Chapter Text
The woods were quiet. Luther, Diego, Five, and Vanya all stood over a body, faces mirrored for the most part in disgust and rage. Luther’s hands were covered in dirt, and pine needles stuck to Diego’s pants below his knees. They’d been digging for about an hour.
“Rot in hell,” Vanya muttered, spitting on the bloody mess they’d created. Five and Diego spit in agreement and unbeknownst to them all Ben spit as well.
Luther crouched down and dragged the body by the feet into their quickly dug hole, Diego already pouring the fuel for the fire. Five stood back and watched in satisfaction as the first few flames caught and spread.
~That morning~
“Klaus, where is my cardigan?!” Five stepped back from the hallway to press himself into the wall, not even having to look up to know his idiot brother was about to barrel into him. Klaus ran by, laughing hysterically as Allison chased after him. She was smiling as she stopped, leaning against the wall.
“Hey, slow it down!” Diego came around the corner Klaus had disappeared to with a towel around his shoulders, shaking his head. “What’s up with him?”
“He stole my,” Allison panted, taking a moment before continuing, “favorite cardigan.”
“Buy a new one,” Five suggested, voice somewhat questioning as well as condescending, as if the answer was obvious. She glared at him, clearly not falling for his 'morning grumps,' as everyone else put it.
“Why does he have no clothes of his own? It’s like all he owns are one pair of leather pants and a fur coat.” Five had noticed that as well, but he wasn’t going to comment on it. Far be it for him to judge someone's wardrobe.
“He’s spent a lot of his time in rehab centers,” Diego explained. “I don’t think he even has a permanent residence to keep a second outfit.”
“Well he does now,” Allison pointed out, gesturing to the walls around them. “I mean, he’s staying here now, maybe we ought to take him out and get him some clothes.”
“Have fun with that,” Five said, already escaping before he could be roped into whatever scheme she was cooking up. Clothes shopping? No thanks.
He was surprised to find Klaus lounging downstairs near the bar already. Well, he was surprised to see him so relaxed, anyway. There were still days when... Well, lets just say Five preferred seeing him like this.
“Allison is looking for you,” he warned, knowing full well his brother already knew there’d be no real repercussions for his actions. Borrowing clothes was a welcome inconvenience to overdosing in the bathtub, after all.
"Klaus! Klaus, open your eyes! You fucking moron, what the hell did you do?!"
"Oh god, Klaus! Why isn't he waking up!?"
Yeah... a very welcome inconvenience.
“Aw, you’ll protect me, though, right?” Klaus laid down on the couch, propping his legs up on the back leisurely so that he was upside down.
“No,” Five deadpanned, reaching over the counter. No one has had a chance to make coffee, yet, so water would have to do. Ugh.
“Heartbreaking,” Klaus lamented and Five turned at the soft grunt that left him. Diego had smacked his feet down to sit as well, towel still around his shoulders.
“Allison’s going to beat you up.” Five watched as Klaus dropped his feet right into Diego’s lap, and looked up to see his brother’s smug grin. Klaus was oblivious to the hard stares going on between his brothers.
They'd made it into a competition of sorts. Of course they did, no one in this family knew how to do jack shit without the extra incentive of beating someone else.
It started as just each of them vying for Klaus' attention after the bathtub incident. No one wanted him to feel alone and everyone felt shitty for ignoring him so much. Only, with five of them it made it hard to check in privately. Someone else was always already there. So, they had to get creative, snatching Klaus away when he needed something so that no one else beat them to it.
Five pretended he wasn't the one who started it, but it quickly morphed into everyone competing to be the one that Klaus could rely on most.
Five was going to have to raise the stakes now, it seemed.
Not today, though. Luther came in, looking at Klaus and Diego for a half a second too long before joining Five at the bar.
“We’re fixing the chandelier today. Could use your help.” The mess in the foyer had added character, though, or so Five had come to think. Dad would have hated it and that alone was reason enough to leave it how it was.
