A/N: What's happenin', everybody?! :D Little change of scenery here. This idea's been eatin' me alive, and before I have no internal organs left, which I hear is crucial to have if you wanna live, I'mma put it down on paper–––er, FanFiction. Yes, you read the pairing right: Kliona, a phrase which here means, "What the hell is a diehard Kladora shipper doing writing this?! Did they jump ship?! Did they lose their mind?!" Friends, I've lost my mind years ago, and no, I will forever remain a diehard Kladora shipper, but I didn't want Kliona fans to feel left out in the fandom. That, and I like a challenge every now and then. So here's a li'l number for you Kliona shippers out there. Cheers, my friends! ;) \m/
Disclaimer: Me no own ASOUE. Y u no listen to me?! *facepalm*
WARNING! RATED T FOR: LANGUAGE
The Dark Side of Heaven
Fiona steered the Carmelita deeper into the icy, dark depths of the Pacific Ocean. Her heart was still pounding from the recent events that had been carved into the giant slab of history. Not just the submarine she and her brother had "borrowed", not just the aerial battle that had ultimately took her stepfather and the Quagmires' life awhile ago, but something else.
Him.
Fiona took a deep breath and hit the accelerator, trying to put the thought out of her mind. That day aboard the Queequeg haunted her like a restless ghost, and the only way for it to be truly put to rest was to face her crime and stand before the judge, jury, and executioner.
Him.
"I can't believe there's no chocolate pudding on here!" Fernald groaned, the sound of objects clattering loudly as he tore the cupboards apart in search of his target.
Fiona rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe her brother was actually more concerned about the presence of a certain gelatinous dessert rather than the recent death of close associates, one of them being a family member. "Would you shut up and get over here?" she hissed, glaring over her shoulder at her older brother. "I could use a copilot!" She shook her head and looked out at the never-ending blackness. She'd tried. She'd tried to save them…but it was too late. The darkness before her had already swallowed them up, never to be seen again. Tears welled up in her eyes. She couldn't even save fellow volunteers from a fate they didn't deserve, what made her think he would be any different?
"Wow…that's dark," Fernald remarked, sitting down in the copilot chair, his mouth so full of something that she was surprised she could understand what he was saying at all.
Puzzled, Fiona looked at him to find a white, cylindrical container tucked under his left arm. "What are you eating?" she asked.
"Chocolate ice cream. It's not chocolate pudding like the baby makes, but it'll do for now." Fernald shoved another big spoonful in his mouth, then offered her the spoon. "Want a bite?"
"No!" Fiona yelled. "I don't want ice cream!" His priorities were still messed up. He needed more help in the head than she thought.
Fernald jerked the spoon back, as if she were a rabid animal going to bite him. "Well, excuse me!" he shot back. "Miss Sassypants…" he added in a grumble, looking back out the windshield.
They were silent for a moment. "I'm sorry," Fiona apologized after a moment. "It's just I got a lot on my mind right now."
"A little bit," Fernald agreed sarcastically, shoveling more ice cream into his face. "Look, if it's about stepfather and the Quagmires, we did all we could. We tried to get them on board."
"I tried to get them on board," Fiona corrected him angrily. "You broke my grip on Quigley and because of you they drowned!"
"You were gonna drown if I didn't break your grip on him!" Fernald countered. "Water was flooding in and him pulling on you almost pulled you underwater with them!"
Fiona glared at him, but though his face was enraged, she could see the fear in his eyes. Obviously he wasn't over their stepfather, and by the sound of his voice, he couldn't bear to lose the only thing he had left in this world. "It's still your fault they died," she muttered, looking back out the windshield to keep on course…wherever that was.
Fernald was silent. "I had no choice, Fiona," he said quietly after awhile. "It was them or you."
"You had a choice, Fernald!" Fiona screamed. "You could've helped me pull them on board! We could've driven this thing away afterward!"
"Those eagles were closing in!" Fernald tried, knowing full well his sister was right. He just didn't want to admit it.
With a furious cry, Fiona grabbed an atlas off the dash and chucked it at him. Now he was being ridiculous. And to be honest, she should probably drop it. This was going nowhere, even if she was right. "Selfish ass," she growled darkly, omitting all mature ways to end the conversation.
