Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The luminous blue light of the portal Five conjured faded into nothingness as the only survivors of the apocalypse — which, ironically, were the very siblings who had brought it on — crashed in a disastrous heap in the alleyway theyʼve landed on.

Ben propped himself up on his elbows, his eyes gleaming with wonder. “That was.. exhilarating.”

He heard Luther groan in pain beside him, having landed upon his back, although a still unconscious Vanya remained firmly held in his arms.

Diego was the only one who graciously landed on his feet, ever the pompous vigilante that he is. He looked around, taking in their surroundings. His brows scrunched in confusion at their setting, “Where the hell are we?”

Luther stood up, adjusting his hold on Vanya. “I think the question should be when are we? Five time travelled us some time before the apocalypse, but when?”

Allison called for Diegoʼs attention in what little sound she could make, motioning at an unconscious Five beside her and Diego immediately bent down and scooped Fiveʼs small physique in his arms with solicitude.

They were then encaged in an uncertain silence. After all, Five was the only one who knew what to do in a situation like this. In the eerie silence of the night, Ben heard screaming and banging in the direction of the graveyard which they didnʼt even noticed was there in the first place. If he hadnʼt been dead, he wouldʼve shivered in fear. 

Ben couldnʼt help but turn to Klaus — or where Klaus should've been if only his idiotic siblings had payed attention to him and noticed that he had been kidnapped. He visibly deflated, his hands clenching in anger. He was angry with siblings, with himself. He couldnʼt even do anything but watch in silent anguish as he wept and suffered, his desperate pleads falling on his tormentorsʼ deaf ears.

He was broken out of his ire induced stupor when he noticed Allison grab Diegoʼs arm just as he was about to walk off to.. somewhere, he wasnʼt exactly paying much attention. Diego turned to look at her, raising a question brow. Allison held a hand up, indicating for him to wait a second as she hastily scribbled on her notepad which she somehow had held on to. 

He couldnʼt see what sheʼd written but he did saw Diegoʼs face morph into one of confusion. Allison pointed at the graveyard and Ben knew then that she mustʼve heard it too. Diego whipped his head at its direction and all of a sudden, a booming sound of explosion resonated throughout the empty alleyway. Diego promptly turned to Luther as he sat Five down on the cold pavement with his back leaning against the coarse wall.

“Stay here with Five and Vanya, weʼll check it out.” Luther wordlessly complied. Ben couldnʼt deny how much Lutherʼs lack of complaint surprised him. 

Ben followed them as Diego walked in long strides with Allison not far behind him. Ben thought back on how much Klaus wouldʼve hated this, he had never been a fan of creepy graveyards, after all. They were filled with rotting corpses and wandering ghosts and he wasnʼt overly fond of them either. Without Klaus, everything seemed duller that it already is and he no longer knew if it was still worth staying when no one even knew he was there. 

They skidded to a halt when Diego almost toppled over, having collided on either an incredibly large rock or a dead body. Diego cursed under his breath as he cautiously stepped away from it. 

Allison looked at him questioningly when Diego crouched down and inspected what looked like a body laying face first against the dirt. Ben inched closer, his eyes squinting in the darkness, trying to make out the features of the seemingly unconscious figure. Diego flipped the body over and no one was quite prepared to witness the sight that greeted them.

Ben felt his metaphorical heart stop. It was Klaus, a seven year old Klaus to be exact. He was unconscious and littering his face and arms were countless scratch marks and what seemed like handprints. Somehow, Ben knew there were more of them. They couldnʼt exactly see him quite properly because of the darkness. 

“Is that..” Allison rasped, immediately dropping to her knees to take a closer at Klaus. A broken sob slipped past her lips, her hand reaching out to rake through his unruly curls. Diegoʼs jaw clenched gruffly as he pressed his eyelids tightly together and exhaled a long, shuddering breath. Once he opened them, his arms reached under Klausʼ almost lifeless body and heaved him up. 

“We canʼt leave him here, heʼs obviously injured. Weʼll bring him back once weʼve patched him up.” Allison hastily nodded and they began trekking back to where they left Luther, an unsettling silence lingering in the atmosphere.

Ben struggled catching up, still in shock at seeing Klaus again after so long. Although he wasnʼt so pleased at seeing him in a similar state he last saw him in but at least he was here, safe with them. 

