Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Klaus quickly realizes that if he can survive winter all alone on the streets, he can survive pretty much anything. 

He doesn’t mean that lightly either. In his ten years of living, he’s survived a whole lot of shit—ranging from abusive fathers to death itself, and yet making it through that first winter practically unscathed almost did him in. Not like he wouldn’t come back—he’s met the little girl upstairs a few times before and each time she’s sent him back with a scoff and an eye roll. Still, the risk of being found dead is too risky, and the last thing he wants is to resurrect in police custody, so he tries to avoid it at all costs. 

The little girl doesn’t think too highly of his efforts, rudely enough. 

Despite the years of training the old bastard had forced him to do back at the Academy, he quickly found that it’s mostly useless when it comes to surviving on the streets. Reginald never taught them how to pickpocket or how to avoid unwanted attention from the state, all of whom are probably actively searching for him. Not because his father cares about him, because Klaus isn’t stupid enough to believe that Reginald Hargreeves can feel such a thing, but because he’s pissed that his most disappointing son escaped through his tight clutches. Klaus knows it’s an accomplishment that he’s made it half a year without being found, and he’ll continue to count the days until he’s eighteen years old, a legal adult, and no longer under his father’s control. 

If the little girl makes him hang around that long, that is. 

Klaus does his best, though. Being a kid living on the streets has its advantages and disadvantages, and he always plays into those advantages because, well, what other choice does he have? He’s cute and he knows it; the mess of curls sitting on his head and his big, green eyes help to get free meals or clothes and, occasionally, a roof over his head. Klaus personally thinks he’s smarter than his father and siblings ever gave him credit for—he’s sure they think he’s dead by now. Klaus wonders if they’re sad about that. Probably not would be his guess. 

Klaus tries not to think about them too often. 

It took him a long time after he ran away to figure out who he can trust. After all, just about anyone could look at him and realize that he bears a striking resemblance to the missing Number Four Hargreeves and bring him back, hoping for a reward for their good work. It’s almost happened a couple of times, once with a couple of gangsters and another time with a woman whose daughter passed away recently and wanted to “help” him out—Klaus knows as much because her daughter was following her around with a broken neck and tears streaming down her face. Each time, he narrowly managed to escape, using his skill of being an  excellent  liar to distract the person trying to drag him to the police station and run away. Maybe he’s not as disappointing as his father thought. Take  that , dad.

Along the way, he’s made some good connections throughout the city. He never left, partly because he can’t afford a bus ticket, but he’s also afraid to leave the only city he’s ever known, so he just… stayed. Maybe one day he’ll finally scrape up the cash and work up the nerve to leave, but until then, he’ll work his charm here. Lots of people know his name (though most of those people are dead but it’s all the same to him), and there are a few restaurant owners who take pity on him and give him food that they’re about to throw out. 

One bakery owner, Mrs. Porter, is the nicest out of all of them. 

“Do come inside, dear,” Mrs. Porter beckons him tonight, despite having closed fifteen minutes earlier. “It’s about to rain and I have cookies.”

Klaus, though eternally skeptical, takes her up on the offer, glancing up at the sky—it’s dark, but he can see dark clouds. She’s right, it is about to rain, and Klaus  hates  rainy nights. They happen too often these days. 

So he grips his backpack straps a little tighter and follows her inside the shop. He’s immediately hit with the scent of freshly baked goods, and Mrs. Porter leads him to the counter where a plate of cookies is sitting, and Klaus clambers up onto the stool and grabs a cookie, practically shoving it into his mouth because he’s  starving. 

While he scarfs down cookies, Mrs. Porter sets to cleaning up the shop. She’s in her mid-fifties, running this bakery all by herself—her husband passed away a few years ago, and her only son moved away for a job a few years before that. Klaus waves at Mr. Porter, who is currently sitting at one of the booths, watching his wife with a smile on his face. Mr. Porter waves back—he’s one of the only friendly ghosts Klaus has ever met. The rest scream and cry and wail. 

Rain starts to pour, pitter-pattering on the roof and droplets dripping down the windows, blurring his view of outside. It’s nice and warm in here, and for once he’s not wishing that he hadn’t pawned off his coat to buy food a couple of months earlier. Klaus can’t hold onto things very often, hence the lightness of the backpack currently sitting in his lap, one hand still holding onto the strap while the other holds a cookie because Klaus never lets go of his backpack. The things in this backpack are all he has left to his name. 

“Klaus, darling,” Mrs. Porter starts as she leans her broom against the counter. “You will go to a shelter tonight, yes? There’s one right down the street—I know you know where it is.”

Klaus hesitates because he tries to avoid shelters as he can. He’d had to go a few times during the winter when it was snowing and he had no other choice, but he never goes to the shelter unless it’s absolutely necessary, not willing to get noticed by the employees who work there and get in trouble. But now, he’s looking up at Mrs. Porter’s pleading face and realizes that if he doesn’t say yes, she may end up dragging him there anyways. 

“Okay, fine,” Klaus mumbles, looking down at the now half-eaten plate of cookies. He’s suddenly not hungry anymore. 

“Good,” Mrs. Porter beams. She goes into the back and returns with a gallon zip lock bag and starts shoveling cookies into the bag. She slides them over to Klaus, who stares at them for a moment. “Now, you take these with you, alright?”

“Are you—are you sure?” Klaus fidgets uncomfortably. He wants to take the cookies, but despite the stealing he does regularly, he hates taking things from people who actually go out of their way to help him. 

“Of course, dear, I won’t take no for an answer,” Mrs. Porter tells him, peering down at him through her glasses, hands on her hips. 

“Thanks,” Klaus murmurs, opening up his backpack and shoving the bag of cookies inside. The rain outside has begun to slow down to where it’s a light drizzle more than anything. He zips his bag back up and slides off of the counter, stumbling when his feet hit the ground—he’s a lot of things, including clumsy. 

Mrs. Porter opens the door for him, sternly pointing down the street towards the shelter. 

“Be safe, Klaus,” Mrs. Porter orders, before her face softens. “Bye, Klaus—see you next time.”

“Bye, Mrs. Porter, thanks for the cookies. Bye, Mr. Porter,” Klaus adds, glancing back at the ghost who’s still sitting in that same spot. 

As Klaus walks away towards the shelter, he misses Mrs. Porter’s wide, confused eyes watching him as he does. The living always seem so surprised when they find out the dead choose to stick around. 

He makes it to the shelter, promptly turns the corner, and starts running away from it, his blue and red light-up sneakers illuminating the dark, damp, empty street. Just the small bit of light coming from his shoes help the ghosts around him fade just a bit, which is all he can ask for, really. He’s never sure what exactly he’s running from… it could be the ghosts, it could be his father, it could be both.

Klaus wonders briefly if he’s going to spend his entire life running.

He never stays in one place for long, but he’s drawn to a particular alley behind the local movie theater—it’s usually empty of living people and Klaus likes the faint smell of popcorn radiating from the building. It helps him imagine what could have been, what kind of life he could have had if Reginald hadn’t bought him, if he’d picked another baby to be Number Four. Maybe that baby could have actually been useful. Klaus wonders if Reginald wishes he’d picked another child a decade ago. 

It’s still drizzling, the droplets dampening his curly hair, but he hardly notices it as he slides down behind the dumpster. He unzips his backpack and reaches into it, pulling out his stuffed unicorn—it’s the one thing Klaus has refused to sell, no matter how hungry and desperate he got. The unicorn’s fur is matted and dirty, but Klaus can’t find it in himself to care as he hugs it close to his chest.

The unicorn was a gift from Ben—he’d won it when playing a claw machine at Griddy’s. Ben had given it to Klaus, saying it wouldn’t go with the darker aesthetic of his own bedroom, and Klaus had been overjoyed. He very uncreatively named it Unicorn. It’s one of the only things he’d taken with him when he ran away. 

Klaus misses Ben a lot. Ben is his favorite sibling, which may seem strange because their personalities are polar opposites. Ben is the only one who ever understood Klaus’ powers, the only one who cared to listen when he’d attempted to describe the ghosts. The others always just wrote it off, thinking Klaus was just being dramatic, that he was just looking for attention. It’s funny, Klaus was always talking, but nobody ever cared to listen to what he was saying. 

Nobody but Ben.

Klaus chokes on a sob as he thinks of his brother, and he wonders if Ben misses him. He sure as hell misses Ben. He knows the others probably don’t miss him, maybe other than the fact that when he was around, he took a lot of the heat off the others when it came to their father—he was nothing if not rebellious—and the thought of Luther or Five or even Diego or Allison missing Klaus is honestly laughable. 

Well… he misses them. All of them. He doesn’t want to admit it, but deep down, he knows it’s true. 

Their faces flash through his mind as he curls up in a ball, resting his head on his backpack, not caring that the weight is probably crushing Mrs. Porter’s cookies. He buries his face into Unicorn’s fur. At the back of the alley, he can hear a woman wailing about how her husband killed her, and how he remarried and is now living his life while she’s stuck forever in this alley. 

It’s going to be a long night. 

At some point, surviving became a routine. 

He goes through the same motions every day, running around the city, avoiding the eyes of people who could potentially cause trouble for him, flocking towards the people who seem willing to help him out in whatever way they can. At lunchtime, he passes an Italian restaurant, and the owner kindly gives him half a baguette. Klaus eats half of it before shoving it into his backpack, returning the owner’s favor by staying away from the restaurant for the rest of the day. 

As he’s strolling down the street, thinking about where he’s going to get his next shower because his fingernails are currently caked with grime, he passes an electronics shop with TVs in the display window. On the screens is his father, giving an interview about something related to business. The public loves Sir Reginald, seeing him as some kind of example of success. Klaus wishes he could tell them how Reginald enjoys locking his children up in order to get his way. 

Klaus shakes the thought of the mausoleum away and continues walking down the street. 

As he wanders aimlessly, he thinks of his mother. Oh, how he misses her and her soothing voice, her gentle manner. He almost misses her more than he misses Ben. 

Did Reginald reprogram her to forget him? That does sound like something his father would do. Or maybe he doesn’t care enough to bother erasing him from her memories. 

He spends the rest of his day at the local park, which is empty of children because it’s a school day, hanging from the monkey bars or just running up and down the playset—he loves pretending he’s the king of the playground, standing at the highest point of the playset and looking down upon the rest of the playground. Eventually, a little ghost girl starts following him around—she’s small and frail, and Klaus thinks she makes a good enough subject for his kingdom. 

The sun starts to set, and with a sigh, Klaus leaves the playground when it gets dark and begins walking back to the alley from last night because it’s nice enough to warrant a second night. As he walks, he comes up behind two big men—and instantly notices a wad of cash peeking out of the pocket of one of the guys. Now, usually, he isn’t stupid enough to mess with anyone who looks like they could kill him with one punch, but the cash is  right there  and he would honestly be insane if he  didn’t  try and take it. 

Part of him feels bad, but this is part of surviving. 

He creeps up behind the guys, who still haven’t noticed him yet as they walk—up close, Klaus can smell the scent of alcohol. These guys are drunk, which could either be good or bad. He holds his breath and reaches out, using two fingers to carefully grab the cash, pulling it out of the pocket as carefully as he can. He gets it out and then—

The guy spins around, eyes narrowing when his eyes fall on Klaus. 

“What the fuck?” the guy snarls when he sees the cash in Klaus’ hand. “I’d suggest you give that back, kid, before I take it from you.”

Klaus turns around and bolts, not wanting to stick around and find out what that means. Unfortunately, the guys take off after him, right on his heels, and Klaus forces his legs to move faster as they begin to catch up with him. Luckily, he has speed and agility on his side, and his pursuers are clearly intoxicated, but that doesn’t stop them from keeping up with him. 

Klaus races down the street, the moon now high in the sky, and hopes for a miracle. 

In the distance, just as he’s approaching a street corner, there’s a big flash of blue, kind of like a firework that he can’t see. 

Klaus turns the corner, darting down the sidewalk, grimacing at the light his sneakers are producing as he runs. He moves into the middle of the street, hoping to lose the guys by hiding behind a car or something, but when he does, he’s met with a group of people standing in the middle of the street. 

Crap.

Klaus slows down as he reaches them, realizing that he’s trapped. There are no alleys he could escape down, nothing to hide behind. There are six figures in front of him, consisting of five adults and one… teenager? The biggest one—holy moly, that’s the largest guy Klaus has ever  seen —has a small woman in a white suit in his arms, seemingly passed out. The other woman is crouched down, supporting the teenager who is slumped over in her arms, unmoving. In front of them are two men, one wearing black leather and the other a black hoodie. 

These guys look dangerous—Klaus is so screwed. 

Four pairs of eyes fall on him as he comes to a complete halt, eyes widening when he does. Klaus spins around, watching as the two guys run toward him, looking  very  pissed off. 

So, it looks like he either gets kidnapped by this strange group of people, or he gets beaten to death by the guys he stole from. 

“You can’t run from us, kid,” one of the guys sneers as they approach him, cracking his knuckles together, resulting in a loud series of pops. 

Imagine Klaus’ surprise when the man in leather steps in front of him, pulling out a knife that looks very big and very sharp. 

“We got a problem here, guys?” the leather dude asks, flipping the knife in his hand with ease. 

The guys don’t seem as angry, and they’re both glancing at the knife. 

“The kid’s a thief,” the guy he stole the cash from cranes his neck so he can glare at Klaus from where he’s standing behind the guy in leather. 

“Charlie, c’mon, let’s just go,” the other guy says suddenly, tugging on the guy's arm. “I don’t want to die today, man.”

“That’s a good choice,” the guy in leather says, his voice even and calm as he continues to flip the knife in his hand. 

The first guy, Charlie, protests, but his friend drags him away, pulling him around the corner and out of sight. The man in the black hoodie crosses his arms over his chest and smirks in their direction. 

Klaus lets out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding in. 

“Uh, thanks,” Klaus says as the leather guy turns around to look at him once more. He still hasn’t put the knife away, which is kind of scaring Klaus just a little bit. Maybe he wants a cut of the cash? Not wanting to risk pissing this guy off, he takes a couple of bills and thrusts it towards him. “Here, take it, I owe you.”

But the guy doesn’t say anything, just stares at him. Klaus takes a step back so he can see everyone, and they’re all looking at him—okay, this is weird. 

“Klaus?”  the large guy sputters, his jaw hung open. 

How the heck do they know his name?!

He’s fairly certain he hasn’t seen them before in his life. 

“How—how do you know my name?” Klaus demands, his voice shaking as he takes another step back. 

“Holy shit,” the guy in the black hoodie whispers. None of his companions spare him a glance. 

“Klaus, it’s us,” the guy in leather tells him as if that’s supposed to help anything. “It—it’s me. 

“I don’t—” Klaus swallows, sirens ringing in the back of his mind. “Look, do you want the money or not?” 

The leather guy takes another step forward and Klaus practically jumps backward, stumbling over his feet as his back comes into contact with a red pickup truck. 

The woman holding the still unmoving teenager reaches out to grab the leather guy's arm, holding him back silently. She has a bandage wrapped around her throat. Fortunately, the guy stops moving, having the sense to put his knife away. 

“Don’t you recognize us?” the large man asks him, a frown on his face. 

“Well, we do all look very different than we did two decades ago,” the man in the hoodie rolls his eyes. “Of course he’s not going to recognize us.” The others ignore him, which Klaus thinks is quite rude, but he’s not going to say as much and risk getting stabbed. 

“Klaus, it’s me,” the leather guy repeats. “Diego. Your brother.”

Klaus’ eyes bug out of his skull—that’s the craziest thing he’s heard all year. The other three conscious people are looking down at him, waiting for something, and Klaus doesn’t know how to respond. 

“You’re way too old to be my brother,” Klaus says to him finally, because seriously, this is the worst prank anyone has ever pulled on him. 

Then, it hits him, like a bucket of cold water poured over his head. Reginald found him, and this is his way of trying to trap him and drag him back. What kind of sick mind game is his father playing?

It doesn’t matter, because Klaus isn’t stupid enough to play. 

“He sent you, didn’t he?” Klaus bristles, feeling much like a cornered animal. “You think you can trick me like this? No way—I’m not going back!”

With that, Klaus tries to run off, but the guy in leather grabs his arm, and no matter how hard Klaus tugs, he can’t get free.  No no no no no!  He can’t go back, he won’t go back to the mausoleum, he won't, he won’t,  he won’t!

“Let me go!” Klaus cries, a frightened sob escaping him as he struggles. “Let me—”

“Klaus, just listen to me,” Not-Diego demands, using his other hand to grab Klaus’ shoulder, forcing Klaus to face him. “I promise you, it’s us—we’re from 2019. We time traveled here.”

The woman reaches over and whacks Not-Diego’s leg with a notepad that’s in her hand, and Not-Diego twists his head to look at her. She’s gesturing towards the teenager in her arms, and Not-Diego sucks in a deep breath. The woman holds the teenager out so Klaus can see his face. 

“Five looks similar, doesn’t he?” Not-Diego asks him, taking his hand off Klaus’ shoulder to point at the teenager. Klaus looks past Not-Diego, and he has to admit, the figure in the woman’s arms looks a lot like Five, maybe a few years older than he does right now. 

Klaus stops struggling, and Not-Diego’s grip goes lax, though he’s still holding onto his arm.

“How…?” Klaus furrows his eyebrows as he stares down at a slightly older Five. 

“It’s… it’s a long story, truthfully,” Not-Diego rubs the back of his neck, looking from Klaus to Five. Klaus looks up at the man claiming to be Diego, and it would make sense, right? Who else would carry around those kinds of knives? 

“Diego?” Klaus’ eyes go round, and Diego nods.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Diego says. “That’s Luther, Allison, Vanya, and Five. As I said, we’re from the future—we had to go back in time.” 

Klaus looks at the man in the hoodie, who now looks more sad than anything as he gazes at Klaus. 

“And I’m Ben, Klaus,” he says softly, and yet again, nobody else turns to acknowledge him. 

Klaus thinks he might pass out. 

“Shit, what year is it, exactly?” Diego straightens up a bit, glancing back at Luther and Allison, both of whom shrug. 

“It’s 2000,” Klaus mutters, freeing his arm from Diego’s grip and pulling away, stuffing the cash into his back pocket. He’ll count it later after this is all over. 

“So you’re… ten?” Luther does the math in his head. Klaus nods. “So you’ve been gone for less than a year, then.”

Allison gets their attention once more, pointing at Five in her arms and then Vanya, who’s in Luther’s. 

“Right, we need to get a hotel room or something,” Diego nods, his attention briefly taken off Klaus. “We’ll start dealing with everything once the old man wakes up and tells us what to do.”

Old man? Does Diego mean Dad? Shit, what if he’s still being lied to? Is he really this gullible?

“There’s a motel just down the street,” Klaus pipes up weakly, and Diego looks back down at him. “It’s not the best, but it’s cheap."

Diego’s face crumbles into something unreadable. Klaus fidgets uncomfortably. Maybe they’ll leave, and Klaus can spend the rest of the moonlight thinking over this very strange interaction. Perhaps he should skip town—he currently has the money for it, and the risk of Reginald finding him is now too real. He should get a bus ticket in the morning. 

“Okay, yeah, we’ll see if we can get a couple of rooms,” Diego nods, but no one moves from their spots. 

“Well… good luck with your time traveling,” Klaus says, attempting to slip away, and they all frown. 

“What? No, you’re coming with us,” Diego tells him, and Klaus starts to panic, taking another step backward. 

“Klaus, they’re just trying to help you,” Ben says, his voice gentle. “They’re not gonna hurt you, I swear, buddy.” 

Klaus swallows hard, glancing back at Diego, who has his hand outstretched, beckoning him to stay. Maybe he shouldn’t trust them, but honestly, the thought of spending the night with a roof over his head is heavenly, and he could use a shower. He’ll sneak away first thing in the morning. 

“Okay,” Klaus agrees and steps forward against his better instinct. “But only if you tell me about the time-traveling thing. That sounds cool.”

“We’ll tell you everything tomorrow,” Diego nods as he bends down to take Five out of Allison’s arms, lifting him with a slight groan. 

“Maybe not everything, ” Klaus hears Luther mutter as Allison stands up and walks towards him, putting his hand on his back and guiding him forward.

Ben takes up the rear as they walk. 

Klaus hopes he doesn’t end up regretting this. 

Chapter Text

Diego ends up getting them two rooms on the second floor of the motel. Klaus offers the cash he’d pickpocketed earlier, but Diego turns it down with a wave, pulling out his wallet and paying for an entire week. Klaus just shrugs—Diego’s loss. 

Five and the girls get put in one room, with Allison and Vanya sharing a bed and Five in the other, leaving Luther, Diego, Ben, and Klaus to squeeze into the room next door. Diego ushers Klaus into their room, Luther having stayed behind to make sure Allison, Vanya, and Five are all alright, and Klaus notices a small cot pressed against the wall of the motel room. Diego pushes Klaus towards the bathroom, gruffly telling him to take a shower, and Klaus doesn’t protest at that, making sure to always have his backpack in sight. 

Klaus steps out of the hot, steaming shower feeling the best he’d felt in a long time. 

He wishes he had another set of clothes or something, but he doesn’t, and so he puts his old clothes back on reluctantly. When Klaus steps out of the bathroom, he finds Diego sitting at the foot of one of the beds, his head in his hands. Klaus notices for the first time how worn out his… brother looks, both physically and emotionally. 

It’s so weird seeing his siblings all grown up—well, except for Five, but even he looks older. Klaus wonders what his regular-sized siblings back at home would think about this. He’s sure if he told them they’d never believe him. 

Diego lifts his head as Klaus finds a corner of the room, taking his backpack off of his shoulders and sliding down onto the firm carpet. 

“What are you doing?” Diego frowns, and Klaus has no idea what he means. 

“Uh… I’m getting ready for bed,” Klaus tells him, and Diego’s frown deepens. “I mean, I don’t…”

He’s not exactly sure what to say. 

After spending the better part of an hour with his siblings from the future, he has slowly come to the realization that they’re unrecognizable not just physically, but personality-wise too. They’re far from the kids Klaus last saw just months ago, completely different in ways he can’t understand. Diego, his short-tempered, hot-headed brother is gone, and in his place is someone… softer. 

And honestly? Klaus can’t say that he likes it. Klaus would give anything for Diego to whack him on the back of the head and call him names because anything else is just plain wrong . 

“You have a cot right there, though,” Diego says, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the untouched cot. But Klaus doesn’t understand, because if Klaus is sleeping in the cot, where is Ben going to sleep? Maybe he’s actually in the other room? 

This is confusing, to say the least. 

But Klaus doesn’t mention it, just shrugs and stands up, sitting back down on the soft cot. The sheets are cool and clean, the mattress soft but firm. This is the nicest thing he’s sat on in months. 

