We finally decided that it was ok to go back to the house. I was determined on going to sleep, until Five and I reached the hallway and found bloody footprints on the floor, leading from the bathroom at the end of the hall to a bedroom that contained a rather disheveled and shirtless Klaus.
Five went first, knocking on the open door, and I slipped into the room beside him.
"You ok?" Five asked.
"Hey. Yeah, I just...long night."
"I'll bet." I told him, remembering the vision from the motel. He pulled a t-shirt over his arms.
"More than one from the looks of it." Five added. I furrowed my eyebrows."
"Yup."
"Don't remember the dog tags."
"Yeah, they belonged to a friend."
"How about that new tattoo?" Five questioned.
"You know, I don't totally remember even getting it. Like I said, it was a long night."
"You did it, didn't you?" I looked at Five, confused.
"What are you talking about?" Klaus asked, sitting down.
"You know, I can recognize the symptoms, Klaus."
"Symptoms of what?" My eyes widened as I realized what he was talking about.
"Jet lag," I said, "Full body itch."
"The headache that feels like someone shoved a box of cotton up into your nose and through your brain."
"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked him. "I know Hazel and Cha-Cha had you at that hotel and-"
"Your pals, when they broke into the house and they couldn't find you two, they took me hostage instead."
"And in return you stole their briefcase." Five realized aloud.
"Yeah. I thought there was money in it, or I could pawn it, you know, whatever. And then I opened it."
"Where did you go?" I asked. "Or, when, rather."
"What difference does it make?"
"What diff-it...Ok, how long were you gone?" Five inquired.
'Almost a year."
"A year? Do you know what this means?"
"Yeah, I'm ten months older now."
"No, this isn't any sort of joke, Klaus. Hazel and Cha-Cha will do whatever they can to get the briefcase. Where is it now?"
"Gone. I destroyed it." Klaus told him. "Poof."
"What the heck were you thinking?!"
"What do you care?!"
"What do I care?! I needed it, you moron, so we could get back. We could start over."
"Five," I said, trying to calm things down.
"Just, just..." Klaus stood up, walking to the door.
"Where are you going?"
"Interrogation's over, just...leave." He left and I turned to look at Five.
"You know, your tact never ceases to amaze me." I told him.
"He destroyed the briefcase!" Five explained.
"Yeah, the briefcase that he didn't know anything about, because you never tell anybody anything!" I shot back. "Maybe if you stopped being the smartest person in the room for five seconds you could see that maybe your siblings can help us!"
YOU ARE READING
The Burden of Knowledge (An Umbrella Academy/Number Five Fan-Fiction)
Fanfiction"Knowledge is a burden-once taken up, it can never be discarded".-Stephen R. Lawhead. Mary Burke was one of forty-three children from across the world that came into existence in a single day by some freak event. She was one of the lucky few howeve...
