Death Baby

by PaddieCake

Summary:

Klaus dies, falls in love, and saves the world.

For two of these things, he is an unwilling participant.

"Welcome back to the land of the living Number Four…"

That had been three hours ago, when Dad had first come back to the mausoleum to get him, only to leave him there.

Three hours and one second.  

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

One minute.

Then panic set in, clawing its way up his throat. He stood up on shaky legs and slowly made his way to the door, carefully avoiding the clawing hands reaching out towards him.

He failed. Something caught him, and it was icy cold, and then he was falling.

Falling.

And when he woke up it was empty. He wasn't in the mausoleum, he wasn't at the Academy, it was just blank and grey, and quiet. A literal and metaphorical desert.

Grace had taught them the words ‘metaphorical’ and ‘literal’ last week.

 He sat up slowly looking around.

"Hello? D-dad? Monocle, sir?" He called out, hearing nothing but his own voice.

"Fiiive! Two? Three! Six? One?... Seven?!"

Still nothing. The ground beneath wasn't made of anything he was familiar with. It was warm, and smooth, and soft. It felt nice.

Four stood up, taking a few tentative steps in the direction he was already facing. When nothing happened he ran, arms spread out to his sides like a bird or plane. He skidded to a halt, listening for someone to yell at him, or for a ghost to scream at him, but nothing.

Four smiled, this was great. He did some handsprings, and cartwheels, and even a spin that Three had taught them one day during play time, and still no one yelled at him! 

He didn't know how long he'd been running and playing, a long time before he ran into someone at last. Another child like him, a girl. "Hi, I'm Four!" he said excitedly running up to her.

"You look too old to be four," the girl replied.

"Oh. No, that's my number, I'm actually six," he said, holding up both hands, showing three fingers on each hand.

"Oh… What's your name?”

Four frowned, and thought about it. “Number is technically my first name. But only my dad calls me ‘Number Four’. You can just call me ‘Four’.

“You don't have a real name?"

Four frowned. “Do you have a real name?"

"Abigail," she said simply.

Four mouthed out an excited 'woooow'. "That's so cool," he said. "I wish I had a name. My dad has one, Reginald, but it's so stuffy." Four made a circle around his eye, and put on his best British accent. "Number Four, stop laughing, it's distracting!" 

When Abigail didn't laugh he sighed. No one ever laughed at his jokes. Well, Two did, sometimes, and Five pretended not to, but no one else. "There was one time when I was practicing my spin kicks, and I hit One in the face. It was the only time I've ever beaten him at something!” He waited for Abigail to tell him how cool that was, but she didn't. “Monocle, that's his other name he gets two. Anyway, Monocle says 'if you weren't so distracted by nothing you may have actually hurt him!' Like I totally almost broke his nose. And One is SUPER strong, and I just feel like he should have been more impressed, you know?" Abigail looked disgusted, and Four felt his heart clench, and he squashed that down because he wasn't supposed to cry, and instead stamped his foot. "You don't get it, One is really strong, and bigger'n me by three inches, and I worked really hard to do that. You'd think it was cool if you saw it," he pleaded, practically begging her to see how amazing that was.

"Your dad lets you fight each other?"

"For practice, yeah… You never fight with your siblings?"

"My brother and I fought once, that's why I'm here." 

"Oh, what kind of fighting did you do? We practice all kinds, I know how to use knives, and swords, and guns, and with our hands and feet!" 

"Guns and swords?" 

"Yeah… why?" He asked, but she only shook her head and ran away.

Four sighed, and kicked at the ground. It was fine, he didn't need some random girl with her fancy name to think he was fun to be around. 

He twirled on one foot, then flopped backwards onto the ground. It was better without people here anyway. No one could be mean to him, or lock him up, or stick him with electromagnetic thingamajigs. And best of all no ghosts. 

He loved that there weren't any ghosts.

He smiled, enjoying the warmth of the ground, closing his eyes to take a nap. 

And suddenly he was ripped away from the warmth by pain in his head, gasping for air on something cold and metal. He sat up, breathing heavily, chest heaving. 

"Two hours, Number Four."

"W-what?" He barely registered his father's face, instead focusing on the feel of the scratchy arm band that took blood pressure.

"You were dead for two hours."

"Oh… thank you for saving me, sir."

Reginald scoffed in a way that sent shivers down his spine. "You came back to life on your own."

So he'd have let him die if he didn't come back on his own? Four's eyes teared up but he stopped them from falling before dad could see them.

"The last time you died it took you four days to come back. You're getting quicker." 

When was the last time he had died?

As if reading his mind, dad said "You were stillborn. I knew you were special, though."

"Oh… so are we going to work on this power now?" He asked. He didn't think it would be that bad if the methods of dying weren't painful. That quiet place was way better than trying to conjure the dead.

"No, we'll just keep an eye on it when you die again. Don't want to risk it becoming permanent," he said absently, jotting down some notes in his book.

"When?"

Dad hummed, snapping his book shut and leaving the room.

