We made it back to the academy quickly; Klaus' mood seemed to have improved rapidly on our way. He hadn't mentioned what had happened in there so I didn't bring it up, just glad to see him smiling and joking once again.
We crept through the large door when we arrived, quietly laughing at something Klaus had just said. I smiled as he wrapped his arms around me from behind, stopping for just a second to enjoy the moment until...
"Good evening, you two." Came the sound of a now-familiar voice. "Or should I say, good morning."
"Hey, Pogo." Klaus quickly let go of me and waved at him.
"Hi." I greeted him quietly.
"Have either of you seen Master Luther by chance?"
"Yeah, we were just with him. He might be out for a while longer though." I told him.
"Very well, best be off to bed."
"We're adults, Pogo, you don't need to tell us what to do." Klaus replied. "But that doesn't seem like the worst idea..." He whispered the last part in my ear, making me blush as Pogo simply shook his head and walked away.
"C'mon let's go." I pulled Klaus up the elaborate flight of stairs and up towards his bedroom. As soon as he was inside he shut the door and locked it before walking over to where I was stood in the middle of the room. He leant down and kissed me, gently at first, before quickly deepening it. I pulled him closer, beginning to feel more confident, ignoring the fluttering of nerves as excitement washed over me. We broke apart for air, my chest rising and falling with my breaths before we met again.
Before things got any more intimate, Klaus stopped briefly. "Wait, have you ever-?"
"Yeah, a few times." I thought briefly back to the couple of one-night stands I'd had over my time at the Commission before pushing the memories away as quickly as they had entered my mind. "Not that I sleep with a lot of people I just-" I began to stumble on my words as I tried to find the right wording, making him chuckle. "You're laughing at me."
"No, I'm not!" I raised my eyebrows at him. "Ok, maybe I am. Only 'cause of how cute you are."
"You're forgiven." I wrapped my arms around his neck and continued our kiss as he backed us up towards his bed.
*
Klaus and I lay on our backs, my head tucked into the crook of his neck and his arms wrapped around me, watching his fairy lights twinkle gently in the moonlight that streamed through the window. The traffic had died down, only a few cars drove past, breaking up the serene silence every now and then. That was until we heard a loud crash from downstairs making us jump.
"What was that?" Klaus sat up.
"I have no idea..." I got out of bed and quickly pulled on a jumper of Klaus' that I saw on the floor before poking my head outside the door. "Oh, you've got to see this." I giggled as Klaus came to join me. Down the corridor, Luther and the girl from the rave were stumbling around drunk as he tried to get to his room.
"I think this is mine." I heard him mumble as he opened his door and the two fell inside before slamming it shut.
We both burst out laughing at the sight, quickly pushing our door closed to we didn't disturb Luther's fun. Ok, more so that they couldn't hear us giggling. I looked over to check the time. Almost 3 AM. I smiled softly as I caught eyes with Klaus until a horrifying thought came over me.
"Klaus. Was Ben here? When you know..."
"No, no, no, don't worry."
"Oh thank God." I let out a sigh of relief.
"Actually, I'm not sure where he is. I haven't seen him in ages."
"Well he can't have gone too far, we should go and look for him." I paused, realising what I'd said. "Ok, you should go and look for him while I keep you company."
He'd already started pulling on his clothes. I followed suit, picking up my trousers and shirt. I shivered as soon as I took off his jumper, quickly putting my other clothes on but still feeling chilly.
"Would you mind if I borrow this?"
"Not at all, it suits you."
"Thanks." I smiled.
Soon we were out in the hallways, Klaus poking his head into every room we went past looking for his brother. Eventually, he found him in the kitchen, apparently sat at one of the chairs.
"Shut up, you knew I liked her." He sat down, briefly looking at me before turning to the empty space next to him where I guessed Ben was. I grinned at the fact he'd talked to Ben about me. "Well, we're here now so you can stop whining about being lonely."