Diego stands up with a sigh and slowly goes into the bathroom, leaving the door cracked open—probably so he can make sure Klaus doesn’t run off or anything. Klaus can see him checking out his upper arm in the mirror, hissing in pain when he touches it. Klaus can’t imagine what happened in 2019 that made them travel backward in time. 

For a moment, he wonders about his future self—did he ever make it off the streets? Did he ever reunite with his siblings? Clearly, he wasn’t with them in 2019, or else his adult self would be here too. Did he even make it to 2019?

Klaus is torn between not wanting to know anything and wanting to know everything. 

Maybe it’s for the best, though, if he doesn’t get any answers. Maybe he’s afraid of what the answers are. 

Klaus slips under the covers, pulling Unicorn out of his backpack even though he’s sure Diego and their other siblings will tease him for it. He doesn’t even care, even if it’s pathetic—it’s really hard for him to sleep without the stuffed animal. It reminds him of the good parts of home. 

“You kept that?” a voice asks, and Klaus rolls over to see Ben standing in the middle of the room, gesturing towards the plushie. Klaus wonders how he didn’t hear Ben come in. 

“Yeah,” Klaus nods, petting Unicorn’s head with his fingers. He’s blinking heavily—the urge to sleep is pulling him in. “It’s the only thing I own.”

Ben gazes at the stuffed animal before a sad smile makes its way onto his face. 

“I remember giving it to you,” Ben says, voice quiet. “You were so happy—I’m glad you took it with you.”

Klaus wants to respond, say something along the lines of “I miss you” but he’s too far away to do so.

He falls asleep with the motel lamps still on and Unicorn tight in his arms. 

He’s decided he’s going to do it. 

Klaus is going to tell his siblings about the mausoleum. 

He’s been dancing around the idea for so long, not sure if he should tell them or not. He’s well aware that there’s nothing they could do. Well, maybe Allison could rumor Reginald and perhaps Five could teleport him out a few sessions, but at nine years old their powers are still developing and unstable enough that he would never bring himself to ask them to do so. 

Still, he wants to at least tell them about it. His nights in the mausoleum are haunting his every sleeping and waking moment, following him through his life to the point where Klaus doesn’t remember what life used to be like. He knows he’s taking a huge gamble—they might write it off, tell him that he’s overreacting, and maybe he is overreacting but it doesn’t mean he isn’t suffering each time Dad throws him into that small, dark, cold mausoleum. 

But maybe, just maybe, they’ll tell him it’s wrong. That Dad shouldn’t put him in the mausoleum with the scary, overbearing ghosts, that it’s okay that Klaus is terrified of his special training. It’s all he’s ever wanted, really. He craves the approval of his siblings, for them to hug him and tell him it’s okay to be afraid sometimes. 

He goes to Diego first.

“Hey, Di, can I—” 

“K-K-Klaus, I’m t-t-trying to p-p-practice,” Diego snaps, throwing a knife at the dartboard, getting a perfect bullseye. 

So he tries Allison and Luther next since they’re always together. 

“Klaus, we’re busy, so go away,” Allison rolls her eyes when he finds her and Luther in her room, standing up and shutting the door in his face. 

Okay, that’s fine, he’ll try Ben—Ben will always listen, right?

“Klaus, I’m sorry but I’m trying to finish this book,” Ben says, sparing just one apologetic glance up from the book his nose is buried in. 

Klaus understands so he finds Five next. Maybe his genius brother will cook up an idea for him?

“Whatever you’re here for, the answer is no, Klaus,” Five doesn’t bother to spare him a glance as he sits scribbling in his physics book. 

He tries to tell Vanya, but she’s never around him long enough for him to get a word in. 

So, maybe trying to tell them wasn’t a good idea after all. 

That’s okay.

By the next time Reginald calls Klaus for special training, he has another idea.

Klaus is going to run away. 

The next morning, Klaus awakes to an empty motel room. 

It’s strange, sharing a room with three other people and still waking up to see nobody around, but Klaus isn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He springs up and out of bed, tucking Unicorn safely into his backpack before swinging it onto his shoulders, giving the room one last glance to see if there’s anything he can take. He grabs a bottle of water from the mini-fridge and a packet of peanuts from the snack bar, shoving them both in his bag before making a beeline for the door. 

Klaus opens the motel room door, poking his head out into the hallway and checking for people. Nope, it’s all clear. With that, Klaus quickly heads for the stairway at the end of the hall—he doesn’t do elevators. 

He feels kind of bad, leaving his siblings from the future here, but he just can’t risk them deciding to drag him back to Reginald. He figures they won’t even miss him—who would actively want to be around a ten-year-old, let alone a ten-year-old Klaus ? His siblings back at the mansion never wanted him around, always yelling at him to go away and get lost, so why would these older siblings be any different?

It seems like luck is no longer on Klaus’ side, however, because just as he reaches the end of the hallway the elevator dings open, and Diego steps out—he’s holding two doughnut boxes in one hand and a drink holder in the other. 

Diego raises an eyebrow when he sees him, and Klaus is hoping he’ll let him slip away without an argument. 

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Diego asks, tapping his foot on the ground. 

“Um, I’m going to live my life?” it comes more of a question than anything, and Klaus cringes. 

“Without even saying goodbye?” Diego frowns, tilting his head to the right as his eyes bore into Klaus’. “That’s twice now, you know.”

Klaus winces at that, and Diego sighs, shoving the drink holder into Klaus’ hands and using his newly free hand to grab onto Klaus’ backpack, practically shoving him back to the motel room. 

Diego knocks on the door of the room where Allison, Vanya, and Five are staying, and Allison opens it, her hair messy from sleep but her eyes a bit brighter than they were last night. She steps aside to let Diego and Klaus in. It seems Five and Vanya are still out cold for some reason, Ben is sitting on the foot of Vanya’s bed and Luther is sitting at the table. 

They all look extremely worn out—something is haunting them, and Klaus isn’t exactly sure he wants to know what it is. 

“Guess who I found trying to make his great escape?” Diego announces to the room in a hushed voice, but he’s looking pointedly at Luther. Diego motions for Klaus to sit in one of the chairs. “I told you to keep an eye on him to make sure he didn’t run off, Luther.”

Luther opens his mouth to argue, but Allison hits him on the head with her notepad and he promptly shuts it. Diego drops the subject, dropping the boxes of doughnuts onto the table, grabbing the drink holder from Klaus, and passing Luther and Allison their coffees. Then, Diego sets a bottle of chocolate milk in front of Klaus, much to Klaus’ delight. He loves chocolate milk, and he doesn’t get it often these days. 

Okay, so maybe staying for breakfast is worth it, even if he didn’t get a choice. 

“Just in case he wakes up soon,” Diego says as he sets another coffee on Five’s nightstand. 

“Maybe if we put the coffee under his nose he’ll wake up?” Luther suggests, but Diego just shakes his head, pulling the last coffee out of the holder and taking a sip. 

Why didn’t Ben get a coffee? Does he want one? Klaus looks over at Ben to see if he looks upset, but Ben’s eyes are on a sleeping Vanya. 

Well, as long as he doesn’t seem bothered… 

“Life isn’t a cartoon, Luther. He’s out like a log,” Diego says, glancing over at their brother. “I’m not sure anything will wake him up right now.”

“Why?” Klaus asks as he twists the cap of the chocolate milk open. “What happened to him and Vanya? Are they gonna be okay?”

Numbers One through Three all share glances with each other. 

“Uh, Five had to pull us all through time,” Diego finally explains, though a bit unsurely. “It took a lot out of him.”

“Oh,” Klaus nods in understanding. “But what about Vanya? And why’d you have to time travel anyways?”

More glances are being shared, which is doing nothing for Klaus’ curiosity. If they’re making him stay here, he wants answers at least. 

“The world ended,” Luther says plainly. “That answers both questions, I think.”

Klaus’ eyes widen. The world ended? Had his siblings just escaped death when he ran into them in the street last night? 

“Wow, Number One , way to ease him into it,” Diego glares at Luther, and Allison face palms herself with her notepad before writing on it.

He’s just a kid, the notepad says. 

“The—the world… ended?” Klaus looks between each sibling, trying to get a read on their faces. He comes up unsuccessful—his siblings seem so different from the ones he used to know. 

“Yeah,” Diego says carefully, watching him as if he’s just waiting for Klaus to freak out. “Five brought us all back in time so we can stop it, but he overshot by a lot.”

“Ah,” Klaus nods again, trying to process everything. He has trouble swallowing—so maybe he’s starting to freak out a little bit. “Okay.”

As if she’s suspecting of such, Allison reaches over and opens the top box of doughnuts, sliding it towards Klaus. She scribbles onto her notepad with her sharpie and holds it out for Klaus to read. Eat, the notepad demands, underlined three times to underscore her seriousness. 

Klaus doesn’t need to be told twice. He reaches into the box and grabs a chocolate iced doughnut, shoving half of it into his mouth at once. He hadn’t even realized how hungry he was. 

The doughnuts are from Griddy’s. Klaus never goes there anymore, always afraid of running into any of his siblings. He remembers sneaking out with them a few times, confusing the waitress when seven school children entered the store in the middle of the night. Those were always the best times, the times when they were free from their father’s cold, watchful eye. 

Those memories almost make him want to go back.

Almost. 

The memories of the mausoleum are stronger. 

“I hope Five wakes up soon,” Diego murmurs as he takes a sip of coffee. Luther and Allison both nod in agreement. “We need a game plan. If the Commission finds us we’re in trouble, especially if he’s out when they do.”

“Five isn’t really one for game plans, though,” Luther sighs, leaning his head on the palm of his hand. 

“Well, he’s gonna have to be. I’m not just going to sit around waiting for him to come up with all the answers by himself.”

Allison’s notepad reads, good luck telling him that. 

Klaus finishes his doughnut, washing it down with a gulp of chocolate milk. 

This is literally the best meal he’s had since he left the Academy. 

Allison nudges the box towards him, her face expectant as she looks from him to the box. 

“Eat one more, man,” Diego agrees. “You’re all skin and bones.”

“I… I’m not—” Klaus cuts himself off at Allison’s pleading look, grabbing another doughnut just to placate her. Besides, when is he ever going to get a chance like this again? She seems content when Klaus sticks another bite of doughnut in his mouth. 

He finds himself looking at the bandage going around Allison’s throat. Is that what’s stopping her from talking? He opens his mouth to ask, but then he closes it and looks away, feeling like it’s probably too rude to do so. 

Instead, he reaches into the box for one more doughnut, but instead of chocolate, it’s blueberry glazed. He turns in his seat to get a good look at Ben, kind of sad that he’s not joined in their conversation, even if he’s currently watching over their sister. He figures Ben would at least appreciate a doughnut. 

“Hey, Ben, do you want a doughnut?” Klaus asks with a grin on his face, holding the blueberry doughnut out in the direction of his brother. 

The room falls deathly silent, and Ben’s head snaps up to look at him. Klaus looks around to see everyone staring at him, and Klaus’ smile falters. Allison looks pale, Diego’s jaw is clenched tight, and Luther is looking at him like he’s crazy. Ben… Ben just looks sad. 

“Um… you guys okay?” Klaus frowns, glancing at Ben. “I just asked if he wanted a doughnut…”

Allison’s lips part as if she wants to make a pained noise, holding her notepad close to her chest. 

“Guys?” Klaus’ vision darts between his conscious siblings, not understanding the suddenly tense atmosphere. Is Ben not allowed to have doughnuts or something?

“K-Klaus…” Diego stutters as he leans forward, a glimpse of the Diego Klaus remembers. “B-B-Ben isn’t here. He… d-d-d-died.”

“What?” Klaus looks from Diego to Ben, who is now standing up. “But he’s right there?”

“Klaus,” Ben says softly, eyes sadder than they’ve ever been, and suddenly, it hits him like a baseball bat to the guts—nobody else was interacting with Ben because he’s…

No, Klaus refuses to think it. Refuses to believe that his brother is dead because Ben can’t be dead! Not Ben, the very best of all of them, it can’t be.

“No,” Klaus whispers, and he only half notices Allison getting out of her chair and taking a few steps towards him. 

“Klaus, it’s true,” Ben continues, and Klaus has to fight the urge to slam his hands over his ears. “I’ve been dead for thirteen years.”

The doughnut in Klaus’ hand falls to the floor. 

“No! No, don’t say that, why would you say that?!” a sob rips through Klaus as he abruptly stands up, chair tipping back and clattering to the ground loudly. “You’re right here, you’re not dead, he’s not, you can’t—!”

Klaus is vaguely aware of a burning sensation in his lungs, but he can’t bring himself to care because Ben is dead dead dead dead dead—

“Klaus, hey, calm down, it’s okay,” Ben moves towards him, but all Klaus can see is the faint outline of the wall through Ben’s torso. “Just breathe, buddy, okay?”

Klaus can’t do this anymore. Just yesterday, he was hanging out at the playground with a little ghost girl, and today he’s being told that the world is ending in nineteen years and his brother—his favorite brother at that—is dead. Ben isn’t here, he didn’t grow old like the others do no matter how much it looks like he did.

He reaches back, fumbling for the door handle. 

“—gonna b-bolt!” Klaus hears Diego say urgently, and before Klaus can get the door open Allison is in front of him, blocking his view of Ben (Ben’s ghost). She wraps her arms around him and holds him tight and close, pulling him away from the door. 

Ben is dead and Klaus can’t breathe. 

Klaus isn’t breathing and Ben can’t breathe. 

Because Ben is dead. 

The burning in his chest consumes him as Allison sinks to the ground with Klaus still in her arms, and suddenly he’s picturing his Ben young and pale and dead, and then something in Klaus breaks. 

Black is rimming the edges of Klaus’ vision, closing in until he can’t see anything, and all he can hear is the sounds of voices around him. 

And then—

Nothing. 

“Have you ever thought about getting out of here?”

Klaus frowns as he looks up from his current endeavor of painting his nails—he snuck Allison’s nail polish out of her room earlier. It’s a nice shade of pink, and he thinks it’ll look good. Ben is sitting on his bed, book in his lap, but Klaus hasn’t heard the usual sound of pages turning for a few minutes now. 

“Like, out of this room?” Klaus asks, cocking his head curiously. 

“No, stupid,” Ben rolls his eyes, but his tone is fond. “I mean, out of here. As in, the Academy.”

“Sometimes,” Klaus shrugs, looking back down at his nails. They’ll need another coat, he thinks. “Why, do you?”

“Yeah,” Ben nods. “All the time. I really want to get out of this place… I hate it here.”

That brings Klaus to a pause because while he’s always known Ben doesn’t like being at the Academy (and really, none of them besides Luther and maybe Allison actually do) he’s never realized that Ben felt so strongly about leaving. 

“Join the club,” Klaus grins because it’s so easy these days for him to put on a smile, to act like he’s completely happy even if he’s not. 

It’s what he has to do to survive. 

Ben nods, absentmindedly tracing the pages of his book with his finger, staring at Klaus’ graffitied walls. 

A year later, Klaus leaves without him. 

Before Klaus opens his eyes, he forgets, for a split second, that he’s not sleeping on the streets of the city. 

The only thing that tips him off is the soft mattress underneath his body, something that is very unfamiliar to him these days. When sleeping in alleyways, curling up next to dumpsters, it was hard to remember what his bed at the Academy felt like—after the first few weeks on the streets, the memory faded fast. Still, no matter how much it sucked, nothing could make him want to go crawling back to Reginald. 

He opens his eyes and is met with a fairly dark room. The only light is bleeding through the motel room blinds, just barely illuminating the furniture and walls. He’s in a bed, covers drawn up to his shoulders, and he sits up, rubbing his eyes before looking around. 

Next to him is a still sleeping Five. 

The rest of the room is empty, save for Vanya in the next bed, leaving Klaus completely alone. He has no idea where everyone went—he would think they just up and left if Five and Vanya weren’t still here. The box of doughnuts is still open on the table, coffees abandoned, and there’s a blueberry glazed doughnut on the floor—

Oh.

Ben.

Klaus’ throat begins to burn as he stares at that doughnut, trying his best not to think about anything else—otherwise, he’s going to cry, and he’s not going to show weakness when the others could potentially come back at any minute. 

To preserve his currently teetering composure, Klaus turns his head to look back down at Five, still having to work to hold back tears. Everything is so strange, his siblings are so different, the world is going to end in almost twenty years, and Ben—

Nope.

Don’t think about it.

And yet, despite Five looking a few years older than the Five he’d been used to, he’s still the most recognizable out of all of them. From the way his hair is cut to the uniform he’s wearing, he looks pretty much the same as he did at Klaus’ age. Sure, maybe his face has lost a little bit of its baby fat, and it’s more structured, slimmer, but he’s still the most familiar person Klaus has seen in months. 

It gives him hope that this Five will be more or less similar to the one Klaus knows. Surely, he’s still the same cocky shit with his signature shit-eating grin, who won’t be soft like older Diego or mindful like older Allison. He has to be the same arrogant, passionate Five because people don’t change that much in only a few years, right?

Ben did.

The urge to cry suddenly comes back at full force, and Klaus has to rub his eyes in a last attempt to stop them from slipping out. Maybe he should just get out of here—he wants nothing more to find an alley where he can be alone and break down into tears. 

Before he can climb out of the bed and grab his backpack, which is discarded on the floor next to the table, Five stirs.

And opens his eyes. 

Klaus slowly lowers his hands from his own eyes, staring as Five blinks up at the ceiling before propping himself up onto his elbows, looking around the room. 

Five locks eyes with Klaus and freezes.

“Well, this is unexpected,” Five blinks, raising a single eyebrow as he sits up fully, and despite it being a bit deeper his voice still sounds the same, and that’s what ends up breaking the camel's back. 

Klaus dissolves into tears. 

Though his vision is blurry with tears, he sees Five pale, probably because Five can’t deal when other people cry. 

“... Klaus?” Five says finally as Klaus lets out a sob. “What… why are you…?”

Five looks completely out of his depth, glancing around as if trying to find anyone else to deal with his tears, and Klaus wonders why he hasn’t blinked away by now. 

“The—the world ended , B-B-Ben is—is d-dead, Diego is being nice ,” Klaus whispers through his tears, and Five frowns. 

“Wait, who told you all that?” Five asks, but Klaus can’t answer, his hiccuping taking up most of his lung capacity at the moment. 

He hasn’t cried this hard since the first night he spent on the streets after running away from home. 

Home. 

He misses home.

Not the mansion, or Dad, or the mausoleum, but his siblings.

Because to him, his siblings are home. 

He misses home, and he misses Five who is now right here , and that’s why, in a moment of pure homesickness, he practically throws himself at his brother, wrapping his arms around him and burying his face in his shoulder.

Five stiffens under the contact, and Klaus fully expects him to throw him off, well aware that Five has never been one for physical affection, and he’ll be okay with that because at least he’s getting these few moments.

But then, Five relaxes slightly… 

And returns the hug. 

Chapter Text

The silence of the room wraps around Klaus like a heavy blanket. The AC has been pushing out cold air for a few minutes now, dropping the temperature of the room and causing Klaus to curl in on himself even tighter, but it doesn’t even compare to the harsh winter months outside when he almost froze to death on more than one occasion. (Actually, he did freeze to death once in January, and the little girl had been none too pleased—however, despite the scowl on her face, she allowed him to stick around just a bit longer than usual before sending him back to face the bleak, frozen alleyway.)

The soft, steady rumble of the air conditioning unit is not, however, loud enough to drown out the sound of arguing voices coming from just outside the motel room.

“—passed out for less than a day and already you idiots managed to screw things up,” Five’s voice hisses, and it doesn’t seem like he’s too concerned about his volume. 

“What the hell were we supposed to do, Five? Lie to the kid? In case you haven’t noticed, that’s kind of why we’re in this mess in the first place!” Luther’s voice argues back, and Klaus wonders what that last sentence even means. He hugs his legs close to his chest, resting his forehead on his knees. “He asked for answers, what was I supposed to do, sugarcoat reality?”

“Yes!” Five exclaims exasperatedly. “If the world was run by ten-year-olds it would’ve ended a lot sooner than 2019, moron!”

Out of the corner of his vision, Klaus notices a figure wearing black phase through the door and swallows hard. Despite how much he really doesn’t want to, Klaus raises his head to look at the ghost of his brother, who is standing awkwardly by the door, hands shoved into the pockets of his hoodie. His eyes are soft and sympathetic—just like the Ben Klaus remembers. 

“Hey,” Ben says quietly, carefully. “Are you feeling better?”

“Yeah,” Klaus nods, looking back down at his knees—there’s a scar on his right knee from when he cut it on a dumpster a few months ago. “I’m sorry I freaked out.”

“Hey, no, you have nothing to apologize for,” Ben moves to sit cross-legged on the foot of the bed, and Klaus hates how the mattress doesn’t sink down when he does. It’s like his brother isn’t even here, and that thought makes Klaus want to cry again. “I kinda thought you knew I was, well, you know.”

“I didn’t,” Klaus glances up at the wailing woman in the corner of the room, a gunshot wound in her head and bruises on her throat. “You weren’t acting like a normal ghost. Usually, ghosts are bloody and scary and they scream at me a lot.”

“Oh,” Ben nods in understanding, following Klaus’ line of sight before his eyes land on the ghost of the woman. It’s so strange, finally having one of his siblings seeing what Klaus sees on a regular basis—at least, a future version of his siblings. Klaus doesn’t think he likes that, because he loves his siblings way too much to be able to bear the thought of subjecting them to his daily horrors. “Yeah, that would make sense.”

Klaus’ eyes linger on Ben, suddenly unable to tear them away. His brother seems so familiar, despite looking older, and he can see the little boy Klaus left behind months ago. He wonders if his brother is angry with him for leaving—Klaus thinks he should be. Depending on how Ben died… maybe Klaus could have saved him from eternal purgatory.  

“How did it happen?” Klaus asks before he can stop himself, and only after the words are out does he remember it’s rude to ask. “I—you don’t have to—I just—”

“No, it’s fine, but…” Ben hesitates for a moment before continuing. “I don’t want you to worry about that. I don’t want to upset you again.”

Something in Klaus’ stomach churns, but he nods, willing to respect his brother's wishes. 

“You told a ten-year-old kid the world is going to end and his brother is going to die. A-plus, Luther, really, great job,” Five’s voice spits. “Do you take pleasure in traumatizing children?”

“Okay, I’ll admit, I shouldn’t have told him about the world ending thing so soon, but none of us even mentioned Ben!”

There’s a beat of silence for the first time in a little over half an hour. 

“He’s right, for once,” Diego’s voice pipes up. “Out of nowhere, the kid started saying Ben was here and was trying to offer him a doughnut.”

