October 10th, 2002

There were no words to describe what he was feeling, but if he was forced to describe it he would have to say it felt a lot like being pushed through a long tube. As you're pushed through, your body is compressed the further down you go, until suddenly that feeling is completely gone, and you can feel everything around you.

Ben Hargreeves, has been dead for seventeen years, and yes, that sucked. After dying in a mission gone weary when he was fourteen, he thought then that had been the end of the road for him, as it usually was. Of course, being the brother of someone who can bring back the dead as ghosts, that wasn't the case for him. When Klaus brought him back he wasn't sure about staying in the physical world longer than he needed to, it was unnatural to remain after all. But when he saw how much his brother needed him, mixed in with the fact that he didn't want to go, he stayed for seventeen years. It was only recently that he came to the realization that the end was near, feeling himself drift away more and more every day. And no matter how much Klaus or he tried to stop it he knew it was inevitable, he had to leave the world behind. At least that's what he thought, until now.

Eyes snapping open, Ben lurched forward and took in a gulp full of air.

Inside his rib cage, his heart hammered at an impressive speed. His chest rose up and down just as quickly, matching the speed of his heart. Eyes wide, he stared blankly at the wall in front of him, his mind struggling to catch up with what just happened. However, try as he might, he couldn't bring himself to concentrate.

Brain pounding inside his skull, he was overwhelmed with everything around him. From his heartbeat to the sill air around him, he could feel it all. A stark contrast to a couple of seconds ago when he couldn't feel a thing.

Calming his breathing somewhat, he raised his shaky hands up to his face, staring at them in disbelief as realization hit him.

He was alive, not merely brought back as a ghost, or some poltergeist, but actually truly alive.

Taking in a shaky breath, Ben's lip quirked up into a wide toothy smile, the corners of his eyes wrinkling from the genuine joy he was feeling.

"Oh, what the fuck!?" A familiar voice groaned, startling him.

Whipping his head up, Ben took in a sharp breath when everything started to spin around him, his body's warning to take things slowly.

When his eyes regained their focus, and everything stopped spinning he looked at the set of green eyes trained on him.

Frowning, it took Ben a couple of seconds to realize who the green eyes belonged to, both because he was very much still in shock, but also because the person to whom the eyes belonged to looked entirely different.

Klaus was sitting up on his bed, looking down at him who was resting his back on the footboard of said bed. Nothing was out of the ordinary, except of course the tidy, short hair Klaus had, the baby fat around his cheek, and face that overall still had a lot of growing up to do, not to mention the lack of his usual beard.

The Klaus that was looking at him wasn't the Klaus he knew, at least not the Klaus he's been accompanying for seventeen years. No, this was a much younger version of Klaus.

When Klaus kept gaping at him, looking at him with the same amount of shock as him. Ben knew he probably looked just as young.

The room was deathly silent as brown shocked eyes kept staring at equally shocked green ones until finally the silence was broken.

"Fuck!" They both said in unison.

Klaus jumped off the bed, and Ben jerked to his feet, wobbling a bit. Again, his body kept telling him to take things slow, seeing as he wasn't used to the feeling of having legs again, much less supporting himself with them. However, he quickly adjusted and turned on the spot.

With one glance at his surroundings, he instantly knew where he was, but that didn't mean it made any more sense.

The room was small, and with everything that was cluttered inside it, it made him feel slightly claustrophobic. The walls, half wood panel half faint mustard yellow. On said walls, there were countless small posters, with writings and drawings accompanying them.

This was Klaus's room back at the academy, and despite how cluttered it was, it was still much cleaner and tidier than he's seen it in a long time.

"Ben?" Klaus said his name softly, tentatively.

Turning on the spot, Ben faced his brother who still didn't seem to believe what he was seeing.

"Is that actually you?" Klaus frowned and gestured at him from head to toe. "I mean, the actual you?"

Ben opened his mouth but then frowned when no words came out of him. It seems that after seventeen years of not using his vocal cords, he had forgotten how to speak so he nodded instead.

