. 

 

     “You could move on,” he suggested, taking another drag. “Cash in your ticket to heaven.”

 

     “And leave you alone?”

 

     “Man, trust me, the others’ll go quick.” He blew out a long trail of smoke. “They’ll get sick and tired of me and move on. You really wanna be alone with me for the rest of forever?”

 

     Ben didn’t respond. Klaus leaned back, sprawled across the (very uncomfortable) debris like a cat. 

 

     This was the position they were found in an hour later when their siblings returned, and it was where Klaus stayed as the rest gathered around and discussed their findings (or lack thereof).

 

 

Notes:

This wouldn’t be an immortal Klaus fic if I didn’t kill him at least a few times.

Chapter 3

Summary:

A missing sibling is found.

Notes:

So!! This is set back in season 1 (technically before? In that weird limbo of the original apocalypse) so Viktor isn’t out yet. For now, it’ll just be his old name and pronouns because he hasn’t even figured things out himself yet. I do think I’m gonna have him come out in this though!! Once the family’s had some time together to heal and grow closer, I feel like he’d feel comfortable enough in his own skin to share it with them.

---

 

     It took them about a week after The End to figure out where the other ghosts were. 

 

     At first, it was just murmuring. Klaus glanced around, brow furrowing, but… well, he didn’t see anything. It was just his siblings, the same as every other day since the world went to shit. They hadn’t bickered as much since he’d come back to life (again), so he was counting his blessings. 

 

     It was only as they rounded a corner that he heard the first guttural shriek. He slapped his hands over his ears, shutting down on instinct. Ben noticed it first, signaling for the others to stop, but Klaus didn’t move. He stayed rigid, face hidden within his arms, as shaky breaths rattled in his chest. 

 

     “Klaus?”

 

     He just shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut. Ben stepped away, scanning the terrain to try and locate the source. He wandered a bit further down the road before stopping entirely. 

 

     “Oh shit.”

 

     “What?” Diego hurried over, only to adopt the same dumbfounded look. “Shit.”

 

     The rest followed, leaving Klaus where he stood rooted to the spot. A huge crowd was gathered outside the Icarus Theater, with some people inside and some standing half-phased through the walls. 

 

     Every single person there was dead, and each of them looked it, with burned faces and tattered clothes and misshapen body parts. 

 

     “Jesus,” Luther muttered, one hand against the nearest building. “What is this?”

 

     “This,” Ben said, a dark look passing over his face. “Is what the ghosts look like. On average.”

 

     One clambered past, not even noticing them as she went to join the others. Half her face was melted off, with the remains of her eye dribbling onto her charred cheek. 

 

     Allison gagged. 

 

     “I think I might be sick.”

 

     “Why don’t we look like that?” Diego wondered aloud, face contorted with disgust. “We look normal.”

 

     “Why do you think?” Ben snapped, arms crossed. “Do I look like I did when I died? No.” He gestured to Klaus, who’d moved to face the nearest wall, forehead pressed against the brick with his eyes squeezed shut. 

 

     Diego seemed to get it before the others. 

 

     “You’re doing this,” he realized, looking down at his own hands. “Ghosts are your thing, aren’t they? You’re controlling how we look.”

 

     “How?”

 

     “I don’t know,” Klaus hissed, hands still clamped over his ears. “I don’t know, just shut up. I don’t- I need something.” His hands left his ears, trembling as he patted down his coat. He found a small baggy in one pocket, and god his fingers were so shaky he couldn’t get it open. 

 

     “Hey hey hey.” Diego cut him off, holding a hand between his face and the baggy. “Klaus, there has to be a reason they’re here. We should check it out.”

 

     Klaus giggled hysterically. 

 

     “If you think I’m going in there,” he wheezed, finally breaking the tiny seal. “You’re crazier than me, man.” He fished a finger inside, coaxing the tiny pill up into his hand. Another shriek from the crowd made him jump, and it fell from his hand, rolling down the sidewalk. “Shit! Shit shit shit!”

 

     He tossed the baggy aside, hurrying after it. All of his siblings protested, trying to convince him to stay put, but he ignored them. He crouched down onto his hands and knees and crawled in between some of the specters as they grew closer, ignoring them in favor of his quest. 

 

     He was near the outskirts of the group when he finally caught it, stopping the rolling with a single finger. He sighed, sitting back on his haunches, and held it on his palm to blow on it. 

 

     “Wait a second.”

 

     He jumped again, but clutched it to his chest this time, having learned his lesson. He turned an irritated eye towards Ben, who was apparently the only one that followed him. 

 

     “I hear something.”

 

     “I hear too many somethings,” Klaus snapped, sticking the pill in his mouth and cracking it between his teeth. 

 

     “Klaus.” Ben kneeled next to him, lowering his voice. “They’re here because they’re looking for something. Or some one.”

 

     “Oh yeah? Who?”

 

     “Who do ghosts usually follow?”

 

     Klaus rolled his eyes, shaking his head like he was trying to clear his mind. 

 

     “Me?” He rubbed his eyes. “Or the bitch that killed them.”

 

     Oh. 

 

     Oh. 

 

     “Oh shit,” he breathed, blinking up at his brother. “Vanya.”

 

     “We need to help her,” Ben insisted, climbing back to his feet. “Klaus, you know how scary this can be. She’s all alone, and there are so many.”

 

     Klaus hesitated. He looked up at him, then back at the siblings who were only now chasing after them. 

 

     He sighed, standing after him. 

 

     “I’m too nice,” he groaned, wiping at his face. He clambered onto his feet, already feeling a bit fuzzy, and started to edge his way around the crowd of ghosts. 

 

     “Klaus, wait!”

 

     “What are you doing?”

 

     He ignored his siblings, continuing on until he was as close to the building as possible without touching any of the specters. He assessed the terrain, realizing there were simply far too many to get around, and decided fuck it. 

 

     Vanya better appreciate everything he did for her. 

 

     He sucked in a deep breath, before cutting through the crowd. He followed after Ben, simply because he couldn’t really see through the bodies he was walking through (they were so cold and sticky and awful). Ben somehow knew exactly where to go, and so the both of them made their way through the crowd and into the building. Ben phased right through the door and Klaus shoved it open, slamming it shut behind him. 

 

     There was a very obvious barrier to how close the ghosts could get, because the front row were all side by side, unable to move closer than the doors from the lobby to the theater. Klaus could feel the shift in the air once he’d passed the barrier himself, the way it was heavier and colder. Ben stayed behind, whether by choice or because of the barrier he couldn’t tell, so he was the one that opened the doors and slipped into the theater. 

 

     It was calmer, in here. If he listened hard enough, he could hear the faint sound of a violin, but a glance around proved that no one was playing anything. There was one figure on the stage, dressed all in white. They were crouched in a small ball, hands over their head. 

 

     He approached slowly, hesitant to make himself known. Ghosts couldn’t actually hurt people, but their powers seemed to continue into death. What if she hit him with some of that world ending mojo?

 

     He supposed he’d get back up later, but still. 

 

     The closer he got, the smaller his sister seemed. Her long dark hair hid her face from view, a stark contrast against the white suit and the pale shade of her skin. There was a violin abandoned about a foot away from her, and he could tell just by looking at it that it wasn’t one of those ghost objects, it was the real deal. 

 

     How poetic. The world had ended because of a song. 

 

     He hopped up onto the stage, crouching down next to his sibling. She didn’t react, fingers digging further into her scalp. 

 

     “Vanny?”

 

     A flinch. Large eyes flicked up toward him, colored blue and surrounded by a dark hue that hung on her eyelids. Those cold eyes stared straight through him, nothing like the soft brown he was used to. 

 

     “Klaus?”

 

     “Hey!” He scooched closer, arms folded over his lap. “Long time no see.”

 

     “How did you get through?” She whispered, still staring at him like he was a figment of her imagination. He just hummed, cocking his head so they were more at eye level. 

 

     “That’s a cool trick, keeping all the ghosts out,” he commended. “I’ve yet to figure it out, so you’ll have to give me some pointers. But it didn’t work on me, dear sister, because I am no ghost.”

 

     She blinked. Some of the tension loosened as she shifted so she was sitting up a little more. 

 

     “You’re not dead?”

 

     “Nope!” He held his hand up to his neck, finding his pulse. “Still warm and fleshy.”

 

     “You’re not dead,” she repeated, gaze slipping away from his face. The blue faded from her eyes, replaced by that familiar brown. “You’re not dead. How- oh my god.” Tears surfaced quickly. “Klaus, what did I do?”

 

     Klaus didn’t exactly have an answer. Apparently, he’d been dead for the big showdown with his siblings, and he’d only come back after the world was in flames. He didn’t know exactly how everything went down. He supposed he could put some things together, between the violin and the spooky eyes and the end of everything, but the only one that really had any answers was her. 

 

     Hesitantly, he reached out. She didn’t notice, spiraling into stifled sobs, and didn’t even flinch when his hand passed through her shoulder. 

 

     His heart tugged. 

 

     “I messed up so bad,” she whimpered, pulling at her hair. “Everything was just- it was too much, and Leonard… god, I should’ve listened to Allison.”

 

     “What happened?”

 

     “He tried to hurt you! He- he wanted me to hurt you. And I didn’t mean to, but Luther- and then-“ She sniffled, one hand over her mouth. “I’m so sorry.”

 

     “It’s okay,” he whispered, even though it was obviously not. “Hey, it’s okay. No hard feelings here, okay?”

 

     “Are the others okay?”

 

     His smile turned sad. She didn’t even need him to answer, more tears spilling over her cheeks. 

 

     “I always ruin everything,” she sobbed, wiping pathetically at her eyes. “No wonder Dad gave up on me.”

 

     “Hey hey hey.” He held his hand out again, focusing until it glowed a soft blue. She didn’t seem to notice, but she looked up when he successfully touched her shoulder. “Dad’s an asshole. He’s always been an asshole. Don’t ever think that he was right about anything.” He held his other arm out, hoping she’d get the idea. 

 

     With another gut wrenching sob, she surged into his arms, wrapping hers around him with desperation. He kept her close, patting her back as soothingly as he could manage. 

 

     “You don’t… have to stay here,” he assured her, squeezing gently. “The others are outside. We’ve all been worried about you.” A little white lie. While the others were certainly aware she wasn’t around, they hadn’t shown much concern, besides Ben. They were still too focused on finding Five to worry about their supposedly ordinary sister. And they didn’t remember what had happened. 

 

     Vanya whimpered, burying her face in the fur of his coat. 

 

     “You can join our merry little band at the end of the world,” he offered, smiling at his own levity. “Wandering the world, seeing the sights. Five’s out there somewhere, so that could be something.”

 

     She sniffled. When she pulled away, she was dressed in ordinary clothes, skin and eyes back to their normal colors. 

 

     “Five?”

 

     “Apparently, he time traveled here,” he confirmed, hands still on her shoulders. He could feel the slight drain his powers caused, magnified by the drugs he was now pushing through in order to use them. But Vanya needed someone to ground her right now. “Remember? From breakfast?”

 

     “He’s alive?”

 

     “And 13.” 

 

     “Jesus.” She wiped at her face, following him as he guided them both onto their feet. “He must be so s-scared. I mean, what’s it like out there?”

 

     He shrugged, lips pulled in a thin line. 

 

     “Could be better,” he offered lamely. “Could be a lot better.”

 

     “The others?”

 

     “Tagging along with Ben as my ghost bitches.” He winked. “I’m always hiring.”

 

     She did something that surprised him, something he wasn’t sure he’d seen her do in a long time. She smiled. It wasn’t very big, or very happy, but it was small and real. She ducked her head, still looking up at him. 

 

     “Would they want me there?”

 

     “Of course, babe. All of us tracking down our missing baby brother? A true family reunion.”

 

     “Aren’t they upset with me?”

 

     “It’s the end of the world, Van. What use are grudges anymore?”

 

     She hesitated, before nodding slowly. 

 

     “I don’t… want to be alone anymore,” she whispered, grabbing onto his sleeve. She looked like a little kid again, reserved and sad and in need of some to just care. 

 

     He nodded, patting her shoulder with a smile. 

 

     “You won’t be.”

 

 

Notes:

Klaus, like Ben, decides that omitting some truths is the best thing for everybody. This’ll probably go as well as you’re expecting.

Chapter 4

Summary:

Some truths come to light. The ensuing argument is about as destructive as most Hargreeves family arguments.

And the last one caused the end of the world, so… yeah.

Notes:

Probably going to be a bit of a time skip after this chapter! Not too significant of one, but yeah! You’ll see why:)

---

 

     They seemed to have pulled off Ben’s little scheme. Their siblings welcomed Vanya back with open arms, Allison literally. She’d scooped her sibling into a tight hug, giddy with the relief of finding her. None of them mentioned anything about apocalypses or powers, and when Vanya apologized they took it as an apology for something else. 

 

     Ben didn’t correct them, and Klaus didn’t comment. 

 

     But the facade was shaky. They both knew it would only take one little thing to send it toppling over. And the situation itself wasn’t exactly perfect. With Vanya now tagging along, other ghosts were popping up. The crowd they’d rescued her from had partially dispersed, but stragglers tended to follow their small group, always maintaining a certain distance but still remaining within sight. 

 

     Their groans and cries kept Klaus up at night. 

 

     But it was fine! It was fine. He was happy that Vanya was with them. She’d been smiling more, always chatting with Allison or sitting with Ben. Everybody had started to soften around the edges with this constant sibling time, and they were finding themselves more at ease with each other. Even Luther had started to lighten up. 

 

     It was worth the extra headaches and the nightmares to see his siblings finally so at peace. 

 

     Until it wasn’t. 

 

     “Shit.” 

 

     Klaus ran his hands through his hair, squeezing his eyes shut. He knew this time would come sooner or later, but he was still horribly caught off guard. And he knew his siblings wouldn’t be sympathetic, because they didn’t give a fuck, but there was still a certain need for comfort as he realized he was, in fact, out of drugs. 

 

     His pockets were empty, bottles stolen from his father’s wine cellar long since gone dry. It had been weeks since this started, edging into months, but god he’d just hoped he’d have more time. He should’ve planned for this, so he didn’t have to go cold turkey. 

 

     He wasn’t sure what he was going to do. The ghosts were a nuisance on a good day. Completely sober with the added bonus of withdrawals? He’d rather die a million times over. 

 

     “Klaus?”

 

     Vanya appeared beside him, sitting down next to him. Her brow was pinched with concern, perpetually sad eyes staring up at him. 

 

     “You okay?” She asked softly. 

 

     “Yeah!” He let out a reedy laugh, smoothing his hair back out of his eyes. “Yeah, I’m good. Peachy. What’s up?”

 

     “You’d wandered off,” she clarified, not seeming totally convinced. “I was just worried.”

 

     “You’re too good to me,” he lamented, offering a wide smile. He patted the rubble next to her hand, knowing she’d get the idea from the gesture. She nodded in response, climbing back to her feet. 

 

     “Let us know if you need anything.”

 

     Fat chance. 

 

---

 

     They’d long since left the city, choosing to travel towards the west coast. Bigger towns and cities meant more resources, something they figured Five probably knew too. There was a chance they’d find him in a place like that. 

 

     This particular day, Klaus had woken up with a migraine so bad it made his vision blurry. He hadn’t said a word, getting up and following his siblings the same as every other day. They always had to stop for him- they didn’t need to rest so it was always him that was holding them back. He wouldn’t hold them back even more, not when Luther insisted they were so close to Five he could feel it. 

 

     The sun was beating down on them today, just like it had been everyday lately. Klaus had a nice sunburn blossoming on his cheeks. The black coat certainly wasn’t doing him any favors. 

 

     Not a great day to be him. 

 

     “I came here a couple years ago,” Diego commented, walking alongside Ben with his hands in his pockets. “Me and Eudora, back when we… well, when she actually liked talking to me. We got in my car and just drove, didn’t care where we ended up. We stopped in that field over there and watched the sun set.”

 

     “That’s so romantic,” Allison cooed, a bright smile on her face. “Patrick and I never did anything like that. Our dates were always flooded by reporters and paparazzi. It was exciting, at the time, but now? I wish we could’ve just been normal.”

 

     “Is anything about this family normal?”

 

     The other siblings didn’t add anything to the conversation. Luther hadn’t ever been on a date, at least not as far as the rest were aware, and Ben had died before he had the chance. Klaus’s relationships were never really what someone would call romantic, and Vanya… well, her single attempt at love was still a sore subject. 

 

     “Sometimes I wonder where she ended up,” Diego admitted, a distant look on his face. “We haven’t talked much, besides when I stuck my nose in places she didn’t think it belonged. Like, where was she when this happened? Did she move on, or is she still around somewhere?”

 

     “Yeah.” Allison looked away, clearing her throat. “It’s… rough.”

 

     “We can check California,” Diego offered, glancing back at her. “We’re heading in that direction.”

 

     Allison just shook her head, not meeting his eyes. 

 

     “I don’t think I want to know,” she admitted quietly. “I just… want to find Five and make things right. Make it so this never happened to begin with.”

 

     Diego nodded, not pushing any further. Behind them, Vanya stared out at the open field, a heartbroken guilt and sadness etched into her face. 

 

     Ben glanced back at Klaus, who had started to lag behind the group. 

 

     “You good?”

 

     Klaus opened his mouth. 

 

     He fell to his knees abruptly, head jerking with the impact. He gagged, bile spilling past his lips, and someone cursed. 

 

     “I swear, you’re so stupid sometimes,” Ben grunted, kneeling down beside him. But he couldn’t do anything, not when Klaus wasn’t making any of them corporeal, so all he could do was look back up at the siblings that were all in varying states of surprise and concern. All of them turned back, standing over him in what felt a little like a predatory circle. 

 

     “You okay man?” Diego asked, crouching down next to them. Klaus just moaned, rubbing at his temples. 

 

     “You ran out, didn’t you?” Ben clarified, a certain level of understanding in his tone. “It’s withdrawals.”

 

     “You sober?” Diego echoed, and man did he have to sound so surprised?

 

     “I hate everything,” Klaus croaked, gagging again. His brain felt like it was bouncing around in his skull, and the hot sun was only making it worse. His fingers dug into his scalp, like he might somehow reach in and scoop everything out. 

 

     “We need to find some shelter, or something,” Ben huffed, looking back up at the others. “The heat’s only making it worse.”

 

     “It’s withdrawals, isn’t it?” Luther asked. “I mean, it’s his fault.”

 

     “He uses that stuff to tune out the ghosts! You’ve seen them now, Luther. Would you wanna see those up close every second of the day?”

 

     “I didn’t-“

 

     “You didn’t, did you?” Diego snapped. “You never think before you say anything.”

 

     “Now hang on. You were giving him a hard time, too. You’ve always given him a hard time over this stuff.”

 

     “I’m not the one being an insensitive dick!”

 

     Klaus moaned, pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes. There was a slight buzzing in his ears, just strong enough to notice. It was driving him crazy. 

 

     “Look, this is my fault,” Vanya interrupted, for once sounding sure of herself. She’d put herself between the pair, a stubborn frown on her face. “It’s my fault they’re following us, and Klaus is suffering as a result. But fighting’ll only make it worse.”

 

     “What do you mean, it’s your fault?” Diego asked. 

 

     A silence fell over the group. Delirious, Klaus let out a shrill laugh, digging his palms further into his eyes in his quest to push out the aching. 

 

     “The apocalypse,” Vanya said softly, staring up at her brother. “The ghosts are following me. Klaus says they follow…” A beat. She shifted on her feet, looking away. “They follow their killer.”

 

     If it had been quiet before, it was silent as a grave now. (Not that graves were very silent, when you could hear the dead.) None of them uttered a word. Three of their siblings were mute with shock, one gone silent from guilt, while Ben was simply at a loss for words. Klaus was hardly paying attention, distracted by the static in his ears. 

