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There had been a change in Allison in the last few months, and Diego seemed to be the only one to have noticed. Before, her powers were reserved only for missions and training, but now she seemed to be using them multiple times a day, for the smallest of things. He’d seen her controlling their siblings, and even if he couldn’t prove it, he was certain she’d controlled him too. Several times. Maybe he was the only person who was paying any attention, or maybe the others were choosing to ignore it. Either way, he never mentioned it to anyone, but sometimes he wished he had.
Their last mission was a roaring success. Ten bank robbers apprehended, a few dozen hostages saved, zero casualties. It seemed like forever before they finally managed to escape the hoards of reporters and photographers swarming them. The others didn’t seem to mind of course. Luther stood proudly puffing his chest out, Allison and Klaus were in their element posing for photos, and even Five had a smug smile on his face. He and Ben loitered in the background until finally they were ushered into a car and driven home. When their father greeted them on the doorstep, his heart sunk, but for once he actually had some good news.
“Children,” He said in his usual cold tone of voice, looking down his nose at them. “You completed your mission earlier than expected. There will be no further training until after dinner. Six o’clock, sharp.”
Never one to stay and chat, he turned and headed back inside, presumably returning to his office to get on with… whatever the hell he always did in there.
“I think that’s the closest he’s ever gonna get to paying us a compliment,” Five said dryly from behind him.
“That was a compliment?” Klaus asked and Ben sniggered. “I thought we just got punished.”
“That’s because you’re an idiot,” Luther told him.
Klaus punched Luther in the arm and Luther shoved him, sending him stumbling back a few paces. The two of them moved to hit each other again but Allison grabbed Klaus by the collar, pulling him back and forcing herself between them.
“Stop it,” She ordered. “Dad just gave us the afternoon off and you morons are wasting it.”
“Maybe I wanna spend my free time beating the crap out of my brother,” Klaus said with a shrug and she let out an exasperated sigh.
“We should play a game. We should play… Hide and seek!”
“I don’t want to play that,” Ben mumbled.
“Well I heard a rumour that you do,” She snapped.
Ben looked blank for a moment, before nodding and agreeing that it was a good idea. Nobody else argued.
The rules were always the same. Number 1: No powers allowed. Number 2: Five is the seeker because he never listens to rule 1. Diego hid in one of the dozens of spare bedrooms, laying on his front under the bed with just enough space to peek out and see if anyone was coming. He had no idea how long he’d been hiding there, but he was starting to zone out when a voice next to him startled him and he lifted his head, smacking it on the top of the bed.
“Jeeze,” Klaus said, wincing as Diego rubbed the top of his head. “What did you do that for?”
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” He muttered. “What’re you doing here?”
“Looking for you.”
“You’re not the seeker.”
“Diego, we have two entire hours to do whatever we want. I’m not spending it hiding behind a curtain. Let’s go do something fun.”
Klaus grinned at him, wriggling out from under the bed and holding his hand out to him. Hesitantly, Diego took his hand and followed him through the maze of corridors and staircases.
“Where are we going?” He asked after a few minutes, completely losing his sense of direction as they ascended yet another flight of stairs.
“Mom’s room,” Klaus told him as he finally ground to a halt outside a door. “I found it last week.”
“M-M-M…” He paused, letting out a frustrated sigh and trying to concentrate. “M-Mom doesn’t have a room,” He said, eyeing up the door suspiciously. “She sleeps in the hall.”
“She still has to keep her clothes somewhere,” Klaus said excitedly, pushing the door open and waving his hands dramatically. “Ta da!”
Behind the door was a walk-in closet, similar to the one their father had, just a little smaller. The racks one one side were filled with brightly coloured dresses, and on the other, coats, hats, and scarves. At the back of the room there was a wooden vanity with an ornate jewellery box and a small collection of makeup.
“Isn’t it wonderful?” Klaus said eagerly, spinning around in the middle of the room before running over to one of the racks and running his hands over the fabric.
Diego found himself wondering whether their mom even liked these clothes, or if this was just what their dad wanted her to wear, but before he could dwell on it for too long, Klaus was looping a deep blue silk scarf around his neck and giggling at him.
“You look so fancy.” He sniggered. “Wait! You need a hat!”
Running back over to the rack, Klaus grabbed a black fascinator and pinned into his hair, before pulling him over to the mirror to show him his reflection. Diego burst out laughing when he saw himself.
“I look stupid,” He said as he pulled the fascinator out of his hair, throwing it in Klaus’ face and making him laugh.
“You just don’t appreciate fashion.” Klaus turned on his heel, gasping loudly and turning back around with a pair of bright red high heels in his hands. “What about these!”
“I’m not wearing those,” Diego said, wrinkling his nose up.
“Not for you , idiot.”
He watched as Klaus pulled his shoes off and stepped into the heels, clapping his hands together happily.
“They’re so pretty,” He whispered.
“They’re too big,” Diego observed. “No way can you walk in those.”
“Oh yeah? Just watch me.”
He took a step and immediately lost his balance, grabbing on to one of the dresses as he toppled over and landing with the fabric draped over his head. They both collapsed in a fit of giggles on the floor, leaning against each other as they tried to catch their breath.
“What are you doing?”