More silence. Fernald thought hard, wondering what to talk about next without setting his sister off. "So uh, where we headed?"
"To find the Baudelaires," Fiona said.
Fernald flinched. "Are they even alive?" he asked. "Last I heard they escaped Hotel Denouement with Olaf. But that was awhile ago."
"We're not stopping until we find them," Fiona said firmly. "If we can reunite with them, we can try to end this schism once and for all."
"You just wanna see that four-eyed bookworm again," Fernald said, giving her a look.
"I wanna see all three of them," Fiona said curtly, a blush creeping into her cheeks.
"Yeah, right," Fernald chuckled. "Look, I may not be the brightest crayon in the box, but I know my sister. And when she lies, I can tell."
Fiona rolled her eyes. "Just shut up and help me look," she snarled. "They have to be in the ocean somewhere. There's nowhere else to go but out to sea if they escaped the hotel, especially if it caught fire."
Fernald obediently kept his eyes peeled for any sign of his former enemies. If it was one thing he was trained to do, it was hunt the Baudelaires down. "Well, we ain't gonna find 'em down here. Let's move to the surface."
"You're right. They won't be underwater." Hopefully, Fiona thought. She pulled up on the handlebars, and the Carmelita slowly made its ascent toward the surface.
After what felt like forever, they were now bobbing on the gentle waves of the Pacific, sunlight pouring inside, blinding the two.
"Gaaaah! Almost forgot what sunlight looked like under there," Fernald said, covering his eyes as best he could with his hooks.
Fiona uncovered her eyes and scanned the horizon. "Look, there!" She pointed out at a lone island in the distance. "Land."
"Oh, thank God!" Fernald cried dramatically. "Haven't been on land in forever! Let's go. And maybe we can find some chocolate pudding while we're there."
Fiona gave him a funny look. "It's an island, Fernald. There is no chocolate pudding in the wild."
"No…but there's ingredients to make it in the wild."
Fiona rolled her eyes. "Just shut up and prepare to dock."
Due to the Carmelita's oblong shape, it was incredibly difficult to dock it at the island and reach land without having to swim. But by some crazy miracle, they'd done it, and now they were scouting around on the sandy shore in search of supplies for their journey.
"I'm gonna go look over here for stuff to make chocolate pudding," Fernald said, pointing at the forest to their left.
Fiona groaned, facepalming herself. "Can you think about something other than chocolate pudding for five minutes?" she asked irritably. "Like, what do we need for our trip? Y'know, filtered water? Good food?"
"It is a good food," Fernald told her. "Have you tasted the baby's chocolate pudding?"
"No, I haven't! And even if it was as fantastic as you say it is, we need healthy food. Purified water. Essentials to live."
"I do need it to live!" Fernald protested.
With a fed up cry, Fiona turned and resumed walking.
"Hey! Where are you going?"
"To find what we need!" Fiona called over her shoulder.
"Well, wait for me!"
"No, just go look for whatever you're gonna look for! I don't wanna look at you right now!"
Fernald flinched, offended. "Well, I don't wanna look at you either!" he pouted, folding his arms.
Fiona kept walking, ignoring his childish antics.
"Meet back here in half an hour?" Fernald hollered after a bit.
"Yeah, sure, I have a watch," Fiona replied sarcastically. She shook her head and began looking around.
Gosh, how long had it been? She'd been walking forever, and other than a spool of rope she'd found that had washed up on the beach, she'd found nothing. Maybe Fernald was doing better than her at searching. Frustrated, she looked out at the ocean, the sun sparkling off the waves. It was a beautiful day out. Not too hot, not too cold. Not a cloud in the sky. A great day for a picnic, she might add. But this was no time to relax. She had to find the Baudelaires before it was too late.
Well, him at least.
Fiona kept walking, her feet now beginning to ache. It was far past half an hour, that's for sure. But her brother was such a genius that he gave her a time to report back, and neither one of them had a watch to monitor the flow of time. Idiot, she thought. She was about to turn back when a giant apple tree came into view, boasting the largest harvest she'd ever seen. Hungry, and elated at finding more resources for their trip, she hurried over to it and reached for an apple.
"Did you hear that?" a faint voice said.
