Chapter Text
Klaus was not fond of the ghosts, everyone knew that. It was common knowledge. The grass is green, sky is blue, Klaus didn’t like the ghosts.
But then there was one, an old lady with a friendly smile, “Doll, you need to put some protective oil on the back of your neck. It’s the biggest portal of your body you know. It’ll help keep the bad ones away.”
“Oil?”
She frowned at the other ghosts, “Amaranth would work the best but it takes some doin’, doll. You’d have to pull the entire plant during the full moon and wear it under a shirt for protection. In the meantime, maybe go to your kitchen and pour some vinegar in a dish. It’ll get rid of the nasties for a few days when it’s done evaporating.”
Klaus frowned at her, she must be joking.
“You can sneak down and get the vinegar, doll. I’ve seen how your daddy trains y’all. Such a bad man. Also see if you can talk your daddy into getting you some betony. When that’s sprinkled on a pillow it’ll protect your dreams.”
“I doubt I can talk him into getting me any of this, or letting me--” Klaus shrugged. He could steal the vinegar, that was something Grace cooked with sometimes. But the rest? No way would he be able to get his hands on it.
So Klaus snuck down and got some vinegar, not believing this ghost. How would vinegar help at all? He poured a dish and left it in his room over night. She watched over him as he fell asleep, trying to keep ‘the nasties’ away.
When he woke, they were gone.
She was there, along with a few of the other ghosts, but the worst ones, the nasties were gone.
“That’s better isn’t it, doll? We can all hear ourselves think.” The other ghosts nodded and murmured a thanks to her.
She told Klaus to call her Mama.
“Sir?” Klaus approached his father’s office. “I have a request. To help me with my powers.”
“You may enter.”
Klaus did so, not sitting down as he hadn’t been told to sit, just to enter. So he stood in front of the desk, waiting for his father to say something to him. Meanwhile Mama lounged in the chair beside him and blew a raspberry at him.
“Boy, your son has something important to say! You’d better pay attention!”
As Klaus’s foot was starting to fall asleep, Reginald finally looked up, “What is it Number Four?”
“I have been speaking with a spirit who has helped me get some control of my powers. She has spoken about some items that may help me further with controlling them. I was wondering if you could acquire the items for my training, sir.” Klaus hoped his voice wasn’t shaking too much. If he didn’t like this, didn’t like hearing about a ghost helping Klaus, instead of Reginald, he’d throw him back in the mausoleum and there was no protection in those stone walls.
“A spirit? What would she know of your powers?”
Klaus swallowed and glanced at Mama, she shrugged. “I was a well known witch.”
Klaus bit his bottom lip for a second, worrying it. Reginald would dismiss the words of a witch. “She had knowledge from beyond the veil, what with her being a spirit. Sir.”
“And why, Number Four, is she the only one giving you advice?” Reginald leaned forward.
“Most of the spirits have gone mad with the knowledge they’ve gained and cannot safely communicate with me. She had not lost her mind like the others and so she can tell me these things.” He paused, debating the risk before adding, “Sir, she’s already helped me get rid of some of the nasties. Those ones I’ve told you about? Who just scream and yell and never shut up. So now I can, y’know, actually talk to those who haven’t gone mad with that veil knowledge.”
“Doll, you are bullshitting out the side of your mouth,” Mama gave an approving nod. “I think the sucker is gonna buy it.” She let out a loud and proud laugh.
There was silence from Reginald as he stared Klaus down. Klaus tried to not move, and keep his face somber, ignoring Mama making cutting remarks at Reginald.
“Very well. Make up a list of what she suggests and I will endeavor to acquire these items for you, Number Four. Give the list to Pogo when you are done.” He then went back the paperwork on his desk, a silent dismissal.
Klaus scurried out of the room, sharing a grin with Mama.
He got his hands on many flowers, herbs, crystals. He got a window box at first, to start a small garden in his room, not allowed to ruin the garden outside when he forgot to water the plants. Only he didn’t forget to water the plants. He proved he would take care of his new flowers and herbs, Mama then suggested he grow the plants in a certain way, weaving them together in intricate designs, a little extra protection.