Klaus's reaction was instantaneous as his mouth fell open and he cocked his head, rooted on the spot. Ben, however, found himself smiling from ear to ear and throwing his arms around Klaus, pulling him into a tight hug, closing his eyes tightly. At that moment he didn't care that Klaus smelled faintly of weed, and tobacco, not when he hasn't hugged anyone in a long time.

"There, there," Klaus sighed, patting his back. "I know, I'm too much of a temptation, it's not your fault."

Eyes opening, Ben pushed himself off of Klaus and smiled broadly at him, making his cheek hurt but he didn't care. He still couldn't believe it.

"Sorry," he managed to apologize, his voice coming out rough and dry.

"No, no, you haven't touched anything in like seventeen years, I would be in the same boat, Benny."

Ben nodded and opened his mouth to speak when his eyes caught on a bright, red blanket on top of Klaus' bed.

As a ghost, everything around him seemed so bland, like looking through water or like looking at an old black and white film. No life, no colour, nothing. However, now, everything just seemed so bright, like Klaus' red blanket that was practically calling at him.

Lunging for the bed, Ben grabbed the blanket with a deathly tight grip. Bringing it to his face, he rubbed the soft blanket against his cheek, his eyes closing, expression of absolute bliss, not at all caring that his blanket smelled like sweat and probably hasn't been washed in a long time.

"You know I probably haven't cleaned that blanket in like forever right?" Klaus asked, sounding a bit amused.

"I don't care," Ben sighed with a smile, still rubbing the blanket against his face. It was so soft, everything was so soft.

Klaus simply rolled his eyes and turned his back on him.

Ben, with the blanket still in his hand, grabbed one of the small pillows with a unicorn on it and pressed it against his face. Just like the blanket, the pillow smelled just as bad, but again, he didn't care. Even bad smells were welcome, better than none at all.

"What the hell?!"

Snapped out of his trance, Ben finally opened his eyes and turned on the spot. However, when he noticed what Klaus was looking at he averted his gaze, shutting his eyes tightly closed and scrunched up his face in disgust.

Klaus was looking down at his body, stretching the waistband of his pants to look down at himself. What he saw clearly shocked him as his expression was of absolute horror.

"What the hell Klaus?!" Ben huffed, shaking his head and focused on the writing on the wall.

"Yea, same here," Klaus agreed, thinking Ben was agreeing with whatever it is he saw.

Rolling his eyes, Ben clarified.

"No, I mean can you please not do that when I'm in the room?"

"What? It's not like I took my pants off or anything, jeesh," Klaus drawled.

Turning on the spot, knowing that Klaus wasn't looking at himself anymore, Ben cocked his head, wondering what the hell Klaus found so shocking when he… well, when he looked at himself. Before he could ask, Klaus answered.

"Dude, we're thirteen again," Klaus's voice cracked a little at the end, proving his point further.

Ben frowned.

"How can you be so sure?"

Klaus did look like how he did when he was thirteen, but for all, they knew they could be twelve or fourteen, why thirteen specifically?

"Oh no, trust me I know," Klaus smirked, dramatically waving his hands at himself. "In my innocent, wonderful youth I spent enough time exploring this hot-"

Ben waved his hands widely before he could finish his sentence.

"I don't need to know!"

Klaus simply shrugged, as if to tell him suit-yourself.

Taking in a deep breath, Ben closed his eyes and counted to five before re-opening them. He's only been alive for less than five minutes and he already wanted to hit Klaus upside the head.

"But seriously," Klaus said, flopping back on his bed and cocking his head. "How can you be, you?"

Ben opened his mouth but then closed it again when he realized he didn't have an answer. He, much like Klaus, was bewildered by the whole, brought back to life, situation. So he searched memories for an answer.

Even though the others couldn't see him, he had been there when Five had used the device on them, claiming that it would send their conscience back in time. At the time, he had been scared and skeptical of the device, unsure what it would do to him. Would it break his connection with Klaus and therefore his connection to the physical world? Or would he accompany Klaus back in time as a ghost? Apparently it had been neither of those possibilities, and it just made no sense.

