A/N – Sorry for the late chapter, but I got pretty sick for a while and it really kicked my ass. Well, he's is the next chapter and it's a bit longer as well. The next one will probably be out tomorrow as it just needs some editing and a part added in before posting.

Also, I would like to thank .knifes for translating this story into Russian! So, for all you readers that are Russian or can read Russian better than English, go head over to ficbook (.net) to read the translated version. Here's the link (not sure if it will work so please forgive me) ficbook readfic / 7970525 (remove spaces).

Chapter 7: Era of Doubt

Ben raced to his brother's room, clothed feet not making much noise against the wood. He slid past the door, momentum almost sending him to the floor. The boy quickly arranged himself in front of Five's door, opening it without even knocking. "F-Five!" He tried whispering out, voice hurried with exasperation, "Five! Wake up!" Ben moved to shake the boy awake, but stopped when he saw his brother's eyes start to flutter open.

"Geez, Ben, it's," Dark eyes moved to the clock, "almost five in the morning. I know we said we'd get up early to find Klaus, but this is not what I meant."

"It's about Klaus." He stated, eyes wide, "I spoke with him."

Five, at this point, was already starting to sit up. He flicked on the light, rubbing his eyes of sleep. "What are you talking about?" He raised an eyebrow, stifling a yawn, "You spoke with him…? If you spoke with him that means he's not missing anymore so, if you don't mind, I'm going back to bed."

"No, no, no! Five, you have to listen to me!" Ben's hands flashed in front of him, desperation in his eyes.

Number Five furrowed his eyebrows together, eyes keen on searching his brother's face. He groaned after a moment of silence, climbing out of bed, "Fine, but I need a cup of coffee before you waste my time."

"Waste your time?!" The other boy's eyes were wide in shock, anger replacing it after a moment, "I'm not going to-"

The time-traveler raised a hand, sighing, "Coffee first." Five didn't wait for an answer, moving down the stairs lethargically. He yawned more than a few times. He wouldn't let his brother speak until the warm mug of black coffee was against his lips and they were situated at the dinner table. He motioned with a hand for the other boy to go on.

Ben stirred, a wild and antsy look in his eyes, "Well, I had a dream-"

"Oh, great." Five mumbled out over his coffee cup.

"But it wasn't a dream – Klaus was there and he-"

He took a long sip, stopping himself from guzzling it, "If you woke me up just to tell me a dream you had last night, I'm not interested."

"Five!" Ben's voice was loud and more than exasperated, "Can you just give me the benefit of the doubt on this?"

The time-traveler rubbed his eyes again, huffing quietly. He set the cup down on the table, the quiet clink echoing in the mostly silent room. "Fine." He mumbled out, eyes leveling on his brother.

"Alright, so Klaus was there, and he said it wasn't a dream." Ben tried not to see the look the other boy sent him, "He told me he's been taken by three men and a woman – um… he said one of the guy's name is… Allen… No that's not right it has an 'e' in it – oh! Alex. Alex is the guy's name."

"Okay." Five stated, the only indicator that he was actually listening to him.

The black-haired boy thought for a moment, "They apparently sent a video to Dad – something about ransom, I think. The dream is kind of fading."

Five leaned forwards, a spark of interest in his eyes, "If any of this is true, then how did Klaus reach you?"

The other boy shrugged, a chuckle of exasperation on his tongue, "I don't know – it was a very surreal experience for me."

The time-traveler glared a hole into the table, eyes glazed over in concentration. "Well," He started, "it is possible for Klaus to have developed a new power under severe circumstances. I mean, I whole-heartedly doubt that his abilities stop at seeing and being able to talk to ghosts." Ben nodded, both in acknowledgement and agreement. Five gulped down most of his drink before looking at his brother, "How's Klaus?"

"When I saw him in the dream, he had these bruises." Ben looked down at his hands, opening and closing them slowly, "He told me that they were beating him up on camera. I'm not sure how badly though."

"Well, shit." Five huffed out, finishing off his coffee without much haste, "So, let's say that all this is true. Klaus has been kidnapped and I think we can assume that the number in his phone is Alex or one of his other kidnappers. That means that there is a tape somewhere in this house."

"Klaus said that the video was for Dad." Ben stated out quickly, a bit of hope in his eyes, "Does that mean it might be in his study?"

"Most definitely. Pogo almost always gets the mail from the door and gives it to our dear Father every day – there's no way it's not in his study." The time-traveler stood up, placing his cup in the sink before turning back around, "Do you have any idea of where Klaus could be? Did he give you any hints at all?"

Ben nodded quickly, "Said he was being held in a garage on a street."

"That's it?"

"Yeah…"

Five scratched the back of his head, "Well, it's not much to go on but-"

"Five? Ben?" A quiet voice called from the stairs. Both boys looked up to see their sister standing there, rubbing her eyes like she hadn't slept much. "What are you two doing up?" Vanya asked quietly.

"It's none of your concerns, Vanya." There was no bite to Five's voice, "We just have some business we need to take care of."

The brunette blinked once before making her way towards them, practically tip-toeing against the creaky wooden floors. Vanya smoothed her hair back, making eye contact with Ben, "Is this about Klaus? Is he okay?"

Ben looked to his brother as if he needed permission to speak about it, getting a nod from Five. The boy sighed heavily, shoulders slumped inwards, "He's been kidnapped."

Vanya's eyes widened, "W-What?!" Her voice was elevated just a bit.

The time-traveling boy hissed at her, "Be quiet. We're about to go sneak into Dad's study so you need to shut up."