“... fascinating,” Five says, voice just a decibel lower than before, and Klaus’ eyes go big at how blatantly similar Five sounds to his father. 

Ben, who had been staring over his shoulder at the door, shakes his head and sighs before looking back at Klaus.

“Do you think they know we can hear them?” Klaus asks, his voice no louder than a whisper. 

“I don’t think they care,” Ben makes a big show of rolling his eyes and then smiles when Klaus giggles. “Hey, how about you go tell them I said to keep it down before we get kicked out?”

Klaus slides off the bed and walks over to the door, glancing back at Ben, who nods encouragingly. When he grabs the handle and pulls the door open, three more pairs of eyes fall on him, and he fidgets under the intense stares. They’re familiar yet foreign at the same time.

“Hey, buddy,” Diego greets him after a moment, reaching out to touch Klaus’ shoulder gingerly. 

“Ben’s here,” Klaus blurts out, and points over at where Ben’s sitting on the foot of the bed. “He’s sitting there, and… he wants me to let you know that you’re being kinda loud.”

Diego, Five, and Luther all peer over Klaus’ head, looking in the direction Klaus is pointing but eyes never fixing on one spot. Their attempts make Ben look sad again, and Klaus’ heart clenches. He wishes he could be more useful, but at the end of the day, he’s just weak, useless Number Four who couldn’t even sit in a stupid mausoleum for three hours without screaming himself hoarse. 

“He’s been here the whole time?” Luther frowns, and he sounds skeptical—it seems Number One hasn’t changed that much at all, not that Klaus was expecting him to. 

“He must’ve followed us into the portal,” Five murmurs, eyes far away as he stares at the wall behind Ben. Ben nods in confirmation, and Klaus mirrors the action. 

After a few more moments of contemplation, Luther goes into the other room, mumbling an excuse about checking in on Allison. Five leans up against the doorway, arms crossed as he continues to stare in the direction of Ben, or maybe he’s watching Vanya as she sleeps—Klaus isn’t exactly sure. Klaus himself continues to shift uncomfortably, noticing how the sun is beginning to set behind the nearby buildings, casting an orange light upon them.

“Klaus, how about you come with me to pick up dinner?” Diego breaks the silence, removing his hand from Klaus’ shoulder to pull out his wallet and shuffle through his bills of cash. 

Klaus eyes his backpack on the floor of the motel room. He was never planning on staying this long—it’s way too risky, and even though these people are his siblings he has to admit that they’re basically strangers. He loves them, of course, but he doesn’t think he could ever trust them. 

“How long are you gonna make me stay?” Klaus forces himself to ask, and Diego’s face twists in confusion. 

“Do… do you not want to stay?” Diego’s eyebrows furrow and Klaus bites his bottom lip and shrugs. “Okay, well, we’re not going to force you to stay, buddy. If you want to go, you can.”

Five turns his head to look at Diego, a disbelieving expression on his face, a tip-off that Klaus’ brothers are not exactly on the same page.

Klaus, however, practically runs back into the room to grab his backpack, curling his fingers around the familiar worn down strap as he prepares to swing it over his shoulders. He itches for the relative safety and freedom of the streets, but then he glances up and realizes his brothers are all watching him and a pang of regret hits him. Is he really about to abandon his siblings for the second time?

“It’s up to you, bud,” Diego says, and Klaus is blind-sighted by the fact that someone is actually giving him a choice . 

His father doesn’t know the definition of the word “choice”. 

“You’re not gonna send me back, right…?” Klaus asks timidly, his grip around the backpack strap tightening. 

“To Hargreeves? Absolutely not,” Five says quickly, his voice firm. Diego seems appalled at the mere suggestion, which doesn’t surprise Klaus—Diego has always been one to defy their father in any way he possibly can. “That would be screwing with the timeline way too much.”

“Stay, Klaus,” Ben’s voice is soft, a hand half-heartedly outstretched as if he wants to grab Klaus and hold on but knows he’s physically unable. “Please. We just got you back, and I don’t want to lose you again.”

Every ounce of self-preservation in Klaus is begging him to grab the backpack, run out the door, and never look back. It’s what drove him out the window of the Academy six months ago—the fight to survive, to not allow himself to be forced back into the mausoleum again. He hadn’t told anyone of his decision to run, didn’t even leave a note, because he knew anyone he told would find a way to make him stay, whether it’s ratting him out to his father or guilting him into sticking around, and he knows he’s better off now, even if he’s living on the streets eating scraps. 

The streets are the safest place for Klaus, all things considered. 

But as his brothers watch him, waiting for him to come to a decision, Klaus realizes that no matter what he decides, they’re not going to hold him hostage. If he wants to leave, they’re not going to stop him, won’t throw him into a cage, and maybe, just maybe, that means he can trust them. 

Klaus takes a deep breath, looks back down at his backpack, and releases his grip on the strap, letting it fall limp onto the floor. 

“Can we get McDonald's?” Klaus requests as he stands up and skips out of the room, his light-up sneakers illuminating the motel room in flashes of blue and red. 

“Klaus, McDonald’s is terrible for you,” Diego protests, but the blatant relief in his face at Klaus’ decision to stay is proof that Klaus is going to get his way tonight. “You know what they put in their chicken, right? It’s not even food! ”

“Wow, you really did get old, Di,” Klaus says, and then grins at Diego’s offended expression.

“I’ll say,” Five smirks at Diego, still leaning against the motel room doorway. “Get me a coffee—black.”

“Yeah, and I’m the old one,” Diego rolls his eyes, but Five doesn’t have time to respond because Klaus is already tired of this conversation and starts skipping down the hallway towards the stairs, and Diego has to quickly follow in order to not lose sight of him. 

Yeah, Klaus thinks as he races down the stairs, ignoring Diego’s shouts to slow down, he made the right decision. 

If Klaus is being honest, he’s never even had McDonald’s before—Dad always scorned the restaurant's very existence, and once Klaus ran away, he had bigger problems than tasty forbidden fast food joints. This, combined with the fact that these days, anything edible tastes good to Klaus, even that half-rotten apple he was desperate enough to eat just a couple weeks ago when he was starving and he couldn’t find anything else, makes the Happy Meal Diego bought him the best thing he’s had since… well, since breakfast. Despite Diego’s lectures on the way home about how McDonald’s chicken nuggets aren’t actually chicken but pink goo (Ben had promptly rolled his eyes and said later they were going to fact check that), Klaus happily tore into his nuggets and fries as soon as they’d gotten back to the motel. 

Not to mention, his Happy Meal came with a small race car and a launcher to go with it. 

“How far do you think it can go?” Klaus questions, tilting his head as he sucks down the last of his apple juice—Diego had put his foot down at Klaus’ request to have chocolate milk for the second time today, unfortunately. 

He’s sitting on the floor in between the motel beds, the lamp on, and the overhead lights switched off. Over in the corner, at the table, Diego, Five, Luther, and Allison are all huddled around it, having a low and, quite frankly, heated discussion. Klaus assumes they’re talking about how they’re going to get home, and Klaus would’ve been interested in eavesdropping on their conversation if it didn’t sound so boring . 

“I bet if you could get it to hit the wall,” Ben hypothesizes from where he’s sitting next to Klaus on the floor, his legs crossed—his chin is resting on his fist as he gazes at the race car launcher thoughtfully. “But you’ll have to pull back super hard.”

“Hm. You really think so?”

“I really do,” Ben nods seriously. “I’d place all my bets on it.”

“Do you even have anything to bet, though?” Klaus frowns, raising one eyebrow in question, and he’s kind of glad he’s over the initial shock of his brother being a ghost. 

“My pride,” Ben tells him, glancing from the toy car to Klaus. “Now, launch this sucker, Klaus.”

“Will do, in five... four… three… two… one!” Klaus pulls back on the launcher and releases, sending the toy car gliding across the motel room, and when the car hits the opposite wall Klaus and Ben both cheer—a new record has now been set. 

Klaus turns to face Ben, holding up his hand for a high five before he realizes, and his toothy grin begins to fade away. Ben glances at his hand before holding up his own, carefully pressing his big hand against Klaus’ smaller palm, and it gives the illusion that they’re touching, even if Klaus can feel nothing but slightly colder air against his skin.

Ben opens his mouth to say something, but before he can get a word out, his eyes land on Vanya and he immediately stands up. 

“Oh hey, Vanya’s waking up!” Klaus announces excitedly, watching as his sister begins to stir. 

It seems simple enough, but when he turns to look at his other siblings they for some reason have varying expressions of alarm on their faces. Five flashes over to Vanya’s bedside, hovering over her with calculating yet worried eyes, and Allison begins to shove Luther and Diego towards the door. Luther doesn’t look too happy about the banishment, but Diego isn’t fighting against it, instead motioning at Klaus to come with him. 

“Klaus, get over here now,” Diego orders, his other hand hovering over his knives, and Klaus’ smile falls fast. 

“What?” Klaus looks back at his waking sister, not understanding why Diego won’t let him meet her. “Why?”

Diego doesn’t waste time answering, just marches over and grabs Klaus by the arm, dragging him towards the door, ignoring Klaus’ protests. As soon as they’re out of the room, Diego pulls the door closed, leaving Five, Allison, and Ben in the room with Vanya and following Luther into the other room. Klaus huffs in frustration and maybe it’s childish, but he misses the comforting presence of his quietest, smallest sister. Maybe he and Vanya weren’t close back at home, but Klaus loves her all the same. 

“Why am I not allowed to see her?” Klaus frowns, feeling hurt by the blatant exclusion—does Vanya not like him? Is that why they’re not letting Klaus talk to her? “Is… is she mad at me? Is that why?”

“What?” Diego frowns as he sits down on the foot of his bed, staring at one of his knives contemplatively. “No, it has nothing to do with you.”

“She’s dangerous,” Luther informs him as he sits down in a chair which creaks under his large weight. (Seriously, how did Luther get so big? )

“Dangerous?” Klaus echoes, and then laughs because that’s the most insane thing he’s ever heard—and he’s standing in a motel room with his super-powered siblings from the future. “C’mon, I’m not stupid, Luther. Vanya isn’t dangerous—she’s like the least dangerous person in the world!”

“Vanya has powers, Klaus,” Diego glances up from his knife to level him with a serious look. 

Klaus’ eyes widen—Vanya? Has powers? He’d always been told by his father that Vanya was just… ordinary, but he supposes his father also would always tell him “three more hours, Number Four” before keeping him in the mausoleum for twelve hours. His father is a liar, through and through. 

“Vanya has powers? Really? That’s awesome!” Klaus bounces on his heels excitedly before slowing down as another question hits him. “Wait, but why did Dad say she doesn’t have any?” Wouldn’t their father be excited to have yet another child with powers to experiment with?

“Dad kept them hidden away because she’s dangerous,” Luther says darkly, fiddling around with a pen that was previously resting on the table. “She still is, especially when she’s upset.”

“And I wonder why she could be upset?” Diego glares heatedly at Luther, and his question sounds more like an accusation. For some reason, it’s comforting to see Luther and Diego butting heads as always—it’s nice to see that some things never change. 

“Oh, big words coming from you,” Luther rolls his eyes, “she hates you the most because you’ve been an asshole to her.”

“And you weren’t?” Diego snarls, standing up, his knife gripped tightly in his palm, prepared to strike. Klaus begins to back away towards the door as his brothers continue to aggressively argue—they’re so engrossed that they don’t even notice Klaus swipe a keycard for the other room and slip out the door, quietly letting the door click shut behind him so they don’t become aware of the fact that he’s left. 

Klaus presses the keycard against the door of the room Vanya’s in, slowly pushing the door open. Vanya is wide awake, sitting up against the headboard of her bed, and it looks like she’s been crying, her cheeks glistening with tears that still have yet to dry up. Allison is curled up next to her, holding her close and running her fingers through Vanya’s hair, watching her with loving, sympathetic eyes. It’s weird because Klaus never considered his sisters close—in fact, the Allison Klaus knows can be rather mean to their quietest sibling. Five is leaning against the nightstand, arms crossed over his chest while he stares at the ground, and Ben is sitting at the foot of the bed, unseen by everyone besides Klaus. 

When Klaus enters the room, they all turn their heads to look at him. 

Vanya gasps. 

“Is that…?” Vanya trails off as she stares at him, her red-rimmed eyes wide.

“A ten-year-old version of Klaus, our long lost brother?” Five finishes her question, “yup.”

Klaus winces at the “long lost” part. It’s crazy to imagine that his future doesn’t consist of him reuniting with his siblings at some point down the line—he may not like a few of them sometimes, but he does love them with all his heart. Then again, if he was asked to meet up with them right now, he’d probably say no, just to avoid the hatred they most likely have for him because he got out and didn’t take any of them with him. 

(He should have taken Ben with him.)

“They’re arguing, aren’t they?” Ben glances over at the wall knowingly. 

“Yeah,” Klaus confirms, unable to stop a slight smile from coming on his face because of how familiar the situation feels. When his sisters and Five give him confused looks, Klaus elaborates. “Luther and Diego are fighting.”

As if on cue, there’s a loud thud coming from the other room—the telltale sound of a body hitting the ground. 

“I’d better go put a stop to that,” Five sighs, seeming more inconvenienced than anything, and with one last glance at Vanya he flashes away. Klaus doesn’t know exactly how that’s going to work, given that Five is the smallest of all his future brothers, but with one final thud the muffled yelling abruptly ends. 

“Hi, Klaus,” Vanya greets him softly, tucking a strand of brown hair behind her ear before brushing the tears on her face away with her hands. “It’s really nice to see you again.”

“Is it true that you have powers?” Klaus blurts out, and maybe his method is a bit rude but he’s bursting with the need for answers. 

“Um, yeah,” Vanya answers slowly with a nod, her soft brown eyes darkening, which Klaus is confused by because he remembers Vanya always wanting to be like them. In fact, just three months before Klaus ran away, Vanya had murmured to him how much she’s jealous of his powers. He’d nodded in understanding, but he hadn’t been able to stop himself from looking at the very angry ladies with broken necks growling down at his unsuspecting sister. 

Still, despite how misguided her past desires might’ve been, Klaus knows this is something his sister has longed for her whole life, and he doesn’t understand why his other siblings don't seem happy about it at all. 

“Wicked!” Klaus grins, skipping over to stand next to her, the lights flashing from his sneakers dulled by the strong orange glow of the lamp next to the bed. “What can you do? Can you show me?”

“No!” Ben interjects after Klaus’ last question, and Allison shakes her head fiercely. 

“Lame,” Klaus huffs, leaning back on his heels. 

“I… I don’t have much control over it,” Vanya’s voice is just above a whisper, and her hands are trembling as she grips the blanket tight in her fists. “But I can control objects through sound.” 

“That’s so awesome—way cooler than my dumb powers,” Klaus remarks, glancing at one of the ghosts in the room, a man with his head bashed in who won’t stop moaning. Ben grimaces, but overall seems understanding—Ben hates his powers too. It’s something they would bond over before Klaus left home. 

Vanya doesn’t respond, and to Klaus’ horror, a few more tears trickle down her face.

“Why are you sad?” Klaus furrows his eyebrows, no longer excited about the revelation of Vanya having powers because if Vanya’s sad, what’s the point?

Allison reaches down for her pen and scribbles on her notepad before showing it to Klaus, we’ve had a very rough couple of days.

“Because the world ended?” Klaus fills in the blanks out loud, and Allison nods solemnly while Vanya lets out a sob. The lamp begins to flicker on and off, and Ben makes a cutting at the throat motion. “Oh. Sorry, I didn’t…” 

Maybe Diego had a point in dragging Klaus out with him, and he’s kind of surprised his brother hasn’t come to remove him by now. 

“I’ll go,” Klaus says, beginning to back away from the bed, but Vanya’s head snaps up, and she wipes away her tears before reaching out for Klaus. 

“No, please, stay,” Vanya says quietly, holding out her trembling hand, and Klaus takes it hesitantly. “I’m sorry, I just… I’ve done some bad things, Klaus.”

Klaus’ eyes widen at his sister’s confession—that must be why she’s sad. 

“Oh…” Klaus can’t imagine his sweet, shy sister doing anything truly horrible, but at the end of the day, nobody’s perfect, not even the little girl in the sky. “Well, that’s okay. We’ve all done bad things. We still love you all the same.”

The tears in Vanya’s eyes aren’t gone, and Klaus thinks she’s probably struggling to hold them in, but she gives a tiny smile and nods, squeezing Klaus’ hand. All in all, she looks like she could use a hug, so Klaus crawls up onto the bed, wrapping his arms around her and giving her the tightest hug he can muster. Vanya returns the hug, holding him close, and Allison wraps her arms around them both, and Klaus can’t think of a better way to spend his night—buried in the arms of his sisters. 

Klaus doesn’t think he’ll ever be ready when his siblings go back to the future, leaving him behind just like he abandoned them.

He guesses it’ll be the karma he deserves. 

Chapter Text

The next few days are pretty boring as far as Klaus is concerned. At least on the streets he always had something to do, things to see—like that alley cat that visited every so often, originally searching for something to eat, but staying with Klaus during the night even though he didn’t have anything to offer it. Here, he’s pretty much cooped up in their motel room, unable to go anywhere by himself because Five is sure some bad people called the Commission could be out to get them. 

(Klaus kind of suspects Five is just making up excuses to make sure he doesn’t decide to run away all of a sudden, because Diego, Allison, and Luther go out all the time, whether it’s for food or to scout out traces of trouble.)

It’s strange, because despite Luther being Number One, the more time Klaus spends with his future siblings, the more he realizes that Five is the sibling in charge. His siblings often have very serious adult discussions about their situation, and the person who is always making the final decisions is Five, and weirdly enough, his siblings hardly ever argue against him, not even Luther or Diego, who hate the thought of relinquishing control. 

“It’s because I’m the oldest,” Five explains when Klaus brings it up, taking a moment to glance up from his notebook filled with equations that look like gibberish. 

Klaus rolls his eyes and laughs from where he’s sitting on one of the beds. “How dumb do you think I am, Five?”

“He’s actually not kidding,” Vanya says as she sits down next to Klaus. “He time-traveled to the future when we were thirteen and didn’t come back until about a week ago.”

“He spent forty-five years in the future, so he’s fifty-eight,” Ben adds from where he’s sitting at the motel room table across from Five. 

“Fifty-eight?!” Klaus exclaims, his eyes as wide as dinner plates as he looks from Ben to Five, who seems perplexed for a moment before he glances at the chair across from him, and realization dawns upon him. “That’s crazy, though!”

“Is it really the craziest thing you’ve ever heard?” Five questions knowingly, raising an eyebrow as he continues to scribble into his notebook.

Klaus just shrugs, because really, it’s not. 

“That makes so much sense though—there was something about you that seemed off. You’re way grumpier now, but I guess you were always sorta grumpy. Oh, is that why you had Diego get you a black coffee because you’re old? I thought that was weird, but that makes sense too now,” Klaus babbles on, mostly to fill the otherwise silent room—he’s hit peak boredom, he thinks. 

Five sets his pen down, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath as if he’s praying for strength. 

“Klaus, why don’t you and Vanya go downstairs to the vending machine?” Five reaches into his pocket and pulls out a few crumpled up dollar bills. Vanya stands up and takes the bills, giving Five a grateful look, which Five mirrors. “Get me a Fudge Nutter, will you?”

“Ooo, yeah!” Klaus cheers, hopping off of the bed and sliding his ratty light-up sneakers on his feet before throwing the door to the room open and stepping outside.

“Straight to the vending machine and back!” Five calls sternly as Vanya joins him outside and shuts the door behind her. 

Klaus is mindful to not move as fast as he and Vanya walk down the motel hallway towards the elevator—despite the way his legs are itching to run, he paces himself so he’s walking by his sister’s side. 

“Uh, can we use the stairs?” Klaus asks before Vanya can press the button for the elevator. 

“Oh, yeah, sure,” Vanya nods before following him into the stairwell. “Is there a reason?”

Klaus shrugs as he descends the stairs.

“I don’t like elevators,” Klaus tells her, and after a moment of hesitation, he continues. “Or small spaces. Mrs. Porter says I’m klaustrophobic.”

“You mean claustrophobic ?” Vanya asks him amusedly. 

“Yeah, but I say klaustrophobic because it sounds like my name,” Klaus grins at his own genius. 

Vanya nods in understanding as they continue to go down the stairs. 

“You never mentioned that before you left,” Vanya gently remarks. 

And in that moment, Klaus considers telling her about the mausoleum, the root of all his fears and issues, but he’s held it in for so long that he can’t even find the right words. How is he supposed to make her understand the reality of his powers? What if she just brushes him off, and calls him dumb for being afraid of ghosts?

By the time he does find the words, they’re at the vending machine, and the subject is forgotten, pushed into the back of his mind where it belongs. 

“Look, Vanya, they have powdered doughnuts!” Klaus jams his finger against the glass of the machine as he points out the treat that has caught his eye. 

“Those are gonna make a mess,” Vanya comments, but inserts the cash into the machine and presses the buttons for the doughnuts anyway. 

“You’re really cool, Vanya,” Klaus says suddenly, and her eyes widen with surprise as the doughnuts fall into the retrieval slot. “I wish I’d hung out with you more before I left.”

“Me too, Klaus,” Vanya smiles fondly, running a hand through his hair. “But we’re hanging out now, right?”

“Right,” Klaus nods as he grabs the doughnuts and waits for Vanya to get her bag of pretzels. “I wonder if I’m gonna be as different as you guys are when I grow up.”

The words hang over them as Vanya reaches for the pretzels.

“You think we’re different?” Vanya murmurs as they begin the journey back upstairs to the motel room. 

“So different,” Klaus confirms as he skips up the stairs, fighting the urge to open the powdered doughnuts right here and now—he doesn’t want to risk them falling onto the floor. (Not like that would stop him from eating them—he’s eaten a lot of things off the floor before. Out on the streets, it’s pretty hard to be picky.) “Except for Luther, he still seems like kind of a jerk.”

“How are the rest of us different, exactly?” Vanya tilts her head out of curiosity, and Klaus has to pause for a moment to think. 

“Hm,” Klaus has to search for the right words to say before he says them. “Well, for one, you’re way more confident and talkative—you used to be really quiet. Diego is a lot nicer to me, which is kinda weird but whatever, Five is so much more serious and intense, and Allison is nicer, kind of like Diego but in a different way—you know, she kind of reminds me of Mom.”

“That would be because she has a daughter,” Vanya explains, and Klaus stops climbing the stairs, turning to look at her with wide eyes. Allison has a daughter? He’ll have to ask her about that later. 

“Well, I like how you’re somewhat the same,” Vanya tells him, voice kind as always, and Klaus notices how she’s tactfully ignoring what he said about Luther. “I’ve missed you a lot, Klaus. We all have.”