Ben looked down at his hands once more, as if trying to find his answer in them, but all he saw were a set of very small hands.

He was dead, sure the Ben of this time is still very much alive, which made him wonder if he was somehow possessing him. However, he quickly discarded that possibility. He had never possed anyone but knew it probably didn't feel this normal, this alive. Which meant that he was truly alive, truly him in the body of his younger self.

Looking up from his hands, he shook his head.

"I really don't know, I guess the device Five used somehow affected me too."

For Klaus, who wasn't big on pondering on things, more into living in the moment and going with the flow, shrugged. However, for Ben, that wasn't a good enough explanation. Unfortunately, though, he really had no idea how he's alive, didn't even know where to begin, where to start searching for an answer. Out of all their siblings, he liked to think he's one of the smartest. Of course, Five was always and will always be the scientific, and mathematical genius and therefore the brains of the family. So if someone could figure out how he's alive, it would be him.

Ben opened his mouth to speak when a knock emanated from the door and they both whipped their heads towards the direction of the knock.

"Twenty minutes until your training session, children," mom announced.

Ben and Klaus frowned, and turned to look at each other again, then down at themselves.

In their shock, they hadn't realized that they weren't wearing the usual every day, academy uniform, but the training, green uniform.

Klaus twisted the corner of his lip and gave out an annoyed huff.

"Seriously?" Klaus groaned, clearly not sounding at all happy with the idea of training.

Ben didn't understand Klaus' reaction. He couldn't wait to go train. He would take training until his muscles felt like they were going to rip in half to being dead.

"Well, we're kids again. Which means training, missions, and classes," Ben shrugged.

The expression of utter bewilderment and disbelief on Klaus was so overly exaggerated that Ben might as well have told him he needed to chop off his own foot or something.

Klaus adamantly shook his head.

"Oh, no, no, no Benny boy, this is where you lose me," Klaus used his thumbs to point at himself. "I'm a grown-up piece of ass, I'm not staying he-"

"And where will you go, Klaus?" Ben gestured at him. "Thirteen, remember? Like it or not dad's our guardian, we can't just leave, and even if we did, we wouldn't make it very far."

Ben's lips thinned.

He understood Klaus's apprehension. Dad did lock him away at a cemetery when he was young, and while he never did that once Klaus was older the memory still stuck with him.

"Do I have to?" Klaus whined softly.

Sighing, Ben answered.

"Remember what Five said, we have to adapt to the time we find ourselves in. If we don't we run the risk of altering the timeline."

For a second Ben worried that wouldn't be enough to convince Klaus, seeing as he didn't seem like he heard a word he said, not at all caring that he could endanger the timeline.

"And besides, the others should be here with us. I'm sure we'll figure something out together," Ben added.

That seemed to do the trick somewhat, as Klaus gave out a deep breath.

"Alright, alright," Klaus waved his hands in defeat.

Standing up from his bed, Klaus made his way to the door.

"Where are you going?" Ben asked, frowning. There were still fifteen minutes until their training session.

Klaus didn't look at him as he answered.

"I need to go to the bathroom, or will that also alter the timeline?"

In any other person, Ben would have just let said person go, however, this was Klaus.

Eyes narrowing, he stared pointedly at the back of Klaus's head.

"I hope you're not going to the bathroom to get high."

That made Klaus stop, his hand halfway to the doorknob, still not looking at him.

"Lighten up Ben, you sound like mom!" Klaus huffed, his voice cracked making him sound even more childish than he already was.

Ben crossed his arms.

"Klaus," he insisted.

Klaus may not have the supply of drugs and alcohol he had in the future, but Ben was well aware that Klaus was already smoking weed by this age, and probably had some stashed somewhere.

Giving out a long annoyed huff, Klaus turned on the spot to finally face him.