They both looked up and saw Allison standing in the doorway, with Five and Luther behind her.
“Dressing up,” Klaus said with a grin, scrambling to his feet and wrapping the pink dress around himself like a skirt. “See? Now I’m you!”
“We were supposed to be playing hide and seek.”
“Well, you found me.” He shrugged. “Diego, I heard a rumour that you… Stood up!”
Sniggering, Diego got to his feet, and Luther and Five laughed. Still wearing the heels, Klaus shuffled back out into the corridor with Diego following behind him.
“I heard a rumour that you all followed me,” Klaus said, trying to mimic Allison’s voice, and headed towards the stairs.
Diego, Luther, and Five all started following him, and Allison folded her arms grumpily.
“That’s not funny, Klaus.”
“Well, I heard a rumour that you do think it’s funny,” He said with a grin, turning back around to face her. “And I also heard a rumour that you stopped being such a spoilsport.”
“I am not a spoilsport,” She muttered.
“I heard a rumour that you admitted you’re a spoilsport,” Klaus said, putting his hands on his hips.
“Shut up!”
“I heard a rumour that you stopped telling me to shut up.”
“ I heard a rumour that you stopped talking!”
Klaus was quiet for a moment, and the others glanced at each other uncomfortably. Then, without a word, Klaus turned and took a step down the stairs. Everything happened so quickly that Diego didn’t have time to react. Immediately, Klaus lost his balance in the heels, twisting his ankle and tumbling head first down the stairs. There was a sickening crunch, Allison screamed, and Five jumped to the bottom of the stairs just in time to catch Klaus before his head hit the floor.
A horrified silence hung in the air as they all tried to take in what had happened. From the top of the stairs, Diego couldn’t see how badly Klaus was hurt, but he could see the blood on his face and on Five’s hands.
“Shit,” Luther said behind him, pushing past and running down the stairs. “Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit .”
“Someone needs to get mom,” Five said calmly. “Right now.”
Nodding, Luther took off down the corridor.
“What the hell did you do?” Diego asked quietly, turning to Allison.
The colour had completely drained from her face, and it took her a moment to tear her wide eyes away from Klaus to look at him.
“I… That wasn’t me,” She said, shaking her head. “He tripped.”
“Two seconds after you rumoured him.”
“I told him to stop talking! Not fall down the stairs!”
“Well he sure isn’t talking now!”
Allison choked on a sob, clasping her hands over her mouth and shaking her head frantically. Before either of them could say anything else, Luther returned with their mom, whose eyes went wide when she saw Klaus lying with his head in Five’s lap. Diego hurried down the stairs, stopping dead in his tracks on the top step when he finally got a better look at Klaus’. The bottom of his face was swollen and disfigured, blood was pouring out of his mouth, and Diego could see a couple of his teeth had been knocked loose.
“It looks like he’s broken his jaw,” Mom said, smoothing the hair away from Klaus’ forehead. “I’ll need to take him to the medical room.”
“Is he gonna be okay?” Five asked as he reluctantly let go so she could pick him up.
“He’ll be fine,” She reassured him. “The rest of you go and play. He won’t be awake for a while.”
After they’d found Ben and Vanya and told them what happened, it was a torturous wait for their mom to return with news. When she finally arrived, they all crowded around her, talking over each other with a million different questions.
“He’s alright,” She said, raising her voice so they could hear her and crouching down to put her arms around them. “But he’ll need to have his jaw wired shut for a few weeks.”
“What does that mean?” Ben asked and she paused for a moment before replying.
“He won’t be able to talk,” She explained. “Not until it heals.”
Diego and Five exchanged a glance, and their mom stood upright again.
“Now you all need to get ready for dinner. You know your father doesn’t like you to be late.”
As the others filed obediently out of the room, Diego tugged on her dress and looked up at her.
“Can I go and see him?” He asked in a hushed voice.
She glanced up at the clock on the wall and chewed her lip thoughtfully before nodding. “Alright,” She said, squeezing his shoulder affectionately. “Just be quick.”
Nodding enthusiastically, Diego darted out of the room and headed for the medical room. The door was ajar when he reached it, and when he peered inside he saw Allison crouched next to Klaus on the bed. Sneaking inside, he could just about make out her whispering.
“ I heard a rumour that you don’t remember what happened.”
Klaus stirred on the bed and Allison ran for the door, almost running straight into Diego on her way out. The two of them stared at each other wordlessly as they passed each other, but Diego was more interested in getting to Klaus than confronting her. He ran over to the bed, putting his hand on Klaus’ shoulder as he blinked a few times at him.
“Hey,” He said quietly. “It’s me.”
Looking up at him, Klaus furrowed his brow and moved his hand up to his mouth, feeling around and wincing.
“You broke your jaw,” Diego explained. “Mom said you’ve gotta have it wired shut. So you can’t talk.”
Despite his explanation, Klaus made a noise as he tried to say something, and Diego got up to look for a notepad, handing it to him and waiting patiently as he scribbled something down. Finally, Klaus held the notepad up for him to see.
“What happened?”
Diego opened his mouth, then shut it again and glanced over at the door, where Allison was still lingering and watching the two of them.
“You tripped,” He said quietly, hanging his head. “You were trying to walk in mom’s heels and you fell down the stairs.”