"I Heard a Rumor"
Klaus was squirming all over the twin mattress, nearly knocking Elle over the side of his childhood bed. She hadn't let him out of her sight after his death experience the night before.
"Klaus!" she grumbled. "Keep still."
"I have to call a family meeting." Klaus pushed the blankets off their bodies. Goosebumps rose across Elle's skin from the cold air of the room. "To fill them in about last night," he continued. "They have to know about Dad killing himself."
"S'too early to deal with his bullshit." Elle's emotional rollercoaster at the rave left her feeling tired and sluggish -- like an empathic hangover. Before they fell asleep last night, Klaus had told her about his encounter with the Warden when he had visited some kind of colorless heaven.
"It's noon, darling. We have to deal with it eventually." Klaus rolled out of the bed in only boxers and pulled on his cargo shorts, a pale rainbow tee, and an army jacket with cropped sleeves. "I have to find Dad's bell. I'll be back for you." He kissed her forehead and scurried from the room.
Elle groaned and tried to rub the sleep from her eyes. It took a bit of self-motivating before she finally got out of bed. She was still wearing her clothes from the night before, so she left Klaus' room to change.
"Wakey wakey! Eggs and bakey!" Klaus called in a sing-song voice as he walked down the bedroom hallway ringing Dad's loud, obnoxious call bell. Elle sighed from where she was getting dressed in her bedroom; she had really hoped that he wouldn't find that old bell. With a yawn, Elle met Klaus in the hall in a pair of fishnet leggings, a black corset dress, and her favorite leather jacket.
Moments later, Luther pulled open his bedroom door and stepped out only wearing a comforter around his waist.
"Oh, there's the man," Klaus said. "Someone pulled a disappearing act last night. What mischief did you get into?"
"What? I didn't," Luther said in a panic.
"Oh, no?" Klaus looked around Luther's large frame and grinned devilishly. "Maybe I should ask her." He waved the bell at the naked girl in Luther's bed. Elle was slack-jawed.
Luther hurried to close his bedroom door with embarrassment lighting his aura a pale purple.
"Oh, come on, don't be so shy, big guy. You needed it! Not a lot of ladies on the Moon, I assume. And all that..." Klaus inhaled deeply. "...pressure resting on those big, hairy shoulders." He chuckled while Elle shuddered.
"Klaus, enough." Luther looked sick to his stomach. His nausea was hitting Elle who swiftly sent calm back in his direction.
"Wait. Was this, like... is this your..." Klaus realized that it was Luther's first time having sex. "No way!"
"Klaus," Elle chided. He was making Luther so uncomfortable, causing her own skin to feel itchy and tight.
"We're not having this discussion." Luther glanced at Elle who raised her hands in defense. It wasn't her idea.
Klaus waved them off and laughed. "Whoo!" His bell rang wildly. "He popped his cherry!" Klaus mock-gasped. "Now you're gonna have to marry her."
"Would you keep your voice down?" Luther hissed.
The bell rang loudly. "Hey, you know, I remember my first..." Klaus trailed off thoughtfully. "Small, blonde, totally emo..." he described. "And a total vixen in bed."
Eloise choked and flushed chili pepper red while her eyes flickered lilac. She ducked her head as Luther's eyes flashed to her. Shit, Luther wasn't supposed to know about that.
"You went all the way with him?"
Elle didn't appreciate the accusation in Luther's voice. She looked up to glare at her brother with defiant eyes. "Would you have slept with Allison had you the chance?" she shot back.
None of the Hargreeves children were blood related, and they were raised as teammates, not siblings. There was nothing wrong with her love for Klaus. There was nothing wrong with her love for Ben.
Klaus howled in laughter. The bell clanked away.
Luther only responded to Elle with a grunt and turned to their adoptive brother. "Klaus, what is it?" he snapped. "What was the point of this?"
Klaus stopped laughing. "What? Oh!" Calming down, he explained, "The... uh, important family business. Meet us downstairs, okay?" Luther turned to go back into his room. "And, Luther," Klaus stopped him. "No dilly-dallying, all right? Chop, chop."
Klaus looped his arm through Elle's to walk away after Luther closed the door behind him to get dressed. Elle used her free hand to punch Klaus in the arm. "What the hell was that? You completely outed us!"
"Darling, that was, like, sixteen years ago. He doesn't know that we did it many times since."
"You--" Elle inhaled quickly and exhaled for ten seconds to calm herself as they descended the stairs. "Klaus. Please." Her voice wavered.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean any harm. Luther has nothing to be ashamed of and neither do you. Sex is human nature."
"I'm not--" Elle bit her tongue to stop herself from lying. She was ashamed. Her heart still belonged to Ben, but her body was used.
Not only had she slept with others, but Elle had found herself back in the arms of Klaus throughout the years after they lost Ben. They were each other's comforting touch until Klaus chose drugs and Elle chose Lucille.
Eloise made herself a cup of hot chocolate with shaky hands and took a seat in the kitchen to wait for the others to arrive.
"Here, eat something." A plate of peanut butter toast with honey appeared before Elle's face. She was zoned out and hadn't even noticed Klaus puttering around the kitchen making her breakfast.
"You're already forgiven, you know," Elle said with a soft smile in his direction. He was too precious to remain mad at, and she was grateful that he was even alive to tick her off in the first place.
While crunching on her toast, Luther shuffled into the kitchen in a ginormous hoodie and dropped heavily onto a chair. Klaus poured a cup of coffee for Ben and then one for him. "Here we go. This'll fix you up."
As Luther was putting the cup to his lips, Five sauntered into the kitchen in his blue Academy pajamas and snatched the cup from Luther's hands before taking a sip. Klaus quickly picked up the coffee pot and filled another mug for his hungover brother while mumbling, "Nice. Okay."