"I'm not, ok, I just need to take a piss I've been holding since the fricking end of the world. Is that a satisfactory answer, Sir Ben?" Klaus asked mockingly.

For a few seconds Ben eyed Klaus, but when he didn't see anything that would suggest that his brother was lying, he sighed and with that Klaus quickly turned on the spot and exited the room, leaving the door open.

'Klaus,' he mumbled to himself, shaking his head.

He was going to have a hard time with him here, surrounded by all the crap that pushed him towards doing drugs in the first place. Well, at least it's a good thing he's not a ghost anymore. At least this time he could tie him up every time he so much as mentioned drugs.

When something moved in his peripheral vision, he raised his head and peered through the open door. When he looked at the person standing there, his eyes widened.

Wearing the same green uniform as him and Klaus, Allison stood in front of her door, busy giving the finishing touches to her hair with her hands. Just like he and Klaus, Allison was thirteen years old.

Eyes glued on her, he stepped out of the room and walked towards her. He couldn't believe this was real.

"Allison?" Asked Ben softly, in disbelief, shocked that he was looking at his sister with his own eyes.

How many times had he looked at her, at all his siblings, wanting to talk to them, to just have them acknowledge him, to just be able to see him? How many times did he want to ask her about her life, about Claire? Well, now that he's alive he could ask her all those questions, and say all those things he always wanted to tell them, sa-

Turning on the spot, Allison cocked her head and frowned.

"Who's Allison?" Asked his sister confused, a smirk on her lips as if thinking he was just being funny.

Ben took in a sharp breath and his eyes widened.

Shit.

Simultaneously, Five's last few words came stumbling back to him.

'I don't even know if the device will work on all of us, but if it does we may end up scattered around the timeline.'

Judging with how Allison wasn't at all shocked to see him, how she was in fact confused by his reaction and by her own name, he knew that what Five said had come to pass. This wasn't Allison standing in front of him, at least not the one from the future. Could it be that this was the case for all his siblings? Are he and Klaus the only ones who made the trip? If that's the case then they're absolutely screwed.

Ben opened and closed his mouth unsure as to how to respond.

"I-well, I-"

Allison, or should he say, Three, frowned, looking at him with concern.

"Are you alright Six?"

Ben's brows pulled together in confusion. Six? They don't even have their names yet? So Klaus was right, they're in their thirteen-year-old bodies, a year before mom gave them their names.

Taking a few seconds to re-gather himself, feeling completely weird being addressed by his number rather than his name after so many years, not to mention the entire situation, Ben nodded hastily and smiled reassuringly.

'No one can know you're from the future or you might end up altering the timeline.'

"Yea, I'm fine, just a brain fart, sorry," Ben apologized.

It shouldn't hurt him to say that, to repress everything he wanted to say to her, to them, but it did. To just brush away the fact that he's been dead for seventeen years, and just act like nothing's happened. At the same time, another side of him didn't care. He was alive, his sister was standing in front of him, able to finally see him and that's all that mattered.

Allison made an, ah, expression and nodded, not questioning him, until her brows knit together as if to say wait-a-minute. For a few seconds, Allison looked at him with the same expression, until she smiled widely and gave him a knowing look.

"So who's Allison?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips. "One of those girls you guys fantasize over from one of your magazines?"

Ben didn't know what she was going to say, but it was definitely not that. Despite being a thirty-year-old man, well, a thirty-year-old ghost that somehow came back to life in the body of his thirteen-year-old self, Ben blushed. When he felt the old, familiar feel of his cheeks getting hot, he was a little excited that he was blushing, but that soon was overtaken by embarrassment.

"What? No, I-"

"Yea s-s-sure," A familiar voice interrupted him, a voice that like the rest, sounded younger than he remembered. "Are you really s-s-suggesting Six, the s-s-Six even has one of those ma-ma-magazines in his possession, m-mu-much less read it? As if!"

