Empathy [Ben Hargreeves]

Episode Six. Part II.

"The Day that Wasn't"

"Damn it, Diego! Damn it! Stop it!"

"Nope!"

"Stop it!"

"Nope!"

"Get off! Get off! Get off!"

Elle followed the reverberating voices of Diego and Klaus arguing. She felt like she was eight years old again when Diego tricked Klaus into licking a nine-volt battery. The two Hargreeves were constantly going at each other in an annoying brotherly way, unlike the disastrous Diego versus Luther feuds.

"Hey, guys, I just wanted to say good-- What the hell are you doing to Klaus?"

Eloise certainly wasn't expecting to find Diego tying their adoptive brother down to a chair when she stepped past the threshold of an attic room with vintage furniture.

"Get me out of here, Elle! Please!" Klaus called out to her. He struggled in vain with the ensnaring rope.

"Diego!" Elle admonished. She hurried across the creaky floorboards to the center of the room and reached over to help free Klaus.

"No, Eloise." Diego slapped her hands down so she slapped him back. He grunted as she knocked his bad arm. "Don't listen to him."

"Elle, darling, please," Klaus begged.

Diego grabbed her when she took another step forward and twisted her body so that her back was to his firm chest. Elle struggled as he locked his arms around her crossed arms pressed to her chest. "Diego, what the fuck!" she shrieked. "What is wrong with you? Gah!"

Diego waited semi-patiently until she was done kicking and thrashing like a two-year-old having a tantrum.

Elle finally calmed, but it was calculated and precise. After taking in a deep inhale, she exhaled a bomb of emotion that knocked her brother backwards. As he staggered away with a grunt of surprise, Elle leaned down and started to untie one of the knots with quick movements.

"Stop, Eloise. Listen to me." Diego tried to explain after he finally caught his breath: "Klaus told me that taking away his options was the only way that he could get truly sober before the end of the world. He asked for me to do this."

Elle paused with her hands hovering over the rope around Klaus' torso. "Sober?" she echoed unsurely.

"He's trying to manipulate you into letting him free so that he can use drugs again. He's being a sissy."

Klaus stomped his feet that were tied together. "Am not!"

"He's trying use his powers to conjure the one he lost, which can only seem to happen when he's clean."

"Klaus told you about Dave?" Elle asked, surprised that Klaus had been willing to share so much with Diego.

Diego raised an eyebrow. "He told you about Dave?"

Eloise narrowed her eyes. "Of course. He's my best friend."

"Please. Please, Diego. Ellie, please..." Tears mixed with eyeliner ran down Klaus' ashen cheeks. Elle swallowed hard. She didn't like seeing him like this. "I can't. I can't... I need one more hit to ease into this. That's all I need."

Diego put an arm out to stop her from reaching for him again and said to her, "He needs to get sober. It only took him decades to realize this. Let it happen, Elle."

He then turned around and grabbed a gallon bucket from the floor. He shoved it onto Klaus' lap. "This is for next time. Puke, pee, whatever you need. Multipurpose. See?" Diego smacked the plastic side and stood. "Let's go, Elle. I can't trust you to not release him. You're too soft."

Elle frowned. "It's not my fault I was born emo." Her voice was indignant.

Diego rolled his eyes and gestured towards the door. "Places to be, things to do, sis. Let's go."

Elle glanced at Klaus with his puppy dog eyes then back at Diego who was waving at her to get a move on.

The end of the world was almost upon them, and the Umbrella Academy barely had a game plan scraped together. Eloise had been devising her own plans in her head since the family meeting hours ago.

Knowing that he was likely going to lose his shit from what she was about to do, Elle shot Diego an apologetic look before she paralyzed him momentarily. She was finally able to go to Klaus without being stopped. She brushed a sweaty curl from his face and lightly brushed her lips against his temple. "You can do this, mon chéri. I believe in you. So do Diego and Ben."

Then softer, as she backed away and three pairs of eyes watched her irises turn a soft blue in sadness, she added, "I love you, Klaus, no matter what happens."

"Elle, wait, wait, why are you saying--"

Elle didn't stay to hear the rest of Klaus' frantic words before leaving the attic room. If she stayed a moment longer, she knew that she would burst into tears.

When she was halfway down the stairs to the bedroom level, Eight released Diego from the emotional paralysis. "Eloise!" he yelled after her.

"Love you too!" she called and slammed the door to Ben's bedroom shut.

☆☆☆

Once in the safety of Ben's childhood room, Elle dug around in her bag for the knife that she had stolen.

"Eloise, open this door right now before I break through it," Diego warned. The door handle rattled. He slammed his palm against the wood with a growl of frustration. "Do I need to tie your ass down next to Klaus? Because I will do it; don't test me!"

"I'm changing! Don't come in!"

Eloise quickly stripped down to her matching black bra and panties.

The door burst open after Diego quickly picked the lock instead of following through and breaking it down. "Ah!" he exclaimed at the sight of his near-naked sister.

"I did warn you," Elle said dryly before putting on a pair of Ben's sweatpants from when he was sixteen. She pulled on an old Stark Industries shirt. Tying the strings on the pants so that she wouldn't look like a gangster, she shot her adoptive brother an exasperated look. "You know, you can go now."

Diego uncovered his eyes. "We were taught the signs, Elle. Don't do it. I know what's in your pocket."

"Probably a stick of gum. These are Ben's pants after all."

He didn't bother correcting her use of present tense and said in an almost pleading tone, "Don't make light of this. Come on, Elle."

"Diego, our last minutes are ticking by. Let me be."

"Minutes? We have days left to make a difference, to stop the apocalypse."

"I thought you were going after Hazel and Cha-Cha."

"I am. So you can either come with me, or you can sit nice and pretty next to Klaus."

"Excuse you, but you can't tell me what to do anymore. We aren't on a mission. This is real life."

"Eloise."

"Diego. Go avenge your love. I'm going home."

Elle bundled into Ben's fleece jacket. If Diego was going to be all over her, she was leaving the Academy. For the last time.