"How did you know?"

"Huh?"

"About my brother. That he was…you know…" There was an embarrassed cough, and the rest of the sentence was muttered. "…the one."

Klaus stopped in his tracks.

The voices were unmistakable, and just around the corner. If he'd gone any further, he would have revealed himself.

This seemed as good a moment as any not to reveal himself.

He glanced around, noticing a pillar. If it had been Clara, she'd have ducked behind it, thinking herself hidden but - like an ostrich with its head in the sand - still blatantly obvious to anyone with half a brain. But Klaus wasn't Clara, so he whipped out his wand and muttered a nearly soundless camouflage spell.

Klaus usually considered himself a morally upstanding individual, but he certainly wasn't above eavesdropping when the reasons were right. Or when the subject was himself, and the speaker his adorable but often exasperating girlfriend.

As he'd expected, Clara was stammering. Klaus could picture her – head ducked, eyes downcast, cheeks as red as beets. "Wha… I… W-What kind of question is that, Elias? That's so embarrassing!"

Klaus rolled his eyes. Here would have been the moment where – if it'd been him – he'd have reached out, grasped Clara's chin, and glared at her until he'd scared the answer out of her. But because it was Elias, that didn't happen.

"N-Nevermind! F-Forget I asked!" Elias sounded as panicked as Clara. Klaus' brow twitched in irritation at having seemingly been denied a choice morsel of information.

"No, w-wait!" There was a rustle of movement, and a few steps, and by the next moment they sounded a little further away, though still audible to Klaus where he stood. "Elias…is this about L – "

"Don't say it!"

"Eeeeeeek!"

"Owww! My ears!"

Klaus winced in sympathy. Clara's shriek had caused a shrill ringing in his own eardrums; she must have nearly deafened Elias, who'd been right next to her.

"But Elias… are you okay?"

Elias' grumbling subsided into sullen silence. Klaus' brow furrowed uneasily, and he was tempted to emerge from where he hid, to see what was wrong with his brother. If someone was bothering Elias… His thoughts flashed to Luca Orlem, briefly. Those two had never gotten along, and it only seemed to be getting worse recently. Luca's magical abilities were certainly worthy of note, but sometimes his behavior strayed a little too far – particularly when Elias was concerned.

Klaus' attention was diverted as Clara spoke again. "It's alright," she was saying. "You don't have to say anything if you don't want. But I'll always be your friend."

"H-Hart…"

Klaus could imagine his brother's face, scarlet, as he tried to respond to Clara's unabashed offer of friendship.

"I'll try to answer your question," Clara added, kindly sparing Elias further comment. Klaus heard her take a deep breath, and to his disgust, he found himself holding his own, before he forced himself to breathe normally again.

There was a short silence. Klaus pictured the way Clara thought - the little furrow in her brow, and the way she sometimes fidgeted with the tips of her bunny ear pigtails.

"I didn't realize at first," she began. "I didn't realize until I thought there was no way we could be together. And then it hurt, so badly. I always thought love would be a happy feeling…but it's not. It makes happy things happier, and sad things sadder. And with Klaus…" Clara paused for a long moment. "I didn't realize until I knew the way he really was."

"What do you mean?" Elias prompted, his tone cautiously curious.

Clara hummed thoughtfully. "A lot of people act a certain way, but after you get to know them, you realize whether they're truly a nice person or not. Like you," she giggled. "You're kind of hard to approach at first, but you're really very nice. You help me with a lot of things."

"It's n-nothing," Elias muttered, and she laughed.

"See? But Klaus is like that too," she continued. "I thought for a long time that he was just mean and sadistic. But then I realized that even though he likes to tease me, he's not a bad person inside. He cares a lot. And he believes in me, no matter how badly I fail sometimes. He's always believed in me. And when I know he believes in me," she breathed. "I feel invincible."

Something in Klaus' chest staggered, and he was forced to close his eyes. In the darkness he was suddenly confronted with an image that he'd pictured many times before – Clara, protecting the unicorn, every bit of her fledgling magic straining to maintain her spell. How she'd clung to his words – Wait for me – and bought herself every possible second, scaling the heights of her own courage, all because she trusted him with her own life.

"Once I saw the real, true Klaus," she concluded, "that's when I knew."

Invincible.

Klaus pondered the word over a cup of Assam tea later that afternoon in his office. The more he thought about it, the more it was so utterly Clara to say something as dramatic and unrealistic, and yet terrifyingly genuine.

If she said it, it had to be true. Invincible. He would remember it forever.

And how did she make him feel?

It was ironic, Klaus reflected, because she made him feel utterly the opposite way. Vulnerable, like he had a living, breathing piece of his own heart running around outside his body, where she could be hurt by her own uncontrolled magic, or attacked by demons, or whisked away through time. Fallible, like how he'd been when faced with a barrier spell that separated them, but that he couldn't overcome because he'd been – for the first time in his life – truly and utterly afraid.

But she was right. Love made happy things happier, and sad things sadder. And now, he could never imagine his life without the vicissitudes of emotion she wrought within him – good and bad.

There was a knock on his door. At his word, Clara pushed her way inside, stopping short as he rose to walk towards her. "Klaus? What's going on? Ooh - !"

Her words were suddenly muffled as he kissed her.

"What was that for?" she asked, when they separated.

"Are you complaining?"

"N-No!" She blushed, looking down at the floor briefly. "But, Klaus…"

"Because I wanted to," he said evenly. "Now leave your knapsack in here. We're going out."

"We are?" Her expression brightened with incredulity. "Where?"

"You'll see. It's a treat."

He hid a smile as she crowed with joy. Ever since falling in love with Clara, Klaus had mentally re-catalogued all the places he knew, labeling each one date-worthy or otherwise. Clara was so sheltered and yet so genuine in all her reactions that it was always a delight taking her anywhere.

He was pretty sure she would love this place.

"Klaus?" Clara was suddenly looking a little nervous again. "Why, all of a sudden? Is there something special I forgot?" She fidgeted, nibbling on her lip.

The temptation to tease her was there but he refrained, this time. "No," he answered. "Can't a man take his girlfriend out just because he wants to?"

"Is that…okay?"

"Yes," he said. And as she flushed with joy, he thought, because you deserve it.