Thanks if you've read this far! I love hearing your feedback on this story. I only cry a little bit recieving constructive criticism, so feel free to send it my way :P Also, I would love if anyone took the time to check out my other works, including The Violin's Treble (a what-if of Vanya and Leonard's relationship containing lots of good Vanya and Five sibling moments) and Marvel High (another high school Avengers AU no one asked for). Both fics plus this one are ongoing. Happy reading!

Five had said that they would regroup after dinner and talk with all of their new knowledge of this world and the heroes living in it. However, immediately after arriving back at their room and being told by Allison that Vanya had woken up for a bit, they all crashed into a deep sleep. Allison, Vanya, and Ben all squeezed together on the bed; though given the mattress size, it wasn't very hard. Klaus slept sprawled across an armchair, much to the displeasure of Ben, who'd said that it couldn't possibly be comfortable. The rest of them slept on cots that had been brought up sometime while they were at dinner.

Maybe there was some truth in Ben's words, as he was finding it hard to get to sleep. But he was going to be stubborn and credit it to everything else that had happened.

On the contrary, the events of today (was it still technically today?) had the opposite effect on his dear siblings, who were out as soon as their heads hit the pillows.

He sat up in the chair, wincing as it creaked. Thankfully, no one woke. He looked around, the array of cots and people sleeping in such close proximity vaguely reminded him of his days in the army. He knew better than to look for Dave's cot.

He was sober - maybe he could talk to Dave? The idea complicated in his mind as he thought of what that meant. The ghosts in this world were different. With the exception of Pietro, who'd seemed like a fairly friendly spirit, he'd not spoken to any of them. The rest of them, the bad ones especially, didn't appear to know that he could hear them. Of course it was only a matter of time before he accidentally spoke to one, or made eye contact, or did anything to alert them of his unfortunate abilities. Then they would flock to him once more.

Since this world had different ghosts, it was entirely possible that Dave just wasn't here.

He wasn't going to try only to get disappointed. There was no point making such a ruckus in the spiritual realm if he wasn't there. All of his questions could be hashed out with Five in the morning.

But until then, there was no way he was going to sleep. He stood, taking a look at his siblings all curled up before walking out into the hall. He silently shut the door behind him.

He got about halfway down the hall when the voice in the walls asked, "Hello, Klaus. May I give you directions anywhere?"

Klaus shrugged, but didn't really know if the robot lady could see him. So he answered aloud, "Thank but no thanks; I'm going to wander around aimlessly for a bit."

"As you wish."

He continued down the hall, opting to take the staircase rather than the elevator.

He just went where his legs took him, peering into any open doors and just exploring while lost inside his own head. He didn't know where he was going, but as he walked past a door left ajar he could hear AC/DC coming from inside. Never one to pass up a party, he entered.

He found himself in a brightly lit lab, the sounds of someone tinkering away barely audible over the music. The person hard at work he identified as Tony Stark.

He hadn't been noticed yet, so he took a seat on the opposite side of the lab in a swivel chair, kicking back and tapping his foot to the song. If he were Five, or Luther, or any of his other more responsible siblings, he might have been observing everything in the lab and trying to learn everything he could about their new housemates. However he was Klaus, and the last word anyone would ever use to describe him would be 'responsible.' Along with 'sane,' or 'straight.' So he just enjoyed the music on this sleepless night in a land far, far from home.

His moment was disturbed when his elbow hit a tray, sending it and a bunch of other tiny metal objects clattering to the floor. He froze, his eyes darting to the only other person in the room. Tony would surely notice that.

And notice he did, as the man jumped and spun around to face him. Their eyes met, Klaus' own wide with apprehension. Did he really care what these people thought of him? Not really. Did he care what Five would do to him if he got them kicked out of this place or worse? Little bit.

But Tony, upon realizing it was one of his adoptive delinquents, flashed him a smile. "Hey, what's up?"

Klaus rubbed his arm. "Can't sleep. Heard music and it's unheard of for me to pass on a party."

Tony nodded, and something gave Klaus the idea that he understood. The sleeping thing or the party thing he wasn't sure, or possibly both. "Well, anyone with good taste in music is allowed to hang out down here."