It did help his powers. He could focus better on talking to those who could hold a conversation, when he could sleep through the night. The angelica he sprinkled in every corner of the house to create a protective shield.
He really liked angelica, the root was the most powerful. He made amulets with it, made it a powder and used it as incense, put it in his bathwater. Mixing it in with other herbs, other crystals, he made plenty of protective amulets, different teas to drink, different powders to add to his bathwater to help protect him, oils to wear as perfume and keep him safe.
He gave some of his amulets to his family, eyes intense as he handed them over, “Please, please, wear this.”
Luther rolled his eyes, but complied. Diego scoffed and when Klaus tried to take it back, he quickly put it on and glared, Allison said it would match some of her outfits, Five frowned but agreed, Ben gladly took it, Vanya looked surprised at the gift.
“They’re quieter,” Ben whispered, indicating his stomach. “When I wear the amulet.”
“Well yeah. It’s for protection, Benny. Of course it helps you.”
“But it’s just a plant,” Ben said, looking at the amulet. “How is it keeping Them quieter?”
Klaus shrugged, “I wasn’t sure if it’d work on your belly buddy, but I’d hoped. As you are connected in this world, feet firm in it, the world is connected back to you and so the protection given from the world and nature should help.”
Ben looked confused, “You’re weird.”
“Oh.”
“It’s a good weird!” Ben quickly said. “I just don’t understand what you just said but that’s okay.”
The next time Klaus was thrown in the mausoleum it wasn’t bad at all. He had enough protection on him, dried onto his skin with his oils, knew the crystals to wear, the nasties were kept away.
Klaus came out a few hours later, “Honestly daddy, I don’t know why you even threw me in there. Am I still afraid of ghosts? Of my powers?”
“Some of them, yes. You are.” The day before Reginald tried to get Klaus to summon a serial killer, but due to all the protection around the house and on him, Klaus had not been able to do it.
Klaus shrugged, “Nasties are no longer welcome and I am stronger because of it, sir. Are you not in agreement? Am I not now more powerful without them bothering me like gnats who buzz around my head, keeping me distracted from my real potential?”
“Doll, you sure do play him like a fiddle sometimes,” Mama cackled.
“Come along, Number Four.”
It was later when Klaus found he wasn’t walking up stairs anymore. He couldn’t walk up them. He kept running up them, skipping up them. Once he ran up them on all fours. Then they would sit at the table and he would see the salt and pepper shakers, they were identical and he had to count them. Under his breath, “One, two.” Every time he saw them. ”One, two.”
“Mama?” He asked, worried about what was happening.
“I didn’t expect it to get this far, doll. But the power is strong in you. What should have just been protection to keep you safe is making you tap into your powers. No, not your Umbrella powers, but your witch powers.” She frowned, “I hadn’t realized the power in you. I had just wanted to protect you.”
“I’m confused, what do you mean?”
“You have more power than what I know how to handle, doll. It may be tied to your Umbrella power, I don’t know. But you are showing signs of a true witch. I know witchery, yes, and protection, and could do a lot before I died. But you? Doll, you’re powerful. I’m sorry, I can’t guide you farther, if you wanted to learn more.” Mama seemed genuinely sad.
So Klaus found out he had potential, with both of his powers.
He found, when they were thirteen, he started getting a bad feeling for Five. Frowning, he kept waking up at three in the morning, with the need to make him protective amulets. Most mornings he greeted Five as he woke up, handing him another. He’d press it into his brother’s hand, ”Please.”
Five would smile, thank him for the amulet, and let watch Klaus make sure he put it on.
Klaus would whisper to Five what he knew, the crystals, the plants. Not the ones for spirit protection, but general safety and health. “Remember this, Five. Please.”
“Why? Why is this so important to you? It’s not like it’s helping my powers. Mine are based in logic, not nature as yours is.”
”Please, Five.” Klaus couldn’t explain it. He followed Five as he went to his closet, Klaus quickly touching each matching tie and jacket, counting them out loud. When he was done he turned back to Five, “You need to be careful. You gotta stay safe. It’s-- Please.”
“Okay, Klaus. Okay.” Five seemed confused and worried. He actually reached out and put a comforting hand on Klaus’s shoulder, “Okay.”