Four looked around, removing the band from his arm, and hopped off the table. He put his shirt and jacket back on and left the infirmary.

He had only just gotten to the bathroom when the dinner bell rang. He washed his hands and face quickly, and even ran wet hands through his hair before racing down the stairs to eat.

–

At eight, Four died again. Mom had gotten new shoes and they were so pretty, and they never got clothes like this. He snuck them out of her closet, and was quick to put them on. He never wore shoes, they dampened his powers too much, but these were beautiful.

He stood in front of a floor length mirror, admiring the way they looked.

His mistake, his fatal mistake, was trying to go downstairs to show Two. 

He smiled softly at the feel of the warm ground, remembering where he was from last time. He didn't mind that he was dead, it was nice here. He looked down at his feet, bare like usual, unfortunately. He wiggled his toes, flopping back to stare at the sky. It wasn't really much of a sky, just gray up. But close enough. 

He wondered if that girl from last time was still around. 

He wanted to take a nap here. It would be the best sleep he'd ever get, probably. But would he extra die if he did?

Probably not.

He closed his eyes. He didn't know how long he was asleep in the grey, but when he woke up it was, once again, in the infirmary. He was surprised to see Two standing there, pale and scared. "D-dad, he's up!" He called before Four could say anything.

"No, don't call him, I don't want to talk to him," he said.

Or at least he tried to. Instead he was met with intense pain, and muffled sounds coming from his mouth.

He let out a keening sound, and pressed a hand to his face. This was way worse than dying.

"Tsk, three hours, you went backwards. We didn't even need to anesthetize you for surgery," dad said, prodding at Four, shining a light in his eyes, checking his heart rate, and blood pressure, and then looking at his face intently. "Grace will give you medication for the pain, you'll be out of commission for eight weeks," he said, walking away.

Four waited for Two to come back, or mom. 

It was an hour before mom wandered in. "Oh, sweetheart, you're awake! Did your father come check on you already?"

Four nodded, trying not to cry. He pointed to his jaw, still not entirely sure what was even wrong with it.

"Oh, you must be in so much pain. I'll get you something for that. When you fell, you broke your jaw, we had to wire it shut."

So that was why he couldn't talk. He didn't know how he was supposed to take any medication if he couldn't open his mouth.

How would he eat?

But the medication problem was answered when mom pulled out a rubber strap and a needle. It wasn't immediate, but when they hit it felt good. Warm and fuzzy kind of like the grey space he went to. No ghosts, nice and quiet.

He liked it.

The food problem was solved by disgusting protein shakes.

He was still forced to eat at the table, and he wasn't at risk of breaking the rules now that he couldn't talk-

–

At ten he gets stuck in a room full of noxious gasses and he passes out before he can find an exit.

Four sees a flash of blue before he's dead again. He knows it won't last but the calm he feels as he exists in The Grey is worth it.

He isn't there for long before he's sitting up, sputtering for air on the floor of the bank. Five is hovering over him, looking worried and angry all at once for resuscitating him. The distinct blue glow from his hands had long faded. 

"Thanks," Four said without really meaning it, sitting up slowly. He could feel the pain as his ribs, broken from Five's CPR, healed. He wished the transition from death to life was easier, and less painful.

In a few hours the pain would be gone, and hopefully his ribs would heal properly.

"Your heart stopped."

"It does that sometimes." 

"You're an idiot." Five offered a hand and Four took it, allowing himself to be helped up.

"Yeah. Hey don't tell dad, ok?"

"Got it," he said, not looking back at him.

Four and Monocle had never told his siblings about this part of his power. Monocle's reasons were unknown to him, maybe so he wouldn't get used as a human shield.

Four just wanted to see the surprised look on their faces when he popped up unharmed after a brutal death.

It would be hilarious.

–

At thirteen Klaus doesn't die.

At thirteen Five runs away.

Everyone's first instinct is to come to him, beg him to find their missing brother.

"He's not dead," Klaus said simply, not looking up from the book he was reading as he heard the soft footsteps of Vanya walking towards him. 

It was the third time he's had to say it, first to himself, then to Monocle, but at least his siblings were kind enough not to use 'electrotherapy' to do it.

"Oh," small voice said, and the footsteps slowly faded away.

It felt like seconds when Luther burst into his room. Maybe he didn't believe Vanya?

But he looked angry.

At him.

"Don't lie!" Luther said, grabbing the book from Klaus' hand. "Dad said your powers don't work because of all your drinking, that's why you can't see him."

Klaus wished that were true. He only started drinking because he was bored. It made him feel nice. He hadn't felt anything in a long time, and nice was better than empty.

"So you want Five to be dead?" Klaus didn't blink as he looked up at his brother. He'd started doing it as a joke. Because it freaked Diego out and Klaus thought it was funny. This use was much more helpful. Luther was so easily unnerved by him (Klaus was certain he was actually afraid of little old him) and he didn't need to blink, if his eyes dried up they'd grow back eventually. 

"N-no."

"Then why are you angry?" 

"B-because you're lying. If Five was alive he'd come back!"

