Chapter Text
Diego kept his eyes trained on the floor in front of him as he listened to Luther recount the failed mission for the fifth time.
His brother’s voice was disciplined and mostly steady as he spoke, but the intermittent cracks in his tone gave his sorrow away. Diego could feel Luther shifting unconsciously from foot to foot as he spoke, but Diego stood firm, not moving a muscle, and he could feel Luther knocking against him slightly every few moments. Back straight, arms clasped behind them, that was the ‘official’ debrief pose. They were soldiers without titles.
“And then, uh, I heard a shot behind me, and it became clear that the assailant had targeted Klau—I mean, Number Four.” Their father insisted on them using their numbers in debriefs instead of their names. “Number Four was down, compromised on the ground, so I focused on securing the scene along with Number Six while the others carried out initial assessment of Number Four. And then, uh—”
It was when Luther was forced to describe the moment that everything had fallen apart yet again, that Diego cracked. He let out a growl of frustration, and gripped the hilt of one of his small throwing knives that he was clutching behind his back.
Sir Reginald was pacing in front of the two of them while Luther talked, ignoring the rest of their siblings as usual for the initial debriefing stages. However his father stopped sharply in front of him when Diego made a sound, and he could feel the scrutiny he was under. Diego refused to meet his gaze.
The cane rapped the wooden floor in front of him, and Diego clenched his teeth tighter together rather than give his father the satisfaction of flinching. He looked up slowly, and met Sir Reginald’s ice blue eyes, “Do you have something to add, Number Two?”
“W-why didn’t we b-b-bring him to a hos-hospital?” The words were out of his mouth before Diego could hold them back, but he didn’t regret them. A burning sensation was rising in his chest, “He was dy—we were closer to a h-hospital…”
There was no trace of emotion on his father’s face as he said coldly, “I will not risk the reputation of the Umbrella Academy being compromised, not by any of you. There was adequate care available here, and so there was no need to involve the public.”
“The blood…” Ben spoke then, his face still deathly pale, “There was so much blood though…”
All the siblings shuddered then, at the memory of shiny tiles smeared with dark blood, of the leather interior of the car gleaming with blood, at the trail they’d left from the car through to the medical bay that was probably still there.
Seeming not to notice, Sir Reginald only waved a dismissive hand at their pain, “I was, of course, prepared for this eventuality. Though, I did not expect your collective failure to be quite so… dramatic. I had a cleanup team of men waiting nearby in case of such a scenario. They were able to move in before the police and cover up the magnitude of the failure.”
The nonchalant tone of his father’s voice and the casual inevitability of what he seemed to be saying made Diego’s mouth drop open.
Sure, he knew by now that regular kids didn’t fight crime or learn ten different ways to take down an assailant before they turned eight years old. He knew that his family was special, that they took risks that many adults didn’t even.
They knew they weren’t invincible, but they’d never seen this level of devastation coming, could never have predicted that one of their own would be shot down and torn apart right in front of them.
But apparently their father had.
And he’d sent them on missions anyway, even having a backup plan in place in case one of them bled too much as they died.
In that moment, Diego was sure that he’d never hated anything in the world more than the man that they called father. He couldn’t even find a way to form words, only managing to clench his fists and take a step forward towards the monster.
He was aware of Five and Ben moving somewhere down to his left, but Diego couldn’t process anything further than the rage that was enveloping him.
Luther and Allison both moved with him and grabbed onto his shoulders, trying to prevent him from doing something that would end in a severe punishment. He tried to shake free, and managed to dislodge his sister’s hold, but Luther was strong as ever on his other side.
Sir Reginald stared him down, looking disappointed at what Diego assumed was his lack of control.
Their father sighed and raised a hand, “You are dismissed. We will return to this debrief at a later stage when I have gone through the security tapes of the bank that have been acquired by the back-up team. As Grace is currently occupied, you may eat in the kitchen for dinner, and I will address you again in the morning.”
He left the room swiftly then, letting the door close behind him with a bang, and for a long second none of them moved.
Then they all seemed to deflate, and Diego felt himself leaning back against Luther’s grip. His brother held him steady for another moment, and then they both moved – Luther to comfort Allison who looked shell shocked and was still crying, and Diego to check on Ben and Five who seemed to be hanging onto each other for support.
.
Ben could barely process what was going on, past the fact that he needed to get to Klaus as quickly as possible.
He managed to hold himself together long enough for Sir Reginald to interrogate Luther multiple times about the mission, and Ben was just grateful that he didn’t turn his attention to him as he wasn’t sure he could make a coherent sentence if prompted that wouldn’t end in his breakdown.
Finally, after an excruciatingly long debrief that Ben steadfastly didn’t listen to, their father left and they all fell into a muddled group hug for a few moments.
Then Ben was pushing past Vanya and striding to the door as fast as his weak legs allowed him to, and he knew that he was flanked by the rest of his siblings. He needed to see Klaus, needed to believe that his brother was still alive, as their father had told them.
They knew without saying that Sir Reginald would have retired to his office by now, so there was nothing holding Luther back from pounding on the infirmary door with a shaking fist, Ben leaning past him to see if he could open the door.
Pogo emerged before Ben could yank at the door with his full force, his face somber, “I know you are all eager to see Number Four, but—”
“Father didn’t forbid it,” Allison blurted out then, and the words in themselves seemed to be a test. She was forbidden from rumour-ing any of them unless given the command by Sir Reginald, but Ben didn’t doubt in that moment that she would have done in it in a hearbeat.
Their father’s assistant inclined his head in a nod, and Ben sucked in a breath of relief before the words, “I understand that, Miss Allison, but your brother is very weak. He is not yet ready for—”
“Please,” Ben gasped out, he heard the rest of his siblings cry out at the same time.