A week later Five ran out of the house and didn’t come back for 17 years.
Klaus fell into his powers more. Using eyeliner he’d draw protective symbols on his skin, wanting to get them as tattoos as soon as he was able. Would he be able to talk his father into bringing the tattoo artist back in to give them to him? He learned more about how his witch powers could connect to his Umbrella powers.
“I need some labradorite,” Klaus’s left hand clung to the doorway to Reggie’s office as he tilted to the side, letting the hand be the only holding thing holding him up. He hadn’t waited for acknowledgement, for being told he could speak up.
“You need to summon Number Five.” Reggie didn’t look up from his papers.
Klaus blew a raspberry at him, “He’s not dead so no can do. If you wanted I could try to astral project myself to him but I can only do that under a blue moon.” It was a lie. He could astral project some but the nasties were there. He wasn’t protected when it was just his spirit out and about. But Reggie had no idea when blue moons were, possibly not even sure what they were so it would get him off his back.
“If you haven’t tried to summon him, how would you know he’s not passed on?”
Klaus narrowed his gaze, his voice lowered, “Who says I haven’t?”
Reggie actually looked up then, his eyes had some sort of emotion in them, an emotion Klaus had never seen Reggie have before. “Number Four?”
“Five is alive and well, wherever he is. Safe. Safe from you and your dastardly deeds. Like we all should be. I try to protect my family from you and the other nasties, the least you could do is get me the labradorite when I ask for it.”
“Know your place, Number Four,” Reggie’s tone was hard.
“Doll, maybe you should--” Mama started from down the hallway.
”Know your place, daddy darling. The spirits are at unrest near you, y’know? The darkness in you draws the nasties. It is unbecoming of you,” Klaus gave a fake pout at him.
“You do not get to speak to me like this, Number Four!” Reggie stood up, clearly angry.
“My name is Klaus!” Klaus yelled back, his hands turning into fists at his side. He felt the power in him pulse. A wave of blue reverbated from him, making each ghost near them turn blue for a second.
They were frowning, distraught at Klaus’s feelings, at Reggie for being a bad influence on the world. Reggie’s eyes widened, “Number Four--”
Klaus pointed at him, “Labradorite, daddy.” With that he turned and walked away.
Mama fell into step beside him, “Doll, do you know what you just did?”
Klaus felt like he might hyperventilate, “I just stood up to daddy. Oh Mama, he’s gonna kill me.”
“You made me real. You made us real.”
He stopped and turned, “What? No.”
“You did, doll.”
He couldn’t have, could he? Maybe something had happened because Reggie started training him more. In turn, Klaus turned to his witchery more. He needed to keep the balance of his powers.
Then he saw Diego with a ouija board, sneaking it passed Klaus’s room.
“Di? What do you got there?”
Diego paused, turning he looked worried. “Well, we all thought, since you won’t summon F-Five, we’d have a go.”
Klaus sighed, “Please don’t use that. It’s unsafe to use. Tell everyone to come to my room at two thirty in the morning. I’ll do a real séance and you’ll see that Five isn’t dead. It’s not like the Séance would let you hold one without him, hm?”
“Promise?”
“Yes, yes. Just tell everyone else. And if daddy gets mad at you being out of bed after hours don’t come crying to me to save you,” Klaus waved his hand.
“You’re out of bed after hours all the time,” Diego pointed out.
Klaus shrugged, “What’s he going to do to me? I’m more powerful than him and he knows it.”
“But he’s--”
Klaus tilted his head, “He’s not worth our time. And one day I will use his ashes in a ritual and he will be no more.”
“Y’know you say some creepy stuff sometimes, Klaus.”
Shrugging, Klaus said, “You’ll see more creepy stuff tonight. Tell everyone to make sure they take a bath sometime before our little get together. Need all the excess gone so I can start anew.”
That night, they snuck into Klaus’s room. Taking the oil he used for protection, he wrote the most protective symbols on the back of this necks he knew about. Sitting out the nine candles in the middle of his floor, he counted them. They were a new pack, identical coming out. Soon they would burn down, becoming slightly different. In the middle of the ring of candles he sat a bowl of vinegar with hand picked herbs from his garden in his window, his garden around his room.