Klaus 'hmm'ed in thanks, relaxing back in the seat he'd taken. He'd noticed the music's volume lowered when they started talking - smart robot lady.

Tony continued to tinker away at whatever he was making while Klaus fiddled with a broken pencil.

Tony eventually spoke, "So, talking to the dead, huh? That's pretty cool."

Klaus laughed dryly. "It sucks," he stated honestly. "God really gave me a big ole 'fuck you.'"

Tony put down whatever he was doing and turned to face him, looking at him in confusion. "How so? I'd think that it would be pretty great to be able to talk to people you've lost after they're gone."

A look briefly graced the older man's features. Klaus knew that look. It was the same look everyone always got when they were imagining all the things they'd say if they had the chance.

He shook his head. "You don't want it - trust me."

"Why not?" The man's tone was curious, like he really wanted to understand. This was a welcome change to all of the times in the past when he'd expressed his hatred for his abilities towards his father. The old man would answer with the same words testingly, daring him to complain further. And if he did, he was usually punished for being ungrateful.

Klaus took a deep breath, exhaling loudly. He guessed he could divulge this information. Sometime during the conversation, he'd folded his legs up in the chair in a position that only he could make look comfortable. "There are nice ghosts, sure. People I've lost that I could still see. But there are a lot of bitter, angry spirits. And when they learn that I'm the only one in the world who can hear them… They don't leave me alone."

Tony looked at him with an unreadable expression. Probably pity and a mix of other sympathies, Klaus thought.

Tony asked, "What do they do?"

"They yell at me, scream my name. Get in my face."

"All the time?" Tony looked horrified.

"Pretty much. They only go away when I'm high or drunk. Speaking of…" Klaus trailed off hopefully.

"No," Tony stated firmly, though he had the decency to look sympathetic about it. "As unique as this case is, I'm not giving alcohol or drugs to a minor."

Klaus coughed. Right. He kept forgetting that he was back in his prepubescent body. He wanted to correct Tony, but another image in his mind of Five jumping him to Antarctica and ditching him there set him straight pretty fast. The southernmost continent was far too cold for the skirt he'd stolen from Allison. Which was back in their universe, anyways. Damn.

"What have you done to try and control it?" Tony asked.

Klaus shrugged. "Well, aside from drugs and drinks-"

"Crack is whack and dope is a nope," Tony interrupted.

The rhyme almost threw Klaus off a beat - not what he'd expected - but he only slightly furrowed his brow as he finished, "Aside from that, dear old dad used to lock me in a mausoleum so I could get over my 'fear of the dark.' Didn't work."

If Tony had looked horrified before, it increased tenfold. "He did what?!"

"Yeah," Klaus chuckled. "They really let just anyone become parents."

Tony didn't laugh at his joke, frowning in thought.

Klaus filled the silence with some more pathetic childhood drama, because why not? He was on a roll, and would gladly take advantage of the free therapy session. "I'm kinda the family disappointment if you haven't noticed. What was it Dad had said? 'You are my greatest disappointment, Number Four.' Really nice fellow, you may have gathered. Mi hermanos and sisters don't really understand the whole hating your powers thing. Except for Ben. Ben gets it." He almost - almost - brought up Vanya but thankfully stopped himself.

Tony finally held up his end of the conversation, saying, "Tomorrow you, me, and Bruce will get together and talk. I can't make any promises, but we'll work on a way for you to be able to control your abilities."

Klaus sat, stunned. He really hadn't expected that. To be honest, Tony Stark had at first given him the same vibe as dad had: egocentric billionaire more concerned with how the world saw him saving the world than actually saving it. Maybe, possibly, Tony had some ulterior motive up his sleeve to helping him out. But helping a kid shut out the dead? There didn't seem to be anything in it for him. That is, if he could actually figure out a way to help him, of which he was doubtful.

Klaus, speechless, only nodded. He half expected Ben to roll his eyes and tell him to say thanks or something, but remembered that Ben wasn't a ghost anymore, and thus was no longer attached to him. He cleared his throat. "Thank you."

Tony waved his hand. "Always need a new project. We'll call up our consultant, too. Make a party of it."