They’re at the top of the stairs, and Klaus pauses, pondering her words. He’d always wondered if his siblings missed him, or if they were glad to have their annoying, distracting, crybaby brother gone. No matter how they actually felt about his disappearance, Vanya’s words do put some of his wonderings to rest, comforting him.

“I missed you guys too,” Klaus admits, thinking back on all the sleepless nights he spent alone and crying, deeply aching for all of his siblings. 

But he’s not aching right now. He has his siblings back, right here in this hotel, and even though it’s not the same as the versions of them he knows, they’re still awesome and Klaus is so glad he ran into them. 

From Vanya’s kind smile, he can tell that the feeling is mutual. 

The fact that they forgot to get Five’s Fudge Nutter goes unrealized until they’re back at the motel room. 

“What do you think you’re doing right now?”

Ben pauses to think of an answer. While he does so, Klaus continues to watch the city below as the sun steadily rises over the motel building, washing the land with its early morning light. The city is always busy around this time in the mornings as people rush to get to work or school, and every once in a while a car lays on its horn.

It’s all so normal. Klaus sometimes yearns for normal, for a father who didn’t lock him up in mausoleums and a mother who wasn’t a robot. When life gets tough, Klaus likes to daydream about what could have been—maybe his father would have taught him how to throw a baseball, and maybe his mother would have allowed him to experiment with her makeup, and maybe they would live in a nice, suburban house with a big yard, a cool car, and a white picket fence.

Klaus has always been told it’s useless, fantasizing about the impossible, but he does it anyway. 

It’s not like there are too many people around to tell him ‘no’ these days, after all. 

“We’re probably training,” Ben finally says. He’s leaned up against the motel ledge, his back to the city, his legs splayed out in front of him. “Dad hasn’t started sending us on missions yet so the usual training was all we were doing at this point.” 

Klaus nods. He can recall his father telling him and his siblings how one day, they were going to use their powers to help people for the greater good. “The missions… what were they like? Were they hard?”

A dark look flashes across Ben’s usually calm face, and he presses a hand to his stomach.

“They were harder for some, easier for others,” Ben answers, his eyes sharp with something resembling pain, and Klaus hopes he doesn’t end up regretting his inquiry. 

He’s hit with that same familiar guilt he’s been feeling ever since he ran into his siblings from the future, and a sense of shame washes over him because maybe he should have been there to help, to possibly save Ben from whatever ended up killing him. 

A small voice in the back of his mind wonders if he should go back, for the sake of his siblings.

He doesn’t want to—he likes being right here, safe from his father’s clutches, thank you very much. 

Ben glances at him and frowns, seeming to pick up on Klaus’ thoughts. “I think you would have hated the missions. A lot of people died, Klaus—I’m glad you weren’t there. They sucked.”

“I mean, it’s not like my dumb powers would be useful in a fight,” Klaus shrugs, looking down at his hands. 

He thinks it would have been cool to be a superhero, fighting bad guys, but his powers aren’t like the ones people read in comics. 

Once, during the cold winter nights, Klaus was able to sneak into an old movie theater just on the outskirts of town—he thinks an employee might have seen him dart under the ropes, but if she had, she didn’t say anything about it. The theater was empty anyway, given that it was a school night, plus this theater is pretty run down anyways. During that night, a screening of Batman was playing, and he crouched behind the seats and watched the whole thing. Batman was the hero that everyone could count on because he was brave and had cool gadgets that were better than the curse of seeing ghosts. 

Klaus has never heard of a superhero who can see ghosts like he can. 

He guesses people like him just aren’t meant to be superheroes. 

The door to one of the hotel rooms opens, and Klaus twists around to see Diego step out, adjusting the leather straps that hold his knives—Klaus thinks he looks a little silly, but it’s not like Klaus is known for liking the normal and mundane. Then, Klaus suddenly realizes that if Diego tweaked his outfit just a bit, he could look like Batman , and wouldn’t that be awesome?

“Hey, buddy,” Diego greets him, and Klaus waves back, half his mind still imagining his brother as the Dark Knight. Diego looks up and down the hallway, and a look of confusion crosses his features. “Who’re you talking to?”

“Ben,” Klaus replies, pointing a finger towards the ghost of their brother. Diego turns his head in that direction, but his eyes are unseeing—not to mention, a bit misty. 

“Ah,” is all Diego says to that, swallowing hard. His mouth opens like he’s going to say something, but he closes it before any words come out. 

“Could you tell him I say hi?” Ben asks Klaus, and Klaus repeats his words to Diego, who perks up at them. 

“Uh, hey, Ben,” Diego gives a small, awkward wave as he leans back against the wall. “Have you, um, been here the whole time?”

Klaus looks to Ben, who has that same look of pure longing on his face. Klaus hates that face, and wishes he could give his brother more… but he can’t. Just like every other ghost that has begged, screamed for help, Klaus can do nothing more but listen to them and hear their pleas. 

“Yeah,” Ben answers with a small smile as he gazes up at Diego. “The whole time—I couldn’t leave you idiots behind.”

Klaus relays Ben’s answer to Diego, and it causes Diego’s eyes to get misty.

After blinking away unshed tears, Diego tells him that he and Allison are going to go shopping for new clothes, and invites Klaus (and in extension, Ben) to come with them. Klaus leaps to his feet, excited by the mere thought of leaving this motel building, and he has to force himself to patiently wait for Allison to exit her own room before they can finally get out of the building. 

Thank God.

After all, for some unknown reason, this motel has been revealed to be the most haunted building Klaus has ever stepped foot in, even rivaling the mausoleum.

It’ll be nice to get away from it all. 

It takes two more days until Klaus discovers they’re taking Vanya just outside of town to practice her powers for the first time today—his siblings don’t seem too thrilled at the idea of their sister finally being able to practice her ability, weirdly enough. Klaus, on the other hand, doesn’t understand their hesitance, and nearly jumps for joy when he finds out he’s about to see Vanya’s powers in action. 

Unfortunately, his excitement lasts all of two minutes before he’s told he’s not allowed to go with them. 

“Why not?” Klaus whines to Diego, who was the one to break the news just moments earlier. 

“Because it’s too dangerous,” Diego answers in a tone that conveys he’s not going to budge on this decision. That, however, will not stop Klaus from trying. 

“C’mon, Diego, how can Vanya’s powers be dangerous?” 

“They’re dangerous enough to make Dad hide them away,” Luther points out from where he sits on his bed, a book in his hands. 

“Trust me, Klaus, I’ve seen what her powers are capable of, and it’s not pretty,” Diego says seriously, something dark flashing across his face for a moment before leveling Klaus with a stern look. “So you’re not going.”

Klaus crosses his arms over his chest and pouts, falling back onto his little cot and giving Diego the most heated glare he can muster. “You guys suck.”

Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tries, the glare must be missing it’s mark because Diego actually chuckles when he looks up from his knife at him. 

“I can’t believe they’re letting you go but not me,” Luther grumbles, and that makes Klaus’ eyes widen in surprise, temporarily forgetting that he’s supposed to be mad at Diego right now. Did he hear that correctly? Why in the world is Number One, arguably the most important sibling, being shunned from Vanya’s training session? Klaus doubts Luther isn’t allowed to go because “it’s dangerous.”

“Are you really surprised?” Diego raises an eyebrow knowingly.

“You were more of a jerk to her than I was,” Luther shrugs.

“Maybe that’s true,” Diego says, using his knife to point at their largest brother, “but I still wasn’t the one who locked her in a cage.”

Cage? Luther locked Vanya in a cage? Klaus looks to Ben for confirmation, who just nods and grimaces, to Klaus’ horror.

How could Luther put sweet, kind Vanya into a cage?

Just like Dad threw Klaus into the mausoleum. 

Klaus shivers at the comparison and tries to not think of it again. 

“Actually keep an eye on the kid, Luther, will you?” Five says to Luther just before they’re about the leave, his hands shoved into his pockets as he leans against the wall. “I’m trusting we can at least count on you to not be able to screw up babysitting, okay?”

Luther rolls his eyes in response, which results in him getting sent a very cold and threatening glare from Five. Despite this, everyone leaves the motel, and now only Klaus and Luther remain in the motel room, a very weird silence falling upon them. Klaus was never close to Luther back at home, simply because he was right under Dad’s thumb and ready to report the slightest slip-up. All in all, it was weird when Klaus was alone with Luther back then, and it’s still weird now, even with one of them being twenty years older. 

Well, at least Ben’s here.

“Uh, I have a few dollars,” Luther breaks the silence, awkwardly holding up a five-dollar bill. “Do you want to go get ice cream or something?” 

Klaus perks up at that because it’s been so long since he’s had ice cream, the last time being the ice cream Mom made just a week or so before Klaus left home. He nods his head excitedly, scrambling up onto his feet, and runs towards the door, only to have to stop and wait when Luther tells him to. A couple of minutes later finds them outside of the motel, on the hunt for ice cream. 

They walk down the street towards an ice cream place that Klaus has always wanted to try but was never able to before today because money can never be spent on something as luxurious as ice cream. He’s never felt so lucky to have his future siblings here as he gets a big cup of birthday cake-flavored ice cream, piled with a mountain of sprinkles and gummies. Luther gets himself a small cup of strawberry ice cream, pays, and then leads them to a table in the corner of the shop with two chairs. 

Klaus takes a moment to drag over a third chair so Ben can sit as well. Luther eyes the extra chair but doesn’t comment on it. 

Klaus spends the next few minutes joyfully shoving ice cream into his mouth, finding the brain freeze that comes with it so very worth it. 

“I don’t get how you can eat all that sugar,” Luther wrinkles his nose when Klaus eats a spoonful of just sprinkles and gummies. 

“Sugar is the best!” Klaus grins, and he truly means it. 

Given that this is the most fun he’s had in days, Klaus is surprised to admit that hanging out with Luther isn’t half bad. 

Ben is smiling at him fondly from his chair, and Klaus gives him a smile in return out of the pure happiness in his heart. 

“Yeah, it is,” Luther nods, but he seems distracted by something. He leans forward, his expression morphing into one of seriousness. “Klaus, listen. I have something to ask you, and I need you to answer honestly. Okay?”

Klaus watches as Ben’s smile slowly disappears, his brows furrowing, and Klaus swallows nervously.

“Um, okay,” Klaus agrees, tilting his head as he waits for Luther to ask his question. 

“You ran away almost six months ago. Why?”

Unease begins to pool at the bottom of his stomach at the question, and Klaus looks down at his ice cream to avoid Luther’s expectant gaze. 

So far, he hasn’t told any of his future siblings why he ran, but then again, it hasn’t come up. It’s not like he has anything to hide—sure, sharing about the mausoleum does make him a bit nervous, just because he’s afraid they won’t believe him or think that he’s stupid for letting the ghosts scare him so much, but he has hope that maybe they’ll understand. He tried telling his siblings once before he left, but they hadn’t been willing to listen—now, because they’re adults, maybe they’re willing to listen. 

Klaus hadn’t imagined Luther being the first one he told about leaving—he thought it’d be Diego, or Vanya, or more realistically, Ben, just because he’s always around, but sitting here right now in this ice cream shop, Klaus thinks he can trust him to take him seriously. 

He looks up from his ice cream to see an unhappy look on Ben’s face, but he’s watching Klaus with a curious glint in his eyes. 

Klaus takes a deep breath. 

“There are… there are a lot of ghosts in that house,” Klaus admits, his voice quiet and his heart pounding in his chest. He grips his spoon extra tight. “There were so many of them and they were so scary. They followed me everywhere I went and they screamed mean things at me, even though there was nothing I could do for them. I couldn’t take it anymore, so… I left.”

He bites down on his lip anxiously after he finishes, watching Luther and waiting for a reaction. 

“I didn’t even think about how the ghosts must have affected you,” Ben murmurs, looking pained at Klaus’ explanation. “Shit.”

And that helps calm Klaus’ nerves just a little. He looks back at Luther, who is studying him with a blank look on his face, and Klaus fidgets under his gaze. Despite this, he has confidence that Luther will understand, and maybe even decide to help him. Perhaps it’s just another useless fantasy, but Klaus will still hope, because these days, hope is all he has left. 

“Klaus, you told me you were going to answer honestly,” Luther says in a scolding tone. 

And with that, Klaus’ hope vanishes as his face falls. 

“But I did answer honestly,” Klaus tries to protest, but Luther doesn’t seem to want to listen, and instead shakes his head slowly, giving Klaus a knowing look. 

“Klaus, look, I get it,” Luther says with a sigh. “Life wasn’t easy by any means at the Academy—the schedule was packed tight, the training was a lot of work, Dad was strict, and I get that you didn’t like that. 

Ben has a scowl on his face, and all Klaus can do is sit there as frozen as the ice cream in front of him.

“But Klaus, we had a responsibility—to both Dad and the entire world,” Luther continues with his lecture, and Klaus shrinks at the mention of the world, given the fact that he knows it ends in 2019. Luther seems to see this but doesn’t say anything about it. “So at least own the fact that the reason you left was to get out of training, and don’t make up dumb ghost stories to cover it up.”

By the end of Luther’s speech, Klaus feels like he’s drowning in disappointment and shame. He doesn’t regret leaving at all and knows that the mausoleum would have broken him soon if he’d spent any longer trapped in there, but he feels guilty for running away from his responsibilities that all of his siblings had to deal with and ashamed that he thought any of his siblings would accept his reasoning. He’s never even stopped to think about the consequences of running away, assuming his family was better off without him—did his siblings suffer as a result of his selfish actions?

Did the world suffer because of him?

His eyes widen in horror at the thought. 

“Did the world end because I left?” Klaus gasps as the terrible thought consumes him, reminded by the fact that none of his siblings ever offered up the information on how the world ended. 

“No!” Ben suddenly shouts, which causes Klaus to jump. Ben grips the table with his hands, as serious as Klaus has ever seen him. “No, of course not, you had nothing to do with it, believe me—”

But Luther just shrugs as he takes another bite of his ice cream. “I don’t think so, but who knows? Five said a lot of factors contributed to it.”

That doesn’t help the growing pit of dread in his stomach, and neither does Ben’s intense protesting. 

“Are you gonna send me back?” Klaus asks shakily, his legs suddenly itching with the desire to bolt far, far away. 

Luther gives him a long look. “I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do, but honestly… I think you should go back. It’s certainly a lot safer than living on the streets, you can’t deny that.”

On the contrary, though, Klaus can deny that. Sure, living on the streets is no piece of cake, and it’s hard and has even actually killed him a couple of times, but…during his last training session in the mausoleum, he was able to make the ghosts corporeal. Luckily, he was able to make them incorporeal before they could hurt him too much, but he thinks that if he had stayed, he would have died at the hands of the ghosts more than once. And sure, maybe he would have bounced back, but dying isn’t exactly fun, and he never knows when the little girl will decide she doesn’t want to send him back again. 

But he doesn’t say any of that, because he knows his words will go unheard.

Klaus tries to finish his ice cream, but he finds that his appetite is gone, and so he lets the ice cream melt until it’s a pool of sprinkles and gummies. 

Later that night, at dinner, he tries to listen to his other siblings as they recount how Vanya’s first training session went—apparently, she did amazing, of course—but he can’t find it in himself to be as excited and cheerful as he should. After getting ready for bed a few hours later, Klaus sits on his cot, Unicorn tight in his arms as he waits for the lights to be turned off, signaling bedtime. A few feet away, Ben sits in a chair, watching him worriedly.

“Klaus, Luther was wrong,” Ben tells him softly, and Klaus glances up at him. “It’s okay that you were afraid. You know that, right?”

Klaus just shrugs in response, because he’s not sure if he does. 

Diego steps out of the bathroom, his hair dripping wet after taking a shower, walking through the room until his eyes fall on Klaus, and he frowns. 

“Hey, everything alright, bud?” Diego questions him, a concerned look on his face that Klaus thinks looks weird on him. “You’ve been quieter than usual tonight.”

“‘M fine,” Klaus mumbles, tipping over sideways and his head hitting his pillow. He doesn't want to talk about anything else, afraid he'll just continue to be told that he's stupid and a liar. However, the weird look on Diego’s face doesn’t go away, much to Klaus’ chagrin. 

“You sure, man?” Diego prods, reaching for the light on the wall but hesitating to flip it just yet. Klaus nods, trying to muster up a fake smile. Diego doesn’t seem very convinced, but despite this he says, “Alright... you know if something’s bothering you, you can tell me, right?”

Klaus nods again, and Diego, seemingly satisfied, turns out the light. 

But the affirmation feels like a lie. 

Chapter Text

The ghosts are being extra loud tonight. 

Granted, they’re always loud and obnoxious, but when he’s outside on the streets they tend to disperse. They’re easy to ignore if they’re scattered few and far between, not congregated in between four walls, trapped for eternity with no one but Klaus who can hear them. For the most parts, Klaus can avoid the ghosts that linger on the streets, darting around the ones who stand in the middle of the sidewalk and refusing to make eye contact with any of them, which in turn 

But the realization from earlier that this motel is so very haunted is only strengthened by all of the spirits who have begun to show up, wailing and yelling and crying like many of them always do—and it certainly doesn’t help that these particular ghosts seem angrier than any ghosts Klaus has ever come across. (Well, besides the mausoleum, of course, but that should go without saying.)

So, it’s a miracle that he manages to fall asleep. 

Klaus starts awake in the middle of the night when a woman standing in the middle of the room begins screaming at the top of her lungs and is immediately met with a room full of ghosts. In the last few days, he’d noticed that there were lots of ghosts who were appearing in this motel, but just in the area of the motel where Klaus and his future siblings are staying. He found it peculiar, not understanding why there’re so many ghosts in this exact part of this exact hotel—perhaps something horrible happened here in the past that claimed the lives of all these souls at once?

Right now, however, Klaus is more preoccupied with how terrified he is. 

These ghosts don’t at all resemble the few friendly ghosts on the streets, or even the ghosts who resided in the mausoleum, because these ghosts are horrifically bloody and broken in ways Klaus has never seen any human be broken before. In the corner of the room, there’s a ghost without ahead, like it was completely blown off its body, a couple of older women have necks broken so badly that their heads are hanging sideways, and there are many ghosts with multiple stab wounds—a couple have their throats cut, and all of the wounds are gushing blood, pooling around their feet, and even though the liquid isn’t hitting the floor, to Klaus it looks like it is. He wants to scream in horror, but then his voice would go unheard under the wails of the woman and all the other voices and—

They’re all screaming and yelling and suddenly Klaus is trapped between grey cement walls that loom over him, the voices of the spirits echoing off them as he presses his hands to his ears so hard that it’s hurting his head, but it doesn’t help—it never helps, because there are too many voices, and all the voices are yelling his name over and over again, “Klaus Klaus Klaus Klaus Klaus—”

Unicorn slips from his grip as he scrambles off his cot so quickly that he almost trips and falls, running for the bathroom as fast as he can because his only alternative is running for the motel door, which is blocked by ghosts, and even though he can dart through them he really doesn’t want to. Heart pounding against his chest, he pushes the door to the bathroom so that it’s cracked open just an inch and flips on the light, a small bit of relief washing over him as the bathroom is flooded with bright lights. Luckily, the ghosts don’t follow him, and he takes a moment to allow himself to catch his breath, hating how he can still hear the sounds of the dead. 

Klaus backs away from the door, not willing to look away from it and allow a ghost to sneak up on him until the back of his legs hit the porcelain edge of the bathtub. Terror still drives his movements as he clambers into the bathtub, curling up in the corner of the tub so he can keep the door in his line of sight. He wraps his arms around his legs to make himself as small as possible, and sits like that for a while, wide-eyed and trembling as he tries and fails to get the gory images out of his head. 

Someone phases through the door, and Klaus jumps out of his skin before he recognizes the intruder as Ben, who pauses as soon as his eyes land on Klaus in the bathtub. He doesn’t seem confused, which Klaus is glad for because he doesn’t feel like being called a liar again so soon after his talk with Luther earlier. 

“Hey,” Ben says quietly, his voice soft. His hands are hidden in his hoodie pockets. “It’s pretty loud out there, huh?”

“Why are there so many ghosts, Ben?” Klaus whimpers, the screams and wails still ringing in his ears. 

Every time he blinks he sees red blood.

Ben’s face twists in pain at his question. There’s a trance of guilt in Ben’s expression that gets stronger with every scream and wail that pierces the air, and it's a strange reaction, in Klaus’ opinion. Why would Ben feel guilty? 

Klaus watches curiously with wide eyes as Ben walks over to the closed lidded toilet, perching on the tank with his feet resting on the lid, and he takes a moment to contemplate.

“Remember what we talked about earlier? About the missions that Dad sent us on?” 

Klaus nods, tilting his head a bit as he thinks back to their conversation out on the motel balcony. “You said they were hard, and that a lot of people died.”

“Right,” Ben nods, and he’s fidgeting guiltily. “Well, on those missions, Dad told us to take out the enemy by whatever means necessary… and sometimes, that meant we had to kill them. The ghosts out there are a few of those people, I think.”

“Oh…“ Klaus looks down at his hands, his fingers pressing into the skin of his shins. “Okay. That makes sense.”

The woman who originally woke him up by screaming raises the volume of her voice, and it’s so loud that Klaus is surprised she can’t be heard across realms. 

“I’m sorry,” Ben winces at the sound, glancing over his shoulder at the door. 

“It’s not your fault,” Klaus tells him, giving a fraction of a shrug. “It’s my power, so I’ve just… gotta deal with it.”

“Well you shouldn’t have to deal with all that,” Ben frowns, “I mean, really, Klaus, I don’t blame you for running away—I’ve seen the ghosts that haunt the Academy, and they are not nice, that’s for sure. I’m so sorry your powers are so awful.”

“My powers don’t completely suck, though,” Klaus says earnestly, looking up from his hands and at his favorite brother. “They let me see you, after all, which I’m super glad because if I couldn’t see you I’d miss you a lot.”

The tension seems to melt away from Ben’s body as his eyes soften, a small smile appearing on his lips. 

“I’d miss you too, bud.”

They sit in silence for a minute or two, and Klaus has noticed that his body has stopped trembling, his body uncurling from the stiff ball it was originally in. His heartbeat has begun to slow down, and he allows himself to relax, telling himself that he’s safe here in the bathtub with his ghost brother right next to him. His only regret is that he didn’t hold on tight enough to Unicorn, and he wonders if his stuffed animal is scared of being left behind in a room full of monsters. 

(The logical part of Klaus knows that Unicorn isn’t real, that the stuffed animal is just that—a toy for children unable to have feelings, but after spending many nights alone on the streets, it’s nice to think that he’s not completely on his own.)

