Ray stood in the foyer for a moment with a sigh. She felt like maybe she should just leave.
"You seem to be in thought." Came a voice from behind her. Ray turned around and saw a.. monkey wearing a suit jacket with a cane. Ray blinked slowly, trying her absolute hardest not to laugh at the absurdity of this.
"You could say that. It seems like being in this house might give a lot of people other then myself a lot to think about." Pogo inclined his head at her words.
"The children haven't been together in so long, and on such dreadful circumstances as well." Pogo tutted worryingly.
"You must be surprised they all came back for his funeral."
"While I was hopeful that they would, doubt did sprout in my mind that they truly would come back." Pogo told her. "But enough about that.. I was told you were accompanied by Klaus?" Ray nodded and looked around.
"By chance did you see where he went?"
"I'm afraid not, although I'm sure he's looting through his fathers belongings." Pogo sighed.
"Pogo stop boring her." Diego walked down the stairs, walking over with a smirk. "I can already hear the next question about tea."
"It's the polite thing to offer a guest something to eat and drink, Diego." Pogo chastised him. Diego only rolled his eyes.
"Come with me, wanna show you something." Diego motioned for Ray to follow him and she did so, giving Pogo a wave bye as she did.
Rey followed him as she glanced him up and down, analyzing him. "So it seems you all grew up to be very different people.." She told him as she followed along.
"Yeah, as it weird as it is. We all had our own way of dealing with the issues that happened to us as children, some of us worse then others... No offense to Klaus." He quickly covered himself.
"Mhm.." She hummed out, glancing at him with pointed eyes. They both stopped in the living room again- or at least Ray thought it was a living room but had no clue because this was actually one of the nicest houses she had ever been in. "Okay, what did you wanna show me?" She asked, making a show of glancing around as if to see something even crazier then a talking monkey.
"My ability." Diego suddenly pulled out a knife. "Give me anything to nail with this dagger, no matter how crazy it might be." He told her. Ray raised her eyebrow and looked around the room.
"Uhh how about the head of that ram?" she pointed to it as suddenly music began to echo from somewhere in the house.
"Easy." He told her then flicked it. Ray didn't see where it went and looked up at the ram head. Her mouth opened in surprise at it was stuck right in the middle of it's head perfectly. "Nice... Also the echoing in this house is crazy." She told him as he started dancing along to the music that was playing distantly. She laughed at him. "What are you doing?"
"My victory dance of course!" He laughed as he jiggied around the couch. It didn't last long however because some noise in the backyard ripped through the sound of the music. Ray and Diego both looked at one another and made a mad dash outside, looking up at what looked like a rip in the sky above there heads. Allison, Vanya, and Luther quickly joined them and Ray subtly glanced around for Klaus but didn't see him.
"What is it?" Vanya shouted over the roar of the noise.
"Don't get too close!" Allison grabbed Luther's shoulder softly as Diego snarked,
"Yea no shit!" Luther rolled his eyes at Diego but focused back on it.
"It looks like a temporal anomaly.. Either that or a black hole, one of the two!" Luther told them in a raised voice.
"Oh wow that really narrows it down now, doesn't it!" Ray told him sarcastically as Diego chimed in after,
"Pretty big difference there, Paul Bunyan!" He smirked.
"Out of the wayyyy!" Ray heard Klaus suddenly yell and she backed up a few feet and watched him run up to the rip and try to use a fire extinguisher on it. When that didn't work, he threw it into the hole in a last attempt. Ray almost laughed at his attempt but stifled it with a hand over her mouth. She glanced at the hole again and noticed what looked like the shape of a person and cocked her head. For some reason this wasn't blowing her mind like she thought it would and was mildly concerned that maybe she was losing her grasp on her sanity with all of the shit that was going on.
"What is that gonna do?!" Allison asked bewildered as he shrugged in defense.
"I don't know, do you have a better idea?" He quickly laid his eyes on Ray and made his was over to her.
"Get behind me!" Luther demanded. Diego not wanting to be one upped quickly chimed in too.
"Yeah behind us!" Ray rolled her eyes at the sibling rivalry as Klaus grabbed her hand.
"I vote for running, come on!" Klaus told her and tugged on her hand but Ray shook her head.
"And miss the show? Hell no!" Ray told him with a small grin. Klaus grinned back, a small look of relief in his eyes. They both quickly focused back on the portal as a child that was maybe 12 or 13 fell out. Everyone walked closer to him as the portal closed and he started to get up. "The earth birthed a whole ass kid." Ray whispered to Klaus as he almost lost it. He then inched closer and a look of familiarity crossed his face.
