Had we not been racing after our sisters to prevent them from falling victim to a murderer, this drive honestly would have been pretty peaceful. Somehow, all of my brothers had fallen asleep except Klaus, who bounced his head around from looking out the window to meeting my eyes in the rear view mirror. On occasion, he'd start talking to what looked like absolute nothingness, babbling on about 'bad ideas' and 'safety', just quiet enough that I could only make out every few words. All our other siblings thought him to be off his rocker, simply speaking to the demons jumping around in his brain, but after what he said yesterday about conjuring, I sort of figured out what was going on. Although part of me begged to just leave it and let him be happy, I also wanted the truth confirmed. It would put me more at ease than never knowing.

"Klaus?" He snapped his head forward suddenly, staring at me with all the direction of a deer caught in headlights. Cautiously, as though I would bite if he got too close, he leaned forward, putting his head between the two front seats. "Who are you talking to?" His gaze moved back a bit, looking at the empty set of seats in the way back. Maybe he'd admit to it first, I didn't want him to feel like I was calling him out and put him in an awkward position.

"Huh? Oh, uh... just myself. You know, you are the best company you keep."

Oh well.

I sighed and smiled at him, shaking my head as I used the mirror to look him in the eyes. His brows raised once he noticed me staring right at him, and he squirmed a little.

"Klaus, I know Ben is with you." Slowly, his posture began to relax, and he now looked fervently between me and the back seats, where I assumed Ben must have been sitting. "I wasn't sure for a while, but after you talked about conjuring people, I realized you were never talking to yourself. You've been talking to Ben this whole time, right?"

"Well, sometimes I am talking to myself. He comes in and out, but his presence is always there." I nodded slowly, following along with what he was saying while watching the road. "I don't know why he's the one that's always with me, but... he is. I can't conjure anyone else without being sober, and then they just don't go away." His voice started to croak a little, the painful memories of our childhood flooding back to him quickly.

"I know, I know," I whispered, trying to keep him from breaking down and waking the others up. If they were able to fall asleep when the situation was this dire, they needed it. "What Dad made you do, locking you away for that long... it's the work of a monster. I obviously wasn't happy about it, but... I understand why you did what you did for so many years."

"It wasn't the best option, and I know that... it just got so hard." He took a deep breath, controlling himself this time. "He only talks to me when I'm sober, though. Otherwise, he just sort of sits there, slumped and brooding like Five." I laughed a little as he pointed toward my little brother, somehow managing to look angry even in his sleep.

"Is he why you decided to get clean all of a sudden?" Klaus' expression crumpled, and it took me a minute to realize I'd struck a completely different nerve- one he'd barely mentioned to me, but I should have remembered. "Oh... oh, God, Klaus, I'm-"

"No, no, it's fine, Mina," he squeaked out. We both remained quiet for another moment, stirring the awkward moment, before I mustered up the courage to ask.

"What was his name?" Klaus' eyes went wide again as he moved from looking at me in the mirror to looking at my actual person.

"You know?" I smiled at him as I slowed for a stop sign.

"You called me one night when you were high off your ass and left me a voicemail about being pan when I was in one of my shows. So between that, and the dog tags you talked about, which are usually associated with members of the army, who are traditionally male, I sort of figured it out on my own."

"Oh yeah..." He smiled almost fondly before coming back to reality. "Well, his name was Dave. We soldiered together in the A Shau Valley... in the Mountain of the Crouching Beast." I hesitated for a moment. A Shau was in Vietnam...

All the pieces started to click together, creating a heartbreaking and traumatizing portrait of where Klaus had traveled to.

"Well, Dave must have been a very special person... to put up with all your weird-ass shit." We both chuckled a little at that, knowing I was just teasing him.

"Yeah. Yeah, he was... He was kind, and strong, and vulnerable, and... beautiful. Beautiful. And I was... foolish enough to follow him all the way to the front line."

"You fought in that shit?" I had to admit, I was impressed.

"Oh, yeah, baby." His smile quickly faded as the memories started to come back.

"How'd they let you do that?"

"Let me? War doesn't take enough bodies. Please... including his." He fell silent, his expression wavering between regret and forcing a smile. He almost looked as though he were forbidding himself from grieving any longer. I couldn't remove my hand from the steering wheel, but if I could, I would have squeezed Klaus' tight.

"You know, Klaus... it's okay to grieve. Just because you have those powers doesn't mean you have to be completely impervious to the idea of death. I'm still afraid of getting electrocuted, when we all know damn well that it's a miracle I haven't done that to myself already, purely on accident." We both broke out into quiet laughter, dissolving some of the sadness and tension of the moment. "I've missed Ben every day of my life, ever since he... left us. It still hurts a little, thinking about the fact he was taken at such a young age. But, after all of that fades, I'm left with some pretty great memories: all those times we all snuck out to Griddy's in the middle of the night, and Ben and I would see who could eat more donuts, all those times he was there for me after Five disappeared, and all the books we would swap... Those are the things I want to remember about him. But it's perfectly fine to be upset and miss him. You can miss Dave, there's no one telling you that you can't. Just don't let it completely overwhelm you." I paused for a moment, allowing my hands to relax on the wheel. "At least you'll get to tell him how much you miss him. And I'm glad Ben is at least with me somehow."