It wasnʼt quite a surprise when they were met with the sight of Luther struggling to hold back a very persistent yet obviously strained Five who was trying to break free from his grasp. He looked seconds away from passing out yet again but he refused to go down without a fight. 

“Let go of me, you imbecile! How could you just let them leave, they could be in danger—” 

“Let the kid go, Luther.” Five sharply whipped his head in their direction at his incline. Evident relief flashed through him although he was glaring at Diego without a real bite to it.

“Iʼm older than you.” He sassed, pulling away from Luther who reluctantly let him sag in exhaustion beside him. 

“Yeah, yeah whatever. Look, we found—”

“Whoʼs that?” Fiveʼs eyes squinted with suspicion as he finally noticed the unconscious figure in Diegoʼs arms. “Diego, you canʼt just pick up strays whenever you feel like it.” he rolled his eyes in exasperation, leaning against the wall and shoving his hands in his pockets. A signature posture of his. 

“Yeah, but this stray is our stray, Five. Itʼs Klaus.” Fiveʼs eyes snapped up in alarm at that, marching over to him with long strides. His entire body tensed at the sight of his little brother who looked so awful, it was as if a breeze of wind could knock the life out of him.

“What happened to him? Did someone attacked him?” A murderous glint flashed through his glacial blue eyes, his hands clenched at his sides, drawing crescent shaped marks on his palm.

Diego shook his head with a sigh, “We don't know. We just found him passed out in a graveyard, of all places, looking seconds away from death.”

Five barely stifled a flinch at his poor choice of words. Ben rolled his eyes at Diegoʼs lack of tact as Allison slapped him with her notepad with a reprimanding scowl.

Diego opted to to ignore their reprimands and instead, he says, “Five, I know weʼre supposed to fix the timeline or whatever but we canʼt leave him. Not like this.”

Beside him, Allison nodded solemnly, clutching her notepad tightly. No one could see him, but Ben still nodded fervently. Silently begging for Five to agree, if they could he would even want them to take Klaus back to 2019 with them. 

“Obviously. Do you really think I would just abandon him after — after I—” He halts halfway in his sentence as Diego placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Five awkwardly looked away, discreetly blinking away the tears that he hadnʼt even noticed have gathered in his eyes.

“What happened before wasnʼt your fault.” He said in a tone that was too patronizing, Ben knew it mustʼve made Fiveʼs skin itch.

“Wasnʼt it?” Five couldnʼt help but reply. Diego opened his mouth to utter what must be another line of words of comfort but Five immediately interrupted before a single syllable could slip past his tounge.

“Thereʼs a place near we could stay at for the meantime.” He says, gauchely turning his back on them. 

Diego wordlessly nodded and once again, they were engulfed in silence. One that wasnʼt quite comfortable but those type of silences has never sat within them for decades. If Klaus had been here, he wouldʼve already been spewing nonsense just to diffuse the tension. A melancholy smile etched its way onto Benʼs lips, his eyes never leaving Klaus. He couldnʼt have saved him before but this time would be different. He had their siblings now. 

Chapter Text

As hours passed and Klaus remained unmoving, Five felt himself grew more worried and a tad bit frustrated. Even Vanya had woken up roughly six hours later, vigorous sobs wracking her entire body as she apologized unrelentlessly. They promised her they would help her through this and would help train her until Five found a way to get them back home. Luther had still been doubtful but Allisonʼs viscous glare was enough for him to back down. 

Theyʼve been taking turns at keeping watch, both at Klaus and the Commission for vastly different reasons. If they werenʼt handling this with caution, Klaus or another one of siblings could be put in harms way because of him again and Five swore never to make the same mistakes twice. 

His siblings had tried to talk him into taking a rest since time travelling with four more people wasnʼt as easy as it might seem but Five had already slept for an hour more than he had intended to and he simply couldnʼ sit and relax while the Commission were out looking for them. Although Five did had to promise them he would rest in the morning, much to his dismay. 

They tried to clean Klausʼ wounds earlier but if someone so much as touched a strand of his hair, he would thrash around and would even scream his throat sore. In the end, they decided they would have to put the issue aside until he'd awoken because if they persisted, they could possibly worsen his injuries.