 

     “It was you,” Allison whispered, eyes growing wide. “You came with Leonard. Luther hit him, and you…”

 

     “Luther killed him,” Vanya corrected, uncharacteristically cold, but she brushed it off quickly. “But that doesn’t make any of this okay. Look, I’m sorry-“

 

     “You killed us,” Allison realized, hands covering her mouth. “You killed all of us.”

 

     “I didn’t mean to-“

 

     “You-!” Her breath hitched, tears welling in her eyes. “You killed Claire!”

 

     “None of that was her fault!” Ben cut in quickly, stepping in between them. “Dad kept her drugged up her whole life, she didn’t know she had powers. And Leonard was manipulating her.”

 

     “You knew about this?” Diego cut in, staring at his brother like he’d admitted to murder. “You knew, and you didn’t say anything?”

 

     “What’s the point in holding grudges?? We’re all dead anyways!”

 

     “Did Klaus know?” Diego spat, jabbing Ben in the chest with his finger. “Were you playing some- some game?”

 

     “Look, it was my idea, okay?” Ben snapped. “Don’t be mad at Klaus or Vanya. I’ve seen you guys over the years, you can be brutal. I knew you’d freak out.”

 

     “She ended the fucking world!” Diego yelled, shoving him. “I think we’re allowed to freak out about this!”

 

     “It’s not going to help anything!” Ben insisted. “Fighting amongst ourselves is only going to make everything worse! It was an accident, she didn’t mean to. I knew your stubborn asses would never believe her. You never believe anything he says, why would you listen to her?” He pointed a finger at Klaus, who was steadily growing paler. None of them even noticed. 

 

     “You don’t get to make that call,” Diego hissed, stepping closer. Ben didn’t back off, both boys glaring at the other with a fierce intensity. 

 

     “I can’t believe it,” Luther whispered, rubbing at his face. “I can’t… none of this makes any sense.”

 

     Allison kept her hand over her mouth, pacing away from the group. Vanya just stood there, horribly caught off guard. It was clear that she’d thought they already knew, that she wasn’t expecting this. She looked so terribly lost. 

 

     “Guys-“

 

     “Don’t!” Diego rounded on her, posture tense. He inhaled sharply, face pinched. “Don’t say anything. I don’t- don’t want to hear anything you have to say.” He let out a breath in a slow hiss, running his hands back through his hair. “I can’t believe this. The one person in this family I never thought would lie like this.”

 

     “Can you blame me?” Ben cried, throwing his hands up. “You’re all so quick to jump at people! You don’t get to be the judge, jury, and executioner!”

 

     “We are DEAD because of her!” Diego yelled, shoving Ben backward. Ben shoved back, managing to knock him a few steps back. 

 

     “You’re the assholes that left her on her own!” He snapped. “The second I was dead, you all went your separate ways and didn’t give a damn about each other! I had to watch Klaus self-destruct for years while none of you even bothered to check on him! No wonder one of us ended the world- we all treat each other terribly!”

 

     “Don’t go pointing this back at me!”

 

     “I’m sick of how much you all have your heads up your asses!” Ben spat. “How much longer is this stupid hero complex gonna last? Why don’t you just spend the afterlife trying to make up for all the things you messed up in life??”

 

     “Hey, watch it,” Luther interrupted, giving him a warning look. “We can’t give up now. If anything, this means it’s even more important that we find Five. It’s our fault things are like this!”

 

     “Five could have traveled back by now! He could be dead! You need to quit dragging us all over the place for a pointless mission.”

 

     “Shut up,” Klaus slurred, clamping his hands over his ears. The static was only growing worse, heart thumping loudly in his chest. It was like everything was magnified, every harsh word from his siblings echoing in his skull. It was torture. 

 

     “You need to back off, Ben,” Luther warned. “You’re not number one.”

 

     “Why do numbers even matter anymore? We’re all dead.”

 

     “Shut up,” Klaus whined, pressing his forehead against the hot, dirty pavement. His pleas fell on deaf ears. 

 

     “You know what? Usually I’d argue with Luther, but right now I’m pissed at you, so he’s right.” Diego sneered. “You’re Six. Not Three, not Two, certainly not One. Six. Maybe there’s a reason for that.”

 

     “Hey!” Vanya cut her way back into the group, eyes filled with frustrated tears. “Don’t be cruel!”

 

     “I don’t want to hear a damn thing you have to say, so step aside.”

 

     “He only wants us all to get along-“

 

     “Which is impossible! It’s impossible, because this family was doomed from the beginning! No wonder we all hate each other!”

 

     “Vanya, I think it’s best if you keep to yourself,” Luther said, voice quiet and void of emotion. “We need to figure out what to do.”

 

     “You’re not kicking her out!” Ben argued quickly. “We need to stick together!”

 

     “She’s the cause of all this!”

 

     “Shut up shut up SHUT UP!” Klaus shrieked, tugging at his hair. A blue glow spread from his chest to his fingertips, splitting the air with a shrill sound as it burst out. The ringing in his ears drowned everything out for a second, and then it was entirely silent. 

 

     No one said a word. No comment on the sudden light show, or the fact that they didn’t know he could do that. Complete and utter silence. 

 

     Klaus choked on a sob, moving his hands to rub at his eyes. The static was gone, replaced by the dull ache in the back of his skull. It was a different kind of hurt than before. 

 

     “Jesus,” he whimpered, voice coming out shaky. “You guys just don’t know when to cut it out.”

 

     There was no response. He let out a slow, trembling breath, dragging his hands back through his hair as he blinked the pained tears from his eyes. 

 

     His vision was blurry for a second, but it cleared as he turned back around to his siblings-

 

     -only to find no one there. 

 

     He blinked once, twice. There was no evidence of their departure, not that ghosts tended to leave any tracks. They were just gone. Vanished, like they’d never been there to begin with. 

 

     An anxious giggle bubbled up from his chest. 

 

     “Oh shit.”

 

 

Notes:

Why would I have picked this title if he didn’t spend at least SOME time alone?

Don’t worry, ghost fam will return. It just might take them a while.

Chapter 5

Summary:

Klaus tries to summon his siblings, while also still looking for Five. Neither of these seem to work out too well.

Notes:

Really like how this chapter turned out, actually. Some darker themes are present in this one, so read carefully!

---

 

     Klaus waited a week before trying to summon his siblings. The silence was nice, sue him, and the alone time was even better. Without the others, the ghosts were mostly leaving him alone, which was a welcome change. No point hassling the medium to help with unfinished business when the world was over.

 

     For the first time in his life, he was actually alone. 

 

     He spent his time checking off every thing on his list of things Ben never let him get away with. Lighting things on fire, robbing a store (even if there had been no occupants and his only weapon had been finger guns.) He’d wandered around the next abandoned city, yelling obscenities as loud as he could and singing as off key as possible. 

 

     It got boring disappointingly quickly. 

 

     So he’d sat cross legged in a small clearing, closing his eyes and focusing. There had always been a tether between him and Ben, ever since he’d first found it and pulled him back over to this side. It was what made it so he could find him when he strayed too far away, a little emergency thread he could tug when he needed him. He felt for it, hands flickering with that soft blue color. 

 

     There was nothing there to reach for. 

 

     It was like he was starting over. He hadn’t pushed Ben away from him, he’d pushed him out. He wasn’t anywhere on the earth. And wherever he’d gone, he could only assume the others had gone as well. So he needed to summon them back from the other side. 

 

     Which was the problem. 

 

     He… didn’t exactly know how to do that. 

 

     Sure, he’d done it with Ben, but that was different. He’d been younger, powers not yet dampened from years of hardcore substance abuse. Ben’s death had been fresh, grief fueling his want- his need to see his brother again. He hadn’t thought about it, he’d just reached out and pulled, and his brother had materialized before him. 

 

     He’d never tried it again because he’d never needed to. There was nobody else he cared about enough to summon from the other side, certainly not his father, and then the others had been right there when he woke up. 

 

     When it came down to it, he didn’t know the first thing about his powers. He hadn’t known he was immortal until he woke up after the end of the world. And now? Now there was nobody to try and help him. 

 

     He was on his own. 

 

---

 

     “How are we liking this little ensemble?”

 

     Klaus did a half turn, watching his skirt twirl in the grimy mirror. He could only see some of his reflection in it, but it was better than anything else he’d found yet. 

 

     “Found this beauty in that boutique a few blocks down,” he hummed, smoothing out the fabric. The skirt went down to just above his ankles, and it made a perfect circle around him when he spun. The top he’d swiped off a mannequin was bedazzled with fake rhinestones. 

 

     “Thought I’d dress up for the occasion,” he sing-songed, running his hands through his hair like a makeshift brush. “Not every day I have a dinner date with someone so cute!” He winked, and his reflection winked back. 

 

     The dinner he was so excited about happened to be a stash of canned goods he’d found in a half-standing supermarket. If they were actually any good, he’d yet to find out, but what was he going to do? Die of food poisoning?

 

      Wouldn’t be the first time. 

 

     “Maybe the little bicycle brat’ll actually let me stay for tea,” he mumbled, turning away from the mirror and looking around. Despite his siblings not breathing down his neck, he’d still been traveling about, trying to see if he could spot his little living brother. He’d found one thing he thought might have been him- another store that had already been raided of anything useful. But if the little twerp had been there, he wasn’t anymore. “Or she’ll tell me how I’m supposed to bring anybody back. She probably thinks this is funny.”

 

     He flipped off the sky as he made his way outside, not bothering to close the door behind him. A ghost wandered past, not even noticing him, and he waved. 

 

     “Lovely day, isn’t it?”

 

     They continued on, aimless in death. 

 

     “Can’t please everybody,” he mused, already turning to look back up at the storefront. The top half of the building was an apartment, which he’d yet to disturb. He wasn’t sure he wanted to disturb it, considering he knew what was probably inside. 

 

     Entering buildings was always a tossup. Seeing ghosts that looked like corpses was one thing, but actual corpses? They smelled, and they ended up far more horribly disfigured than the ghosts ever did. Despite all the death he'd grown up surrounded by, he hated seeing it. 

 

     Perhaps it was the lingering memories of that stupid mausoleum, full of ghosts centuries old that had fully shed their humanity. 

 

     At least here, most of the ghosts roaming around were freshly dead enough that they didn’t know where they were or what they were doing. 

 

     He grabbed onto the fire escape, climbing the questionable ladder and up until he managed to reach the roof. Part of it was caved in, but there was a spot that was stable enough that it could hold his weight. He hopped over, carefully perching himself near the edge and letting his legs dangle over the side. 

 

     Over the last few weeks, the sky had started to clear. It wasn’t significant by any means, and ash and soot still coated the clouds, but sometimes he could see a bit of blue peeking through. Right now, he could see a mix of pinks and purples, all right behind the dark clouds that blocked his view. Somewhere out there, the sun was setting. 

 

     And, maybe, Five was watching it too. 

 

     He sighed, leaning back and kicking his feet. It was quiet, aside from the distant moaning of lost souls. Sometimes, he missed the bustling sounds of people. Sure, they were assholes most of the time, but the sounds of the streets had become what he associated with home. City noise was comfortable. All this quiet was… unnatural. 

 

     He stared down at his hands. They were grimy and caked with dirt. He’d had to dig through rubble earlier to find his sorry excuse for a breakfast, and water was a luxury he wasn’t about to waste for the sake of hygiene. 

 

     Brow furrowing, he clenched his fists, pushing until they flickered blue. The glow was stronger this time, less like a dying light bulb. He squeezed his eyes shut, reaching out again. 

 

     “Come on,” he whispered, feeling that familiar ache forming in the back of his mind. “Come on. You stubborn assholes…”

 

     Fumbling in the dark, he pulled, and something finally gave. His body felt like it was doused with ice. He gasped, eyes flying open. 

 

     The roof gave out beneath him, sending him falling right down onto the pavement below. A painful SNAP cracked the air, and then everything was black. 

 

---

 

     When he came to, he could feel something sticky in his hair. 

 

     “Shit,” he whined, letting his cheek fall against the pavement with a pout. “I liked this outfit.”

 

     “Klaus?”

 

     “I mean, really, do you know how hard it is to get blood out of satin?”

 

     Klaus peeled one eye open. The sky wasn’t any darker yet, so it couldn’t have been very long. Getting faster at this whole dying and coming back business. 

 

     Ben was staring down at him. 

 

     This didn’t surprise him in the slightest. In fact, he’d been expecting this. 

 

     “I wondered when you’d get here,” he hummed, propping himself up with his hands. He could feel the sticky substance in between his fingers, and when he looked down he found he was laying in a whole puddle of it. 

 

     “Are you okay?” Ben asked, crouching down next to him. “I- how long has it been? One second we were all arguing, and then…” He stared at him. “What did you do?”

 

     “No time for idle chat,” Klaus dismissed, climbing up onto his feet. He brushed himself off like he’d gotten a speck of dirt on his blouse, ignoring the blood soaked into his backside. “I have a dinner date. Can’t cancel on me again, I’m afraid.”

 

     “What are you talking about?” Ben followed behind him, looking up at where he’d been sitting and then back down at the blood splattered sidewalk. “Klaus, this is serious. Where did you send us? What about the others?”

 

     “I’m not sure where any of you are,” Klaus admitted, hopping over rubble to get into the small store. He paused as he passed the mirror again, nose wrinkling as he assessed the damage, then pushed past towards his stash of food. “I haven’t been successful in summoning any of you yet, but I’ll let you know when I am.”

 

     “What?” Ben stopped, watching him struggle against the can. “I- Klaus, it’s got the tab lid.”

 

     “So it does.” Klaus stuck the tab between his teeth, popping it open and tearing it off. 

 

     “I’m right here,” Ben explained, ignoring his brother’s antics. “You summoned me.”

 

     “Sure.” Klaus chuckled, sitting cross legged in the middle of the floor. “Months of trying and you just show up.”

 

     “What- months?” He shook his head. “What else could I be?”

 

     “Hallucination,” Klaus said simply, scooping spam out of the can with his bare hands. Ben cringed, looking away, but he didn’t leave. 

 

     “I’m not a hallucination,” he assured him, holding a hand up to block his view. “You brought me back from wherever you sent me.”

 

     “Oh yeah?” Klaus laughed through a mouthful, before swallowing. “Then where’d I send you? You meet that tricycle bitch?”

 

     “What? No.” Horribly confused, Ben just shook his head. “I’m not sure where it was, exactly. It’s kind of just like being asleep? Like limbo. Ghost limbo.”

 

     “Mmm.”

 

     “It’s probably where the others are.” Ben sat down, leaning against the wall. He stared at the other wall for a moment, quiet. 

 

     Klaus tossed the can aside, scooting closer. 

 

     “Can you prove it’s you?”

 

     “What?”

 

     “Tell me something Ben would know,” Klaus said, waving GOODBYE dismissively. “Something I wouldn’t know, so I know it’s not just my mind playing tricks on me.”

 

     “Lord of the Rings.” Ben glanced at him, head pressed against the wall. “Bilbo’s the uncle, not the nephew.”

 

     “Nerd shit.” Klaus nodded, taking his turn to stare up at the ceiling instead. “You are Ben.”

 

     “Thanks,” Ben said dryly. 

 

     Klaus didn’t respond for a moment. Ben took the opportunity to look his brother over. The skirt and blouse he’d complained about earlier were stained in the back, but bright and colorful in the front. Sure, they’d gone dull from exposure to soot and dust, but he could tell they’d once been vibrant and pretty. 

 

     His brother’s hair, while partially matted and sticky, was curly. It reached down past his chin. 

 

     “How long has it been?”

 

     “Couple months.” Klaus rubbed his hands against his skirt, still staring at the ceiling. He let out a nervous chuckle. “I was starting to think I wouldn’t be able to do it. Bring you back. Thought I’d just be stuck here.”

 

     “The others?”

 

     “Still MIA.” Klaus let his head flop to the side, gaze shifting towards him. “I’m still not sure how to get them back. I mean, I already knew what to look for for you. I can recognize your…” He gestured vaguely. “Soul. I guess. Since you’ve been tagging along with me for so long.”

 

     “I’m sure you can do it,” Ben insisted. “I mean, they’re our siblings.”

 

     “You’re the one that was pissed at them, man.” Klaus gave him a lopsided smile. “Nice job, by the way. I don’t think you’ve ever stood up to them like that before. You were always so soft spoken when you were alive. It was cool, seeing you bitch at them.”

 

     “Yeah, well, I’ve seen you put up with a lot of their shit since I died,” Ben admitted. “You and Vanya. I know they’re our siblings, and I’ve missed them, but they’ve always got their heads up their asses. And Luther and Allison have that- that thing, and it’s gross.” He groaned. “We all ended up so fucked up.”

 

     “You can thank Reggie’s A+ parenting for that,” Klaus hummed, bringing his knees up to his chest. “His 13 year old son ran out and got himself stuck in an apocalypse, his 16 year old son died, and the rest went out into the world as a bunch of emotionally stunted man children.” He chuckled, wrapping his arms around his legs. “I bet he’s laughing now, if he even knew how to laugh. Pretty sure I saw him laugh once, when I fell down the stairs.”

 

     “Have you seen him since he died?”

 

     Klaus grimaced, shifting awkwardly. 

 

     “Like, once. And it wasn’t on purpose. I died, ended up in the afterlife for a bit, and he popped in for a visit.” He wore a dry smile. “And of course, by visit, I mean a bitch fest where he told me how disappointed he was in me. That I was still such a mess, that I hadn’t saved the world. He was a little impressed that I’d gotten good at the dying and coming back thing, but he managed to twist it around as an insult. He was upset I hadn’t managed to bring you back, too.” He tapped his fingers against his leg. “Oh! And he killed himself.”

 

     “He what?”

 

     “Yeah! To get us together to save the world. He was really pissed that it didn’t work. I’m happy, though. Asshole can stay dead.”

 

     “Good grief.” Ben huffed out a laugh, leaning forward. “Good riddance.”

 

     “Exactly!” Klaus laughed, grinning at his brother. “See, isn’t this great? Shit-talking our siblings and our useless father? I missed you, Bentacles.”

 

     “Don’t call me that,” Ben scoffed, but he was smiling too. 

 

     “Bennerino. Benjamin. Benny.”

 

     “Stop.”

 

     “Bentennial celebration.”

 

     “That… mkay.” Ben shook his head, giggling. “You’re crazy.”

 

     “Thank you,” Klaus sing-songed, beaming. He climbed up onto his feet, smoothing out his skirt. “Okay. Now that I have someone who can actually talk back to me- what are we thinking of this little number?”

 

     He did a spin, letting the skirt twirl around his legs and showing off the macabre tie-dye of stains on the back. 

 

     Ben just rolled his eyes, still smiling. 

 

     “It’s lovely.”

 

 

Notes:

They are my favorite duo, and while I loved season 3, man, I missed them so much.

Chapter 6

Summary:

Klaus manages to bring back his siblings, with only some mild setbacks.

Notes:

Took me a couple rewrites to figure out how I wanted this chapter, but the next one’s pretty solid in my brain so it should be up soon!

---

 

     “Focus.”

 

     Silence. A cool gust of air brushed his nose, blowing at his hair so it tickled his cheek. 

 

     “Are you focusing?”

 

      “Yes. And it would be a lot easier if you shut up.”

 

     “I’m just trying to help.”

 

     “Well, you’re not, so zip it.”

 

     Silence. Klaus blew out a steady breath, cracking his knuckles. 

 

     “I’m seeing now why it took so long to bring me back.”

 

     “Oh my god.” Klaus opened his eyes, glaring at his ghostly brother. Ben was leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. He blinked innocently at him, but there was that typical smug grin on his face. “I think I preferred when you were in ghost jail.”

 

     “You missed me,” Ben said simply, only growing more smug. Klaus rolled his eyes, but he didn’t move from his seated position. His hands were still glowing faintly, but they were fizzling out the longer he was distracted by Ben’s stupid face. 

 

     “I can send you back,” he spat, giving him a warning glare. Ben didn’t seem at all fazed, cocking his head with a fake pout, but he didn’t say anything else. Sighing, Klaus closed his eyes. 