“Pass.” Luther was about to argue, or maybe plead, when heavy knocking sounded through the house. Someone was visiting them? Seriously?
“Klaus, go get the door.” Two pairs of eyes shot his way, Diego’s looking more frustrated than their kinder brother’s indignant ones.
“Since when am I the one who answers the door?” As offended as he was, Five could see the trace amount of hope in his face. It wasn’t much, but they’d asked something of him. After months of being treated like glass, he was finally being giving a task.
Even if it was a boring safe one.
“Since the rest of us decided you were.” The knocking persisted and Diego looked at Klaus expectantly, smiling at him encouragingly.
“Ugh, fine!” He got off the couch, flipping Diego and Five off as he left. Five and Luther glanced at him briefly from the bar, Five slightly amused.
“I like him better like this,” he said approvingly. Even though Klaus was certainly more of a grouch than he ever was high, Diego seemed inclined to agree. At least now they knew when he was being genuine. Five just liked the extra snark it added.
“Maybe Allison was right. Could be time we trust him.” So that’s what she’d actually wanted to discuss.
“Stop!” Three heads shot up, all of them shutting up fast. “You need to leave!”
The sound of the door slamming shut rocked the whole floor, and the knocking came back much louder this time. They were all standing near instantly.
Klaus held the door shut, praying aloud something Five couldn’t quite hear. When they showed up he knew things were about to get awful just by the way he ignored them. Klaus hadn't ignored them in months, not since before he OD'd.
“Who’s out there,” Diego asked, and Klaus carefully stepped away from the door to keep him back. His hands splayed out, faded tattoos facing them.
“No one! Wrong house, the poor thing. Give it a tick and he’ll be gone.” The door shook violently, like someone had kicked it. Five and Diego stepped towards it in unison, about to go around Klaus if not for him throwing his arms out to stop them.
“No! No, no, no, no! Don’t open it,” he pleaded, stepping as much in their ways as he could. Luther raised one eyebrow in a silent question at Five, who blinked past him, already reaching for the handle. Klaus lunged to stop him. “Five, stop!”
Diego caught Klaus and spun him around, but Five hadn’t even bothered hesitating. He knew Klaus wouldn’t be able to keep him from seeing who was out there. The door opened to reveal a tall man with blonde hair, eyes furiously searching around before falling on Five.
“Where is that little bitch?” He stepped around Five easily, not noticing the confusion on everyone’s faces. He was too busy finding and staring vehemently at Klaus, who quickly slid behind Diego. “You!”
“Conner, wait, I swear I-” Diego stopped the man a foot away with his hand on his chest. It didn’t keep ‘Conner’ from snarling at Klaus cowering behind him.
“Swear you didn’t what? Run away to hide behind your freak family?” Five closed the door, irritation flickering across his face as he examined this unthreatening intruder and circled around him. Allison came in, clearly concerned by the yelling and utterly confused about the man shouting at Klaus.
“What's going on here?” She was immediately as tense as the rest of them. Luther, with utter disappointment in his eyes, turned on Klaus for answers.
“Is he a dealer?” There came no answer, though, because their favorite moronic brother was too busy shaking behind Diego’s back. He seemed torn between wanting to inch away and staying in his safe spot.
“Dealer? Is that what you told them, that I’m just some guy you score off of? What, you too ashamed to tell them what you really are?” Klaus made the mistake of flinching back, feet carrying him far enough away from Diego that Conner was able to dive past him and get his hands around Klaus' throat. Klaus hit the floor, the man on top of him angrily shouting obscenities.
“Hey, hey, hey! Get off him,” Luther demanded, lifting him with one hand and tossing him. Klaus crawled away but didn’t bother standing back up.
Not that he had to. His siblings had already formed a wall between him and this newly dubbed enemy. Allison stood directly in front of him, daring the man to try something.