He’d drawn special symbols on himself in eyeliner as well as the oils on himself. As the medium he needed extra protection. He didn’t mess around much with actual séances, he had been warned they could be dangerous.
“I don’t know about this, doll,” Mama warned from her corner.
Klaus rolled his eyes at her, “Safer me leading them than them trying on their own, no? Think of the nasties they could call forward.” He laughed as the idea.
The others glanced at each other, it wasn’t unheard of for Klaus to talk to people only he could see. But he usually kept fairly quiet.
Klaus then handed out new protective amulets for his siblings, “I can’t promise how this will go, so please keep these on you for at least a week after tonight, in case any lingering nasties come.”
“When did your room become a garden?” Luther asked, looking around.
“Years ago,” Klaus answered.
“And the writing on the walls?” Allison tried to read them all but some were in languages she hadn’t been taught, weird symbols at matching spots across the room.
“Sometimes a proper witch boy needs sleep and betony on the pillow can only do so much,” Klaus lit the candles.
“And you’re a proper witch boy?” Vanya asked hesitantly.
Klaus gave a shark-like grin in response, “I am but one of a kind, as steeped in witchy power as I am linked to the dead. Nature of all type flows through me, from the start of their life to well passed their death. I walk hand in hand with life as well as the dead, oh poor witch boy am I.”
He got them all to sit in a circle around the display in the middle of his room. Making them hold hands, right palm up to signify greeting, left palm down to signify goodbye.
They got started. Klaus called out to the nearby spirits, many of them entering his room, waiting to be called on. Klaus then tried to call out specific to Five. As he expected, Five did not show.
“How do we know this is even working?” Luther grumbled.
“Mama? Would you be so kind?” Klaus asked her. He trusted her the most.
Mama sighed and played her part. She reached forward and flicked Luther in the ear. Klaus giggled, “Mama, that’s not I meant--”
“What’d she do?” Diego asked.
“She hit me in the ear!” Luther yelled.
“You were being disrespectful,” Mama said. The others froze, apparently having heard her.
“I’m sorry, Mama,” Luther said slowly. “I didn’t mean to.”
“Damn right. Doll, you’d best close yourself off. You’re a beacon right now. No need to risk more nasties than you already are.”
“What is she talking about?” Ben looked at Klaus.
“But Five--” Vanya started, clearly worried.
“Five is alive,” Klaus said, starting to turn the tap to his powers down. He could never turn it off, no, but he could now control it somewhat. He doubted he could ever turn it completely off like his siblings could, but with all his protections it made it easier to control. “As I keep telling everyone. Why no one believes the one connected to the dead is beyond me.” He thanked those who came to the room and then let everyone stop holding hands, blowing out the candles.
The room was now only lit by his fairy lights.
“I hope you all are satisfied,” Klaus looked at each one of them in turn. He’d have to get that ouija board from them so he could properly dispose of it.
The next day, Reggie was frowning at Klaus, “You have become addicted to your need to protect yourself, Number Four. You keep shutting out ghosts and you aren’t reaching your full potential.”
“What have you done?”
“We have stripped your room of your protections. You will now focus on just your ghost powers. Your real powers. Control them without the crutch of your silly flowers and rocks.”
Klaus was shaking. He needed his protections. He couldn’t let the nasties get him. He still had plenty of protections hidden around the mansion, it would keep them away from coming in. Most of them anyway. But he needed many of them on his person. Without his protections it would go back to before.
That night he snuck out, he’d protect himself with something Reggie couldn’t take from him. It took all night for him to find someone willing to tattoo a kid, but he wouldn’t survive without being kept safe. The oils he’d put on earlier in the day were starting to wear off, he still had his amulets he’d been wearing, but he’d have to restock.
He didn’t know where to get it all. So far he’d been giving his list to Pogo and then he’d magically have what he wanted waiting for him the next day.
But the tattoos he could do. He started with the one on the back of neck. The next night he got ones on the bottom of his feet to help protect him from underneath. The night after he got hello and good bye on his palms.
Reggie noticed after the palms.
“You are weak for relying on this, Number Four.”
“You are an idiot for not letting me have the tools I need,” Klaus spat back.