Fiona stopped picking. Who was that? Was she hearing things? Was she so tired that she was beginning to hallucinate? She stood absolutely still for a moment to see if her ears were playing tricks on her.
"Yeah," another voice said. "Sounded like someone picking apples."
Fiona eyes widened. Her ears weren't playing tricks on her. There were actually other people on the island besides her and her brother. Maybe they could help her narrow her search as to where the Baudelaires might be. She looked up in the thick, long branches. Nothing. No one was up in the tree. She looked all around the trunk. No one. Wait a minute, if she was hearing actual voices, and no one was in the tree or around it, then where were those voices coming from?
"Wait here, I'll go check it out. Don't know if they're a friend or foe."
Where are those voices coming from?! Fiona thought, the mystery wearing on her last nerve. They were real, she was sure of it! She wasn't that fatigued to where she was hearing things. Oddly enough, she'd slept just fine last night, despite everything that had happened recently. So where were they coming from?
Suddenly, there was a rustling of leaves and snapping of twigs from behind, and Fiona whirled around to see what was making all that noise. Her heart began to race, fearing the worst. Fernald was far away from her, unable to help, and from the sound of things, there were two people, not just one. Climbing out from under the giant roots of the tree was a very tall, muscular boy with short dark hair. He got off the ground and looked around for what had picked the apples, his eyes eventually landing on Fiona, who felt her whole body go numb. She was in such shock that she didn't even think to hide, but that shock was only amplified when she realized who the boy was.
"Klaus?" she whispered, unable to believe her eyes.
"Fiona?" the boy breathed, his eyes widening behind his glasses.
They stood there, staring at each other. So many thoughts, so many emotions… It was impossible to keep up with them all. Fiona blinked at him, debating whether or not she should stay put or run over to hug him. But before she could make a decision, Klaus raced up to her and wrapped her in a tight hug. Gladly, she returned the gesture, tears now streaming down her face.
Just then, time had stopped, and the two remained in each other's arms for what felt like eternity. It only resumed when another voice called out a bit later.
"Klaus? You alright?" This voice, however, belonged to a girl, and if Klaus was hugging her, Fiona had a good guess of who it belonged to.
Strangely, Klaus said nothing. He was tight with his sisters, a rarity among siblings, and he would always answer them, even in the slightest way to acknowledge that he heard them and that he was alright. But not this time. Was he that caught up in the moment that he didn't hear her? Because she certainly did.
Did he actually miss her that much that he abandoned every one of his senses for the time being?
Fiona's guess about the voice was spot on. Out came Violet from under the apple tree, looking panicked, like any good oldest sibling would if their younger brother didn't answer them and they were on the run from the authorities that had falsely accused them. Seeing him still in one piece, she breathed a sigh of relief, but when she caught sight of Fiona, her mood shifted.
"Fiona," Violet said blankly, unable to believe her eyes. Whether it was her mere presence or her brother hugging her, she couldn't believe it either way. "What are you doing here?"
"Violet," Fiona managed to choke. Apparently the moment with Klaus had stolen her voice, too. "You guys are okay!"
"We are…no thanks to you," Violet said with a scowl, folding her arms.
"Violet, leave her alone," Klaus growled finally. He was still hugging her, and though neither one of them could see it, a scowl had appeared on his face.
"You're defending her?" Violet asked incredulously, her eyebrows rising in astonishment.
"She had no choice!" Klaus stopped hugging Fiona and whirled around to glare at his sister, his hands balled tightly into fists. "You would've done that for me and you know it!"
"I would go after you, yes, obviously. But I wouldn't sabotage what help I had at the time!" Violet shot back. "We would've helped you save Fernald, y'know!" she hollered angrily at Fiona. "You're nothing but a traitor!"
"Just give us a minute!" Klaus screamed, pointing at the tree, his eyes narrowing. "Please! That's all I'm asking!"
Violet glared at him, then at Fiona, then stormed back inside. Klaus lowered his head. He hated yelling at her, but he had no choice. Fiona hadn't even plead her case yet. Maybe there was another piece to this puzzle that they were missing and she had it, ready to lock it in place. But she couldn't help them make an educated verdict if Violet prematurely burned her at the stake. Even if it broke his heart again, he just wanted one of his biggest questions answered. Just a little closure would be nice. He turned to face Fiona, pondering what to say.