“Pogo, you have to—”
“We need to see him.”
“You have to let us in, please—”
“Just for a minute or two, Pogo—”
Their mother appeared behind Pogo then, and Ben was faintly relieved that she had changed her apron to one that was no longer covered in blood smears, “Klaus’ vitals are stable for now, and he has already been extubated. I believe he would be able for a few minutes with the other children, provided they remain calm.”
Ben could see Diego beaming at their mother out of the corner of his eye, and he could feel his own chest filling with warmth for her. This was one of the times when she was on their side, not Sir Reginald’s and they all felt a sense of relief.
Pogo hesitated for a moment, and then nodded slowly, “Very well, ten minutes then.”
They tried not to rush into the room all at once, but Ben didn’t think they were fooling anyone with their fake calmness.
And then – there was Klaus. Klaus.
His brother was lying supine on the medical bed, covered by a white sheet and hooked up to a number of tubes and wires, but he was there and he was breathing. He seemed slightly less pale than earlier, and Ben noticed the multiple infusions and transfusions that were ongoing. He was grateful that they couldn’t see the full extent of the injuries, there would be time for those later and Ben knew that his brother had a tough recovery ahead, but for now – he was content with Klaus being alive.
They all stood in silence for a moment, and then Klaus moved his head slightly and scrunched up his nose in that way he always did just before waking up. It was as if his brother knew that they were all with him, and all Ben could do was hold his breath and watch.
“Klaus?”
.
Klaus’ first sense to return was his hearing.
It was muffled though, as if he was underwater, but he could just about make out the sound of beeping. It sounded regular and almost familiar, but it was also annoying as hell. He felt his head twitch to the side involuntarily, and thought he heard a voice speaking to him but he couldn’t hear through the dullness.
Then his sense of smell returned, and it made his nose wrinkle up in distaste. His surroundings smelled like antiseptic and that copper-y smell that Klaus knew as blood. His mouth tasted vaguely of blood and plastic, and it confused him.
His mind struggled with the concept of blood and infirmary? Who was hurt? But he found his sluggish consciousness was able to move past it easily enough without too much questioning.
After a few moments, Klaus was able to open his eyes, and he felt himself groan lightly as his eyelids fluttered open. Bright light assaulted him and he let out a barely audible gasp, before squeezing his eyes shut again.
He needed answers though, needed to know what this strange purgatory really was, so he forced himself to open his eyes again.
Blurred shapes moved above him, and Klaus felt dizzy as he stared up at them until they eventually coalesced to form the faces of his siblings. He squinted up at them, realising for the first time that he was lying down and they were standing around his bed.
Klaus still couldn’t feel the majority of his body though, didn’t have any sense of his arms or legs or torso, and that terrified him. He gasped again, and one of the shapes – Ben – moved closer to him, whispering something that Klaus still couldn’t hear through the numbness of his shock. He could, however, see the tears that streamed down Ben’s cheeks, and his panic only rose in intensity.
Feeling weaker than he ever had before, Klaus tried to lift his head off the bed, to catalogue his body and make sure he could count all of his six siblings. He was unable to, mostly due to the complete lack of strength and partly because of Diego’s hand that shot out to hover over his chest as a warning.
He flicked his eyes over to look at his other brother, and while Diego wasn’t actively crying like Ben, his face was pale and pinched as if he was in extreme pain. His hand was shaking over Klaus’ chest, and Klaus frowned slowly, before Diego moved to ever so gently pat his shoulder.
“Whaaaa…” His voice was cracked and almost inaudible, and the breathless quality of it made Klaus worry. He tried to move his lips more, but they felt too big and numb, incapable of making real sounds.
His siblings seemed to understand what he meant though, and Klaus watched through hazy eyes as they seemed to exchange glances and tears welled up in their eyes.
Luther was the one who spoke first, and his brother looked sadder than Klaus had ever seen him, “There – there was a mission and it went wrong, K-Klaus. You.. you saved us. But, uh, you got hurt.”
Klaus tried to take in the words that Luther was saying, but his brain was having trouble processing them. Mission? Saved? Him? He was always just the lookout though, he didn’t—how could he have? His confusion must have showed on his face, because when he made eye contact with Five, his brother nodded with that intense expression of his to verify Luther’s story, which only baffled Klaus even more.
He tried to move then, to lift a hand up to Vanya who was shaking in between Ben and Five, but his arm barely lifted a few centimetres off the bed before it flopped back down.
“Klaus – no, don’t move,” Vanya said quickly, brushing a hand across her face to wipe away tears and then tentatively took hold of his trembling hand and squeezed it.
On his other side, Allison did the same, and it was only then that Klaus was able to tilt his chin downwards and notice the various tubes and wires attached to his arms. There were IV cannulae in both of his elbows, along with one sticking out of the back of a pale hand, and a device on his finger that Allison was avoiding touching.
He let his gaze wander to the side, and there he saw a tangle of wires attaching into a machine, the one that was beeping steadily. Klaus followed tubes upwards to see bags of what looked like blood hanging down from poles, and various trays of equipment lying in the corner. He was covered with a thin sheet, blocking his vision of his chest and legs, but a sinking feeling told him that something was wrong.
He still couldn’t really feel anything, as if the sensation in his body was switched off, and that also concerned him.
Someone patted his tangle of curly hair, just as his eyes started to slip closed, and Klaus let out a whimper at the feeling of unconsciousness dragging him back down.
“It’s okay, Klaus, its okay.”
“We’ll be here when you wake up again.”
“Don’t fight it, bro, you need to rest.”
Then all the sounds faded away, and Klaus felt himself doing the same.