Klaus let his eyes close as he laughed, hollow and cold, "If he was dead I'd bring him back. Past, present, future, I'd bring him back if he was dead. But he isn't."

"You can't see into the future."

"Well if Five does die, we'll find out," Klaus said.

Five doesn't die, and Luther was wrong, not that anyone but Klaus knows that. He refuses to tell Monocle about his powers. They're beyond whatever puny imagination the old man has. 

Klaus tries daily for weeks to make sure. 

But Five isn't dead, and Klaus can see into the future.

He didn't know when it started, he fell asleep one day, seeing ghosts and being immortal, and woke up with a migraine so bad he almost cried for the first time in eight years as everyone's death dates bombarded his mind. 

He had been given strong painkillers that messed with his powers in a fun way, and then he spent a night sorting through the Thread of Death.

He could follow the invisible string that connects Death to everyone. He knows when everyone dies. He knows that Jeremy Bloom two doors down only has four days left to live, and that Mrs. Bertelli has five years.

Most importantly, however, he knows that Monocle is set to die March 21st 2019, and that all life will cease to exist on April 1st of that same year.

There are no deaths after that date.

All of these deaths are permanent.

Including his own.

Klaus was looking forward to it.

No one knows, not Luther, not Pogo, not Monocle.

He doesn't write it down in his diary that he keeps hidden in the floorboards of the attic.

A permanent stay in The Grey.

Eternal peace at last.

–

At sixteen Klaus doesn't die, but Ben almost does.

Klaus is too shocked to do anything at first when he sees his brother on the ground, mangled from his own tentacles. 

He wasn't supposed to die yet, he dies with them all in 2019.

His plan won't work if Ben dies now.

He could hear his siblings yelling, not at him, just in fear.

Except Ben's soul is barely hovering out of his body, looking at Klaus in wide-eyed terror. 

Klaus doesn't think, he palms Ben's ghost's face in his hand and slams it down. Of course it doesn't do anything. His soul is back in his body, but the body is broken, destroyed. He doesn't have Klaus' abilities after all. 

Ben is carted into the infirmary with the four of them trying to keep Ben alive to the best of their abilities. Luther managed to beat the tentacles back into Ben's cavity, the others trying to keep the wound closed, Klaus regularly shoving Ben's soul back into his body, hoping it would stick.

He isn't supposed to die.

And he doesn't.

He makes it, only barely. Just barely, and if Klaus could feel he'd be distraught. He's hospitalized for weeks, can't fight, can't sit up on his own for months, even. Klaus often wonders if he's grateful or upset they saved him.

Physical therapy is used to build up his abdominal muscles again, learn to regain control of his beast, but they all know he's out of missions. 

He takes pills now.

Almost like Vanya, to keep the beasts at bay.

Klaus vaguely wonders if that means Vanya has powers.

He says nothing, because what's the point?

"I am thankful you guys saved me. I'm not ready to die, yet," Ben assured him one night as he looked up from his book. A night, when Klaus was feeling a bit too human and had to make sure he made the right decision.

 Klaus was in the window, staring out at the city. He looked at Ben, who smiled at him softly, kindly, other emotions Klaus couldn't muster. Klaus turned away and stubbed his cigarette out on his bare ankle. “Ok.”

–

At seventeen Allison leaves.

Diego leaves.

Vanya leaves.

Ben doesn't leave.

Luther won't leave.

Klaus haunts the Academy, and the alleyways, and hospitals, and the houses of anyone desperate enough to let him in their bed for the night.

He is nowhere, he is everywhere. He doesn't exist, or exists too much, depending on who you ask, more the latter if someone asked him.

April 1st, 2019 couldn't come soon enough.

-

At twenty-four Klaus overdoses on heroin, and a week later he wakes up after snorting too much coke.

At twenty-four, in a brief stint staying in the Academy he gets dragged into a mission by Luther.

At twenty-four Luther almost dies. 

Half of his siblings now, gone or almost gone.

Klaus saves him long enough for Reginald to destroy him.

“Lots of people are into hairy men,” Klaus says blandly, sitting in a chair next to Luther's hospital bed.

“I'm a fucking monster, Klaus.”

Klaus' eyes flicker to Luther, raking over his body. “Eh, I've seen worse.”

Luther kicks him out of his room. Klaus wanders to Ben's room instead. Ben has gained a bit of muscle from working out. 

Still too weak for missions, and too scared to get off the pills dad gave him. “I pissed Luther off.”

“What else is new?”

They don't talk after that.

Ben leaves, Klaus doesn't know where to.

At twenty-five, as if it was some kind of fucked up birthday present, Luther goes to the moon.

At twenty-five Klaus is alone with just his thoughts, the ghosts, and the death of every living person in the world.

-

For two years Klaus gets as fucked up as possible and feels nothing.

-

At twenty-eight Klaus checks himself into Shinyview Mental Hospital because he was tired of fucking people, and tired of drugs, and tired in general, and people keep freaking out when they find him dead in their cafés and alleyways and couches, even though it should be funny when he just pops back up, and he he just wants silence.