“This is between me and him,” Conner snarled, picking himself up shakily. Once he was on his feet again he took a step towards them, eyes on his target. “Why don’t you call your freaks off and face me like a man, you little slut!”
Five was behind him all of a sudden and grabbed his shoulders to yank him back into Five's raised knee. He fell to the ground, gasping for air that wouldn’t come.
“Try and choke him again, see what happens,” he ground out, kicking him for good measure.
“Klaus, who is this,” Diego demanded, turning enough to see his brother slumped against the wall, hiding or holding his throat. Five waited for an answer, gaze flickering to Conner a few times.
“Ex of mine,” he tried, voice not quite as light as he went for. “Left his place in a bit of a hurry few months before Dad passed. You know how it is.’
“I’m sorry, did you say ex?" Luther looked back at Klaus, but he was too busy ducking his head down and pulling his knees in front of him defensively. “You used to date this guy?”
"We never broke up," Conner was trying to sit up, hunched over and breathing like he’d lost a lung. “You don’t get to just walk off like that, you belong to me!”
“He doesn’t belong to anyone,” Allison stated, voice much calmer than her increasingly disgusted face. They all glanced back at the sound of Klaus shuffling up to his feet
“You need to leave,” he said. Poor guy sounded very much like if he had to endure this a second longer he might die on the spot. Which, as dramatic as he was sometimes, Five wouldn't put it past him.
“I’m not going anywhere, you whore,” Conner hissed, and everyone saw the way Five’s whole body tensed in fury. He dropped his hand into Conner’s well kept blonde hair, fingers curling into it and lifting him to his knees.
“What did you just call my brother?” Maybe this man was an idiot, or maybe he just couldn’t see how dangerous every single person in the room was, but he laughed. Laughed right in the face of a killer.
“You think I’m afraid of you? I’ve been with Klaus long enough to know he’s useless. Those powers everyone was so impressed by on the tv are nothing,” he spit out. Five let him go, eyes turning murderous. “Look, he’s a lot to handle, right? I know how hard it is having him around, just give him to me and I’ll take him off your hands.”
“How about,” Diego called, pulling a knife from his belt, “we take your hands?”
“What?” He looked up, then, alarmed as Diego came closer with his intent clear on his face.
“Wait,” Five demanded, looking back at Klaus. “What do you want us to do with him?”
“What do you mean wait? You heard what he just said, let's tear him apart!” Five ignored him, still looking at Klaus expectantly.
“Can you-”
“You shut the fuck up, bitch!" Conner jerked forward, receiving a punch to the jaw and ending up on the floor. Five shook his hand, staring down at the bruised flesh. He hated this body so much.
“I strongly suggest you keep your mouth shut, or I might just cut out your tongue.” Everyone had the distinct impression he would, too.
“Can you throw him out? I just… Can you please just throw him out, I don’t want him here.” He seemed uncertain if he was allowed to ask that. He looked over at empty air, no doubt Ben, and shook his head in horror. “I’m not doing that! I just want him gone.”
“Throw him out? He just tried to choke you,” Allison argued, wrapping an arm around Klaus as he timidly joined them. He stayed several feet back from Connor, still.
“He can just get a bit adamant. He’s not like this all the time, probably just got drunk and came here looking for a fight. I shouldn’t have left like I did.” Five squinted at him like he was a child. Ironic.
“I meant what do you want us to do with him before we kill him! Obviously we aren’t going to let him go, you idiot.” As ridiculous as it was, Klaus looked terrified at that.
“We can’t just not let him go!” He seemed to be the only one of that mindset.
“Why not? We’ve killed people like him since we were kids, how is this different?” They were distracted, attention on Klaus rather than the piece of garbage rising to his feet with a wild look in his eyes.
“That was different, those were murders, bad people! And I never killed a single one of them!” He was becoming distressed now, and Five took a step towards him, back turned on Conner when he reached into his pocket. Diego glanced up in time to see the gun in his hand.