Before Ben could turn to look at him, an arm was draped over his shoulder. He didn't even need to see him to know who it was. Still, that didn't keep his eyes from widening slightly when he looked at Diego, albeit a younger version of him. Another of his siblings he wanted to talk to so many times, but who apparently had no idea who he was, at least not his version of Ben.

"I'm pr-pr-pretty sure Six would s-s-self combust on the spot if he so mu-mu-much as peeked inside one," Diego chuckled.

Ben was too distracted, too shocked to say anything, he just kept looking at his brother, mouth slightly open.

Diego smiled confidently, leaning on Ben and Allison rolled her eyes, opening her mouth but before she could say anything someone else beat her to it.

"You talk big for a fucking virgin."

Ben froze on the spot when he recognized the voice. Unlike the others, this voice sounded a lot like one he recently heard from the future.

Smile falling, Diego quickly took his arm off his shoulder and turned to grab Five. However, before Diego could grab a handful of his sweater, Five smirked cockily and spatial jumped from his reach.

For a brief second, Ben was relieved that Five was also here with them until he saw the innocent look in his eyes when he smirked with mirth rather than cynical exasperation.

Ben's hopes instantly drained out of him.

Five, much like the others, was young, but unlike the future version of him, this was the real young Five, not the one stuck inside his thirteen-year-old body.

Re-appearing behind Allison, Five cocked a brow and smiled smugly, as if to mock Diego for being too slow.

"Yea like yo-yo-you're not!" Diego shouted, frustrated that he hadn't caught Five.

"At least I don't pretend I'm not, asshole!" Five shot back, quickly turning on the spot when Diego pushed past Ben and Allison.

"Come and s-s-say that to my fa-fa-face!" Diego shouted, running after Five who simply smirked and ran towards the staircase leading to the attic, disappearing behind the wall, Diego hot on his heels.

The edges of his lips quirked into a fond smile. He had forgotten this version of Five, the mischievous, carefree, rebellious one of the family, snarky and still very much a pain to live with at times. The older Five would have simply scoffed at their antics and walked away, not joining in like this Five was doing. He wondered how things would have changed if Five had never left if he would have had the opportunity to grow up alongside them?

'Do not interfere with the timeline,' that's what Five had said, but damn it, there had to be exceptions. Like his own death and stopping Five from making the worst decision in his life.

"Should we tell D-Two that it's futile to chase after Five?" He asked, catching his mistake early.

There was a soft electrical pop, followed by a flash of blue as Five spatial jumped back to the hallway, a smug cocky smile on his lips as he crossed his arms and waited. When they heard Diego's loud footsteps stop, clearly having reached the top of the stairs, he growled when he realized Five was no longer in the attic.

"F-fucking s-st-stay in one s-s-spot!" Diego shouted, running back down the stairs.

Clearly amused with the chase, Five waited until Diego reached the bottom of the stairs before he ran the opposite way and disappeared behind a wall, Diego hot on his heels, chasing after Five who they could hear laughing mockingly at Diego.

"Nah, let him tire himself out, he's more tolerable that way," Allison smiled.

Ben nodded in agreement, smiling fondly. Despite being completely screwed, he missed this.

"Oh, great you guys are ready," yet another familiar voice said behind them.

Allison and Ben turned to face Luther, who was wearing his training uniform, and who Ben was surprised with how tall he already was at such a young age.

Eyes roaming the hallway, as if looking for someone but not finding who he was looking for, Luther rested his eyes on them and cocked his head.

"Where are the others?"

"Four's in the bathroom," Ben answered, hoping he wasn't actually in there getting high.

Allison pointed behind her, and as if on cue a loud growl came from Diego off in the distance, followed by Five's mocking laugh.

Not needing any further explanation, Luther took a deep breath.

"What did Five say this time?" He huffed.

"The usual, that Two is a virgin and an asshole, you know. So now Two's trying to catch him." Allison shrugged as if this was totally normal, and if his memory served him right, it indeed was.

Luther didn't seem at all surprised, not needing any further explanation as he sighed and shook his head.

