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Klaus gasped, opening his eyes.
Was he dead?
No.
He didn’t hear his heart pounding in his ears like he normally did, but he was certain he wasn’t dead. Dave was nowhere near him, so if he was dead, he certainly wasn’t in Heaven.
He ran his hands over his chest, feeling like a weight had been lifted off of it.
Klaus?
The voice was muffled as the ringing in his ears started to fade and the voice started getting clearer and louder. It wasn’t in his head. It was out loud in front of him.
He blinked, clearing his vision and saw Ben sitting in front of him, trying to wake him up.
“Klaus?”
“Ben?”
Ben helped Klaus to his feet and that was when Klaus finally got the chance to look around.
Oh no.
Everything was in ruins.
Bodies were everywhere.
His family’s bodies were everywhere.
Luther, Diego, Viktor, Allison.
They were gone.
He looked over at Ben for an explanation, but he remembered.
The apocalypse.
The bombs.
Viktor.
He looked down at Viktor’s corpse.
His skin was pale and him eyes were stuck open in rigor mortis.
Klaus crouched down, slowly reaching out to him.
A wave of blue energy washed over him and he blinked, taking in a sharp breath.
Ben and Klaus looked at each other, dropping their jaws.
Viktor slowly sat up, looking at them. “Klaus? Ben?”
“Holy shit.” Both brothers said in unison incredulously.
“What the hell just happened?”
“I think Klaus just brought you back to life.” Ben said.
“Are you alive?”
“Nope. Still dead.” Ben sighed. He looked at Klaus. “How the hell did you do that?”
“Maybe that’s what Dad meant when he said I hadn’t been living up to my potential. I can raise the dead. Wish I knew that when we still had your body.”
Ben rolled his eyes.
“Wait.” Klaus turned, looking at his hands. “I can bring the others back!”
“Uh, I wouldn’t be so sure that that’s a good idea…” Ben pointed at Viktor.
He had his eyes shut tight, covering his ears. His eyes opened wide and they were burning a very bright white.
Klaus and Ben backed up, watching soundwaves cause all the debris and glass around them to shake and fall apart.
“Viktor! It’s okay, it’s okay!” Klaus tried to calm him, putting his hands up.
“The noise! It’s everywhere!”
“Wh...what? There is no noise!”
He breathed sharply, hyperventilating. He looked around, looking for the source of the noises he was hearing. His heartbeat echoed in His head, mixing with a loud ringing in His ears.
“Klaus, look at you!” Ben yelped, pointing at Klaus.
Klaus once more looked at his hands, realizing that his hands were blue and slightly translucent. He yelped. “What the hell is happening?”
His voice sounded distant and pained. A blue light pulsed around Viktor and he shut his eyes tight again, covering his ears. A deafening ringing pierced Klaus and Ben’s ears.
“I can’t handle this anymore!” Klaus picked up a large cinder block and struck Viktor across the head, knocking him out.
The noise disappeared and the debris around them stopped quivering.
“What the hell, Klaus!?” Ben asked.
“What? You saw how everything was getting. We could have died again!”
“You idiot, we would have been brought back anyway!”
“Well it’s hard to think about that when you’re going deaf!”
Ben rolled his eyes.
Klaus looked at the others. “Okay. I’ll bring them back...they’ll know what to do.” He rubbed his hands together. “Okay. Diego!” He got to his knees, holding the palms of his hands out over Diego. “Oh, I hope this works…”
Diego’s finger twitched and he slowly sat up.
“Wha…” He looked around, seeing the aftermath. “We...we survived?”
“Not exactly.”
“Klaus? What the hell happened to you?”
Klaus gave a nervous laugh and shrugged. “I have no idea! But I can resurrect the dead!”
“No fucking way.”
“I know!”
He ran over to Allison and Luther to bring them back and Diego squinted, looking between Ben and Viktor, who was still unconscious, but starting to stir.
“Ben?”
Ben waved nonchalantly. “Hey, Diego.”
“Are we actually dead?”
“No, Diego. You guys aren’t. I am.”
“Oh.” He waved his hands in front of his face. “What’s with the...all that?”
Ben shrugged. “I guess I’m corporeal now.”
