FLASHBACK
Eight year old Katherine ran after Ben in the back yard, laughing and yelling without a care in the world. Five and Klaus followed close behind her, trying to catch up with their siblings. Kat's foot found purchase on a raised root, and she went skidding across the ground.
Ben, Klaus, and Five all stopped in their tracks, looking down at her in shock. Five was the firsg to react, kneeling beside her and helping her sit up. He saw a small place on her forehead, and her knees were skinned up. It was the first time she had ever really taken a tumble that resulted in more than bumping her head or knee, and her siblings were concerned to say the least.
Klaus gasped as he watched the wounds on her knees begin to magically heal. "What the heck?" He asked, watching with morbid curiosity.
Five expressed the same sentiment as he watched the wound on her face heal faster than any normal wound.
That was the first day Kat's power manifested itself.
The next occurrence was two weeks later when Diego accidentally cut himself on one of his knives during training. Grace had brought him upstairs to the kitchen, where Kat and Vanya sat together, reading a book at the table. They looked up to see Diego, clutching his fingers as Grace sat him down across from them. Kat immediately got up from her seat and ran around the table as Grace grabbed the medical equipment.
"Holy moly!" She exclaimed, seeing the amount of blood covering his hands and arms. She heard Grace approaching and turned to see her putting the medical kit on the table.
"I'll have to give you stitches, Diego. I'll numb you first so that it doesn't hurt." Mom informed him.
Diego's eyes grew wide. He hated needles.
"Here, I'll hold your hand and you can squeeze as tight as you need." Kat offered, holding her hand out for him.
He hesitated for a split second before taking her hand. She silently wished that his hand didn't need stitching up so that he didn't have to endure the needles.
"Oh my!" Grace exclaimed, looking at her son's hand. It was quickly healing, leaving behing no trace of a injury except for the obscene amount of blood that was now on both him and Kat.
Diego looked down in horror. "What the...?" He looked at Kat, then back at his hand. "Did you?"
She simply looked at him wide-eyed and nodded her head.
END FLASHBACK
Kat's eyes snapped open and she gasped quietly at the pounding in her head. "Christ." She groaned quietly.
"Hey, hey. You alright there, K?" Ben asked.
She nodded her head. "I'll be fine." She looked over at Klaus, who's mouth was taped.
The door to the room slammed open, and Cha-Cha's voice rang out. "You idiot! "
"What?" Hazel asked in confusion.
"You didn't put the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door!"
"I did! I know I- Shit!"
Footsteps hurriedly approached the closet before the doors swung open. "Oh, my God, theyre still here."
Hazel pulled Klaus out of the closet, and Cha-Cha pulled the chair to the center of the room as Hazel rather gently pulled Kat out. He noticed just how battered the girl looked and felt pity. Her smaller wounds had healed, but the knives remained in her and a few larger gashes hadn't healed yet.
"Hi." The bloodied up woman said quietly.
Klaus groaned and mumbled beneath the tape.
"What's he saying?" Hazel asked.
"Oh!" Klaus exclaimed as Cha-Cha ripped the tape away.
"What are you sayin'?" The woman snapped.
"You guys are scarier without the masks."
Kat chuckled, causing Cha-Cha to smack her on the back of the head.
"That's no way to say hello to your old friends, is it?" Hazel questioned condescendingly.
"Can't we call it a night? I already gave you what you wanted. Just, please please let us go. Please." Klaus pleaded.
"Well, technically, we want your brother. Is your brother here now?"
"Uh, he You're gonna have to be a little more specific on that." He chuckled, earning him a smack. "Ow! I told you already. No one will come for me. Kat probably has Diego and five up in a tizzy, but they'll never look for me."
"Well, Number Five knows you're here now. We left him a message. And when he comes for you, we'll be ready." She informed him.
FLASHBACK
Five sat on the floor at the end of the bed beside his sister. It was...unusual to see her crying, and he wasn't one hundred percent sure how to handle it.
"Kat, I know you're upset but I need you to tell me what happened so we can fix it."
She wiped her eyes and looked at him. "Allison and Luther were training, and I wanted to join them but when I asked them, Luther told me I was useless and I would never be any good at fighting. That I should just give up and accept it."
"And that's why you're so upset? Kat, you can't let Luther get you down. You know he just wants to get under your skin." Five reassured her.
"It's not that he said it, it's the fact that he's right." Katherine said, her voice wavering.
"Hey. Listen to me, don't you ever think that, okay? You are one of the best, most brilliant and skilled people I've ever seen. Luther is just pissed because he can't do anything really special like us. He's strong but he's stupid if he thinks he can talk to you like that." He said, holding her hand. He pulled her to her feet and hugged her. "Promise me you'll never let someone like Luther make you doubt yourself or feel inferior."
She nodded and gave him a small smile. "Promise."
END FLASHBACK
"Katherine!" Ben yelled, startling Katherine out of her daze. "Stay focused for me, okay?"
Kat gave a drowsy nod as she turned her gaze to Klaus who was whimpering.
"No, no, no, no. Oh, Jesus." Klaus moaned.
"Look at her. At how she's looking at them. She's one of their victims. We can use this." Ben told him.
Kat made a small noise of confusion and looked between her brothers.
"There's a woman. She's speaking Russian, I think. Shot in the head."
Kat was suddenly and oddly glad that Ben was the only ghost she could see.
"Go on. You haven't been this sober since you were a teenager, since you decided to keep the ghosts at bay. This is your chance, Klaus. To control them, learn their secrets. Try to talk to her." Ben encouraged.
Klaus gave him a look before turning to look at the spirit. "Hi Hi! Hi, uh What's your name?" After a pause, he spoke again. "Oh! That's a lovely name. And can you tell me what happened?"
"What happened is if you don't shut up, I'mma cut your tongue out with a grapefruit spoon." Cha-Cha threatened.
Kat glared at the woman as best as she could. She was getting tired again, and her brain was quickly getting fuzzy.
FLASHBACK
"Come on Katherine. You're better than that. Stronger. You gotta fight back. Just because you can heal doesn't mean you shouldn't try to protect yourself." Diego pressed, helping her stand. Her nose stopped bleeding and healed almost instantly, but it didn't mean it didn't hurt when he punched her in the face.
"I know. I'm just tired, Diego." She explained.
It was only their third training session, and Diego was already pushing her to her limits.
Diego lowered his voice as he spoke again. "I know you are. But he isn't going to let us quit until he sees improvement. You have to try."
Kat looked at him for a moment, then nodded. "Okay. Alright, let's go."
An hour and a half later, Katherine was doubled over on her knees as Diego sat beside her, both of them out of breath. Kat had started fighting back and was finally showing progress. She had gotten a few lucky hits in, but had recieved far more than she landed. They both looked up when Reginald entered and announced that they were to clean up and make themselves presentable for dinner, nodded at Diego, then left without another word.
Katherine clenched her jaw and looked down. Once, just once, she wanted him to be proud of her or even acknowledge her. But she wasn't like the others. Reginald had raised her separately to be a tool. A member of the Academy and nothing more. The moment her powers manifested, she was swept into solitude to practice their extent. The only ones who even talked to her outside of meal times were Ben and Klaus, and as much as she loved them, she wanted to connect with someone on a deeper level than just reading and weed. She had been close to Five, but there was no telling when he was coming back.
Diego noticed the look Kat had and stood up, extending his hand. "Come on. Let's go get cleaned up." he said with a small smile.
She looked up and genuinely returned the smile, accepting his hand. She followed behind him as he left the room. Her lips turned up in a warm smile and her heart filled with something she hadn't felt in a while. Hope.