“Klaus?” Klaus jumps as the bathroom door gets pushed open, but settles back down when it’s revealed to be a bleary-eyed Diego, squinting his eyes as they adjust to the bathroom lights. His eyes find Klaus, and when they do Diego gives him a confused frown. “Uh… why are you in the bathtub at two fifteen in the morning?”

Klaus simply shrugs his shoulders.

“Just ‘cause,” he mumbles.

The frown on Diego’s face deepens, and he shuffles into the bathroom. He’s still wearing his clothes from yesterday, knife harness and all, though the actual knives are hidden away somewhere in the motel out of sight. Klaus isn’t sure Diego even bought himself a set of pajamas while shopping with Allison earlier. 

(Klaus had gotten new clothes, much to his delight. He’d declined their offer to buy him a new pair of shoes, however, because none of the shoes at the thrift store were light-up sneakers. Normal sneakers are boring and don’t help light up the shadows at night.)

“Because why?” Diego prods, but his voice is gentle. He leans against the sink, crossing his arms across his chest as he watches Klaus, waiting for an answer. It’s a weird sight to see, Diego being almost as tenderhearted and soft as Ben, and Klaus wonders not for the first time since running into the future version of Diego what happened in his brother’s life that ended up changing him so much. 

But Klaus doesn’t want to tell him. He doesn’t want to say anything—really, he wishes Diego would just leave him alone and stop asking questions. He’s tired of being asked questions, only to not be believed or taken seriously when he answers honestly, and really, he’s not sure why these questions are being asked. 

He’s not a baby—he’s always been able to take care of himself. 

So he hopes Diego will just drop it and leave it alone—so what if he’s cowering in the bathtub in the middle of the night? He remembers Pogo’s government lessons, and how America is a free country. If he wants to hide in the bathroom he should be able to do so without being interrogated.

“Klaus?” 

No such luck, apparently. 

“I don’t want to tell you because I know you won’t believe me,” Klaus blurts, and then promptly buries his face in his knees, wanting more than ever to hide away from the world. He just wants Diego to go away.

There’s the sound of footsteps on the bathroom tile.

“Hey,” Diego’s voice is much closer now, and Klaus peeks up to see Diego kneeling by the bathtub, gripping the edge of the tub with his hands. “I swear, Klaus, whatever is bothering you, I’ll believe you. I promise , buddy.”

It's overwhelming, the way Diego's voice is uncharacteristically earnest, and it makes Klaus really want to trust him, to spill everything in Diego’s lap and see how he reacts. Sure, maybe Luther didn’t believe him, but then again, when had Luther ever believed a word that came out of Klaus’ mouth? Diego, on the other hand, while often gruff and closed off, would always at least give him the benefit of the doubt, and wouldn’t straight up call him a liar, even if it was clear he didn’t believe him. 

Still, Klaus needs to be absolutely sure. 

“Pinky swear?” Klaus holds out one of his hands, sticking out his pinky finger.

Diego looks at it for a moment before nodding, lifting his own hand and linking his pinky finger through Klaus’. “I pinky swear, Klaus.”

Still, Klaus finds himself hesitating, even after the pinky swear. It’s never been easy for him to talk about the things that are bothering him, mainly his powers, just because he’s always been brushed off or called a liar. How can he be sure that Diego will react differently than anyone else?

“Klaus, you can tell him,” Ben encourages him from where he’s been sitting on the toilet watching them. “He won’t be like Luther, okay?”

Klaus decides that at the very least, he trusts Ben and if Ben says it’s okay to tell Diego, well, maybe he can give it a shot for the ghost of his favorite brother. 

“There are so many ghosts out there,” Klaus whispers, afraid they’ll hear him and come find him. “They’re scary and bloody and loud and they won’t go away, so I’m hiding here.”

His voice breaks as he finishes his confession, tears pricking the corner of his eyes as he thinks about the ghosts in the motel room, the ghosts at the Academy, the ghosts in the mausoleum. 

Diego’s eyes are wide as he glances at the empty space around them. 

“How many ghosts, Klaus?” Diego asks urgently, an alarmed edge to his voice, and Klaus’ heart jumps because he thinks Diego actually believes him! 

“I dunno,” Klaus bites his lip and shrugs, unable to come up with a specific number, “so many.” 

“Can they hurt you?” Diego immediately follows up, his knuckles going white as he grips the edge of the bathtub with his hands. 

“Sometimes,” Klaus answers, sniffling as he does his best to hold back tears. The way liquid is pooling in the corner of his eyes tells him his efforts are mostly unsuccessful. “I made the ghosts in the m—at the Academy corporal once, and they scratched me. One of them bit me on the arm, I still have the scar,” Klaus sticks out his arm to show Diego the bite marks that still haven’t faded from his skin. Diego leans forward to look, his jaw clenching when his eyes find the scar. “But most of the time they’re just loud and really scary.”

“Shit—I mean, shoot ,” Diego fumbles, and it makes Klaus giggle through the unshed tears in his eyes. “Has it always been like this?”

“Yeah… it’s why I ran away,” Klaus tells him, and Diego nods understandingly, clenching his jaw as he contemplates. “Wait—you really believe me?”

Diego takes a break from brooding to look at him, tilting his head. 

“I pinky swore, didn’t I?” Diego raises an eyebrow, and Klaus nods. “Why wouldn’t I believe you?”

“Luther didn’t,” Klaus says quietly, looking back down at his knees, thinking back to his talk with Number One earlier. 

Diego scowls, and that puts a smug look on Ben’s face. 

“Yeah, well, Luther is an idiot,” Diego growls. 

“Tell him I agree,” Ben chimes in, and Klaus does. 

“Ben’s here?” Diego’s scowl eases up as he glances around the room yet again, though his eyes never find anything. 

“He’s there,” Klaus points towards Ben, and Diego follows his finger. “He’s always here.”

Diego’s grip on the edge of the bathtub loosens as he stares at the wall behind Ben, looking right through their deceased brother like he always does. 

It’s times like this, when Diego’s eyes get round with longing and wonder, that Klaus can see through the tough exterior he’s so obviously worn for most of his life, and in doing so, he can get a glimpse of the Diego he remembers. 

The familiarity is comforting. 

“I’m glad you have him watching out for you,” Diego says once he’s regained his bearings. 

Ben gives a smile out of solidarity, and Klaus wishes with all his heart that Diego could see it. 

Diego’s eyes sharpen as he seems to snap out of whatever emotions he was feeling, his body tensing up again. “You wanna go back to bed, bud?”

Klaus gulps at the thought of going back out there—he can still hear the wailing and screaming, even if he’s managing to tune them out right now to hear the voices of the living. 

“There’s no way sleeping in the tub will be comfortable,” Diego frowns when Klaus doesn’t give him an answer. Klaus just simply shrugs. 

“Di, I’ve slept on sidewalks before,” Klaus says, and Diego grimaces at the reminder. 

“If you’re sure…” Diego hesitates for a moment before his eyes light up with an idea. “Wait here, I’ll be back.”

Klaus nods and watches as Diego stands up and walks out of the bathroom, leaving Klaus and Ben alone in the silence. Well, relative silence—they can still hear the ghosts out in the main room. They’re lucky the ghosts haven’t followed them into the bathroom; they probably haven’t realized that Klaus can see and hear them.  

Klaus dreads the moment when they do find out. 

It’s always inevitable. 

A minute later, Diego reenters the bathroom, but he now has an armful of blankets and pillows. The blankets and pillows get arranged in the tub to create a makeshift bed, and when Klaus gets settled under the covers he’s happy to see that the bathroom door is still in his line of sight, even when he’s laying down. Sleep begins to pull at him as his head sinks into the fluffy motel pillows, and he’s reminded of the fact that it’s currently the middle of the night—he forgot in all the commotion that tonight brought. 

Instead of leaving right away, Diego sits back on the bathroom floor, leaning against the edge of the tub as he waits for Klaus to fall asleep. Ben is still keeping watch from where he’s sitting on the toilet, having pulled out the book he’s always reading a few minutes ago. It makes Klaus feel so happy and, more than anything, safe— the ghosts are still out there, but he has his two favorite brothers here with him which means, theoretically, nothing can hurt him.

It also reminds him of how much he’s missed his siblings in the last six months. 

“Diego?” Klaus whispers, breaking the silence, and Diego hums in response. “I’m gonna miss you all a lot when you go back to the future.”

It’s a simple statement, one that Klaus feels from the bottom of his heart because he knows this won’t last forever. Perhaps when he was a baby, he would have been naive and not realized that this will end eventually, but he’s ten-years-old now—double digits and practically an adult! He’s overheard enough of his future siblings’ conversations to understand that the timeline is fragile and to fix the timeline things have to remain the same—in order to save the world, life will have to go on just as it has been. He won’t deny that he deep down wants to beg them to stay, to not leave him behind to face whatever his fate might be, but he won’t. He’s a big kid, and no matter how much he’ll miss his siblings, he also knows he’s going to have to let them go.

Diego freezes for a moment upon hearing Klaus’ words and then turns to face him with shock etched into his face. 

“Klaus, we’re not leaving you here,” Diego breathes, sounding genuinely surprised. 

That makes Klaus pause because he certainly wasn’t expecting that. What does that even mean? 

“We’re taking you back to the future with us,” Diego explains further—the confusion must have been showing on his face. 

“The future?” Klaus repeats, his eyes going round with pure awe as he realizes what that means.

“Yeah,” Diego nods, tapping his fingers on the edge of the bathtub rhythmically. “Five is trying to find a way to safely bring you back to 2019 with us—and I’m sure he’ll figure something out. He always does.” 

“Oh,” Klaus nods slowly. Then, the raw confusion begins to set in. “Uh… why?”

For some reason, it looks like Diego is physically pained by the question, looking very taken aback as he opens his mouth only to snap it shut once more, at a loss for words. 

Then, when he’s unable to come up with anything, he deflates, slumping back against the edge of the bathtub, choosing his next words with careful precision. 

“You know, in the months after you ran away, we would sometimes sit in your room at night, hoping that one of those nights you would crawl back through your window,” Diego’s voice is uncharacteristically shaky as he talks, and all Klaus can do is stare as the words seem to tumble out of his brother’s mouth. “A few times, it was all of us, sometimes it was just Five and Vanya, other times it was me and Ben—one of us was always in there, just in case you happened to come back for whatever reason.”

Klaus’ breath hitches, and he imagines his siblings huddled in his room, watching the window only for him to never appear. 

And suddenly, Klaus feels so stupid for thinking they wouldn’t care about his disappearance. 

“Then, winter came and went, and Dad said if you weren’t dead immediately after leaving, you were for sure dead then. We didn’t believe him, or I guess didn’t want to believe him, and for almost a year we kept a close eye on your bedroom window. Eventually, we stopped—life got busy—but we always left the window open for you, just in case you wanted to come back one day.”

That same longing that Klaus sees on Diego’s face every time he brings up Ben’s ghost being here is back yet again, but this time, he’s not gazing wistfully in the direction of Ben, but at Klaus . The emotion in his eyes is rawer than Klaus has ever seen in Diego, and it’s so weird being on the receiving end of it. He looks at Diego, getting a glimpse of the version of his brother he left behind months ago, and wonders if that Diego is sitting next to his window right now, hoping that tonight will be the night Klaus decides to come home with the same longing expression on his face.

Klaus had never been willing to entertain the thought of his siblings missing him as much as he missed them.

Clearly, he should have. 

Diego breaks eye contact, turning away and momentarily squeezing his eyes shut.

“You never did.”

Klaus looks down at his knees, suddenly finding it quite difficult to swallow. Maybe he should say something—apologize, perhaps—but he can’t bring himself to do so. He’s not sure he trusts himself not to start crying the moment he opens his mouth, so he keeps it shut, instead waiting for Diego to continue. 

“So there’s no way we’re leaving without you, not when we finally have you back in our lives,” Diego declares after clearing his throat, attempting to shake off the emotion and replace it with his usual tough demeanor. He’s partially successful. “Once we’re in 2019, we’ll get your powers under control, we’ll enroll you in school—you’ll have a normal life, one where you’re safe and happy. You don’t have to worry about anything anymore, Klaus—you’ll be able to just... be a kid.”

Normal. Klaus had never thought the possibility of normalcy was ever for him, and rightfully so—his powers and upbringing prevents him from experiencing any kind of life that resembles it. Yet, here Diego is, telling him that maybe there’s hope that kind of life is in the cards after all. 

For a moment, Klaus tries to imagine himself being dropped off at school by one of his siblings, the backpack on his shoulders filled with school supplies instead of food and clothes, a lunch box in his hand stuffed with a healthy and filling lunch. He tries to picture a world without ghosts (save for Ben, of course), having learned how to banish angry spirits from this realm. He tries to imagine all the things he’ll be able to experience when he’s living a “normal” life—including getting to know his adult siblings, who he hopes will all remain in his life even after going back to 2019. 

For some reason, the images don’t come to him.

Maybe he just needs time to process. 

The next morning, when the sunlight is shining through the motel room windows, Diego ushers Klaus into the other room where Five has been camping out when he’s not out training Vanya. At first, Five doesn’t even glance up at them from his notebook as he continues to scribble his equations into it fervently—it’s only when Diego pulls out the chair across from Five’s spot at the table and motions for Klaus to sit in it does he finally look up at them, a glint of annoyance in his face at the interruption.

“Five, we need to talk,” Diego starts, his voice serious and grim. 

Five’s eyebrows furrow. 

“Diego, I don’t have time—”

“Well, make time,” Diego cuts him off, an action that Five does not seem all that pleased about. “This is important.”

Five glares at him for a moment longer before letting out an impatient sigh, setting his pencil down on the table, leaning back in his chair, and stuffing his hands into his jacket pockets. “Fine. Tell me, Diego, what on Earth could be more important than stopping the apocalypse?”

Diego crosses his arms across his chest, maintaining eye contact with their eldest brother, not seeming bothered by Five’s obvious irritation. 

“Klaus, tell Five what you told me last night.”

Some of the heat leaves Five’s glare as his eyes shift to look at Klaus, raising his eyebrows ever so slightly. Klaus feels himself freeze up, unsure if Five will find his fear of his powers a big enough issue to spare a sliver of his attention originally reserved for the end of the world. Still, Klaus thinks he may cause even more trouble if he doesn’t say something right now, so he definitely will as soon as he can get his mouth to work. 

Diego rests a hand on Klaus’ shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze, and that gives Klaus all the courage he needs.

He tells Five everything. 

As he describes his fear of the ghosts, and his constant need to run away from them, the annoyed exasperation dissolves from Five’s expression and body language, replaced with genuine curiosity, and perhaps a hint of surprise. 

“I guess Vanya isn’t the only one with powers that the rest of us don’t understand,” Five mutters after Klaus finishes explaining, seemingly to himself as he grabs his journal again and flips to an empty page in the back. He picks up his pen and begins writing, his hand moving so fast that Klaus wonders how his brain is keeping up with whatever he’s jotting down. 

“You can help him, right?” Diego questions, “because sleeping in a bathtub for the rest of his life isn’t a viable option.”

Five pauses his writing to glare at Diego once again.

“I’m honestly insulted you think I can’t help him,” Five grumbles, and Diego holds a palm up in surrender. “ Of course I can help the kid—I’ll need more information, but after that, we’ll get it under control.”

Klaus draws a shaky breath when Five says that. Hope is blossoming in his chest at the thought of not seeing or hearing the ghosts anymore—and if there’s anyone on this planet who will be able to help him accomplish that, it’ll be Five. Ben, who’s lounging on one of the motel beds, is grinning wildly, and his happiness is so infectious that Klaus feels a smile spreading on his lips. 

Diego doesn’t want to let him go, Five is going to help him with his powers, and Ben is going to be there every step of the way.

Maybe, just maybe, everything’s going to be alright. 

Chapter Text

Klaus’ first training day with Five is today. 

He’s doing his best to pretend that he’s excited and not extremely nervous, but it’s hard. His father’s methods of training his powers involved tossing him into a mausoleum and leaving him there with the dead for hours upon hours on end. Now, though this version of his brother may seem very different from the one Klaus remembers, he doesn’t think Five would be so cruel to follow the same training regimen Reginald imposed on him—but his time in the mausoleum will forever be seared into his brain, so there’s no stopping the anxiety he’s feeling about training today. 

He’ll keep telling himself he’s excited—it makes him feel better overall. 

Unfortunately, his “excitement” is being temporarily sidelined because his sisters are refusing to let him leave until he finishes his lunch. 

"Please let me go,” Klaus pleads with them, his legs bouncing up and down as they itch to jump up from the chair he’s currently being imprisoned in. 

Not until you finish the sandwich, Allison’s notepad reads, her face stern in a very parental way. It’s weird because up until now Klaus never thought Allison of all his siblings would be the one to remind him most of his Mom, but she has the signature “mom” look down to a T. He knows it’s because she has a daughter named Claire, who he’s heard much about after asking about his niece in the future. Klaus thinks this version of Allison would be a great mom. 

“I’m not even hungry anymore, though,” Klaus protests, slumping into his chair exasperatedly. The peanut butter and jelly sandwich Vanya had made for him was certainly tasty, but after delightfully chomping through part of it he simply isn’t able to eat another bite. 

“Klaus, you haven’t even eaten half of it,” Vanya points out from where she’s sitting at the table next to him, her voice soft and gentle as it always is. 

Klaus shrugs, glancing down at the partially eaten sandwich. What is he supposed to do, make himself hungry again? Truth is, he’s already eaten more today than he usually ate in a day when living on the streets, but he doesn’t necessarily want to tell his sisters that because they get really sad whenever he mentions his time without a roof over his head. He supposes that the omission of that particular argument will cost him his case for leaving the table, but, well, he hates seeing Vanya and Allison sad, especially when it’s because of him. 

So instead, he decides to stubbornly cross his arms and pout until they eventually give up and release him.

“It’s no use, kiddo,” Ben comments from where he’s sitting criss-cross on the nearest motel bed, glancing up momentarily from the book he’s always reading. Klaus wonders how Ben always seems to know what he’s thinking. “On their own, maybe you’d be able to get out of it, but Allison and Vanya are a united front these days. You’d better just eat the sandwich, bud.”

Like the grown-up he considers himself to be, Klaus responds to his brother by sticking his tongue out. 

Ben smirks and looks back down at his book. 

“Three more bites,” Vanya attempts to compromise, and Klaus eyes her skeptically, not sure if he believes he’ll actually be allowed to go after eating three bites. 

“Only three?” Klaus raises his eyebrows, searching her face for any trace of dishonesty. As would be expected with Vanya, he doesn’t find anything, but still. It can’t hurt to be extra careful these days. 

“Only three,” Vanya confirms with a nod.

Klaus considers the proposition, looking back down at the sandwich in question. On one hand, he has no desire to eat any more than he already has. On the other hand, however, he thinks Ben might be right about his sisters being a united front, and eating three bites may be the only way they’ll let him go. Besides, there is a loophole—Vanya hasn’t specified how big each bite has to be, so he could take half a bite and it would count as a full bite. Then, he’d really only be eating one and a half bites. 

And Pogo used to tell him that arithmetic isn’t his strong suit. 

“Deal,” Klaus sticks out his hand for Vanya to shake, and she takes it, giving him an amused grin as they shake. Then, Klaus proceeds to pick up the sandwich and eats a small bite. (The trick is to make it look like you’re taking a big bite.)

If his sisters aren’t fooled by his plan to outsmart them, they don’t say anything about it. 

The door opens from behind him, and Klaus twists around in his chair to see Five standing in the doorway, journal tucked under his arm and a hand shoved into his pocket. 

“Can we go now, or are you two going to keep trying to stuff the kid’s face with food?” Five questions, removing his hand from his pocket to look at his watch, his face twitching with impatience when he reads whatever is on the face of the watch. 

“Making him finish a simple sandwich isn’t “stuffing his face with food”, Five,” Vanya firmly retorts, and even though Klaus is on the other side of this issue he can’t help but be impressed with the way she’s willing to go toe to toe with Five like this. 

Allison nods her head firmly in agreement, leveling Five with the same stern look she’d been giving Klaus just minutes earlier, but it doesn’t seem to have the same effect on Five, who just rolls his eyes in response.

“Whatever,” he huffs, shoving his hand back into his pocket and peering down his nose at Klaus. “Hurry up and give them what they want so we can go, alright? I don’t have all day.” 

“Says the time traveler,” Ben absently mutters without even glancing up from his book. 

Klaus nods hurriedly and takes a final bite of his sandwich, setting the other half down on the plate. “‘M done!” He announces through a mouthful of bread and peanut butter. He swallows it down, grabbing his juice box and sucking the last drops of juice through the straw. “Can I go now?” 

Vanya shares a look with Allison, who after a moment nods her head. Klaus doesn’t wait for a second longer and immediately jumps out of his chair, running towards the door where Five is waiting. 

“Be careful,” Vanya calls after him in her sweet, soft voice. Klaus turns around and gives her a salute before following Five out the door and onto the motel balcony. Ben doesn’t follow, probably too engrossed in his book to do so. That’s okay because Ben never seems to have trouble finding Klaus when they’re apart—Klaus’ powers tether them together. Ben will catch up with them eventually, Klaus knows. 

“Are we going to the same place we took Vanya to?” Diego asks as he steps out of the other motel room, all of his knives strapped securely across his chest. Klaus bounces from foot to foot, traces of red and blue lighting up the ground from his light-up sneakers as a result of his movements. He’s glad Diego is coming with them, simply because he’s grown closer to this version of Number Two in the time Klaus has been with them. His presence is much appreciated. 

“Yes,” Five says, pulling a set of keys out of his pockets. “I’m driving.”

“Driving?” Diego splutters, staring at the keys dangling from Five’s hand. “Where the hell did you get a car? Five, tell me you didn’t steal a car.”

“Of course not,” Five rolls his eyes. “I just… borrowed it for a bit.”

“Five—”

Five flashes away before Diego can finish. 

Diego sighs, reaching up to rub his temple with his fingers. Then, he glances back down at Klaus, a tired look on his face. “Don’t ever do what he does, got it? Whatever Five does, do the exact opposite.”

Klaus just grins and runs towards the stairs. 

He’s making no promises.

When they finally pull up to the large field thirty minutes outside of town, Klaus has found that the majority of his excitement has vanished, replaced with pure anxiety. 

Five takes the key out of the ignition and immediately flashes out of the car, reappearing yards away in the middle of the field. Diego scoffs after him, unbuckling his seatbelt while grumbling under his breath about how “the little shit won’t slow down” and getting out of the car. Klaus climbs out of the vehicle, his feet landing in soft grass that will probably stain his sneakers—not that he cares because his sneakers are already gross and dirty. What’s one more stain to add to the collection?