“...Huh.”
“Never mind me, what’s up with your face?”
“What?”
“Your face. It’s shiny.”
Diego grabbed a side view mirror that had broken off of a car and looked at his reflection.
His face was scarred, pieces of shrapnel from the explosion embedded in his temple and jaw. He grimaced at the sight and looked at his teeth.
They’d become sharp; like a shark’s. He felt them and gasped, feeling something sharp poke him in the mouth.
Were those his fingers?
Sure enough, his fingers had become sharp as knives.
Upon a closer inspection, he saw gills on his neck.
Maybe that was why his voice sounded raspy.
He needed water.
He scratched at his throat, coughing.
“I think I’m going to die if I don’t get water.”
Klaus pulled Allison and Luther to their feet.
Allison opened her mouth to speak, but her voice echoed loudly, forcing her brothers to cover their ears. She covered her mouth, looking at them.
Their ears bled and they winced at her.
“What the hell?” Diego looked at Viktor, who was still unconscious on the ground. “He didn’t die?”
“No. I had to knock him out because he was going out of control and almost destroyed the world again.” Klaus sighed dramatically.
“That’s messed up, dude.”
“Oh, sure. Blame me. Luther’s the one who caused the first one!”
Klaus motioned over to Luther, who was keeping his head down, facing away from them.
Diego covered the gills around his throat, coughing. “Well, wonderful. I’m going to go get some water before I end up drying out.” He limped off, rubbing his face.
“I think...the radiation from that explosion might have messed with our powers…” Luther quietly said.
“What do you say that for?” Ben asked.
He stood up, turning to face them.
He was hunched over, holding his arm that had been singed by the explosion.
His brows had become permanently furrowed and tufts of hair grew down the side of his jaw like exaggerated sideburns. Curved fangs protruded from under his lips, making him look more like a gorilla than before.
“Jesus Christ.” Ben blurted.
Diego walked over, pouring a bottle of beer over his gills. “Jesus. I didn’t think it was possible but you look even worse than before.”
“Yeah, at least I don’t look like a third-rate Goosebumps monster.” Luther quipped back miserably.
Viktor groaned, sitting up and Klaus quickly covered Viktor’s ears with his hands.
“What are you doing that for?”
“Well, Diego. If you must know, whenever he’s conscious, he tends to explode things uncontrollably. Except now, apparently, it’s actually uncontrollable.”
Viktor looked around at his siblings, fearing the worst. Allison crouched down and hugged him tightly, assuring him that they were all together and okay.
They all looked at each other, trying to figure out what to do.
Something was missing.
“Where’s Five?” Diego asked, splashing a water bottle on himself.
Luther jerked his head. “What?”
“Five. He was here. I saw him. Where the hell did he go?”
Viktor nodded, having seen Five stand next to a tank.
They called out for Five, but there was no reply. He was gone. Maybe permanently.
Diego took to looking among the corpses, hoping that he’d be able to see him, but there were only strangers among the dead.
Allison fell to her knees.
She’d come that close to being able to go home. To Claire.
She’d lost Ray.
For nothing.
Why?
Everything she’d ever worked for was always taken away from her.
She yelled, crying out in anguish.
The sound reverberated, knocking everyone back, shattering windows.
She sobbed, covering her face. “Claire! Ray!”
Klaus sat beside her, putting an arm around her.
He rested a head on her shoulder.
He’d gotten Dave killed. Twice.
Even though her cries were deafening, they all sat there, letting it happen. Out of any of them, she deserved to cry the most.
Viktor closed his eyes, taking a breath and trying to isolate the sound. The ringing in his ears had died down, but there were still soundwaves emitting from him. They were weak, but strong enough to vibrate the ground wherever he sat.
“He’ll be back. Right? He always comes back.” Klaus reasoned.
“Yeah. Sure. Let’s give it another 17 years.” Diego scoffed.
“What are we doing? Just...waiting it out in the apocalypse?” Viktor asked, speaking in a whisper.
Luther shook his head.
“Five wouldn’t just abandon us. He didn’t spend 45 years trying to get back to us just to leave us stuck here!”
“Oh yeah, Number One? Where is he, then!?” Diego yelled. He threw a rock in anger, but it circled back, hitting him in the head. “Son of a bitch!”