Five slurped on the black coffee. "Jesus. Who do I gotta kill to get a decent cup of coffee?" he complained.
"That's not funny," Elle commented sternly. The ease of murder was not something to be proud of.
Luther's heavy sigh cut off Five's sassy retort. "Can we get started, please?"
"Anyone seen any of the others? Diego? Allison? No?" Heads shook in response to Klaus' question. "All right, then, this is the closest thin to a quorum..." He banged a random metal spatula against the table, making Luther wince in pain. "...that we're gonna get."
Klaus straightened up like a soldier at the head of the table. "Now, listening up, there's no easy way to say this, so I'm just gonna spit it out." He paused and breathed, "Yeah."
The others, sans Eloise, looked at him in confusion when he didn't speak again. Elle reached out to touch his arm subtly and sent a powerful starburst of confidence.
"Klaus," Luther prompted.
"I conjured Dad last night."
His declaration was met with silence. Five and Luther exchanged looks. "I thought you said you haven't been able to conjure anyone in years," Luther said.
"Ah, yes, I know, but I'm sober." Elle clapped for Klaus but no one else did. "Ta-da! I got clean, yesterday, to talk to someone special, and then ended up having this... conversation with dear old Daddy himself."
"Has anyone got some aspirin?" Luther changed the subject. Elle shot him a glare for being rude to Klaus.
"Top shelf, next to the crackers," Five answered. Elle sipped aggressively at her hot chocolate to keep herself from slapping her inconsiderate brothers.
"Hey, hey, hey. This is serious, guys, all right? This really happened, I swear," Klaus insisted. "Elle?"
She looked up from her drink. "Yes?"
"You were there." His big green eyes pleaded with her to back him up. "Tell them."
"Yes, um..." Elle tapped her fingers anxiously against the ceramic mug as she remembered. "So when I got to Klaus yesterday, he was already dead. No pulse, no breathing. Super dead. But then I..." Elle hesitated; she hadn't told Klaus that she had been the one to pull his spirit back into his body with her abilities. She was the reason that he didn't receive the full message from the Warden. "Basically, I zapped him like an AED but with emotions, and he came back to life."
Klaus nodded at Elle gratefully. He had an inkling that she had interfered, but he wasn't mad. "Exactly, so when I was passed out--"
"Dead," Elle corrected.
"--Dad came to me."
"Okay, 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. Yada, yada, yada. No surprises there. Even the afterlife couldn't soften a hardass like Dad, right?" He laughed without humor. "But he did mention something about his murder, or lack thereof, because..." Klaus paused dramatically. "He killed himself."
Luther stood from the chair in annoyance. "I don't have time for your games, Klaus."
"I'm telling you the truth, Luther. I'm telling you the truth."
"I can feel it, Luther. The truth of his words."
Luther narrowed his eyes at Elle. "You're biased."
"That's not fair," Elle snapped. "My abilities don't differentiate if I've slept with someone or not. Stop being a shit leader and listen to your teammates for once. Klaus conjured Dad and that's that."
Luther looked taken aback.
"Why'd he do it then?" Five questioned Klaus after shooting Elle an impressed look for standing up to Luther. He already knew about Elle being with Klaus and Ben, so he didn't blink at that. "Why'd he kill himself?"
"He said it was the only way to get us all home again."
"He couldn't have just picked up the phone?" Elle grumbled. She played with the diving board end of the spatula that Klaus had set down.
"Dad knew we wouldn't answer," Klaus explained to which the others nodded at the reality of that statement, but Luther was also hellbent on being right.
"Dad wouldn't just kill himself," Luther said firmly.
"You said it yourself," Five reminded him. "He was depressed. Holed up in his office and room all day and night."
"No, there weren't any signs. We were trained to look for them." All eyes turned to Eloise, even Ben's, and she shrunk down a little in her seat. "Suicidal people exhibit certain tendencies, strange behaviors..." Luther continued.
"Like sending someone to the Moon for no reason?"
Luther stepped towards his adoptive brother threateningly. "I swear, Klaus, if you're lying..."
"I'm not. I'm not."
Another voice joined the conversation. "Master Klaus is correct." Pogo walked into the room. "Regretfully, I helped Master Hargreeves enact his plan."
"What?" Luther said in disbelief. Elle's eyes turned a deep brown in genuine surprise.
"So did Grace," Pogo added. "It was a difficult choice for both of us. More difficult than you could ever know." He sighed. "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.
"So the security tape we saw?" Luther's voice was weak.
"It was to further the murder mystery. Your father hoped that being back here, solving it together, would reignite your desire to be a team again."
Eloise pursed her lips at the revelation. "Damn, we fell right into the bastard's trap," she grumbled.
"And to what end?" Five questioned Pogo over Elle's mutterings.
"To save the world, of course," Pogo responded.
Klaus chuckled in exasperation. "All right."
"First the Moon mission and now this." Luther looked at Pogo, feeling betrayed. "You watched me search for answers and said nothing. Anything else you want to share, Pogo? Any other damn secrets?" He raised his voice at Pogo, so Klaus stepped in.
"Hey, calm down, Luther."
"No, I won't calm down. We've been lied to by the one person in this family we all trusted."
"It was your father's dying wish, Master Luther. I..." Pogo sighed in regret. "I had no choice."
"There's always choice," Luther snarled at Pogo. He stormed out of the room without another word.
Five sat at the table with his head in his hands. He sighed and said, "I gotta think," before disappearing in a flash of blue light.
"Ben warned me that this wouldn't go well," Klaus muttered. He looked defeated.
Elle took his hand. "They had to know. The truth hurts, especially in this family. You did the right thing. I'm proud of you."