"Get your Ape hands off of me!"
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Mavis had always been alone. Sure, she had a mother, but honestly once you meet that woman, you'd understand why she never included her on that list. All she can remember, growing up was one thing— a feeling.
It was the slow-agonizing kind. A pain, that could only be felt when she was reminded that the way she was brought up, and treated wasn't how most were. The sinking feeling, that made her nauseous, and forced tears to flood her eyes. But she couldn't say what that feeling was. She couldn't, because she didn't know.
She didn't grow up around those who express their feelings, or at least talked about them. So on the days, where she felt like there was a ball, and chain attached to her arms and legs, trying to contain her to the almost empty, and sorrowful room, she would close her eyes and imagine a world where, she had a loving mother, a loving husband, friends who encouraged her to embrace everything she is, and wanted to be. She imagined something better.
When she got the chance to experience love for the first time it only ended in pain. Leaving her to fear ever letting anyone in.
So she knew that once she opens her eyes, she would be back in that room.
Alone.
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Mavis left after hearing that not one person had any idea where Klaus was. It infuriated her to no end how insensitive this family was when it came to anybody but their selves. After their encounter in the bathroom, Mavis couldn't help but feel a connection to the man.
Back at Diego's place, the two youngest of the group had awakened and were in the middle of telling Luther all about the apocalypse. "So when is this supposed to happen exactly?" Luther asks the two. "Well, we can't give you the exact hour, but... From what we could gather about four days left" five responds. "Why didn't you say anything sooner?" Luther asks, to which Will responds gravely, "Would it have mattered?"
Luther cut in, "- of course, it would. We could have banded together and helped you try to stop this thing." He explained even though from what Will had seen of the family, they didn't seem to have cared if anything happened to either of them. A prime example would be Klaus. It's sad how someone who just met the man was quick to look for him in place of his siblings.
"For the record, you already tried." Five told Luther, remembering the first thing he saw once he was transported to the future, was the corpses of his family. Luther looked taken aback at this information, "what do you mean?"
Reluctantly, five glances up at Luther, "I found all of you. Your bodies." Luther takes a minute to say anything until he finally speaks up, "We die?" To which five respond quietly, "horribly."
Will noticed the shift in the tone of voice coming from Five and moves his hand over his in an attempt to comfort the boy. All the while Luther gazes off with a stoned expression, as he takes in all that has been said. Five grasps Will's hand as he continues, "You were together. Trying to stop whoever it was that ends the world."
Luther looks up at five hearing the final part, "Wait how do you know that?" To explain five reached into his pocket and pulls out the eye that was wrapped in a cloth in an attempt to conceal its identity, "this was clutched in your dead hand when I found you." He then tosses the prosthetic eye to Luther, and continues as Luther begins examining it, "Must've ripped it out of their head right before you went down."
"Who's head?" Luther inquired, to which Will responded, with a shrug, "Like he said we don't know." Luther hands the eyeball back. Then, suddenly Diego bursts through the door, a furious look on his face, and headed straight for Five, "piece of shit." In response, Luther stands tall in defense of Five, while Will immediately stands as well and moves in front of the boy protectively, though equally as confused.
"Do you have any idea what you just did?" Diego questions as he stomps over to the boy, but being long held back by the ape-like strength of Luther, lets out a grunt, as he holds him back, "Nope, let me-" he struggles against Luther's strength, "Get your Ape hands off of me!"
Eventually, he is squirming in the man's arms as his legs hover above the ground, "I can do this as long as it takes for you to calm down". Luther tells the man holding him off the ground. Panting, Diego submits, "Fine." Hearing this Will's body relaxes a bit, his stance in front of Five stands.
Luther releases him, "Now, wanna tell us what you're talkin' about?" As Luther asked that Diego nods over to Five and even Will, "Our brother, and his little friends, have been pretty busy since they got here." At the usage of the words 'little friends' Will cringes and steps forward, "What are you talking about?" Diego looks from Will to Luther, then back at Five, where he seemed to be directing most of the blame and anger, "He was in the middle of that shoot out at Griddy's." He continues and Fives face hold no emotion.
"And then, at Gimble Brothers, after the guys in masks attacked the academy, looking for him." He finishes with a finger pointed at Five. "None of which, is any of your concern." Five replied.
