"Good morning, umbrellas." A familiar voice chirped once the door was opened. Zero steps inside with a plate of sandwiches. "Breakfast!" They each take a piece, and no one's surprised anymore to see that the kinds of sandwiches they each like were made available.
They don't openly thank her (Klaus usually just dives into a story or asks a random question, Vanya sometimes nods her head in acknowledgment, but they don't actually say the words) because Five has managed to, at least, drill it into their heads that she is, no matter how accommodating, one of their captors. They can take the food and even request some of what they actually like because there's no use starving, but they don't have to go as far as thanking her. She'll get thanked if she actually lets all of them out.
"So, I've managed to book another tour for one of you guys." Diego looks up to see the rest of his siblings also visibly hanging onto each word she's saying. He thinks there needs to be another discussion later on what Five once said about her possibly training them, like one does to dogs, to respond positively to her. But for now, they listen.
She shot a glare at Five's way. "It could have happened sooner, and at least two of you might have already had the chance to take a breath of fresh air, if only there wasn't a fistfight that got all of that plan scrapped."
Five only rolled his eyes in response.
"Anyway, the lucky tourist today is Klaus." She turned to look at him, who had been unusually quiet the entire time.
"Great!" He exclaimed once he saw her looking. Klaus smiled widely and pretended that he didn't really want to just go to sleep.
For the past four days, since other-Klaus came by, Klaus had been trying to find the stupid 'wisps of light' that was mentioned in the hopes that they might learn something. Other than Ben and Reginald in their newly dead state, Klaus has never actively seeked out ghosts. And he's never done it while sober for over a month now. (Or has it been two? Time flies when you're stuck in a room with your five other siblings.)
Zero didn't show any signs of noticing his hesitation and only picked up the tray of discarded tissues when they were done eating, then signaled the others to move to the back and for Klaus to follow her out.
"Do you want to go to the garden?" She asked once they were in the elevator.
He shrugged. Five had mentioned during one of the sleepless nights in the trapped room ("Prison," Five pressed. "We are in prison." To which Klaus rolled his eyes. "Have you even been to prison, Five?") that they're not completely sure nothing has changed about the place and that they should take the next available opportunity to maybe figure out a bit more about them. Zero's stubborn and always lead them to a dead end whenever they try to grill her about her own siblings that don't even come around anymore.
"Yes." Klaus answered, because not even he could resist a few minutes to fresh air after being trapped for over a month. The lights, company, and, most importantly, lack of powers were the main stoppers to the claustrophobic-themed panic attacks he would have had if things were different. "But just a few minutes. I want to walk around more, even if it's inside."
He noted the raised eyebrow she gave him but she kept silent until they reached the kitchen and dropped off the tray.
"Rita, where are the others?" He asked, looking around at the familiar, yet different, kitchen. The pots and pans were in a different place and, if he's remembering it right, the walls are a shade darker. "Or are you all just this quiet usually."
A beat of silence. "They're out on a mission."
"Wow, you still keep receiving a lot, huh?" He shivered at the thought. "Good thing we stopped, that sounds exhausting."
"Mhm," she hummed distractedly, gently pulling him to the direction of the garden. "Right. When did you start calling me 'Rita'?"
"Did I?" He turned to her with a confused look. She isn't the only one who can act here. Klaus can be pretty good if needed. Example: Five and that eyeball situation on what feels lile decades ago, and the time he was convincing this girl that he did like her, but really, he needed a place to stay for a night and she made great mini pizzas. "I didn't even realize. Klaus — the other-me, when he came down a while back — mentioned you prefer the name anyway."
But, apparently, she's not convinced by his acting if the amused smile she sent him was any indication. "Yeah, true. I had a terrible time with faces and names when I was younger. Adding numbers into the mix just seemed stupid. Thankfully, I grew out of it quickly." She's definitely playing along judging by her tone. Rita knew he was just trying to sneakily find a way to make her talk.
"It looks different." Klaus commented once he stepped out onto the grass, barefoot. "The statue's gone."
"Hmm?"
"The statue." Klaus pointed at the area he knew it to be in. "When Ben died, we had a statue built for him there. He hated it. And it kinda got destroyed last time we were out here." He said with a fond smile.
"Do you miss him?"
Klaus sighed. "You know, he died when we were kids but it never really feel that way. He was always with me ever since the statue was placed there." As he said the words, the empty space in the garden suddenly meant more and felt heavier. With the statue gone, so was Ben. He didn't realize he's been staring at the spot for a while until Rita called him out of his thoughts and felt the slight numb pain on his legs for standing too long.