-

At twenty-nine, on March 20th, 2019, Klaus checks himself out of Shinyyview Mental Hospital. 

He buys some molly and some benzos, and some coke for variety. 

He sits in the Academy courtyard on March 21st, and bathes in the cool early spring sun, and as the seconds count down, Klaus struggles to open the champagne he bought from the liquor store on the corner.

He finally gets it open when Reginald takes his last breath, and downs the entire thing before his ghost can pop up in front of him, looking surprised.

“Hope Hell finds you well, old man.”

“I'm surprised you summoned me so quickly.”

Klaus shrugged. “I've been waiting for this day for a while.”

Reginald watched him carefully. “Well, now that I have you, I'm here to tell you that in ten days-”

“Oh, you do know? And here I thought I was special.” 

Before Reginald can speak, Klaus holds up his left hand. Goodbye.

Blessed silence.

Klaus takes a handful of benzos and falls asleep on the bench in the courtyard.

-

Five stares at Klaus’ sleeping form, as everyone around them bickers incessantly about his appearance, both Five's and Klaus’.

He pushes at Klaus’ body with his foot until the man slowly sits up. “Oh, hey, you're back.” 

“Hi, Klaus,” Five says flatly. Klaus looks awful, almost translucent, dark circles under his eyes, so thin he could probably count Klaus’ bones. 

“Told you guys he wasn't dead.” Five didn't like the way Klaus looked at him. “Yet.”

Five smirked and held a hand out. Klaus grabbed it and let himself be pulled up. He was so light, it was almost scary.

“Good to see you, you came for the funeral? Or did I sleep through it?”

“It hasn't happened yet,” Luther says, arms crossed at his chest. 

“Oh, good.”

“We need you to conjure dad.”

Klaus sighed and let his head fall back. “Do I have to?” He looked at Five.

“I do not care. I have more important things to discuss.” 

Five led everyone into the living room, pacing back and forth between the two couches.

Allison sat on the arm of the couch next to Vanya, who in turn was next to Klaus, who was lounging back, ankle crossed over his knee. On the other side was Luther, Ben, and Diego, who all sat normally. 

"The world ends in nine days, and I don't know how to stop it."

He was ready for the disbelief, and he wasn't surprised by his siblings shouting over each other, asking questions he couldn't hear. 

Klaus, however, sipped on his whiskey, eyes ping-ponging back and forth as Luther and Diego fought, and Allison tried to break them up.

Klaus locked eyes with Five, and held his glass up in a mock cheers. “That where you've been, then?”

He wasn't surprised.

Why wasn't he surprised?

"You knew." 

Klaus shrugged and downed the rest of his whiskey. 

"And you spent the last seventeen years doing nothing to stop  it." It was less of a question and more of a statement. Five couldn't keep the horror out of his tone.

Like clockwork, everyone turned to them.

Luther looked at Five first. “What do you mean he knew?”

Klaus quirked an eyebrow, and placed his empty whiskey glass down with a heavy thunk. He raised his hands, making rings with his fingers and placing them over his eyes. “I can see for miles and miles," he sang, lowering his hands back to his lap.

“Stop with your fucking riddles, Klaus.”

“April 1st, 2019, every single living person in the world dies.” Five wanted to punch the placid look off of Klaus' face. “I don't know how it happens.”

Five knew he was telling the truth. 

It wasn't any less infuriating.

"I'm tired,” he added, letting his head fall back.

Five wanted to strangle him. Forty-five years in the Apocalypse and his asshole brother wouldn't even help.

"So that means it's ok for the rest of the world to be destroyed?"

"It just means that if you can find a way to save everyone, excluding me, then go ahead."

"How did you know?" Vanya asked. "Really?

"I can see Death, all death. I've known the dates of everyone's death since I was twelve. I've been waiting to celebrate Reggie's death forever, yey.” His monotonous tone didn't change, and he snuggled deeper into the couch.

Allison spoke up. "Would you even tell us if you did know? How can we trust you?" 

Klaus tilted his head slightly in thought, as if genuinely mulling it over. “Yeah, I think so. Death is inevitable, I don't think you can stop it. I'd take the risk of you being able to save the world, it would be fun watching you try."

Five watched in mild horror as Luther marched up to Klaus and grabbed him around the throat. 

“Put him down Luther!” Diego said, grabbing at Luther's arm.

Before Five could blink Klaus out of Luther's grip, Klaus was sent flying.

Luther looked horrified by his own actions. He didn't even fight Diego off as he started hitting him. “No, no no, I'm-”

Klaus remained on the floor, sprawled out on the floor, eyes wide and lifeless.

Klaus didn't get up, his eyes were glassy, a small pool of blood gathering by his head, and Allison slid over to him, checking Klaus for his wounds.

“What the fuck is wrong with you!”

“I got angry, I didn't mean… It's just dad, and, and if the world is ending-”

“He's alive,” Allison said, sounding confused. She tilted Klaus’ head gently. “No wounds?" She looked at the blood on the ground, and Five walked over and crouched down to see, but his head seemed fine.

