Luther stood in the window, watching her leave. She put a couple of suitcases in her taxi, Luther knew that she hadn't taken money, didn't have a job. She didn't need any of that. She leaned close to the taxi's driver and the familiar glaze went over his eyes. Luther couldn't see it from this far way. But he still knew. She looked back to his window, and then she got in the taxi. He watched her disappear, his heart seemed to be broken. There was a strange empty feeling in his chest. He walked out of his room. It was almost lunch time. It was strange, Diego and Vanya had both vanished in the middle of the night, gone at breakfast and his father had never mentioned it again, just like he had never mentioned Five again, the portrait had just appeared about two weeks after Five had left.
So he went to lunch, stood behind his chair waiting for his father to come in. He stood behind his chair. His father never came in. He stood there, rigid, trying not to feel anything. He waited, surely his father would come, surely Klaus would come… Or maybe he wouldn't, maybe he was gone too, he hadn't seen him in five days, maybe he wasn't coming back either. Luther stood there for three hours, trying not to turn his head, but he kept on looking, hoping his Dad or Klaus would come in.
Finally Pogo came into the room. "Master Luther, your father is not coming to Lunch, you may go."
Luther nodded. "Thank you, Sir."
Pogo nodded, watching him with his sad eyes. Luther walked away. Unsure where to go, Pogo had not given him an instruction, only told him to go. His father was not coming to oversee training. Pogo had not told him his father's orders. For one insane second he thought about calling a taxi and following Allison. He went to Klaus's room on the off chance his brother had come home, he wasn't there, he could be in the bathroom, taking one of his three hour long baths, but he would come back here if he was. Luther should stay, he should tell his brother when he got back that Allison was gone. He began doing push ups on his brother's floor. Wishing his brother would come back.
Finally his arms were aching and hardly able to hold him up anymore, it was dark outside and had long been. He fell asleep on Klaus's floor, hoping he would wake up to his brother tripping over him.
He didn't, he woke up on the floor with the sun shining through the windows. He looked up at his brother's bed, but it was still empty and untouched.
He went down to breakfast, this time he only stood waiting for fifteen minutes before Pogo appeared and told him to take his breakfast in the kitchen with Grace, his father was taking his breakfast in his study.
He went to the kitchen, Grace served him a plate of food. He ate it Mechanically. Was his father going to come out to train him?
He went to his lessons, Pogo arrived to teach them. After a couple of hours, Luther finally worked up the courage to ask his question. "Why isn't Dad here?"
"Your Father is busy today."
A lump formed in Luther's throat. Busy. He had never been too busy for their lessons before. But he was busy. Pogo had said. Luther had to believe, he must have some work to do, maybe because of his siblings leaving. He threw his energy back into his lessons.
It was three days later when Klaus finally showed up, wearing nothing but a skirt, sopping wet, and almost falling over walking into Luther's room.
He giggled "Brother! How are you?"
Luther unattached the wires from his head, hoping his father wouldn't be mad at him. But his father hadn't spoken to him since Allison had left, and his brother was finally back, and it was just as important to tell him about Allison leaving. Right?
"I'm good, Klaus. How are you?"
Klaus giggled again "I'm so great! It's raining, and the guy that I thought I was leaving with picked up another guy at the last moment."
"Were you wearing that skirt out there? That's dangerous. Someone could...take advantage of you." He had heard Allison tell him that before, she usually dealt with more of Klaus's emotions than he did, he was better at physically taking care of his siblings.
"That's kinda the idea." Klaus smiled at him. And Luther chose not to think about his words too much, he didn't like anything they could mean. Luther crossed to Klaus and put a hand on his arm to steady him. He was cold. He must have been out in the rain for a while.
"You should take a hot bath."
"I'm fine, I'm fine." Klaus waved his hand. Luther lifted him gently, he didn't fight, just laughed and leaned into him. "You're warm."
"You're getting my shirt wet." Luther said, but there was no malice. He was just happy he had finally come back.
He carried him to the bathroom, set him down and turned on the tap for him. Trying to guess the right temperature, it was hard for him to know, with this tough skin, what was right for those without his strength, but he had gotten pretty good at it since Klaus had gotten higher and had often needed reminders that it was their scheduled cleaning time.
He felt the water go over his hand and knew he was delaying the inevitable, he would have to tell him about Allison leaving. She and Klaus had been almost as close as he had been with her… he was sure he wouldn't take it well. He looked at Klaus, who was staring off into the air and laughing again as though he had just heard a great joke… maybe he wasn't capable of feeling anything right now.
"Klaus is this cool enough? Klaus!"
Klaus looked over, and half crawled over. Sticking his arm in up to his elbow. "Yeah, that's good."
Luther felt a small sense of pride that he had managed to get something right. "Good. Jump in then. Don't get your clothes more wet."
Klaus waved a hand over himself. "Kinda hard to do, Cap."
Luther didn't respond. He hadn't really thought that out before saying that. He watched Klaus strip and get in the tub. Checking his brother over for injuries, but there was nothing other than a couple of bruises that he could have gotten anywhere.
Klaus didn't say anything for a quarter hour. Finally he looked over "What are you still doing here?"
Luther realized he usually left Klaus alone while he bathed, and this was strange behavior. He just had been relieved to see him again. "Allison left." He said finally.
Klaus stared at him for a minute. "That would do it." He pulled his jacket over, and pulled two cigarettes and a lighter out, offering one to Luther. Luther shook his head " Dad says we aren't allowed to smoke."
Klaus snorted "Fine." He threw one back on his jacket and lit his.
