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It was late, sometime after midnight, but everyone in the Hargreeve’s house was awake.
Klaus wasn’t sure what was keeping everyone else awake. For him, it was the nightmares, but that was par for the course for him. When didn’t he have nightmares?
(Every time he closed his eyes, it was all he could see. Long hours spent in a dark mausoleum, bloodied ghosts screaming and clawing at him, his voice begging the man who called himself his father to please let him out and he promised he wasn’t scared anymore, so he didn’t need to be here any longer.)
(His pleas fell on deaf ears.)
This time around, he wasn’t alone at this hour. They all ended up in the living room at some point. None of them were speaking, no one willing to discuss whatever was keeping them up.
Not that he blamed them for that. He certainly didn’t want to discuss what was keeping him awake, either.
(There was blood everywhere. He was screaming Dave’s name, tears streaming down his face. He’d seen plenty of others die in Vietnam before, but this wasn’t the same. Dave was different, he was special, he wasn’t supposed to die.)
(He’d never wanted anything more than to be the one who’d taken the bullet instead.)
“So!” Klaus began, clapping his hands together. “I was thinking-!”
“That’s a first,” Diego interjected.
Klaus gasped in mock offense, hand flying up to his chest. “Dee! I can’t believe you’d say that about your favorite brother!”
“You are not my favorite bro-“
Klaus cut him off before he could finish protesting. “Now, like I was trying to say before I was so rudely interrupted by my least favorite brother, we,” he paused dramatically as Diego rolled his eyes. “Should get.” Another pause. “Waffles.”
“At this time of night?” Viktor asked hesitantly. “Are you sure?”
“But of course! This is the absolute best time to get waffles!”
“I don’t know, Klaus…” Luther trailed off. Klaus resisted the urge to groan. Did Luther have to disagree with everything he said?
“That…actually sounds kinda nice,” Allison answered, ignoring Luther entirely, rubbing at her red-rimmed eyes. She’d probably been crying earlier. Not too surprising, though. He figured something bad had happened to each of them earlier, seeing as they were all up now. Maybe they had nightmares, too.
Well. That was why Klaus suggested waffles. Waffles made everything better. They were his go-to when he felt like shit ever since he’d started getting sober. He’d decided he much preferred them to the drugs.
They made him feel better without the risk of getting sent to the little girl upstairs yet again, after all.
Allison’s agreement led to a round of shrugging and nods of assent from his brothers as they all stood up. Even Five was coming with them, something he hadn’t expected - though not before demanding to be the one driving. Klaus cheered loudly, pumping his fists in the air, drawing out an amused snort from his sister.
Nights after nightmares were usually the
worst,
but this one was shaping up to be a surprisingly good one.
Klaus really should’ve known better. Nightmare nights were always shitty as hell. Why would this one be any different?
All he wanted was to eat some goddamn waffles with his family. Was that so much to ask?
Well, he supposed he did get to finish his waffles before the night went to shit, at least. He wished the peace would’ve lasted a little longer, though.
It started off well enough. He ordered waffles and chocolate milk, a favorite combination of his (and no, he was not too old to be ordering chocolate milk, despite what Diego always said). Everyone seemed to brighten considerably as they ordered food. He’d even managed to get Five to order actual food instead of just a black coffee like he always insisted on getting.
He’d never felt so much like they were an actual family before. It was nice. His heart ached for more moments like that.
They’d been walking to their car, Klaus going on animatedly about some guy he’d found cute and taking great pleasure in the eye rolls that couldn’t hide the fond smiles he received when he saw it. Two men with guns were threatening a woman in a nearby alley, the scene mostly shrouded in shadows. He would’ve missed it entirely if it weren’t for the shrieking ghosts hanging around them with obvious bullet wounds adorning their bodies - or whatever it was ghosts had in place of bodies. It wasn’t their first time pulling that stunt, it seemed.
Out of all of his siblings, Klaus was probably the least hero-like of them all. Sure, he’d been considered one as a child, but he’d probably done the least out of all of them. Seeing the dead wasn’t exactly useful for saving people. Not like Luther’s strength or Allison’s rumors. Or any of his siblings’ powers, really.
But as far as he could tell, he was the only one who noticed what was going on. And as stupid as he knew it was, he couldn’t let himself ignore what was happening.
He abruptly cut himself off in the middle of speaking, rushing towards the alleyway before anyone could react.
“Klaus, what are you doing?” he heard Allison question behind him. He ignored her, as well as the others who began calling out his name in question .
“Hey guys! Lovely night, isn’t it? Very clear out,” he called out as he got close. Three faces turned to look at him - two belonging to very pissed looking men and the other to a woman, streaked with tears.
“What the fuck?” one of the men muttered. Probably not used to people interrupting to talk about the weather, he guessed. A shame, really. Not the most interesting conversation topic, sure, but Klaus had to break the ice somehow.
They both pointed their weapons towards him. “Don’t fucking try anything.” Klaus held his hands up in surrender.