"I think I know that whole ass kid.." He muttered back to her. "Does anyone else see little number 5 or is that just me?" Klaus asked everyone.
Everyone stared at the kid in the suit as Ray looked around at everyone, there attention fully on him. Ray then looked at the kid and he caught her eye too, staring at her with his eyes squinted. He then looked down at himself and back up. "Shit." He uttered, walking past them and inside.
Everyone sat in the kitchen at the table watching Number 5 grab things to eat. "What's the date, the EXACT date?" Five asked as he walked back and forth from the table with stuff to make a peanut butter sandwich.
"The 24th." Allison answered.
"Of what?" He responded with, paying them no mind as he made his sandwich.
"March." she responded.
"Good." He said with a sigh.
"So, are we gonna talk about what just happened?" Luther spoke up, staring at him. Five didn't respond as he kept making his sandwich. Luther stood up, done with him ignoring them. "It's been 17 years." He grounded out.
"It's been a lot longer then that." Five snarked back as he suddenly teleported behind Luther. Ray raised both of her eyebrows, impressed with his power.
"I haven't missed that." He muttered.
"Where'd you go?" Diego threw out the question casually.
"The future." Was Five's response as if that was suffice. "It's shit by the way." He added as he teleported past Luther again to continue making his sandwich.
"Called it!" Klaus exclaimed, a finger in the air.
"I should have listened to the old man." Five grumbled. "You know, jumping through space is one thing.. Jumping through time is a toss of the dice." He finally looked up at them. "Nice dress." He commented then turned his head towards Ray. "Who's that? Did the old man adopt another sibling to replace me?"
"Well actually this is my girlfriend!" Klaus smiled at Ray while Five just raised his eyebrow.
"She's not ugly." He deadpanned.
"Is she supposed to be? Also ex girlfriend.." Diego asked then tacked the last part on.
"No, I just meant it doesn't seem like Klaus's type, she's normal." Vanya interrupted them.
"Not to stop you from analyzing her and all that but how did you get back?" She asked.
"In the end I had to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists within every possible instance of time." Ray blinked her eyes rapidly at his answer.
"That makes no sense." Diego uttered, his voice deadpanned.
"Well it would if you were smarter." Five remarked. Diego quickly rose up only for Luther to put his hand on his shoulder.
"How long were you there?" Luther asked.
"Forty five years. Give or take."
Luther sat down in shock as Ray watched them all and there faces to this news. As an outsider of this family, all of this to her was another part of the ride but for them.. this was a revelation.
"So what are you saying? You're 58?" He asked in shock. Five smirked.
"No, my consciousness is 58. Apparently my body is now 13 again."
"Wait, how does that even work?" Vanya asked. Five turned away from them.
"Delores kept saying the equations were off.." He seemed like he was talking to himself. "I bet she's laughing now.."
"Delores?" Vanya asked. He didn't respond, opting instead to pick up the news paper on the table.
Hm, guess I missed the funeral." He said. Luther furrowed his eyebrows.
"How did you know about that?" He asked accusingly. Ray rolled her eyes at another one of Luther's silent accusations against a family member.
"What part of the future do you not understand?" He asked with a mocking jab to his tone. "Heart failure, huh?"
"Yeah." Deigo responded while Luther immediately retaliated.
"No."
"Hmm." Five hummed. "Nice to see nothing's changed." He remarked as he started walking out of the room.
"That's it? That's all you have to say?" Allison asked, watching him as he walked out.
"What else is there to say? The circle of life." He called back as he walked out. Klaus sighed through his nose and clasped his hands together in almost a silent 'Welp' as he glanced at Ray. Ray responded with a quick tilt of her head as Luther filled the silence.
"Well, that was interesting."
Awhile later when everyone had went separate ways until the funeral, Ray and Klaus sat in the foyer together on the couch. "Are you okay?" Ray asked him, looking at him critically.
"There's nothing to do if I wasn't so I am." He told her. Ray reached out and pet his hair slowly.
"You don't have to pretend, it's only me around right now." She told him quietly. He laid down on the couch, putting his head on her lap.
"I know.." He uttered softly. "I guess I'm just taking it all in right now." She nodded slowly at that.
"Yeah, I can see why. I haven't lived your life or in your shoes and I get that a lot of this you must be used to but.. From an outside perspective this is a lot to take in, even if you're used to it I imagine." Her voice was low and reassuring as his arms slowly snaked around her waist. Ray knew her resolve was slowly crumbling, even more so with the state that Klaus was in. No one else might have seen it, but he was fighting his issues in his head from being back here even if he'd like to make jokes and pretend that he wasn't phased.