"Well he better tire out fast because we gotta be at the training hall in ten minutes, we can't be late for this training session like last time."

Allison nodded in agreement, her smile falling. Whatever punishment their father gave them last time, mustn't have been very pleasant.

When the hallway fell deathly silent as they could no longer hear Five laughter and Diego's loud footsteps, Ben realized there was something missing, one last member, of the family.

Turning his head towards Vanya's room, he frowned, confused by how quiet it was. If his memories served him right, by this time Vanya should be busy playing her violin, keeping herself busy while they trained. In all his childhood he'd never known her for skipping a practice session, yet her room was quiet and that worried him.

Like the others, he had been shocked, to say the least when he learned Vanya has powers. Being the meek, quiet sister who was excluded from the family for being ordinary, no one had seen her being the one to destroy the world coming. But in hindsight, it made sense. All the resentment, all the loneliness and childhood trauma their father put her through, which they aggravated more, was bound to explode at some point. It was unfortunate that it did when Vanya had her powers and no control over them. Well, maybe that's something he could also change.

"Where's Seven?" He asked, turning to face them again.

Both Allison and Luther frowned, confused.

"What do you mean where's Seven?" Asked Luther, clearly not understanding his question.

"Well, shouldn't she be practicing the violin?" He asked.

Allison and Luther's frown deepened, looking at him as if he'd gone insane.

"What violin?" Asked Luther.

"Are you sure you're fine Six?" Asked Allison.

Ben's brows furrowed, getting a bad feeling about this. Before he could ask, however, the door to the bathroom opened and through it came Klaus.

Both Allison and Luther turned to face the bathroom to look at Klaus, who was grinning as he lazily made his way towards them.

"Oh hey L-" Before Klaus could finish his sentence, Ben's eyes widened and he gestured at him to be quiet behind Luther's and Allison's back.

Thankfully getting the message that something was off, Klaus's brows furrowed slightly and he switched what he was about to say.

"So, shouldn't we all be at the training hall or something? Or are yall just waiting for me?" He asked with a grin, and Ben let out a silent sigh.

Allison rolled her eyes but didn't say anything. Luther just ignored him.

"Come on, Five and Three might already be there, as well as Seven," Luther said to him specifically, answering his previous question.

Ben frowned.

Wait, Vanya was already there? What? Before he could think further on the matter, Luther walked away, with Allison in tow. For a few seconds, Ben just stared at them, completely confused as to what was going on. So Vanya doesn't play the violin? And she gets to train with them? That's not right. Did someone change the timeline? Did they? Did their presence somehow change something? That can't be right.

Now standing beside him, Klaus gazed at him with equal confusion.

"Ben, what's go-"

"Are you guys coming or what?" Luther asked.

Looking at each other, then back at Luther they both followed Luther to the training hall, keeping a little distance so they could talk to each other in hushed voices.

"Ben?" Asked Klaus, leaning down so the others couldn't hear them.

Looking up at Klaus, he was surprised by how much taller he was than him at this age. Klaus had, after all, gone through his growth spurt before him.

"Remember when Five said we might not all make it?"

"Yea...kinda," Klaus frowned.

"Well, it seems you and I are the only ones who made it."

"Seriously?" Klaus asked, shocked but also a little amused.

Ben nodded.

"Yup."

For a few seconds, Klaus just shook his head and chuckled.

"The future's fucking screwed then."

Ben didn't argue with that.

When they made it to the training hall, the space looked exactly how he remembered it. The floor covered in training mats, various dummies by the walls as well as punching bags, most of them half-destroyed thanks to Luther.

Just as Luther had said, Five and Diego were already present, no doubt having been caught by Pogo seeing as they were both busy doing push-ups off to the side. Diego glaring at Five. However, as Ben looked around the room, his eyes landed on something he hadn't expected, something that made his eyes nearly pop out of their sockets.