Klaus moved himself further back in the seat, leaning more toward where I assumed Ben was sitting. He nodded his head a bit, occasionally whispering something to him before either laughing or resting his hand on his chest and muttering a small 'aw'. They talked to each other for a while before Klaus came back closer to me, wearing a big, sincere smile.

"He says he's proud of how far you've come, Mina. He's glad Five is back, he missed seeing the two of you together because you make each other less angry." I shook my head at his careful word choice. None of us were ever genuinely happy, but we could at least leave the angst behind for a little while. "And he says he loves you."

I bit down on my tongue, holding back a surge of emotions. I couldn't accurately translate it, and restricted myself from just laughing and throwing my arms up. I took several breaths, attempting to calm myself before speaking again.

"I love all of you guys, too."

"Even Luther?" Klaus gasped, pretending to be surprised.

"Shut it. We all have our differences and squabbles- like, all the time. But you guys were all I had growing up. Besides, at the end of the day, you're my brothers, and I wouldn't have wanted to grow up with anyone else."

Just as I finished saying that, Five opened his eyes and sat up a little, grunting in pain. I spared a glance at him, smirking as he blinked and attempted to remember where the hell he was.

"Speaking of brothers... how was your nap, Sleeping Beauty?" I taunted.

"Mina, I swear to God, I'll kick your ass."

"Yeah, okay, sure," I mocked, flashing him a cheesy grin.

"Remind me why I put up with you again?" He snapped. Clearly, post-nap Five wasn't any more agreeable than Five with no sleep whatsoever.

"Because I'm your sister, so you have to."

"Damn, Mina, that's harsh." I looked back in the mirror to see Diego and Luther sitting up as well. The latter accidentally bumped against Klaus as he attempted to adjust himself. He just barely fit in the car to begin with, and forcing him to cram in with two of his brothers in the back didn't help at all.

"It's the same argument for all of you. Besides, I'm the one driving. You're under my control for now."

"Yeah, speaking of which, can you go any faster?" I rolled my eyes as Luther pushed himself against my seat, making me feel slightly claustrophobic. Five turned and glared at his brother.

"Ask her again, and I'll burn you with a cigarette lighter," he threatened.

"I can handle myself, Five," I warned.

The last amounts of pink and blue in the sky completely disappeared as we pulled onto the back roads, carefully weaving through the woods. I could feel my heart rate start to spike as the looming trees began to clear out, making way for the pathway to a cabin tucked away in the middle. As much as I hated the thought, if someone wanted to take Vanya and kill her, this would be the perfect place. I slammed on the breaks as we came up close to the porch, causing all my brothers to lurch forward as I turned the car off. We all threw open our doors and rushed up to the wooden stairs, but a glint in the moonlight caught my eye. While Diego, Klaus, and Luther rushed inside, I wandered over to the side of the house, my eyes widening in horror as they rested on what glistened a moment ago.

"Five!" I screamed, summoning my brother over. He looked annoyed at first, until his eyes rested on the corpse wrapped up in a black trash bag. We both just stood there in a shocked silence, unsure of what to do with this. Should we tell the police? Should we just leave it? No doubt that even if she had nothing to do with it, Vanya staying with Harold here would pin her.

"Allison! No!"

Five and I glanced at each other before rushing up into the cabin, joining the rest of our brothers. We found Luther crouched on the floor, covering whatever it was he was crying over. Carefully, I dared to peer over his shoulder, and when I did, I nearly got sick. A deep slash ran across Allison's throat, drips of blood still occasionally falling out. Her pristine, white shirt had now been tainted by the liquid, soaking through and turning it dark red. Occasionally, her eyes twitched and she let out a raspy breath, as though she were trying to speak to us.

Regret washed over me as my hand flew to my mouth, clamping tight down on it as though it would silence my sobs. If I hadn't insisted no staying back out of my own paranoia, this could have been prevented... Maybe I could have saved her, or taken her place.

My body collapsed into a nearby chair, refusing to move even after my brothers helped get Allison up and into the car. I could hear the echoes of Five trying to urge me up, but nothing could make me move from here. It felt like I was now part of the chair as I wheezed and choked on sobs, struggling to breathe. Eventually, he managed to yank my arm hard enough to get me to stand, and as I stared at the blood stains on the carpet, he led me out into the car and into the passenger seat.

Swiftly, Five buckled my seat belt for me and climbed into the driver's side. I didn't bother to chastise him this time, an officer would see the scene and understand. All I could think about was how I could have saved her, how I could have come with her...

This was all my fault.