(Vanya has been trying her best to convince him to trade in his ratty light up sneakers for a new pair of white converse. As of now, Klaus has not given in, nor does his plan to give in. The shoes were a gift from a nice shoe store owner who gave them to him upon noticing his bare and scratched up feet, so they represent the fact that at least someone cared. Also, the lights are cool, and more importantly, scare away the ghosts. Can normal, boring white converse do that? He thinks not.)

“Alright, Klaus, let’s begin,” Five starts once Klaus and Diego finally make it over to the area of the field where Five has been waiting. “Now, from what I’ve gathered, your powers have much potential in many areas, but for the sake of safety we’re going to work on banishing spirits first.”

Klaus glances over at the many ghosts who have appeared around both Five and Diego since arriving here. They’re not as loud or clear as they have been in the last few days. Some of them just stand and stare, while a few others are shedding tears, and a select few are yelling and shouting about their unfair circumstances. Honestly, it’s not even that bad right now. 

Klaus nervously nods, clenching his fists together. 

“Hey, you’ve got this, little bro,” Diego rests a hand on Klaus’ shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. 

“Yeah,” Klaus breathes, forcing a smile on his face—he hopes it doesn’t look too weak. 

Diego gives Klaus’ curls a friendly ruffle before stepping away, allowing for all of Klaus’ attention to be on Five. Five has his journal in his hands, and that sort of reminds Klaus of his father, but unlike Dad’s cold, stoic expression, Five has a serious but reassuring look on his face. Dad was more focused on the journal in his hands than anything, but Five is gazing right at him, his full attention on Klaus. 

Yeah, Klaus tells himself, he’s got this. 

“Are there ghosts here, Klaus?” Five questions, flat-toned. 

Klaus sweeps his eyes over the many figures who are unseen by the rest of the world. “Yeah.”

He doesn’t miss the way Diego’s face darkens when he looks around, searching for the figures he’s unable to see and coming up empty as always. 

It’s the thought that counts. 

“Okay,” Five nods. “Pick one of the ghosts and push it away.”

Klaus swallows thickly, his eyes finding and settling on a crying woman with a hole in the middle of her forehead, blood leaking down her face and mixing with her tears. 

Klaus nods in understanding and raises his fists, clenching them together, and tries to will her away—but after a minute, nothing happens. 

“I—I can’t,” Klaus dejectedly tells Five, but Five’s face doesn’t waver. 

“Yes, you can, Klaus,” Five encourages, but after another minute of Klaus attempting and failing to push the ghost away, he sighs. “Okay, let’s try this: Klaus, what does the ghost look like?”

Klaus pauses, tilting his head as he thinks of how to best describe her. 

“She has a hole in her forehead, and there’s blood on her face.”

Klaus looks back at Five just in time to catch the tail end of a flash of surprise on his brother’s face before it disappears, shifting back into his usual blank expression. 

“And what do you think she’s feeling right now?”

Klaus looks back at the ghost, his chest twisting as her bottom lip wobbles and more tears gather in her eyes. 

“She’s sad…” Klaus murmurs, biting down on his lip to keep himself from crying. It’s like he can feel her sadness, her pain. “She won’t stop crying.”

“Okay,” Five says steadily. “Channel her sadness and use it to push her away to a better place.”

He can’t even imagine what it must be like to be trapped in the middle of realms, stuck for eternity with nobody but Klaus there to see and hear them. At least the times he’s died he went straight to the little girl. These people are tortured and alone, and there’s nothing Klaus can do for them, no matter how much he wishes he could do something to help them.

Including Ben.

Klaus nods and balls his fists together once more, clenching his jaw and staring as hard as he can at the woman. 

At first, nothing happens.

And then—

Klaus feels tingly, and when he glances down at his hands he sees a short spark of blue erupt from his fists before disappearing.

When he looks up, the woman isn’t gone, but she is standing a few feet away from where she was originally. 

Klaus looks from Five to Diego, trying to figure out if that was good or not, and judging by the way Diego is smiling and Five’s raised eyebrows, he thinks it is. 

They spend two more hours out in that field, and Klaus emits a few more blue sparks, but that’s it. He can’t say he’s not disappointed, because no matter how hard he tries the ghosts still stubbornly linger. Sure, he’s able to push them away a little bit, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s not much of an accomplishment in Klaus’ eyes. 

“Just keep trying, Klaus,” Five says after a while, and Klaus wonders if Five can tell that he’s starting to feel discouraged. 

He keeps trying. 

The car ride home is pretty much silent, save for Diego telling Klaus every ten minutes how proud he is of him. Klaus knows he should be proud of himself—this is the most progress he’s made in his life with his powers, but it’s just not enough for him. 

“Five, stop at that corner store, will you?” Diego points ahead at a building just as they’re reentering the city. “I need to run in and grab something.” 

“Ugh—fine,” Five sighs exasperatedly, as if Diego is asking him to drive to the end of the world instead of stopping the car for a few minutes. 

Five parks the car in front of the corner store, and Diego gets out of the passenger seat, slamming the door behind him and walking into the store. Klaus glances out his window and finds that the sky is now filled with grey clouds, contrasting the sunshine that had been out just hours earlier. The clouds block out any forms of lights, which cast heavy shadows on everything in sight. They’re early signs of a storm. Klaus hopes they can get home before the rain starts—just because he’s slept in the rain doesn’t mean he likes it. 

Klaus takes out the toy car he got from McDonald’s the other day and starts moving it around the seat next to him.

The sound of tapping attracts Klaus’ attention, and he looks up to see Five drumming his fingers against the steering wheel, looking straight ahead with the same blank expression on his face. 

“Five?” Klaus says, forgetting about the toy car for a moment because there’s something he’s been wanting to ask his brother ever since his talk with Diego that one night. 

Five hums in response, not seeming like he’s paying a ton of attention—despite this, Klaus pushes forward.

“Are you really gonna take me to 2019 with you?” 

Five’s fingers stop tapping the steering wheel, going completely still. 

“If that’s really what you want, I’ll calculate a way to do it,” Five answers slowly, but his brows are slightly knitted together as he does. 

“Oh, okay, cool,” Klaus looks back down at his toy car, but he doesn’t feel like playing with it anymore. “Do you… do you not want me to come with you?”

Five meets Klaus’ eyes through the rearview mirror. 

“I never said that,” Five breaks eye contact, staring straight out the windshield again. 

His tone isn’t very reassuring. 

“You don’t seem very happy about it, though,” Klaus quietly points out. 

For a minute, Five doesn’t respond, and Klaus isn’t sure Five is even planning on saying anything else on the subject. Klaus bites his lip and looks out the window, accepting that’s the end of the conversation, once again taking in quickly darkening clouds.

Then, Five sighs, shifting in his seat. 

“The reason Diego and the others are so excited about taking you with us is that they don't understand the possible consequences of time travel,” Five says, and Klaus’ eyes widen. He remembers Five telling him about how messing with any parts of the timeline could potentially have catastrophic results, so they have to keep the timeline intact as much as they can. Is Klaus a piece of the timeline that has to stay the same? “I do, which is why part of me is hesitant.”

“Because of the timeline,” Klaus fills in the blanks, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice. 

But instead of agreeing, Five frowns, twisting his head to glance over his shoulder at him. 

“No—I doubt you would have much impact on the overall timeline,” Five says, shaking his head.

Klaus is so very lost in confusion right now.

“I just—” Five sighs again, looking out his window so Klaus can’t see his face. “I don’t want you to do anything you’re going to regret later in life. If you want to come with us, I’ll make it happen. But make sure you think hard about it. Time travel is permanent, no matter how adjustable it seems.” 

Sometimes, it’s easy for Klaus to forget that Five accidentally got stuck in the future when he was thirteen years old. Five doesn’t talk about it a lot, only mentioning snippets of his time in the apocalypse, but Klaus has heard enough to know that it was a horrible thing for his brother to go through. Klaus can’t imagine being alone for forty-five years, and it just proves how strong Five is that he was able to live through it. 

“Do…” Klaus trails off for a moment, unsure if this is something he should ask. He decides to go ahead with it—he’ll deal with the consequences if it backfires on him. “Do you regret time traveling to the future?”

Luckily, Five doesn’t seem all that bothered by the question. 

“I certainly don’t regret it,” Five answers, resting one of his hands on the middle console and drumming his fingers on the surface. “Sure, it was horrible, but if I hadn’t, I might not have known about the apocalypse. If I hadn’t known about the apocalypse, I wouldn’t have been able to save everyone.”

That’s a fair answer. It also warms Klaus’ heart to know Five cares so much about his family that he survived forty-five years in the apocalypse just to eventually come back and save them.

“But… I missed out on a lot,” Five continues, and Klaus is sort of surprised that his usually stoic brother is allowing himself to share this much emotion. “I came back and all of our siblings were older and different.”

“Oh,” Klaus looks down at his hands. “Yeah.”

Because he understands what Five is getting at. He remembers the first time almost two weeks ago when he ran into the future versions of his siblings, and how they looked so different that Klaus couldn’t even recognize them. Honestly, he still can’t recognize them—sure, they have certain features that are the same, and Luther is pretty much the same in personality, but they’re basically different people than the ones Klaus knew months ago. In almost twenty years, they all changed into people so different that it sometimes doesn’t feel like he even knows them. 

Klaus loves his siblings from the future—he would love any version of them because at the core, he knows they’re his family and he’ll always love his family (excluding Dad, of course… Klaus doesn’t really like Dad all that much.)

But he can’t help but miss the siblings he left behind at the academy, the ones who are his age and are growing up with him. 

He misses his Ben so, so much. 

All he wants is to be able to hug his Ben tight, given he can’t hug the future version of Ben, but maybe that’s just not in the cards. 

Klaus isn’t sure which would be worse—staying here and not being able to save Ben, or time traveling to the future and knowing Ben as a ghost for the rest of his life. 

Before he can say anything, the passenger door opens again, and Diego gets back in the car, now with a plastic bag in his hands. Diego reaches into the bag and pulls a smaller package out, tossing it into Klaus’ lap. Klaus looks down and finds that it’s a bag of gummy worms. 

“Just for you, kiddo,” Diego winks, and Klaus smiles in thanks. 

Five puts the car back in drive and continues on their journey back home. 

Klaus only eats three gummy worms before his eyelids start to get heavy, and he lets them close as he leans his head on the chilled window, focusing on the movements of the car as time passes. Occasionally, Five and Diego have short, muted conversations, but the words just wash over Klaus without him comprehending what exactly they’re saying. The pitter-patter of the few drops of rain on the window lulls him into a light sleep until the car eventually stops and is turned off. 

Now, he knows he should probably open his eyes and get out of the car, but honestly, he’s so tired, and he wants to see what will happen if he pretends to be in a deep sleep. One of his brothers calls his name, but he doesn’t respond, just focusing on breathing normally. After a few moments of silence, his door opens, and hands catch him as he tilts without the window propping him up, another hand reaching over and unbuckling his seatbelt. 

Strong arms scoop him up, proving his ploy of pretending to be asleep to be successful. Content, Klaus can’t say he doesn’t enjoy being carried all the way upstairs and into their motel room, glad that he has a big brother who’s able to do just that. He feels himself get placed into his bed, hands removing his sneakers before pulling the blankets up around his shoulders. 

A hand runs through Klaus’ hair before disappearing, and with a click, the motel door shuts, rendering the room silent, save for a few ghosts here and there. 

Klaus falls asleep for real this time. 

When he wakes again, it’s dark outside. He sits up in his cot, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he looks blearily around the room—none of his siblings are in sight. Not even Ben, who usually sticks with him even when he’s sleeping, not that he blames Ben for not spending his time watching him sleep. He imagines that must be pretty boring. 

Not bothering to put his sneakers back on, he steps out of the motel room and heads towards the other room where he assumes his siblings all are. He’s bracing himself for Ben and his sisters asking about his first training session—he doesn’t feel like describing it right now. Though, he wouldn’t put it past Diego to have already told them everything. 

He approaches the door to the other motel room but stops when he hears Five’s voice, as serious as he’s ever heard it. 

“—know it’s not ideal, but it’s our best bet to stop the apocalypse,” Five’s voice says. 

Ah, they’re just talking about the apocalypse—they talk about that all the time. Klaus reaches up to knock on the door, wondering if they got dinner while he was sleeping. 

“Five, no way, that’s not happening,” Diego’s voice is hard, and Klaus’ hand freezes in midair. What could they be talking about to make Diego sound that defensive? 

“Diego, come on,” Luther’s voice sighs. “You know it’s our best option.”

“Fuck no!” Diego growls, and Klaus staggers at the use of such a heavy curse word. “We don’t know if it’s our best option. We have no idea what Reginald did to him in that house—we could be sending him straight back into the lion’s den!”

The realization hits Klaus like a ton of bricks.

They’re talking about him.

Worse, they’re arguing over whether to send him back to the Academy. 

“He said he ran away because of the ghosts,” Five says, “so if we train him well before sending him back he should be just fine.”

No.

No , this can’t be happening.

He waits for Diego to say something else, to shut the idea down because maybe the others would do this to him but Diego wouldn’t.

Right?

But Diego doesn’t say anything.

Klaus swallows shakily, his entire body trembling as he’s suddenly surrounded by four grey stone walls that are closing in on him, the ghosts reaching for him hungrily as the door begins to close, but this time, instead of Reginald standing at the entrance, it’s his siblings, closing the door as they prepare to trap him in there for all of eternity. He can’t wait for them to change their minds, he can’t stick around to try and explain, because every minute he spends here, the higher the risk they catch him and drag him back into Reginald’s clutches. 

He has to get out out out out out oUT OUT—

He doesn’t even grab his shoes and backpack—he just turns and runs. 

He runs down the hallway, down the stairs, down the street—

Klaus’ feet pound against the ground as he runs, runs, runs, sharp droplets of rain pelting onto his skin as he moves so fast that the world around him blurs. His lungs burn and his legs hurt, but the overwhelming fear pushes him to keep running, to never stop until he’s at the end of the world all by himself where nobody can hurt him again. He doesn’t care if he never sees his siblings again because going back to them would be like willingly reentering the mausoleum, and he can’t go back, he won’t go back, so he’ll keep running and running and running…  

He never should have stopped running. 

Chapter Text

“There you go, darling—all cleaned up!”

Mom gives Klaus her usual warm, kind smile as she steps away from him, her eyes sweeping over him one final time checking for any wound left unattended. 

For once, as much as he loves his mother, Klaus can’t find it in himself to match her enthusiasm. He glances down at his bandaged forearm, wincing in pain when he moves it, and tries not to remember the way it felt to have someone bite him so hard that he needed stitches afterward. He tries harder to forget cold, lifeless hands grabbing from every each way, digging their nails into his skin as they attempt to pull him apart piece by piece—

He blinks, forcing himself to shove that memory far, far away.

“Thanks, Mom,” Klaus mumbles, looking up from his arm to meet her eyes. Sometimes, he wonders if she’s actually looking at him, or if the kindness in her eyes is simply Dad’s programming. He knows that Mom isn’t a real person, no matter what Diego thinks or says, and he always has to be wary of what he tells her or shows her. 

He still loves her so much, though. 

“Of course, sweetheart,” Mom beams, reaching out to gently touch his cheek. “Now, run along off to bed, now—you have three hours until breakfast, so be sure to get some sleep.”

Klaus slides off the infirmary table, taking care to not jostle his injured arm.

“I will, Mom,” Klaus promises, giving her a weak smile. 

Then, he hugs her, wrapping his arms around her skirt as tight as he can, not caring that the movement is sending sparks of pain up his arm and face. 

Because Klaus knows he’s not going to be at breakfast tomorrow. 

“G'night, Mom,” Klaus whispers, and he’s trying so hard not to cry. “I love you.”

She whispers her affections in his ear before brushing his curls back and sending him on his way. Klaus leaves the infirmary, his heart pounding because this is it—for his plan to work, it’s now or never. The floorboards beneath his feet creak and squeal as he pads down the hallway where his bedroom is, cringing at each sound his footsteps emit. 

“Klaus?” 

At first, Klaus thinks it’s a ghost who’s calling his name, so he jumps and spins around to make sure he can’t make this ghost corporeal. However, instead of an ugly, angry ghost, Klaus sees the surprised face of Ben in the hallway just outside his bedroom, staring at him with big brown eyes. 

“Klaus… what happened to your face?” Ben whispers, an aura of shock lining his words. 

Klaus lifts a hand to his face, tracing his fingers over the multiple band-aids that cover his cheeks and forehead. 

“Oh, you know,” Klaus tries his thing where he puts on a fake smile long and waits for it to become a real one. (Most of the time it works—he’s gotten quite good at it.) He searches within his mind, trying to come up with a decent excuse for why he looks like a very low-budget Frankenstein’s monster, but in the end, he comes up empty. He feels his smile fall just a bit, suddenly unable to keep it up. “Training.” 

Understanding washes over Ben’s face. Klaus knows out of all his siblings, Ben would get the perils and scariness of training with Dad. He’s not exactly sure what Dad does to Ben on his special training days—they don’t like to talk about training very much—but he assumes it’s bad. It has to be, judging by the nightmares Ben has on a nightly basis. 

“Did you make the ghosts corporeal?” Ben gasps because he knows that’s Klaus’ worst fear of all time. 

Klaus swallows hard and nods, not ready to relive such a frightening experience so soon after it happened. 

“And did… they… do that ?” Ben furrows his eyebrows together as he nods to the bandage on Klaus’s arm. 

Klaus nods again. 

“Ben, I—” Klaus looks back down at his bandage, feeling the familiar terror begin to creep up his throat. “I think they’re gonna kill me, Ben. They want to kill me, and they’re gonna.”

(Unbeknownst to Klaus, the little girl hears this and sighs.)

The intensity of his words makes Ben stumble backward, his brother pressing a hand to his stomach as his face twists in pain. 

“What? No, they’re not…” Ben trails off, and Klaus gives him a knowing look. There’s no denying what they both already know: Klaus’ powers will be the end of him. Then, Ben’s expression gets fierce. “Maybe they’ll try, but you can’t let them, Klaus. You gotta stay, got it?”

Ben looks genuinely afraid for him, and it feels like someone is twisting a knife in Klaus’ chest. 

“You gotta survive,” Ben tells him seriously, his voice hushed as to not wake any of their other siblings. 

Ben’s eyes are so bright, so full of hope.

Klaus can’t stay, but he’ll do his very best to survive. 

“You too, Benny,” Klaus whispers, tears building up behind his eyes as he realizes this may very well be the last time he ever sees Ben. “You survive and I’ll survive.”

Ben nods and sticks out the hand not pressed to his tummy. “Deal. We just have to stick together.”

Klaus draws in a shaky breath, and shakes Ben’s hand, unable to look his unsuspecting brother in the eyes. 

“See you in the morning,” Ben gives him a soft smile as they break off the handshake, stepping towards his bedroom. 

“Yeah,” Klaus chokes out. “See you.”

He stands there until Ben’s door clicks shut. 

Turning around and going into his room, he gently closes the door, leaning his body against it as he gathers himself. God, no matter how many times Klaus had dreamed about running away, he knows it’s still gonna hurt like hell. This may very well be the hardest thing he’ll ever have to do in his life.

(Nope.

It’s up there, though.)

Sucking in a deep breath, Klaus pushes himself away from the door and tiptoes over to his wardrobe, opening it and pulling out his backpack. It’s stuffed with everything he’ll need to survive, at least for a little while. A couple of boxes of granola bars he snuck from the kitchen, a water bottle, a few changes of clothes. He knows it won’t last him long, but right now he’s just focusing on getting out. 

He can’t stop and think about anything—he just needs to go . 

Klaus pulls the backpack onto his shoulders and begins to walk towards the window, ready to climb out and down the fire escape. On his way there, however, something on his bed catches his eye, and it makes him stop in his tracks. Unicorn is sitting still, as always, but it feels like the stuffed animal is watching him leave everything and everyone he loves behind. 

Somehow, the way Unicorn is staring at him makes him start to cry silent tears. 

So he walks over to his bed and grabs the stuffed animal, hugging the unicorn to his chest with his good arm. 

Klaus climbs out the window and only looks back once. 

Eventually, Klaus slows from a full-on sprint to a dejected walk. 

The sky is so dark that the stormy clouds in it are hardly visible, and the only sign that they’re up there at all is the rain that’s steadily falling from the heavens. Klaus shivers, wrapping his arms around himself, wishing he’d at least been able to grab his sneakers before leaving because his socks are soaked. He doesn’t even recognize what part of the city he’s in, which means he must have gone very far from the streets that he’s grown accustomed to over the last six months. There’s no one in sight, living or dead, rendering Klaus completely and utterly alone. 

Klaus’ footsteps echo off the large buildings he’s surrounded by as he walks along the sidewalk. It’s almost peaceful, Klaus would think if he wasn’t primarily moving out of pure fear. The memory of the mausoleum pushes him now, just as it pushed him out his bedroom window what feels like forever ago. 

“Klaus!”

Klaus’ heart jumps into his throat when he hears Ben’s voice from behind him, and it subconsciously makes him pick up his pace. He won’t turn around and look at Ben, he won’t. Sure, there’s nothing Ben can do except say words, and words won’t drag him back to the mausoleum, but regardless he doesn’t want to listen to anything any of his siblings have to say. 

“Klaus, what on Earth are you doing out here?” Ben sounds confused, but for all Klaus knows he could be playing dumb in order to lure Klaus back to the others. Nope, that’s not happening, Klaus won’t let it happen. “Klaus—”

“ Go away ,” Klaus spits out, hating the tears that are burning behind his eyes. 

A moment passes without Ben saying anything, and Klaus wonders if it’s too much to hope that he actually went away. 

“I… what?” 

Klaus doesn’t answer, just simply hugs himself even tighter and continues walking. 

“Klaus, buddy, I don’t know why you’re out here, but we really need to go back to the—”

Klaus stops in his tracks, unfolding his arms and spinning around to face the ghost of his brother. 

“I’m not going back,” Klaus hisses, and Ben’s eyes widen in surprise. “I know Five and Luther are gonna send me back but I’m not gonna let ‘em, so leave me alone and go away! ”

“Send you—” Ben stops, realization dawning on his face. “Oh. Oh. You heard what Five was saying earlier, didn’t you?”

Klaus doesn’t respond, just turns back around and keeps walking down the dark, broken sidewalk. 

“Klaus, wait, please,” Ben calls after him, his voice following behind him, but Klaus doesn’t stop. “Okay, listen, I can’t deny that Five brought the idea up, but not even Five would be so cruel as to force you back to the Academy against your will. I promise, buddy.”

“Stop lying to me ,” Klaus growls, because he doesn’t believe Ben one bit. Not this time, not when there’s this much at stake. Ben has always been too optimistic for his own good, seeing the best in everyone, and Klaus knows he’s wrong this time. 

