Chapter Text
The portal spits Klaus out all alone in some dirty alleyway. He hits the ground hard and sits up slowly.
“That was…” he trails off, no words coming to mind. Cars rumble by on the street at the mouth of the alley, and people talk and laugh, and it’s not loud, exactly, but the noise still pounds dully against his skull like heavy rain on a dirty window.
Klaus wobbles to his feet and realizes he is noticeably shorter than he was this morning.
“Oh, goddammit Five…” he mutters, the words feeling weird in his mouth. Ben’s gonna have a field day with this shit. He’s gonna get Klaus back so hard for making fun of Five. Ben’s…
Where is Ben?
Oh shit. Oh, shit. Where’s Ben? Did he leave? No, Ben wouldn’t do that. Wouldn’t just leave him. Would he? But if not, then why isn’t he here?
Fear curls in his belly and Klaus runs out of the alley, yelling for his brother. He doesn’t get far, stumbling around on unsteady limbs, before crashing into an absurdly long pair of legs and falling on his butt.
“Woah!” cries a familiar voice, “you okay, kid?”
Klaus looks up and-
“Dave?” he mumbles. The world around him feels soft and fuzzy like a dream and the only thing he can seem to bring into focus is Dave.
“Uh…” Dave looks and sounds startled. “That’s me. Do I know you?” He looks around at the small crowd that’s quickly surrounded them, as if hoping another Dave will step forward and claim the kid.
Klaus promptly bursts into noisy, uncontrollable tears.
--
“Did you get a good look at any of them?” Five asks, peering at the conspiracy theory guy’s pin boards and notes and pictures.
“Yeah, the first one,” the guy answers quickly. He’s clearly afraid of Five, but in a cowering and helpful sort of way, which is nice. Better than guns and screaming. “Some little kid. And then the big sensitive one-”
“The what?” Five snaps, whipping around to face him.
“The- uh, yeah, he was huge, but he cried a lot-”
“Not him, you idiot,” Five hisses, “what do you mean, a little kid?”
--
“Oh, poor dear,” a woman who bears a striking resemblance to Dave coos, “Are you lost, sweetie? Where’s your mama?”
Grace is definitely, definitely dead, crushed by his sister under a metric fuckton of rock and rubble that used to be their home. Klaus cries harder.
“Oh honey, come here,” the woman says, kneeling to pull him close.
She wraps him up in a warm hug. Klaus’ experiences with hugs are minimal, so maybe it’s an average hug, but it certainly serves to make him feel better. His tears are drying already up and the way she gently whispers “hush now, shoosh,” drowns out a bit of the chaos around them, helps his head start to clear and settle. There’s still so much happening around them, people talking and gesturing at him, asking each other what’s going on, cars honking as people stop to stare at the group on the side of the street, wondering if someone’s hurt. But the woman just tucks his head into her shoulder and suddenly he doesn’t have to worry about anything at all.
“There you go,” she whispers, “There you go, it’s alright, honey.”
With a last shuddering breath, Klaus pulls back a bit and the woman lets him go easily.
“I’m Amelia,” she says with a smile. “And this is my son, Dave.”
And yeah. It’s Dave. Klaus can’t quite take his eyes off him.
He’s not Klaus’ Dave. He’s young, probably still a teenager. Nervous and uncomfortable in his skin in a way that Klaus’ Dave never was in all their time together. He’s thin, not unhealthy, but definitely not the picture of strength he would be- and he had the nerve to nickname Klaus ‘Sticks’ back in the war! He’s quiet, although his eyes burn with questions. But his eyes are the same old blue you could get lost in forever and when he sees Klaus looking at him, he smiles.
He’s not Klaus’ Dave. It’s like looking at a baby picture or watching an old home movie. This isn’t their time. This isn’t their life.
Five had been trying to… take them back in time? Had he meant to drop them in the sixties? Klaus hadn’t really been clear on what the plan was before it was enacted- not that there had been a lot of time to work out the details, of course. Still, it’d be nice to know how much of this was intentional and how much was a total fuck-up.
Were the others even in this time period? Would they come looking for him?
…Would they leave him all alone, like Ben had?
Thinking of his brother made Klaus tear up again. He wiped them away quickly- this woman, Amelia, had been patient with him so far, but who knew how long that would last. Better not to push his luck.
“You’re alright,” she repeats kindly, “Can you tell me your name, honey?”
“Klaus,” he answers.
“Alright, Klaus,” she says, rubbing his back. She’s still on her knees- god, how short is he? How old is he? “Can you tell me what you’re doing out here? Are you lost?”
Cover stories aren’t exactly Klaus’ strong suit. He usually just tells the truth and lets people come to their own conclusions. Then again, there is a simplified, time-travel-less version of this story he could tell, isn’t there?
“My brother,” he starts, trying to organize his thoughts into words. His tongue feels weird inside his mouth, like it’s not used to saying words yet. “He lost me.”
“Lost you?” Amelia asks, “How’s that? Were you… at a store? Or the park?”
“We ran away,” he says.
“Why’s that, honey?”
“My sister,” he says, feels his eyes fill with tears again. “It was an accident!”
“Okay, okay,” Amelia soothes before he can start crying in earnest again. “Do you live around here, Klaus? Where are your parents?”
There isn’t really a good answer to that. “I- I dunno,” Klaus tries, “I dunno. They’re dead. Our parents are dead. I dunno where I live.”
“Okay, okay,” she says. “Well, I think the first thing we should do in that case is visit the police station. A friendly police officer will be able to help us find your brother.”
Klaus has never really liked police officers. As a child they were, at best, inconsequential. Often enough, they were a distraction on missions, another variable to worry about. As an adult- a pansexual, genderqueer, homeless, drug-addicted adult- it was best to avoid police whenever possible. So he’s not thrilled with this idea, but. He doesn’t have much of a choice here, does he?
They go to the police station.
--
Five is looking over a ‘Missing Persons’ newspaper clipping from three years ago. Missing child, in this case. Klaus, looking tiny as shit.
Five can’t fucking believe it.
No one else seems to have been affected- Elliot says everyone else dropped as adults. So there’s that, at least. It’ll be easier to talk to his siblings as adults, rather than trying to be alone with a child. Not that Five has any idea where Klaus is, of course. The report says to contact the police station with information about the boy, and gives the station’s number, but there’s no address or place where Five can find him.
The report says Klaus is about three years old, making him around six now- not old enough to be left alone for long or make his own decisions in the eyes of most people. Five’s going to need one of his adult siblings to help him contact and hopefully gain custody of Klaus, or at least kidnap him.
God, appearing to be a child is such a pain in the ass. Five can’t imagine how Klaus must feel, forced to pretend to be a toddler for so long. He’ll probably be pissed when Five finds him again.
If he finds him again. If he hasn’t been adopted and moved out of the city or something.
…No, Five will find him. The alternative is unacceptable.
He’s going to need help, though. Might as well start with Diego.