Rita watched him with a worried frown. "Do you want to go inside instead?" He nodded mutely and took another deep breath of fresh air before following her inside.
"Would you prefer to look around or is there a specific room you have in mind?" Her voice was soft, as if she was being careful around him. A part of him thinks this would be a great time to take advantage of that kindness and figure a way out but it doesn't change the fact that Klaus was never all that good with plans.
Honestly, it should have been Five, or at least Diego, here, but they agree that they lack the camaraderie Klaus has developed with Rita.
"Let's just walk around. You lead the way." He was always better with just 'going with the flow'. "Unless the others are hiding somewhere to ambush me." He made a show of abruptly turning, as if trying to see someone hiding somewhere.
Rita laughed. "No, they're not. I told you — mission. The only one around is Mom, since Dad had other things to do and brought Pogo and Abhijat with him."
"But Mom is a fierce one too." Klaus grinned, as if sharing a joke, and he's proud of keeping it up despite the flash of some sort of emotion on Rita's face that was gone too quickly for him to read. "She once sent me to my room without getting dessert after dinner because I snuck out got back high."
They walked up the stairs and turned to a familiar corridor. "Oh no, poor you."
Klaus nodded solemnly. "It was ice cream day too." His voice remaining steady despite them coming closer to one of his dreaded rooms in the house.
Rita, despite being the darling friend she sometimes proves to be, had this terrible decision to stop right in front of it. "Come on," she said as she pushed through the door, "don't touch anything."
He froze for a second, not really wanting to enter the room, but he caught a glimpse of something bright and it made him push the door open more.
What he remembered to be the smallest and darkest room in the house with tall ceilings, dark floors, and walls that barely accommodated the space he actually needed to even sit on the floor (really, it was more like a closet, a really tall, but tight, closet), was now brightened up a bit with walls painted pale colors and even a mural on one side. There were different colors of scented candles scattered around and a cabinet with a ouija board, tarot card decks, and other psychic, ghostly stuff Klaus had grown to be familiar with and dislike. His training room of bad memories had turned into a place that looked like someone actually lives in it.
"What is this room?"
"What?" Rita asked, distracted by some books she's pulling from the small table at the corner. If he's seeing correctly, it was a bunch of I Spy and Magic Eye books. "Klaus' training room. Was yours not here?" She mumbled in question as she checked over the books in her arms once more before looking at him and finally noticing the terrified and confused look in his face.
She pursed her lips. "I think I keep bringing you to places you don't want to be." She adjusted the books and walked towards him. "How about we go around and you just tell me what room you know was there and if you're good to go inside?"
They walked out of the room, Klaus in a bit of a daze once more until he realizes they're not in the corridor of training rooms anymore. "Do you know what's in this room?" She stopped at a door, waiting for him to respond.
"Just some random stuff." Klaus struggled to recall. "Storage, I think? Books?"
She smiled. "Yeah, that makes sense." The door was opened to reveal a room with dark blue walls. Despite it's dark color, the room looked cool and relaxing, especially with the gray colors splashed about, like the pillows on the bed by the wall.
Rita walked to the bedside table and placed the books down. "Klaus always steals these books from me. Then he circles on the I Spy books and makes them useless. A terror, really."
"This is your room." Klaus realized in wonder.
Rita hummed and looked back at him still standing by the door. "Don't be shy. Come in, I'll even give you a tour."
He stepped further inside and looked around at the carpet and the weird blotted pictures (that Klaus recognizes to be the ones shown as some sort of psychology test) framed and displayed across the walls. There's two other doors, and one was slightly opened to show a small bathroom.
Rita must have seen him looking curiously at the other door. "That's my office." She opened the door to reveal a small room and stopped him from entering. "Sorry, I'm really against anyone entering this part. None of my siblings got in and out without consequences."
"Oh," he stepped back and only looked inside. The walls were gray in there, with several dark blue pieces around, like the opposite of the actual bedroom part of the room. Most notably, the walls were all shelves filled with books that looks like it came from different fields of studies, based on the titles. "You're really into psychology, huh?" Klaus asked, noticing the one shelf in particular filled with books related to psychology and some still left on the desk.
"Yup," Rita leaned on the doorframe, looking into the office as well. "It's the first doctorate I got, and I always found it interesting. Do you know about color psychology?" She gestured to the walls. "I went with gray because it means neutrality and balance. And then there's indigo which is the color of intuition and perception. Very fitting for psychology, I think."
"Have you been analyzing us?"