"Ben isn't sat here, right?" I pointed to the seat I was stood next to, opposite them.
"No, you're good." Klaus replied. "Wait, where are you going?" His eyes followed an invisible trail of somebody walking away.
"Did he leave?"
"Yeah." He sighed.
"Why? We just came and found him."
"I think he's jealous."
"Of me?"
Klaus nodded.
I sighed. "Maybe it's best if we leave things as they were. I don't want to get in between you and your brother, especially if it's making him unhappy."
"No, he's just being dramatic. He'll come around. He always does."
"I hope so." I smiled and got up again. "Tea?"
"Yeah, thanks. I'll grab the mugs, you put the stove on."
"Bloody hell, it's 2019 and Americans still don't have electric kettles." I laughed as I turned the hob on.
"What's the difference?" He asked as he bought the mugs over.
"Your way takes forever!"
"I suppose you're gonna say you make a better cup of tea than us too."
"Oh, I most definitely do." We both grinned as I filled up the kettle with water and put it on the stove.
We continued to chat as the kettle took a small eternity to boil. Once we'd made our drinks we sat back down, blowing on them to cool them down.
"Could you grab me some painkillers? They're on the shelf behind you." Klaus asked me.
"Yeah sure." I stood up and found them, gently throwing the packet over to him. "What's wrong?"
"I've got the worst headache."
"Yeah, I'm not surprised. You hit your head pretty hard when we were fighting those guys. You were out for ages."
"About that..." He swallowed one and cleared his throat before he continued. "I don't think I was just knocked out." I looked at him in confusion. "I think I... died?"
"What?"
"It was weird. I woke up in this place, there was a girl who was talking about being "down there" on Earth. And then I saw Dad."
"Right... what happened next?"
"He gave me a shave, weird, I know."
"Klaus, that's the most normal thing about this so far."
"He knew about the apocalypse, Oli." He leant closer to me. "He knew we had to stop it, that he had to do something to bring us back together."
"Wait, did he?"
"Yeah, he killed himself."
"Shit."
"And then he said he had something important to tell me but I woke up back here again before he could say what it was."
"What do you think it was?"
"I have no idea."
"We have to tell the others, this is big. I mean, he killed himself!"
"I know." He sighed. "Before it happened, before I died, I saw Dave."
"That's amazing." I smiled. "Why is that bad?" I picked up on his expression of sorrow.
"I saw him... D-dying all over again."
"That's... Shit, that's so awful I don't even know what to say. You've really had the worst night ever."
"Yeah, but also the best." He looked up at me and winked. "C'mon, I'm changing the subject, this stuff is all too depressing for me."
"We can talk about this if you-"
"No, we're moving on. I don't wanna think about it."
"Ok." I smiled. "Best night ever, you say?"
"Oh, absolutely." We both laughed before his smile turned to one of sadness once again.
"Ok, that's it!" I abruptly stood up.
"What?"
"I can't have you being sad, and my mum always used to make the best chocolate chip cookies in the whole entire world when I was little - they would always cheer me up." I began looking around for various ingredients. "So, let's make some."
"You're so amazing." He said as he got up to help.
"I know." I said jokingly.
"Ok, what do we need?"
*
We baked, laughed and chatted until the sun had risen and our forgotten drinks had turned stone cold. I'd just taken the golden cookies out of the oven, Klaus already taking one from the baking tray then yelling in pain when he realised how hot they were.
"Let them cool down a bit. Should we go and wake Luther up while we wait?" I asked as I placed the washing up in the sink.
"Yeah, that'll be good." He grabbed a bell on the counter and began to go up the stairs. As we neared the corridor he started to ring it, causing a racket for everyone around.
"Wakey wakey!" I yelled out.
"Eggs and bakey!" Klaus called out in a singsong voice making me burst out laughing. "Oh, there's the big man." He commented as Luther staggered out, pulling his duvet around him. "So, what mischief did you get up to?"
"I didn't." Luther denied.