He found a shop then, that could help him. He wasn’t sure how much the shopkeep actually knew about what she sold. She claimed she was knowledgeable but Klaus wasn’t too sure. Mama was hesitant as well. But she still sold him the goods. He started by planting them in the garden out in the courtyard at night. Reggie wouldn’t know them by sight. The dummy. He hid the new crystals he bought with stolen nicknacks from the mansion under the floorboards of his room.
The shop also had new reading material. He was giddy with getting to learn more.
He started going to the shop at least once a week, sneaking out when he could to see what was new, chat to the employees, the other customers. He even found an upside down ouija board in the backroom, laying on the floor. He and Mama shared a look at it.
Not that he needed or wanted one. And he’d safely destroyed the one his siblings had gotten a hold of, he felt he had to buy this one. It wasn’t a good sign, how he found it. And the mansion was probably one of the safest places in the city with all the protections he’d added throughout the years. He didn’t want them to sell this to someone who would use it for a lark.
So the ouija board was bought and hidden in his room.
And then he had another feeling.
Like he’d had with Five. But with Ben this time.
“Number Six, where are you getting these amulets?” Reggie asked once.
“Klaus is giving them to me,” Ben replied.
Reggie’s eyes shot to Klaus who just gave a little wave with his hello hand. “Did you think you could stop me, daddy? Don’t be silly. We’ve been over this, yes?”
“Number Six, you are forbidden to wear those amulets that Number Four gives you,” Reggie’s lip twitched.
Klaus glared, “No. He isn’t. He’s going to wear them, old man. They are there to protect him.”
“You can’t rely on your weak ideas anymore Number Four. And I won’t be having you pull the others into them. Number Six won’t be wearing any of them.”
After that, whenever they went on a mission, Reggie had Grace check all the siblings for amulets before they could leave. Klaus just hoped the oil symbols he made sure to put on Ben before going out would be enough.
It wasn’t enough.
“If you hadn’t been a fucking idiot!” Klaus yelled at Reggie, covered in his brother’s blood. “He wouldn’t have died! I helped protect him from the Horror! And you! You tore away those protections and sent him to the belly of the beast! If only it had gobbled you instead of Ben. Then the world would be a better place.”
“Your so called protections hindered him. Made Number Six believe in a false sense of security. If you hadn’t started that he would have learned to properly control his powers, much like you need to do!” Reggie actually raised his voice at Klaus. Something he rarely did to the children.
Klaus was seething. He had never been tempted to try out a curse as much as he was in that moment. He knew the rules though, a curse would not go well for Klaus in the long run. He had to trust that Reggie would see what was coming to him one day.
He stormed off to wash his brother’s blood off him.
As he lay in the tub, water red with blood, protective herbs floating in it, he wondered if he’d be seeing Ben soon. Would he move on to the afterlife? Become a ghost? What if he was one of the nasties? Could he take down his protections for them to see his brother again? Would he want to see his brother like that? Covered in his death wounds and screaming mindlessly?
“It’s not your fault,” Mama said as he came back into his room, towel wrapped around his waist.
“Isn’t it? I knew something bad was going to happen. And I didn’t help him enough. I hope that I’ve helped Five enough. Fuck, Mama. They’re going to want me to do another séance.” Klaus was shaking.
“Calm down, Klaus,” Mama said. “Sit down on your bed, you’re okay. I’m sorry about Ben, he was a good one. But what happened isn’t your fault.”
“It is,” Klaus argued. “I could have done more. I should have done more.”
Klaus was up all night, reading his books, looking for a way to make this right. To fix it.
He didn’t find a way to fix it, he did find something else though.
It took some time to prepare, and Mama said she wasn’t sure if Klaus should try it. “You could die, doll. If you don’t do this right, or if you don’t have enough power-- it could eat you up. Soul and body.”
“Aren’t you always the one who talks about how powerful I am?” Klaus scoffed.
That night at three in the morning, when the world was the most wild and the veil the thinnest, he did his ritual.
He survived.
It hurt a lot less than he expected. He was shaking again and felt like he might vomit, but he did it.
“See?” Klaus said, pleased with himself. “And you didn’t believe me.”