“...This is all my fault. If I had just listened to you guys in the first place-”
Klaus grabbed him by the shoulders. “Luther, buddy. No one’s blaming you. That doesn’t happen for 60 years. We all did this ourselves this time. I mean, look at us! How could you be responsible for any of this?” Klaus laughed incredulously. “I look like a fucking projection! Ben is a projection! Diego..! Look at him!” He weakly motioned to Diego, who carried around a gallon of water, splashing some on his face.
Diego laughed sarcastically. “If I ever see that little asshole, I’m gonna kill him!” He cracked his neck and sat down on a bench.
“If...There’s not gonna be an if. It’s when. Right?” Klaus asked. “He’s gonna come back for us.”
The others sat in silence, wanting to agree with him. But realistically, it would be a while before Five came back. They all knew that. Would they survive until he came back?
“I could just bring everyone back! Then the world wouldn’t have ended!” Klaus suggested. “Apocalypse averted!”
“Then everyone else would become radioactive mutants, Klaus.” Diego said.
“Oh yeah…” He sighed. “We are freaks now.”
“We’ve always been freaks. Now it’s just obvious.” Ben said.
“Because of him.” Diego hissed.
“Let’s just wait...and see if he comes back…” Viktor whispered.
“Oh? And if he doesn’t? Do what? Find our own way back? Brilliant idea!”
“I was just trying to help…”
Diego sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m just not used to...looking like Luther.”
Luther grabbed him by the shirt, growling lowly.
“Easy there, Rampage.”
Their fight was cut off by someone whistling to get their attention.
“You guys can fight all you want. You’ll have plenty of time to since Five isn’t coming back. Ever.”
Luther let Diego go and the siblings grouped together, looking at the tall woman in a black dress.
She stepped over a few corpses, kicking some of their hands out of the way.
She stopped in front of them and waved smugly.
“Hello there.”
“Who the hell is she?” Diego asked.
They shrugged.
She set her handbag down and clapped her hands together. “I’m here to help. It just...really hurts me to see how much Five hurt you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“He left you all for dead. To go be with his family. The ones he reversed time to save.”
“Reversed time?...To save?” Viktor repeated.
Luther shook his head, refusing to believe it.
“We’re his family.”
“You were. But he found a new one. That he wouldn’t have to save. I can’t say I blame him. What is this? Your second, third apocalypse? But hey. You survived. Yippee for you. Now you spend the rest of your lives in this shithole.” She laughed, fixing her hair.
“What do you mean he found a new one?” Diego asked.
“I mean, Diego, that he went back in time, creating a new timeline, where you five would be saved, leaving YOU five here to live out the rest of your lives in the apocalypse.”
Viktor shook his head. “Why?”
“Maybe because he’s tired of you. All you do is cause trouble. I figure he’ll come get you in 45 years, give or take.”
“Why would we believe you?” Luther demanded, standing up.
She looked up at him, tilting her head. Clearly she’d dealt with him before.
“Luther. You knew your brother for 13 years. I knew him for 45.” She pointed to the holes in her jacket. “You see these? Bullet holes. From being betrayed by your brother.”
“You knew him?”
“I worked with him. Well, he worked for me.”
“You’re the Handler. He told me about you. So I know we shouldn’t trust you.”
“You’re more than welcome to wait for him to come back. But he’s not going to come back.”
The others looked amongst themselves. Somehow they knew she was right. No one else spoke.
“And what do you think will happen if he finds you like this? Find a way to bring you all back to normal? Find you a nice separate timeline to go to? You all join hands and sing kumbaya? You all know it. The moment he sees you all, he’ll see the pain and suffering you’re all constantly going through...he’ll take his gun and shoot you all in the head. Like the monsters you’ve all become”
Diego summoned a knife from his hand, aiming it at her throat.
Again, she remained unfazed by the threat.
“Seems like a pretty raw deal if you ask me. You guys get left behind and turned into monsters and he pulls the trigger? Why? Why does he get to be rewarded for his negligence?”
Diego looked back at his family. They all seemed to come to the same agreement.
He looked back at the Handler.
“What did you have in mind?”