"Oh, no? Maybe we should ask her." I looked past Luther to see the girl in his bed. "Hi." I greeted - she waved back. Luther gasped and slammed his bedroom door shut.
"Oh, come on, don't be so shy, big guy. You needed it!" Said Klaus.
"Yeah, not a lot of ladies on the Moon, I assume." I joined in.
"And all that... pressure resting on those big... hairy shoulders." Klaus and I chuckled.
"Enough, you two." Luther began to look down, a slight blush appeared on his cheeks.
"Wait..." I picked up on his body language. "Was this, like... is this your..." I didn't need to finish my sentence to know it was true.
"No way!" Klaus said open-mouthed before laughing. "Whoo!" He rang his bell again and spun around in a circle. "He popped his cherry!"
"We are not having this discussion." Luther whispered sternly.
I fake gasped. "Now you're gonna have to marry her!"
"Would you keep your voice down?"
"Hey, you know, I remember my first..." Klaus started. "Oh, no, I don't."
"I remember mine." I pulled an exaggerated face of disgust. "Sadly."
"What do you want?"
"What? Oh, uh, important family business."
"Meet us downstairs, ok?"
"And Luther... No dilly-dallying, all right? Chop, chop." With that Klaus rung his bell once more before walking back towards the kitchen, where we began to make coffee for everyone.
"Well, that was... interesting." I commented.
It was only a few minutes until Luther came crashing down wearing a grey hoodie and clutching his head. His nightmare of a hangover must've caught up to him.
"Here we go, this'll fix ya." Klaus poured him a cup before passing me one too. Before I could raise it to my lips it was snatched out of my hands.
"Uh, hello? Get your own, Five." I glared in annoyance as he sat down next to Luther. "Where have you been, anyway?" He ignored me, taking a sip of my drink.
"Jesus. Who do I gotta kill to get a decent cup of coffee?" He complained. I hit his head gently before swooping over and taking back my mug. "Hey!" He yelled.
"Don't steal my drink and then be rude about it." I said back, matching his tone. He sighed and grabbed one of the cookies from the tray that had now cooled down.
"Stop yelling." Luther groaned as I took a seat on the other side of him. "Can we get started?"
"Anyone seen any of the others? Diego? Allison?" Klaus asked. Everyone stayed quiet. "No? All right, then, this is the closest thing to a quorum that we're gonna get. Now, listening up. There's no easy way to say this, so I'm just gonna spit it out." He suddenly looked over to an empty seat. "Yeah..." There was a long silence.
"Klaus." Luther pressed.
"I conjured Dad last night." Everyone but me looked at Klaus like he was crazy.
"You said you haven't been able to conjure anyone in years." Luther's voice was still croaky with undertones of annoyance.
"Ah, yes, I know, but I'm sober, ta-da!"
I looked around to see both Luther and Five unimpressed as if they didn't believe him.
"And I'm really proud of you, Klaus." I smiled. My attempt to diffuse some of the tension.
"Thank you! It was Oli that helped me actually. I got clean yesterday, to talk to someone special." He paused for just a second. So quickly that they didn't notice it, but I did. "And then ended up having this... conversation with dear old Daddy himself."
"Has anyone got some aspirin?" Luther asked. I got up and found the packet of painkillers for my second time that morning, throwing them at him in a not-so-gentle way.
"This is serious, guys, alright?" I was shocked at how they either didn't care or didn't think Klaus was telling the truth.
"This really happened, I swear." Klaus tried to convince them.
"Ok, fine. I'll play. What did the old man have to say?" Five asked.
"Well, he gave me the usual lecture about my appearance and my failures in life, no surprise there. Even the afterlife couldn't soften a hardass like Dad, right? But he did mention something about his murder, or lack thereof, because... he killed himself." Klaus finally announced the news.
"I don't have time for your games, Klaus." Luther made to leave.
"He's telling the truth."
"I suppose you know because you were there with him, right?" Five questioned, a hint of jealousy in his voice.