“He could have a spinal injury, we should get mom,” Diego said.

But Five held up a hand, recalling something from their youth, something he didn't think much of back then, but seemed more relevant now. "You're fine."

Klaus rolled his eyes, clear as crystal now. “I think that depends on who you ask.”

There was a collective sigh of relief. 

“I remembered once, your heart stopped and I managed to resuscitate you. But I didn't, did I?”

“Nah.” Klaus didn't move even as Allison gently put his head back on the ground. “I can't die. Not yet.”

Diego grabbed Klaus’ arm to pull him up off the floor.

“Careful, I can't heal properly unless I'm dead. I'm fragile.” But Klaus hopped up onto his hate feet and Diego gave Klaus a bone crushing hug that Klaus returned with a gentle pat on the back. 

Ben stood, leaning against the back of the couch. “But death isn't inevitable, you saved my life. And Luther's.”

Klaus rolled his eyes, looking almost like a bratty child as he turned to Ben.

Five wondered if he could smack some sense into him.

“You weren't meant to die then, you die with us. You guys will like The Grey, it's quiet.”

Then Klaus wandered away.

“I'm sorry, but Klaus can't die?” Vanya asked, her voice squeaking on the last word.

“I guess not,” Diego said with a frown.

-

Klaus was smoking in his room, not caring at all that he was getting ash on the bare mattress.

Five blinked to the edge of the bed, and if Klaus wasn't used to seeing the mutilated corpses of his siblings victims he might have been startled by his entourage.

"You look like dad when you do that." Five's hands were pressed in a triangle in front of his face. "Dad had less bodies following him though."

"What do you mean by you see death? I thought you saw ghosts but you mean the concept of death, don't you?"

"I know when people die. It's like a long string that connects everyone together. I can find anyone who died even if I've never met them, without looking them up in an obituary."

"Like a timeline?"

Klaus thought for a second before nodding. "And it ends on April 1st. There are no deaths after April 1st. That's how I knew something was going to happen. It's too jumbled to make anything out, 7 billion people is a lot after all."

"The others said you knew I wasn't dead."

"Yeah, I figured you went so far into the future it was past what I'm capable of seeing, I don't think I can see past my own death. Or you were somewhere in the past and I honestly couldn't be assed to look beyond a few years, but either way I couldn't bring you back so I knew you were alive."

"Are you really not going to help?"

"I gave you my conditions."

Five gave him a look that screamed "You're an idiot" but past that there was the slightest hint of sadness.

Klaus may have frowned, or something akin to it. "Well we'd all see each other again when you guys die, it wouldn't be forever."

Five looked like he was about to say something, but stopped himself, slowly getting up and leaving.

–

When Klaus wakes up he's tied up in the back of a trunk. He's been in worse situations, but he's been in better. 

He had fallen asleep on the bench in the courtyard again, stomach full of liquor and a handful of benzos. 

When he's dragged into a motel room there are shoes on his feet and he can't see anything a normal person couldn't. No ghosts. No timelines, just two grown adults in ugly children's masks.

He wondered, as a gun was pressed to his forehead. He would've been worried if he didn't know he wasn't going to die yet.

It took him longer than normal to come back, and Klaus took the time to enjoy The Grey for the time being, as much as he could.

The cowboy that insulted him tipped his cowboy hat to Klaus as he rode by, but he was the only person in the desert. 

Klaus came back to an empty motel, stuffed into a closet like an old coat. There was just enough leeway in his binds to move his feet enough to get the godawful shoes off his feet. He would've been surprised that he came back at all if he wasn't already destined to die.

His hands flashed blue and a handful of ghosts appeared, crammed together inside the closet. He held his hands out and watched blankly as they dutifully untied him.

He scrambled out of the closet just as his two kidnappers reappeared. “This your handy work?” Klaus asked, pointing a thumb towards a particularly flat ghost. “Because they're pissed.”

The humans had no chance against the dead. Klaus watched as the ghosts tore their murderers limb from limb. Amongst the massacre was a briefcase left on the ground. 

Klaus picked it up and sat on the bed, glancing at the door just as Diego and Luther came bursting in looking frantic.

“You ok, buddy?” 

Diego looked sick.

Actually, so did Luther.

“Oh yeah, less than two percent of this blood is mine,” Klaus assured before flipping open the Briefcase.

–

Dave is twenty-seven when he meets the most interesting person he'll ever know.

He falls from heaven in a flash of blue, covered in blood and bruises, and looking completely blasé about the fact. He looks at Dave with a quirked eyebrow before their sergeant is yelling at them to get up and get out.

-

Klaus is thirty when he falls in love, in the jungles of Vietnam, amongst the mosquitoes and the napalm and the gunfire. 

But before Klaus is thirty he is twenty-nine, and he kind of likes the weird guy who keeps following him around.

Like a pet.

Not that Klaus isn't weird, but you'd have to be extra weird to actively seek his company.

Dave is extra weird, and simultaneously the most normal person Klaus has ever met.

