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Diego, Luther, Allison, Five and Vanya Hargreeves all stared in disbelief as Klaus ran barefoot out the front doors of the Academy.
"Jesus," Luther muttered. "What the hell was that? "
They had just sat down for dinner when Klaus had attempted to go up to the attic by himself; Luther had ordered Klaus to sit down with the rest of the family, and the next thing everyone knew Klaus was sprawled out on the floor screaming for a medic. After Klaus had come to, Five had confronted him about using Hazel and Cha-Cha's briefcase to travel through time, and got Klaus to admit he had been in Vietnam in 1968 for ten months.
Diego had actually been chauffeuring Klaus around on the day that Klaus had evidently returned, and Klaus' behavior was like nothing he had ever before seen. His goofy, loud-mouthed flamboyant little brother had been replaced by an angry and moody stranger. Diego did eventually get Klaus to admit he had lost someone, after which time Klaus was somewhat back to his old self, but not entirely.
Klaus never talked about it afterward, because then Luther, and later Five, announced that the world would end in three days. Two days later they learned that Vanya actually did have powers, and unfortunately Harold Jenkins, AKA Leonard Peabody, turned her against her family; to make matters worse, she had slashed Allison's throat when Allison admitted that at four years old their "father" made her rumor Vanya into believing she was ordinary. Even worse was that Luther locked her in a vault believing her to be dangerous, causing her to snap and resulting in the Academy coming crumbling down and Vanya killing their mom and Pogo.
The siblings had regrouped at the bowling alley when a bunch of masked shooters invaded it. The siblings had escaped and headed toward the theater to confront Vanya during her orchestra concert. The Temps Commission shooters invaded them there, too, but Klaus surprised everyone by bringing the ghost of their deceased sibling Ben, who took out the remaining shooters.
Unfortunately, by then Vanya's powers had completely overtaken her; and as she tried to kill her four brothers with bright energy tendrils emerging from her, Allison stood behind her sister with a gun. Instead of shooting at her, she moved the gun past Vanya's head. The gunfire made Vanya drop her brothers, but her remaining energy catapulted to the moon and destroyed it, bringing on the apocalypse. Vanya had lost consciousness, and Five decided he would time-travel, but this time bring the siblings with him.
So, they jumped back to the same time Wednesday morning that Five had after escaping the Commission. Vanya eventually came to and felt horrible for what she had done to everyone. Luther also made amends with her for locking her in, and so did she with Allison. And although Allison's throat was still damaged, at least they had Grace and Pogo back.
It had been two months since they had averted the apocalypse, but everyone was so focused on helping train Vanya with her powers and healing the rift between Vanya and her siblings that everyone else got put on the back burner. This issue with Klaus certainly seemed to come out of nowhere, but it obviously explained his erratic behavior that one day. And Diego made things worse just now by throwing criticisms at his brother like everyone else was doing; in fact, Diego's own comment, It’s like you try to fuck yourself up, was what had sent Klaus tearing out of the house.
"You know what, guys," Diego said. "We all just treated him like shit just now."
"What?!" Five snapped. "I mean, you do agree with me that Klaus was ridiculous for staying in a war zone for ten months."
Diego sighed. "Not necessarily." He recalled back to that one day. I lost someone! The only person I’ve ever truly loved more than myself. If that had indeed happened during his tour, it would definitely explain Klaus' behavior. "Look, I was hanging out with him the day he came back. At one point he pissed off some veterans at a VFW bar and I had to fight our way out. All he said at the time was that he had lost someone close to him."
Luther sighed and looked at Diego disbelievingly. "Are you sure you can trust anything he says? How do we know that he’s not back on drugs?"
"Because he got clean after I told him that if he loses someone, at least he can see them whenever he wants. And I’m sure that Ben has helped him, too."
"And that’s another thing," Luther snapped. "All of these years, he’s had Ben by his side and never told us! How selfish was that of him?!"
Allison scribbled on her notepad: CAN YOU BLAME HIM? YOU JUST SAID YOU DON’T BELIEVE ANYTHING HE SAYS.
Luther sighed again. "So, this is my fault, you’re telling me."
"Jesus, Luther!" Diego retorted. "Quit making it all about you. You’re still doing this after two months? Right now our brother is walking somewhere around town barefoot, thinking that none of us care about him. Was bad enough that he was kidnapped and tortured for an entire twenty-four hours, because we were dealing with you. " He turned angrily to Five. "And my friend’s life was lost as well. Oh, and by the way, since you were the first to see Klaus that day, did you even think to ask if he was okay?"
Five looked at the floor and shook his head.
"Guys!" Vanya snapped as the room shook. She looked around. "Sorry." She took a deep breath and composed herself, and the shaking stopped.
Allison wrote: STOP FIGHTING. WE NEED TO WORK TOGETHER TO HELP HIM.