She shrugged. "It's not like I can help it. I grew up a Hargreeves child, no matter how late I was adopted in. I first showed interest in psychology on my first year living in this house, and dad kinda made me use what I learned around here." Rita sighed. "I told you, I'm kinda like the group's therapist or psychologist at times. I shouldn't be, but I am qualified."
Klaus furrowed his eyebrows. "So, you've been manipulating your siblings?"
"Is it manipulating if you're just helping resolve problems peacefully?" She watched him with a blank face. "There'd be a lot to unpack in that, so let's talk about something else." She wrapped a hand around his arm and gently, but surely, pulled him out of the room. "I think we should get a bandaid or something for your brother."
"Five?" Klaus asked. "He says he's fine."
"Yeah, sure." She rolled her eyes as they walked the familiar path to the clinic that Klaus knew Pogo would bring them to for check-ups when they were younger. "I saw the small cuts on his knuckles and his face. I still can't believe the two idiot Fives decided to beat each other up."
"Is your Five healed now? If I'm remembering correctly, our Five did a pretty good job and won." Klaus said rather smugly.
Rita shot him an amused look as they entered the room and she went to the area of supplies. (Klaus did a quick check to see if there's anything at all he could steal to maybe help them, but this place was cleaner than their version. Not even a stray scalpel lying around.) "He got better medical attention, so there's barely even a mark on him anymore."
"Wow, favoritism?"
She looked and pointed at him. "Intruders."
Klaus shook his head. "Technically, this is our house, too."
"You didn't even recognize the past rooms we've been to."
"Yeah, but I bet I can get the rest correct."
Rita watched him with a calculating look before smiling and returning to rummaging for some bandaids. "Right, where's Pogo's room?"
"Just around the corner," Klaus answered, pointing back at the door they entered through. "He's usually around here, so his room is the closest."
Rita nodded. "Where's dad's office?"
"Third floor." Came the automatic answer. "Left wing. Away from everyone's rooms and training rooms so he doesn't get bothered when he wants to forget he has children." He saw Rita narrow her eyes at his sarcastic tone before moving on.
"Right. Where's his lab?"
Klaus rolled his eyes. "We're obviously here."
She stared at him for a second before slowly shaking her head and walking towards him. "No, Klaus. This is the clinic. The med bay. For when any of you are sick. The hospital of the house, whatever you want to call it. But this isn't the lab."
"Oh," Klaus thought for a moment then snapped his fingers. "Trick question. Dad doesn't have a lab."
She tilted her head. "Does that make sense to you?" Her tone was soft and casual, but the look she's giving him made Klaus think there's more to it. "Sir Reginald Hargreeves, known eccentric billionaire and scientist, yet he doesn't have a lab in his own house."
Klaus furrowed his eyebrows. That… Yeah, it doesn't make sense. But no matter how much he tried to search his memories, there's not a single lab, other than the training rooms and the clinic they stood in now. "Maybe he doesn't have one in our version." Rita hummed, accepting his excuse but obviously not believing it. Klaus can't believe his own words easily as well, if he had to be honest.
(But there's no lab?)
"Alright, it's time to take a walk back." Rita interrupted the silence and gently tugs at his arm. He doesn't even realize he's staring into space, trying to recall any possibility of a lab.
"Klaus?" She called his name, and suddenly they're by the stairs already. He was stuck in his mind again. (Not a single memory of a lab? Was there really not one?) "What if I give you something else to think about? Another question?"
He nodded absentmindedly, thoughts still running on how the lab thing just doesn't make sense.
"Okay, hmm." She paused in thought, watching him closely. "What's on the floor above the training rooms?"
He turned to her with a confused expression. "Above the training rooms?"
"Yeah," Rita spoke slowly. "The training rooms take up two floors, that's why each of them has high ceilings. But it starts at the second floor and ends at the third." She explained, moving her hands around to make it easier to understand. "This is a mansion. Definitely over four floors, not counting the attic. What's on the fourth floor above the corridor of training rooms?"
Klaus' brain stopped at her words. How could he not have any idea of what was there? As far as he knew, the training rooms may look different, but they were still in the same location. Everything Rita said about the floors and how much the training rooms occupy is true. He knows for a fact there's a fourth floor. And a fifth. And an attic. He remembers sneaking into a bunch of the many rooms, finding a way to sneak out. There was a time when they would run around the house playing hide and seek when Dad wasn't home. How can Klaus not have any memory of what was in that specific place?
The right wing of the fourth floor is off-limits and do not exist, as far as you're concerned. Do not enter the rooms in the right wing of the fourth floor.