“Look out!” Five jumped instantly as the shot rang out, aimed right for Klaus, but thanks to Diego it didn’t hit him in the heart where it’d been intended.
He was still knocked back to the floor, though, everyone erupting into movement around him. Luther threw himself into the fray, grabbing Conner and swinging him across the room, wrenching the gun out of his hands. One of Diego’s knives flew through the air and Five caught it and blinked behind Conner to sink it into his back.
“Klaus!” He ripped the knife out and flipped it, looking back at his brother. Allison was moving him to safety just as Vanya ran in, clearly having just put her violin down after hearing the gunshot. She still held her bow.
“What the hell is going on down here?” She looked down at Klaus and gasped, hands flying to hide her shock as the bow clattered to the floor. Five turned back to Conner.
“You come into our house,” he shouted, kicking out Conner’s legs as he bled. He grabbed the hand desperately reaching back to the wound, twisting it behind him while he slashed his throat. “Think you can just hurt my brother? In my house? You’re lucky you’ll be dead soon, or you’d spend the next twenty years in our basement tasting nothing but your own blood. Luther, stand on him until he bleeds out.”
“Diego, get Mom,” Allison cried, holding Klaus as though he were dying. Five teleported next to them just to be sure he wasn’t. Klaus was pushing everyone’s hands away, squirming as if trying to get free.
“Where did it get him,” he asked wildly, knocking his hands away and shoving Allison’s black cardigan off his shoulders. Blood was soaking into his Orange Beach shirt, spreading across his chest alarmingly. It was too high to’ve hit his heart, though. Thank fuck.
“Is he,” Klaus almost asked, question turning to a groan as Five pressed down on his bloody chest, stopping him from losing too much of his very vital blood.
“Luther? Is he dead, yet?” Five didn’t look for himself. He didn’t look away from his brother. Diego was pulling Mom in, explaining. She almost looked worried. Almost.
“Soon.” Klaus stared up, mouth opening and closing like he was underwater. He was trying to say something, but the pressure Five had on him was too much.
“Hey, you’re going to be fine, idiot. Look, Mom’s here.” Five moved to sit by his head.
“Oh dearie, look at you,” she cooed sympathetically.
“I didn’t mean to get him killed,” Klaus said, and Five blanched at the tears in his eyes.
“What happened,” Vanya asked him quietly. He shook his head, holding his hand up to let her know he’d explain later.
“Ugh God, Ben, don’t!” Klaus shut his eyes, hand coming up to flail around for something. When it found Five’s jacket he caught it and held tight. Five allowed it.
“He’s dead,” Luther announced, causing Klaus even more stress. While he made a noise much like a cry, Luther came over to help. Klaus wouldn’t open his eyes.
“Well, we’ll need to take that bullet out!” There was no excitement in Mother’s voice, for once.
“I can carry him,” Luther volunteered. Allison moved aside, but Five was stuck. The hand twisted in his jacket didn’t want to let go, clearly. “Just-uh- let me through here.”
Either the sobbing or the writhing made him pause, looking at Five for some kind of help. For guidance, direction, maybe even permission? He sighed, reaching down and pulling his jacket free. He substituted his hand instead, and Klaus held it tightly.
“Pick him up. Carefully.”
Red. So much red. The leaves outside Klaus’ window, the curtains hanging over them, the scarf tied to the mirror as some sort of ornament. The bandages wrapped securely under his arm and over his shoulder...
Five was patient for maybe the first time in his life, waiting for Klaus to wake up, but the whole time since he came in to sit with him his eyes were drawn to the red. Klaus’ whole room was laid out like a scene for him.
Five hated red.
After the day they’d had, his brother deserved a little rest, though. Five could deal with a little discomfort, welcome it even, if it meant the second Klaus’ eyes opened he was there to show him everything was alright now. Five continued to sit on the windowsill, as close to his brother as he could be without moving him to sit on the bed.