 

      What was he looking for? Luther, Allison, Diego, Vanya. Maybe not Luther. Nah, he missed the big guy. Even if all they ever did was argue, he wanted them around. It was too peaceful without them. 

 

     He found something, and that icy feeling washed over him again. He inhaled sharply, shuddering. 

 

     “Klaus-“

 

     He stiffened suddenly, eyes flying open. They flashed with the same blue glow for a single second, and then it all faded away as he slumped back against the ground. Ben was at his side in a heartbeat, fretful hands hovering over him. 

 

     “You okay?”

 

     Klaus just moaned, letting his head flop to the side. His whole body felt like a deflated balloon. 

 

     “What the hell?”

 

     Ben looked up, not leaving Klaus’s side. Luther, Diego, and Vanya were standing mere feet away, with little fanfare like they’d been there all along. All three looked disoriented and confused. 

 

     “Where are we?” Luther asked, staring down at his hands. His gaze flicked up, noticing Klaus’s limp body. “What’s going on?”

 

     Ben snapped his fingers in front of Klaus’s face, trying to rouse him. This only accomplished another whine and a weak flick of his hand. 

 

     “What happened to him?” Diego asked bluntly, giving Klaus a funny look. “Looks like shit.”

 

     Ben snapped his fingers again. Klaus’s eyes fluttered open, face quickly twisting into a frustrated pout. 

 

     “I can’t have five seconds?” He complained, glaring at his brother. Ben nudged his head in the direction of the others, and Klaus looked up at them. 

 

     He giggled deliriously. 

 

     “I did it?”

 

     “Yeah.” Ben huffed out a laugh, smiling. “You did it.”

 

     “Is someone gonna tell me what’s going on?” Diego interrupted, crossing his arms. Klaus just laughed again, trailing off into shaky whimpers. 

 

     “What’s the last thing you remember?” Ben questioned, standing back up. Luther and Diego shared a glance, while Vanya hung back, haunted eyes glued to the floor. 

 

     That essentially answered his question without even needing any words. 

 

     “Look,” he began, shifting awkwardly on his feet. “I’m… sorry. That was my fault. I wasn’t being honest because I didn’t trust how any of you would react, so I kind of just took the decision from you? It isn’t Klaus’s fault, and it isn’t Vanya’s. Just- sorry. I was an asshole.”

 

     No one responded for a moment. Klaus hid his face with both hands, finally going silent. 

 

     “You know you’re different than I remember,” Diego admitted, not meeting his eyes. “You were always quiet as a kid. Now you’re-“

 

     “A prick?” Klaus offered, letting his arms splay out against the ground. 

 

     “Confident,” Diego finished, giving him a look. “More sure of your decisions. Being out of Dad’s shadow was good for you. It’s just too bad you had to die for it to happen.”

 

     “That’s what happens,” Klaus hummed, slowly raising into a sitting position. He rubbed at his eyes, acting amused at some joke in his head. “You either die, or live to die.”

 

     “Come again?”

 

     “Nobody makes it out of life alive!” Klaus clapped his hands together. “And the same goes for dear old Dad’s scathing glare. He’s always got eyes on you, all the way up until you die.” He chuckled, scratching his chin. “Or he dies.”

 

     “Uh-huh.” Diego glanced at Ben, raising an eyebrow. Ben just shrugged, lacking whatever answer he was looking for. 

 

     “Wait,” Luther interrupted, brow furrowing. He’d been looking around, searching for something. The panicked frown on his face suggested he hadn’t found it. “Where’s Allison?”

 

     “Oh?” Klaus blinked, like he’d only just noticed. He glanced about, before looking back up at him. He chuckled. “Well, I don’t have a 100% success rate. Still new to this whole summoning thing.”

 

     “Summoning?” Diego echoed, looking between him and Luther. He could see the tension in his larger brother’s shoulders, growing irritation and worry spreading across his face. 

 

     “Yep!” Klaus climbed onto his feet, smoothing out his skirt. “Since I sorta kinda accidentally banished you guys. No hard feelings, right?”

 

     “You what?” Luther stared at him like he was seeing him for the first time. 

 

     “Banished! Cast off into the afterlife, or some version of it. Ben said it was a ghost limbo, was it the same thing for you-“

 

     Luther moved forward like he was going to shove him, which of course he couldn’t, but it startled Klaus enough that he stumbled back. 

 

     “Where is she?!”

 

     “I dunno!” Klaus held his hands over his head, shielding it. “I mean, probably wherever you were? It might just take another couple tries to find her, it took me months to find you-“

 

     “DO IT!” Luther took a swipe at him again, arm passing through him, but it succeeded in sending that cold, sick feeling through him. Klaus shuddered, wrapping his arms around his torso. 

 

     “Woah, hey man,” Diego said quickly, moving like he was going to step in between them, but Luther blocked him with his arm. 

 

     “Summon her!” He demanded, glaring daggers through Klaus’s head. 

 

     “I can’t just do it on command!” Klaus insisted, still shivering. “I- I need to focus, and it needs to be quiet, and- and I’m not sure I could do it right now! I kinda spent it all bringing you back!”

 

     “Luther-“

 

     “Oh, so your powers only ever work when it’s convenient for you?” He snapped, shoving Diego off. “This is just like when you wouldn’t summon Dad. Your own self-inflicted limitations are more important than everybody else.”

 

     “Well thank Christ I didn’t summon him!” Klaus spat, shaking out his hands and standing straighter. “The bastard killed himself! You probably would’ve just called me a liar and thrown me through a wall!”

 

     Luther snarled, surging forward, and Klaus held his hands out in front of him. There was a split second where Luther just disappeared, a blue glow surrounding Klaus, and then he’d reappeared on the other side, stumbling and nearly falling. Klaus convulsed, arms wrapping around himself again, and fell to his knees. 

 

     “Shit!” Diego and Ben both hurried over to Klaus, who was shaking so bad he’d nearly toppled over. “What the hell, Luther?”

 

     “Don’t-“ Luther blinked, disoriented, and pointed a shaky finger at Klaus. “Don’t talk about him like that.”

 

     “Dad’s gone,” Diego snapped, shooting him a dirty look. “Let it go, man.”

 

     “He can’t talk about him like that!”

 

     “Leave him alone!” Vanya cried, finally breaking her silence. She was still keeping her distance, but frustrated tears were gathering in her eyes. “I can’t take this! We can’t be like this for the rest of forever!”

 

     “You-“

 

     “Oh, give it a rest,” Diego interrupted, shutting him down. “We’re all we have left, here. Quit using the past as an excuse to be a dick.”

 

     “What’s wrong?” Ben asked, keeping his attention on Klaus’s trembling frame. His brother let out a shaky breath, blinking a few times. 

 

     “Oh,” he croaked, grimacing. “I didn’t like that.”

 

     “Can you stand?”

 

     He didn’t reply, but he moved to stand anyway. A hand grabbed Ben’s, catching him off guard, and he noticed the subtle glow around his brother’s hands. He gave Diego a look and he seemed to know what he meant, because he offered him a hand as well. They helped him onto his feet, keeping a secure hold on each of his arms. 

 

     Together, they made their way past Luther, who was still seated on the ground, and Ben led the way to where Klaus had set up temporary camp. Vanya trailed behind them, still keeping her distance, but she hurried ahead to open the door for them when she realized she could. 

 

     “Thanks,” Diego mumbled awkwardly, turning sideways so they could fit through. She just nodded, keeping her gaze on her feet. 

 

     “We’ll just sit him down over here,” Ben said, carefully avoiding all the tripping hazards scattered across the floor. Diego followed his lead, frowning as he took in the space. 

 

     “This place is a dump.”

 

     “It’s the apocalypse.”

 

     “Fair point.”

 

     Klaus groaned as they helped him sit down, taking his arms back in favor of crossing them over his chest. He brought his knees up and leaned against the wall. 

 

     “Yayyyy,” he wheezed, a weak smile on his face. “Gang’s all back together. Well, almost.” He let his head smack against the wall. “I’ll find Allison tomorrow, I promise.”

 

     “You don’t have to promise anything,” Diego assured him, sitting down next to him. Ben did the same on the other side, tapping the spot next to him for Vanya. She hesitated for a moment before joining them, sitting with a few inches between them. 

 

     “I didn’t mean to,” Klaus added, letting his eyes slide shut. “Banishing you, I mean. I won’t do it again.”

 

     “We didn’t say you did.” Diego exchanged a worried look with Ben. “But… how long was it?”

 

     “Couple months.” Klaus sighed, rubbing at his face. “I swear, I tried almost everyday. Not the first week, but can you blame me? The quiet was nice for a little while.”

 

     “Trust me, man,” Diego huffed, a small smile tugging at his lips. “There are some days I wish I had the power to make my family disappear. Just for a little while.”

 

     “Who would ever want me to disappear?” Klaus protested, pouting. 

 

     “Uh-huh.” Diego shook his head. “That’s funny.”

 

     “I am a delight. Or so I’ve been told.”

 

     “By who??”

 

     “Drag queens, leather doms, rehab workers.” Klaus hummed. “Although, the last one usually sounds a little sarcastic. No idea why.”

 

     “Delight’s an interesting word,” Ben mused, mimicking Klaus’s pose. 

 

     “I’ve been called a lot of other things,” Klaus continued. “But I’m not sure they’d help my point any.”

 

     “I think that just helps my point,” Diego decided. He folded his legs under him, leaning forward. “You see any sign of Five while we were gone?”

 

     “Some stores of supplies were already cleaned out,” Klaus recalled, tapping his fingers against his knee. “Dunno if that means he was there, though. They could’ve been, like, robbed before all of this. I never saw him.”

 

     “Maybe he found a way back home,” Vanya whispered, a distant look in her eyes. 

 

     “If he had, wouldn’t we remember?” Ben asked miserably. “He never came back, all those years. That has to mean he never found a way out.”

 

     “Or he came back and steered clear of the lot of us,” Klaus added. “Which wouldn’t be a half bad idea.”

 

     He paused, looking up. Luther was standing outside the door. He had his hand out to open it, but seemed to realize he couldn’t, because he walked right through instead. 

 

     The two held each other’s gaze for a few seconds, and then he was off to the opposite side of the room, sitting out of their view behind a half demolished shelf. 

 

     “We are a mess,” Diego agreed quietly, fishing the knife out of his pocket so he could twist it around between his fingers. Vanya wordlessly leaned into Ben, resting her head on his shoulder, and he wrapped an arm around her. 

 

     Klaus hummed to himself, letting his eyes shut again. 

 

 

Notes:

Luther WILL have his himboification soon, worry not. He just needs to realize he has some issues and open up to his siblings first.

Chapter 7

Summary:

Klaus finds Allison and finally meets Claire.

Notes:

This one gives me the feels. Uncle Klaus gives me the FEELS.

---

 

     Klaus tried to summon Allison the next day. Then again that evening. Then the next day. 

 

     He tried again and again for a week, coming up empty handed each time. 

 

     Luther refused to talk to him. He refused to talk to any of them. After all his hard work, his family was falling apart all over again. 

 

     He couldn’t stand it. 

 

     He’d only been gone for a little under half an hour, but he could hear the sound of Ben walking up behind him. Of course, he was always the nosy one. 

 

      And he knew him pretty well. 

 

     Ben stood next to him, hands in his pockets. 

 

     “That was a lot of stairs,” he said, staring at the drop off the building two feet in front of them. 

 

     “‘T’s a tall building.”

 

     “I noticed.” He side-eyed him. “Any reason why?”

 

     “I need a guarantee.” Klaus blew out a shaky breath, running his hands back through his curls. “I can’t handle that kind of pain. It needs to be quick.”

 

     “Or you could just not.” Ben glanced back at the ground, dozens of stories below them. “Every solution doesn’t have to be so dramatic.”

 

     “I can’t summon Allison,” Klaus huffed, tucking his hands under his armpits. “This is the only other way I can think of reaching her. I have to try.”

 

     Ben crossed his arms, staring out at the horizon. The sun was setting again. 

 

     They could see more of the sky, today. 

 

     “Do you think you have a limit?” He asked quietly. “What if you can only come back so many times?”

 

     “What kind of lame immortality would that be?” Klaus joked, rubbing his arm anxiously. 

 

     “Do you really wanna risk it?”

 

     “Mmhmm.” He nodded, lips pressed together. He was quiet for a moment, before smacking his hands against the sides of his legs. “Benny, my powers have never been useful before. I could never help on missions, or with anything, really. They were a curse. Now they’re actually really, really helpful. I can’t just not try.”

 

     “You can try summoning her again.”

 

     “Or I can go to the afterlife to find her.”

 

     Ben didn’t respond. Klaus huffed out a shaky breath, staring down at the distant ground. He swallowed thickly. 

 

     “I’m not huge on heights,” he admitted. “Which is ironic, because I love being high.”

 

     “You don’t have to do this,” Ben repeated, a rare soft look on his face. “We can just walk down, find the others. We can figure out something else.”

 

     “You can do it for me,” Klaus offered, cocking his head with a sly smile. “Strangle me with your tentacles.” He winked and Ben grimaced, softness leaving his face in an instant.

 

     “Go ahead,” he deadpanned, motioning for the edge of the building. Klaus stuck out his tongue, walking forward. 

 

     He stared down at the ground. His legs started to shake. 

 

     “You sure you won’t push me?” He asked, voice breaking. He looked back at his brother, holding out a glowing hand. 

 

     Ben glanced down at his own hands, then back at Klaus. Sighing, he stepped forward and grabbed his hand, pulling him away from the edge. Klaus frowned, opening his mouth to protest. 

 

     Something sliced right through him, sending a burning pain through his abdomen. He jerked, eyes fluttering, and felt the taste of something coppery on his tongue. 

 

     The tentacles disappeared back under Ben’s shirt, leaving behind a gaping hole below his ribs. His brother quickly helped him into a sitting position, eyes wide and guilty. 

 

     “Did it work?” He asked worriedly, watching the glow vanish from Klaus’s hands. 

 

     Klaus spat on the concrete, showing off bloody teeth. 

 

     “Strangling would have been way hotter,” he rasped, hands trembling as they felt along the edge of the hole. 

 

     Ben’s unimpressed face was the last thing he saw before everything turned black. 

 

---

 

     It wasn’t black and white, this time. He was in somebody’s house, and it was alive and full of color. The clock was ticking on the wall, music playing in the background. The carpet was soft under his feet. 

 

     “Damn,” he chuckled, wiggling his toes against the plush fuzz. “This is nice.”

 

     He took a step into the room, glancing around. Children’s toys were scattered across the carpet, with family portraits along the walls. Some of them had him in them, he noted with some surprise. Magazine cutouts from their childhood fame and pictures they’d taken with the cameras and polaroids they’d snuck into the academy. 

 

     One of the pictures stuck out to him, mostly because he knew for a fact that it wasn’t real. A photograph with all of them, including Ben and little 13 year old Five, all posed with bright eyes and cheerful smiles. Allison was crouched near the center, her arms wrapped around a little girl that shared her eyes. 

 

     “Uncle Klaus!”

 

     Something slammed into his legs. He nearly toppled over, if not for his strange sense of balance in this theoretical paradise. He glanced down, and found the same child wrapped around his legs. She grinned up at him, eyes twinkling. 

 

     He’d never gotten to meet her when she was alive, but he knew who she was. 

 

     “Hey, Claire,” he said softly, grinning. He patted her head, admiring the braids he recognized as his sister’s work from back when she’d do the same to his hair. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

 

     “You’re the Seance!” She squealed, bouncing on her heels. “Momma says you’re immortal. She says you can talk to ghosts!”

 

     “She talks about me?” There was a pang of something at the thought. When he’d tried to stop in and meet his niece after she was born, Allison had shut the door in his face. Different times, when he’d been neck deep in bad habits and addictions, but still. What kind of role model was he to tell your kid about?

 

     “She tells the best stories!” Claire gushed, finally letting go of him in favor of grabbing his hand. She admired the tattoo with wide eyes, maneuvering it so she could see the umbrella on his wrist. “My favorites are the ones where you both snuck out to play. Like the time you broke into the amusement park? She did your nails!”

 

     “And I did hers.” He crouched down, taking her small hand. “She told you about all the trouble we got into? I always thought she’d want to keep up her reputation.”

 

     “Not all the trouble,” Claire admitted, eyes sparkling with mischief. “Do you have any stories?”

 

     “As a matter of fact-“

 

     “I always knew you’d cause trouble if you two teamed up.”

 

     The pair looked up, finding Allison in the doorway. Claire giggled, throwing her arms around her uncle and hiding her face in his chest, while Klaus just blinked up at her innocently. 

 

     “I wasn’t gonna tell her any of the bad ones,” he assured her, patting Claire’s back. “Honest.”

 

     “Uh-huh.” Allison rolled her eyes with a smirk. She turned, waving a hand, and disappeared down the hall. 

 

     Klaus reluctantly let go of his niece. 

 

     “I’ll be right back, kay pumpkin?” He kissed the top of her head. “I need to talk to your mom.”

 

     “Okay!”

 

     “And I love the skirt, by the way.” He stood, winking. “You’ve got an excellent sense of style.”

 

     “I know.”

 

     He hurried after his sister, nearly getting lost in the process. He could tell this place was modeled after her house in California because it was huge, with way too much room for guests to mingle. He found her in the front room, where she was messing with something on the shelf. 

 

     “Cute kid,” he complimented, leaning against the doorway. “I like her spunk.”

 

     “She is the best,” she agreed, voice light and cheerful. Much happier than he’d heard her recently, if ever. “I didn’t think she’d ever get the chance to meet you. With your whole…” She waved her hand vaguely. “Can’t die thing.”

 

     “The afterlife is my bitch,” he said simply, flopping down on the couch. “Speaking of-“

 

     “No.”

 

     “No?”

 

      “No.” She didn’t turn around, but he could see the tension in her shoulders. “I know why you’re here, Klaus.”

 

     “Look, I’m sorry.” He sat up a little straighter, rubbing his hands against his skirt. “I didn’t mean to, you know, kick you out of the world.”

 

     “I’m glad you did.”

 

     He blinked. 

 

     “Pardon?”

 

     “When we woke up at the end of everything, I… I don’t know.” She turned, finally facing him. “I thought I had to fix everything. That I had to earn this. We needed to find Five and stop the apocalypse, and that was that. I couldn’t have my happy ending, or my eternal peace.”

 

     She crossed the room, sitting down next to her brother. 

 

     “When you sent me away, I was… nowhere, for a while. I think it was some sort of in between place. I could wait, or I could move on. And I realized- what’s the point? Say we did stop the apocalypse. I’d be right back in the custody battle from hell, unable to see my daughter. Vanya would still be miserable, and-“ She sighed, hiding her face in her hands. “I know I’m crazy, but what if this is just for the best? What’s the tragedy of death when everyone you love is dead with you?”

 

     Klaus shifted in his seat. A false smile spread over his lips as he turned back to her. 

 

     “You want to stay here?”

 

     “I’ve moved on,” she said simply. “There’s nothing left for me there. The rest should do it too. I mean, what’s the chance we find Five when there’s the whole world? It could take years, if ever.” She shook her head. “I’m done.”

 

     “Luther’ll miss you,” he said softly, gaze falling to his lap. He felt her shift, uncrossing her legs. 

 

     “Luther spent his whole life as a mission,” she recalled, sounding sad. “He needs help finding the truth, but…” She crossed her arms, looking away. “I’m not going back.”

 

     “What about Vanya?” Klaus moved so he was seated sideways on the couch. “Diego? Ben?”

 

     “Klaus, I can finally be with my daughter.” She turned back to him, a sad smile on her face. “All that time away, it was like I couldn’t breathe, and now that we’re together I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. I can’t give that up again.” She sighed, smile slipping. “I wish I could’ve been there to see her grow up, but I won’t leave her alone. Not again.”

 

     Klaus watched her for a moment. She was at peace in a way he’d never seen before. She was happy. 

 

     But she was also his sister. His sister, who’d been one of his sole comforts in those first days after realizing he couldn’t die. The sister that had told him everything would be okay, that they’d stick together through everything. 