"Klaus." Rita's voice snapped him out of his thoughts once more and brought him to reality. "Oh god, here." She takes out a handkerchief from her pocket and pressed it at his nose before lightly guiding his head to tilt forward. She tugged at his arm, motioning for him to sit on the floor.
"What?" Klaus pulled back slightly and caught sight of the red staining the gray handkerchief. "Nosebleed?"
She hummed in response, a worried look in her eyes. "Let's just wait for a moment and then you go back and take a rest. Does anywhere else hurt?"
"My head," he replied, then shrugged. "I think I'm just a bit overwhelmed."
She raised an eyebrow. "Somehow, I don't think you're one to easily get overwhelmed." But she didn't push and they sat in silence for a few minutes, waiting for the nosebleed to stop.
"Feel better now?" She asked when he pulled the handkerchief away. Rita took the bloodied cloth without a word and stuffed it back in her pocket. "Maybe we shouldn't have walked around much."
"Yeah," Klaus agreed half-heartedly, knowing that that isn't the reason. Saying that his head hurts from thinking is probably just going to be subject to teasing, and he doesn't really feel like it. (Where the fuck is the lab and what rooms were above the training rooms?)
They were silent as they walked back, which is pretty uncommon between them since they usually have a thing or two to talk about ever since they met (ever since we were imprisoned, Klaus could hear Five correcting his words). Soon, they were stepping out of the elevator without him realizing he got in it in the first place.
"Klaus," her tone still soft, eyebrows furrowed in concern as she calls his attention again. "Are you okay now?"
Klaus smiled at her. "Yeah, Rita. Thanks for worrying. Would you let my siblings and I out? I think I'd feel much better."
Rita sighed with a sad smile of her own. "Sorry. We're still on a no for that one." They continue walking down the hallway again, Klaus could see the right turn to the room they stay in, but he froze for a second then catches up to Rita before she notices anything.
There's a ghost.
A boy, a young teenager, with brown hair, brown eyes, and the paleness that death brings enveloping his skin.
Rita stopped in front of the metal door and was already motioning for the others to move back. Klaus had to snap himself out of his surprised state before she might ask him about it and maybe figure something out.
"You sure you're okay?" Rita asked from the outside as he stepped in. "Tell me if you need anything next time I come around. Or if it's urgent, you can pretty much just scream and Abhijat will let me know."
Klaus forced a grin on his face, and he maybe Rita bought it despite his heart speeding up because of the blur of a ghost standing by the hallway, half of his body peeking into the room. "Aww, thanks Rita. You're an absolute angel. I'm gonna go get some rest now."
She nodded in response and locked the door before leaving. Klaus breathed out shakily the moment he's sure she's at least past the elevator.
"Klaus?" Allison asked, noticing his panicked state.
He doesn't realize his siblings were closing in on him because all of his focus is on the hallway where he last saw the child. He blinked hard once, twice, thrice before a voice snapped him out of it again.
"Klaus!" He's pulled back to face his brother, Diego, with a firm hold on his shoulders. "What happened?"
Vanya placed a hand on Diego's arm, calming him down, and looked at Klaus. "Are you… Are you seeing something? Someone?"
"A ghost?" Five asked eagerly. "Did she give you your abilities back, like Vanya?"
Klaus shook his head. "No, but there was a ghost there. He points back at the hallway. "A kid, like other-me mentioned. And I saw him. Not now, but he was just there. Staring."
Luther stepped towards the door, looking out as if being closer lets him see what Klaus could. "Do you think he could help us?"
"Are ghosts trustworthy?" Five leveled Klaus with a look. "Based on past experience."
Klaus harshly breathed out again, dreading to dig up his past memories but doing it anyway. "It depends. They can still act like people and be unpredictable. The best case is if you can be sure what their reason for staying is. Then, you can know what they're trying to do and if you can trust them."
"So," Allison started. "If you can try to talk to the kid, find out their motives?"
"We can get more information on the Sparrow Academy." Five nodded. "At least, Reginald Hargreeves."
"What if he's just a kid that died way before this place was built?" Vanya asked.
"Maybe we can convince it—him," Diego corrected, "to help us find a way out."
"That kid is related to the Sparrow Academy." Klaus broke their discussion with a whisper.
Five narrowed his eyes. "How do you know?"
"The uniform he was wearing." Klaus looked back at the hallway. There's no sign of the kid, but he's sure of what he saw. "It had the symbol of a sparrow stitched on it."
"Oh." Luther said. "Then we really have to talk to him."
"But he's not there right now." Klaus shook his head to focus before turning back to his siblings. "I do have another question though. Do any of you remember if dad had a lab in our house?"