“Klaus—” Ben tries again, but Klaus isn’t done, he’s not going to let them keep doing this. He comes to a complete halt, feeling the terror in his bloodstream slowly morph into a wave of burning anger because he’s tired of being lied to like a baby. 

“Everyone keeps telling me that they missed me and that they want me to go to 2019 with them, but they don’t ,” Klaus shouts at Ben, his voice echoing off the empty street next to them. “You keep saying that it’s okay that I’m afraid and that it’s not my fault, but—but I—”

And suddenly, as quickly as the anger came, it immediately leaves, replaced with complete and utter sadness and weariness. 

“It’s my fault,” Klaus whispers, the salty tears spilling from his eyes getting mixed with the many drops of rain on his cheeks and nose.

Ben looks heartbroken.

“What’s your fault?” Ben asks in a sad, hushed voice. 

As if Ben doesn’t know. 

“ Everything ,” he wraps his arms around himself, as if trying to physically hold himself together, and sits down on the street curb. His socks are half-submerged in rainwater, but he can’t find it in himself to care. “Running away…” but that’s not it. That’s not what he means, he knows it deep down, and he wonders if Ben knows it too. He glances up at the ghost of his brother, hating the way the rain falls straight through him… because he’s not here. Not really. He’s been dead for years and years and years. “You.” 

He’s not looking up at Ben, so he can’t see his brother’s reaction to what he’s just admitted, but he can hear his brother sputter from where he’s still standing. 

“And I—I miss my brothers and sisters… the ones I remember ,” Klaus chokes on a sob at the memory of the siblings he left behind—an unapologetic Diego, a fun, ambitious Allison, a Five who isn’t followed by the literal ghosts of his bloody past. A Ben who isn’t dead. He misses them so, so much . “But they’re gone and I dunno if I’ll ever see them again.”

Silently, Ben sits down on the curb beside him, resting his forearms on his knees.

“First of all,” Ben starts, “Klaus, you need to understand—nothing that happened to me was remotely your fault. At all.”

“But—”

“ No. Klaus, bud… sometimes, bad things just… happen ,” Ben stresses. “That mission was one I just wasn’t supposed to come back from. The Horror decided the blood I’d given it wasn’t enough, so it… converged in on me.”

Klaus swallows thickly at the image of his brother getting torn apart by the monster inside him. He remembers asking how it happened, but Ben had declined to answer, saying he didn’t want him to worry. Now that he has the answer, he thinks he understands why Ben was originally so reluctant to tell him. It’s certainly not a pretty image.

“And second… Klaus, we’re still the same people we used to be. Maybe we look different, but other than that, we’re the same siblings you used to know.”

But Klaus knows that’s not true, no matter how much he appreciates the sentiment. 

“ No , you’re not ,” Klaus sniffles, rubbing a fist against a very wet eye, though he’s not sure if it’s tears or raindrops sticking to his eyelashes. Probably both. “You just don’t see it.”

Ben doesn’t argue. He just heaves a heavy sigh, looking down at his pristine black shoes. 

“Maybe you’re right,” Ben admits, and that’s enough to at least slow Klaus’ tears. “I mean, even though I died at sixteen I still grew up with them, so maybe I can’t see how different they are. Well… except for Five.”

Klaus tenses at the mention of their oldest brother. He doesn’t want to think about him, not when Five wants to throw him back into the Academy and wipe his hands of him once and for all. 

Ben seems to pick up on his tension. 

“You didn’t hear the whole conversation,” Ben tells him. “Sure, Five thinks maybe you could stop the apocalypse… but that’s not the reason he wants you to go back.”

“Then why?” Klaus snaps, even though he doesn’t mean to sound so harsh. 

“Five disappeared when we were thirteen… and the kid who ran out that door never came back,” Ben’s eyes cloud over from the memory. Klaus thinks if he’d had to see Five run away and never come back, he’d be pretty sad too. “He reappeared only a few weeks ago, but he missed out on almost two decades with the others, so he knows first hand how strange that can be. I know you think he’s being mean, and that he doesn’t want you to come to the future with us, but he really does love you, and he wants the best for you.”

“But I do wanna go to the future,” Klaus forces himself to argue, but his heart isn’t in it. He’s not exactly sure why he’s not fighting as hard to convince the others that this is what he wants. It is what he wants, is it not? He wants that white picket fence and loving home, right? 

“Do you?” Ben gently challenges, sitting up straighter. Klaus opens his mouth to say yes, of course, I do, but Ben continues speaking before Klaus has the chance. “Do you want to go to the future with us? Or do you actually want to go back home, but your fear of the ghosts and the mausoleum are stopping you from doing that?" 

And Klaus—

Well, Klaus is completely gobsmacked. 

Because one, it hits him hard . His fear of the mausoleum and the ghosts that haunt it will always follow him in the back of his mind, and he can still feel the phantom pains from when the ghosts dug their nails into his skin, dragging them down his face and arms with enough force to make them bleed heavily. He knows that no matter how hard he tries, he’s never going to be able to control the powers he was cursed with, so instead, he ran and continues to run to this day. 

He isn’t afraid of his dad, contrary to popular belief. Not like Ben or Vanya were, anyway. Granted, Klaus hates his father, and before he ran away, he never gave up any opportunities to challenge or defy him, always willing to see how far he could push him before Dad snapped entirely. 

But there’s nothing his father could do that would scare him more than the ghosts. 

And maybe there’s a reason he can’t picture himself living any aspects of a normal life in the future… because he knows deep down he’ll never belong there.

Two… Ben knows about the mausoleum?

“How—how do you know about that?” Klaus demands, the surprise he feels drying up any of the tears left in his eyes. “About the mausoleum? I didn’t—I didn’t tell anyone , and Dad never talked about special training with anyone else.”

Ben seems to realize what he said, and Klaus is almost taken aback by the way Ben’s face darkens. It feels like Ben is purposely trying to avoid making eye contact with him, his eyes trained on the wet asphalt beneath his feet. Klaus continues to watch him, however, finding that he needs an honest answer this time. 

“You… told me about it,” Ben murmurs, his face twisted in pain. “In the future.”

The admission knocks the wind out of Klaus, and for a split second, he forgets to breathe as he stares at Ben with wide eyes. 

He hadn’t asked any of his siblings if they’d met him in the future, assuming that if they had, they would bring it up. He really wouldn’t put it past himself to have skipped town and never looked back… and that hurts him. Is Klaus so frightened that his destiny is to never see his siblings again? 

Now, he’s realizing that maybe that’s not the case.

But why had Ben kept this to himself for all this time?

“You saw me in the future?” Klaus breathes, feeling a twinge of excitement, but the way Ben’s face is darkening by the second is keeping him from feeling too hopeful. “What was I like?”

For a moment, Ben doesn’t answer—just clenches his jaw, his eyes still staring at his shoes. 

“You… you were finally happy,” Ben says, and Klaus scrunches his nose at the incredibly vague and boring answer. “It took you a long time, and you struggled for a while on the streets. But… there , you were happy.” 

Klaus blinks owlishly. “... there ?”

Ben looks like he’s going to cry, and it’s probably only because he doesn’t have a body that he’s not already leaking from the eyes. Klaus shifts uncomfortably.

“I saw you in 2006,” Ben answers finally, and Klaus furrows his eyebrows together. “It was… right after I died. The little girl pointed me in your direction.”

It takes a moment for it to click. 

And then, Klaus understands. 

“Oh,” Klaus says, a slight frown etched in his face. “But… the little girl never lets me stay. She told me she doesn’t like me, so she always kicks me out.”

Ben sighs.

“Yeah. Eventually, she took pity.”

“Oh,” Klaus says again, but his voice is quieter this time. He tries to imagine the little girl taking pity on him, and is unable to picture it. 

He should probably be more upset about this. He should probably be freaking out, sobbing uncontrollably at the knowledge that one day before 2006, the little girl will decide to break up their usual routine and not send him back down to Earth. Any other normal kid would react that way, right?

Except, Klaus has never been a normal kid. 

So instead, he simply swallows hard and tries not to think about his inevitable end. 

At least Ben says he was happy after death. 

That has to mean something .

Ben clears his throat after an entire minute passes. 

“We didn’t have much time to talk, because I wanted to go back down to Earth… I couldn’t leave the others, even when they couldn’t see me,” Ben tells him, his expression lightening the tiniest bit. “But you said you wished you hadn’t let fear dictate so much of your life.”

Klaus bites down on his bottom lip, unsure of what to say to that. 

“So I just… I think that you need to do what you want, and be who you want,” Ben finally looks up and meets Klaus’ gaze. His brown eyes are full of raw pain, but there’s hope there, too, and Klaus wishes he could know what his brother has going through his mind right now. He has a feeling there’s a lot there that he’ll never be able to unearth.  

( Brown, young, hope-filled eyes—

“We just have to stick together.”)

“What do you want, Klaus?” Ben asks softly. The rain is beginning to pick up, and Klaus begins to shiver. 

“I… “ Klaus begins to respond, but then trails off, because he’s not sure what he wants. 

Or, maybe he knows what he does want, but has always been held back because he never thought what he wants is obtainable. 

“I don’t want to be scared anymore,” Klaus whispers, more to himself than to Ben, and admitting that feels like a weight off his shoulders. “I hate being afraid of the ghosts. I wish I could do more than run from them.”

Ben nods in understanding.

“It’s okay to be afraid sometimes,” Ben says quietly. “It’s what you do with that fear that counts.”

They sit in silence for a moment, taking in each other’s company. He wonders what he’s going to do next. Just minutes ago, he’d been dead set on running far from this city, especially because his future siblings might be searching for him, but now, he’s not so sure. 

For now, though, he’s content to just sit. 

From across the street, a movement catches his eye. Next to the entrance of an alleyway a few buildings down and across from where Klaus and Ben are sitting, he spots a dark figure standing freakishly still. He would assume it’s just a ghost, but if it is, it’s the weirdest ghost he’s ever laid eyes on, and that’s saying something. The person isn’t saying anything and just seems to be staring at him—not that Klaus can tell because the person is wearing a dark helmet that covers their face. 

“Hey, Ben?” Klaus whispers, not taking his eyes off the figure. “Is that person a ghost?”

Ben frowns at the question, turning his head to look in the direction of the figure. Klaus expects Ben to confirm that it’s a ghost, and maybe tell him that it’s time to head home before more ghosts start showing up around them. 

What he doesn’t expect, however, is the non-existent blood to drain from Ben’s face.

“ Shit ,” Ben curses, which is weird because Ben hardly ever curses. “ Shit , Klaus, we gotta go, like now. Stand up and follow me close, okay?”

Ben immediately stands and begins walking back down the sidewalk the way they came, away from the figure. 

“O-okay,” Klaus obediently agrees, shakily rising to his feet and following on Ben’s heels. “Ben, wh—”

Ben shushes him hurriedly, and Klaus snaps his mouth shut. 

“I’ll explain later, once you’re somewhere safe,” Ben promises, looking over his shoulder every couple of seconds in a paranoid manner that is not helping Klaus stop himself from freaking out. Trusting that Ben knows what he’s doing, Klaus continues to quietly follow him. 

They turn the nearest corner, which results in Ben’s shoulders releasing a fraction of the tension they'd been originally holding the last two minutes or so. 

“Go down this alleyway,” Ben orders firmly, pointing to the empty alleyway that they’re standing in front of. The alley is empty with nothing but a green dumpster pushed up against one of the brick walls, and more importantly, devoid of any people, dead or living. The large buildings on either side of it cast one giant shadow over it, and the rain pouring from above patters loudly on the dumpster. 

So in all, not the worst alley Klaus has had the pleasure of staying in. 

Ben’s eyes are darting every which way as Klaus enters the alley, his brother seeming more nervous and panicked than Klaus has ever seen him. He’s mumbling to himself words that Klaus can’t make out, which is also rare for someone as calm and level headed as Ben. Klaus just wishes Ben would tell him what exactly is going on—the figure that was watching them is clearly someone dangerous or bad, judging by Ben’s initial reaction to it. 

Klaus gets halfway down the alley before he hears a gun cock from behind him. 

A mangled scream gets caught in Klaus’ throat at the sudden noise, and he spins around to see multiple people in dark uniforms and masks standing at the mouth of the alley, guns in their hands and pointed right at him . 

“Aw, shit,” one of the figures says, and it sounds like the voice of a man. “They didn’t tell us it’s a little kid.”

Klaus looks to Ben, who’s standing beside him, but he’s looking upwards. 

Following his line of sight, Klaus realizes more figures are standing on the rooftops above them, guns pointed downwards. 

“Orders are orders, Dan,” another figure says grimly. 

Is… is he about to die? Now? Up until tonight, he’d assumed that the little girl would always send him back to Earth until he’s old and grey, but according to Ben, she might decide to keep him upstairs earlier than he originally thought. What if he doesn’t come back, and he never gets to see any of his siblings ever again, current or future?

Klaus gulps, taking a frightened step backward as his heart pounds in his ears. 

“Don’t worry, kiddo,” another figure says, an ugly kind of sweetness dripping from her voice. “We’ll make this quick and painless, but only if you stand still for us.”

“ No! ” Ben cries out, stepping in front of Klaus protectively, but nobody around them bats a single eye. It’s no use—just like Klaus wasn’t able to save Ben, Ben won’t be able to save Klaus. Life always tends to repeat itself in cruel ways, Klaus has found. 

Because Klaus is no superhero. He can’t throw knives, or teleport, or tell rumors. He doesn’t have super strength, or the ability to channel sound waves, and he doesn’t have a tentacle monster in his tummy. No, all he has is the ghosts who he fears and runs from at any chance he gets—the monsters who reach for him and grab at him with hatred in their eyes and their hearts, ready to tear him apart at the first chance they get. 

Even if he tried, he wouldn’t be able to save Ben… and he’ll never be able to save himself. 

So he kept running and running and running, but now he’s trapped in a corner and there’s nothing he can do. 

He guesses he’ll have to take the chance and see if the little girl will send him back this time—it might be the first time he’s going to beg her to send him back.

Klaus clenches his fists together so tightly that his nails are digging into his palms, his entire body trembling as he feels familiar terror flow through his veins, spreading from his heart to his chest to his arms to his hands, keeping his heart pumping rapidly. Perhaps fear is his actual power, gripping onto him and refusing to let go no matter what anyone says. Fear is power, and he feels that power now and—

A chorus of gasps come from every direction, and he even hears a couple of guns clatter to the ground. Klaus finds that strange because nothing of importance has happened, at least that he knows of, and neither Ben nor Klaus have moved an inch in the last few moments.

Wait. 

Is Ben… glowing ?

Klaus’ eyes widen in surprise as he realizes his brother’s form is glowing a bright blue, illuminating the dark shadows around them, chasing away the darkness. Ben, catching on to what’s happening, turns halfway to look at Klaus, looking as surprised as everyone else which probably means this hasn’t happened to him before. Ben meets his eyes, but then they move downward, and Klaus follows his gaze, looking down at his own hands. 

His fists are glowing the same bright blue.

Klaus snaps his head up just in time to see Ben spin back around towards the bad guys. 

And then, chaos ensues. 

Ben lifts his shirt and lets the Eldritch loose. Screams erupt from all over as the sounds of flesh tearing and bones breaking crack through the night. The tentacles throw people into buildings so hard that the bricks crumble, leaving large people shaped dents in the wall. Then, the gunfire starts, shooting directly at Ben and his tentacles, but since he’s dead, well, the bullets don’t do much of everything. 

It’s a total war zone, and Klaus is in the center of it. 

One of the tentacles comes towards him, but Klaus is frozen in fear, unable to make himself run as he focuses on channeling all his fear and power into Ben. Luckily, the tentacle doesn’t do much besides pushing him back behind the dumpster out of the line of fire before retracting and going back to work. Klaus scrambles into the corner between the dumpster and the wall, squeezing his eyes shut tight and allowing himself to feel his terror, keeping his fists blue. 

He’s not sure how long he’ll be able to keep this up. 

For what feels like hours but is probably only a few minutes, the chaos goes on, and even though sometimes he gets a splash of blood on his face from one of the tentacles throwing a bad guy onto the ground nearby, he doesn’t worry about it too much because he’s sure the pouring rain is washing the red right off. 

He simply allows everything to fade away until all he can hear is the sound of his heart pounding in his chest and his ears. 

Then, a hand taps his knee. 

Klaus startles, more sparks of power erupting from his hands, but then he lays eyes on a blood-soaked Ben crouching in front of him and immediately relaxes just a little bit. Ben, however, is completely frozen and keeps looking back and forth between his hand and Klaus. At first, Klaus thinks it’s weird until it hits him.

Ben touched his knee. 

Klaus reaches a trembling, shaky, glowing palm out towards Ben, and Ben lifts his hand—

And presses their palms together. 

Klaus wastes none but two seconds before launching himself into his brother’s arms, wrapping his arms around him as tight as he physically can. Ben immediately returns the hug, one hand on Klaus’ back and the other stroking through his wet curls, holding him close to his chest. It’s the best hug he’s received in a very long time, and Klaus decides he’s never going to let go. 

He’s a little worried his power will run out, and Ben will become incorporeal once more, but minutes pass and that doesn’t happen.

Ben stays. He always has, and he always will. 

With his body shivering and soaked to the bone and his hands glowing fiercely, Klaus closes his eyes, allowing these moments to blur together. 

For as long as Klaus is awake, Ben never lets go. 

Chapter Text

Klaus is warm. 

It’s the kind of warmth that seeps deep into your bones and washes away any sense of reality until you’re bathing in blissful nothing.

Distantly, Klaus registers a voice in his ear. The voice has an urgent edge to it, but despite that, he’s unable to piece together the sounds swirling around his head to figure out what the voice is saying, and instead allows the words to vanish into the air as quickly as they were spoken. He figures that nothing could be more important than how safe and comforting the warmth and the nothingness feel. 

He falls deeper.

The sound of an engine nearby and the voice sighing in relief briefly tears him away from the darkness once more, and there’s a harsh bright light infiltrating the blissfully dark cloud he’s curled upon. Loud footsteps echo around him, and then more voices join the first, but he can’t recognize or tell any of them apart, so they just blend together in his mind. Klaus’ name is being called, he realizes, but he simply doesn’t have the desire to respond to the calls—though, he’s sure his father won’t be happy at his unwillingness to cooperate. Whatever... he’ll deal with the consequences later. 

For now, he just wants to sink back into nothingness. 

But then there’s a large, calloused hand gripping his shoulder, albeit gently, and it’s shaking him out of the darkness, much to Klaus’ annoyance. He tries to express his extreme discomfort by letting out a whine, but this only results in a smaller hand repeatedly tapping his cheek, a shrill voice loudly demanding he open his eyes  right this instant or I swear to god, Klaus—

Maybe if he gives in to their requests they’ll go away.

Klaus forces his eyelids to crack open and is almost blinded by a bright light shining from a distance. There’s the face of a man hovering in his line of sight, worry etched into the lines of his face—Klaus feels he should maybe recognize him, but he can’t put a finger on who it is for the life of him. 

Suddenly, the unfamiliarity of the situation strikes cold into his chest, and he feels his body begin to violently shiver. 

“...Mom?” Klaus rasps out because maybe she’s somewhere he can’t see. He craves his mother’s gentle touch, her kind, soothing voice, her comforting nature. His eyes dart around every which way, too tired to actually sit up or even turn his head, searching for her, but to his dismay, she’s nowhere to be found. 

The eyes of the man above him widen at Klaus’ request for his mother, and he lets out a strained choking noise. 

Maybe he knows where Mom is. 

“I… where’s my mom?” Klaus whimpers, the claws of cold desperation gripping onto him, digging into his soul. “Please… I want my mom.”

Klaus frantically waits for an answer as the man flounders.

“Klaus, buddy, M-Mom i-isn’t h-here,” he whispers, his eyes sad.

“Diego, we need to get him in the car,” another voice just out of Klaus’ eyesight interjects before Klaus can comprehend what the man said about his mom. Wait… Diego… that’s his brother’s name… but if Mom isn’t here then Diego isn’t here either. 

The hand on his shoulder lifts, and then big arms scoop his body up, but Klaus is sinking again, reality slipping away from him no matter how much he wants to stay awake and figure out what’s going on and where Mom is. 

And once again, nothing. 

He’s not sure how much time passes before the demanding voices return. It must have been more than a few minutes, Klaus thinks, because when his eyes open again he realizes his surroundings have shifted from a dark alleyway to a room with a soft light illuminating the walls, ceiling, and… Five? Well, he thinks it’s Five who’s standing next to his bed, but it’s not exactly the Five Klaus knows—the boy in front of him looks older and worn down like he has decades upon decades of hardships and struggles under his belt. This can’t be Klaus’ Five, because the Five he knows is arrogant, fiery, and youthful. 

Older Five sticks a hand on Klaus’ forehead. Klaus tries to bat it away, confused by the action, but he finds that he’s mostly unable to move. He glances down and realizes he’s buried under a big pile of blankets. 

Still, Klaus isn’t quite clear on if it’s the blankets weighing his limbs down or if it’s the nothingness that’s biding it’s time until it can pull him back into its dark clutches. 

He has his answer once the world slips away from him for the third time. 

The last thing he registers is the hand on his forehead tenderly brushing his sweaty curls from his face. 

When he wakes next, he’s coherent. Sure, his brain is a bit fuzzy, and he can’t really remember exactly when or how he got to where he is right now, but he can think straight and that’s what matters. There’s silence around him, with all he can hear is the steady sound of the air conditioning unit pushing out cool air, which feels good on the skin that’s exposed and not buried under a pile of blankets. 

He blinks his eyes open to see a tired-looking Vanya sitting in a chair next to his bed, her eyes trained on the pages of her book. 

He stirs, shifting his body onto his side so he can see his sister more easily, and when he does her eyes snap up to look at him. 

“Hey, Vanny,” Klaus whispers, wincing at how dry and rough his throat feels when he speaks. 

“Hi, Klaus,” Vanya gives him her classic soft smile, her eyes kind as she closes her book and places it onto the nightstand beside her, then picking up a glass of water with a straw sticking out of it. It’s a fun, curly straw, Klaus notices with glee, and it almost makes up for the fact that he feels kind of crummy right now. “How are you feeling? Do you think you can sit up?”

Klaus wordlessly nods, not wanting to use his voice knowing how much it will hurt if he does, and Vanya helps him sit up, propping up one of the many motel pillows behind his back. He greedily grabs the glass of water, shakily hugging it to his chest as he sucks down half the liquid inside it. He’s pretty sure it’s the best thing he’s ever tasted in a while. 

After he’s had enough to drink, Vanya takes the glass from his hands, and as she’s setting it back onto the nightstand Klaus blinks owlishly around him, taking in the sight of a glaringly empty motel room, devoid of any of his future siblings save for Vanya. Not even Ben is in the room, surprisingly. 