"That’s what I was going to say," Vanya told them more calmly. "I mean, as soon as I came back to being myself again, Klaus kept saying over and over how he wished he had broken me out of the vault. He told me…well, I’m not sure if he’s ever told any of you…."
"What?" Diego asked with dread. "What did he tell you?"
Vanya looked at all of her siblings. "Dad often locked him in a mausoleum with corpses, supposedly to make him get over his fear of ghosts. It didn’t work out, and that was why he started using drugs."
" What? " Diego exclaimed, staring at his sister. "When did he do this?"
"It started when we were eight, until we were thirteen."
Diego let out a long breath. "Shit. Jesus, no wonder he got so messed up." Diego recalled the many nights hearing Klaus screaming from a nightmare about ghosts and Ben would always go to him. Then Ben died, and Klaus took it the hardest despite his obvious ability to see Ben back then. Now was Klaus going to have to deal with PTSD from the war, too?
The siblings sat around the table in silence. Diego looked at his Chinese takeout meal, having lost his appetite. He had decided that after a while he would try looking for Klaus. He was afraid that Klaus would run into a former drug dealer or john who could beat the shit out of him.
Before long, however, Pogo appeared at the table holding a piece of paper. "Master Diego, might I have a word with you, please?"
Diego followed Pogo into the living room. "What’s up?"
"We just received a telephone call from a patron at the Lakeshore Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars bar indicating that Master Klaus needs to be picked up from there."
Diego sighed. "Shit."
"Master Diego!" Pogo scolded him for swearing.
"I’m sorry, Pogo," Diego dropped his gaze for a moment before continuing. "I just can’t believe he went back there. We got kicked out of there two months ago after Klaus got into it with one of the vets there."
Diego still felt a twinge of guilt over that one. He had always respected the military service people who fought for his country. But Klaus would have gotten shredded if Diego hadn’t intervened. In hindsight, Diego had wondered whether Klaus had actually wanted to get shredded. During the earlier part of that day, Diego was actually concerned that his brother was suicidal; he now realized how glad he was to know that Klaus was relatively safe.
"The patron said that Master Klaus was at first asked to depart from the bar, until Klaus had some form of psychotic episode."
Diego nodded at Pogo. "Yeah, he had one here earlier as well. None of us were kind to him."
Pogo held out the paper. "Here is the address to the bar, although I presume it’s not needed."
"Right, but thanks, anyway," Diego said as Vanya entered the room.
"Is everything okay?" Vanya asked as Pogo walked away.
"Well, we know where Klaus is," Diego told her, "but he just had another episode, so I’m gonna go bring him back home." He then looked at her more directly. "I don’t know what frame of mind he’s in right now, so I should warn you if seeing him in a bad way is upsetting to you."
Vanya shook her head. "I’ll be fine. I want to help him, too."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Diego parked outside the VFW and took a deep breath before exiting his car and heading toward the entrance. After having advised Vanya of the possibility of potentially seeing Klaus in such bad shape, Diego wasn’t sure how prepared he was himself. He swallowed as he opened the door.
This time, Klaus wasn’t standing in front of a memorial wall crying like a baby. He was sitting at a barstool, arms hanging limp along his sides, while a dark-skinned man helped him drink a glass of water. Diego walked up cautiously to his brother, and gently placed his hand on Klaus' shoulder. "Klaus?"
Klaus didn’t budge, nor did he acknowledge Diego's presence.
"He’s been like this since a couple of minutes after he got here," the veteran said.
Diego kept his hand on his brother's shoulder. "What happened?"
"One of the other guys told him to leave," the man said. "And then…well, he disassociated; and the next thing we knew, he was screaming someone’s name - Dave - and he shut down completely."
Diego looked at Klaus. "Klaus, are you with me at all?"
Klaus didn’t answer. Diego was heartbroken at the sight of his brother in this condition. This was worse than the day Klaus had returned, and Diego felt powerlessness as to how he could help.
"Look," the man said. "A couple of the patrons remembered you guys from a couple of months ago. We’d all thought then, and at first tonight, that he was pretending to be one of us. Apparently something triggered him, I think from the sound of the balls hitting each other on the pool table. We know exactly what he’s going through. Where did your brother serve, anyway?"
"Operation Iraqi Freedom," Diego lied. "And I’m sorry for the last time we were here. I never wanted to fight anyone who's served our country, but I was worried about my brother."
"Well, now that we understand your brother’s situation, none of us will disturb him any further."
"Thanks, man," Diego said as he placed his other hand on Klaus and gently lifted Klaus to his feet. Klaus continued staring blankly ahead as Diego guided him out the door and to the car. He opened the passenger door and sat Klaus down. Klaus remained soundless and motionless as Diego fastened Klaus' seatbelt.