Another hour passed as Five continued scribbling complex equations on his worn down notebook. His gaze continuously shifted through Klaus and the equation. Klaus kept muttering gibberish in his sleep and would even flail his arms around a couple of times. He also may have jabbed Five in the face once or twice. 

This time however, Klaus bolts upright with a gasp. He frantically looked around and once he spotted Five hovering uncertainly beside him, he immediately backed away in fear. 

“Who — who are you?” His voiced quivered with every word he spoke, curling into a fetal position and his eyes were wild with obstinate fear. 

Five cursed under his breath. Of course he, of all people, would be subjected to this kind of situation. He had never been the gentlest amongst his siblings, that was Ben and Vanyaʼs job. He had never coaxed single person out of a panic attack in his fifty-eight years of existence, but apparently thereʼs always a first time for everything.

He cautiously inched forward, as if Klaus was a wild animal who could bite his head off without much of a thought. “Hey, calm down. Iʼm not here to hurt you, Klaus.” His hand hovered close dubiously, he wouldnʼt want to worsen the situation by touching Klaus without his permission. 

“My name is Number F–four.” Klaus tried to say harshly but with his trembling voice, it didnʼt came out as much. 

“Ah, shit. Itʼs me, Five. Remember how I told you I might be able to travel through time? Well,” Five gestured to himself. He really needed to wake his siblings. Klaus still had tears streaming down his porcelain face and it was clawing at his heartstrings and he hasnʼt a single idea what he should do. 

“Five never told me that.” Klaus muttered with uncertainty. 

Five ran his hands through his hair in frustration. “Right. That doesnʼt happen for another five years.” He couldnʼt think of anything else to say in order to convince Klaus that he is Five. 

“If you were going to try and fool me you couldʼve at least thought of something much more convincing than that.” Klaus looked at him with intense distrust and Five tried hard not to focus on the prickling pain in his chest. Stupid fucking emotions. 

Besides, had Klaus always been like this as a kid? Seriously, the kid was only seven years old and yet he already had impeccable speech. Under different circumstances, Five wouldʼve beamed with pride. 

Five tilted his head up, as if praying for patience. He heaved a deep sigh and glanced back down at Klaus who was still curled in on himself, glaring at Five like a feral cat. If he wasnʼt so exhausted he wouldʼve tried using his powers to show Klaus that he is indeed Five. 

“Come with me. Our siblings are just next door, theyʼll prove to you that I'm not lying.” Five held his hand out expectantly but Klaus merely shook his head stubbornly. 

“No, thanks,”

Five contemplated for a moment whether manhandling a child would be considered child abuse. The answer would probably be yes but desperate times calls for desperate measures. 

“Just trust me on this. Iʼm not gonna hurt you, alright?” He asserted. Klausʼ appraising eyes gave him another once-over before finally nodding in surrender. 

“Fine,” He stood up, ignoring Fiveʼs outstretched hand. “But if I find out youʼre lying, I will bite your kneecaps." Fiveʼs lips quirked up in a smirk and he led Klaus out of the room. 

Once they were in front of the room Vanya and Allison were staying at, he obnoxiously knocked on the door. He made sure to keep his eyes on Klaus in case he makes a run for the exit but the boy stayed glued in his spot beside him, consciously shifting from foot to foot. A few moments later, the door finally opened to reveal a barely awake Allison. 

“Five? What is it?” Upon hearing his name, Vanya appeared behind her, groggy eyes peering at the door. “Did something happen?” Five motioned toward Klaus who was continously shifting nervously on his heels.

“Oh my god,” Vanya whispered, stunned. She pushed her way through and crouched in front a skeptical Klaus.

“Klaus, you're awake!” She exclaimed with evident delight, her hands clamped on his shoulders.

Allison instantaneously roused at the sight of Klaus, although her brows furrowed once she caught sight of his untreated wounds. 

Klausʼ nose scrunched with distaste, “Stop calling me that. My name is Four.”

Vanya deflated in the slightest at the admission. “I guess Five havenʼt told you anything.” Five shook his head when she glanced at him. 

Her radiant smile curved into an upset frown when she noticed the scratch marks on his neck. “Letʼs get inside, weʼll explain everything once weʼve taken care of your injuries.” She ushered them in and they wordlessly followed her. 

