"Where did he go?" Diego asked, looking from where Alex was back to Klaus. "That was Alex!"
Klaus looked at Alex, a little confused. He went to speak, but then there was another temporal anomaly, and then Five crashed onto the bar. It took the attention from Alex's sudden appearance. It wasn't like a ghost manifesting was important to the other Hargreeves.
"Oh, this day just keeps getting better and better," Alex said to himself. "This didn't happen last time," Alex said when Klaus asked if he was still high.
"Five, where have you been?"
"Are you alright?"
"Who did this?"
Diego looked back into the space where he'd last seen Alex. He looked away again, and Alex felt his heart break when he saw the sadness break through Diego's mask.
"Alex?" Alex reached over, but his hand passed through Diego's arm, and it broke his heart into millions of pieces. He wished he was still alive, just so that Diego wouldn't be hurting so much.
Diego looked lost, and his siblings weren't comforting him. It was hard to watch, and Alex didn't know what to do. Maybe Klaus had accidentally used Alex's anger to manifest him without realising? But now there was no anger left in Alex, and he just felt empty and unhappy. It was hard to get try and get enough energy to help Klaus manifest him again.
Five had stolen Allison's coffee and chugged it. "So, the apocalypse is in three days. The only chance we have to save our world is, well, us,"
"The Umbrella Academy."
"Yeah, but with me, obviously."
"Luther mentioned needing Five this time around, so he got that right," Alex said, and Klaus glanced back at him, shushing him.
"So if y'all don't get your sideshow acts together and get over yourselves, we're screwed."
Alex looked back at Diego, only to see that he hadn't moved from behind the bar. Five was still talking, but Diego didn't seem to be paying much attention. Every time Alex looked at Diego, he could feel his heart break. He wished he was back in his normal body, alive and able to just hold Diego.
"I know who's responsible for the apocalypse." Five said, which had Diego move to his siblings and walk through Alex to look at the lead Five had.
"Harold Jenkins?" Allison said, confused.
Diego looked annoyed. "Who the fuck is Harold Jenkins?" he asked.
"I don't know, yet. But I do know that he is responsible for the apocalypse. So we have to find him, and we have to do it now,"
Alex watched as the siblings started arguing a little over Harold Jenkins, how there were probably hundreds in their city alone. It was a little tiring. Five explained how his former employers tried to stop him from coming back and saving the planet.
"My former employer, they monitor all of time and space to make sure that whatever is supposed to happen ... happens." He further explained how he intercepted a letter meant for the lunatics and got his lead from there.
Diego looked at Five, the first one to get a question in. "But Alex is dead, and in the last timeline he'd been alive. Doesn't that mean they fucked up?"
"Not ... really. Alex is an anomoly. Was."
"Comforting." Alex said, looking back at Klaus, who looked like shit from his spot on the couch. Alex sat beside him. "You OK?" he asked as Ben appeared on their right, sitting on the armrest.
"My skin is on fire." Klaus said.
It seemed that Five snapped a little, annoyed at his siblings arguing. "You know what else is insane? I look like a thirteen-year-old boy. Klaus talks to the dead, Alex could react to and manipulate time, and Luther thinks he's fooling everybody with that overcoat. Everything about us is insane, it always has been."
Klaus slouched down against the armrest, muttering how Five had a point. He sat back up, looking over at Klaus loopily.
Five ended up persuading Allison after she found out he'd gone out of his way to find out her daughter's name.
"Klaus, you're with me," Diego said, but Klaus said how he needed to pass, feeling under the weather.
"Fuck. This is not going how it did last time," he said as he and Ben followed Klaus.
Ben frowned at him. "So what did happen last time?"
"Diego tied Klaus down to sober him up. It worked and he saw Dave, the guy he lost. Diego saw your mom, she was alive again. I'm ... not entirely sure how that worked out, but it did. And then time got rewound and here we are."
Ben only looked a little bit concerned. "And how are we supposed fix it so it ended that good for Klaus?"