Diego started the car. As he drove them back home, Klaus remained sitting still with his head leaned against the window. "Hey," Diego said. "You gonna talk to me now?"
Klaus continued to be silent. He was really worrying Diego. Nothing further was said as Diego continued driving.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Diego parked the car, opened the passenger door and unbuckled Klaus. He gently pulled Klaus out and once again guided Klaus as they entered the Academy. The other siblings were lurking around the downstairs area as Diego led Klaus to his bedroom. He pulled down the covers and lay Klaus down on his bed; that was when Diego noticed Klaus' bare feet and sucked in a breath.
Klaus' feet were all cut up with some tiny glass shards sticking from them. "Jesus, Klaus," Diego muttered. Then he left to go get Mom.
Mom was sitting in her chair, recharging herself. "Hey, Mom?"
Mom turned to face Diego with her eyes a bright blue from charging. "Yes, Diego dear?"
"Uh, I know this isn’t good timing, but Klaus' feet are all torn up from walking outdoors; and he’s in too bad of a mental state right now to take care of himself. Do you think you have enough battery power to take care of this? Because I can do it if you can’t."
"Yes, I’m at forty percent right now." Grace pressed the button that released the charging device and followed Diego back to Klaus' room. She sat on the edge of Klaus' bed and inspected his feet. "Oh, Klaus, my dear. What have you done to yourself?"
Klaus continued to stare blankly ahead.
"Klaus, dear?"
"He had some sort of breakdown earlier," Diego told her. "He’s been like this ever since I’d arrived at the bar to pick him up."
"I see," Grace brushed back Klaus' curls. "Meanwhile, Diego, would you retrieve the first aid kit from the infirmary?"
Diego did, and standing through the doorway of Klaus' room he watched Mom pull out the glass fragments, and she cleaned and bandaged up his feet. She gave Klaus' curls one more stroke before saying good night to him. As Mom left, Diego stayed by the doorway for another moment, very saddened and scared for his little brother. He soon closed the bedroom door.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Diego marched back down the stairs, and he migrated to the living room with his siblings.
"So," Luther said awkwardly, "I guess Klaus isn’t doing so well."
Diego shot a glare toward Luther. "No shit, Sherlock! No, Klaus isn’t okay! He said nothing from the time I picked him up until I put him to bed. He didn’t even notice that his feet were all cut up from being barefoot outdoors."
"Well, excuse me," Luther snapped. " I care about him, too."
"If you cared so much about him, you wouldn’t have left him for dead at that rave!"
"What?!" Vanya exclaimed and the room shook again. Shit.
" What the hell are you talking about?" Luther demanded.
"Oh, yeah, you know what Ben told me the last time he was corporeal around me and Klaus?" Diego glared at Luther. "He said that Klaus followed you to that rave while going through withdrawals and tried to get you to come home. Apparently, you pissed the rave chick's boyfriend off and he tried attacking you. Klaus tried to intervene, and he was thrown to the ground and killed for a few minutes. That’s how he wound up talking with Dad."
Luther stared dumbfounded at Diego. "I- I didn’t know."
"Yeah, Ben said afterward that he regretted telling Klaus to save your ass. And I agree. All you’ve ever done is treat him like shit."
Allison wrote: SO, HOW ARE WE GOING TO HELP HIM?
"We just let him get some sleep tonight, and maybe tomorrow morning he will be in a better frame of mind to talk to us," Diego said.
"We all need to let him know we’re here for him," Vanya suggested.
"Yeah," Diego agreed.
Before long Diego retreated to his bedroom. He passed by Klaus' doorway and felt the sadness over his brother’s state of mind yet again.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The next morning Diego had Mom make a plate of waffles that the siblings put on a tray to take to Klaus' room. Standing outside the door, the siblings quietly debated who should present him with his food and their collective apology; they finally decided on Vanya since he wouldn’t push her away.
She knocked on the door and opened it to Klaus, lying on the bed in the same catatonic state as the night before. Vanya carefully placed the tray on the desk beside Klaus' bed and told Klaus how sorry everyone was for not realizing that he was suffering, and that they were all here for him. Klaus said nothing and continued staring blankly ahead.
Diego continued to feel helpless as Vanya left the room and closed the door.
Klaus didn’t come out of his room all day, not even to use the bathroom. Of course, if Klaus hadn’t been eating, there would be nothing for him to expel. Diego really hoped that Klaus would consume his waffles, as he wasn’t certain when the last time was that Klaus had eaten anything. Klaus was already much too thin as he was.
So, the next morning Diego brought another breakfast tray to Klaus, still lying in a catatonic state. Diego was horrified to see that Klaus indeed had not touched his food from yesterday. After practically begging Klaus to eat, Diego lost it and punched the wall. "For fuck sake, Klaus! Do you want to die?"