“Hey, hey, no one’s trying anything here! Can’t a guy just want to have a nice little chat?” He tilted his head slightly and smiled innocently at them. Between the guns pointed at him and the ghosts shrieking all around him, it wasn’t exactly an easy feat.
The woman took her chance while they were distracted, running as fast as she could in the opposite direction. They took notice, both whipping around in her direction, one yelling out “Shit!” as he did so.
Before they could decide whether to focus on the woman or him, Diego’s call of “Klaus!” turned their attention back on him, as well as their guns. Their hands were on the triggers, ready to shoot at any moment. He had no doubt the safeties were off. Lovely. Just what he needed.
He heard the sound of Five teleporting somewhere nearby, but he couldn’t tell where. The sudden appearance of five more people, one of which just teleported, made the men before him panic. One pulled the trigger before they both turned and ran.
Distantly, Klaus heard voices around him. He couldn’t register what they were saying. Everything sounded fuzzy. He couldn’t focus on their words over the sharp pain in his chest and the crimson staining his shirt. He tried to open his mouth to say something reassuring, but nothing came out.
The shouting around him slowly disappeared as his world faded to black.
The little girl isn’t very happy with him.
“Are you an idiot?” she asked. “How often are you going to do this? It hasn’t been that long since the last time you came here. Don’t make this a habit.”
“Hey, it’s not like I’m trying to come here! It just kind of happens!” he protested. He paused for a moment. This was the afterlife, right? Maybe he could see Dave before he left? His whole body aches with the need to see him again. “Hey, before I go, is there any chance I could-?”
“No,” she cuts him off. “Don’t come here again. I don’t want to see you any more before your time.”
“Alright, alright,” he grumbled. He wasn’t sure how well he could actually manage that, though. He seemed to have a penchant for dying.
Before he could tell the little girl as much, though, the world faded around him once more, this time into white.
He woke to sobbing around him. What? Why were people crying?
After a moment, it hit him. Oh. His siblings just watched him die. His siblings, who weren’t aware he was so bad at dying he couldn’t even stay dead. Shit.
Well, no sense in letting this go on any longer, he supposed.
He groaned loudly as he pushed himself up, more for dramatics than anything else. “Man, they were so rude,” he complained. “If they didn’t wanna talk, they could’ve just said so! I mean, this,” he gestured to his bloody chest, “is just uncalled for!”
Before he could stand up, show off just how okay he was, Diego was in his face. “Whoa, hey, Dee! Personal space!” he complained, only to freeze at his brother’s face.
His eyes were rimmed red and dried tear tracks stained his face. “Hey, hey, what’s wrong, Dee?” he questioned worriedly.
Diego looked at him like that was the dumbest thing he could’ve possibly said. “Y-y-you were just… sh-sh-shot,” he stammered, and oh, he was stuttering again. That wasn’t a good sign.
“Yeah, but I’m fine now, see? Doesn’t even hurt. I’m okay!” He hoped that was reassuring. He was clearly okay now, so he wasn’t sure what was upsetting him. Or the others, a quick glance at them revealing them to all be in a similar state.
“Yeah, but you shouldn’t be,” Five interrupted. There was a shaky quality to his voice that made Klaus uncomfortable. If anyone was unphased by everything, it should’ve been Five. He wasn’t exactly the emotional type, after all.
He gasped in mock offense, hand flying to his chest. It reminded him of earlier in the night, before things went to shit. He wished the night was still like that. “I can’t believe you, Five! To say something like that! About your own brother, no less!” The dramatics were a defense mechanism, meant to reassure everyone that everything was fine, he was still the same old Klaus and there was nothing to worry about.
It didn’t seem to be working.
“That’s not what I meant, Klaus.” There was none of his usual annoyance in his voice, and holy shit, that was weird.
Was Klaus imagining things, or were the old man’s eyes red, as well?
“You were shot in the heart,” Five continued. “You stopped breathing. We watched you die. And now you’re back up like nothing happened.”
Klaus wasn’t sure what to say to that. “Are you sure you weren’t just seeing things? It probably wasn’t even the heart!”
“It definitely was,” the old man interjected. Klaus ignored him.
“And you probably just didn’t notice me breathing since you convinced yourselves I died, which is ridiculous, by the way. I mean, clearly, I’m still here!” He laughed in a way he hoped was convincing, as if the thought of him dying was the most ridiculous thing in the world.
“No, we all saw you stop breathing,” Allison protested. “And even if it didn’t kill you, you should still be hurt right now. But you don’t look like you’re in pain at all. I don’t think you’re even still bleeding.”
Klaus fell silent. What could he even say to that?
“Klaus, please. What happened?” Viktor asked. Tears were still swimming in his eyes, and how the hell was someone his age so good at puppy eyes?
He sighed in defeat. “Alright, alright, I’ll explain everything, okay? But can we go home first? I can’t say I’m a big fan of sitting in dirty alleys. Plus, a shower and a change of clothes sounds fantastic right now.”
