MILD TRIGGER WARNING. NOT AS SEVERE AS LAST CHAPTER, BUT DARK THEMES AND TORTURE STILL AHEAD.

"Maybe you're not hitting him hard enough?" Hazel suggested.

Kat had the knife still in her thigh, as well as one in her shoulder and one in her abdomen. They had been going back and forth between beating the hell out of Klaus and torturing Kat, who had passed out a few times due to unbearable pain.

"Me? You're the one with the stupid orthopedic bracelet."

"I told you already, it's just for support."

"Withdrawal It's starting now, isn't it? Must be. Otherwise, who's the babushka?"

Kat froze. Maybe it was the fact that she wasn't healing right, or that she had been knocked around for the past seven hours, but she knew that voice. She turned to look at the source of the voice and gave a strangled cry. How was this possible? How was he here?

Klaus sighed. "I don't know, but it's driving me crazy. The bitch won't shut up!"

"Hey! Watch your mouth. What did I say about eyes front?" Hazel yelled.

"Stay calm, Klaus." Ben encouraged.

Kat gave another strangled groan, catching her brothers attentions.

Ben looked at her with wide eyes. "Can you see me?"

"Can you see him?" Klaus echoed.

She nodded, tears streaming from her eyes. Ben stood and walked over to her, then kneeled in front of her chair on the blood laden tarp.

"Hey. Hey, K. Can you hear me?"

Kat nodded, shock pushing adrenaline through her system.

"Oh my God." Klaus whispered, a huge grin on his face.

Ben looked at his brother, then back at his sister. "Look, I'm so glad that you can see me, but I'm going to make a guess and say that's not a good thing. So I need to to focus and stay awake for me, yeah?"

Kat nodded again, wondering if maybe she was unconscious and this was all a sick dream.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait What are you doing? That's mine. That's my personal stuff." Klaus said, catching Kat's hazy attention.

"Oh! - What do we have here?" Cha-Cha asked, searching through the man's coat.

"Let me see that." Hazel reached for the packet of drugs that she had found.

"Hey, no, no, no, no. Be Be careful with that. It's It's my asthma medication." Klaus attempted.

"Now we're getting somewhere." Hazel began crushing the pills into the carpet.

"Hey No, hey! Whoa! No, hey, hold on! Hold on! We can have a conversation. We're adults."

"Okay, you want more?"

"No! No! No, no, no! Stop! Stop! Please, listen. Listen, I can I can get you cash. Amputee hookers, whatever. Hey, just, please, just listen. Just don't. No. Please."

"Chocolate. Mm-mm-mm!" Hazel said holding up a bar of chocolate and opening it, taking a big bite.

"Please."

"You want a piece?"

"You gonna tell him that it's special chocolate?" Ben asked with a small smirk.

"Not until they're high as kites."

"Be strong."

Cha-Cha waved a baggie of drugs over Klaus. "This could all be yours for the low, low price of telling us everything."

"Okay, fine." Klaus broke, earning a quiet sob from Kat. He had broken so quickly for a few pills. "Okay, I don't I don't know where Five is. I wasn't lying about that. But I can tell you that he's hasn't hasn't been making much sense since he came back."

"Elaborate." Hazel said simply.

"I -Uh- He's just He's been acting like a-a-a lunatic. He's been sitting in this van in front of a a lab or something, and looking for the owner of an eyeball. One of those fake ones."

"That makes no sense."

"Hold on, just hold on. Tell us more about this eye, and why is it so important?" Cha-Cha pressed.

"He said it had something to do with the end of times, or something." Klaus explained.

Hazel and Cha-Cha exchanged a look and nodded. They picked up Kat's chair, carelessly jostling the knives as they put her in the closet. She gave a quiet cry and watched the world around her fade to black as she passed out.

Klaus called his sister's name as soon as he saw her eyes roll back in her head. Cha-Cha swiftly ripped a piece of tape and put it over his mouth. They carefully picked up the tarp, rolling it up to rinse it off in the tub. Once they had finished, they dragged Klaus into the closet and left the siblings sitting in the dark as they slammed the door to the room shut.

Luther and Diego met on the top floor of the library, their search for Five turning out fruitless. "Anything?" Luther asked.

Diego shook his head. "No." He sighed after a moment of awkward silence. "You wanna know why we left, me and Kat?"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Why we left the Academy."

"Yeah, 'cause you couldn't handle me being Number One, and she followed you around like a lost puppy."

"No. Because that's what you do when you're 17. You move out, become your own person, fall in love, grow up."

"Oh, yeah. You're a real grown-up."

"At least I make my own decisions. You've never had to hold down a job. Pay bills. You ever even been with a girl?"

"I," Luther cleared his throat awkwardly, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Diego chuckled mirthfully. "Look, you wanna blame me, blame us for leaving that's okay. But maybe you're asking yourself the wrong question. Maybe it's not about why we left. Maybe it's about why you stayed."

"I stayed because the world needed me."

"You stayed because you couldn't let go of the way things used to be. The Academy. Dad. With Allison. Dad's dead. Mom too, now. We're orphans again, dude. And things are never gonna go back to the way they used to be."

"Do you ever stop talking?" Luther grumbled.

FLASHBACK

"Diego, I don't know. I worry what will happen to the others if we leave." Seventeen year old Katherine said as she and Diego sat on her bed.

"Why do you care, sweetheart? They're capable of taking care of themselves as Luther makes sure you know every chance he gets." Diego reminded her.

Kat hung her head. "I know. But it doesn't mean we aren't family." She reasoned.

Diego hooked a finger under her chin and raised her to meet his gaze. "You and me? We're all the family we need. I love you more than you know, and I won't leave unless you do." He assured her. "Just promise me that you'll think about it."

She nodded and grasped his hand. "If we left, tonight, where would we go? We have no links to the outside world, Diego."

"We'll find somewhere. I promise. I'll find us somewhere. Do you trust me?"

"With everything in me."

He smiled and leaned in, kissing her sweetly. "Pack everything you want to take. We can leave as soon as you're ready."

"You and me, till our hearts stop beating." She said, her thumb caressing his cheek.

He leaned into her touch with a warm smile. "Till we both stop breathing."