Before Diego could tell him why it does, Will gets a starting feeling coming from the emotional man, and says, "They killed his friend." Hearing this they all look at the boy, "Actually, she was more than a friend, you lo-" he was cut off by Diego asking as he pants from all the emotions, "How did you know that?"
In an attempt to defuse the situation looks over at five with a face and asks, "Who are they five?" Hearing his question five looks down towards the floor before putting a hand on Will's arm and guiding him back to sitting next to him. He silently thinks for a second about how to explain the situation before looking back up at his brothers. "They work for our former employer."
As he begins to speak memories start to flood back about how he met this former employer. "A woman called, 'The Handler'. She sent them, to stop us." Five continued remembering their first encounter with the woman. How She was the one to introduce the two of them to Mavis. He reminisced about the mission they were put on together. There oh so special mission that made them what they were.
"Then, as soon as Diego's friend got in their way..well, fair game." This seemed to ignite something in Diego as he responds, "And now they're my fair game. And I'm gonna see to it they pay." He then begins walking away, as Five in an attempt to stop him says, "That would be a mistake. Diego, they've killed people far more dangerous than you." Without stopping the man responds, "Yeah well see about that." he then storms out slamming the door behind him.
Meanwhile, Luther still standing over Five and Will who sat on Diego's bed, begins to speak his words directed at the two, "former employer?" Five looks up at him, "what's this about five? And don't give me any of this, 'it's none of your business' crap, all right?"
"Well, it's kind of a long story." Five begins as he tells the tale of when he met the poisonous white-haired woman. he tells him how this woman promised an exchange for the usage of their powers to help correct the timeline so that they would be allowed to go back to their time after their job is done. He explains how originally it was just him and Will, but then came the lavender-haired girl, and with all her wits they became three.
Finally, he then tells about how he used the assassination of JFK to try to go back to their timeline and how five messed up the calculations and they were put in their child bodies.
Luther took a minute to compose himself, and then go over all the information he was given before walking over to the two, "So, you were hitmen?" He gives five and Will cups full of coffee, "Yes." He replies. "Uh... I mean you had a code, right?" Luther asks, and Will supposes this was his way of trying to justify the actions of the three, that got them where they are. "No code. We took out anybody who messed with the timeline."
"What about innocent people?" Luther ask and Will couldn't help but feel sorry for him. "It was the only way I could get back here." Five told him, "But that's murder.." Five found his replies childish and spoke, "Jesus, Luther grow up. We're not kids anymore. There's no such thing as good guys or bad guys, There's just people going about their lives, but when the world ends all those people, die, including our family."
With a sigh, Five finishes, "Time changes everything." Luther stares back at the boy gravely, then glances at the window.
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Mavis looked around the area using her sharp sense of smell, to try to pick up on Klaus' whereabouts. She seemed to be the only one who was worried for him while others paid no attention and brushed off her concerns with nonchalance or disinterest. They shared a painful history, marred by their shared history. She feared for his safety and well-being. She needed to find him.
Mavis sniffed the air, trying to get a better idea of Klaus' whereabouts. The scents of sweat, mold, and stale foods were strong as if Klaus had been in the same place for a long time, possibly asleep or incapacitated. Following the scents, she walked further down the dark alleyway she could hear Klaus' labored breathing. She knew she had found him.
"Klaus!" She breathed and rushed over to the man, pulling him to a sitting-up position. At just the slight feeling of her touch, he flinched away, "No!" Klaus curled up in the corner, shaking violently and muttering unintelligibly to himself. He was covered in sweat, his body was shaking uncontrollably. Images and memories from the horror of war flooded into his mind, overwhelming him. He refused to be touched, and even the slightest movement near him made him flinch.
"It's okay.." Mavis tried to soothe him with her words. "It's me. It's Mavis. I'm not going to hurt you." She promised. At the mention of her name, Klaus peeked through his huddled arms to look at the girl. "Mavis?" He asked, his voice cracking. She smiled and nodded, "Yeah, yeah it's me. Mavis."
"What's going on?" He asked looking around at his surroundings. As Mavis tried to think of a way to ask where he had been and why he looked the way he did she decided that it wasn't important right now. What was, is getting him a shower and some food. "Here come with me and we'll figure everything out okay?" She proposed standing up and holding out her hand for him to take.
Klaus looked back and forth between her hand and her. Unbeknownst to her, he was trying to decipher whether or not the girl was real. "Hey.." she whispered crouching down once more to be at eye level.