 

     But she was happy. 

 

     He smiled, holding his arms out, and she quickly leaned into the hug, squeezing him tight. 

 

     “It’s so nice to be able to do this,” she whispered, pressing her cheek into the side of his head. He squeezed back, memorizing the way her hugs felt. 

 

     “Yeah,” he huffed, blinking up at the ceiling. “Yeah. Hugs are hard to come by in the end of the world.” He turned so his face was buried in the crook of her neck. “I’ll miss you.”

 

     “I’ll miss you too,” she whispered, squeezing him even tighter. “You’re always welcome to visit. And… and stay, if you find out how.”

 

     “Mmhmm.” He sighed, wiping at his eyes with the heel of his palm. “Tell Claire I said goodbye.”

 

     “I will.”

 

---

 

     Klaus woke up on the top of the building. Ben was still sitting next to him, flipping through the pages of the book he always mysteriously had in his pocket. He looked up when he realized he was awake. 

 

     “Did you find her?”

 

     Wordlessly, Klaus stood, unbothered by the blood stains in his shirt. He made his way over to the roof access, opening the door and staring down the stairs. 

 

     “I should’ve jumped,” he muttered, taking the first step down. “Then I wouldn’t have to worry about stairs.”

 

     Ben hurried after him, brow knit together with confusion. He didn’t question him again, but he did follow him all the way back to camp. The others were all silently awaiting his return, all preoccupied with their own attempts at passing time. 

 

     It was Vanya that noticed their approach. She set her book aside, hurrying onto her feet. 

 

     “What happened?” She asked, large eyes pinned to the bloody hole on his shirt. Klaus just hummed, waving her off. 

 

     “Unimportant,” he dismissed, slipping his hands into his pockets. He glanced around the room, biting his lip. “I, uh, talked to Allison.”

 

     That gained their attention. Diego looked up, setting his knife aside, and Luther moved so quickly he nearly knocked over a shelf of old vhses. 

 

     “How?” Diego questioned, also noticing the sorry state of his clothes. “I thought you couldn’t summon her.”

 

     “I have my methods.”

 

     That didn’t sway the worry in his brother’s eyes, but he let it slide in favor of curiosity. 

 

     “And?”

 

     Klaus clapped his hand together. 

 

     “And, well…” He shrugged, not meeting any of their gazes. “She’s moved on. To the afterlife. Heaven, or whatever you consider it to be. She’s with Claire, and she’s, like, really happy.”

 

     Silence. He winced, bracing himself for that reaction he’d been expecting. 

 

     But it didn’t come. 

 

     “She’s not coming back?” Luther asked in a hushed voice, staring up at him with wide, sad eyes. He looked like a kicked puppy. Klaus felt like he was kicking a puppy. 

 

     He shook his head. Luther looked away. 

 

     Klaus rubbed his hands together. 

 

     “You could always join her,” he suggested. “Move on, cash in your ticket to heaven.”

 

     “Why would we do that?” Diego questioned, brow furrowing. “I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t have anything waiting for me over there. And besides, we can’t leave you alone.”

 

     “Sure you do!” Klaus threw his hands up. “You have- you’ve got your lady cop, right? And Mom! If robots go to Heaven, which I dunno! Anything’s possible. And there’s Pogo, and any other friend you’ve ever had, and really it’s okay if you don’t wanna stick around-“

 

     “I’m sticking with my family,” Diego interrupted, giving him a soft look. “That’s what matters. Even if you all are a pain in my ass.”

 

     “I don’t have anyone waiting for me,” Vanya agreed, managing a small smile. “And besides, I still want to try and find Five. Nobody should be alone like that.”

 

     “You already knew it was pointless to try and shake me,” Ben said simply, shrugging. 

 

     Luther didn’t offer anything up, but he didn’t immediately disappear into the After either, so it had to mean something. He just turned so his back was to them, silent. 

     Klaus huffed, rolling his eyes  

     “You’re all crazy.”

 

 

Notes:

Just a heads up that this chapter isn’t any Allison slander, it’s only based on her characterization in the first season. Despite her love for her siblings, she’s always made it clear that her daughter is the most important person in the world to her. She isn’t purposefully abandoning Klaus and the others out of spite, as she isn’t really thinking about how they feel right now (and not maliciously, each one of the characters is shown to be pretty focused on their own problems in season one.) She’s finally gotten her happy ending, and they’re all happy for her! They’re just going to miss her an awful lot.

Chapter 8

Summary:

Numbers Four and Seven discuss names, hair, and new beginnings at the end of the world.

Notes:

I told you I’d have Viktor come out in this story!

I’ve also decided that this is now I’m favorite chapter I’ve written.

---

 

     Things were quiet for a little while. Despite everyone’s vows to stick around (and Luther’s wordless acceptance), the loss of Allison hung heavy over their heads. Sometimes, when Klaus snuck a look at them, he could see them mulling over questions in their mind. What awaited them on the other side? How much did they really have to gain by staying?

 

     But anytime he asked, it was always false smiles and reassurances that they were better off sticking together as a family. 

 

     It stung. But he certainly wasn’t going to say that. 

 

     Luther was the only one that was honest about his feelings, and that translated into his depressed silence and moodiness. His only responses tended to be grunts, he never met anyone’s eyes. 

 

     He was lonely in a room full of people. 

 

     (Klaus knew the feeling.)

 

     “Greetings, favorite sibling.”

 

     Klaus lazily sat beside Vanya, folding his legs underneath him. She shifted to accommodate him, looking up at him with a soft smile. 

 

     “Hey, Klaus.”

 

     “Diego and Ben are having a geek off in there over some book series,” he hummed, shrugging one shoulder. “I figured I’d escape before they roped me into it, maybe see what the sane one’s up to.”

 

     “Dunno if I’d be considered the sane one,” Vanya countered, folding her arms over her knees. “I did end the world.”

 

     “We all have our moments.”

 

     Vanya made a funny face at that, glancing at him again, and he grinned and leaned forward, cocking his head so their eyes were on the same level. 

 

     “You okay out here?”

 

     “Yeah, yeah.” She shifted in her seat, returning her gaze out to the horizon. She could feel his eyes still on her, but didn’t seem unsettled by it. “I’m good. Just thinking.”

 

     “About?”

 

     She looked at him again. There was a long, tense moment before she let out a slow breath, leaning her chin against her knees. 

 

     “Mom gave us our names,” she began slowly, fingers digging into the fabric of her pants. “And now she’s gone. It’s… all we have left of her.”

 

     Klaus didn’t comment. He was watching patiently, waiting for her to get her thoughts out. 

 

     “But…” She bit her lip. “But I’m not sure I want to keep mine?” Her voice was quiet, only just loud enough for him to hear. “I know I helped pick it, but it was my favorite out of what I thought my options were at the time. Now it’s not.”

 

     “You wanna try a different name?” He asked, staying still beside her. 

 

     “I dunno.” She sighed, pressing her chin into her knees. “I never wanted to cause a fuss about it. But the world’s over, and I’m dead.” She shrugged. “Who’s there to impress anymore?”

 

     “Hell yeah.” He grinned, nudging her shoulder with his fist. “What’re we thinking? Veronica? Victoria?”

 

     A moment of silence, Klaus watching curiously as she stared somewhere past him. 

 

     She mumbled something he couldn’t hear. He scooched a little closer. 

 

     “Hm?”

 

     “…Viktor?”

 

     Both siblings stared at each other. 

 

     “With a k or with a c?”

 

     His sibling blinked, caught off guard by how casual the question was. There was a moment where they both just sat there, waiting for the other to say something. 

 

     “K.”

 

     “Viktor,” Klaus repeated, over pronouncing the k. “I dig it.” He held his hand out to shake. “Hey, Vik. Klaus, any pronouns you fancy. You?”

 

     Viktor stared at him, eyes growing a little misty. 

 

     “Uh, he?” He swallowed, gaze flicking towards the hand. “Or… or they, I dunno yet.”

 

     He took his brother’s hand. Klaus gave it an enthusiastic shake, beaming. 

 

     “So I have another brother?”

 

     Viktor shrugged, cheeks coloring pink. 

 

     “I guess so.”

 

     “Sweet.” Klaus nodded sagely, still holding his hand. “If we kick Ben out, we could be the Beatles.”

 

     Viktor’s nose wrinkled, an amused grin breaking through the mask of anxiety. Klaus giggled, finally letting go of his hand, and the pair trailed off into a more comfortable silence. 

 

     “So,” Klaus hummed, cocking his head to look at him again. “Did you wanna…?” He gestured to his hair. Viktor ran a hand through it, chewing his lip. 

 

     “I’m a ghost,” he reminded him, frowning. “Aren’t I kinda stuck the way I am?”

 

     “Psh, nah.” Klaus waved a dismissive hand. “I mean, Ben looks way different than when he died. I think it’s an exclusive thing- if you’re one of my ghost bitches, you get special treatment.”

 

     “Oh.” He ran his hands up and down his pant legs, looking away. “Maybe.”

 

     Klaus nodded, holding out his hand again. Viktor took it without thinking, making a surprised noise when his brother hoisted them both up onto their feet. 

 

     “I have an excellent idea,” he boasted, nudging his head for him to follow. Viktor trailed after him as they slipped back into their little shelter. They went unnoticed, Ben and Diego still knee deep in their argument and Luther who knows where. Klaus grabbed a bag from his little nest of ratty blankets, then gestured for him to sneak back out the front. 

 

     The pair made their way out and around to the back, where several knocked over garbage cans and boxes could potentially act as chairs. He waved for Viktor to pull one up and he did, sitting down as Klaus flitted about like he was setting a scene. He pulled up an old crate next to him, opening the bag and reaching inside. 

 

     Scissors. 

 

     “Are we thinking a 60s beatnik look?” Klaus hummed, brushing a hand through his hair to keep it out of his eyes. “Maybe a mohawk? Or something more subtle? Maybe just lopping it all off?”

 

     “I mean, maybe do a little at a time?” Viktor suggested hesitantly, eyeing the scissors anxiously. “I don’t think my hair grows anymore, so… we should probably take it slow.”

 

     “I’m sure I could just bippity boppity boo it,” Klaus assured him, waving his hands about. “But don't worry, kleiner bruder, I’ll only do as much as you want.”

 

     “Right.” Viktor averted his gaze to his lap, hands twisting the fabric of his pants. 

 

     Klaus watched him for a moment, uncharacteristically quiet. 

 

     “New idea,” he decided. Viktor looked up, brow furrowing, and was caught off guard by having the scissors handed to him instead. Klaus’s hands were consumed by that blue glow, lazily pulsing like a calm heartbeat. 

 

     “You’re making me do it myself?”

 

     “I’m having you do mine.” He pulled his crate closer, sitting with his back to his brother. “We can match. Or you can give me a ridiculous haircut, probably as revenge for years of taking the title of sexiest sibling. I know you’ve been gunning for it for a while.”

 

     Viktor surprised himself with a laugh. 

 

     “But weren’t you growing it out?” He asked, eyes crinkled with amusement. 

 

     “Nah.” Klaus shrugged, resting his hands on his legs. “Besides, I have the rest of eternity to live out my Rapunzel wet dream. Just no Prince to come and rescue me.”

 

     Viktor paused, smile slipping. Klaus had meant it as a joke, and he was still trailing off with soft laughter at his own humor, but something about that stuck with him. Rest of eternity. 

 

     Was this really all they had left? Forever?

 

     Wordlessly, he raised the scissors up, watching Klaus’s hair like it would start moving on its own. It didn’t, and he snipped one long curl off, realizing afterwards that he should probably start at the bottom and work up. 

 

     Klaus was… dirty. He never really paid any attention to it, because everything was dirty in the apocalypse, but there was a thin layer of grime over his skin. Some flecks of dust and dirt were mistakable as freckles, and others actually were freckles, and-

 

     And Viktor’s hands were clean. There wasn’t a speck on him. 

 

     Because Klaus was the last living person on earth. Besides Five, but who knew if he was still here anyways?

 

     Viktor clumsily worked the scissors around a stubborn knot before just cutting the whole thing out. 

 

     “I’m sorry,” he whispered, fumbling to keep a good hold on them. Klaus’s hands were flickering, and he could tell by the tension in his shoulders he was putting a lot of effort into keeping his powers going. 

 

     He’d gotten a lot better, and it was a little sad, because he had no choice. Everybody he cared about was a ghost. 

 

     “Do I have a bald spot?” He sighed, not turning to look at him. He flapped his hands, uncrossing and recrossing his legs. “It’s okay. I won’t sue.”

 

     “I’m sorry I ended the world.”

 

     There was a second where Klaus didn’t respond, caught off guard by the seriousness of the statement.

 

     “We all have our moments.”

 

     “No.” Viktor blew out a harsh breath between his teeth, trying to even out a part of his hair. “I mean, I’m sorry. It’s my fault you’re all alone.”

 

     Another beat. Klaus stiffened. A hand quickly flew up to feel the back of his head, tension bleeding away when he felt the difference between the longer and shorter bits. 

 

     “You’re here,” he reminded him, almost sounding like he was reassuring himself. “All of you.”

 

     “Well, yeah.” He watched the hand fall away, carefully cutting the spot it had touched. “But none of us are alive. We’re not physical.” He sighed. “Look, I… I’m not upset, that I’m dead. I caused all of this, it’s only fair that I suffer the consequences. I don’t know how the others feel. Allison… Allison has Claire back, she has her eternal peace. But you?” Another snip, leaving just the top long. “You’re trapped in a living hell-“

 

     “No,” Klaus interrupted, and the scissors slipped from his hands. They fell like butter through his fingers, nicking Klaus’s neck on their way to the ground. Both brothers jumped, Klaus quickly reigniting the glow around his hands. 

 

     “I’m so sorry-“

 

     “Hey hey hey.” Klaus scooped them back up, waving them about. “It’s okay. I slipped, is all. My bad.”

 

     “You’re hurt.”

 

     “A scratch won’t kill me.”

 

     He held them back out. Viktor took them, staring down at them. 

 

     “I didn’t-“

 

     “Viktor.” He looked up, meeting his brother’s eyes. Klaus folded his hands over his, face uncharacteristically serious. “I don’t… we don’t need to worry about any of that, okay?” He lowered his voice, squeezing his hands with a sad smile. “I don’t wanna talk about that.”

 

     They maintained eye contact for another few seconds before Viktor swallowed, nodding. 

 

     “I better finish the top,” he said, and Klaus let go of his hands to sit back down. Neither of them said another word while he evened out the top, getting it to a (hopefully) good length. 

 

     “I’ll have to find my mirror,” Klaus gushed, brushing a hand through the curls. Viktor nodded with a soft smile, handing him back the scissors. “Alright, now your turn. Into the chair, let the master do his work.”

 

     Viktor chuckled, shaking his head, but he did as he was told. He balanced himself on the crate, struggling a little to get on top of it (curse Klaus’s long legs.) When he was in position, Klaus held the scissors out. 

 

     “You ready?”

 

     “Yeah.” He nodded, folding his hands in his lap. “Cut it off.”

 

     Klaus took an experimental snip, grinning when it successfully chopped off some hair. He cut it to shoulder length. 

 

     “You going for a man bun?” He inquired lightly, brushing his fingers through the brown strands. 

 

     “More.”

 

     A nod. He cut it into a bob. 

 

     “Hold still,” he hummed, circling towards his front and brushing some of his hair over his eyes. “And trust me.”

 

     “I do.”

 

     Klaus snipped off the ends, getting it shorter until Viktor had bangs that went to just above his eyebrows. He stepped back, admiring his work. 

 

     “Now you do look like a Beatle,” he complimented, winking. Viktor smiled. 

 

     “Does it look good?” He asked shyly, ducking his head. 

 

     “Gimme a sec.” Klaus circled back behind him, taking his hair and cutting out his ears. He cut the rest to match the length, before stepping back again. “There. Very boyish charm.”

 

     Viktor ran a hand through his hair, fascinated by the way it felt. Short hair was fuzzy and soft in a way his long hair never was. 

     “How do you know how to do this so well?” He asked, feeling something fluttery in his chest as he kept brushing his hand through his hair. “I mean, Mom always cut our hair for us.”

 

     “Nobody really wants to touch your hair when you live on the streets,” Klaus said casually, hands on his hips. “I taught myself.”

 

     “You cut your own hair?”

 

     “Mine, other people’s.” He shrugged. “It’s nice to have options for how to get money. People paid to be able to look presentable, even if they didn’t pay a lot.”

 

     Viktor looked up at him, softening.

 

     “Alright, hang on,” Klaus giggled, going to grab his bag again. He pulled out a grimy old handheld mirror, wiping it off on his sleeve and holding it out. 

 

     Viktor gave him a confused smile. 

 

     “How’s it look?” Klaus asked, keeping it up in front of him. Viktor just shrugged, hands in his pockets. 

 

     “I can’t tell.” He gave him an awkward smile. “I don’t have a reflection.”

 

     Klaus’s face fell. He turned the mirror towards himself, staring at his own reflection. 

 

     He swallowed, nodding. 

 

     “Well, you did a good job,” he complimented, shooting him another smile. “I love my do. And we can go get some second opinions on yours if you don’t trust when I say you look spectacular.”

 

     “I trust you,” Viktor assured him, smiling. “And thanks. This means a lot to me, Klaus.”

 

     Klaus glanced back at the mirror, before tossing it over his shoulder and letting it shatter on the ground. 

 

     “Come on,” he gushed, slipping an arm around his brother’s shoulders. “Let’s go show you off.”

 

 

Notes:

I like the idea that Viktor is the only sibling that can really get Klaus to drop his levity and get him to be honest about his feelings. Klaus was always really soft with him in the show, never pulled any punches telling him what was up. We were also robbed of a scene of the two gender non-conforming siblings bonding.

Their relationship could have been so much more and I have Feelings about it.

Chapter 9

Summary:

Despite what people have been saying almost his entire life, Klaus Hargreeves reaches the age of 30.

(And no, it doesn’t matter that he’s died and come back dozens of times already. That doesn’t count. He’s still counting it as a win.)

Notes:

The last couple chapters have accidentally become Klaus having deep conversations with each of his siblings, and this one follows the trend! I swear, things’ll get more interesting soon (unless this is what you’re into in which I hope you’re enjoying it:3)

---

 

     It was practically impossible to keep track of the date. In fact, most of them had given up, deciding it didn’t matter in the long scheme of things. They’d find Five and fix things, and it would never have happened to begin with. 

 

     Right?

 

     So it was a big surprise when the sun rose, and they all woke from sleep that wasn’t necessary in the slightest to find Klaus dressed in the most absurd outfit they’d seen. 

 

     Maybe that itself wasn’t the surprise. 

 

     “Dressed to impress!” He said airily, doing a little dance about the room. “Because today’s the big day, my darling siblings! We hit the big three zero!”

 

     Confused silence followed the declaration. 

 

     “What?” Viktor questioned, cocking his head. Klaus just put his hands on his hips. 

 

     “It’s our birthday!” He announced proudly. “Despite Dad’s insistence throughout my youth, I have made it to 30.”

 

     “Dude,” Diego said, an amused look on his face. “You’ve died, like, a ton.”

 

     “Technicalities,” Klaus dismissed, waving his hands about. “This calls for a celebration! We need to- to find the nearest intact wine cellar and get fucked up so badly we skip right to the next birthday! Get some music, have a dance party!” He snapped his fingers, swaying his hips. “Come on! Chop chop, the day won’t last forever!”

 

     Diego, Viktor, and Ben exchanged a look. Luther sighed, laying back down and turning away. 

 

     “I am taking your silence as compliance,” Klaus decided, clapping his hands together. “Come onnnn. We’re Hargreeves men. Causing property damage is what we do best, so let’s break some shit!”

 

     “I mean, you’re 30,” Viktor pointed out, still seated on the floor. “We’re still 29.”

 

     “16,” Ben added, holding up his hand. Diego clapped his back. 

 

     “Man, you look shit for 16.”