"How are we supposed to keep track of them, stop Luther from doing something stupid, stop Diego from doing something even more stupid, but also manage to sober Klaus up so he can manifest Dave and get his closure?" Alex grimaced, angry. "There's only two of us, and we're both ghosts who can't physically interact with the rest of the world."
Ben nodded his head once. "Yeah. Sounds like we're fucked this time around."
They both appeared above Klaus on the next floor up, and both leaned on the railings. Klaus was trying to get Luther to tie him up. Luther was drunk and wanted to talk to his dad.
"You'd think Luther would help Klaus sober up, instead of drinking his pain away." Ben said, watching the two interact.
"Luther really can't handle Reggie being a shit father to him, huh?" Alex said, looking over at Ben. "Did he really think your dad was good?"
"In his own twisted way, I think so," Ben said after a moment. "Twisted asshole that Dad was, he fucked up Luther the most."
"Shit." Alex watched the two, and they both realised Luther was trying to get drugs from Klaus. When that didn't work out, he was determined to get them himself.
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"How did you lose Luther? He's too big to lose,"
Klaus looked offended. "Excuse me, Alex, but you and Ben are here, so you two are extra eyes, who, seemingly, are shit at being extra lookouts for the big guy."
"Pardon us, but we're dead. It's not like we can appear next to Luther and just pop back and tell you where he is."
The unamused look Klaus gave him was probably justified. Regardless, Klaus wasn't looking too well. He was slowly being covered in cold sweat, arms and legs shaking from the urges to take more drugs. It was a battle that Klaus needed others to help him get through.
"You can do this, Klaus, Luther needs you."
Klaus came to a stop. "I just ... oh, I just. This is, this is pointless. I - ah, I'm going home. I have to go home, I'm so dope sick."
Ben moved in front of Klaus, not like it was going to really stop Klaus if he was that adamant on going home. To prove a point, Klaus walked through Ben's body.
"You need to keep trying! Help Luther," Ben called after Klaus when he'd started to walk away from both of the ghosts.
"You know he's gonna get himself fucked up from this, and you know it'll bother you not to be able to rub it in his face tomorrow morning." Alex told Klaus.
Klaus stopped, then turned on his heel and looked at the two of them. "Oh, fuck. We have to find him. But maybe this could be a good thing -"
"No, it's really not," Alex said.
"I didn't sign up to save him,"
"That's right, you didn't," Ben said. "But ifyou were in trouble, there is nothing in this world Luther wouldn't do to save your scrawny little junkie ass."
Klaus looked between Alex and Ben. He pointed at Alex. "Alex has done more for me than Luther ever would. He died saving mine and that detective's life. Luther didn't even notice I'd been kidnapped."
"So make him realise he needs to get that stick out of his ass and appreciate you. You're gonna get him, save his pathetic ass and make sure he doesn't overdose on some stupid pills," Alex said. He would have pushed Klaus, but he knew it was pointless; all he would end up doing was put his hand through Klaus' chest.
"Damn it," Klaus said quietly, looking like he was regretting what he was about to do.
The three continued to search, going through bars, strip joints and even a laundromat. They came up empty. Until, of course, they overheard some drunk people giggling and talking about a guy whose description matched Luther's.
They went into the club, and sure enough, after going deep enough inside, they saw Luther. "Holy shit." The three said together.
Luther had lost overcoat and shirt at some point. He looked happy and far too high for a first time.
"Do you think he knows?" Klaus yelled over the music.
"I don't think he cares," Ben replied.
"Come on," Alex said to them, loud enough over the pulsing music. It was loud on his dead ears, and he wondered how Klaus was dealing with it, in the roughest part of his attempt at sobering up.
They got close enough to Luther, and caught his attention. Luther pulled Klaus in a bone-crushing hug. Alex watched as Klaus tried to get Luther to come home. It wasn't going well. A woman came over and called Luther a furry, which just confirmed Alex's suspicions.
He and Ben watched as Luther showed Klaus a type of drug, only for Klaus to throw it across the dancefloor.