Off to the side, in one corner of the training hall, all alone, sat Vanya. Her legs were crossed, hands on top of her knees, and eyes closed, her posture one of tranquillity as her chest rhythmically rose up and down. But that wasn't what was so strange that Ben's mouth hung open. No, it was the fact that Vanya was floating a few feet off the ground, water floating in front of her, twisting and shaping into intricate patterns.

'What the hell,' both he and Klaus mouthed.

So Vanya can use her power? How is that even possible? Did they get transported back in time or to a different reality? Well, it would definitely make sense if they did. Otherwise, how come Vanya knows how to use her powers? Unless…

Leaving Klaus behind, Ben walked towards Vanya, his eyes glued on her, on the water she was moving with her powers. As he walked he vaguely heard Klaus following close behind.

Once they were in front of her, Vanya didn't notice their presence as she continued to focus on what she was doing. Ben used the opportunity to look her over.

She was wearing the green uniform they were all wearing. And although that was shocking, seeing as she had never worn that uniform in the past because she didn't train like them, he was more shocked by the exhaustion in her face. There were dark circles under her eyes, and her skin was too unnaturally pale and almost sickly.

"Vanya?" Asked Ben softly.

Instantly, the intricate pattern of water floating in the air froze on the spot, still hovering in the air rather than splashing back onto the ground. Slowly opening her eyes, Vanya looked up at them. At first, she seemed confused, almost wondering if they had spoken to her. However, when she did realize that they had she cocked her head and frowned.

"Who's Van-"

Before she could finish, a sharp, angry voice interrupted her, a voice that had both Ben and Klaus freezing.

"Number Four, Number Six, what do you think you're doing?!" Their father barked.

Vanya, or as she was known as at this time, Seven, eyes widened and her jaw clenched, her shoulders tensing as she looked at their father.

Turning on the spot, both Klaus and Ben faced their father who was now standing in the middle of the training hall, his journal tucked under his arm. His brows were furrowed, looking from one to the other with clear anger in his eyes.

"-er- we were just talking to number Seven," Ben answered, seeing as Klaus seemed far too shocked to say anything.

Their father cocked a brow, and lifted his chin.

"Talking to Number Seven?" He asked.

Both he and Klaus nodded, wondering what could be so wrong about talking to her. Because clearly there was something wrong with it, seeing as all their siblings had stopped what they were doing and turned to look at them with wide eyes.

"Ye-"

Before Ben could answer, their father interrupted him

"You know the rules number Six, Number Four!" He barked. "No distracting number Seven. Now get back to your spot!"

Both he and Klaus nearly ran to stand with their siblings, taking their spot amongst them. All the while they kept starring at their father, completely shocked and confused.

What the hell was that?

Ben thought their father would leave it at that, seeing as he turned his back on them, giving out a short huff. However, that wasn't the end of it as he turned to face Vanya, and while they couldn't see him they knew his ire was now directed at her.

"Number seven!" he hissed, his voice particularly cold, much colder than he had ever heard before.

Ben's hair at the back of his neck stood on end, and he tensed just like the others as they stared at Vanya.

"Yes sir?" Vanya asked softly, her voice slightly shaky.

Their father put his arms behind his back and straightened his posture to his full height, looming over her.

"Due to your incompetence in staying focused on your training, you will skip dinner and remain in the training hall for another three hours!"

Both Klaus and Ben balked. What the hell, that hadn't been Vanya's fault.

Klaus opened his mouth to argue when they heard a soft electric pop beside them. Before they could both turn, Five elbowed Klaus on the stomach with enough force to send him to his knees.

"Number Five?" Asked their father, turning on the spot to face them again, a brow raised.

"Sorry sir, I was just showing number Four the new technique I learned."

Klaus gave out a soft whine, trying to catch his breath but unable to.

Their father eyed him but then huffed.

"Go back to your spot number Five, and make sure to stay there until I expressively tell you to leave it."

Five nodded with a smile. But before he left, just after their father turned his back on them, Five's smile fell and gave him and Klaus a murderous glare.

With eyes wide, Ben wondered what the hell kind of reality he and Klaus managed to land themselves in?