 

     “Lalala shut up.” Klaus flapped his hands again. “I will not hear such negative talk on our collective birthday.”

 

     “How do you even know?” Luther piped up finally, rolling back over and sitting up. “Everyday feels the same.”

 

     “Well, my good man, if you must know.” Klaus pulled down his sleeve. Right under his umbrella tattoo, there were tiny tally marks, small enough that despite the sheer number of them, they didn’t reach halfway to his elbow. Older marks were scarred over, while newer ones were still angry and red. 

 

     Klaus smiled casually. 

 

     “I’ve been keeping track.”

 

     Diego stood, hurrying closer to take his arm in his hands. They could touch him just about all the time now, whether or not he was consciously willing them to. It was just him, he still needed to focus to let them interact with the world around them, but it made it a lot easier for them to interact with each other. 

 

     And a lot easier for him not to feel alone. Being able to touch them was physical evidence it wasn’t some mass hallucination. 

 

     “Shit, man,” Diego hissed. “Don’t do this to yourself!”

 

     “How else am I supposed to remember?”

 

     “I dunno, keep a journal?” Diego’s voice was reprimanding, but his face held nothing but worry and concern. “Don’t hurt yourself, idiot.”

 

     “I’m immortal.”

 

     “Pain is still pain.”

 

     The two had a stare off for a moment, before Klaus rolled his eyes and gently took his arm back. 

 

     “Relax, Diego.” He held his hands up. “If you’re all so insistent that I’m the only one aging, that means I’m the oldest, so what I say goes. And I say it’s no big deal.”

 

     “That’s not how this works, and you know it,” Diego said softly, scowling. Klaus waved him off again, and he seemed to realize it was a lost cause because he backed off. 

 

     “So?” Klaus put his hands on his hips. “Party time?”

 

     Silence. 

 

     “Come on,” he whined, flapping his hands about. “Enable me!”

 

     “Alright,” Viktor surrendered, climbing to his feet. Klaus cheered, holding his arms out to trap his brother in a hug. 

 

 

---

 

 

     They found a wine cellar a few blocks down, fully stocked and free for the taking. 

 

     And, since Klaus was the only one of them that could really partake in any of their find…

 

     The world faded into a blurry haze. 

 

     There was laughing and dancing. Ben found an old radio and Viktor hot wired it with his powers (since when could he do that? Didn’t matter.) Offkey singing brought about more laughing. 

 

     At some point, Klaus was absolutely positive that something was on fire, and he was about 80% sure it was his doing. 

 

     It was crazy. Klaus had hopped from bar to club to rave throughout his years, was used to loud noises and cramped spaces. He’d seen parties. 

 

     Any celebration with his family before couldn’t really be considered a party. 

 

     But this? His brothers were talking and smiling and enjoying each other’s company in a way he couldn’t recall happening before. Sure, he was the only one that was hammered to hell and back, but they were laughing as he stumbled about, teasing him without any malice and making sure he didn’t hurt himself. 

 

     He even caught Luther smiling. 

 

     “Waz gotcha so happy, monkey boy?”

 

     “I think I’ve finally figured this out.”

 

     “Hm?”

 

     “Life. Death.”

 

     “Ah.” Klaus wrapped his arms around Luther in a sloppy attempt at a hug. “Love ya buddy.”

 

     Luther gently pushed him away and he swayed, world tilting on an axis. Somebody swore, chuckling to themself, and Viktor leaned into his field of vision. 

 

     “Looks like he’s finally hitting that limit.”

 

     “Blasphemy!” Klaus waved his arms about, hardly able to stay upright. “I’ve got so- so much- much-“ He blinked, eyes crossing a little. “More!”

 

     “Let’s get you some water.”

 

     “No!” Klaus shook his head stubbornly, ignoring the way it made the world spin. “No, no water! This is good! This is- it’s the perfect way to view the world!” He giggled, throwing his arms out. “It’s the end of the fucking world!”

 

     “Slow down, birthday boy,” Diego warned, an exasperated smile on his face. He held his hands up like he was preparing to catch him. 

 

     “And I’m the KING!” Klaus threw his arms up. “In a land of the dead, I am god! Not some- some stupid middle schooler on a bike.”

 

     “Middle schooler?” Viktor echoed, amused. “Is that from a book?”

 

     “Shush,” Klaus slurred, swatting in his direction and missing by a long shot. “Shhushhu. I know what I’m talkin’ bout. She’s always telling me how annoying I am, just like Dad. At least Dad only let me die a couple times. What’s God’s excuse?”

 

     There wasn’t a laugh after that one. Klaus giggled, filling the silence with his own voice, and started to look around for another bottle. 

 

     “Wait.” A hand against his chest. Luther? “What do you mean, Dad let you die?”

 

     “I’m immortal,” Klaus reminded him, like it was silly for him to forget. “I’ve died almost 90 times.”

 

     More silence. Was the party starting to lose its momentum?

 

     “Let’s let some celebratory alcohol poisoning add itself to the list!” He sang, grabbing for the bottle lying in the rubble. The hand stopped him, holding him back. 

 

     “Klaus.” 

 

     “Hm?”

 

     All of his brothers were staring at him. Luther had a weird look in his eyes. 

 

     “Did Dad kill you?”

 

     Klaus cocked his head. 

 

     “Didn’t he ever give you any special training for your powers?”

 

     “Did he- Klaus, did he kill you?”

 

     “Yeah?” Klaus snorted. “I come back.”

 

     Klaus shrugged, stumbling back with the motion. His brothers surged forward, moving to try and catch him, but his foot caught on a rock and he crashed to the ground. 

 

     The back of his head bashed against a stone, and everything went silent. 

 

 

---

 

 

     He woke up with a shocking revelation. 

 

     Death did not save him from hangovers. 

 

     Goddammit. 

 

     He moaned, flopping over and pressing his forehead into the hard ground. His brain felt like mush, sloshing about uselessly in his skull. The back of his head was uncomfortable and sticky. 

 

     “Welcome back to the land of the living.”

 

     Klaus jumped, smacking his head off the ground again. Someone hissed out an apology, and hands gently touched his back. He flinched at the contact, fingers scraping across the dirt. 

 

     “Shit, Klaus, hang on.” Another apology, and he was flipped onto his back. He blinked a couple times, finding the world just as blurry as before, and made another pained noise. 

 

     A hand entered his vision and he took it, hoisting himself into a sitting position. He blinked a few times, feeling the world spin. 

 

     The insides of his cheeks burned and he quickly swatted his hands, hoping whoever was there would get the idea and step out of the way. He coughed, spilling some of the alcohol out onto the ground in front of him. He could feel it soak his shirt (he tried not to be too disappointed, as there was probably blood and brain matter soaked through the back of it.)

 

     With his stomach empty and his head spinning a little less, he looked up. 

 

     Luther was standing a few feet away. His nose was wrinkled, looking a little grossed out, but there was something off in his expression. Like he was trying to seem chill, but he was upset. 

 

     “You okay, brother?”

 

     Klaus just grumbled, rubbing his cheeks in a circular motion. He squished them forward, puffing out his lips, and stared at his brother. 

 

     Luther laughed awkwardly. 

 

     “Am I 31 yet?” Klaus mumbled, moving his hands to cover his eyes instead. Another awkward laugh. 

 

     “It’s only been a couple hours. It is, however, not our birthday anymore.”

 

     “Phooey.”

 

     “Hey.” He moved his hand, and found Luther crouching down in front of him. “Can we talk?”

 

     “If it’s not loud.”

 

     “Alright.” Luther lowered his voice, and Klaus appreciated the effort. “It’s about Dad.”

 

     “No,” Klaus whined, shooing him away. “Noooo. I take it back, we can’t talk.”

 

     “Klaus-“

 

     “I don’t wanna talk about that asshole-“

 

     “You’re right!” Klaus paused, squinting at him. Luther had shifted, elbows rested on his knees. There was a sad look on his face. “You were right, Klaus. All of you were.”

 

     “About?”

 

     “About Dad!” Luther huffed, looking away. “It’s just- it’s just so hard, because I wasted my life for him. I’m dead, Klaus, and you know what? These past couple months have been the first I’ve ever spent out from under his thumb.” He sighed. “I convinced myself that he was good, that he cared, and he was murdering you right under my nose.”

 

     Oh. 

 

     He had said some stupid things last night, hadn’t he?

 

     “It’s okay, big guy,” Klaus assured him, sitting up a little straighter. “You couldn’t have known. And besides, it really doesn’t matter-“

 

     “But it does matter! He didn’t give a damn about any of us. The fact that he knew you could come back at all means that you died when we were kids, and of course he treated it like an experiment instead of just taking care of us. And I was Number One! You were my teammates, I was supposed to make sure you were safe. You were-“ His breath hitched. “You’re my brother. I failed you.”

 

     “Woah woah, hey.” Klaus shifted, patting his shoulder. “You didn’t fail anybody. I… I didn’t even realize it was happening, at the time. I didn’t realize I could come back until the apocalypse, remember? That has to mean that it was…” He winced, already knowing how it would sound before it left his mouth. “…never anything painful.”

 

     “He was a monster,” Luther spat. “And I was too stupid to figure it out while it really mattered.”

 

     “No. No.” Klaus leaned into his field of vision, giving him an earnest look. “You’re not stupid. We were all fooled by him, in some way or another. Diego did that vigilante shit for years because he was still trying to prove himself to Dad. And all the dumb shit I did, it was always to spite him in some way, even if he didn’t know I was doing it. To spite the thought of him, I guess.”

 

     “Just-“ Luther took a deep breath, squeezing his eyes shut. “I just wanted to apologize. I know it doesn’t make up for anything. I treated you like shit for years. And it was because I thought everything he said about you was true, but that doesn’t excuse it.” He sighed. “It’s been hard, since Allison, but I can’t blame you for that. I’m happy for her.”

 

     “Are you gonna follow her?”

 

     Luther shook his head. 

 

     “No. Not… yet. I think I need to figure out how to be a brother, first.”

 

     Klaus nodded thoughtfully, letting himself slouch again. 

 

     “Good luck with that,” he joked, easing himself back down onto the ground. “I don’t think any of us have figured that out.”

 

 

Notes:

Luther join the party your whole family is still trying to figure out how to be a family.

Hoping this chapter didn’t seem too rushed!

Chapter 10

Summary:

Klaus is, once again, separated from his family.

He learns some very interesting information in his time away.

Notes:

AND THE ACTION FINALLY PICKS UP!

Really excited about this chapter!! Finally some new characters to play around with, and it’ll end very differently from how you expect! This is sort of a part 1 part 2 with the next chapter!

---

 

     Viktor’s hair stayed the same length. 

 

     Klaus’s didn’t. 

 

     It was weird, seeing time pass for one of them and not the rest. There they were, in either the same clothes they’d died in or the outfits Klaus must have subconsciously decided suited them best, while he was constantly finding new ones. With his compete lack of self-preservation instincts, he went through them fast, and it was getting harder and harder to find them as the world started to swallow the last remains of human civilization. 

 

     Days turned into weeks, months. 

 

     Years. 

 

     The first anniversary of the apocalypse came and went. 

 

     Then seven more. 

     Klaus eased his way down a steep drop off in the road, holding onto Viktor’s hand as he went. They’d been sent out to try and find any clues today (again, again and again and again-)

 

     Shockingly, they hadn’t found anything at all. 

 

     “What a riveting adventure,” Klaus drawled, picking a rock up off the ground and turning it over in his hand. “I’m sure the others are having a blast.”

 

     Viktor just hummed, leaning down when he noticed a small weed breaking through the road. Plants had only recently started to sprout up again, creeping out through the cracks in pavement and growing over smaller buildings. This one almost reminded him of a flower. 

 

     “Do you think the world will start over?” He asked aloud, brushing a finger over the soft top. The better Klaus had gotten with his powers, the more they’d been able to interact with the world around them, and Viktor still got excited when he could feel the textures against his skin. 

 

     “Hm?”

 

     “Without humans,” he elaborated, glancing up at his brothers. “Plants are coming back. With evolution and everything, do you think everything will just… happen again? Like it’s a cycle?”

 

     “You’re the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs,” Klaus mused, tossing the rock and watching how far it went. Satisfied, he turned to his brother. “I think this whole thing is a lot bigger than any of us, except maybe us us since we’re world-destroyers. Which is ironic, considering all the times Dad told us we were meant to save it.”

 

     “Yeah, well fuck him,” Viktor said, standing again. “I hope he’s watching, from whatever circle of hell he’s in.”

 

     “A really deep one,” Klaus agreed, grinning. 

 

     “Do you ever wonder if we’re wasting our time?” Viktor asked softly, hands in his pockets. “It’s been years. Who’s to say Five’s even survived this long?”

 

     “He hasn’t joined our little gang yet,” Klaus pointed out, twirling a curl around his finger. “And I’ve tried summoning him a couple times. There’s nothing there. He’s either still around, or he’s already time traveled back.”

 

     “Would we be able to tell?” Viktor huffed, looking around. “Time travel hurts my brain. I mean, what would even happen if we found him? Would it erase all this, or would it make a different timeline? Would we still be stuck here at the end of it?”

 

     “Five’s always been the only one who got all that.” Klaus shrugged, spinning about in a circle as he started forward again. Viktor followed behind him, frowning at everything they passed like it would up and give him the answer if he stared hard enough. 

 

     It didn’t, and they continued on. 

 

     “When should we go back to the others?”

 

     “When it gets dark.” Klaus squinted up at the sun, which had only just gotten halfway across the sky. “We’ve got a while.”

 

     “I hate being the pessimist,” Viktor admitted, ducking his head. “I just don’t see how this is getting us anywhere.”

 

     “It gives us something to do, doesn’t it?” Klaus picked up another rock, winding his arm back to throw this time. “Fills the void.”

 

     He chucked it across the road, listening to the clack that followed. Viktor paused at the sound, brow furrowing. 

 

     “Did you hear that?”

 

     “Yep.” Klaus turned back to him, hands in his pockets. “I did it.”

 

     “No, not that.” Viktor held up a hand for him to be quiet, straining his ears. He’d always had the best hearing out of any of them, which was probably in correlation to his freaky sound powers. 

 

     Right now, he just seemed confused. 

 

     “Didn’t Ben say they were taking the other half of town?”

 

     “Yep.”

 

     “Then who…” Viktor froze. His gaze turned to Klaus, eyes wide, and he held his hands over his mouth. “Holy shit.”

 

     “What?”

 

     “There’s somebody over there!” He quickly lowered his voice. “What if it’s Five???”

 

      “Holy shit,” Klaus echoed, mimicking his brother’s expression. He glanced between the way Viktor had been looking and Viktor himself, gesturing frantically. “What do we do? Do we get the others?”

 

     “No! What if we lose him??”

 

     “Okay okay!” Klaus patted himself down, even though he didn’t have anything he might need on him. What would he even need?

 

     He started in the direction Viktor said, and sure enough, he heard voices. It was one half of a conversation; words he couldn’t quite make out that were met with silence. 

 

     He shared a look with Viktor, then slowly crept forward. There was a large clearing between him and whoever it might have been, with plenty of obstacles scattered about. He hid behind one, peeking around it. 

 

     About a dozen meters away, a young man was rifling through a pile of wreckage. He seemed to know what he was looking for, because he stuck his hand in and pulled something out, examining it in the sunlight. 

 

     His face was older, more sunken, but Klaus recognized him immediately. 

 

     It was Five. 

 

     He was talking aloud, to whom they weren’t sure, and his voice sounded so different. It was scratchy, pitched deeper than the 13 year old they barely remembered. 

 

     Klaus shot to his feet. 

 

     Before he could yell his name, he heard a warping sound behind him. It almost sounded like Five’s jumps, except for the fact that his brother was right there, right in front of him and if he yelled for him he knew he’d hear him-

 

     “Klaus!” Viktor cried urgently, eyes on something behind him. A gun fired, Five blinked away, and Viktor screamed. 

 

     Klaus fell forward, hitting the ground like a deadweight. Blood pooled around his head, dripping sluggishly from the bullet hole between his eyes. 

 

 

---

 

 

     When Klaus woke up, it was to artificial light. He winced, squeezing his eyes shut again. Aside from the headache radiating in the middle of his skull, he wasn’t used to anything besides the natural sunlight anymore, and the buzzing ones overhead were already getting to him. 

 

     Wait. 

 

     Klaus forced his eyes open, squinting as he tried to adjust. He was in a room- a completely intact one. The walls and floors were pristine, not a spot of dirt on them. 

 

     “What the hell?” He mumbled, craning his neck so he could get a better look. With the movement, he felt something pull back, and a quick look proved that he’d been restrained to a chair. 

 

     Oh nice. 

 

     “Where are we?” He asked, and- hang on. He looked around again, realizing how empty the room was. Viktor wasn’t here. Neither were any of his other brothers. Even in the before, Ben had always found him no matter where he ended up. 

 

     His heart started to race. 

 

     “Oh! He’s awake!”

 

     Heels clacked against the tile floor. He flinched, twisting about to try and see what was happening. A hand touched his shoulder, warm and alive, and his breath hitched. 

 

     What the fuck was happening what the fuck was happening-

 

     “We’ve been watching you for a while,” a voice crooned, and the hand was connected to a woman. She was eyeing him like a caged animal, one of the exotic ones you paid lots of money to see at the zoo. She crossed the space to stand in front of him, holding a cigarette to her lips and taking a drag. “Not a common gift, being able to come back from the dead.”

 

     “What’s going on?” He asked, frustrated when it came out as a whine. “Where are we?”

 

     The woman hummed. She snapped her fingers, and more footsteps approached. Hands grabbed at him suddenly and he yelped, thrashing to try and get away. 

 

     The restraints were taken off. Two goons in animal masks stepped back, rope still in hand. 

 

     The woman held out another cigarette, offering it to him. He glanced down at his wrists, at the rope burn left behind. 

 

     He snatched the cigarette from her hand, only offering a small grunt when she lit it for him. 

 

     “We’re just having a little chat, is all,” she assured him, voice saccharine sweet. “I wanted to be able to talk with you somewhere secure, so I had Hazel and ChaCha bring you in.”

 

     Klaus took a drag from the cigarette, relishing in the familiar taste in his mouth. He blew out a puff of smoke, frowning. 

 

     “They shot me in the head.”

 

     “And yet here we are!” The woman grinned, waving her hands about before returning the cigarette to her lips. “You’re probably famished. Not a lot of five star joints in the apocalypse. Could you?” She turned her attention to her goons, and the two bristled. 

 

     “We’re not servants-“

 

     “Of course,” the other cut in, no doubt giving the first a look beneath the freaky pink dog face. “We’ll be right back.”

 

     “Excellent.” She smiled, waving as they left, before pulling up a seat. “So, Number Four. Or Klaus? I’m not picky.”

 

     “Klaus.”

 

     “Klaus,” she repeated, crossing her legs daintily. “We are here to discuss very important matters. It’s why we couldn’t have any of those pesky siblings of yours around- I know they still follow you everywhere. I can’t imagine what it’s like, never being able to escape from your family.”

 

     “Well, it’s better than being alone,” Klaus mused, fiddling with the cigarette between his fingers. 

 

     “Right.” She hummed, only giving the two a brief nod when they came back in. They handed Klaus a tray, waited for another order, and then left when they received none. Klaus hesitantly lifted the lid off. 

 

     And god it was probably too much, even though it was the type of meal he used to get back at those fancy Academy dinners. He wasn’t sure he could eat that much at once now even if he wanted to. 

 

     “So. Here’s how it is.” She uncrossed and recrossed her legs. “We have a common interest: your little brother.”

 

     “Five?”

 

     “Mmhmm! You’re the sole survivor of the apocalypse, but his little jumps have helped him skip the big kill, stranding him in the after.”

 

     “Well we’ve been looking for him for years,” Klaus assured her, picking at the food and sticking some of it in his mouth. “In fact, I just found him when you had your guys shoot me in the head. Couldn’t that have waited, like, a little longer?”

 

     “I’m afraid not.” She inhaled, letting a trail of smoke out through her nose. “You see, we don’t want you to find him.”