"Sneak into- are you both crazy?!" The brunette glowered at them, hands raised in the air in exasperation, "He'll kill you guys if you even mess with the door handle!"

"Yeah, but Klaus is in danger." Ben pointed out as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "His kidnappers sent a video a-and Dad has to have it."

Vanya crossed her arms, deep in thought for only a moment, "How do you know?"

"What?"

"How do you know that there's a video?" She asked once more.

"We don't know." Five stated out flatly, "Ben over here dreamt of Klaus telling him a bunch of things, so we're going to try to find the video because Klaus told him that there was one."

Vanya sighed, rubbing her temples, "So, this is all speculations?" Her voice was indifferent, non-believing and Ben would be lying if he said it didn't hurt to hear that.

"Yes." He said, already making his way to the stairs, "And… And if there is no video then… then I'm sorry for wasting your time." Five and Vanya watched him for only a moment more than necessary before moving to follow their brother.

"Do you know what's on the video?" Vanya asked after a moment of silence.

Ben shrunk from the question, hands balling into fists. Five moved to walk beside her, voice level and collected, "It's a ransom video where they torture him."

"Oh God…" She moved to cover her mouth with her hand, glancing between the two of them, "Don't you think we should tell everyone about this?"

"Well," Ben started, creeping along the upstairs area as quietly as he could, "we don't even know if there's a video yet so might as well just keep it to ourselves for the time being."

Five turned to her, "Welcome to the team." There was a ghost of a smile on his face.

Vanya huffed, "Not sure if I should say thanks or go back to bed."

"You can if you want to, I won't stop you." The smallest of the children stated, "I'm not asking you to help, but I would definitely appreciate it."

"Then I'll stay." She said without a moment's notice.

The three children fell silent, creeping along the hallways towards the study. Their father would have already been in bed almost four hours prior to their early morning walk so the three wouldn't have to worry about walking in on the older man. Vanya was the first at the double doors, trying to open them but found them locked. She gave a look to her brother, Five taking the hint and easily teleporting into the room.

An almost silent click allowed the door to open, the two remaining Number children making their way inside. They shut the door in case someone came looking for them. Without a word, Ben made his move towards their father's desk, opening and closing drawers in hopes of finding a tape somewhere. Five searched in the mail slots Sir Reginald had in his study where he kept years' worth of important mail. Vanya spent most of her time back and forth between the room, looking through everything she could get her hands on.

"Hey," Five started, getting his siblings attention, "Look for anything that is handwritten or in a cheap envelope – it'll be one of those large yellow ones in order to hold the shape of a tape."

"Got it." Vanya confirmed, Ben only nodding in response.

The three Number children tried not to completely destroy their father's study, knowing that he'd be absolutely furious with them. While years of growing up in the future had given the kids a sense of independency from their father's reign, with children bodies, it made it hard to overpower the man. So, they kept the mess to a minimum, everyone moving around in odd shapes whilst trying not to get in each other's way.

"Hey, I've got something." Number Seven whispered out, pulling out the top of a shredded yellow envelope. The body of it was completely missing, only the top part where their father might have ripped it to get to the content inside. "I'm not sure if this means that there is a tape or if it's something completely unrelated." She sighed out, handing it over to Ben.

He searched it, turning it over in his hands, "Do you think he watched it?"

"He might have." Five agreed, nodding his head somewhat, "I say we go check the security room for any stray tapes because I don't think we're going to find anything else in the study."

"Yeah." Ben mumbled out, throwing the yellow envelope piece in the garbage.

The three left the study, going back downstairs where the security room was. They didn't waste any time, Ben taking the lead this time towards the room. The sun was starting to rise – six o'clock was probably just around the corner – which meant that everyone would start waking up soon.

Ben opened the door, staring at the cold, black monitors that had been turned off for the night. He clicked on a few without so much a word to the others, as if sure they would find the tape. However, it didn't take much to look through the small room. No stray tapes had been left out in the open and none of the slots for them held anything of value.

"Ben." Vanya's voice was soft and pitiful, "There's nothing here."

"No, there has to be something!" His voice was frantic, nearly throwing stuff of the dusty shelf. He looked at them, stuttering to stop, "Well, you're not going to find anything if you're both just standing there."

Five took a step towards him, uncrossing his arms, "Ben, there's nothing. Your dream was probably just… a dream."

"No, it wasn't." Ben's eyes watered, "Why do you all hate Klaus so much?! Why can't you just-"

"Ben." Five's eyes were dark, an unseen emotion flashing in his eyes, "You need to calm down and listen." The other boy looked away, swiping his eyes. "We don't hate Klaus. I would give my life for him." He said this with such confidence that Ben almost believed him, "But you have to understand that neither Vanya or I have any idea what's going on. We didn't get to speak with Klaus or see what you saw."

"Benefit of the doubt." He hissed out quietly, moving away from the shelf.

"I gave you that." Five insisted, hand reaching out to his brother's shoulder, "Look let's just regroup and talk everything out again, get some food in our stomachs while we're at it."

Ben's eyes were distant and downcast, "Fine…"

"Alright, then." He whispered out before turning to Vanya, "You want something to eat?"

"Yeah." She mumbled out, already moving to the kitchen.

"Ben?"

"Sure." The other boy nodded, leaving the room quickly. He wasn't hungry at all, stomach twisting up in coils that churned around in circles. His heart was crushed between his ribcage, a sense of guilt filling him to the brim. Klaus needed him, he was so sure of it, of everything.

And it hurts that no one believes him.

If Klaus was here, he'd believe him… he always did.