The door opened and Luther stepped in. He had clearly washed his hands, previously covered in Klaus' blood.
“What do we do with the body?” Despite the trace curiosity Five had as to what Luther thought of this whole thing, he spared him just a glance. Diego was sitting in a chair pulled against the wall, and Allison kept poking her head in after pacing the halls and stairs outside. Luther seemed to prefer standing.
“We’ll take it out tonight.” Dispose of it with the rest of the trash, maybe. Even if the man had attacked Klaus in their own home and certain laws protected them, no one was eager to invite the cops into this house or case.
Five, technically, didn't federally exist. Best not to have any law enforcement snooping around.
“You have to bury him,” Klaus whispered. It was the first and only sign they got that he was awake. Several of them jumped.
“Klaus! You’re up!” Five nearly snorted. What an astute observation. Luther’s voice woke Diego, who pretended he hadn't been dozing off. Five was standing already, leaning over his brother.
“Conner,” he tried, carefully rolling his head until he found Five. There was a whole new brand of fear in his eyes.
“He’s dead,” he assured him. Anything to get rid of that fear. Instead, Klaus’s face seemed to almost break in absolute dread.
“You have to- argh,” he pressed his head back into his pillow, body tensed up tighter than a bow string ready to set loose.
“How bad is it?” Five was already close enough to see the pain in every twitch, but if Klaus could quantify it, that might help. He could… he could give him something, maybe.
Screw being sober, he didn't want his family to be in pain.
“You have to bury him far away,” Klaus continued, having not heard or not cared about Five's question. He shut his eyes, face scrunching up like it used to when they were kids and he’d been pinned during training. “Bury him…”
“Is he still here,” Luther asked while uncomfortably looking around the room. Ashamedly, Five hadn’t even considered that. Stupid! How could he overlook something like that?
“Not yet.” An ominous answer, but not as ominous as the way Klaus’ eyes drifted to open air to stare at nothing. "You're too kind."
“We’ll take his body into the woods, then.” Luther agreed and it put a small amount of ease back into Klaus’ body. Five breathed a little easier after that, himself.
“He’s awake?” Five straightened at Allison’s voice, realizing he was just about to check under the bandages and dropping his hand. Better not to cause more pain than digging out the fragments had already.
Vanya was behind her, and both came to look down on their brother, one pale and worried, the other anxiously shaking. Diego beat them by just a hair.
“Well if it isn’t my favorite avenging brother,” Klaus cooed, no real energy behind his words. As confused as Diego was, Luther found it quite hilarious.
“Actually, Five did all the- uh- avenging. Didn’t even let anyone else get a good hit in.” Diego seemed the most annoyed about this. "He stole me knife right out of the air."
“Really?” The look Klaus gave him wasn’t smug, but Five could tell he was about to say something completely moronic. Something like, "I didn't know you cared that much," or "You killed him for me?" As if Five needs to hear that. As if he needs to be reminded that his siblings don't know just how much he loves them.
“I’d do it again.” It was enough to stall whatever he’d been thinking, and it gave Vanya time to thrust a small blue plushy into Klaus’ curled arm.
“Here! Found it in your room.” Allison rested her head on Vanya’s shoulder, patting Klaus on the cheek. Both of them were being foolishly sympathetic. Klaus wasn't nine, he didn't need a-
“Now what did I do to deserve such a thoughtful sister,” Klaus joked, holding the blue rhino close to his unbandaged side despite the humor in his voice. Five hadn’t considered such a pointless gesture would bring him joy. He should have thought of that.
“Klaus, are you okay?” Allison’s tone was so different, so pointed, that everyone looked at their brother to be sure he hadn’t caught it. Obviously Allison had meant mentally.
"He doesn't need to talk about it, yet," Diego insisted.
“Well, Mom gave me something to knock me out while they worked out that bullet, at least, and I think it’s still wearing off. I’ve had worse, I can handle this. Don't you worry one bit.” Misunderstandings aside, it did give Five an answer to his previous question. Klaus was hurting. A lot.