 

     Klaus looked up. 

 

     “Hang on,” he interrupted, cocking his head. “I thought you just said he was a ‘common interest.’ Don’t you want him alive?”

 

     “Of course we do!” She grinned, letting her leg bounce. “He can survive just fine on his own. What we can’t have happening is you two meeting, on account of the fact that you have some pretty crucial information.”

 

     Klaus blinked. 

 

     “I do?”

 

     “You know what causes the apocalypse,” she said simply. “And we just can’t risk him finding out. If he does, that could only complicate things.”

 

     He felt like he was missing something here. 

 

     “Because…?”

 

     “Because with your information and Number Five’s ability to travel through time, the two of you could cause some serious damage to the timeline,” she explained, acting like that was a very normal and not at all bizarre sentence. Klaus fully put down the tray, leaning back in his chair. 

 

     “You’ve lost me.”

 

     “We are the Commission,” she said, gesturing to the room around them. “In charge of maintaining the timeline. I am the Handler, the two who brought you here are some of our finest assassins, and you, my dear boy, have a choice to make.”

 

     “Wait wait wait.” He crossed his own legs, tucking them under him and leaning forward. “So- what are you saying, the apocalypse was supposed to happen?” Viktor’s words from earlier came to mind. Do you think the world will start over? Like it’s a cycle?

 

     The Handler grinned. 

 

     “Now you’re getting it.”

 

     Klaus shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He didn’t like this. Didn’t like this room, this woman, the fact that none of his siblings were here. He couldn’t feel their presence, even when he tried to reach out. It was like he was in a whole different world. 

 

     “Now Klaus,” she began, pulling out a packet of papers. “Your choices are this. You can go back to the apocalypse, continue your little escapades with your siblings, and avoid Number Five. You can stay here, work for us and finally get out of that hellhole, get to be around some real, living people. Or.” Her smile spread a little thinner over her face. “You can refuse both, and see where that gets you.”

 

     Klaus looked down at his hands, at how dirty and grimy they were. He stood out like a sore thumb in this shiny room, sitting here with a woman like this. She was dressed in a dress he would have killed for as a teen, with a matching hat that pulled the number together perfectly.

 

     He looked back up at her. 

 

     “What happens if I refuse?” He asked, a sly lilt to his tone. He was immortal. What could some time assassins really do?

 

     He couldn’t abandon his siblings, and he certainly couldn’t agree to her terms. Five needed to at least know he wasn’t alone out there. 

 

     She laughed. 

 

     “Is that it, then?” She asked, flicking some of the ash off her cigarette. “That’s your choice?”

 

     “My siblings couldn’t lose me if they wanted to,” he gloated, leaning back in his chair. “I’m like a cockroach. I always come crawling back.”

 

     Her eyes trailed up and down his body, an amused smile playing at her lips. 

 

     “You can step on a cockroach.”

 

     Hands grabbed his arms again. Instincts from training all those years ago kicked in and he thrashed, trying to pull away, but years of malnutrition and even more years of substance abuse had left his body weak. He was slammed back into the chair roughly, quickly bound back into place. 

 

     A gun was pressed into the bottom of his chin. 

 

     “I’ll tell your brother you said hi,” she crooned, wiggling her fingers in a mocking wave. “If he ever asks.”

 

      BANG

 

 

Notes:

She should have known Klaus doesn’t listen to anybody, if she actually did any research.

Poor Klaus is not going to have a fun time.

Chapter 11

Summary:

Viktor returns to the others without Klaus.

Klaus finds himself in a painfully familiar situation.

Notes:

I told a little fib last chapter, this is going to be a sort of three part thing between the last chapter and the next one!

 

Trigger warning for claustrophobia and being buried alive (again), also for panic attacks and just general spiraling and fear of abandonment/loneliness.

---

 

     Viktor didn’t need to breathe, but his lungs still burned as he ran back to the others. His mind was racing, still trying to catch up with what had happened. 

 

     They’d found Five, and now he was gone again. 

 

     All this effort! They’d been so close!

 

     But that wasn’t what he was worrying about right now. He’d never… never witnessed any of Klaus’s deaths. He supposed he was at fault for the first- well, not first, the one that made him figure it out. But he’d been so overwhelmed by powers he didn’t understand and emotions that felt wrong that he didn’t notice how his brother slammed into that wall, how he didn’t get back up. 

 

     But this?

 

     He’d had a perfect view as that bullet entered the back of his skull, cutting right through to his forehead and spewing all kinds of blood and brain matter. He’d screamed, and Klaus hadn’t even made a sound, eyes already glazed over before he hit the ground. 

 

     And then those people grabbed him, and he disappeared in a flash of blue. 

 

     He was gone he was gone he was gone. 

 

     Diego noticed him first, face contorting with worry as soon as he saw the state he was in. He waved for the others, moving to meet Viktor halfway as he didn’t stop running, right up until they collided and Diego awkwardly patted his back. 

 

     “Woah, you okay?” He shifted, making the hug(?) a little more comfortable, and Viktor trembled. He hated this. He hated how Klaus was the only one of them that could give him the right kind of hug, where he could listen to the steady beating of his heart and focus on that sound to try and calm down. 

 

     Diego didn’t have a beating heart, and neither did Luther or Ben, and as much as Viktor strained his ears with his stupid super hearing, he couldn’t find Klaus’s. 

 

     “He’s gone,” he rambled, gripping Diego’s clothes tightly. “He’s gone. They- he-“

 

     “Slow down,” Luther said gently, holding his hands up. Viktor flinched, hiding his face in the fabric of Diego’s shirt, and his brothers exchanged a look. 

 

     Carefully, Diego moved so he was holding his shoulders, crouching down to eye level. 

 

     “Hey, it’s okay.” He wore a soft smile, covering up the worry he was causing. “Just tell us what happened, okay? Where’s Klaus?”

 

     “We found Five,” Viktor blurted, blinking rapidly as panicked tears gathered in his eyes. “We found him, but- but there were these people, they appeared out of nowhere right behind us. It was like Five’s power, but different? They shot him.”

 

     “They shot Five??”

 

     “No!” Viktor gestured frantically, nearly pulling at his hair. “No, they shot Klaus. Right in the head, and he just dropped, and- and they took him.” He stared up at Diego, tears spilling down his cheeks. “They took Klaus.”

 

     His brothers had varying reactions. Worry, obviously. Horror. But they were looking at each other, and there was confliction in their eyes. 

 

     Ben spoke up. 

 

     “Where did they go?”

 

     “I don’t know.” Viktor shook his head. “They just vanished. It was like Five’s jumps, but I couldn’t sense him at all anymore. It’s like he isn’t anywhere.”

 

     Ben frowned. He crouched down, an odd look on his face, and went to pick up a rock. His hand passed right through. 

 

     “Without him, we can’t interact with anything,” he recalled, standing back up. “He’s either still dead, or not even in the same world as us. And he comes back, like, scary fast now.”

 

     “Shit,” Diego hissed, letting go of Viktor and turning away. 

 

     “Which way did Five go?” Luther asked urgently, stepping forward. Viktor stumbled back, still more panicked than thinking clearly. He hated it, but the sight of Luther was only reminding him of that day at the Academy, of the mistakes they both made and how it brought about the end of the world. 

 

     His breath hitched, and he shook his head. 

 

     “He blinked,” he said miserably. “Right before the gunshot. Or because of the gunshot. It must have startled him.”

 

     “He could still be in the area,” Luther realized. “We should- we should find him. We’re so close.”

 

     “None of us can talk to him,” Ben reminded him, arms crossed. “Not without Klaus.”

 

     “We could at least know where he is!”

 

     “And what about Klaus, huh?” Diego turned quickly, pointing an accusing finger at his larger brother. “Is he less important than your stupid mission?”

 

     “No!” Luther pushed his hand away, brow furrowing. “That’s not what I’m saying! We could keep tabs on Five-“

 

     “And how the hell are we gonna get Klaus back, if we’re not even trying?”

 

     “We don’t even know where he is!”

 

     “And playing ghost tag along isn’t going to help us figure it out!”

 

     The two stared at each other, inches apart. Luther broke first, swearing and turning away. 

 

     “I don’t want to abandon him, Diego!” He insisted. “I want to find him! But this is the closest we’ve been to Five since he buried us.”

 

     “And he could’ve blinked halfway across the world already,” Ben added, not looking at either of them. “Is it worth the gamble? What if we go and try to find him, and just keep wasting time chasing dead ends?”

 

     “Klaus wants Five found just as much as the rest of us.”

 

     “And he just died when he did,” Viktor reminded him, arms wrapped around himself. “Something isn’t right, here. It was like they didn’t want us to find him.”

 

     “Shouldn’t that make us want to find him more?”

 

     “But Klaus-“

 

     “-is just as much of a wild goose chase!” Luther threw his arms up. “FUCK! I’m worried too!  But you just said he disappeared into thin air, and none of us can sense him anymore. He is, supposedly, not on this planet. Five could be in the same city as us right now! What are we supposed to do??”

 

     Diego didn’t respond, anxiously twirling his knife between his fingers. Ben turned away, rubbing tiredly at his face. Viktor sank to the ground, hiding his face in his hands. 

 

     Luther stood there for a moment, and then he too was sitting on the ground, running his hands through his hair. 

 

     It was funny. Klaus wasn’t their leader, far from it. But without him there, they were falling apart like a house of cards. 

 

     “We have to find Klaus,” Viktor whispered, voice hushed and hoarse. “We have to. He would do the same for us.”

 

     “I know,” Luther sighed, holding his head in his hands. “I know.”

 

      They just had no clue where to start. 

 

 

---

 

 

     It was dark. 

 

     This didn’t scare him at first, mostly because he was so out of it. He moaned, eyes fluttering. 

 

     Nothing fell into them, so that was a point in his favor. 

 

     But something still felt off. His head was stuffy, which was no doubt from the countless times he’d been shot there recently, but his center of balance felt off. Not that he was balancing- he was laying on his back. 

 

     He recognized the feeling after a few seconds. Claustrophobia. He’d always hated small spaces, ever since his father’s attempts at ‘helping him’ all those years ago. He hated big crowds, unless he was too high to care, and he hated things like broom closets and enclosed bathroom stalls. 

 

     And he couldn’t see a damn thing right now, but the itching in his skin and the tightness in his chest told him that it was far too small for comfort. 

 

     He whined, opening his mouth with the noise, but his mouth refused to open. It was sealed shut- taped shut- and the sticky material pulled at the hairs on his upper lip when he tried to pry it open. He made another noise, an attempt at words, and all that came out was a muffled cry. 

 

     Shit. 

 

     He tried to raise his arm to snag the tape, pulling facial hair off with it be damned, and his arm stayed firmly in place. Another attempt proved that both arms were trapped at his sides, ropes brushing harshly against his skin and no doubt leaving awful red marks. His ankles were bound as well, which for some reason felt worse, and a desperate kick down brought his toe against something hard and firm. 

 

     Another kick, and something like the sound of wood met his ears. It didn’t echo, so the space on the other side wasn’t open air. 

 

     Heart racing so hard he could feel it in his ears, he lifted his head and threw it forward. It smacked against something hard, startling him enough that his head fell back against the hard surface underneath him, leaving him dazed for a few seconds. 

 

     There was a lid. 

 

     Oh god. 

 

     He took a slow, trembling breath, squeezing his eyes shut. Okay. So this wasn’t… the best situation. He’d been in worse, surely. Surely. 

 

     He was only gagged and bound, stuffed in a coffin, and buried underground. 

 

     Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck-

 

     No no no, he couldn’t let himself spiral. Not already. He took another breath, eyes fluttering. 

 

     It was fine. He just needed to reach out to his siblings. 

 

     His siblings, whom he did not know the locations of. The ones that didn’t know his location. He didn’t know his location. He could have been anywhere on the planet, he could have been buried under a building-

 

     Deep breaths. 

 

     He took another one in, trying to relax his muscles. A slow exhale out, closing his eyes. 

 

     ‘Dad, please, I wanna go home. Please let me out. Daddy PLEASE.’

 

     He jerked, squeezing his eyes shut even more. A breath stuttered in his chest, tears burning in his eyes. 

 

     He was immortal! He was a fucking badass, the master of death. He shouldn’t have gotten so freaked out being in one stupid box. 

 

     A stupid box he might have been trapped in for the rest of eternity, with no escape and no siblings and no ghosts for the first time, because they’d all given up and moved on and left him alone he was alone god he was alone again-

 

     Tears dribbled down the sides of his face, wetting his curls and sticking them to his face. He whimpered, letting his head flop from side to side, trying so hard to keep it together but failing so miserably. 

 

     If only Dad could see him now. His greatest disappointment, even more disappointing. He should get an award, because it shouldn’t have been possible to get more pathetic than he already was. 

 

     His fingers scratched uselessly at his sides. He curled and uncurled his toes, taking in shaky breaths through his nose and letting them out in whimpered sobs. His body was so stiff, and he hated it. He was always moving. Always fidgeting, swaying even when he stood still. His body was always in motion, and now it was stuck in place, skin itching at the close contact and the fact that he couldn’t move at all. 

 

     He smacked his forehead against the lid again, letting out an aborted scream. 

 

     PLEASE! PLEASE, SOMEBODY! 

 

     He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t handle this. The stupid Handler had made her point, he got it, cockroaches could be stepped on and she’d stepped on him. She’d dug her heel right through him and twisted it until he was nothing but a smear on the pristine tile floor. 

 

     He smacked his forehead against the lid again, tears hot against his chilled cheeks. Again and again, until his head was spinning and his skull was hurting, and all he wanted to do was go home. 

 

     He didn’t even have a home to go to, anymore. 

 

     He screamed again, and it came out as nothing but a pathetic noise, lost in the tape over his mouth. That only made him do it again, screaming until his throat grew sore. He was crying, and he was pathetic but he was lonely and he was scared and all he wanted was somebody. 

 

     He wanted Ben, with his judgemental stares and his tired scowls and his rambling about books nobody cared about. 

 

     He wanted Luther, with his thick skull and his daddy issues and his big, sensitive heart. 

 

     He wanted Diego, with his problem with authority and his snarky attitude and his insistence on doing right by people. 

 

     He wanted Viktor, little Viktor, with his big, scary powers and his soft spoken nature and that rebellious streak he knew he’d been the inspiration behind. 

 

     He didn’t want to be alone. 

 

 

Notes:

This man is in DESPERATE need of a hug.

Chapter 12

Summary:

Klaus visits Allison again, desperate for some semblance of comfort. She gives him what she hopes is the pep talk of a lifetime (or several, in his case.)

Notes:

Allison returns in this chapter! Not, like, officially, but she is in it. I really wanted to have all the siblings kind of rally behind Klaus to help him.

I am so soft for all of them.

---

 

     “Momma?”

 

     Allison looked up from her book, smiling as Claire climbed up onto the couch next to her. 

 

     “Yes, honey?”

 

     “Is Uncle Klaus okay?”

 

     She frowned. Claire just shifted, leaning against the back of the couch with a worried expression. Allison closed the book, moving so she was facing her better. 

 

     “What do you mean?”

 

     “He looks sad,” her daughter explained, brow knit together with a hint of fear. Allison looked up, around the room, then back at Claire. 

 

     “Baby, is he here?”

 

     A nod. Claire pointed behind her, out to another room. Allison felt her heart twinge. She wasn’t sure how long it had been in the living realm, but it had been a while here (she assumed, time didn’t exactly pass.) But the fact was that her brother had to die to get here, so that was worrying enough. 

 

     “Can you take me to him?”

 

     Another nod. Claire took her hand, climbing to her feet. Allison followed, dodging around the coffee table and entering the next room. Claire pointed into the lounge, and Allison only got one glimpse before she turned, crouching in front of her baby and blocking her view. 

 

     “I’m gonna talk with your uncle for a bit, make sure he’s okay,” she said softly, fighting down the panic that was building in her chest. “Can you go upstairs and play for a bit? I’ll be right up.”

 

     “I wanted to give him a hug,” Claire protested, trying to look past her. “Your hugs always make me feel better.”

 

     “I’ll give him one for you, baby.” She smiled, tucking one of Claire’s curls behind her ear. “Just a little bit, okay?”

 

     “Okay,” she sighed, pouting. Allison kissed her head, and then the girl was running off. She heard the telltale thumps of her feet up the stairs, and then the door to her room shutting. 

 

     She released a slow breath, standing back up and facing her brother. 

 

     Klaus was sitting on the floor by the couch, back against the wall. His posture was loose, the weight of his head supported by the wall as his hands rested on the carpeted floor by his thighs. His eyes were glazed over, staring somewhere else. 

 

     There was duct tape over his mouth. 

 

     She approached quickly, kneeling down next to him. She mumbled out an apology before ripping off the tape, wincing in sympathy when he made a small pained noise. But he hardly reacted besides that, tears wetting his cheeks, and he didn’t look at her. 

 

     “Klaus?” She whispered, crumpling the tape and tossing it away. Her brother’s breath hitched, more tears welling in his eyes, and she leaned forward, brushing the unruly curls out of his face. His hair was past his shoulders now, and she could picture all the ways he’d have liked to style it. She could remember those evenings in her room, where he’d helped her brush her hair and pull it up and gushed about how jealous of it he was. 

 

     He blinked, and the tears rolled down his cheeks. 

 

     “I can’t,” he whispered hoarsely, not looking at her. “I can’t do it anymore.”

 

     “What happened?” She asked, keeping one hand on his arm. Klaus blinked again, and his eyes slid towards her. He stared at her for a moment, and then his face split with a watery smile. 

 

     “It worked,” he laughed, grabbing weakly for her hand. She let him take it, brow pinching as he started to cry again. She pulled him closer, gathering him into her arms as he dissolved into tears. 

 

     “Klaus, you’ve got to tell me what’s going on,” she whispered, holding him close. “You’re scaring me.”

 

     “Ally, you’ve got to let me stay,” he whimpered, clinging to her. “I can’t go back. I can’t take it anymore.”

 

     “Where are the others?”

 

      “I don’t know. It’s been- I don’t even know how long, I can’t tell anymore.” He shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut. “I can’t find them.”

 

     “Where did you last see them?” She pulled back, gently holding his face in her hands. He was trembling like a leaf, hazy eyes staring through her. “Klaus, you can’t just leave them. Are they lost?”

 

     “I can’t- I’m not-“ He shook his head again, smacking his hands over his ears. “I don’t know what’s happening anymore. It’s so dark.”

 

     “What’s dark?” She brushed her thumbs over his cheeks, wiping at the tears. “I can’t help if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”

 

     “I’m stuck,” he whined. “I don’t know where I am. It’s dark, and small. I- I think they buried me.”

 

     Something heavy sat in her chest. 

 

     “What?” She stared at him, brow furrowing. “There’s no one else alive. How could that have happened? Did Five-“

 

     “I found him,” Klaus huffed. “And a time travel gang kidnapped me and stuffed me in a box. Apparently, the apocalypse was supposed to happen. They don’t want me to find him because if he knew it was Viktor that caused it he’d be able to stop it.”

 

     “Viktor?”

 

     “Vanya’s Viktor now.”

 

     “Oh.” Her heart twisted at the thought of everything she’d missed. Klaus was in pain, the others were moving on without her… but she didn’t regret her choice. 

 

     She gave him a sad smile. 

 

     “Tell him I’m proud of him, okay?”

 

     “I can’t.” He took in a deep, shuddering breath. “Allison, I can’t even move down there. I can’t talk, can’t fucking roll over. I can’t get out. I’m trapped, and I don’t even know where I am.”

 

     “Hey.” She leaned closer, forcing him to actually look her in the eye. “I believe in you. You’ve always been stronger than you know. You’re immortal, Klaus. Do you know how crazy that is? You’ve already surpassed what anybody even thought was possible.” She laughed, smoothing back his hair. “If anybody can save you, it’s you.”

 

     “I don’t even know where to start,” he insisted, raising his hands up to hold onto her wrists. “Most of the ghosts have moved on, my powers are useless!”