"Do you ever smile?" Dave asked on their third patrol together.

Klaus shrugged as he hacked away at foliage to clear a path for them. He kind of understood Diego's love of knives. "Sure, all the time."

"Well you think I could see one?"

Klaus let out an amused huff. "Over my dead body."

It got a laugh out of Dave, a genuine one. And Klaus rolled his eyes fondly, both for the pun and for getting Dave to laugh. He seemed to gravitate towards Klaus, he couldn't figure out why. Klaus was a dark cloud, death incarnate. He tried to tell Dave to get lost, to make other friends but he just kept coming back to Klaus.

Klaus didn't mind much. 

But all Klaus could see was the date in which Dave died, February 21st, 1969. Nine months from now.

Death baby.

Dave nudged his shoulder. "Well, I betcha I can get you to crack a smile."

"That is an impossible task, David. I couldn't tell you the last time I smiled." 

Which was true. He could tell Dave the last time he cried, that was much more traumatic after all. Klaus just woke up one day and he couldn't get his face to do much.

"You watch, I'm gonna get you to smile and it's going to be beautiful." Dave looked like he hadn't meant to say it, his face turned red and he charged ahead.

And while Klaus didn't smile, he thought he might try to muster one up for him.

–

So Klaus is thirty, it's October 1st, though Dave doesn't know that it's his birthday, when he falls in love.

They're in a discotheque, with bright lights and smiling faces, and Dave sits next to him, arm bumping into Klaus’ as they sit at the bar and drink.

Klaus is wearing black slacks and an open vest, shirtless and shoe-less like always, and Dave looks like the models Klaus used to secretly drool over when Allison dragged him into American Eagle, or Abercrombie. The sort of guy Klaus never had a chance at being, but Luther might have if he didn't have Reginald for a father. 

Klaus didn't know how it happened, he always thought he was too hardened for it, feelings beyond the physical, beyond basic civility, like ‘thanks for the fuck, can I have your coke now?’ 

Klaus thought, in a different time and place, he might have tried to hold on to him for longer than a week.

But Dave only had four months left, and Klaus couldn't let himself love someone he had such a short period of time with.

But it didn't stop Dave, who had only gotten bolder in his now very obvious flirtations. Klaus must have come off as more receptive than he thought.

"Because I just like you," Dave said when Klaus asked him for the hundredth time why he didn't find someone else to hang out with.

"I guess I like you too," Klaus said just barely loud enough to be heard over the music.

Dave looked at him, face getting close enough that Klaus could feel his breath tickling his cheek. "Still no smile, though," Dave said.

Klaus looked up at him through his eyelashes "I told you, I don't smile."

Dave took his two index fingers and put them at either corner of Klaus' mouth, pushing them up into a smile.

As soon as he let go his mouth drooped back down comically. 

"Can I try something else?" 

Klaus shrugged. He might not be smiling, but he was amused, and he felt warm, and safe, and other feelings Klaus didn't think he was capable of feeling. 

Then Dave cupped his face, and pulled him into a kiss.

Klaus kissed him back, enjoying the warmth of their bodies pressed against each other. Dave looked genuinely disappointed when he pulled away and still didn't see a smile.

Klaus felt guilt, and wished he could be what Dave wanted. Klaus, in a show of honesty, told him this. "You should find someone else to be with, Dave." Not that it mattered, none of it mattered.

"I just wanna be with you though." 

"Dave…" Klaus couldn't get that damned Hootie and the Blowfish song out of his head. He couldn't get Dave out of his head.

He couldn't get Death out of his head.

"I don't care if you smile or not, I want you," he said more firmly. "If you'll have me."

Klaus sighed, he thought he could feel his eyes burn.

"Oh shit, I didn't think you cried, either." It was a joke, and Klaus could hear himself huff at it as Dave's thumb wiped away the non-existent tears on his face.  "I'm so sorry."

"No, don't be. I'm ok," he assured him. "I didn't mean to let my emotions get the better of me…"

"Darlin' if that's your emotions getting the better of you then I'm a monkey's uncle."

"What does that even mean?"

Dave shrugged, and Klaus kissed him again, pulling him close, afraid of what would happen when he let him go.

–

Klaus is thirty when the world ends, and it's not the mass death he'd predicted, but a single gunshot to the chest.

See, Klaus forgot. He forgot Dave was supposed to die. Between Dave's corny jokes, and Klaus trying to navigate all the weird squirmy feelings he'd never felt before, he forgot. 

And now he was hovering over Dave, trying to keep the blood inside of his chest, even as it poured all over his hands.

Dave was holding onto his wrist, blood bubbling out of his mouth. He could see Dave's ghost, much the same way he'd seen Ben's and Luther's so many years ago.

Klaus grabbed it, shoving the spirit back into his body, and trying to keep the wound closed at the same time.

"Klaus…"

"Hey, you'll be ok,” he promised,  letting his eyes leave Dave. Dave reached up, placing a bloody hand on Klaus' cheek, brushing his thumb along his cheekbone gently, comforting him even as he died.