The next morning he joined his family at the table, before he sat down for breakfast he announced, “I have removed and hidden my heart and now I shall not die.”
His siblings shared some looks of confusion. Luther muttered how Klaus was being disrespectful to Ben’s memory. He’d only died just last week. Reggie rolled his eyes and said, “What nonsense.”
The ritual he’d done was old. Not many witches attempted it. It took a lot of power and it could easily go wrong. Klaus was tempted to do it to the rest of his siblings, now that he knew he could do it. He doubted they would believe him and go through with the ritual and it was not a ritual you did to others without their permission.
As long as no one found and harmed his heart, Klaus would stay alive. Or he’d come back to life? The book was not clear. He had hid his heart in what he hoped was a safe place. He didn’t want Reggie finding it and killing him.
He had no doubt that if Reggie found his heart that he’d hold it against him, or he’d get rid of him.
“Klaus?”
Klaus had been awake, reading more about what he could do with hearts of other creatures when he heard Ben. “You’re here,” Klaus wasn’t sure if he should be happy or not.
“Yeah, um,” Ben shuffled on his feet. “This is weird, huh?”
Ben looked whole. He didn’t look torn apart. He had gotten through the protections. Klaus almost started crying, being able to see his brother again, knowing he wasn’t one of the nasties, kept away from Klaus. “Yeah, a bit weird,” he wiped at his tears.
“Should I go?” Ben gestured to the door.
“No! No! You don’t have to!” Klaus went to get up and grab Ben before he remembered that he was a ghost now. “Um, are you okay? I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you, Benny. I tried, I did.”
Ben sat down on the bed, Klaus followed, “Save me? Klaus, what happened isn’t your fault.”
Klaus let out a wet laugh, “That’s what Mama keeps saying but we all know if I had stood up to Reggie, if I had done more, hidden the amulets or got you the tatts like me--”
“No, Klaus. I don’t think that would have stopped it. Maybe gave me more time, but not stopped it. The Horror was going to do this one day. The two of us knew that. You’d already helped me so much growing up.”
“Then if I had just found out about the ritual before--”
“Ritual? What ritual? Klaus what did you do?” Ben had heard about some rituals, most of them sounded painful, sounded bad.
Klaus shrugged, “I took my heart out.”
“I’m sorry, you what,” Ben blinked, taken aback.
“Yeah, so now I can’t die,” Klaus shrugged, “I want to find a way to help you. To fix this.”
“There is no fixing this, Klaus. I’m dead,” Ben said. “And what do you mean you can’t die?”
“No, I’m going to fix this, Ben. I can’t let you-- please let me try. You don’t deserve this--”
“Don’t I? You’re always talking about karma and stuff like that. Getting back what we give out. Klaus, think of all the people I’ve killed--”
“But that wasn’t you! That was the Horror! That was daddy making you do that!” Klaus argued. “And if I can find a way--”
“Then you’d probably be killing someone?” Ben guessed. He wasn’t sure on how Klaus’s witch stuff worked but he’d heard a lot about nature and balance. “I don’t want that Klaus. It was meant to be. Please, don’t blame yourself for what happened and don’t try to ‘fix’ this.”
“I should have died instead,” Klaus stated.
“Well then making yourself immortal t was an odd choice,” Ben said dryly.
Klaus barked out a laugh. It was nice, being able to talk to Ben.
Klaus decided to move out before Reggie tried to force Klaus to bring Ben back. Some reason Reggie had the stupid idea that Klaus could physically manifest ghosts and he’d hinted that if Klaus could do that with Ben, and then to Five, to bring the full force of the Academy back--
Well.
“I don’t know why he thinks that,” Klaus said, placing a few more protections around the mansion to keep his family safe when he left.
“Because you’ve done it before,” Mama said, sounding bored.
“He what?” Ben asked, alarmed. He’d made fast friends with Mama.
“I have not,” Klaus argued back.
“You have, years ago. You were very angry at your daddy, doll. I told you about it,” Mama said.
“I have never-- No. It’s not something I can do. End of topic. New topic. Think I can get a job at the shop?” Klaus asked, having been a regular customer since he was a young teen. “I’d be the most knowledgeable employee. Actually give the real answers to questions people had.”