 

     “Klaus.” She gave him a small smile. “You know you’re always welcome here. If you really want to, you can stay. But if you want to go back, I know that you can. You just need to believe in yourself like I do.”

 

     He stared at her, breaths still stuttering in his chest. He squeezed his eyes shut, tightened his grip on her wrists. 

 

     “If- if I fail-“

 

     “Then we’re right here waiting for you.” She kissed the top of his head. “Either way, you’ve got people who love you that’ll be there for you.”

 

     He swallowed, blinking up at her again. He nodded, and she pulled back, sitting in a half crouched position. He moved, rubbing a hand over his face before staring down at his palms. 

     In that small box underground, he sucked in a breath, and his hands were swallowed in blue light. 

 

 

---

 

 

     Four Hargreeves brothers sat alone in the apocalypse, invisible to the living eye. 

 

     Viktor leaned back against the wall, fiddling with the buttons of his shirt. It had been weeks since he’d lost Klaus. Because it was him. He was the one who wasn’t able to protect him, who did nothing but watch as he was taken away. 

 

     A radio crackled next to him, but he didn’t notice. 

 

     They’d wandered about for a while, much in the same way they’d been looking for Five: without any true sense of direction. Diego was still wandering aimlessly nearby, he could tell because of the mumbled curses under his breath. 

 

     It was futile. What were they trying to find? What could say Klaus was even anywhere to be found?

 

     “-ello?”

 

     He shifted, glancing at the others. Ben was quiet, back facing him, and Luther was pacing off to the side. Diego was still a yell’s distance away, furiously checking every place they’d already checked. 

 

     “-tell me this is working-“

 

     Viktor twisted, gaze falling to the radio. Static was crackling within the speakers, and the little screen that showed channels no longer in service was lit up. 

 

     He reached for it, already knowing he probably couldn’t pick it up-

 

     -and his fingers grazed over the grated plastic of the speakers. He sat up straighter, picking the radio up. 

 

     “Hello?” Ben turned, giving him an odd look, and Luther stopped pacing. 

 

     “Hello? Hello?”

 

     Holy shit. 

 

     Viktor’s heart leapt to his throat. 

 

     “Holy- Klaus? Klaus, is that you?”

 

     Ben crawled closer, and Luther yelled for Diego. Viktor held up the radio for them to hear better. 

 

     “Oh my god. Holy shit. Guys.”

 

     “Klaus!” Viktor laughed, and Ben let out a short breath, staring at the radio with a mix of shock and relief. 

 

     “You have to help-“ The static crackled louder. “-underground-“

 

     “You’re breaking up.” Viktor stood quickly, holding the radio up. Diego jogged into view. 

 

     “What the hell’s-“

 

     Ben and Luther both shushed him. 

 

     “Where are you?” Viktor asked urgently. “We’ve been looking for you- where did they take you?”

 

     “-buried-“ The light on the radio grew brighter. “They buried me, I don’t know where I am, it’s so dark and cold- please-”

 

     “Holy shit,” Diego breathed. He hurried forward, going to snatch the radio off of his brother. Luther cut him off, and Ben snatched it instead, holding it up higher than Viktor could reach in the hopes of catching some sort of signal. 

 

     “Klaus, we need to know where you are,” he insisted. “You need to help us find you.”

 

     “I can’t-“

 

     The light dimmed. Ben shook the radio. 

 

     “Don’t,” Viktor warned, hopping to try and take it off him. But Ben just kept it up high. 

 

     “Klaus!” He shook it again, bringing it up to his ear. “Come on! Come on!”

 

     The light went out. 

 

     “You broke it!”

 

     “I didn’t!” Ben shook it harder, breaths picking up. “Shit! Fuck!” He threw it and Viktor barely managed to catch it, holding it close like it was precious. 

 

     “What the hell was that?” Diego demanded. “He was trying to tell us something!”

 

     “He doesn’t even know where he is! How are we supposed to-“

 

     “Guys,” Luther said softly, looking at something off to the side. 

 

     “There’s no way we can find him if he’s underground-“

 

     “Guys!” 

 

     “What?!”

 

     Luther scowled, irritated, but pointed anyways. They followed his gaze. 

 

     There was a ghost hobbling past, surrounded in a soft blue haze. Another was a few meters away, wandering in the same direction. 

 

     There weren’t a lot, but there were more than they’d seen in years, since they’d first found Viktor at Icarus. And they were all going in the same direction. 

 

     “What if we’re supposed to follow?” He suggested, hand falling to his side. “What if they’re leading the way?”

 

     “Then let’s go,” Diego huffed, pushing past him and following after the closest ghost. Luther rolled his eyes, hurrying after him, and Viktor stayed close behind, arms still wrapped tightly around the radio. 

 

     Ben hesitated only a moment before trailing after. 

 

     They walked for what felt like forever, but they didn’t give up. They didn’t grow tired, and more ghosts seemed to show up the closer they got, so they knew they were going in the right direction. Far in the distance, they could see lots of them. 

 

     After an eternity, they came upon a large crowd. All the ghosts were just standing there. No shrieks or angry yells, no moans. They were still, silent, staring towards the center of the crowd. The Hargreeves brothers pushed their way to the front, Viktor muttering apologies as they went. 

 

     At the center, there was an empty spot that was just wide enough for them. Standing there, they could only see ghosts, shoulder to shoulder and front to back as far as the eye could see. 

 

     “Alright, we’re here,” Diego said, staring out at the sea of faces. “What are we supposed to do?”

 

     The closest ghost pointed at the dirt under their feet, and then the next, a domino effect rippling through the crowd as they all copied the first. The four looked down, and then it clicked. 

 

     Luther crouched down first, running a hand over the dirt. It was soft, and it crumbled between his fingers. 

 

     He dug a hand into it, tossing the dirt over his shoulder. 

 

     The others quickly joined, ignoring their audience as they ripped into the earth, fingers scraping desperately across the rough surface. 

 

     And they dug deep. Whoever it was that had trapped their brother underground truly didn’t want him to be found. Dirt rolled in almost as quickly as they displaced it, and despite their lacks of bodies their muscles began to ache, and-

 

     And Ben’s knuckles hit something hard. Luther pushed him out of the way, brushing away dirt until they could see the lid of the casket. The others backed up as Luther dragged the whole thing up out of the ground, dirt scattering to fill the void left behind. 

 

     He dropped it in the space left empty as ghosts clambered backwards silently, still watching them. The others crowded around, and Luther gripped the edge of the lid. He tore it off its hinges, throwing it as far as he could. 

 

     Klaus slammed his eyes shut as the sunlight glared down at them, making a weak noise. His body was pulsing with a strong blue light, fists trembling where they were bound to his sides. 

 

     Ben was quick to help him up, Diego slicing through the ropes around his arms and ankles. Viktor took his face in his hands, gently prying the tape off, and Luther lifted his legs up so they could get him out. They set him down on the dirt, crowding around him. 

 

     “Hey hey hey, it’s okay,” Diego whispered, shaking hands hovering over his brother’s prone body. He was a mess, all bony, frail, and pale. Who knew if it had been the same amount of time for him as it had for them? He hoped it was shorter, but none of this was giving him any confidence. 

 

     Klaus just shuddered, squeezing his eyes shut. The glow was strongest around his still clenched fists, and the ghostly entourage was still all around them. 

 

     “You’re safe,” he assured him, grabbing onto his arm and not letting go. “You can let go now. We’ve got you.”

 

     Klaus whimpered, clutching his hands over his ears. He swayed and they caught him, keeping him upright. 

 

     The ghosts started to moan, coming a little closer, and Klaus shrunk in on himself. 

 

     “Klaus,” Viktor said, resting his hands over his. “It’s okay. You’re not alone anymore.“

 

     Klaus blinked, looking up and finally meeting his eyes. He let out a slow breath through his teeth, some of the tension bleeding from his shoulders, and the glow started to fade. 

 

     It kept going until it was just his hands, and then it was gone and so was the crowd. It was just the five of them, together in an empty clearing. 

 

     Ben let out a breathy laugh. 

 

     “That was really cool,” he said softly, one hand latched around Klaus’s arm. “I didn’t know you could do all that.”

 

     Klaus swayed, eyes sliding over to find his face. He gave him a crooked smile. 

 

     “Neither did I.”

 

 

Notes:

Borrowed from some of Klaus’s comic powers for this! I’ve always loved the scene where he talks to Luther through the tv, so I figured this would be a pretty badass way to translate it here.

The siblings are reunited and there are going to be so many hugs.

Chapter 13

Summary:

Klaus gets a very clear message from the Commission and tries to figure out where to go from there.

Notes:

Sorry this took a little longer to finish! Had to figure out where to go after the excitement of the last chapter. The action’s gonna go down for a while, with more focus on sibling interactions, so stay tuned!

---

 

     There was a click, the safety being disengaged on a gun. Something cool pressed into the back of his head. 

 

     “Why hello again, darling.”

 

     It had been six months. Six months since Klaus’s siblings found him buried beneath seven feet of dirt. Six months he’d been recovering, struggling to regain his strength and health. Six months he’d kept most of the details of his kidnapping from his siblings, only explaining the bare minimum. Six months since they’d decided to try a new approach to finding Five. 

 

     Six months, and the Handler’s voice still sent fear clawing at his heart, digging in deep and paralyzing him. 

 

     He could see Ben out of the corner of his eye. His face was slack, gaze pinned on the woman that was still standing out of his sight. The others were somewhere else, but he had no doubt they’d be showing up soon. 

 

     Not that they could help much with this current predicament. 

 

     “You’ve been busy since last we met,” she crooned, stepping out in front of him. So there was someone else holding a gun to his head. She clicked her tongue, leaning closer. “I see you’ve been getting some sun.”

 

     “Who is she?” Ben asked urgently. “Klaus, who is she?” His face was quickly turning furious. His posture was tense, eyeing the woman like he was ready to pounce. 

 

     The Handler hummed. 

 

     “We may not be able to kill you permanently, but a bullet to the brain will put you out of commission long enough for us to leave unscathed.” She flicked her hand, holding a cigarette to her lips. “So don’t try any ghosty tricks, mkay? I have no doubt your siblings are hanging around, but this is just between us.”

 

     Klaus glanced at Ben. 

 

     “Klaus,” he said slowly, cautiously. Assuring him that he had his back. 

 

     He swallowed, looking back at her. 

 

     “I haven’t gone anywhere near Five,” he rasped, keeping his hands folded in his lap. “You can check with whatever time travel stalkers you have. I’m staying put right where I am, playing house with my dead family.” 

 

     “This is true.” She smiled, blowing out a ring of smoke. “You haven’t been traveling much. Five’s already a fair distance away.” She took another drag, twisting it around on her mouth. 

 

     “So what do you want?”

 

     “I want to make something very clear.” She dropped the cigarette suddenly, stomping it out with her heel. “We employ some of the timeline’s greatest minds at the Commission. We are not about to be outsmarted by a washed out former super twerp.”

 

     The gun pressed closer to his head and he flinched, squeezing his eyes shut on instinct. 

 

     A hand grabbed his chin, and Ben yelled. 

 

     “We know all your little tricks,” she whispered, leaning in close. “We know you’ve got more acts than just your ghosts and the irritating habit of coming back from the dead. And we’ve seen you trying to get better with that throwing your voice game.” 

 

     “Klaus, make me corporeal,” Ben hissed, on his feet. “I can take them out before they get a chance to blink.”

 

     Klaus forced his eyes open, meeting the Handler’s piercing gaze. 

 

     “You’ve proven to us that you’re a hard one to remove from the equation,” she admitted. “We’ve already wasted time and resources on you once- really, you had to ruin that coffin when we could’ve reused it?” Klaus flinched, lungs constricting at the mere mention of it, and her smile turned predatory. “But we cannot have the threat you pose to the timeline.”

 

     “So what are you gonna do?” Klaus huffed, trying to force the trembling out of his voice. The Handler cocked her head, pursing her lips. 

 

     “Your little brother,” she hummed, squishing his cheeks. “We’ve been watching him since he got to this time period. He has quite the set of survival skills- clearly better than yours, seeing he hasn’t died once since getting here. We were hoping to offer him employment, after he’s had a few decades of self reflection. But…” She let go, tapping his cheek with her finger. “If you keep trying to contact him, we might just have remove him from the equation. Last we checked, he doesn’t possess your… finesse.”

 

     Klaus’s breath stilled in his chest. He could sense how stiff Ben got beside him. The Handler smiled, seeing she’d gotten her point across. 

 

     “It’s your choice,” she said innocently. “Either make peace with the fact that you’ll remain alone for the rest of your long, miserable life, or get your baby brother killed in the false hope that you might stick together and save the world.”

 

     Klaus let out a shaky breath. 

 

     “You’re bluffing.”

 

     “On the contrary.” She stood, snapping her fingers. The gun pushed into his neck, sending a spark of pain through it. “As we speak, Hazel has his gun trained on you. Cha-Cha has Five within her sights, and has the order to shoot at my word.” She smiled. “We have eyes everywhere, Klaus. We know when you blow your nose. We know both yours and Number Five’s locations at all times. The perks, of being the only two humans on earth. So say you’ll give up this silly fantasy, and Cha-Cha will stand down. We’ll leave this timeline, and save any more of your meddling, won’t return. You’ll never have to see me again.”

 

     She gestured vaguely with her hand, the other on her hip. 

 

     “What’ll it be?”

 

     And Klaus-

 

     Klaus swallowed, ignoring the burning in his lungs, the burning behind his eyes. 

 

     Once again, he was backed into a corner. 

 

     “I won’t,” he hissed, staring at the ground. “I won’t contact him. Just- just leave him alone. He’s just a kid.”

 

     “Not so much anymore.” She smirked, sliding her hands into her pockets. “Neither are you. The apocalypse has aged you both.” She pursed her lips, looking him up and down. “It’s been kinder to him.”

 

     The Handler crossed behind him, patting his shoulder as she did. 

 

     The gun left his neck. With that familiar warping sound, he was left alone with Ben. 

 

     The burning in his lungs grew fiercer. 

 

     “Klaus-“ Ben was at a loss for words, so terribly confused and scared at the same time. He was pissed, too, and part of Klaus worried it was directed at him. He was the one that had just agreed to the Handler’s deal, after all. Although it wasn’t much of a deal. More like blackmail. 

 

    Everybody was gonna be pissed at him. 

 

     He inhaled, and the air didn’t enter his lungs. He choked, eyes fluttering. His hands fell to the ground, fingers sliding through the dirt as he tried to anchor himself on something. 

 

     Ben’s hand was a weight on his shoulder, but it reminded him of her, of uninvited touch and mocking words, of a tiny box underground, and everything was too tight. 

 

     He whined, squeezing his eyes shut, and something in his chest twisted. Ben’s hand left his shoulder with a surprised noise, feet scraping against the dirt as he stumbled backwards. 

 

     “Klaus? What’s going on-“

 

     More voices entered the clearing. The rushing in his ears grew louder, angrier. 

 

     “No no, don’t touch him, he needs space-“

 

     “Like hell he needs space, he needs to remember he’s not alone-“

 

     “I’m telling you, he needs space.”

 

     Klaus shook his head, digging his palms into his ears. There were more noises, stumbling footsteps. 

 

     “Klaus, it’s okay,” Ben assured him, and why did he sound further away? “She’s gone.”

 

     “She-?”

 

     An aggressive shush. Klaus sucked in a deep breath, forcing his eyes open. 

 

     His siblings were all at least seven feet away, staring at him with worried eyes. And- and there was a faint blue haze hanging in the air. A glance down and he noticed the same color, glowing much brighter in his chest. It was pulsing softly with his heartbeat. 

 

     Oh. 

 

     He pushed the breath out slowly, letting his hands rest on his knees. The glow faded some, and Ben nearly fell, like he’d been supporting himself against an invisible barrier. Viktor and Diego hurried closer, as close as they were able, and Luther watched with a look of awe. 

 

     “It’s okay,” Viktor said softly, holding his hands up. “Nobody’s here besides us. We’re not gonna hurt you.”

 

     “I know that,” he huffed, shaking his hands out. The glow disappeared completely, but his siblings didn’t come any closer. They were careful, like they were handling something fragile. 

 

     And he wasn’t. He wasn’t fragile. He was the goddamn king of death. 

 

     Diego approached slowly, picking up on his frustration, and sat down next to him. 

 

     “Wanna tell us what the hell that was about?”

 

     “Diego-“

 

     Klaus nodded, some of the tension leaving his shoulders. 

 

     “That was-“ He huffed. “That was the time travel bitch. The Handler.”

 

     “She was here?”

 

     “Her and one of her goons.” He groaned, rubbing at his face. “I’m sorry.”

 

     “What for?” Diego reached out, and when he didn’t protest he rested a hand on his shoulder. Ben and Viktor were close behind him, Luther hanging back and trying to look like he wasn’t eavesdropping (but he clearly was.)

 

     “I’m weak,” Klaus spat, throwing his hands out. “I let her intimidate me.”

 

     “Hey.” Diego gave him a look, raising an eyebrow. “Bullshit. You’re not weak. She…” He licked his lips, glancing back at the others. “Is she the one that took you a couple months ago?”

 

     Klaus met Viktor’s eyes. He was watching, that familiar guilt pinching his face, even though none of that had been his fault. 

 

     “Yeah,” he sighed, blowing out a breath. “Yeah, she was. She’s been keeping tabs on me and Five. She doesn’t want us running into each other.”

 

     “Why the hell not?”

 

     “Well, Fivey can time travel. I know what causes the apocalypse.” He rolled his shoulders, letting his neck crack. “Apparently, it was supposed to happen, so they don’t want him to know because they’re worried he’ll try and undo it.”

 

     “This was supposed to happen,” Diego echoed, clearly confused. Behind him, Viktor sat down, thoughtful. 

 

     “Like a restart,” he said softly, crossing his arms over his knees. “Plants have been coming back.”

 

     “The Big Bang all over again,” Ben chimed in. “Just… smaller.”

 

     “So they’re- what, trying to convince you to stay away?” Diego clarified, still lost. Klaus groaned, running his hands back through his hair. 

 

     “She says if I contact him at all, she’ll kill him. And-“ He closed his eyes, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “And I’d say she was full of it, but she had me murdered and stuffed in a box, so…” He huffed out a mirthless laugh. “Apparently they noticed that I was trying to reach him with my powers, too, so there goes that idea.”

 

     Somewhere behind them, Luther sat down, rubbing at his face and staring off into the distance. 

 

     “So if we find Five, he’s dead,” Diego said slowly. “And if we don’t, we just- what, never know for sure?”

 

     “She seemed to want to recruit him,” Klaus offered, grimacing. “So I guess he has them looking out for him, assuming he doesn’t get any apocalypse-preventing ideas.”

 

     “What are we supposed to do now?” Viktor asked softly, glancing up. “We’ve been looking for him for… for years.”

 

     “Since we first ended up here,” Diego added, looking away. 

 

     Eyes turned to Klaus, surprising him enough that he sat up a little straighter. 

 

     “Luther’s Number One,” he reminded them. “It was his idea to find Five.”

 

     “That didn’t pan out too well,” Luther countered. “And you’re the highest number still alive. You’re the leader, now.”

 

     Diego laughed, ducking his head. 

 

     “If I wasn’t eight years in the grave, I wouldn’t believe my ears,” he chuckled. “I still don’t.”

 

     “I don’t wanna be the leader,” Klaus whined, flapping his hands. “I relinquish the post. Diego? You were always fighting for your chance at the spot.”

 

     “Nah, man.” Diego smiled, eyes glistening with amusement and something else. It certainly couldn’t have been pride. “You’ve earned this.”

 

     “No I haven’t!” Klaus climbed to his feet shakily, slipping a little and nearly falling on his ass. “Listen, this? This whole thing is a fluke. I should’ve been dead alongside all of you. I should’ve been dead before that, if we’re really being honest. I should’ve died before I hit 13. The fact is, I’ve always been the weak link. I- I can’t even find my own brother in the apocalypse! I’ve been doing the same thing everyday for almost a decade and I’ve come up with nothing!”