Klaus hoped that keeping his soul in his body while he waited for a medic would work.

He knew it wouldn't.

It worked with Ben.

And Luther.

But they weren't supposed to die.

Klaus kissed the inside of Dave's palm. "I love you," he whispered, trying to get him to sit up, maybe get him to the medic tent.

But Dave's eyes slid closed, and the pulse that had been weakly beating underneath his hand stopped. 

–

Klaus is thirty, and tired, and wants the world to just fucking end.

Death was inevitable.

Klaus wasn't going to forget that again.

–

Five is fifty-eight and thirteen and impatient as he stares at an un-moving Klaus. 

He came home, covered in blood, and completely stony faced. 

“Where's the Briefcase, then?” Five asked, feeling anger bubble up inside him as Klaus just sat on his bed, nose in a book.

He looked sad, Five wasn't sure how he knew that. The Klaus he grew up with had gotten less expressive over time, and now he was like an unpainted wall.

“I accidentally killed it.”

Five's jaw ticked. “And by that you mean?”

Klaus looked up, and his eyes looked wet. “I threw it on the ground.”

Five raised an eyebrow, anxiety spiking even higher.

“Hard.”

“Why?”

Klaus shrugged and looked back down. The tears in Klaus' eyes didn't fall, but they were there. Five wasn't sure what that meant. Klaus didn't cry. 

But Five didn't have time for emotions. “You said you didn't care if I saved the world. That you wouldn't sabotage me.”

“Changed my mind.”

Five grabbed Klaus and forced him to look at Five. “Why?”

Klaus didn't answer him, though his Adam's apple bobbed like he was nervous. “Because you can't save it. There's nothing to save, death is inevitable.”

Five slapped him.

For the first time in over twenty years, tears fall from Klaus’ eyes.

Five blinks away, disgusted with himself.

-

Vanya is twenty-nine when she discovers she has powers.

She gathered her siblings in the living room to explain how she and Luther found Reginald's journal, while trying to look for clues. 

Klaus is, once again, unsurprised.

“Can you see people's auras or something too, Klaus?” Allison snaps, a protective arm around Vanya.

“No, I just guessed, with Ben and all.” He flicked a finger in Ben's direction. 

“My power inhibitors,” Ben said softly. 

“Must be the same as Vanya's 'anxiety meds',” Luther said.

Five turns to Vanya, “Would you be ok staying on them, just until April 1st. To rule you out as the possible cause of the Apocalypse?” 

Vanya agrees, because she might hate her siblings sometimes, she doesn't want to kill them.

-

It's March 31st, and everyone is getting ready for Vanya's recital.

Klaus can't find his dog tags. 

The only thing of Dave's he has.

Klaus is calm as he goes to each room, starting with Luther, to see if he knows where it is.

“No, last time I saw them you were wearing them,” he tells Klaus with a frown.

Diego says much the same.

By the time he gets to Five he's pissed.

“Why would I take your dog tags, Klaus?”

“Because I destroyed your Briefcase, because I won't help you save the world.”

Five gestured broadly to his room. “Vanya's fine, I don't think we have anything to worry about.”

Klaus’ nose flared. “Whether we do or not, I think you got pissed off at me and took them.”

“You can look through my room.” Five stepped aside and Klaus searched.

Chalk, pens, pencils, half a mannequin, no dog tags.

“Fuck.” Klaus slams the door behind him. He checks the bathroom again, to make sure he didn't take them off before his bath.

He tears his room inside out, he sends the horde of ghosts in the Academy on a hunt to find them.

“K-Klaus, please get rid of the g-ghosts, we'll f-find it later,” Diego pleaded.

Klaus didn't want them later.

There wasn't a later. 

Dave was waiting for him when he died, and for now it was all he had.

-

Five severely underestimated Klaus’ abilities. 

Or he severely underestimated how many dead people there were.

Because there was barely any room between the rows and rows of ghosts, all singularly looking for a pair of dog tags.

Five didn't think about how he could feel the ghosts, their cold, buzzy skin, the wet dripping blood.

Vanya and Ben were locked in the basement, in the sound proof room that was once a prison, now the only safe space for their weakest siblings.

“Klaus, please, just call the ghosts off,” Luther said, reaching a hand out.

A ghost grabbed Luther's hand and turned him away. 

“I heard a rumor that you-”

Allison was shoved back before she could finish, Luther grabbed her before she could be trampled. 

Five squints at Allison “Can you rumor it so they find the dog tags? It might calm him down!”

Allison nodded, “I heard a rumor that Five had Klaus’ dog tags.”

Five looked down, and sure enough there they were. “Klaus, we found them!”

The ghosts stopped, Klaus’ blank eyes turned to him. He held a hand out, and Five breathed a sigh of relief when Klaus took them.

It was short lived as Klaus let out an ear shattering, heartbroken scream. He broke the chain and threw them back at Five. “Don't trick me!”

Five looked at them.

Hargreeves Klaus

October 1st, 1989 -

“Allison!” Five showed her.