Once theyʼve filled in, Allison made Klaus sit down on the bed as she took the first aid kit they bought at the store earlier. Vanya asked him to take off his cruddy and ripped Academy uniform. Klaus hesitantly complied, shrugging off his dusty blazer before unbuttoning his shirt. The more buttons he had undone, the more darkening bruises appeared. 

They let out a collective gasp at the unpleasant sight of the numerous purple and green gashes covering his pale skin. Allisonʼs hand flew to her mouth, she wanted to say something but her words were caught at the back of her throat and the only thing that came out was a distinct gurgling noise. 

Vanya clamped her eyes shut, taking a deep breath to try and keep her emotions that were already all over the place at bay. Fiveʼs hand twitched and he desperately tried to restrain himself from punching a hole in the wall. What Klaus needed the most right now is a confidant, someone who could offer him comfort, not emotionally stunted man-children who resorted to rage and violence to sort their shit out. 

Vanya forced a constrained smile as she started applying necessary ailments to his injuries. She had spent most of her time with Mom in the infirmary as a kid since being the “ordinary” sibling meant doing nothing other than to study and harness her skills in playing the violin. Although at this very moment, she was glad she had. 

Five awfully wanted to throw questions in Klausʼ way but that would unfortunately have to wait seeing as he still looked extremely strained despite the long hours he spent unconscious. Five suppressed a suffering sigh. 

Once Vanya had patched him up, Klaus had fallen right back into a deep slumber with his hand clutching Allisonʼs tightly. He looked peaceful in his sleep and seeing him like this, they swore to never let anyone lay a hand on him ever again. 

Chapter Text

Unlike his nightmare induced awakening hours earlier, this time Fourʼs eyes blinked into awareness on its own. He didnʼt had a single horrific image flash in his mind in his sleep which he was extremely thankful of.

There were two warm bodies wrapped around him, almost protectively so. He doesnʼt know what their names are, he had only ever had a conversation with the teenage boy who had claimed to be his brother Five which was simply preposterous in every way possible. 

Four tried sitting up, using his hand to prop himself up only for an agonized yelp to erupt from him. His anguished wail stirred the two women awake and they blearily glanced at Four who was cradling his most likely fractured wrist. He mustnʼt have noticed since the woman who took care of his wounds had been immensely gentle with him. 

The dark haired woman gingerly placed a hand on his shoulder, her tone worried when she asked, “Klaus? Are you okay?” Four merely showed her his wrist as if that alone would explain everything. 

“It hurts,” He murmured with a pained wince as she gently took his hand, inspecting the fractured wrist. 

Her lips pursed in displeasure. “This will need a cast, unfortunately.”

In Fourʼs peripheral vision, there was a sudden flash of blue light before a voice spoke. “Why would he need a cast?” All three of them jumped in surprise at Fiveʼs sudden appearance.

Four supposes that should be a legitimate enough proof seeing as the only person who could ever appear out of thin air is his brother Five, who was standing right in front of him and is a teenager. 

“Jesus Christ, Five! Youʼre supposed to be asleep.” The dark haired woman — whoʼs most likely Seven if this genuinely wasnʼt a horrifyingly vivid hallucination — reprimanded with an indignant edge to her voice. Five merely ignored her exclaim and instead repeated his previous question. 

“What was that?” He interrupts, gawking at Five with evident stupefaction. 

Five glanced at him for a moment, “I already told you. Weʼre your siblings from the future.”

Just then, the door suddenly slammed open, revealing two barely awake men. Fourʼs eyes almost bulged out of their sockets at the sight of the incredibly massive physique of a man who scarily resembled Oneʼs features. 

The man who had a harness of sharpened knives strapped to his chest was the first to speak, “We heard yelling. Did something happened?” He cautiously glanced around the room before his eyes landed on Four. He gave him a wary smile, his voice shaking as he greeted him a quiet hello. 

Four critically squints his eyes at them, “Are — are you guys really my siblings?” their only reply was a unified nod.

Fourʼs brows furrowed, undeniably confused. “But youʼre all so.. old.” At his remark, a collective snort of fond amusement echoed in the dull, white room. 