Ben .

Klaus’ eyes widen as he looks down at his hands, remembering the way they glowed blue with power. Suddenly, everything comes rushing back to him—running away, his chat with Ben, the strange, scary people who were probably about to kill him, and the clearest moment of all, a blue Ben, his tentacles protecting him from yet another visit upstairs, which he now knows could very well become permanent. 

“Klaus—” Vanya begins, her brows furrowed, a sign that she’s noticed his change in demeanor and is concerned, but Klaus cuts her off before she can ask questions.

“I made him real,” Klaus tells her hushedly, raising his head to look her in the eyes. “Vanya— Ben —I made him  real . He was  real  and  solid  and he  hugged  me!”

Vanya simply stares at him for a moment, her mouth in a cycle of opening and closing as she processes this information. 

Klaus takes her lack of response to elaborate.

“Those guys were there, and I was  so  scared, but then my hands were glowing  blue  because I was  making Ben real,  just like I made the other ghosts real in the m—”

He cuts himself off there, simply because he’s trained his brain overtime to not allow his mouth to utter the forbidden word.

Then, in the back of his mind, he recalls someone mentioning that Vanya was also put in a cage because of her powers. 

“Vanya?” Klaus swallows thickly because he has a feeling what he’s about to ask isn’t exactly going to result in a lighthearted answer. “Did… did Luther lock you in a cage?”

Vanya looks blindsided by the question, which is a reasonable response in Klaus’ book. She shifts uncomfortably in her chair, glancing over at the motel door as if hoping someone will walk through and save her. Klaus does start to feel bad about asking a question that is clearly off-limits, but he  has  to know if what Diego said the other week is true. 

“I, um…” Vanya fumbles, before giving a small, defeated sigh. “He did. It was a soundproof cage—Dad built it with my powers in mind.”

Klaus nods, not liking the visual of his sweetest sister trapped in a cell specifically made for her. 

“Was it… scary?” Klaus peers up at her from under his eyelashes and watches as her frown etched into the lines of her face deepens. She looks down at her own hands, which are trembling. Klaus’ own hands tremble when he’s afraid, so maybe she’s afraid too. 

Then, she raises her head again and nods, her lips pursed together tight. 

“Of course it was,” Vanya’s voice is no louder than a whisper, but Klaus can hear her clearly. There’s a hint of frustration in her tone too like she’s not sure why Klaus is even bringing this up in the first place. “It was horrible and dark and hurtful to be put in there in the first place by people you thought should love you...”

She trails off, but Klaus doesn’t need anything else. He’s already picturing the mausoleum clearly in his mind, the dark walls looming over him as the ghosts surrounding him are begging to be able to rip him limb from limb. Maybe it was like that for Vanya, maybe it was different altogether. Either way, it was scary for her, which means it’s okay that it was scary for Klaus, right? 

“And you don’t know how long you’ll be in there, or if you’re ever going to be let out at all,” Klaus quietly adds, figuring she’ll be able to relate somewhat. 

He glances up at her and instantly notices that the frustrated glint in her eyes has vanished, a horrifying realization dawning on her face. 

“Klaus?” Vanya leans forward in her chair, hands clasped together so tight in her lap that her knuckles are turning stark white. She looks at him directly in the eye as she speaks. “Were you… how…”

Once again, she’s fumbling. Klaus doesn’t blame her, given that she should have no idea what his special training used to be before he ran away. Klaus chews on his bottom lip, lowering his eyes so she can’t see them, suddenly not sure if he wants to tell her. For so long, it’s been his little secret, and he’s always felt like if he never shares it with anyone else, well… it makes it less real, like it only exists in his brain. 

But he knows that if he wants to be less scared of the mausoleum, he has to make it real first. 

“For special training, Dad, he, um, he—” he’s struggling to get the words out, but he stops, grits his teeth, and plows forward anyways. “The mausoleum. I was in there with the ghosts, and they were really scary and they hurt me when I made them real.”

For a moment, his words hang in the air. Vanya stares at him, frozen with her eyes blown wide, and the longer she waits to say or do anything Klaus feels more and more uncomfortable. He can’t say he regrets telling her, just because it feels  so good  to have his secret out in the open—he just hopes it doesn’t end up backfiring on him. 

“Is—is that why you don’t like small spaces?” Vanya realizes, her hand hovering over her mouth. In all, she looks horrified, which Klaus thinks is a good reaction…? He’s not super sure these days what’s a good or bad reaction, quite honestly. To answer her question, he nods his head. “Oh god. Klaus, that’s horrible.”

“My powers are scary,” Klaus tells her, glancing at a very huffy looking woman standing in the middle of the room, her neck snapped in half. 

“I know how you feel,” Vanya admits, a dark expression flashing across her features once more. “I don’t know… I’m happy to know I have powers because it’s all I ever wanted. I watched all the others being in the spotlight, and all I wanted was to be like them, but when I discovered I had powers… I lost control. I’m the reason we’re here in the first place.”

Klaus is smart enough to read between the lines and figure out she’s probably referring to the apocalypse. 

He thinks of his Vanya, so shy and afraid and eager to be equal, but shoved aside by their father just because her powers are too great for him to handle. It makes him sad, knowing that the real version of his sister back at the Academy is locked away behind medicine and shadows. 

“If I’m not scared anymore, maybe I can help my Vanya,” Klaus suddenly realizes—the potential to help is too great to ignore. 

Vanya frowns at his wording. “Klaus, what do you mean by that?”

Klaus feels his heart begin to speed up as he glances down at his hands once more. 

There’s a piece of Klaus hidden behind shields of fear.

He wonders who he’d be if he unlocked that piece of himself. 

Maybe he can be the superhero he always thought he couldn’t be. 

The deal ends up being that Klaus will only go back home when he feels absolutely ready. If that never happens, then, well, so be it. Of course, he’s been watching Five’s reactions to his training quite closely, and the proud and impressed smiles Five has been giving him recently are signs in themselves that Klaus is growing stronger and ready to take on the world. Five splits his time between training Klaus and Vanya, with each of them growing stronger when it comes to their powers. 

Along with training, Five has been taking care to explain what exactly Klaus needs to focus on to fix the timeline. It’s mostly just making Vanya feel like part of the family, which Klaus feels he’s ready to do. He can’t wait to get to know his sister, and hopefully help pull her out of the shadows she’s been shoved into. 

However, it’s been made clear to him that he shouldn’t worry too much about fixing anyone else. 

“Don’t even try to stop me from time traveling,” Five tells him at one point, the tone of his voice very matter of fact. “If you tell my younger self I get stuck when traveling to the future, I’m pretty sure that would do nothing but make me want to time travel even more.”

Klaus frowns, tilting his head. “You don’t think there’s a chance you won’t do it?”

“I guarantee that there’s absolutely no chance,” Five says, and then sighs. “Some of us you just won’t be able to fix. Others… maybe. But not all of us.”

Klaus knows he’s still going to try, though, no matter what Five believes. He’s trying not to get his hopes up too high, but it’s really hard. He looks at each of his future siblings and imagines the best versions of them—sure, they’re pretty great already, but he’d love to see an Allison who still has custody of her daughter or a Luther who hasn’t been broken from useless isolation (Ben told him about Luther’s trip to the moon on Dad’s behalf. Klaus still doesn’t like Luther, but it does humanize his brother in a way he never would have thought possible). 

It takes four months for Klaus to ultimately decide he’s ready. 

The Academy stands just as tall as it did the night he left, months ago. He shifts from foot to foot as he stares up at his bedroom window, biting down on his bottom lip as he fights the urge to run as far as he can from here. His fingers loosely grip the ratty straps of the backpack that rests on his shoulders, which is zipped up with Unicorn stuffed safely inside. 

Klaus takes a deep breath, trying to keep the nervousness from showing on his face. 

A hand gently comes to rest on his shoulder, and he looks up to see Diego standing next to him. Klaus doesn’t miss the way Diego’s shoulders are tense, and his hand is gripping Klaus’ shoulder a bit tight. The uncertainty of what he’s going is rolling off Diego in waves.

“You sure about this, buddy?” Diego asks him, and there’s a glint in his eyes that tells Klaus there’s a part of Diego that wants him to say no. Quite honestly, there’s a part of Klaus that  does  want to say no, but he can’t bring himself to do that. Not when he has the opportunity to save the lives of his family—and the world. 

“Yeah,” Klaus nods his head firmly, his mind completely made up. He retrains his eyes on the window just above the fire escape. Just like Diego mentioned it would be, the window is wide open, even though darkness is falling over the city quickly. 

Then, he turns around to see all of his future siblings standing in the mouth of the alley, watching him with various kinds of expressions on their faces. 

Allison steps forward towards him, her notepad out of sight, but everything she would have said to him is written on her face, with her wet eyes and pursed lips. She kneels and pulls him into a tight hug, which Klaus happily reciprocates. He’ll certainly miss adult Allison, but he can’t wait to see his Allison and watch her grow into the person he’s holding onto now. 

Standing next to them is a very awkward looking Luther, who clears his throat. 

“No matter what happens… we’re proud of you, Klaus,” Luther says gruffly, his hands twitching. Klaus knows something like that isn’t easy for Luther to say, but just knowing that his biggest brother is proud of him makes his heart swell with confidence and pride. 

“Yeah, don’t worry too much about the timeline,” Diego adds, giving Klaus’ shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Whatever happens, happens. Just make sure to look after yourself, okay, kid?”

“If anything goes wrong, I’ll come back and get you,” Five vows, and Klaus believes him. It’s a nice safety net, he has to say. 

Allison releases him from the hug, standing up and taking a step back. On the other side of her, Vanya is smiling softly at him. She raises her hand and gives him a small wave. 

Behind the walls of her medicine and the shy persona, Dad is encouraging, this version of his sister is hiding, locked away for no good reason other than Dad being afraid. 

He’s gonna help her be the best version of herself. 

Klaus waves back. 

“If everything goes according to plan, we should see you in only a few minutes,” Five says, his eyes skimming over the pages of the journal he’s filled with all of his equations that Klaus still doesn’t understand the existence of. “For you, it’ll be around nineteen years. Given the world doesn’t end again, of course.”

“That’s a long time,” Klaus comments, eyes wide. 

“Yeah, it is. Make the most of it, buddy,” Diego tells him. “Trust me, it’ll go fast.”

Allison, Luther, Vanya, and Ben all nod their heads in agreement, and Five shrugs his shoulders indifferently. 

“Well… see you all in the future,” Klaus blinks up at them owlishly, adjusting his grip on his backpack straps. 

He receives a chorus of goodbyes, and with one last look at them, he turns around and takes a few steps towards the fire escape. 

“You sure you don’t want me to stay here with you?” Ben raises an eyebrow from where he’s leaning against the alleyway dumpster. 

Klaus stops in his tracks. 

It’s truly a kind offer, one that Klaus appreciates a lot and wishes he could take his brother up on. Still, from the little he understands about time travel, Klaus knows that he needs to do this alone. Besides, Ben has spent this long-standing invisible at their siblings' sides, and just like Klaus is about to go back to where he belongs, Ben needs to be where he belongs too, which is with the others. 

“Thanks, but I’ll be okay,” Klaus says, a forlorn smile on his face. 

And he believes it. 

“I know you will,” like Diego, Ben also seems slightly disappointed with his decision, but Klaus knows it’s for the best. And even if it doesn’t work out, Five promised he’ll come get him and rescue him. Even with his siblings in the future, he knows they’ll be watching out for him. “But hey, like Diego said, whatever happens—happens. Don’t worry about saving me, okay? You can’t save everyone.”

Klaus nods in understanding, but even with that, he knows he’s still going to try. He has one shot to fix the timeline and his family, and he’s going to give it his all. For Ben, and for himself. 

With one last wave, he turns and walks towards the fire escape. 

Each step he takes illuminates the alleyway with flashes of red and blue coming from his light-up sneakers. The fire escape stairs rattle as he climbs up towards his window, mindful of the watchful eyes of Pogo or Dad that might be around. He wonders what Dad will think of the newfound growth of his powers—not that it ultimately matters what his father thinks. His siblings from the future are proud of him, and that’s all he needs to know. 

He reaches the platform next to his bedroom window but pauses before climbing through it. He turns to see all of his future siblings standing below, their eyes all trained on him. Vanya and Allison are hugging each other, closer than Klaus ever would have thought possible. Ben’s hands are stuffed in his hoodie, Diego’s arms are crossed. Five’s journal is now closed, tucked under his arms and his hands in his pockets. Klaus makes eye contact with him, and Five gives him one final nod of encouragement. 

He gives them one final thumbs up… 

And climbs through the window. 

Ben finds that he has mixed feelings about watching Klaus climb the fire escape and wiggle through the open window of his Academy bedroom. It’s, of course, not an ideal situation, and Ben has spent many hours pondering the morality of it all. He tries to think of what he would have done at that age, and comes up empty—Klaus was given a bad hand of cards, arguably worse than Vanya’s, and he’s dealing with it better than Ben thinks he could have done at his age. 

It’s been amazing, though, to watch Klaus change and grow so much in the last few months. The day they fell out of the portal, they were greeted by the fearful, frightened little boy that’s been forever frozen in all of their heads. Now, mainly with Five’s guidance and training, Klaus’ smile is more confident than ever, 

And now, Ben isn’t sure if he’s ever going to see that confident smile again. 

Five seems pretty sure of the plan, probably because he came up with the plan himself and Five has never been one to doubt himself. Anyone else, sure, but not his own ideas—Five has always been arrogant like that. 

For a moment, Ben and his siblings stand in silence as they gaze up at the now-closed window. 

“Alright,” Five’s voice breaks the icy silence, pulling his journal back out and flipping through the pages. “Let’s get out of here and see if the kid ends up pulling this off.”

He motions for everyone to circle up, just like they had in the theater what feels like years ago. 

“You are going to come back and pull him out if things go sideways, right?” Diego seems reluctant to join the circle the others are forming, continuing to glance towards Klaus’ bedroom window. Ben moves to stand next to him in silent solidarity. He hopes the others can feel his presence—he already misses having someone to talk to. 

Five simply rolls his eyes at the question. “Of course I will—I’m not a monster, Diego. But we won’t be able to see if that needs to happen if we don’t go find out, so get in the damn circle before I leave you here.”

Diego huffs but does as he’s told, stepping forward to join hands with Allison and Vanya. Ben reaches out and places an invisible hand on Diego’s shoulder. Five tucks his journal in his jacket pocket before joining the circle himself, Luther on one side and Allison on his other. 

For a moment, they stand there in silence, hand in hand as Five slowly gains his bearings. Ben braces himself for the strange feeling of time travel, remembering all too well how unpleasant it was to experience it the first time. Five’s hands begin to glow blue, just as Klaus’ had when using his powers, and then the world begins to spin around them, breaking down and rebuilding until time sweeps them off their feet and pushes them forward.

And just like that, he finds himself falling from a blue portal yet again. 

The first thing Ben registers is…  pain .

Ben hasn’t felt pain for a long time, not since he was alive. Yet, when he plummets to the ground, landing on his stomach, he feels sparks of pain fly through his arms and legs at the impact. Despite it not being a pleasant feeling, he still welcomes it. He’s missed feeling alive. 

From all around him, he hears the sounds of his siblings groaning.

Ben pushes himself to his feet, and the pain he was previously experiencing is shoved to the backburner of his brain as he realizes where they are—the lobby of the same theater Vanya performed in just before blowing up the moon. For a moment, he half expects for the walls of the building to start crumbling, or for the Commission to attack once again, but the moment passes and nothing happens. He’s standing in an empty lobby, save for his siblings. 

Ben looks down at himself and realizes he’s no longer wearing his usual black hoodie and jeans, but a nice suit. His brothers are dressed the same way, and Allison is wearing a long, gold gown, with her hair done up and makeup on her face. 

In front of him, Diego gets onto his feet, rubbing the back of his head groggily. He too takes a moment to look around to see where they are before turning around towards Ben, but when he’s facing Ben’s direction… he freezes, his eyes going wide. The only thing weird about this is that, well—it looks like Diego is looking right at  Ben. 

But there’s no way, right? Ben looks behind him, trying to find what or who Diego is actually staring at, but when he does he finds that nothing is behind him. He frowns, looking back at Diego, who hasn’t as much as twitched. 

“Ben?” Diego breathes… and Ben’s heart stops.

(It literally stops—Ben presses his hand where his heart used to be, and feels it thumping against his rib cage.) 

“I—Diego?” Ben swallows thickly, reaching up to pinch his cheek, just to make sure he’s actually real. He is. “You—you can see me?” 

Seeming gobsmacked, all Diego can do is nod.

“Ben’s  alive ,” Luther marvels, and Allison has tears welling up in her eyes, her hand over her mouth as they all stare at him.

Then, getting over himself, Diego springs into action and pulls Ben into a tight hug. 

“I told you the kid could do it,” Five smirks triumphantly as Ben melts into Diego’s bear hug, and if there’s any time Ben is happy to see a cocky, arrogant look on Five’s face, it’s now. Five still looks thirteen, as expected. He doesn’t look too annoyed with that though, as if he knew not to get his hopes up too much. 

At the reminder of their brother, Ben pulls away from Diego’s hug to glance around once more. “Speaking of the kid... where is he?”

“Vanya’s missing too,” Luther frowns, which Ben thinks is incredible for Luther to notice, given that he’s usually not able to think about anyone other than Allison and Dad.  

A hush befalls them when they all realize they’re missing two siblings. 

“Shit,” Five mumbles, pulling out his journal and feverishly flipping through the pages. “I must have missed something.”

“Five, you promised you’d go get him if something happened,” Diego hurriedly points out, and Five raises his head to glare at him. 

“I  know  what I said, but I have to figure out what went wrong,” Five snaps, his grip tight on his journal. 

Suddenly, a joyful laugh rings out from down a nearby hallway. Allison’s head snaps in the direction of the laugh, her face paling significantly. Small footsteps are getting louder and louder as someone runs down the hallway towards them.

“Oh my god,” Allison gasps, and if Ben wasn’t so distracted by the unknown newcomer he would probably be thrilled by the fact that Allison’s voice is strong and clear as day. 

Then, the familiar face of Claire skips into the room. 

Claire looks just as Ben remembers, albeit more happy and smiley. Her arms are full of various boxes of candy, so many that Ben is convinced they’re going to fall to the floor any second now. She’s in a sparkly purple dress, with little black flats on her feet. 

A man enters the room after her, dressed in a pink suit and wearing heavy eye makeup, and at first, Ben is sure he’s a threat to his niece—the way his brothers also tense up, it’s clear they’re on the same thought train. Then, Ben studies him further and realizes there’s something familiar about him—the mop of unruly curls on his head, the twinkle in his earnest, green eyes, the way his limbs are constantly moving as if he simply cannot bear to stand still. His wide, genuine but slightly mischievous smile that’s spread across his lips that’s indicative of a kind, excitable heart. 

Immediately, Ben knows who it is. 

“Mommy, Uncle Klaus got us candy!” Claire beams, holding out a box of Milk Duds for Allison to take. Allison’s jaw falls open, frozen in place as her eyes flick from Claire to Klaus. Klaus’ grin gets wider as he glances down at the boxes of candy in Claire’s arms. 

“I’m pretty sure they don’t allow candy, so keep this on the down-low, okay, squirt?” Klaus winks at the little girl, who solemnly nods and hugs her boxes of skittles and other candies close to her chest. Then, he looks back to Allison, who is still staring at him, tears close to falling. “I know you said only one box, but I couldn’t resist. Sorry, my bad.”

“No, I—” Allison places a hand on her daughter’s shoulder, her eyes trained on Klaus. “It’s fine, Klaus. It’s… I’m just so glad you’re here.”

She reaches out with the arm that’s not on Claire’s shoulder and gives him a quick side hug. Klaus’ brows furrow and he frowns when he realizes Allison is now crying. “Whoa, sis, you okay?”

Allison nods enthusiastically. “Yeah, I’m good. I’m great actually. Well, just—where’s Vanya?”

Klaus gives her a weird, concerned look, and Claire tilts her head confusedly. 

“Auntie Vanya’s backstage, remember, Mommy?” Claire says, and then points to a poster hung up on a wall a few feet away. Sure enough, the poster features Vanya’s smiling face, her violin held up for the camera and the world to see. Ben doesn’t think he’s seen his sister smile like that before, but he finds it suits her extremely well. 

Klaus lifts his left wrist and looks down at the watch wrapped around it. 

“We should probably find our seats,” Klaus says, glancing up and around at all of them. “Vanya is  not  going to be happy if we walk in late. C’mon, Mom is waiting for us in the auditorium.”

Klaus begins to walk towards the double doors, Claire excitedly darting after him. 

“Mom…?” Diego breathes, his eyes wide and hopeful. Ben follows Klaus, wanting to stay near him because God forbid they lose him again. He pulls Diego along with him by the arm, relishing in the way his hand is solid on his brother’s skin.

Klaus slows down, leaning into Ben, a question clearly on his lips. 

“Are you guys okay?” Klaus murmurs, glancing around at the rest of their siblings confusedly. “You all are acting really weird.”

Ben figures that soon Klaus will realize that Ben and the others finally arrived in this timeline all these years later. After all, Five never gave him an exact date, just able to speculate the year and maybe the month. He also knows that soon, his memories will join up with this timeline’s Ben, and maybe he’ll be able to see how his little brother grew up to be not so little anymore. Just looking at Klaus, he knows they probably have a lot of catching up to do. 

“Yeah, I think we’re just... “ Ben pauses, searching for the name of what he’s feeling right now. “We’re just really happy. It’s nice to be together… as a family.”

Klaus smiles at that. “Oh, okay. I agree, it is nice.”

There’s a whole row in the front reserved for their family, and Mom is sitting in the middle of it, waiting patiently and politely for her children to join her. Diego makes a beeline for her, and Ben doesn’t mention the way his brother’s eyes are red-rimmed and wet. Ben moves to sit on the other side of Grace, finding that he’s very much missed the kind, warmth of their mother, and Klaus sits next to him, which Ben is happy about too. Claire and Allison sit next to Klaus, and Five and Luther sit on the other side of Diego.

Ben thinks all the pain they’ve been through was worth it if this is the result. 

The lights go off, and the stage lights up, shining on the orchestra, with Vanya in the first violin chair. She looks slightly frazzled and uncoordinated, probably because she  just  got here, but Ben has faith that she’ll be able to figure her performance out. She’s simply that talented. 

Her eyes sweep over the crowd, and her eyes fall on Ben, then Klaus and her entire face lights up with pleasant surprise. 

Klaus waves at her excitedly, Claire copying him joyfully. 

Vanya beams, and waves back. 

The orchestra begins to play, and the Hargeeves sit back and enjoy the show.

Together at last.