"Everything's going to be okay."
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After guiding Klaus, back to the Academy, Mavis sat on her knees in the bathroom of the big house, helping wash down Klaus as he laid back with heavy breaths, and his eyes closed. She gently scrubbed his skin, taking all the dirt with her. She could tell the man had been through an ordeal. She didn't dare ask as he still seems sensitive to any touch or words she emitted, from now she just wanted him to be comfortable.
After a second Klaus' heartbeat began to pick up, and he quickly spun up from the water, gasping for breath. "Klaus?! What's wrong? Are you okay?" Mavis quickly asked, fear laced in her voice. The man didn't respond, instead just kept panting and whispering, the name that seem to belong to a man
"Dave..."
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Eventually, mavis got the man back into his room, which was littered with posters and things scattered all across the floor. It was very... him.
Now having have been able to stand on his own and pulling his head through a shirt when the door knocked and suddenly opened, revealing, Five and Will, to which Mavis perked up seeing, "You okay?" Five asked, Klaus with his voice almost in a whisper responded, "hey. Yeah, I just...long night."
Five chuckled, "More than one from the looks of it." he walked more into the room and sat next to Mavis, putting a arm around her shoulder and pulling her to him. Will then say on her other side, with a hand on her knee s they all looked towards Klaus. "I don't remember you wearing dog tags." Will said, with a grunt the man replied, "Yeah they belonged to a friend."
Five then continues on with the questions, "How about that new tattoo?" Klaus looked from his arm back to five, "You know I don't totally remember even getting it. Like I said, it was a long night." He finished sounding like He was getting antsy with all the questions. Mavis began to hear the annoyance in his tone, and had to hold her self back from telling five to shut it, and that he clearly was not in the mood.
I've got up and followed, as Klaus began to walk around the room, " you did it didn't you?" He asked. "What are you talkin' about?" Klaus asked moving to sit in the spot where five had abandoned next to Mavis. Five began his grilling of the man, but his words felt little more harsher after he saw how much more comfortable Klaus had gotten after being next to the girl.
"You know I can read the symptoms Klaus. We all can." Hearing his words, making her wince at the implication , having though about it herself, but secretly hoping that she was wrong. "Symptoms of what?"
Five looked them up and down before continuing to list of symptoms , "The jet lag. Full body itch. The headache that feels like someone shoved a bunch of cotton up into your nose and through your brain." Klaus looks at him and shakes his head. "You wanna tell me what happened?"
" your pals, when they broke into the house and couldn't find you they took me hostage instead." when he finished saying that Mavis felt a rush of fear go through her mind as she thought of what could've possibly happened during those hours before she found him. Well, actually, it was more than hours for him.
"And then return, you stole their briefcase". Five finished for him. "There was money in it, or I could panic, you know, whatever." He sighs, "And then I opened it." Five began to pace, "And the next thing you know, you were... Where? Or.. should I say when?"
" five, can you please stop pacing you know it makes me nervous." Mavis spoke, but she was ignored as a klaus spoke again, " what difference does it make?" She asked to which five sporadically responded, "What diff— uh— okay, how long were you gone?" He asked and Klaus responded slowly, "almost a year." Hearing this Mavis's eyes widened.
"A year?" She asked looking at the man. " do you know what this means?" Five asked him, Klaus j smiled, and replied, "Yeah, I'm 10 months older now." five brushed off that attempt at a joke, " you know this isn't an any sort of joke, Klaus. Hazel and Cha-Cha will do whatever they can to get the briefcase."
Five looked around, "where is it now?" Klaus replied, "gone. I destroyed it." Then, with a hand motion, mocked something exploding, 'poof'. When hearing this will cursed under his breath, "shit." Five walked towards his brother, seemingly seething and asked, "what were you thinking?" Klaus then spat back "what do you care?" Before five could say something insulting to the man Mavis cut in. "Klaus. We needed that to go back and fix things." she said in a more gentle tone then five had been hoping to de-escalate the situation.
Klaus just waved them all off and sat up beginning to walk away from your conversation. " where are you
Going?" Five asked him. " interrogations over, I just... Leave."
As Klaus walks out Five suddenly grabs a piece of paper and a pen on the desk and begins scribbling furiously. Muttering to himself he looks up thinking for a second Friday the other two just look at each other, not knowing what the other is doing.
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