Five took it upon himself to explain their extremely baffling situation. “Something happened in the future which resulted in us time travelling back in time. Although, I originally intended for us to go back just hours before it happened but trying to keep four peopleʼs sanity intact, including my own, isnʼt as easy as it sounds. And so here we are,” Five ended with a telltale hand motioned at them. 

Four still had too many questions dancing around in his head but before he could relay those queries, Seven then told them about his wristʼs desperate need of a cast.

One and Two volunteered in getting it for him, which was quite a staggering scene. Four could never imagine a moment where One and Two were ever pacific towards each other. “Do you need anything else?” Two asked before they could exit the room. 

“Can I come with? I want ice-cream.” Four perked up expectantly but his hopes were promptly crushed when Five shook his head with a pointed glare. 

“I am not letting you prance around with a broken wrist.”

Four huffed in defeat, “Fine.” He tried to cross his arms only to grimace at the pain that shot through him. So instead, he prompted to slump in his seat with exaggeration. 

Before they left, Two promised theyʼd get him his ice-cream and he grinned with delight. In their departure, Four immediately went and asked the questions he werenʼt able to earlier. 

“What happened in the future?” 

His remaining siblings shared a contemplative look, silently asking one another whether they should tell him the exact incidents outright. 

After an entire three minutes of tense silence, Five flashed him a strained smile. “Nothing you have to worry about. Thatʼs all in the future.”

Four hums noncommittally, “Okay. Whereʼs Six, then?”

If the atmosphere had been tense earlier, now it was almost suffocating as his siblings visibility flinched at the mention of their timid brother. Fourʼs brows stitched together, a glimmer of confusion in his emerald eyes but didnʼt further pressed on their questionable reaction.

Seven smiled softly, “We donʼt use those names anymore.” She deflected, obviously avoiding the subject but all thoughts of Six were immediately pushed at the back of his mind at Sevenʼs admission. 

Four raised a questioning brow, “Oh? Why?”

With a kind smile, Three raised her notepad up to him, it read; Numbers arenʼt names. 

Seven then proceeded to relay their current names, excluding Five because heʼs a stubborn little prick who refused to acquire a different name. He had found out his name is apparently Klaus. Which is also why theyʼve been addressing him as such for the past few hours that he has been with them.

Klaus, it still felt quite unusual to have a name other than Four but he most definitely preferred the name Mom gave — or will give them, beamed at hearing the information. 

“Klaus,” He whispered, awestruck. It rolled off his tongue with ease and it felt ridiculously right. It sounded so much better than Number Four. Klaus was reminded once again why Grace is the best mother there is. 

Vanya grinned at his expression and she reached out to ruffle his messy, dark curls. “Yeah, Klaus.” She chuckled with all fondness. Allison and even Five had a genuine smile plastered across their faces at the heartwarming interaction. 

Moments later, Diego and Luther finally arrived with his cast and his ice-cream. He instantly munched on his long awaited treat as Vanya gently placed the knitted fabric over his injured wrist and then finally layering it with a padding. She even added a little unicorn sticker that Diego had bought somewhere on the cast. 

Within these past few hours, Klaus decided, had been the most peaceful moment of his entire life. They were never allowed to act this freely back at the mansion, never allowed to show compassion towards one another. So in this very moment, complicated it may be, Klaus was glad to have found them.

Chapter Text

Ben has been profusely avoiding being in the same room with Klaus for an entire week now due to the fact that heʼs undeniably dead and he would never want to be the reason for Klausʼ tears. Although he couldnʼt deny that he desperately wanted to talk to his brother again, the only problem is that he doesnʼt know how to bring up the news of his own death in the gentlest way there possibly is.

Besides, Five is one terrifying little gremlin. Whenever someone would mention Benʼs name, he always seemed to be lurking in every crevices of the motel building. Listening in on the conversation as if daring them to tell Klaus of what happened to Ben. It has too much of a serial killer vibe for their liking.

Klaus wasnʼt making it any easier for them either. Heʼs been asking for Ben since the moment theyʼve proven to him that they werenʼt kidnappers with nefarious plots and whatnot. Theyʼve all decidedly hated every second of those moments and they were also running out of alibis. Ben was just hoping that Klaus wouldnʼt catch on to their lies or it wouldnʼt be pleasant for any of them.