He could so easily justify using narcotics right now. Five almost wanted to encourage it, if it would help. Wasn’t up to him, though, and it was a good sign at least. Klaus was staying sober.
“I mean after seeing that guy. He called you some pretty terrible things.” Dirty things. Diego hid his sneer carefully so only Klaus couldn’t see it.
"We should let him rest, Ally." She elbowed him.
"Thats for Klaus to decide."
“Oh I’ve been called far more terrible things, I can assure you. And Connor just doesn't know his own strength, he hits ha- he just never knew how to use his words.” A shiver ran up Allison’s arm, Five noticed. Even Diego caught the slip up.
“Klaus, did he treat you like that before you left?” Now that question was a dangerous one, straying close to asking for details that Klaus shouldn't be thinking about right now, but he knew Diego had to ask.
“Oh heavens no! Real peach, that man,” he said sweetly, lying entirely right to their faces. They knew, then.
“He hit you, didn’t he,” Luther asked, and Allison gave him a sharp glare. That was more than dangerous, and by the way Klaus shut down, was too far.
“It was… It wasn’t an easy relationship. I skipped out a lot. Was before I checked into that shit rehab downtown, where you don't get any visitors, no calls, nothing.” Five hadn’t known he’d been in a rehab center...
“And that gave him a right to do this to you? He almost killed you, Klaus,” Five growled, hoping his words would make their way into this idiot’s brain and actually stick for once. "You're acting like this is a casual Tuesday, do you not see how concerning that is?"
“He was very sweet when he didn’t want anything. All in the past, though, right? I think I’m going to go back to sleep now.” That wasn’t really an answer, but Five knew the truth nonetheless as his brother curled onto his side. He knew, and he was furious.
This was a casual tuesday. This was commin, routine even, for Klaus. Five wanted to hit something.
“I’m sorry,” Vanya whispered, her hand resting so gently on his arm.
“No need to be.” They’d upset him. He wasn’t going to sleep, not really, but he clearly wanted space now. His tone had turned clipped, and his hands were tensed so bad they shook.
Despite the difficulty in leaving him on his own, they all gave him just that. Five sighed and fixed the blankets before he left.
“Why didn’t you tell them?” Ben was trying to grab Klaus’ hand, but to no avail. While Klaus slept he’d stood guard, occasionally looking out the door and down the hall. He wasn’t going to let Conner get the jump on him, if that pathetic excuse of a man even came back.
Hopefully he went straight down to hell.
“Why would I? He’s dead, end of story.” There’d been a lot of yelling from Ben the moment Conner showed up at the door. Yelling to go get help, yelling when help arrived, a lot of yelling when Conner tackled him. Suggesting they throw him out had really got him started, though.
Ben had told Klaus to have him chopped into tiny pieces.
“Oh I don’t know, maybe because the last time you ran into him you ended up od’ing!” Ben wasn’t wrong, but he’d rather not think back on that. Thirty days sober, not even a day out on his own, and Conner had pushed him off the wagon.
“Well, no more of that! I’m as painfully sober as you’d like.” He sat up, then, hand clasped over his chest. “Not that I chose to go clean.”
“You chose to stay clean, though.” All this fighting was making his chest hurt. Or maybe that was the moving when he was certain someone had told him not to?
“Where is everyone?” Outside the sun was setting, and no one had walked by his open door in a while.
“They’re wrapping the body up in Dad’s rug to drive it away from here.” Klaus perked up.
“Well I have to be there for that,” he exclaimed, starting to stand shakily. A shadow at his door stopped him.
“Klaus, get down,” Ben demanded, stepping in front of him. Horribly confused, Klaus looked around him. His hands grew cold. Every part of the room grew cold, actually.
“Oh yes,” Conner snapped, looking every part a vengeful spirit with his bloody throat and furious eyes. “Be a good little boy and get down.”