 

     “Or,” Luther said lightly, standing with him. “You’ve been strong all along, and everybody else told you otherwise.”

 

     “You’re the one that gives us bodies,” Viktor added. “Without you, we’d just be another couple of aimless spirits. You’re the one that helped me become me.”

 

     “You rounded up every ghost around and used them to your advantage,” Ben reminded him. “That was what Dad always wanted you to do and more.”

 

     “I know we’ll find a way to see Five again,” Diego whispered, clapping his arm and leaning close. “Whether it’s when he joins us on the other side, or when you find a way to outsmart those assholes. But I know that either way it’s gonna be because of you.” He smiled, squeezing his arm. “I believe in you, man.”

 

     Klaus glanced between all of them. His posture softened, one hand raising to pat Diego’s arm. 

 

     “Thanks,” he said, a confused smile tugging at his lips. “You’re insane, but thanks.”

 

 

Notes:

Klaus’s biggest critic has always been himself, and now that his siblings have seen how strong he really is, he’s the only one that still thinks he isn’t. They just need to help him see things differently.

Chapter 14

Summary:

Klaus discovers a new power by accident. In doing so, he finally learns the fate of his missing sibling.

Notes:

I’d thought about trying to add some filler in between the last chapter and now, but I realized that this would be better than dragging things along for too long. I’ve had this ending planned since the very beginning! I really hope you enjoy this chapter, make sure to comment, and just know that I’ve really appreciated all the support for this story!

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     It had been- approximately- 14689 days since the end of the world. Klaus had fallen asleep surrounded by his siblings after another day in their little apocalypse shelter, having listened to Luther chatter on about the moon for the past couple hours. It had been getting harder to move around, as his body was worn down by the years, so this was how they tended to spend their days now. 

 

     The big guy had so much information to share, and Reggie had never given a fuck, so Klaus was all ears for his excited info dumps. 

 

     He’d started to nod off towards the end, where Viktor asked questions and Diego whined like it was the most tasking thing in the world. 

 

     Ben had winked when he noticed him falling asleep, holding a finger to his lips. 

 

     And now he was… he wasn’t sure where. 

 

     He felt weird. Less tired, without that ever present aching in his joints. He felt lighter, fuller. Like he hadn’t been living on barely a meal a day for the past two decades. 

 

     A hand touched his shoulder, shaking him lightly, and he woke with a gasp. 

 

     And immediately knew that something was up. 

 

     Allison was sitting in front of him. She looked younger and older at the same time, with a bleached bob that curled around her ears. Her face was just a little more tired, yet more naive, watching him with some level of expectancy, for what he had no clue. 

 

     “You okay?” She asked, brow pinching. 

 

     “I-“ Woah. His voice sounded weird. It sounded like him, but not. It wasn’t worn down from dehydration (and frequent screaming after nightmares that involved women with heels, boxes, and an awful lot of dirt.) He frowned, raising a hand to his face. 

 

     His beard was trimmed neatly, only covering his chin in the way he’d worn it when he was younger. He moved his hand, feeling over his whole face, then dragged it back through his hair. His face was smooth, void of any wrinkles, and his hair was cut in a similar fashion to his sister’s. 

 

     A laugh bubbled in his chest. 

 

     “What the fuck?”

 

     “What’s that supposed to mean?” Allison cocked her head, half amused and half worried. One hand reached out, resting over the one still sitting on his lap, and he jolted. 

 

     Her skin was warm. She was warm. 

 

     He hadn’t felt someone warm since the Handler had stolen him away. 

 

     She quickly took her hand back, panic flashing over her face. He felt a burning in his chest, his own panic building and spilling out in stuttering breaths, and his hand moved without meaning to, clasping around a necklace that was dangling from his neck. 

 

     Startled by the feeling of cold metal, he looked down. 

 

     He was wearing a colorful shirt, far more than the black he used to shroud himself in during his days on the streets. There were dog tags hanging from his neck. 

 

     David J Katz

 

     “W-w-what’s going on?” He whimpered, staring at her with wild eyes. 

 

     “Klaus, it’s- what do you mean? We’re in the Academy! We’re home, it’s- Diego! Diego, come here, something’s wrong!”

 

     Klaus wheezed, grip tightening on the tags. There was something in him, some small voice that clung to their presence. It was like somebody else was in his head, someone deeply attached to the owner of the tags. 

 

     He stood suddenly, and his legs allowed it, not protesting like he was used to. He stumbled awkwardly, hands flying out, and Allison moved to catch him. 

 

     He pushed a hand in her direction, intending to knock her back with his powers, but it didn’t affect her in the slightest. His hands did glow, however, and it startled her enough that she backed off. 

 

     “Klaus, what’s gotten into you?”

 

     His head whipped around. Ben. He looked just the same as ever, although even he had a strange youthfulness in his eyes. He was staring at him like he’d never seen him before, zeroed in on the glowing of his hands. 

 

     Footsteps thumped above him, and it all started to overlap with each other. He grunted, clamping his hands over his ears. 

 

     The glow spread up his veins in a familiar fashion. 

 

     “What’s- what the fuck?!”

 

     “I don’t know! I don’t know! He’d fallen asleep, and now he’s- Jesus, what do we do?”

 

     Groans met his ears. There were ghosts here. He hadn’t seen any ghosts besides his siblings in years. 

 

     In his panic, he latched onto them, and felt the familiar drain of his powers as they all flickered into view. 

 

     He heard his siblings’ screams. 

 

     Someone grabbed him from behind, holding a hand over his mouth. He choked and spluttered, eyes flying open, but he couldn’t get a glimpse of his attacker. Their grip tightened and he whined, struggling weakly. His body was stronger, arms oddly toned in a way he didn’t remember them ever being, but it was no match for whoever was slowly squeezing the stars into his vision. 

 

     More footsteps. Someone yelled. 

 

     The arms dropped him and he fell to the floor, hands scratching desperately at the tile. He was- he was in the kitchen, he’d been sitting with Allison by the pool table. And now he was on the floor, and he was confused, because the Academy had been nothing but rubble since he was 29. 

 

     “Somebody get Five.”

 

     “You shouldn’t have done that to him, you could’ve hurt him-“

 

     “It got him to stop, didn’t it? Go get Five.”

 

     Someone left the room. He wheezed, tears burning at his eyes. 

 

     What was happening what was happening what was happening-

 

     Something in the back of his mind pushed, and everything went fuzzy for a moment. Then it was back in focus, and he was in a chair instead, and his hands were clasped around those damn tags. 

 

     Viktor was sitting in front of him. 

 

     His hair was different. It was better than he’d managed, back in their little impromptu haircut party. It fit him, framed his face in a way that showed him off and made him look more confident. 

 

     His face was a little squarer, clothes more casual and less baggy. 

 

     “Klaus?” He asked, and oh. His voice was lower. 

 

     The tiny little part of him that wasn’t freaked out by all this was happy for him. He’d gotten to transition for real, here. 

 

     “My head hurts,” he slurred, rubbing at his temples. He let his eyes roam about, noticing a tattoo on his shoulder (he’d never had that, he knew he’d never had that.) Viktor was watching him with an odd mix of pity and trepidation. It was a weird look on his little brother. 

 

     “That was pretty impressive,” Viktor admitted, shifting awkwardly in his seat. “You summoned a ton of ghosts. It almost looked like you were… controlling them.”

 

     “Well yeah.” Klaus huffed, a bit delirious. “That’s how I escaped my little box underground, remember?”

 

     This younger, alive Viktor did not remember. He just frowned, more worry seeping into his furrowed brow. 

 

     Klaus, suddenly desperate for an answer, held up the tags. 

 

     “What are these for?”

 

     And Viktor’s expression changed entirely. He stared at him like a stranger. 

 

     “They’re Dave’s.”

 

     “Dave?”

 

     “He’s-“ Viktor swallowed, rubbing his hands on his pants. “He’s the one you lost, when you time traveled.”

 

     “I never-“ Klaus laughed, completely lost. “What?”

 

     “Alright, what’s happening?”

 

     They both turned. 

 

     Five, dressed in his little school boy shorts and the undershirt vest combo, was walking towards them. He was young, far too young, but his posture was anything but. He held himself like an old man that had seen far too much. 

 

     Klaus stared at him with awe, feeling his heart thump painfully in his chest. 

 

     Part of him was relieved. Finally, finally, he had found his brother. 

     The other part of him was horrified, because he’d broken his deal with the Handler. She’d come after Five, and she’d kill him, and it would be all his fault. 

 

     He shot to his feet, ignoring Viktor’s cry of protest. Ben voiced the same behind him, and he was ignored as well. 

 

     Five met his wild gaze with a furrowed brow, watching him like he was studying him, tearing apart every detail. 

 

     “I can’t be here,” Klaus blurted, hands fidgeting at his sides. “I can’t- I said I wouldn’t come near you. I need to leave.”

 

     “No one’s said you can’t be here,” Five said patiently, still scrutinizing him closely. Klaus quickly shook his head. 

 

     “She’s- you have to understand, I- I stayed away to protect you.” He held up his hands. “I wanted to find you, but the Handler-“

 

     Five jumped, reappearing an inch from his face. 

 

     “What about the Handler?”

 

     He nearly tripped over his own feet, stumbling backward. 

 

     “She took me! A few decades ago, roughed me up and buried me and told me to leave you alone. I didn’t want you to be alone, I wanted to be there for you, but she said she’d kill you, and I just couldn’t-“

 

     “Decades?” Five stared at him like he was crazy. “Klaus, you haven’t relapsed, have you?”

 

     “What- how would I have-“ Klaus let out a hysterical laugh, almost wanting to cry. He wished. “There ain’t no drugs in the apocalypse, buddy. I’ve been clean since a little stunt on my 30th.”

 

     The air in the room changed. Viktor sat back in his chair, Ben made an indistinguishable noise, and Diego peeked out from where he’d been lingering in the doorway.

 

     Five’s eyes were wide. 

 

     “How old are you?”

 

     “I’m-“ Klaus hesitated, trying to count as fast as he could. His arms were clean, all those little tally scars having disappeared (not that he could read them anymore anyways.) “69.” He snorted despite himself, before quickly sobering. “And that’s not a sex joke.”

 

     “What do you know about the apocalypse?”

 

     “Um-“ He couldn’t tell him, could he? “I can’t- she said-“

 

     “The Handler’s dead,” Five said quickly, dismissing the topic altogether. “I killed her.”

 

     A surprise “oh” escaped Klaus’s throat. 

 

     “Well then-“ He licked his lips. “Viktor… razed everything to the ground. He- I think he’d come to the Academy, and Luther killed Leonard- I hit the wall hard in the first energy blast so I actually kind of missed the end itself- then when I woke up I was underground and everybody was dead.”

 

     Five backed up. He was staring at him with a mix of disbelief and growing horror. 

 

     “Klaus never knew about the Handler,” he hissed, unable to tear his eyes away. “Hazel and Cha-Cha took him, but he didn’t-“ He blinked, brow furrowing. “Who are you?”

 

     “I’m- Klaus!” He held his hands up. “It’s me! Um-“ He snapped his fingers, looking around and wracking his brain for ways to prove it to them. He pointed at Diego. “Your ex- the lady cop? Her name was- was Dora?”

 

     Something mournful washed over his face. 

 

     “Eudora?”

 

     “Yes!” Klaus clapped his hands together. “Once, we were walking down a road outside the city. You- your ghost- I dunno, you said you used to go there together. You parked and watched the sun set!”

 

     Diego stared at him, eyes growing watery. 

 

     “How do you-“

 

     “I’m telling the truth!” Klaus waved his hands about. “I’ve spent the last 40 years with you and Ben, Viktor and Luther! Allison moved on to be with her daughter in the afterlife, but you fuckers stuck around because- I dunno, because I can’t die? I still haven’t figured out why you stayed, but you did! We bonded!”

 

     Five shook his head, stepping back further. 

 

     “You’re him, but you’re-“ He looked away, dragging a hand through his hair. “You’re him. You’re the Klaus I left behind.”

 

     “Can someone please tell me what’s going on?” Viktor asked desperately, close to tears. 

 

     Five vanished in a flash of blue. Klaus felt that pushing feeling again, and his vision blurred for only a second. His hands were clutching the dog tags again when he looked down. 

 

     A hysterical laugh bubbled in his chest. 

 

     “So this is where he went?” He asked, looking up at Diego with wild eyes. “He time traveled back?”

 

     Diego was watching him with wonder. 

 

     “Yeah.” He moved closer quickly. “So you’re- you’re a different Klaus? Why- how’s-“ He looked him over. “You’re him. What’s happening?”

 

     “I don’t fucking know!” Klaus laughed, staring at his hands again. “I mean, there was that one time with the radio, but- this isn’t a radio.” 

 

     He had somehow gone into an entirely different timeline and possessed himself. 

 

     In his sleep. 

 

     He laughed again, cracking his knuckles. 

 

     “I’m so cool.”

 

     “Hey, what’s going on?” Allison walked down the steps into the room, looking between the three siblings she could see. 

 

     Klaus beamed. 

 

     “So you’re all alive, then?” He gushed, waving her over. “What are you up to? What are your lives like? This is- this is fantastic. I’m so happy for you guys.”

 

     “Excuse me?”

 

     “An alternate Klaus is possessing Klaus,” Diego explained, not quite believing it himself. “This is the one Five found in the apocalypse. Remember a few months ago, the incident?”

 

     “Incident?” Klaus echoed, as Allison’s face fell in understanding. 

 

     “You were-“ Diego didn’t meet his eyes, suddenly not quite as excited. “You were shot by a commission agent. Five killed her, but it was too late- but obviously you’re immortal, so you came back.”

 

     “Oh!” Klaus laughed, waving a hand. “Yeah, I’m really good at that now. I come back like-“ He snapped his fingers, making a popping noise. “Practice makes perfect!”

 

     A horrified silence followed that statement. Klaus clapped his hands quickly, beckoning for his sister to come closer. 

 

     “Tell me, tell me! How’s my niece?”

 

     Allison didn’t respond for a moment, still trying to get past his previous statement, but she blinked and shook herself a little and nodded. 

 

     “Good!” She said quickly, clasping her hands together. “She’s good. Doing well in school, and- all that. I’m still fighting for custody, but I’m getting visitation now.”

 

     “That’s great!” He grinned. “She’s such a sweet little girl. I’m so glad you get to watch her grow up.”

 

     He clapped his hands together, looking around and missing the way his sister’s face fell at his statement. He was far too fascinated, noticing every little thing at once. There were birds chirping outside, cars racing down the street. Hell, even the ghosts were a welcome change from the silence. 

 

     Something pushed again, and his realization from a few moments ago settled in. 

 

     He was possessing himself. 

 

     He hated being possessed. It was the worst feeling, all cold and muted, like he was shoved into a corner in his own brain. 

 

     …he couldn’t stick around. 

 

     “Where’d Five go?” He asked urgently, looking between them. Diego and Allison glanced at each other, lost, and Viktor stood again. 

 

     “Sometimes he hides in his room? That’s where he went when he avoided you last time- the other you.”

 

     “Right.” He shot him a grateful thumbs up, awkwardly stumbling forward in a manner similar enough to walking. The others called for him to wait, but he ignored them, a man on a mission. 

 

     There were a lot of stairs between him and Five. 

 

     But he made it to his door, dragging his fingers up and down the chain in a way that set him oddly at ease. He rested a hand against the door, listening carefully. 

 

     There were very quiet, almost silent breaths on the other side. They were labored, hitching every so often with a sort of choking noise. Klaus pushed the door open. 

 

     Number Five Hargreeves was curled up on his bed, crying into the palm of his hand. 

 

     Klaus held his hands up the moment he was inside, shutting the door gently with his foot. Five didn’t look at him, eyes glazed over as some memory plagued him. He approached carefully, getting down on his knees so he was more at eye level. 

 

     He reached out a hesitant hand, and Five didn’t flinch away. 

 

     “I missed you,” he whispered, feeling his own throat get a little clogged up with emotion. This was his little brother, and sure he could tell that he wasn’t so little, that he was the same one he’d seen in that fleeting moment in the apocalypse, he only looked young through some strange miracle, but he looked so childlike right now. He was so small, so broken. 

 

     Five squeezed his eyes shut. 

 

     “I buried you,” he rasped, pained. 

 

     “Not very deep,” Klaus reassured him, as though it would make him feel better. “Ben got me out real quick. I was out and about, don’t worry.”

 

     “I spent 40 years there,” Five snapped, glaring at him through tears. “And I didn’t- I never even noticed you.”

 

     “I started looking for you the moment I woke up,” Klaus whispered, turning his head so his eyes lined up with Five’s. “I kept looking for years. I only stopped to protect you. That bitch didn’t want you messing up the timeline, and I knew Viktor was the cause of the apocalypse, so…”

 

     Five huffed out a miserable laugh. 

 

     “Of course,” he whispered. “Of course. She made a joke, once, about my brother. I just thought it was a jab to rile me up, but no. No, she’s the reason you were left all alone.”

 

     “Hey.” Klaus tapped his shoulder. “No. I wasn’t alone. I’m not. I- I’ve got all our siblings. I’ve got my own little ghost entourage. We’ve had lots of fun, ruling the end of the world. You know, I’m essentially the king of death.”

 

     Five cracked the smallest of smiles, and Klaus’s chest swelled with pride. 

 

     The world grew a little hazy around the edges. 

 

     “I can’t-“ He squeezed Five’s shoulder. “I can’t stay. My roadies would be lost without me, and you’ve got your own Klaus. Can’t be stealing all his Five time.”

 

     “But-“ Five sat up a little. “But I won’t-“ His voice cracked. “I’ll never see you again, Klaus. You don’t even exist in this timeline. How you’re doing this, I have no idea-“

 

     “I’m just that awesome, I guess,” Klaus hummed, shrugging. “And I know. Just-“ He tapped his fist against his shoulder. “Live a lot for me, kay? Try that ice cream place that opened right before the apocalypse.”

 

     “You’re lactose intolerant.”

 

     “Take me with you anyways. Trust me, I won’t regret it.”

 

     “Sure.” Five pursed his lips, amused, and Klaus counted it as a win. He held his arms out with a raised brow. 

 

     Five shifted, accepting the embrace. His arms were stiff and awkward, not at all used to any sort of hugging, but he could tell that it helped him relax. His breathing evened out, leaning into the touch just a little. 

 

     When he pulled back, Klaus was blinking rapidly, staring up at him. 

 

     “Dude,” he huffed, giggling. “I just had the weirdest dream.”

 

 

---

 

 

     Klaus was in Allison’s house. The dog tags were gone, as were the extra tattoos. It was just him, dressed in a crop top and skirt he didn’t entirely remember wearing at any point. His skin was still smooth, body still young and strong. 

 

     Allison appeared in the hallway, one hand against the wall as she poked her head out of the living area. 

 

     “We were wondering what you’d got up to,” she laughed, glancing over her shoulder at someone behind her. “They said you didn’t wake up for a couple days, and came to wait for you here. Where did you go?”

 

     Klaus hummed, glancing about the room. 

 

     “Just a little unfinished business.”

 

     “Uh-huh.” She laughed, nose wrinkling with the noise. He followed behind her with a laugh of his own, walking right into the dining area that was connected to the last room. 

 

     Diego, Luther, Viktor, and Ben were all seated around the table, talking amongst themselves. Claire was perched in Viktor’s lap, in the middle of a very exciting story by the looks of it. 

 

     There were three empty seats. One for Allison, one for him, and one he knew would never be filled. 

 

     He followed her over and sat beside her, stretching back in the chair and kicking his feet up on the table. 

 

     “So what are we having here? I’m a sucker for some good menudo.”

 

 

Notes:

Five finally got his closure, and Klaus finally has eternal peace.

I am such a sucker for all these siblings I hope you know. They love each other and I will accept no other answer.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of Left Behind at the End of Everything