Oftentimes, Ben would watch over Klaus as he slept. His hand hovering over his head in the pretence of caressing his soft curls as he watched the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest.

Before everything went downhill, Klaus had been the constant normalcy in his life — or the lack thereof. They would often lay on the blazing sand, overlooking the elegant orange hue of the sky as the sun began to set. Klaus would even buy him waffles and pour him coffee as if he could actually ingest them.

A woeful smile flitted across Benʼs face, before his attention was caught by Klaus suddenly stirring in his sleep. His eyes were tightly shut as he mumbled slurred words. He was having a nightmare.

Ben cursed, frantically glancing at Diego who lay asleep by Klausʼ side but the man remained unconscious, blissfully unaware of the harrowing situation at hand. He sighed in trepidation.

“Klaus,” Ben called, placing a hand on the boyʼs shoulder but as he had expected, his hand phased right through him.

“Klaus, wake up. Itʼs just a nightmare.” He spoke louder this time and it seemed to be working seeing as Klaus had stopped swatting his hand on thin air. Ben hated being unable to physically do anything at times like these. He wouldnʼt even be able to console Klaus through his horrors.

Klaus jerks awake, his fingers curling around the mattress underneath his body with a fierce grip. He was panting heavily as if heʼd been running a marathon and he was drenched in sweat. Tears were starting to form in his emerald eyes and yet through all of this, Diego remained dormant.

Klaus turned towards him with glassy eyes and wobbling lips. Ben visibly stilled under the boyʼs stare, almost having forgotten that he was visible in his eyes. Klaus, however, broke into a flurry of uncontrolled sobs at the sight of him. He reached out to wrap his arms around him and Ben was only a second too late as Klausʼ arms phased through him.

Klausʼ eyes widened in aghast horror, spluttering barely composed words. Ben opened his mouth to try and assuage his distress but at that moment, Diego finally decided to rouse into awareness. His brows were furrowed in confusion as his gaze shifted between Klaus and the supposed empty air beside him.

Diego clamped a hand on Klausʼ shoulder in order to get his attention, “Hey kid, what happened?”

Startled, Klaus whipped his head in his direction before once again zeroing in on Ben. “Ben. Heʼs— heʼs..” he stammered, his voice quivering with each word he spoke.

Diego tensed, but his eyes were soft and filled with evident concern as he engulfed Klaus into a warm embrace. “I know. Iʼm sorry we hadnʼt told you sooner, we were just—”

Klaus roughly pulled away from him, interrupting his words, and he looked up at Diego with an unusual steely glint in his eyes. “What do you mean? You — you knew?” 

Diego sighed, rubbing a hand on his face. “Klaus, listen, we were just giving you some time, okay? With everything thatʼs going on, I donʼt think finding out youʼre brother passed away wouldʼve been helpful.”

Klaus briskly shook his head in disbelief. He stood up with brash abruptness, backing away from both Ben and Diego. “You knew and you didnʼt think to tell me?” He scoffed in incredulity, his voice doubling in pitch by the passing second. 

“Klaus, itʼs okay. Itʼs not their fault—”

Klaus craned his head towards Ben sharply. “Shut up! I waited for you and you didnʼt think to tell me that youʼre—” Klaus swallowed a lump in his throat, all of a sudden finding it too hard to even breathe. “that youʼre d–dead?” he murmured in a hushed voice, hands trembling with tremor.

Ben visibly recoiled as if he had been slapped. God, they messed up really badly.

Diego tentatively advanced towards him, his arms outstretched in a placating manner. “Iʼm sorry, alright? Weʼre all sorry, so can you please just calm down so we can talk—”

Klaus screamed. Bloodcurdling and raw.

The following events happened in a blur. One moment Diego had been trying to coax Klaus into tranquility and the next, he was suddenly sent flying into the air, slamming violently against the wall with a resounding crack.

The windows and every breakable items in the room shattered, sending shards of glass flying all over the place. Various furnitures were aggressively toppled over with a resonating thud. In the midst of it all, Klaus remained crouched in the corner of the room. His knees were drawn up to his chest and he was sobbing vigorously on the floor.