“No, no, you gotta explain what happened to us. I mean, what the hell was that?” Luther protested. Allison shot him a look.
“We should let him get cleaned up first, at least. Besides, I think this conversation would be better to have at home,” she told him. He looked like he wanted to protest more, but kept quiet.
Klaus took Diego’s offered hand and stood up, trying to ignore the looks on all of their faces. He still wasn’t entirely sure why they were all reacting this way in the first place.
The ride home was spent in the most tense silence Klaus had ever felt.
He took his sweet time in the shower, trying to delay the inevitable conversation. He didn’t exactly want to talk about it. Would his siblings even believe him? Sure, they witnessed him coming back from the dead and all, but he knew they often assumed he was lying about…well, pretty much anything. Normally it only stung a little bit, but something as big as this felt different. He didn’t know if he could handle them assuming he was lying yet again.
Far too quickly for his liking, the water ran cold and he figured that meant he’d been in the shower as long as he could without them coming to check on him. He forced himself out, changing into clean clothes before heading to the living room.
He sat down, a cup of hot chocolate immediately pressed into his hands. He looked up, expecting to see Mom but was instead shocked to see Diego of all people offering the drink to him.
God, this was way too weird. What was up with all his siblings?
“So,” Five began. “You wanna explain what happened back there?”
“Not particularly,” he answered, but wilted underneath the glares sent his way. He sighed dramatically. “But I will anyway, I guess.”
He was met with expectant stares from his brothers and sister. He couldn’t see any easy way to start this. Better just dive right in, he supposed. “So, um, I kind of…can’t die?” He began.
“…Like, at all?” Luther asked. “How?”
“As far as I can tell, it’s a side effect of my powers. Or maybe God just hates me. Well, she definitely does, but I don’t know if that’s related. Maybe a bit of both.”
“So you’re immortal?” Viktor questioned, a bit incredulously. Not that Klaus could blame him for that. It did sound pretty crazy.
“Uh, sort of? Like, I’ll still die for good when it’s my ‘time’ or whatever, but until then, I’ll just keep coming back,” he said with a shrug.
“But how do you even know all th-” Diego started, freezing part way through as his eyes widened. “…That wasn’t the first time you died, was it?” he asked, voice almost a whisper.
Klaus did his best to seem casual, nonchalant. No sense in making a big deal out of something that wasn’t one. “Nah. To be honest, I’ve lost count of how many times it’s happened.” A strange expression crossed all his siblings’ faces, so he quickly backtracked. “Not that it was that bad or anything! I mean, you get used to it pretty quickly. I didn’t even realize what happened the first few times, you know? Really, it’s not a big deal!”
His attempts at reassurance did not seem to be working. “Not a big deal? Klaus, you died. Multiple times, apparently,” Allison objected.
Great. The one time they actually believed him and they were reacting like this. He didn’t get it at all. “Yeah, well, I didn’t stay dead, so what does it matter?”
“Klaus, of course it matters. I mean, dying can’t be easy. Has anyone ever even noticed before?” Viktor questioned.
“Uh, Ben, but that’s it. Really, though, it’s not a big deal. Probably better that way, actually. Trying to explain that wouldn’t not be fun. You know, kinda like right now.”
“Oh, God,” Five muttered, paling. Klaus tilted his head questioningly. “The apocalypse. When I found you all, I…I buried you. And all this time, you could’ve come back?” He took a shuddering breath. “God, I buried you alive, didn’t I?”
“Hey, hey, I’m here now, aren’t I? And besides, that me probably got out just fine anyway. Nothing to worry about!” God, Klaus was bad at reassuring people. What could he even say to make that better?
“Klaus,” Five began seriously. “I want you to promise me something.”
“Yeah?” he asked. Maybe he could make him feel better, after all.
“Promise me you won’t put yourself in a position where you could get killed again. Even if you’ve always come back before, there’s no knowing if you will next time. Promise me you’ll be more careful.”
He wasn’t used to the emotion coming from his oldest brother. It was strange. It showed how seriously he was taking this. Klaus nodded, any semblance of nonchalance gone. “I promise.”
His eyes widened as arms wrapped around him. Viktor. He was quickly joined by the rest of their siblings, even Five, who never showed affection. “Klaus,” Viktor murmured. “Please. Don’t treat your life so carelessly. I don’t want to see you die again, even if it’s not for good.”
His siblings echoed similar sentiments as Klaus returned Viktor’s hug. He supposed his brother had a point. He had been caring much less about whether or not he got hurt. About whether or not he’d even come back the next time.
He should probably work on fixing that. Maybe see a therapist or something. God knew he probably needed one anyway.
Changing that wouldn’t be easy, but now, he had no doubt he wouldn’t be alone for it. He hadn’t realized just how much everyone cared for him before. He knew his siblings would be there every step of the way. He’d be there for them, too, whenever they needed it.
They were family, after all. He’d never been so sure he could rely on the people he loved more than anyone else.