"Holy shit, didn't see that coming," Alex said loudly, leaning in close so Ben could hear him.
"Me neither," Ben said in return, voice equally as loud. "Come on, Klaus, you can do this. Stay strong, don't give into temptation." he said to his brother. God, Klaus was struggling.
Klaus started moving, hiding behind the uplifted platform. He was crying before his eyes clocked onto something farther away.
"Shit."
The two couldn't do anything as Klaus made his way towards the drug he'd thrown away. But it didn't seem right. Klaus was suffering from something - an hallucination.
"What can we do?" Alex asked, looking to Ben for guidance.
"Hope it passes."
Which didn't help their situation.
"Oh, shit, Luther."
"Help him, Klaus," Ben said, seeing the people who had tried to get to Luther.
Klaus had jumped him, but it was barely a few seconds later before Klaus was thrown off and hit his head super hard. Ben and Alex flinched.
"Shit, is he dead?"
Somehow, Klaus hadn't died. During his near death experience, Luther had vanished off somewhere, having been kicked out by the bouncers. Neither Ben or Alex had seen where he went, both too preoccupied with the possibility of a dead Klaus.
"Well, that sucked," Alex said as the three of them took a cab back to the academy.
"He's impossible," Klaus muttered under his breath. "Prick." He turned to look at Alex. "You don't have to be here with us. Go and see Diego, while things aren't fucked in the apocalypse. Ben will keep me company."
"Sure?" After Klaus and Ben nodded, Alex vanished, appearing beside Diego.
It seemed Diego had been detained. This wasn't good. Diego was sat on what could be called a bed, head bowed low, hands clasped between his legs. Alex sighed and kneeled down in front of him, wishing he could just touch him, reassure him.
"What did you do this time, Di?" he asked, ignoring how much it hurt that he didn't get a response.
"Fuck. I miss you, Alex," Diego said, hands clenched tight together. "I don't even know if you're here. I just ... I miss you. I love you. We never said it that much; I wish we'd said it more often,"
"I love you too."
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They'd found him. Klaus had passed out on the couch as soon as he'd gotten back, so Alex and Ben had vanished for a while, until Klaus would wake up again in the following morning.
"Huh." Klaus pulled his head out from Luther's doorway. "He and a very lucky lady are sound asleep,"
"You're gonna make him regret going out, right?"
Klaus grinned at Alex. "Hell yes." Alex just returned the smile, amused at what Klaus was going to do.
"Luther!" Klaus called. Alex just leaned back against the wall, amused smirk on his face.
Then Klaus started ringing the bell.
"Wakey-wakey! Eggs and bakey!" Klaus said in a sing-song voice. Alex watched as he moved to Luther's room as Luther opened the door, pulling a blanket around him to give himself some decency. "Oh, there's the man. Someone pulled a disappearing act last night. What mischief did you get into?"
"What? I didn't." Luther said, sounding tired and confused.
"Oh, no? Maybe I should ask her. Hello." Alex rolled his eyes when Klaus waved at the woman with his bell in Luther's bed, and she waved in return. Luther hurried over to shut the bedroom door. "Oh, come on, don't be so shy, big guy. You needed it!"
"He could have at least done it not off his head," Alex suggested, and Klaus just waved the bell in his direction.
"Not a lot of ladies on the moon, I assume, all that ... pressure resting on those big ... hairy shoulders," Klaus' composure fell as he started to smile and chuckle at the revelation.
"Klaus, enough," Luther said, engaging something similar to a big brother mode despite being the same age as Klaus.
Then it seemed like Klaus realised something. "Wait. Was this, like - is this your?" he asked quietly. Luther just gave him a miserable look. Klaus' jaw dropped, pure delight on his face. "No way! Woo!" Klaus laughed, shaking the bell up in the air as he turned around in a circle.
"We are not having this discussion," Luther said.
Alex felt inclined to agree. "I'm not witnessing this discussion." He promptly vanished, reappearing besides Ben in the kitchen.