Although he didnʼt seemed to be harmed, much to Benʼs content. After all, he was still healing from his several wounds which they still had no idea where he had acquired from since theyʼve all agreed that they would at least give him some time to adjust until he felt comfortable enough to open up to them. Ben doubts itʼs likely to happen anytime soon after this whole fiasco.

The door frenetically slammed open, revealing their distressed siblings who stood with their eyes blown wide in alarm. Their frantic eyes scanned the mess of a room, before their calculating gaze landed on Klaus who kept himself pressed far on the corner and on Diego who lay haphazardly on the other side of the room, unconscious and unmoving.

No one uttered a word for an excruciatingly long amount of time. Five was the one who decided to break the uneasy silence. “What the fuck happened here?”

Ben knew for a fact that the unexpected turn of events would result in another session of hour long family meetings with various opposing arguments from different sides of the estranged group.

Chapter Text

Vanya wasnʼt quite sure what kind of staring contest they were having. No one has made any sort of noise or even a fickle of movement since Klausʼ outburst. She couldnʼt deny it was starting to become a little too suffocating.

After theyʼve convinced Klaus to go to sleep, they immediately cramped into a separate room in order to conduct yet another family meeting. Putting Klaus to sleep had been done with great difficulty, he refused to leave Diegoʼs side and he was trembling with vigor as he mumbled a mantra of I'm sorrys and I didn't mean tos.

He reminded Vanya too much of herself when she had almost annihilated Allison and the entire world — or had she done it already? Time-travel was extremely fucking baffling, only God knows how Five hadnʼt lost his marbles just yet.

Eventually, they did managed to persuade him into going to bed after Five promised him that heʼd be the first person to know once Diego woke up. That turned out to be a lie seeing as Five hadnʼt shown any indications of going to get Klaus even though Diego had regained consciousness almost an hour after the incident.

They had almost gotten kicked out of the motel when the other tenants had reported the outrage that took place in their occupied room, but they somehow managed to convince the owner that there had been an attempted burglary, hence the chaos and screaming. Without Allisonʼs assistance, most surprisingly.

“Are we just going to stare into each othersʼ souls or what?” Diego quips, fiddling with a knife from his harness.

“We have to—” Luther starts, but Five immediately interrupted him.

“We are not going to lock him up.” He says resolutely.

Luther sighed, almost exasperatedly so, which got an irked eye-roll from Allison, of all people. “Heʼs dangerous, Five. What if he starts another apocalypse, huh? What if heʼs another Vanya?” he questions challengingly as if Vanya wasnʼt sitting directly in front of him. They could see in his blazing eyes just how awfully determined he is.

Five seethes, glowering at Luther, thoroughly undeterred by his towering figure. “If so, then we help him, instead of treating him as if heʼs some kind of fiend like you so adamantly suggest.”

“Havenʼt you learned a thing from your mistakes, Luther? Thatʼs exactly the reason why weʼre stuck here and you want to, what, start an apocalypse all over again?” Diego scoffed incredulously, his grip dangerously tightening around the polished knife.

“He threw you against a wall without so much of a thought!” Luther splutters, motioning towards the wall with a wild gesture.

“Yeah, and you choked me and locked me in a cage.” Vanya gibed, rolling her eyes in annoyance, of all things. Allison gently rests a hand on her shoulder, smiling at her with a proud glint in her dark eyes. Vanya couldnʼt help but return the gesture.

Five outstretched a hand towards Vanya in a telltale motion as if to say ‘my point, exactlyʼ. “Face it, Luther. Weʼre all dangerous. You throttle your family and Iʼve killed innocent civilians. Do you want to lock me up now, too?” Five queries, tone provoking. 

“Itʼs not the same. You did it for a reason, I did it for a reason.” He tries to justify his impertinent actions, although only succeeded in gaining a vexed scoff from Five. 

“Well, itʼs a shitty reason. Besides, weʼre all to blame. Instead of helping Vanya, you locked her up like some rabid animal.” Five states matter-of-factly. 

Luther opens his mouth but promptly shuts it, at a loss of constructive arguments. He slumps in his seat dejectedly. They all took that as an obvious victory on their part.

“Weʼll train him tomorrow. You can come with, but be sure to keep your mouth zipped if nothing good comes out of it.” Five flashed him his usual sardonic smirk and his hands instantly fizzled blue, but before he could blink himself away, the door slowly creaks open, garnering their undivided attention.