Loki sat in the living room, relaxingly laid across the couch and reading a book under a dim light. The room was quiet - not many people were up at this hour. The exceptions were him (reading), Banner (sitting in the corner writing something), and likely Stark (who just tended to be up at this hour).

Bruce was hunched over several pages, scrawling away some highly-complicated science thing. Loki preferred magic - much more straightforward.

"I can hear the cogs turning from all the way over here," he mumbled quietly. In the silence of the room, he could be heard clearly.

The corner of Bruce's mouth turned upwards slightly. "Why are you here again?"

"My favorite older sibling, not that there's much of a competition, thought it would be best for me to live among the Midgardians and use my second chance to atone for my attempts to subjugate the human race."

Bruce rolled his eyes. "Okay, but why here?"

Bruce didn't actually mind having the Asgardian prince living with them. At least, not as much as he would have a few months ago. Through the events on Sakaar and the ragnarok of Thor's homeworld, he'd gotten used to Loki and his personality type. He was truly a disaster of a person, but most of it could be attributed to his father's lousy parenting skills and many deep personal issues. He certainly no longer feared the god - Hulk didn't, either. Not that either of them would ever admit it, but they were on the same team, together making up one half of the Revengers.

Loki flipped his page. "Evidently Stark loves taking in ex-murderers, ex-assassins… Hasn't everyone here tried to kill him at one point or another?"

Bruce sat silently, processing. "Not everyone," he mumbled, though he knew that the number was unfortunately rather high.

Loki smirked triumphantly and continued to read. The two fell back into their - dare he say companionable? - silence.

He was disturbed from his reading as another person entered the room. It was one of the children. What was his name? Loki racked his brain, not able to come up with anything.

"Ben," Bruce greeted with a gentle smile. "Is everything alright?"

Ah, yes. Ben. Perhaps he should've paid a tad more attention during the introductions than he had. In his defense, he thought these were ordinary Midgardian children Tony had adopted rather than mini Avenger-ettes from another realm as he'd been filled in by the Spider-child later.

Ben was looking rather like a deer caught in the headlights, obviously not having expected to run into anyone. "Um, yeah," Ben looked down at his bare feet. "I mean, no. Have you seen my brother, Klaus?"

"Is he not in your room?" Bruce asked.

Ben shook his head.

Bruce nodded. He barely raised his voice to say, "Hey, Friday? Do you know where Klaus is?"

Friday replied, "Yes, sir. Klaus is in the lab with Mr. Stark."

"Thanks, Fri." Bruce looked back to the boy.

"Oh, thanks," Ben said, fidgeting.

Loki thought that this kid, Ben, was odd. The air to him was almost defiant, whereas his mannerisms screamed uncertainty. He seemed to be out of touch with his surroundings and slightly unaware, more than could be chalked up to just teenage awkwardness.

Bruce, while not being as inept at reading people, could also tell something was off with him. "No problem. Is anything else bugging you?"

Ben shrugged. "Not really."

Bruce, as patient and understanding of a person as he was, accepted this as a perfectly fine answer.

Loki was not Bruce. "Come on, kid. 'Spill the tea,' as the spider would say."

Ben didn't pretend to understand the second half of that, but got the gist. Before he could stop himself, he blurted out, "I used to be dead."

They were looking at him in confusion. Loki scratched his head. Dead? "Actually dead? Or just fake dead?" He had an abnormal amount of experience with both kinds.

"Actually dead," Ben confirmed.

Bruce looked speechless, but managed out a few words. "What? ...How?"

Ben continued to stand in the middle of the room. "I was a ghost, up until a few hours ago. I don't know - Five brought me back when he brought us here."

Loki's mind processed the information. That made sense, why he was so out of place. The kid had been a spirit up until he arrived here. "Five. He can bring back the dead?"

Ben shook his head. "I don't- I don't think so. No. Coming here was a bit of a fluke, really. We don't know how it all happened."

Loki looked over at Bruce, who was still reeling in stunned silence. He inwardly rolled his eyes, realizing he would have to be the one asking the questions. "How long were you dead for?"

Ben opened his mouth like he was going to answer, but stopped. For whatever reason, he didn't want to tell them this bit of information. He ended up mumbling, "Few years."