"Yeah, I was. Tell me, why would anybody lie about something like this? Especially after what we've all been through these last few days. I mean, Klaus and I were literally tortured and kidnapped for you, Five! And you still don't trust what he has to say."
"Why'd he do it, then?"
"He said it was the only way to get us all home again." Explained Klaus.
"No, Dad wouldn't just kill himself." Luther stood up.
"You said it yourself, he was depressed. Holed up in his office and room all day and night." Five pointed out to my surprise.
"No. There weren't any signs. Suicidal people exhibit certain tendencies, strange behaviours."
"Like sending someone to the Moon for no reason?" I asked.
"I swear to God, if you're lying..."
"I'm not. We're not." Klaus reassured one last time.
"Master Klaus and his friend are correct." We all turned around to see Pogo stood in the doorway. "Regretfully..." He sighed. "I helped Master Hargreeves enact his plan." He stared at the ground.
"What?" Asked Luther, who was completely bewildered.
"So did Grace. It was a difficult choice for both of us. More difficult than you could ever know." He took a step closer to us. "Prior to your father's death, Grace's programming was adjusted so that she was incapable of administering first aid on that fateful night."
"Sick bastard." Five muttered under his breath.
"So the security tape we saw?"
"It was meant to further the murder mystery." Pogo explained as I scoffed. "Your father hoped that being back here, solving it together..." Klaus leant against the table and groaned. "...would reignite your desire to be a team again."
"And to what end?"
"To save the world, of course."
"All right." Klaus laughed sarcastically as if what Reginald wanted them to do was the easiest thing in the world.
"First the Moon mission and now this." Luther looked at Pogo. "You watched me search for answers and said nothing. Anything else you want to share, Pogo? Any other damn secrets?" He raised his voice.
"Hey, calm down." I stepped forward slightly.
"No, I won't calm down." He spat. "We've been lied to by the one person we all trusted."
"It was your father's dying wish, Master Luther. I... I had no choice." Pogo's voice broke.
"There's always a choice." Luther stated before storming off.
"I gotta think." Was all Five said before he blinked away.
"Pogo..." I grabbed his attention before he too could leave. "I know you didn't want for this to happen. Hopefully, Luther will understand that soon enough."
"Yes, well..." He cleared his throat. "Thank you, Miss Olive."
"Please, no need for the formality." I smiled faintly.
"Very well." He spoke before turning and walking away slowly.
*
Later that day, Klaus and I were in his room. I was sat cross-legged on his bed as he attempted to knit something.
"Do you know how to knit?"
"No, but I always thought it was cool-" He was interrupted by Five appearing.
"Hey, get up. We're going."
"Where?" I asked.
"To save the world."
"Oh, is that all?" Klaus sighed. "Great." He threw his knitting needles to the side and got up.
"So, Pogo said Dad killed himself to get us all back together, right?" Five started pacing as Klaus stumbled around looking for a shirt. I found one next to me and threw it over, him catching it with ease.
"Yeah, so?" He asked as he pulled it on.
"So it got me thinking..."
"Wait, Five. You had to jump to the future to figure out the apocalypse happened, but your Dad can't time travel, can he?" I understood what Five was trying to figure out, not knowing what the answers to his questions were.
"No, so how'd the crazy bastard actually know to kill himself a week before the end of the world?"
"Well, you know..." Klaus began.
"Don't answer. That was purely rhetorical." There was a small pause before Five continued. "Truth is, our whole lives, he's been telling us we'd save the world from an impending apocalypse."
"Yeah, but I always thought he just said that to scare us into doing the dishes." Klaus started pulling shoes on.
"Me too. But what if the old man really knew it was going to happen?"
"How would he have done?" I questioned.
"No idea. But the fact remains his plan worked. We all came home."
"Well, we're here so..." I stood up. "We might as well try and save the world."
"What, like, the three of us?" Klaus was understandably sceptical, as was I, but I was willing to give it a shot.