Klaus stands in the doorway, anxiously fiddling with the hem of the jacket theyʼve bought him the other day. “Iʼm sorry.” he quietly mumbles, morose eyes downcast. If it werenʼt for the lingering silence, they wouldnʼt have been able to hear him.

“I — I understand if — if you donʼt want me here anymore, I can just leave—”

“Hey, no one is making you leave.” Vanya crouched down in front of him, delicately cupping his face in her hands in order to coerce him into looking up at her. “Do you want to leave?” she asks.

Klaus shook his head with vehemence at her querie. “I donʼt want to go back there. Heʼll take me there again and theyʼre so loud and—” he halts in his sentence, pressing his eyelids tightly together.

Diegoʼs brows knits together in skepticism. “Where would whom take you?”

Klaus shakes his head once again, “I canʼt tell you. He will know and heʼll be mad and then he would take me there again,” his voice starts quaking as he rambles on.

“Whoʼs he?” Five hissed through clenched teeth, a calculation already brewing in his indomitable mind.

“I canʼt,” tears started welling upon his eyes and that was all it took for Vanya to gather his gaunt figure into her arms.

She combed her hand along his curly locks as her other hand gently traced circles on his back. “Itʼs okay, Klaus. You can tell us, he wouldnʼt know. We would never let him hurt you again.” Klausʼ trembling discernably recedes as she consistently whispered words of assurances in his ear.

“Is it Reginald?” Vanya mumbles, although her voice was loud enough for their siblings to hear. Klaus nods, almost unnoticeable due to his face being nuzzled in the crook of Vanyaʼs neck, but the gesture doesnʼt go unremarked under their siblingsʼ scrutinizing gazes.

Vanya tightened her already fierce grip on her brother — if that could even be possible — as silence reigned upon them at the wake of Klausʼ revelation. The rage she felt coursing through her veins felt illusory, not once in her entire existence had she ever thought she would feel this much anger.

Reginald had raised a hand on her brother, Klaus. Klaus who had always been the gentlest and the most sympathetic amongst them. Klaus who had always been there to console his siblings had they needed comforting, and all she saw was red. Reginald had hurt Klaus, just like he did her and she swore to the Gods above that she would feel not an ounce of sympathy once she gets her hands on Reginald.

Allison promptly collapsed on the floor to embrace both Klaus and Vanya and a broken sob escapes her lips. Luther looks extremely conflicted, albeit horrified, perhaps questioning the authenticity of a childʼs words against a father whom he had never learned to doubt and defy. Had Diego possessed an inhumane strength like Luther, the knife in his hand would have most likely snapped in half by now with his white-knuckled grip on it.

Five heaves a shuddering breath through his nose and in a blistering pace, he pivots toward Diego and had snatched the knife in his hand in a mere split second. He exerts all of his strength and pent-up rage onto throwing the knife against the wall across them with a boorish shriek. It hits the mesmerizing painting of a meadow with terrifying accuracy, one that could possibly rival that of Diegoʼs.

Klausʼ green orbs widened at his outburst, although his following reaction was quite the unexpected, but it was such a Klaus thing to do that they wouldnʼt have expected anything less. Klaus giggles before swiftly covering his mouth, afraid that his takeaway from the situation might upset them but Fiveʼs smug, self-satisfactory grin assures him he had done nothing wrong.

Luther abruptly stood up, affronted, the chair he was situated on scraping against the floor with an earsplitting screech. “Dad wouldnʼt—”

“I swear to all that is holy, if youʼd dare finish that sentence youʼll find a knife buried in your elbows.” Diego threatens with an animalistic snarl. Vanya has no doubt he would actually do it if Luther further insists on defending Reginald.

If Diegoʼs threats hadnʼt been enough to daunt him then Allisonʼs outraged scowl had certainly done it. Luther pursed his lips shut, decides Dad isnʼt worth a broken elbow and slumps back in his seat.

Vanya and Allison remained crouched on the floor with Klaus enveloped in their tight embrace as they softly whispered hushed words of comfort and vows of keeping him under their aegis. 

Unsurprisingly not for the first time since reuniting with her brother, Vanya pledged to herself that she would protect her now youngest brother with her life, consequences be damned.