He connected some dots in his head - the dead kid with the kid who can talk to the dead. Made sense. "And your brother Klaus…"

"He could see me," Ben finished. "I mostly just hung out around him for that time. I'm not really used to not knowing where he is."

Bruce finally coughed. "Well, I guess we should get you to him." He stood, reaching for the boy's shoulder. Ben flinched, but everyone pretended not to notice. "Thanks for sharing," Bruce smiled at him.

Loki gave a small wave as the two of them exited, Bruce leading the way down to the lab. He pulled his feet back up on the couch and picked up his discarded book, finding where he'd left off.

Bruce walked the kid to the lab, and pushing open the door he found Tony and Klaus looking like they had just finished up a rather serious conversation. He made sure to enter loudly so they would know he was there.

"Bruce," Tony said. "What's up?"

Ben entered the room after him, immediately finding Klaus. "Hey," he said. "I was looking for you."

Klaus put a hand over his heart, miming that he felt touched by the act. "You do care!"

"Maybe I was just making sure you weren't getting some cigarettes and calling it a 'midnight snack,'" Ben raised his eyebrows.

Klaus bit back, "Drop dead."

Bruce almost gasped at the bluntness of the comment, but Ben only looked exasperated at his brother. "Harsh."

Klaus smirked.

"But now that I've ensured you're not doing anything illegal, I think it would be best if we went back to the room?" Ben asked.

Klaus could clearly sense the doubt in his brother. He'd have thought it impossible, but perhaps his bro had gotten a bit attached to him during his time as a spirit. He would never admit it, but the thought warmed his cold, dead heart just a tiny bit. He strode towards his brother, throwing an arm around his shoulders and leading them out. "I think you've had enough beauty sleep to last the rest of your life, but I'm certainly exhausted."

Ben chuckled with a hint of relief in his voice. "Please, haunting your ass was a lot of work."

Bruce watched in amusement as the two kids left the lab, apparently headed back to their room. He turned to Tony. "So, I got to have an interesting talk with Ben."

Tony collapsed in the swivel chair Klaus had just been sitting in. "I just did with Klaus, too. God, the kid has it hard."

"Ben was dead." Bruce stated.

Tony's eyebrows shot up comically. "What?!"

He nodded. "Yep. He said that he's been dead for a few years and only just came back when they got here."

Tony glanced at the door they had just left through, weighing the interaction they had just witnessed with his newfound information. "Okay, so some of that makes sense now. Actually, it explains a good bit. Did he say how he died?"

"It seemed a bit insensitive to ask, so no." Bruce answered. Not even Loki had bothered with that question, and the dude wouldn't know human social norms if they slapped him in the face.

Tony ran a hand over his face. "Well, tomorrow you and I will be getting to work on Klaus' little ghost problem, so clear your schedule."

Bruce wrinkled his nose. "Not sure I want to know what that means, but will do. Night, Tony."

"Night, Bruce."

Vanya was on the roof. She didn't know why, or really how she got up there. But she was sitting on the ledge, looking at the view of the Avenger's facility. It was private enough, but not isolated from the rest of the world. When she listened, she could easily hear the bustle of the city no more than a few minutes away.

She stared at her feet dangling over the edge, fascinated by their little size. Realizing that she'd been reverted back to her thirteen year old self had been a bit of a shock, to say the least.

Why did they bring me? It was the question that had been haunting her since she'd woken up. It would've been a much smarter, cleaner choice to leave her behind in the mess she'd made of the world. Or kill her. The choice it came down to was simple: seven billion people or her?

Thinking about it made the breeze pick up around her, whipping her hair around gently.

A person was suddenly sat on the ledge beside her, and she startled, nearly dropping to her doom. A hand shot out to steady her. Five's concerned eyes met her. "Sorry, you okay?"

"Yeah," she answered as her heartbeat slowed back to a normal rate. "Have you been there long?"

He shook his head. "Just got here. I suppose I should've been a bit more obvious."

"Just a bit," she agreed. "How did you know I was here?"

"Had a feeling."

Of course she would be here. Back when she was feeling especially left out, she would hide out on the roof of the academy, watching all of the other people in the world. Five had discovered this habit of hers and taken to keeping her company while she did so. At least, he had until he'd disappeared.