“Fuck, I don't-”

“I don't think we have another choice,” Luther said softly.

Five looked at the gun in his hand.

He blinked.

Klaus didn't have the chance to get away before Five put a bullet in his head.

-

Klaus wakes up in The Grey. He lets out a sigh of relief because this time had to be the last. He was pretty sure it was the last.

He gets up, gives The Cowboy a small wave and then waits.

And waits.

But no one else has shown up yet.

Was he supposed to die alone? That didn't seem right.

Klaus walked. He walked until sand turned to grass and cacti turned to trees.

There was a tiny house and Klaus walked in, hoping his siblings would be there.

Maybe they could start over, maybe they'll forgive Klaus,  they could be a family, be happy, in this perfect, grey world.

Maybe they wouldn't.

“I've been waiting for you,” is what Klaus hears when he enters the house.

Instead of his siblings he sees Dave, in his army fatigues and blinding smile, and gore and blood never bothered him, especially on someone he loved.

“I think I ended the world,” Klaus said, once he buried his face into Dave's shoulder. 

“Maybe you should go fix it?”

Klaus sighs. “It's your fault you know.”

Dave laughs. “Oh, what did I do? I've been dead for fifty years.”

“You made me love you. I lost your dog tags.”

“So you threw a world ending temper tantrum?”

The corner of Klaus’ mouth quirked up for a split second. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Maybe you should go back and try to unend the world.”

“What if I can't see you again?”

Dave smiled sadly. “I'll always be here, Klaus.”

Klaus wasn't so sure. “I don't want to go back. I never-”

“Do you really want your siblings to die scared like this?”

Klaus ducked his head. “They're going to hate me.”

“I'm sure they won't.”

Klaus kissed Dave on the cheek and then jackknifed off the ground. The house was destroyed, and Klaus made the ghosts pull the rubble off him. He closed his eyes and simultaneously searched the Thread of Death. 

They still had a few hours. 

Klaus made a calculated decision and let his powers flair. He ignored the surprised shouts of his siblings and grabbed Five's face.

“Do it,” he said, voice muffled by his right hand. 

Klaus shoved Five into his body.

Five gasped.

“Three hours, I don't know what's going to happen, but-”

Now that Klaus looked, the entire street was demolished.

“Your powers surged, after I shot you, I'm not sure if anything is left. The ghosts all, rioted, destroyed everything in seconds, like losing their connection to you made them lose their humanity.”

“That's sick,” Klaus said, mildly impressed with himself.

“I can time travel, a few days maybe, what do we need to do differently?”

Klaus looked around, but he didn't know. 

And then he saw it, a glint of silver. Five saw it too and picked it up. 

“Kill me. When you go back. I'll just… stay dead, I think I can just stay.”

Five stared at the dog tags, and then at Klaus. “I'll see you soon,” he said.

-

Five goes back three days. He finds Klaus at a bus stop, hands and face covered in blood. 

“Five,” Klaus says, voice barely audible, quivering like he was seconds from crying.

“Can I have that?” He asks.

Klaus looks down and clutches the briefcase to his chest. 

“You said you wouldn't sabotage me trying to save the world, remember? I need that.”

Klaus sighs and hands Five the briefcase.

-

Dave is twenty-eight and he's dying, and he doesn't know where Klaus is. 

A flash of blue, like the one that brought Klaus to him, brings him someone else. Smaller than Klaus, grumpier than Klaus, and he has a medical kit.

Dave isn't in great condition when the boy, a man named Five, because Dave remembered Klaus telling him about it, sits him up and fiddles with the briefcase. 

He's ensconced in blue, a word he learned from his mother when he was ten, and finds himself laying in a hospital bed being tended to by a woman who wasn't human, and a chimpanzee who seemed to be. 

-

Klaus is sitting in bed when Five blinks into his room, sitting at the edge of his bed with his hands pressed together in a triangle in front of his face. “You look like dad when you do that.”

“I have a surprise for you.”

Klaus raises an eyebrow. 

He lowers his eyebrow.

He can't see the Thread of Death. 

“What happened?” He asks, closing his book.

Five grins, all teeth and manic glee, and Klaus is jealous for just a moment, about his open expression. “Just saving the world, all thanks to you.”

-

Klaus walks into the infirmary and sees Dave, lying in bed, as if to say see, you don't know as much as you think you do.

Klaus is thirty, and for the first time in seventeen years, he smiles.

-

Dave was right, it is beautiful. 

Notes:

I started this like two years ago and put it in my drafts folder for ages. Finally looked it over again and finished it in a day. I'm pretty proud of it, I think it's very different from what I usually write in regards to tone, and in general I think. I ended up really liking this, actually.

I've done vignettes like this before, though usually they're a bit fluffier
-
Little girl Abigail is actually a Haunting of Hill House reference, I'm not sure I knew Reggie's wife had that name when I wrote this.
-
I kept going back and forth on the last line of this fic, but I ended up keeping the Dave line because I seem to like to write cheesy endings.
-
Hope you enjoy <3