Technically this follows on from my fic Safe and Sound, which I realise I posted well over two years ago but never mind. At least this isn't sitting in a notebook any more, it was in there for 2 years as it is. This all started because of Taylor Swift's song, and also Tabithatibi's fic The World Is Quiet Here. So yes. It's been so long since I posted on here that I feel like I'm going to screw up, so I'll just post this now... ~ Em [P.s. Strikethrough is a beautiful thing and I am sad that I couldn't keep it in here :(]

The others never had found out what Isadora had done.

Even now, just thinking about it makes her skin crawl with shame. And if she hates herself for it, surely the others would too, if ever they were to find out. The others – Duncan and Quigley, her brothers, and Violet, Sunny and Beatrice, practically her sisters. They were all so strong and brave and good. It hurts her, knowing that she isn't. That she can't be one of them. She isn't strong, or brave: she had given in. Good – after what she has done, Isadora doesn't think the word could ever be used to describe her again.

Even now, it's at the forefront of her mind, as she sits curled up in an armchair, watching Klaus pace, listening to his rant. He had been so proud, Isadora knew, when he and her brothers had come up with their code, and Isadora had been prouder still as she watched so many volunteers fail to crack it. An unbreakable cipher, they had said. They should have known better than to boast. An unbreakable cipher maybe – unless you understood the key. They'd trusted Isadora. What reason did they have to not?

'The only thing I can think of is that someone must have told them.' A traitor in the camp, a viper in their midst. ''But I don't want to distrust an of us.' Distrust: a terrible feeling at the best of times, but so much more so when directed at herself.

'I thought, perhaps Beatrice might have-'

'It wasn't Beatrice, Klaus.' His pacing doesn't pause.

'I know, it seemed stupid, but- I know Vi and Sunny would never – and Quig and Duncan and –'

'It wasn't Violet, or Sunny, or Quigley or Duncan or-' Her voice cracks, and Klaus turns back to look at her, concerned. At the look on her face, at the sight of her tears, he stops, unsure of what to do.

'Issy?'

'It was me.' She whispers. 'Klaus, it was me.' A sob escapes her. Klaus takes a first, hesitant step forwards, and then her is kneeling in front of her chair, his hands reaching out to take hers.

'It's okay, Is. It's okay, it'll be alright. I promise. Hush now.'

But she can't hush now. She wants to throw herself at him, cling to him in gratitude for not hating her on principal. The words, though. The words which have been evading her for so long now hold her frozen, forcing her to say it all out loud.

'It was the night with – the fires.' He knows instantly the night she means. It had taken months for them all to recover.

But we found you, he wants to say. We rescued you before they could get to you. But he's beginning to feel like he – they all – had been wrong.

'They found us first. Beatrice was asleep, but I heard them coming. I tried to hide us, but – it was too late. Bea was okay, but they saw me. And Klaus, I went to them. I went to them.'

For a moment, the tears threaten to overcome her, but then the words thrust themselves forwards once again.

'I knew they were going to kill me, but I thought, if only I could protect Bea...'

She break off to look at him, and though his thumbs continue to trace patterns on her hands, it seems to her that his eyes are colder, now, then she has ever seen.

'Klaus, I-'

'It's okay, Is. Just-' Here he falters, and she's terrified that he'll say one of those things she's told herself over and over again. About how she's a traitor, just like Fiona, about how he can't believe he ever trusted her. But he doesn't say any of that. 'Just tell me what happened.'

And pull yourself together. These words never even cross Klaus's mind, but Isadora hears them so clearly it it's as if they've been shouted. But it is merely the voice of her internal narrator, and she closes her eyes to do as it says.

'I went to them. I thought that they might not find Bea, and that then one of us might survive. Maybe they would have just burnt down the building after they'd killed me, I don't know, but I knew I had to try.'

Had she looked up, she might have seen a new found respect in Klaus's eyes. He had always known she was brave, but to sacrifice herself like that... But she didn't dare look up, let alone meet her friend's eyes. Her gaze was locked on the material of her sleeve, her fingers worrying the hem.

'The problem was, they didn't just kill me like I'd thought they would. It was stupid of me, really. I should have known that they would want information, too. I wasn't going to tell them anything – I swear, Klaus, I told them I'd rather die and I meant it too, I wouldn't have said – but then they cut deeper, and I screamed, and –'

'Is.' There is something in his tone which breaks off her speech. Looking at him finally, she sees a shocked understanding. Is there hatred there too, or bitterness? She readies herself for the berating which she knows must be coming. But she isn't expecting what he actually says. 'Isadora... Your arm.'

But you said you didn't know how that happened. You said it must have been an accident, in trying to escape the fires.

'Isadora always was a good actress.' He remembers Duncan saying, a long long time ago.

Cautiously, as if trying not to spook a wild animal, he takes her arm and pulls back the sleeve which had held so much of her attention just moments ago. Now, her attention is fixed on his face, and she sees his horror as he truly understand the origin of these scars.

'They said it wasn't fair, that they were marked and I wasn't. The eye, VFD...' She shudders, so obviously reliving the memory that Klaus is momentarily frozen, not knowing how to help. He squeezes her hand tighter, and it seems to pull her back into the present; at least, it reawakens the urgency that her story previously held.

'Yes. They cut my arms, but I still wouldn't have told them anything, I swear! But then she cut deeper and I screamed and... It woke Beatrice up. And then they found her, of course they did, and they threatened to hurt her and I couldn't let them, I just couldn't. So I told them. I had to. Didn't I?'

Please say you understand.

A soft silence falls between them, though Isadora's final, unspoken sentiments hang in the air. For a time, Klaus appears lost in thought. Then he nods to himself slightly, and begins.

'Isadora Quagmire,' he says, tilting her chin up so her eyes have no choice but to meet his own. 'Issy, you have nothing to be ashamed of. What you did was noble, and honourable, and incredibly, incredibly brave. You risked your life to save Bea, you would have died for her. If that's not the mark of a good person, I don't know what is.'

'So – you don't hate me?' She has to ask, needs the confirmation.

'No, of course not! I-' Whatever he was intending to say is cut off by a fresh burst of tears. But now they are relieved, not scared or ashamed. And perhaps even edging towards – happy?

'Thank you, Klaus.'

He shakes his head, then pulls her up and holds her against him.

'You couldn't have done any different.' He tells her, and maybe, just maybe, he kisses the top of her head.

They stand together, perfectly motionless, for a long time. Together in the silence, until the first rays of morning light prove them to be safe and sound.

And Isadora finally lets herself believe, that the world is quiet here.