"What was all that about?"
"Luther lost his virginity to the woman with a furry fetish,"
Ben snorted.
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Klaus gave Luther some warm beverage that Five stole from his hands. At least Klaus left out a drink for Alex and Ben, even if they couldn't drink it.
He told his two living brothers that he had conjured his dad, missing out the fact he'd died whilst doing so.
"But I'm sober, ta-da!" Klaus said as an answer to Luther's suspicion. Klaus hadn't been able to conjure anyone in years. "I got clean, yesterday, to talk to someone special, and then ended up having this ... conversation with dear old daddy himself."
Alex pursed his lips at Luther. "You're welcome you dumbass, you got what you wanted from him." Ben elbowed him in the ribs, not that it would do anything to him.
Luther didn't believe him. "Has anyone got some aspirin?"
"Top shelf, next to the crackers," Five told him, and Luther made to get up.
"Hey, hey, hey. This is serious, guys, alright?" Klaus said, trying to regain control once more. "This really happened, I swear."
It seemed that Five wasn't in the mood for it, sounding annoyed as he spoke. "OK, fine, I'll play. What did the old man have to say?" Five smiled, and Alex just turned away from him, looking back at Klaus.
"Well, he gave me the usual lecture about my appearance and my failures in life. Yada, yada, yada. No surprise there, even the afterlife couldn't soften a hardass like dad, right?"
"The point, Klaus?" Alex said, and Klaus pointed his spatula at him.
"But he did mention something about his murder, or lack thereof, because ..."
"Wait for it!" Ben said, finger pointed in the air, like he was used to Klaus doing this shit.
"... he killed himself."
Alex snorted at how Klaus had said it. "Surprise, ensue dramatic reactions!"
Across from Alex, Luther looked absolutely tired. "I don't have time for your games, Klaus."
"Fucking asshole, we don't have time for your bullshit attitude, fuck off back to the moon!"
"Alex."
Slouching in his seat, Alex looked over at the other ghost. "He's so annoying, Ben, I can't help it."
"Why'd he do it then?" Five asked, curiosity in his face, like he might actually believe his brother.
Klaus sighed. "He said it was the only way to get us all home again."
"No, Dad wouldn't just kill himself,"
"Well, clearly he did!" Alex was tired of Luther never believing in his brother. He wondered how he'd like it if everyone acted like that towards him. Well, in a way, they sort of did.
Alex thought the family had way too many issues.
"You said it yourself, he was depressed." Five said, sounding like he thought what Klaus said was more believable by the minute. "Holed up in his office and room all day and night."
"No, there weren't any signs."
Ben and Alex shared a look, both equally tired of Luther's denial. How could he be in so much denial? Klaus had finally done what Luther had asked of him, manifesting their shithead abusive father, and now he had the audacity to say Klaus was lying. Alex wished he was alive just so he could burn off Luther's eyebrows.
"Suicidal people exhibit certain tendencies, strange behaviors -"
Klaus cut in. "Like sending someone to the moon for no reason?"
Luther looked angry and upset. In a way, Alex felt bad for him, even if he was a massive pain in the ass. "I swear to god, Klaus, if you're lying ..."
"I'm not, I'm not." Klaus replied, gesturing with his spatula.
It took Alex a little by surprise to see Pogo make an appearance. "Master Klaus is correct."
He sighed, clenching his jaw. "Is there anything else you know, Pogo? That might save us some time and stop the end of the damn world from happening? No? Yes?"
The spatula went through Alex's head.
"Regretfully, I helped Master Hargreeves enact his plan."
"What?"
"So did Grace. It was a difficult choice for the both of us. More difficult than you could ever know. Prior to your father's death, Grace's programming was adjusted so that she was incapable of giving first aid on that fateful night."
The brothers took that information in, letting out words and sounds of shock.
"Your father hoped that being back here," beside him, Klaus had his hands on the table, head bowed, "solving it together, would reignite your desire to be a team again."