"Dad says you aren't allowed to do that." Luther said again. But Klaus ignored him.
Luther could take the cigarette away, on any other day he probably would have. But he just watched his brother instead. Finally Klaus looked at him " Dad told you you weren't allowed to leave then? Told you you couldn't run off and marry Allison? You aren't allowed to do that too? Dad said so right?"
Luther ignored the stab. But it hurt. He blocked his mind against any unwanted images of himself marrying Allison that tried to enter. He stared at Klaus. "When was the last time you ate?"
"When was the last time you thought for yourself? Don't tell me you stayed for little old me?"
"I'll make you a sandwich." Luther said, getting up and leaving his brother.
Klaus vanished again a couple of days later, their father saying nothing about his arrival or departure. They took their meals in the kitchen now, and Luther didn't let himself wonder why that was. Pogo had taken over teaching their lessons, which Klaus had not attended one of, Luther didn't push him. He was glad to have him to talk to at all. Pogo had a habit of letting him out of lessons early, so he would spend that time with Klaus. They were polar opposites and had always been, Klaus sought out attention and set things on fire for fun. Luther had always wished to stay out of the limelight. The interviews and parties that had been part of the umbrella academy, had always been painful and awkward for him. He had just stood close to Allison, letting her do the talking while smiling at people.
But out of necessity, as the only two left, they now spent their time together. At first they talked about Allison, their mutual friend, as it gave them something to talk about. But it hurt Luther too much to talk about her for long. Klaus either figured that out, or it hurt him to talk about her as well, or something. Because they stopped talking about her, about any of their siblings, they pretended they didn't exist.
Klaus was always redecorating his room, sometimes it was something small he had brought from outside, sometimes it was a piece of furniture from somewhere else in the house, once he knocked down the whole wall between his and Vanya's room because he felt like it. Luther helped him any way he could. He was taller than his brother, and much stronger, and was often able to take most of the work out of Klaus's fancies.
Luther would ask him questions about what he did outside the academy. Klaus would answer. Although Luther often felt like things were being kept from him. Like Klaus was deliberately leaving things out, and he didn't know why.
Klaus talked to himself more than he used to, Luther would walk in after being released from a training that had finished early. (As almost all of Pogo's did) and see him talking to the air. Luther never asked him about it, he didn't want him to leave as well. He never brought up Ben again for the same reason. He feared his brother deciding he was too annoying, deciding he was better off on the streets than with Luther trying to get him off drugs. Luther also knew that Klaus was having as hard as time coping with Ben's death as well, so he didn't bring him up.
It was a couple of months before Klaus showed up, wearing his uniform for a mission. Luther was shocked to see him, he had been going on missions alone since Allison's departure. Klaus was usually out when missions were called, and hadn't turned up when he was around.
"No." Luther said, almost automatically, although he had never given it thought before now. Blocking him from going into their father's office.
Klaus blinked "What? I'm your backup."
"No, you aren't. You're a liability."
"I want to help you!"
"No, you haven't been going to lessons, you haven't been practicing, and you're drunk."
"I'm more than drunk." Klaus said. Luther knew, he just didn't like saying.
"I should take care of you! You're my brother! You're going off! Into danger!" Klaus protested.
"I need to take care of you. I'm Number One. You're safer here, anyway, Dad only called me, he didn't call you."
Klaus looked hurt, very hurt, but Luther didn't let himself dwell on it, he was safer here. He couldn't protect him by himself, and he wasn't sober enough to be anything but a liability.
Klaus had vanished by the time Luther got back from the mission, he didn't see him again for almost a month, by that point he had wished he had brought him, sure he could have protected him and done the mission if he had just tried hard enough.
Time continued to pass, a strange blur. Luther's lessons grew shorter, and then stopped altogether. He found ways to train himself, keep himself fit for the next mission. It was practically the only time he ever saw his father, when receiving his orders for a mission or debriefing after a mission, and very, very rarely, he would see his father walking through the academy. His father would wave to him, and they would go sit under the oak in silence. They did not used to sit in silence, when he was younger his father would talk to him, tell him how to be a leader, but now they sat in silence, and his father barely seemed to know he was there. But at least he was there, at least there was still this.
He talked to Pogo when Pogo wasn't busy, about books and science and everything else, they talked about ideas and theories. Pogo was his favorite person to be around most of the time.
He talked to Mom as well, but Mom still treated him like he was a child, and he no longer felt like a child, so it was difficult to be around her, so as much as he loved her, he rarely spent much time around her outside of meal times.
Klaus, he sought out whenever he reappeared, he made sure he ate and warmed up and asked him for stories about what he did, but as the months and then years slipped by, he saw less and less of Klaus.
He found himself talking to the statue of Ben every now and again, he wasn't sure why, he just needed something to break up the lonely monotony of his days.
Klaus hadn't come back, he always counted the days he was gone, and became concerned when it went over two months, then three, four, six, eight...it had been over a year, when like everyday, he pushed opened the doors to his siblings rooms and no one was there, it clicked in his brain that this time, Klaus wasn't coming back. No amount of hope would make him, his brother didn't care to visit him anymore.
He went down to breakfast, but rather than go to breakfast, he eyed the liquor cabinet. But he shook his head, Dad said he wasn't allowed to drink. He got out a gallon of milk. He would raid the fridge later, eat until he puked, he grabbed his bike and rode around the living room.
The intercom broke through his moping. Calling him on a mission, he leaned the bike against the wall, put the jug on the table. Changed and reported to his father. Something caught his attention as off this time though. And against logic he spoke.
"You don't have to call me by number anymore."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm the only one left."