“Wouldn’t your daddy just track you down there? Bring you back?” Mama asked.
“Doubtful. He doesn’t know where I get my illecitate items,” Klaus waggled his eyebrows.
So Klaus, after helping himself to some stolen items from the mansion, walked into the shop. He was, for once, in clothes he wanted to wear. A black summer dress, a pentacle harness across his chest, and his best witchy boots.
A proper witch boy.
He got the job.
He kept tabs on his siblings, Ben doing some scouting on them. Coming and telling Klaus about what was going on that the media didn’t.
The first to move out after him was Vanya. Diego was working on getting in the police academy. Allison seemed ready to go to California. Luther was going to stay.
Vanya’s was first, as she got her apartment before Diego.
“Sister mine,” he greeted her.
“Klaus? Come in,” she let him in. “We weren’t sure where you were. You just disappeared and--”
“I know, I’m sorry. But I just couldn’t stay,” Klaus said. “I’m glad you’re out of there. You had no reason to live in that house.”
“Oh,” Vanya frowned, shoulder’s drooping.
“I mean--” Klaus grabbed her hands, “I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that you didn’t have to deal with the years of abuse and seclusion.”
“Oh,” she gave a slight smile.
“I mean, none of us should have been there, but--” he shrugged.
“Let her know I’m here?” Ben suggested. “That I say hi.”
Klaus sent Ben a small smile, “Ben says hi.”
“Ben?” Vanya’s eyebrows furrowed.
“Yeah? He’s here. Been following me around for a while now. He’s one of the good ones. Not one of the nasties who are kept back with the protections I set in place--”
“He wouldn’t have died if you’d done your protections better.”
Klaus’s heart maybe wasn’t in his chest anymore but he hadn’t felt so hollow before. Her tone had been hateful, blaming him for Ben’s death. It was as if she had slapped him.
“Klaus--no,” Ben said, getting in front of him. “We went over this, remember? It’s not your fault. You are not to blame.”
Klaus swallowed and nodded. He wasn’t sure if he was agreeing with Vanya or Ben. He got up and stumbled to the door, “This has been just lovely, my dear. But I have just remembered I have a previous engagement that I must get to.”
“Klaus-- wait--” Vanya said as Klaus let himself out.
He wasn’t going to wait.
He did let himself into her apartment later and added protections when she wasn’t home. Just because she blamed him--
He wouldn’t let someone he could protect die again. Mama rolled her eyes at how many he put around her apartment, saying he was going overboard, but he couldn’t let--
What happened to Ben would never happen again.
“Of course it won’t,” Ben said, “she doesn’t have a monster living inside her.”
Next up was Diego.
He found out where he’d moved in and he hoped this would go better than his reunion with Vanya did.
Diego shut the door in his face.
“Guess I’m breaking into his place too,” Klaus said, ignoring how Ben and Mama both said he should just try again.
But there was no way to argue about a door being shut in your face. But just because neither of his siblings wanted anything to do with him didn’t mean he wasn’t going to protect them. So, just as with Vanya’s, he added protections to Diego’s.
He didn’t try to contact them again.
He did consistently break in and update their protections and if they moved he redid them all once again. Ben really made keeping track of his siblings easier. He even let himself back into the Academy to make sure Luther would stay safe.
He wished he could do more than keeping their homes safe, he wanted to give them amulets. To keep them safe. He hadn’t been able to keep Ben safe, but he wanted-- he wished--
He thought about leaving some amulets around their house. Maybe they’d wear them. But it would be a sure sign that he’d broken into their homes and that wouldn’t go over well.
Years passed.
Vanya joined an orchestra and wrote a book, Diego got kicked out of the police academy, something happened to Luther and he then went to the moon, Allison was divorcing her husband and wasn’t allowed to see her daughter.
Klaus continued working at the shop, he became known in the community for his knowledge, for his amulets and charms. He didn’t sell them, but he did give them out when people came asking for help. It didn’t seem right, selling protection. Plus he was always awake at three in the morning, making more.
He found out in the break room, the tv on in the background, that Reggie died.
“Guess we’re going to a funeral,” Klaus said to Ben and Mama.