She breathed out loudly, asking the question of the night: "Why did you bring me, Five?"

He shrugged. "Couldn't exactly leave you behind, could I?"

"I caused the apocalypse," she stated.

"We started the apocalypse," he correct firmly. "Between our shitty siblinghood and Reginald's atrocious parenting, it was a joint effort. You were just a casualty."
She didn't quite believe his words - it was her who ultimately decimated the planet, was it not? - but knew better than to argue. "Still, you brought the apocalyptic timebomb to these people's world."

"That's not going to happen again in any universe." Five was silent for a moment, something worrying him.

She looked sideways at him, wondering what could be putting such a concerning look on his face. "Five?"

"You weren't going to jump, were you?" he asked, looking at her seriously.

She laughed, though there was absolutely nothing funny about what he'd just asked her. Even she knew that. "No, I'm not. It would make things easier, though. Wouldn't it?"

"It would not-"

"No, it would," she mused contemplatively. "There's no denying that." She put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "But I promise I won't."

He relaxed at her word. "Good. This is a second chance - we'll get it right this time."

"I really hope you're right."

"I always am," he smirked confidently. There was the Five she knew. "We'll get you to where you can control your powers. None of us could really control them at first. Remember when we were little and I kept running into walls?"

She smiled her first genuine smile in a while. "Yeah, I remember that."

"Exactly, you just haven't practiced."

"Or I could just stay on the pills for the rest of my life and not have to worry about it."

"Being numb to everything isn't living, Vanya," he told her sadly. "Besides, I told you we would be doing things differently this time around. And I do not intend to become Reginald 2.0."

"He really was the worst," she admitted. "How are the others doing here? I haven't had a chance to talk to them really, yet."

Five shrugged. "Luther's bitter that he's no longer first in command, and Allison is still pissed off at him for locking you up…"

She shivered, though it probably didn't have anything to do with the slightly more forceful breeze brushing against her bare arms. In her mind she knew that it was probably the right choice, but the painful past traumas in that room that she hadn't known she possessed haunted her.

"Diego's coping surprisingly well with the whole 'in another universe' deal. Klaus is still Klaus, and Ben's doing his best to adjust to suddenly being thrust back into the land of the living."

Vanya smiled. "I saw him while he was sleeping."

Five nodded. "Though when I woke up, him and Klaus were both missing."

"Should we be worried?"

"Nah," Five said. "Ben's with him. He can't be getting into too much trouble."

"He is Klaus," she pointed out.

"True," he chuckled.

She switched topics, "So, these people we're staying with. What are they like?"

Five stared out at the lights on the horizon. "Well, for starters they're superheroes, like us."

"Like you guys."

"Like us," he restated. "You're one of us, powers or no powers. But anyways, they call themselves the Avengers. They're like this universe's Umbrella Academy. Although, apparently superpowered people are a bit more common in this world than in ours. They've been nothing but hospitable to us so far, though I can tell they're a little wary."

Vanya nodded. "Anyone would be."

Five made a noise in agreement. "We haven't told them about anything pertaining to the apocalypse. At the moment they think that we're actually thirteen, coming here was just an accident, and that you don't have powers - sorry. We just thought it would be best that-"

"No, no," Vanya waved off his explanation. "They don't need to know that they're living with a bomb."

"You're not a bomb," he stressed. "However they don't know you, and may be quick to jump to conclusions similar to Luther's."

"Or worse," she nodded. "Though I wouldn't blame them."

She could tell Five was growing worried and a bit frustrated by her talk of self-sacrifice, as he replied, "You're our sister. We'll protect you."

"I know you will," she smiled softly. She knew that the majority of her siblings would fight tooth and nail for her, and even if they didn't, she would deserve the fate doled out to her.

Five hopped off the ledge, standing. "Bed?" he asked simply, holding his hand out to help her down.

She nodded, taking one last look at the bird's-eye view of the dark facility before taking it, hopping down. In truth, she was still pretty exhausted. The stroll up to the roof had been practically a sleepwalk, and she must've been dreaming, because she swore that she heard a woman's voice similar to mom's coming from the walls.