That apparently was another trigger to Klaus, who abruptly punched Diego in the nose. But that got Klaus out of his trance as he repeatedly apologized to Diego and began crying. Diego begged for his brother to talk to him, and Klaus eventually did.
He told Diego of the kidnapping by Hazel and Cha-Cha, and his subsequent escape with the briefcase and opened it thinking it contained money, or that he could pawn it. Instead, he was transported to 1968 as he met Dave in Vietnam. Despite the horror of Klaus having to watch friends die within the duration he was there, Dave helped him through it all. Then, Klaus had to watch Dave die.
Diego pulled Klaus close as the floodgates opened and Klaus cried uncontrollably in his arms. Diego gently rocked him back and forth, repeating to Klaus that he was sorry, and here for Klaus.
Diego held Klaus until his sobbing subsided after a long while. He led Klaus back into bed and placed the breakfast tray in Klaus' lap. Diego was so grateful to see Klaus eating his food. He sat at the foot of Klaus' bed and talked until Klaus was about to doze off. Diego removed the tray and sat with Klaus, running his hand through Klaus' dark mop of curls as Klaus promptly fell asleep.
Diego had resolved to stay with Klaus until Klaus woke up. He grabbed a pillow from the floor and put it behind his head and closed his eyes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Klaus woke up later that afternoon, about an hour after Diego did. "Hey, D." Klaus smiled at his brother.
Diego swallowed the lump in his throat. He was overjoyed to see Klaus smiling. "Hey, bro." Diego got up off the bed and sat down in the chair next to the bed. "How are you feeling?"
"Better," Klaus nodded. Then he looked at Diego with tears in his eyes. "You really stayed with me this whole time?"
"Well, I had nothing better to do, so…." Diego joked. "No, seriously, man, I’m glad you’re okay. You really did scare me."
Klaus dropped his gaze. "I’m sorry. I really didn’t want you to worry."
Suddenly Klaus' hands glowed and Ben appeared before them both.
"Ben," Klaus looked at his brother in blue form, "I’m the one who needs to apologize to you. I’m so sorry that I lashed out at you the other night. I was wrong in everything I said to you."
Ben smiled. "I forgive you, too."
"Oh, by the way," Diego said to Klaus, "I confronted Luther about your incident at the rave. I don’t think you have to worry about Luther invalidating anything you say any longer."
"So, Luther and the others are no longer mad at me?"
"Klaus, no one was mad at you," Diego said. "Everyone was concerned about you. They probably still are. I guess I should let them know you’re okay."
"I’ll come with you," Klaus pulled off the covers and jumped up. "I do need to start contributing more of my time with the family."
"Okay." Diego looked at Ben and then at Klaus. "But first, I want you to promise me something."
"What’s that?" Klaus wondered.
"Well, along with what I now know about Dave, Vanya told me of Dad’s 'special training' with you. I realize that was why you had so many nightmares growing up."
Klaus again dropped his gaze. "I’m sorry I never told you. Dad said I was too weak. I really tried to be compliant, but the images of the ghosts and their constant screaming freaked me out."
"Klaus still has a lot of nightmares most evenings," Ben added.
"And that’s why, Klaus," Diego said, "if you still keep having these and Ben isn’t immediately available to help you, I want you to come get me, okay? I don’t want you to go through anything on your own anymore."
Klaus blinked back tears, grateful for both Diego and Ben who had always tried looking after him. And now his voice and his cries would be heard. "Thank you, D. I will."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Klaus followed Diego down the stairs, where they found the other siblings gathered around the bar counter in the living room.
"Klaus?" Vanya cautiously got up from her seat and approached him.
"I’m okay," Klaus took Vanya in an embrace. "Thank you for what you said yesterday. I’m sorry for not responding, but I had gotten no sleep the night before, or last night."
"I’m sorry," Vanya tearfully said as she pulled Klaus tighter.
"Hey, hey, hey, honey," Klaus said gently. "You don’t need to apologize."
"No, but I do," Luther stepped forward as Klaus and Vanya broke away. "I’m sorry for what you had to go through at the rave. I didn’t know."
"It’s okay, big guy," Klaus grinned. "Turns out that God didn’t want me in the afterlife and she kicked me out."
" What? " Diego exclaimed.
Allison wrote: SHE???
"Uh, yeah," Klaus said. "So I guess you’re all stuck with me."
"Oh," Five said snarkily, "There are worse things that can happen."
"I love you, too, little old man." Klaus quipped back.
Soon Grace called the siblings to the elaborate dinner she made in light of the news that Klaus was better. To Diego's delight, Klaus piled a heaping plateful of food.
Klaus is going to be okay, Diego thought to himself. And he vowed to always do his best to protect Klaus from here on out.