"Uh, well, ideally, no, but... gotta work with what I've got." Five answered as we started to leave Klaus' room together, only to see Diego running into his.
"Where have you been?"
"Jail. Long story. Where's Luther?" He asked from inside as we stood in the doorway.
"Haven't seen him since breakfast." I replied.
"Yeah, two days until the world ends, he picks a great time to drop off the grid." Klaus added.
"Shit." Diego came out again. "Allison's in danger."
*
We found Luther at an old pub a couple of miles from the academy. All four of us walked over to him as he spotted us from the doorway. He was drinking again.
"Trying a little hair of the dog are we? Hm?" Klaus asked.
"Leave me alone." Luther grunted.
"Give us a minute." Diego told us as he sat next to Luther.
"Ok, come on." Klaus turned to us. "Maybe they'll brood each other to death." I laughed at his comment before following the others back to by the entrance. We all stood in silence, waiting not-so patientally for them to finish talking.
"You should have led with that!" We heard Luther yell, after a short while, as he shoved his chair back and ran towards the door. Klaus quickly jumped up from the table he was leaning against as we went after him. Leaving in such a rush, Luther accidentally pulled the door off of its hinge as he swung it open in rage. Being the last one out, I tried to push it shut before running off, hoping the owner of the pub hadn't saw what happened.
The only seat left when I got to the car was inbetween Diego and Luther in the back; Klaus had taken the passenger seat as Five started the engine, ready to drive.
I sighed before climbing over Diego awkwardly and squeezing into the already-tiny gap, made even smaller due to Luther taking up so much space.
*
We drove until it was dark in complete silence, everyone secretly begging that Allison would be ok but too scared to share our concerns and worries.
"Hey, can you go any faster?" Luther leaned forward and finally broke the quiet.
"Ask me again, and I'll burn you with the cigarette lighter." Five said calmly making Luther sigh and slump back in his seat.
Eventually, we made it to a small cabin in the middle of a desolate forest, miles from the city. As soon as the car stopped we all jumped out and followed the stairs to the front door. It was locked, so Luther kicked it open.
He stood there for just a moment in shock, though from where I was stood behind him I couldn't see why, before shouting out. "Allison! No!" He ran inside.
There she was, laying on the ground, blood pouring out of her neck. She was barely concious, barely alive, her eyes fluttering open and shut.
"Allison." Luther said again as he hugged her tight, stroking her hair. "Oh my God. Allison." His voice broke as he started to cry.
Everybody followed after, standing around the man who was now sobbing, but I hung back.
The familiar stench of blood filled the thick atmosphere and I began to gasp, desperate for air that wasn't there. I couldn't breath. Visions of my mother flashed before me, her lifeless body, so helpless and defencless, her mangled body and the blood that spilled out of her chest. The dark crimson colour that stuck to the carpet and stained, forever there as a reminder of the grief and hurt. Allison was just like that, though still suffering. Still in pain.
I couldn't talk, call out to anyone. I saw Klaus put his hand on Luther's shoulder to comfort him, briefly turing back to see me turn and flee. I felt sick as I stumbled back down the steps and towards the car. Everywhere felt uncomfortably warm and my legs felt numb. Using the side of the car for some stability, I fell down on the ground, bringing my knees up to my chest as I began to weep.
"Oli!" I saw Klaus sprinting down the stairs two at a time. "Hey, hey, hey." He knelt down in front of me.
I didn't look at him, I stared at the ground trying so desperately to force the images of Allison and Mum out of my head.
"What's wrong?" He put a gentle hand on my knee. I finally looked up.
Blood. Allison's blood. His hands were covered in it.
I jumped and pushed myself back, trying to get as far from it as possible.
"Liv?"
"Get away from me!" I screamed.
"Wha-?"
"Go!" I was sobbing uncontrollably as I began to shake with fear. "Please." I begged softly.
"I don't..." He was interrupted as the others ran out, Luther carrying Allison.
"We need to go. Now." He said.