"And to what end?"
"To save the world, of course."
This was turning out to be a shit show. Alex felt a little glad he was dead; he wasn't going to be affected by it much.
He watched as Luther started to get angry, over the moon mission being a lie, how Pogo had kept the suicide a secret. his voice got louder as he asked Pogo for any more secrets he'd kept from them.
"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."
Pogo looked sad as he spoke. "It was your father's dying wish, Master Luther. I ... I had no choice."
"Man should've had a better wish then, dumbass."
Luther told Pogo that there was always a choice before he walked out of the kitchen. So that went perfectly well.
Five vanished, saying he had to think. Ben and Alex slouched down in their chairs. Klaus sat on the table beside Alex.
"That was a clusterfuck,"
"I hate this damn family," Klaus sighed, leaning back a little.
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Alex was more than horrified that when he appeared nex to Diego, Patch was in a cell right next to his.
"Jesus fucking Christ, what the hell have you two done?"
He watched as Beeman entered. "You gotta get us out of here, bro," Diego said as soon as the door shut behind him. Patch stood up, moving closer to the bars, watching the two men. Alex felt he and Patch were watching on the sidelines. Diego was slowly going insane.
"I can't, they're transferring you both upstate this afternoon,"
"We didn't kill Alex," Diego said, and it wasn't difficult to see the distress on Diego's face when he said Alex's name.
"I know," Beeman looked between the two. "I know, but I'm not the guy you gotta convince."
Patch looked annoyed. "Beeman, we both know that's bullshit. After the statements I gave you, neither of us should be in here, least of all him" she said, nodding towards Diego, who muttered about how it was bullshit, reaching out to grab hold of Beeman.
"That's not a good look on you, Diego. It'll help go against you," Alex said, despite the fact he knew he was going to be ignored. Whatever, he could have his own running commentary.
Beeman looked down at where Diego was holding him, looking rather unamused, gesturing slightly before Diego let go of him. Beeman readjusted his clothes, and it looked a little weird from where Alex was standing. Something was up.
"You were there, Diego," Beeman looked at Patch, "both of you. You're the leading suspect," he said, and Patch looked resigned to that information. "It's not hard to come to the conclusion that you might have killed him, Patch."
Alex had to agree with how suspicious it looked. Diego and Patch had been together once, and then Alex and Diego had been together. It seemed a little suspicious that Diego's ex had been on the scene where his current partner had died. Beeman verbalised as such, calling it a contentious history.
Patch and Diego often argued a lot, mostly innocent spats, because Diego was always there at a crime scene when she wanted him to fuck off. Maybe to an outsider, Alex and Diego's relationship looked different, with how much Diego was often around his ex. But Diego had always been it for Alex, much like how Alex was it for Diego.
"Jeez, if only I could manifest and tell judge and jury it wasn't them," he said, rolling his eyes a little as Diego looked over at Patch, asking if she had used the word contentious. She just pursed her lips at him, displeased that of all things, he latched onto that word.
"It's my word," Beeman said, and Diego just scoffed. "The two of them put up with a lot of your shit, Diego. Maybe they see it as you two killing Alex in lovers' quarrel. After seeing Alex come in to bail you out how many times over the years? I don't get how he hung around you as much as he did. Even had to deal with your stupid ass bothering Patch every day. Makes you wonder if it hurt him knowing you were always around Patch."
Patch sat back down, shaking her head at them. "Shouldn't there be CCTV footage? I was in the room above the one Alex was murdered in,"
Beeman made a face at that. "It's all distorted. There's enough footage of you and Alex going into the room, then Diego coming in. It's hard to tell what's there because it's corroded. It just makes it look like the two of you ended up killing him, then tried to frame it on something else that we can't find any proof of existing."
He turned back to look at Diego. "But I know what he meant to the two of you." He put his hand through the cage, offering his hand. "Good luck, Diego. Patch." Alex raised an eyebrow, then saw Diego pull a set of keys from Beeman's sleeves.
"Sneaky."