"I'm sorry she said that," he said quietly. "She's just a little…skeptical of people nowadays."
I'd hardly call it skeptical, Fiona thought. "No, I understand," she said immediately. "I expected no less."
Klaus smirked, disheartened. "So uh, how've you been? Kit said you were looking for me."
"You guys found Kit?" Fiona asked, excited someone else out of their group made it out alive. "Where is she?"
Klaus opened his mouth to speak, but no words were brave enough to come forth. He hesitated. "She died shortly after giving birth."
Fiona's face fell. "Oh…" She was quiet for a minute. "I'm so sorry… My stepfather and the Quagmires didn't make it either."
Klaus's heart sank. "What?" he uttered hoarsely.
"I tried to pull them aboard, but it was too late," Fiona said at once, making sure to leave out what an absolute jerk her brother was. "I'm sorry, Klaus. I really tried."
Klaus wrapped her in a hug, trying to quell her pain…and his. "It's alright. That's all you can do."
Fiona melted into his embrace. Well, that cat was out of the bag, might as well let the other ones out, too. Get this trial out of the way. She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry for doing that to you…and your sisters. I had no choice. I couldn't find my stepfather, and I thought something bad had happened to him. And since Fernald was all I had left at the time, and now, I couldn't leave it to chance. I wanted to help you guys so bad, but I couldn't just leave him, especially with Count Olaf. Who knows how he would've turned out? As if Olaf didn't poison him enough. I found that out the hard way. He was never like that when we were growing up. He's making progress, though. I'm starting to see the real Fernald again. He's got a long way to go, but, it's a start."
Klaus nodded, soaking in every word as he stared off into the distance, watching the ocean glitter. He remained silent, just in case there was more she wanted to add.
"I thought about you every day since I left," Fiona continued. "Where you were, what you were doing, if you were alright." She paused. " …What most people don't realize is that there's a dark side of heaven. There are some angels out there who've done crazy, maybe even immoral things. They're still angels, but they had to do the unimaginable to keep their status as an angel. Sometimes they had to be bad in order to remain good."
Klaus nodded again, his heart in knots. She was so profound…so intelligent. She wasn't evil…a demon. She did what she had to do, to protect what was hers. She wasn't a bad person at all. She was an angel on the dark side of heaven.
…Just like him.
"We're like chef's salads," Klaus said.
Fiona smiled, surprised he remembered what she'd said aboard the Queequeg awhile back. "Just like chef's salads," she agreed.
At last, they broke apart and looked in each other's eyes.
"So…do you forgive me?" Fiona asked, preparing herself for the guillotine.
Klaus smiled. "I forgave you the day you left," he replied. "But if you want an update, yes, I forgive you."
Fiona grinned, tears welling up in her eyes. He was such a good person. Maybe even an angel on the light side of heaven. She didn't deserve him. He was too good for her. "Thank you, I…I don't know what to say."
"Don't say anything," Klaus said, tipping her chin up so she could look him in the eye again.
Slowly, he closed his eyes and leaned in, Fiona doing the same. Before they knew it, their lips were locked, and time stood still once again. An indescribable electricity shot through them, a feeling they hadn't felt for a long time, not since that fateful day. It had been so long since they'd felt something this intense, this exciting that they'd almost forgotten what asylum from the world felt like. And they enjoyed every minute of it.
Eventually, the kiss ended and they smiled at each other, blushes creeping into their cheeks. Finally, something good in this world was still intact. "So, uh, wanna come inside?" Klaus offered. "Don't worry about Violet. Just let her be. Are you hungry? Sunny just got done making chocolate pudding."
"Ohh, boy…" Fiona groaned, facepalming herself.
"What's wrong?" Klaus asked, concerned.
"Nothing, it's a long story." Fiona looked up at him and smiled. "I'd love to. But first, let's go get my brother."
"Fernald's here with you?" Klaus asked.
"Yeah…somewhere."
Klaus grinned. "Sure. Let's go." He held out his hand. Still unable to believe her luck, Fiona took it and the two walked along the shore back the way she came. She chuckled to herself, shaking her head. Fernald would get his wish after all. She couldn't wait to tell him.