"The thing that I'm most worried about is you." He told her, looking up at her from her lap.
"Why is that?" She asked.
"You.. don't seem phased." His voice was hesitant.
"I am.." She started slowly. "In a way, but the family fighting, the drama, all of it isn't new to me. Fiona's boyfriend once took Frank to Canada and left him there.. I'm getting off track." She shook her head. "What I'm trying to say, while yes all of this is new and foreign to me, everything else is not. Your family fighting is actually tame compared to mine.. Now the drama of a family member reappearing from the sky- that's a whole other story. Does that make sense?" Ray asked.
Klaus slowly nodded his head. "I think so, yeah.." His eyes drifted away. "Ray?" He asked.
"Yeah?"
"Do you still love me?" He asked. Ray stopped for a moment then looked down at him.
"I don't think I could stop loving you.. You're my person."
"So then.. How do I get another chance?" He asked quietly.
"You already do.. I just-I want you to be healthy and live without the drugs.. And I know I'm asking a lot and you don't need to cut yourself off cold turkey but I've just seen how they can ravage your body and mental health, first hand." She looked away. "I get that I've been critical but it's not because I don't care, but because I care so much." He sighed.
"I know, and I know that you blame yourself at some level because you're you and think that if you don't or can't help every single person then the guilt falls on you but that's not the case.. If you just knew why I did what I do.. When I take the drugs, I don't hear the voices of the dead fuckers." He muttered the last part bitterly.
"Hey!" Ben cried indigently. Klaus rolled his eyes.
"You know what I meant Ben."
"I thought-" Ray started but Klaus interrupted.
"Ben.. My brother is the only one I can see no matter what. I don't know why." Ray didn't say anything but nodded.
"I'm sorry if I've been too harsh." She told him softly.
"You haven't." He snaked his hand into hers and squeezed. Ray and Klaus sat there for a while in silence, just enjoying each other's presence and the little bit of peace within the storm. Ray had noticed as they had talked that Five stood in the doorway for it and listened to them and when they finally stopped and Ray looked up at him, he nodded his head silently and walked away. What that meant, Ray had no clue what he was trying to convey with that nod but knew it wasn't nothing.
Ray looked down at Klaus and noticed his eyes were closed and a content look was on his face and she smiled softly. All Ray wanted was for him to be happy, at peace but knew that she could never place herself in his shoes and why he felt like he needed the drugs.
"It's time for the funeral." Luther's voice rang out and Ray looked up with a start. He stared at her with curiosity in his eyes as he walked over. "He's asleep?" He asked incredulously as he saw Klaus laying there with his eyes closed and head on her lap.
Ray put her finger to her lips then spoke quietly. "Yes, he is. Look I get that you don't understand because you've always been the golden boy but he's going through a lot, even before he was dragged back into this circus- no offense. He's exhausted and has every right to be; if I had to be apart of this family, I'm sure I would be too- hell I am kind of exhausted by everything. My point is, maybe tone down the venom.. I know that you think he's just some druggy thief or whatever, but please."
Luther looked away for a moment then sighed and looked back. "I'm not pretending like I understand where he's coming from.. I'm sure he's had a tough time but so have all of us... I've been on the moon for so long, I feel like I've lost the ability to be social.." He muttered. Ray looked away, wanting to be snarky about that last part but knowing it would only worsen things.
"I'm sure it was tough.. So why can't you sympathize with him? Or any of your other siblings for that matter?"
Luther didn't get a chance to answer when Vanya walked in. "It's time for the funeral, right?" She asked. Luther nodded and turned away, walking towards the backyard doors. Vanya looked down at Klaus and faintly smiled. "How long has he been like that?" She asked.
"For about an hour now.. He was pretty tired."
"I can understand.. I'm pretty tired too." Ray examined Vanya and noticed how tired she really did look. She seemed so drained not only emotionally but seemingly physically.
"after the funeral maybe you should go home and sleep some, Vanya." She told her softly.
"Maybe." Was her only response before she walked away. Ray gently shook Klaus as she walked away, getting him to wake up.
"Mngh." Klaus groaned.
"It's time for the funeral." Ray told him.
"Oh God, it's still not over. When will this day end?" He whined. Ray smiled as he sat up.
"Alright.. Let's get this fiasco over with." He started to stand up as Ray followed suit. "This is about to be the fuel that starts the fire.. and man can I not wait to see." He cackled maniacally
(Part three will be up in the next few days, sorry it's so short guys!)